Walter Geerts & René van Kralingen - The Teachers' Handbook

1  How do students learn?

regardless of how much you’d like to be able to do so. You can’t exactly take a funnel and pour knowledge into his head, but the learning process does need to be activated somehow. The teacher must create the optimal climate for learning. Thus, the ‘basic groundwork’ for learning can be summed up as follows: ■■ The learning process takes place inside the student’s head, internally. ■■ The curriculum is presented outside the student’s head, externally . We take a closer look at all the different aspects of a powerful learning environ ment in section 1.1 below. In other words, what action can be taken outside of the student’s head in order to make sure that he retains as much information as possible? We will provide some advice on how to create such a powerful learn ing environment. In section 1.2 we discuss what is meant by ‘learning’. We’ll dif ferentiate among four categories of student learning activities and four levels of processing information. In section 1.3 we take a closer look at the workings of the memory. Finally, section 1.4 deals with the main learning theories of the twenti eth century. Being familiar with various learning theories can be very useful for generating an optimal learning process for students. However, a teacher can do more to opti mise this process: for example, by creating a learning environment which stimu lates and engages the student’s learning process. Research (e.g. Kaplan &Maehr, 2007) shows that students learn significantly more when they feel connected to the whole process. How do you recognise a strong learning environment? A strong learning environment becomes obvious when students happily and ac tively go about their set tasks. The students’ well-being and commitment are de ciding factors for this strong environment. The student’s well-being There is no hard and fast rule for this. A student who feels at ease will be content and get a sense of achievement from his school work. He is relaxed, energetic and readily approachable; he has an open mind towards his environment. However, it is not just his learning environment that gives him a sense of contentment. If a grandparent has just died, the student will naturally feel less inclined to feel positive. It goes without saying that you as the teacher cannot influence such an event, but you can make a difference in the way it is handled in the classroom. 1.1.1 A powerful learning environment motivates

1.1

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