Chapter 1: Driscoll’s Psychology of Learning for Instruction

Subject: Psychology
Pages: 1
Words: 268
Reading time:
< 1 min

Chapter 1 in Driscoll’s book, Psychology of Learning for Instruction, dwells on different theories of learning and their illustrations. The author discusses the history of learning from the epistemological (objectivism, pragmatism, and interpretivism) and experimental (Ebbinghaus, Thorndike, Pavlov, and Gestalt theories) perspectives. Learning resources are presented as part and parcel of the strategies used in teaching in form of models, regalia, maps, references, and diagrams.

These tools assist learners to visualize and internalize different concepts. As a teacher, effective delivery of content starts right in preparation. This places high significance on preparation commencing with mastery of the content accompanied by the teacher’s notes, reference materials, relevant teaching aids, and good classroom management during the presentation. The resources help break down the content especially the abstract concepts into simpler bits that can be understood by the students.

In the changing world, I agree that teaching needs a dynamic and flexible approach to accommodate these variances in technology and inventions. For example, in the classroom, this is achieved by creating space for problem-solving, in which the teacher illustrates using well-done examples to the learners to guide them in organizing their solutions. It is more efficient in giving guidance to the learners in solving their problems but the strategy lacks in-depth analysis of the concept. Reflectively, the content of the topic for every lesson must function on the periphery of practicality and relevance in line with the objectives of the study topic, that is, the relation of the theme to contemporary issues happening in the previous, current, and predictable future.