“Researches
on the functioning of the mind and brain, particularly during the past decade, have
greatly enhanced our understanding of learning, memory, intelligence, and
emotion, all of which have fundamental implications for education”. “Cognitive
education may be defined as an approach to education that is based on cognitive
science studies (mind and brain researches) and focused upon acquiring,
developing, and applying cognitive processes to realize qualified learning”.
The topics we have learned in Module 5, Cognitive Theories of Learning greatly widen my perspective about learning. The topics on Primary-recency effects in action, cognitive load, dual coding and deep processing increase my understanding and appreciation on how teaching should be conducted to affect better learning. Back then, my knowledge in teaching profession, my knowledge base and pedagogical knowledge was shallow and traditional. At this early I could honestly say that my lack of confidence in applying for a teaching job in college is deeply rooted on having no formal education or trainings in teaching profession. My concept of teaching was only based on my observation and actual experiences while in college and it’s been decades away already.
Suffice to say, if I’ve not enrolled on this
subject my approach to teaching and learning will be a traditional and obsolete
one. I might not affect better learning and become object of ridicule with the
21st century students. I know I need to learn more and I believe more
is coming as we progress on this subject and other subjects in PTC. Thank
goodness I have this opportunity to learn and be equipped before plunging into
teaching profession.
Reference, quotations:
“Foundations of cognitive education: Issues and Opportunities” by Mahmuod Talkhabi, & Al Nouri of Tehran University & Tarbiat Modarres University (TMU), Tehran / Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 32 (2012) 385 – 390
The type of role model I want to be for others (other learners)
Being
punctual in attending class, meetings and appointments
On-time
submission of assignments and reports
Open
mindedness to explore new things and ideas without judgement
Tolerance
with other students and people regardless of color, race, religion and status
in life
Gratefulness
or to be thankful for everything that happens in our life
How I will incorporate models and mentors in my profession (as an educator)
My plan is to teach in tertiary education and the subject I would like to teach is in the area of business. My role models and mentor’s contribution in my life will be imparted in ways which would encourage students to ponder and consider.
I would encourage my students to live a simple life, be content with everything that they have, live within their means and be frugal in spending their income. They must be mindful to have some savings from their income for “rainy and sunny days”.
Most of the students I will be interacting with will be involved in business. I would encourage my students to think big and be a visionary to build something as a legacy. My second role model envisioned to establish an educational institution whose foundation is to be a servant-leader. The school came into existence, offering K-12 education. Slowly its graduates are doing great in their chosen fields. I’m proud to be part of that institution as one of the member of the board of trustee.
Having a good personal relationship with other people is a must as we meet and interact with other human beings every day. We should exercise tolerance and acceptance of other people’s beliefs, practices and culture. We must deal and see people as one of us regardless of their color, race, religion and social status. By doing this, we will be able to listen to their side and talk to them without bias and judgmental attitude.
Aside from the knowledge my students gain in various subjects,
I would encourage my students to explore their spirituality. I would reiterate
that at the end of the day, it is not only success in a chosen discipline and
the material rewards that they might reap that would make them complete and
happy. There is that part of human nature that constantly in awe and would look
for something that would fill that void. It has been said that “we are
spiritual being having human experience”.
Lastly I would encourage my students to find time and
space to do something good by involving in community service, missionary work,
be involved in something that does not require compensation as a way to give
back. For corporation we have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs,
for Cooperative we have Community Development program and for individual we
could participate in organizations who has programs to reach out and helps
people in need like feeding program, free medical mission, volunteering in
community programs, etc.
These are the intangible attributes that I would be
sharing and imparting to would be students.
Who will be my education mentor? What would my ideal education mentor be like? My ideal education mentor would be Mrs. Cherryl S. Abrigo, the Academic Program head of Southpoint School in Davao City. She is very approachable and a wide reader role model. One thing I admire her most is her love of reading which is evident when every time she made a quotation she will mention the author. She also shares message of encouragement during our Sunday service. Most of her sharing came from her readings and she relates it with real life events.
Psychologist Albert Bandura proposed a social learning theory which suggests that observation, imitation, and
modeling play a primary role in this process. Bandura’s social learning theory
proposed that learning can also occur simply by observing the actions of
others. His theory added a social dimension, arguing that people can learn new
information and behaviors by watching other people. Bandura explained in his
1977 book Social Learning Theory. “Fortunately, most human behavior
is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an
idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded
information serves as a guide for action.”
Social Media Influencer through
social media is becoming popular as technology advanced. “A Social Media
Influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a
specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience and
can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach”. The most
influential social media influencers are those that utilize video blog or vlog /
vlogging and have huge following in their social media platform like YouTube. “A vlog can be a video documenting a person’s life but can
also be about a certain topic such as a certain hobby and can be both
instructional and entertaining. The main goal of a vlog is to communicate with
a wide variety audience on a personal level”.
My wife and 19 year old son love to
watch Judy Ann’s Kitchen in Youtube channel. Judy Ann’s Kitchen is a cooking
show created and posted by Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, a successful Filipino film and television actress, reality
television host, recording artist, film producer and lately an effective Social
Media Influencer/Vlogger thru her Youtube Channel Judy Ann’s Kitchen.
It has a huge following considering the advertisement she generated from her
Youtube channel. Sometimes my wife would try to cook a recipe introduced by Jud
Ann Santos as seen in Youtube but not all recipes were being tried by my wife,
only those that she likes and simple to re-create. Also, seeing Jud Ann Santos use plenty of garlic
in her recipe, my wife imitate it and use plenty of garlic in her cooking. Judy
Ann from time to time would explain the benefits of using certain herbs,
spices, and ingredients, this information are transferred to the viewers and it
becomes learning. I could say that some of my wife’s behavior in cooking is
influenced by Judy Ann’s cooking show. The process of Bandura’s social learning
theory is present in some respect, in my wife’s approach to cooking. Learning
by observing and applying it in some other time is the hallmark of social
learning theory.
Recent trend in reaching out and
influencing variety of audience defies the established channel through main
stream media. The use of vlogging as avenue of social learning would certainly create
an impact to those who are hooked in social media. Imagine if somebody who has
huge social media following would use social media or vlogging in particular to
advance or promote positive learning. For example, the topic on environmental
protection, proper garbage segregation and waste disposal would be tackled by a
social media influencer to create awareness among the populace and in doing so;
the audience or subscriber may learn to take care the environment.
In my opinion, vlogging will be effective when it comes to social learning because it provides venue for feedback thru messaging and the audience personally observed the action of vlogger / model.
Much of the criticism on behaviorist approach to learning is
its one-dimensional approach to learning. Putting greater emphasis on environmental
factors in influencing behavior to the near exclusion of biological factors,
cognitive and emotional faculties did not set well with other theorist. That,
all behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus-response
association is in my opinion a narrow description of how humans learn.
The assumptions that we learn new behavior through classical
and operant conditioning and all our behavior is the result of our interaction
with the environment is absurd and one sided. And to conclude that when born,
our mind is ‘tabula rasa” (a blank slate) is ridiculous.
On the other hand, learning theory has proven records of
experiments to support its validity and usefulness. Behavioral therapy and
Psychological disorder treatment are among the notable application that widely
benefited learning theory. However, it is clear and apparent that behaviorist
theory of learning lacks some attributes to be accepted as all-encompassing learning
theory.
Let us consider the case of a newly born infant. From the
moment we are born we already possess innate behavior that we automatically
display without classical and operant conditioning. “A baby is born with
many instinctive abilities which enable her to perform the Breast Crawl. With
all these innate programmes, the infant seems to come into life carrying a
small computer chip with the set of instructions. It appears that young humans,
like other baby mammals, know how to find their mother’s breast (Klaus and
Kennel, 2001). The Breast Crawl is associated with a variety of sensory,
central, motor and neuro-endocrine components, all directly or indirectly
helping the baby to move and facilitate her survival in the new world.” Most
babies also cries just after birth, what triggers crying? Is there classical or
operant conditioning involve? Apparently, the change of his/her environment,
from a warm, silent and comfortable place called womb the baby is transported
to a new cold and strange world. Crying is an innate response mechanism of a
normal baby.
Considering the above mentioned premise and studies, it is
clear that there’s a gap that divide learning theory and other school of thoughts.
I think it’s about time that Behaviorist considers the recent discoveries and
understanding when it comes to human development and learning approach to end
the raging debate.
Truly, everyone has diverse learning abilities and have different
level of intelligence. It is a unique ability that makes human kind flourishes
for thousands of years. It has been pointed out that what we experience now,
the technological advancement and how we conduct our lives today is different
from our ancestors or early human beings. Invention, development and
discoveries are the accumulation, adaptation, refinement, tweaking of previous
ideas. For example the unprecedented fate of air travels. Accordingly, the
story of the invention of the airplane begins in the 16th, 17th, and 18th
centuries. On October 4, 1905, near Dayton Ohio, the Wright brothers (Wilbur
& Orville Wright) successfully flew a practical flying machine. Once the
Wright brothers demonstrated that the basic technical problems had been
overcome at the start of the 20th century, military and civil aviation
developed quickly. Air transportation evolves into one of the most reliable if
not the safest means of transportation and the speed is mindboggling, fighter
jets are said to reach supersonic speed at Mach 2 or a speed 2 times faster
than the speed of sound.
Every idea that comes out from our brilliant might could not
be discounted, dismissed or ridiculed because there is no bad or good idea. It has
its basis and the product of what we perceived as what it is. I appreciate the
diversity of learning and ideas after I read and review and I engaged the ideas
of my classmates. I could not change their ideas and they could not change my
idea. Their idea reinforces my ideas that were vague to me before. New
knowledge and insight were added into my memory bank. Learning happens when I
consider the idea of my classmates but not all are absorb only those that I see
fit and have bearings in my life.
Intelligence: Build-in or Acquired?… From Zero to Hero
Accordingly, the debate of Intelligence has been raging on
for more than century. It is a hotly contested topic debated by psychologist
and scholars. One school of thoughts emerge and then challenge by another but
we must admit it, recent understanding or theories of intelligence is anchored
in previous theories. The funny thing is that these scholars or psychologists
debating intelligence are using their intelligence to discover or find meaning
of intelligence.
Many factors affect Intelligence. Is it build-in or acquired
as we mature. Is it dependent on physical development or maturity? How about
the environment that we lived in? Does environment plays a factor on its
development? How about heredity? Does heredity have bearing in our intelligence?
How about our quest for knowledge? Does our eagerness to learn contribute to us
acquiring intelligence?
Last May 19, 2019 the Golden State Warriors (GSW) and
Portland Trailblazers played Game 3 of their Western Conference Final. The
Warriors won game 3 and GSW improved its standing to 3 wins and zero loss, the
game is best of seven of format, that is, the team who wins 4 games wins the
contest. During the media interview, Stephen Curry, the GSW superstar said that
his teammate Draymond Green has high “Basketball Intelligence”. “Draymond Green
knows when to attack the basket, when to pass the ball, who to pass the ball,
he knows the spacing of players in the court, he knows where his teammates, he
knows how to position himself”, according to Curry. The stats or production of
Draymond Green in Game 3 was 20 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, he had a
triple double. Triple double means a player in a game scores double figure in
Points, double figure in Rebounds, and double figure in Assists, hence triple
double. A player credited with Assist when he successfully passed the
basketball to a receiver and the receiver score a basket without dribbling the
ball. The panel of game commentators after the game commented that in the
franchise history of GSW during the Play-offs, so far only Draymond Green has
highest Triple Double production at 7 games, while the closest was 4 games, the
combine Triple Double of other players was only 7 games same with Draymond
Green. Head Coach Steve Kerr commented during the media interview that what Draymond
Green did in the court was like a “wrecking ball, he destroys everything in his
path” (not the kind of wrecking ball that Myle Cyrus sings – emphasis added).
Draymond Green is not a superstar player in the NBA, he was not selected as part
of NBA All Star game players this season but his court acuity was commended by
a superstar teammate Stephen Curry who is a 2 time league MVP. Eventually, GSW
won game 4 and they become Western Conference Final Champion. Draymond Green
stat was again unbelievable triple double at 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11
assists.
Where and how did Draymond Green get his “high basketball
intelligence” as described by teammate Stephen Curry? There are more than 20
players in the 2 teams, 10 players are playing in a given time and only 1
player exudes that kind of performance. What contributed to his excellent
performance?
In our church service last May 19, 2019 we had a visitor
from a Badjao Community in Matina, Davao City. For a short background, Badjao are
sea dwelling people, the English description of them is Sea Gypsies. They are
living in a community among themselves but most of the time they are on the move
depending on fishing opportunity. They source their livelihood from the sea
thru fishing using fish nets and line fishing but they are most well known in
spear fishing because of their ability to stay for an extended period in the
sea floor to do spear fishing. They considered themselves as the lowest among
the indigenous people if we can categorize them as such. Badjao people
scattered all over Sulu Sea extending their presence as far as Borneo and
Malaysia. You could see Badjao in the streets of major cities in Mindanao
soliciting for money but the Badjao community in Matina, Davao City is
different, some of them are now engage in selling RTW and shoes in the streets,
they become entrepreneur, they evolve as some of them were gradually integrated
in our society. Badjao people in general are not inclined to attend school. Attending
school is not part of their life system maybe because our government also did
not give attention to their educational needs. The girls in Badjao community usually
got married at the age of 15-16 or lower and they also practice arrange
marriage with dowry.
In the late 1990’s one of our church leader before saw the
need of Badjao people and begun to reach out to them. A group of Badjao were
offered to live or settle down in one place which they called “Canaan” (derived
from the biblical Canaan). It started with single family then after 25 years
the community reaches around 700 individuals. They live in very color full
houses. They have SEC Registration of their organization. They have their own
set of officers who managed their community affairs, thanks to the patience and
hard work of couple Felicisimo “Jun” Morales, his wife Daisy Morales, (recently
a recipient of Everyday Hero Award in Davao City) daughter Keiza (UP-Mindanao alumnus
who immersed herself among the Badjao) and countless volunteers and supporters
before and up to now.
What is the connection of Badjao in my blog about
intelligence? Here’s the beef. Our visitor’s name is Naya (Melody Adjari), she
graduated this year in a tertiary education, Bachelor of Elementary Education. Accordingly,
she is the first Badjao in Mindanao or maybe in the Philippines who finished a
4 year course, isn’t it amazing! Her journey to tertiary education is
encouraging. As per her testimony and the testimony of her father, Naya shows
no acumen to learning in her childhood. She usually skips classes and prefers
to play outside. Volunteer teachers were patiently conducting informal teaching
in the community to teach Badjao children in writing and reading for them to
attend formal or mainstream schooling in Elementary School. Some of the Badjao
children in the community graduated in Elementary and High School but only Naya
makes it through college and hopefully not the last one.
Naya’s journey to higher education was not smooth sailing.
According to her there were times that she went to school without eating a
meal. She stopped after Grade 4 because of change residence from one community
to another, after high school, at the age of 18 she got married because all her
friends were already married and have children. Finally, two years after high
school graduation she decided to enrol in college because she sees the need of
the community. She has 2 children while attending college. What is the need of
the community? Every time there is somebody from the Badjao community admitted in
Davao Medical Center she is the one who is called to assist because most of them
cannot read and write. She finds it pitiful for her Badjao brethren unable to
read and write so she decided to become a teacher and hopefully someday become
a teacher for the Badjao. Hospitalization for the marginalized sector of
society in Davao is free (even before the passage of Universal Health Law) but
the problem of Badjao people is how to comply with the procedure in availing
free medical services.
How could we define or categorize Naya’s Intelligence in
finishing college education, Build-in or Acquired. Is she the only Badjao who
possess higher intelligence that is why she is the only one who finished
college education? What other factors contributed to her higher learning? How
about the other Badjao who has no formal education, how could we measure their intelligence?
How could we categorize their intelligence?
Comparing the performance of Draymond Green in basketball
game and Naya’s educational attainment as mentioned above, how would we measure
their intelligence? Could we compare their intelligence? For sure Badjao has
intelligence, they excel in their chosen field of spear fishing but often times
we label them as illiterates or outcast of the society because they are different;
they have no manners, no formal education. The lack of concern and
opportunities to nurture their innate intelligence is driving them to who they
are as perceived my most of us.
Maybe this is the reason why the debate on intelligence is raging on for more than a century because of the reality that they could not box intelligence; they could not fit intelligence in one single description. It’s like the air that we breathe; we know it’s there, we can feel it but we don’t know where it blows.
“Mayroong forever – Learning!” (There is forever – it’s Learning!)
Pondering on the materials we had in the Theories of Learning, I came to realize that learning is our lifetime companion. We learned and unlearned many skills, habits, behavior, concepts throughout our waking lives. It is an evolving process that makes the learner adept, knowledgeable or wiser. It is also a product or outcome of our experiences.
However, there are many variables in learning. The outcome might seem simple but the intricacies involve is quite complex. Learning progression depends on the learners willingness, eagerness and cooperation to learn more, and to set aside the obsolete and not useful.
The science behind the learning process drawn from research defines that: 1) is active; 2) builds on prior knowledge; 3) occurs in a complex social environment; 4) is situated in an authentic context; 5) requires learners’ motivation and cognitive engagement. At the core, learning is a process that results in a change in knowledge or behavior as a result of experience. (https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/learn/what-learning). We should also consider the learners’ preference approach to learning. There are learners who are visual learner, some are auditory, while others prefer to learn through writing and reading. We should also consider the learner’s direction of learning. The inductive (from the specific to the general) and deductive (from the general to the specific) approach to learning. (Excerpt from: Roberts. G. (2013). (20-minute YouTube video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtT31Sn1Ukk
ROGAD PALANGPANG 