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Rodney Colley
How Students Learn Best
March 30, 2012
Education 200
Dr. Hogan

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Abstract:
Throughout our class, we have learned about many people who have influenced
education, and we have learned in what ways they have influenced education. The one thing that
is most important that we learn as future educators is that we must create meaningful and
engaging lessons for the child. We must realize that the sit and get whole teaching is gone. I
will provide evidence to persuade you that creating differentiated lessons which focus on the
providing meaningful experiences and purpose is the only effective way to teach children.

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The number one reason for preparing differentiated lessons for students is it is the only
way to reach all learning styles and the various levels of students. Differentiation of lessons is
the way to be able to reach every child and it is the only way for the child to be able to learn and
retain what was taught. Studies of various past educators and psychologists relate to present
educators who support this belief.
One that connects to the belief that children will learn best through teacher designed
differentiated, engaging lessons is Ulric Neisser. Neisser spent his career studying cognitive
psychology, which is the study of all human activities related to knowledge. These activities
include attention, creativity, memory, perception, problem solving, thinking, and the use of
language. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes
including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. The core focus of cognitive
psychology is on how people acquire or obtain information, and or process and store
information. Prior to cognitive psychology was behaviorism. Behaviorism (Skinner) is the
process of shaping the learning of people, students, through the use if re-enforcers. This
currently should only be for those who have difficulty cognitively understanding like children
with Autism or intellectual disabilities, otherwise the acting of teaching with Behaviorism in
mind is not useful in the regular classroom.
Unlike behaviorism, which focuses only on observable behaviors, cognitive psychology
is concerned with internal mental states. There are many reasons why it should be studied,
however, teachers, educators and curriculum designers can benefit by learning more about how
people process, learn, and remember information. Teachers need to know how students learn or
remember so they can create meaningful lessons that touch on all ways to reach children. If one
understands how children learn and retain, we can go from the I taught it to the students
learned it. It also does not limit the educator to thinking only certain students are capable of
learning. Neissers work showed that memory is a reconstruction of the past, not an accurate
snapshot of it. He found that however much people think they are remembering actual events,
they are really remembering memories and probably memories of memories. Again, the reason a
teacher should learn as much about cognitive psychology as possible it that they would learn to
make teaching a more memorable experience so the objective taught is more likely to be learned.
Dr. Ulrich Neisser was on to something big. He has taken educators away from just provided
information to making it real and long lasting.
Erikson brought the stages of development to us. Two of the stages involve school aged
children. During the industry versus inferiority stage, children become capable of performing
increasingly complex tasks. As a result, they strive to master new skills. Children who are
encouraged by their teachers develop a feeling of competence in their skills. According to
Erikson, this stage is vital in the development of self-confidence. During school and other social
activities, children receive praise and attention for performing various tasks such as reading,
writing, drawing and solving problems. Children need to cope with new social and academic
demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority.
If lessons are differentiated so a child can feel success, more learning will occur. In the stage
Identity vs. role confusion, the average 12 to 18 year old focuses on social relationships. Again,

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we teachers step away from traditional lecturing and provide times for students to engage in
group activities and cooperative learning, the adolescent will flourish into a positive confident
adult.
Many more recent educators have been focusing on brain research and reaching
children. One educator is Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson. She has written many books on
differentiation. Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether
teachers differentiate content, processes, products, or the learning environment, the use of
ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction. In
teaching reading, one size does not fit all. Today's schools serve children from a variety of
families and backgrounds, with a variety of learning strengths and needs. Differentiated
instruction is a flexible and individual approach to instruction. When a teacher reaches out to an
individual or small group and varies her teaching to create the best learning experience possible,
that teacher is differentiating instruction. It's not easy, but it is critical for success.
Differentiation makes the lesson more meaningful so the child can connect more cognitively.
Tomlinson shares much of her findings on brain research which again is cognitive
learning. She writes, Before the brain can attend to cognitive learning, students must feel
physically safe and emotionally secure. Emotion is a strong force, and when learners experience
strong negative emotions, the limbic system kicks in and both shuts down cognitive processing
and enhances our memory of the negative event in order to support survival. In other words,
reflex trumps reflection when negative emotions occur. So think of all the material that the
average student is asked to learn during a school year. Think of all that a teacher is expected to
get the child to learn. One other fact that is noted is it is found that whenever new material is
taught in a way that students see relationships, they generate greater brain cell activity, forming
new neural connections and achieve more successful long-term memory storage and retrieval.
Again, this will happen if the lesson is differentiated for the students. This can be done through
learning levels, environment, and through relationships with children. Just like Erikson wrote
and Neisser shared.
Every teacher and education student needs to understand how children learn best. The
child learns best if taught with a cognitive approach. This is where the educator needs to create
meaningful lessons which gives a purpose as to why a child should learn it and what relationship
the lesson has for them. The lesson should be differentiated to meet the needs of the child. If all
of this occurs, the child will learn the information for not only the moment but for the long-term.
Since we are all future teachers, we all need to know that creating differentiated lessons which
focus on the providing meaningful experiences and purpose is the only effective way to teach
children and that is how they learn best.

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References:
Neisser, Ulric. "cognitive psychology." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2009. Grolier Online.
17 July 2009 <http://gme.grolier.com.ccnyproxy1.
libr.ccny.cuny.edu/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0066790-0>.
Tomlinson, C. A. (August, 2000). Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades. ERIC
Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.
Morgan, Caitlyn. Erik Erikson. Lecture. Bridgewater College. 10 February 2010.
Scott, Ashley. B.F. Skinner. Lecture. Bridgewater College. 3 March 2010.