1

TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY

TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY

Andrea LaPlante

WGU

IZT2 - Learning Theories

Mary Lombardo-Graves

October 24, 2020

2
TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY
TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY

As educators we begin building our philosophy of education as pre-service teachers. As

a first-year teacher, I borrowed many of my philosophies from my master teacher in student

teaching, college professors, and experiences I had as a student. In that first year, and the first

few years of my career, I used the “words” of what I believed my philosophy to be, however it

took many more years for me to truly develop what I believe to be my teaching philosophy. In

learning and reading more in-depth about the three major learning theories in this course, I

believe my philosophy in teaching really is grounded in these three theories, and their practical

approach.

Cognitivism is “interested in how learners process the stimuli they receive and in what

thought processes learners use to decide on and execute their responses.” (Ryan, Cooper, &

Tauer, 2019) When we understand how students process the information they are receiving, we

can more effectively deliver the instruction they need to master the material. As we shift and

look at Behaviorism, I would have assumed the behaviorist theory would mostly have been

dealing with classroom management, and the way we run every day logistics. While I still think

the day to day operations are a big part of the behaviorist theory, because it incorporates the

students repeated actions each day, and their ability to learn, I now more fully understand how

this relates to the academic process as well. We can develop routines in our instructional

procedures. We can provide students with specific feedback that will add depth to their

understanding. We can be consistent with the feedback we give to students, all relating back to

those behaviorist principles. Finally, as we look at Constructivism, this is where I have found

most of my own personal philosophies to be based. As a child I learned most effectively by

‘doing’, it didn’t really matter what. As an educator in performance-based instruction, this is

3
TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY
what we do. It is learner focused, students are learning the material to later present to an

audience, while I am helping them to focus that presentation, they are exclusively creating the

“evidence”. Students are in a constant active learning phase. I will often have exercises to

develop concepts, and then apply those concepts through the performance pieces. In using

context, students are able to see how the music we are performing relates to the world around

them. Music class is a unique opportunity to develop the whole child and frequently includes the

social-emotional piece of their learning. By activating their prior knowledge, we are able to

continue to build, and with each year of instruction, students are able to perform at a high level.

Fine tuning minute details as they become more confident and independent in their musicianship

skills. (Ryan, Cooper, & Tauer, 2019)

In my third-grade lesson plan, the instructional strategy modification that I would use is

in the guided practice section. Students would potentially struggle with the B Chant Section of

The Golden Rule. Because this is taught by rote, they are dependent on their aural

understanding. I would display each line of words with X’s at the end indicating the rest beats.

With the addition of a visual component, students would more likely be successful in their ability

to perform accurately. This connects with the cognitive theory in that “elementary learners

function in the concrete operational stage”. (Ryan, Cooper, & Tauer, 2019) Students have

something to look at as they are performing the body percussion and chant and in the B Section.

This modification is appropriate in this setting because it eliminates my having to stand in front

of students to display or model the action and allows me to watch from behind the students to use

vocal instruction, and evaluate which students are understanding the material by their physical

demonstration.
4
TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY
There is a wide variety of learning styles in all levels of the instructional setting, however

because elementary students are in that concrete operational stage, the majority of students

would benefit from this modification. At the secondary level it would likely be effective for a

few students, but not necessarily all students. At the secondary level, more students are able to

make their own notes on their individual music to assist in their knowledge retention, and they

are able to process more through their thinking skills.

5
TASK 3: LEARNING THEORY
REFERENCES

Ryan, K., Cooper, J. M., & Tauer, S. (2019). Teaching for student learning: Becoming a master

teacher. Belmont, CA: Cengage. Retrieved October 24, 2020, from

https://wgu.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781285821061/cfi/6/16!/4/10/2/2@0:0