Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom

contain is the winder to unlock the golden door of licenseGeorge Washington cutting tool s help oneself that nurture is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom (n.d. in BrainyQuote, 2010) and nowhere is this much than true than for those who experience memoriseing difficulties. In e truly educational environment it is important that the students feel valued no matter what their culture difficulties they need to feel included as a part of the school community where any(prenominal) barriers to instruction ar up academic item in sanctify to optimise instruction and participation (Booth, Ainscow, Black-Hawkins, Vaughan and Shaw, 2000, P. 13) and that they ar convey mostthing valuable into the classroom where their efforts and achievement ordain be espyd (Ofsted, 2000, P. 4). The key to universe able to support every students in their considering is start-off class assessment which identifies individual pupils strengths and weaknesses so that optimum provi sion crapper be make for them (Cross, 2004, P. 117) which is factly important in protecting especial(a)iser provision for those who need it (Croll and Moses, 2000, P. 1). Sometimes t individu every last(predicate)yers instruct or tell, serving as transmitters of information that students book to acquire at other times teachers test and demonstrate, acting as mentors and coaches instead than as instructors (Hargreaves, 2005, P. 5) the aim of this es ordinate is to learn doingsist and cognitive approaches to scholarship for those who have information difficulties identifying the strengths and weaknesses in each regularity when applied to the statement.Historically barbarianren have been presented with a didactic stupefy of learning they were told when to diminish into school, what they were t one and only(a) ending to learn and were instructed close to how they were going to learn it irrespective or their personal talents students were all made to write with their sound hand even if it did non accompany naturally to them much to their defeat my great grandmother for font. The education system became a process of learning to bid by which squirtren argon expected to learn by visualize participation in meaty, wasting dis reposeful occupations, with a factory modelling of education by assembly line instruction (Bruce, 2004, P. Xi). This followed very much the behaviorist Model which argues that learning is initiated by with(predicate) our interaction with external stimuli which alters the sort in which we tackle things (Glassman, 1995) the behaviourist school of feeling grew from the pioneering exertion of Ivan Pavlov and his dress with dogs at the sound of a bell he was able to initiate salivation in the animals in anticipation of receiving aliment which continued long after the food was non delivered as expected this became kn induce as Classical Conditioning. mob Watson (who frontmost used the term behaviourism) conti nued this wee and attested that all mankind behaviour was the result of responding to stimuli in a conditioned trend he even went as far as to suggest that anyone, no matter what their brotherly status or efficacy, could be schooled to fulfil any task or profession provided that they were healthy and applied themselves in their learning (Watson, 1924, P. 82) and that an adult c befully controlled the conditions for the stimuli and the responses (Keenan, 2002, P. 24). Experiments that were carried proscribed with kidskinren to test this conjecture, notably by Watson and Rayner, illustrated that twain fear and pleasure could be associated with particular objects or noises this led them to guess that rewards or documentations could arise from the satisfaction of inner demand and could provide a motivation for learning (Tilstone, Layton, Anderson, Gerrish, Morgan and Williams, 2004, P. 45).Skinner further amazeed these ideas into what he called operative Conditioning he put forward the idea that all actions that were reinforced, both positively through and through reward or negatively through punishment, would be duplicated he actively encouraged teachers and educators in general to cement a electric razors success through the use of positive praise and reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves rewarding correct behaviour or responses such(prenominal) as yarn a sentence without error leading to a star being presumptuousness, progressing to cardinal lines followed by a paragraph and so on to growth the reward and encourage learning. He felt that sisterren were led and could be do in their learning and parents and teachers needed to reinforce their learning whenever and wherever it occurred in other lecture, when a parent or carer shows enthusiasm for something a child tries to say, this should encourage the child to repeat the utterance (David, Goouch, Powell and Abbott 2003, P. 49). Skinner also believed that the acquireness of co gnition needed to be tackled in constitutes which built on the actual learning of the individual tortuous proposing a technology of direction whereby instruction is secernate, hard verbal behaviours gradually shaped, reinforcement for entrance responses is consistent and immediate, and learned behaviours are maintained by intermittent reinforcement schedules. (Ormrod, 2004, Ps. 79-80). Having s back up that it is individualised it is mechanistic in constitution following a set archetype of repeat, correction and praise following successful modification to embed the accomplishments into the bookman (Capel, 1997, P. 136) this sort of learning treats the child like a type of humankind sponge (Kirk, Macdonald and OSullivan, 2006, P. 295) they are often referred to as command or go for styles and are often seen in subjects such as Physical direction (Byra, 2006, in Kirk et al, 2006, P. 450). These theorists placed great emphasis on the additive nature of instruction what we call training in this view, is really just a long serial publication of individual learning experiences (Bee, 1989, P. 14) considering learning to be the alike for all no matter what their age or stage in sustenance (Tilstone, Layton, Anderson, Gerrish, Morgan and Williams, 2004, P. 50) reinforcing the need for educators to look at how students are acquiring their learning necessitating accurate and thorough record keeping in evidence to be able to properly assess and evaluate their work. This is life-or-death in format to fully cater for individuals who are experiencing difficulties in their learning.The word cognitive comes from the Latin cognoscere which operator to know all of the processes which are undertaken in mentation and subtle well-nigh anything are what is known as cognitive actions. cognitive coachment is the theater of how these processes develop in children and young multitude, and how they manufacture more efficient and effective in their sympathy of the world and in their mental processes (Oakley, 2004, P. 2). any individual thinks and reasons in a contrasting air, with a childs processes being variant from that of an adult which is why cognitive approaches to education are both fascinate and complex in their make up.Jean Piaget was one of the original to look at how children learn as individuals in their own right and that their way of thinking and on that pointfore learning was diverse to that of an adult. He argued that all children go through a series of stages in their development which are linear in nature which means that they take place at round the same time (Long, 2000, P. 32) they are sensori motor (birth to about eighteen months), the pre useable (eighteen months to about six years), the concrete operational (six to approximately eleven years) and the imposing operational (eleven years onwards). Piaget contests that the way that individuals learn in their lives is divergent at each of these stages and that as a result the way children perceive the world, the way they process and respond to information, and the way they develop ideas and archetypes (Moore, 2000, P. 9) forget be dissimilar too. He believed that maturity affected the way that children thought and learned reflexion that human beings are, from early childhood, active, independent meaning makers who construct knowledge rather than receive it (Moore, 2000, P. 7). He perceived children as being capable of constructing their own looking of their experiences and the world approximately them as a result of their inbuilt curiosity and need for knowledge and understanding. Piaget put forward the idea that there are twain distinct phases to the learning process the first entails the child demonstrating their understanding of a particular experience or idea that they come a mishandle in the world by the way in which they ruffle or assimilate this new data into it, for example a child utilise a large box as a f ellowship when they are p sending the other is known as accommodation which describes the learners cogency to make sense of the new event occurring in the environment (Leonard, 2002, P. 1). Piaget believed that these twain phases needed to be perfectly balanced if effective learning was going to be able to take place as it is only when by the simultaneous action of assimilation and accommodationthat events are perceived as meaningful and at the same time generate changes in the interpretive procedures (Barnes, 1976, P. 22). payable to every single experience that people have in life their perceptions of and interaction with the world around them changes and Piaget regards this as part of the process of learning and cognitive development to understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be organise who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition (1973). The cogniti ve structures adjust in response to challenges when incoming information basisnot be accommodated inwardly existing schemes, and modes of thinking develop with biological growth (Tilstone et al, 2004, P. 20).A similar route was followed by the work of Bruner who studied the processes behind learning and trouble solving. Both stress the importance of engagement in problem solving activities which promote links with bumping solutions (Wood, 1998) as well as there being stages through which learners acquire and develop their knowledge Bruner describes them as enactive understanding is promoted in the learner through interaction with the world, iconic when images are more frequently used in order to call back knowledge and information and symbolical the use of complex systems of symbols, for example language, to convey understanding and abstract thought these correspond to Piagets sensori-motor enactive, pre-operational iconic and concrete and formal operational symbolic (Smith , 1999, P. 20). Bruner explains that the first stage is characterised by action on the part of the learner in that the recognition of objects seems to depend not so much on the objects themselves only on the actions evoked by them (Bruner, 1966, P. 12). As the learner matures there is slight need to interact physically with objects to understand them as they develop the mental object to see something in their mind (the iconic stage). The learner moves to the symbolic stage through interaction with the world and those around them in order to develop language and communication inside the scene of the culture to which they are undefendable as learning, remembering, talking, imagining all of them are made possible by combat-ready in a culture (Bruner, 1996, P. xi). As a result he seems to equate learning step to the fores or difficulties with an absence of ethnicly stimulating environments as opposed to deficiencies in any child (Tilstone, 2000 in Tilstone et al, 2004, P. 25) giving particular attention to three distinct areas or amplifiers motoric, sensory and supposeive. Motoric covers physical extensions of human capabilities like knives and forks for eating, spears for hunting, tools for farming and cars to transport ourselves around more quickly and efficiently. afferent involves the enhancement of the way that the world and people in it are perceived for example simple things like spectacles or magnifying glasses. Reflective encompasses the means through which communication skills are learnt, developed and dual-lane with those around us parents and carers initiate this process with both verbal and non verbal cues enabling them to hold communication through holding their attention while building on their responses (Tilstone, 2004, P. 26). Often this will mean that adults will challenge children to extend their abilities and skills through this which Bruner believes is the right thing to do as a teacher, you do not wait for readiness to happen you foster or scaffold it by deepening the childs powers at the stage where you find him or her now (1996, P. 120). He believed that comprehensive development is possible through this sort of social/ pagan interaction.Vygotsky furthered the idea that social interaction was the catalyst for the development of a child the entire history of a childs psychological development shows us that, from the very first days of development, its adaptation to the environment is achieved through social means, through the people surrounding it (Vygotsky and Luria, 1993, P. 116). Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev and Millar (2003) inform us that at the heart of Vygotskys theory lies the understanding of human cognition and learning as social and cultural rather than individual phenomena (P. 1). He laid great stress on the socio cultural environments which shape the development of children (Kozulin et al, 2003, P. 2), believing that absolutely everything in the behaviour of the child is merged and rooted in so cial relations (Vygotski, 1932 in Ivic, 1989, P. 429) and their interactions with their peers, teachers, adults and the community as a whole. He in fact show that interaction, teaching and learning were integral to each other and that they could have no rigidly defined techniques ascribed to them (Popkevitz, 1998, P. 538).These ideas about cognitive development are referred to as social cognitive due to their being a mixture of social and cognitive theory they centre round childrens dealings with the environment and those in it utilising the distinct communication skills that they have learnt. Vygotsky believes that children learn from watching and copying or modelling the different behaviours of those around them using a tot up of different cultural tools, for example a small child pointing a flick is seen initially as an inconsequential grasping action which changes into a probatory one as people react to it (Vygotsky, 1978, P. 56). He emphasised two points in terms of learni ng, mediation and the expansion of psychological tools. Mediation crowd out be seen as a learner using aids which are both human and symbolic to be able to understand the information that has to be learnt at the start of the process something which needs to be learnt is modelled and spy by the learner who internalises it, making it part of their psyche having had time to reflect on it this type of mediation notify take countless different forms from simple guidance and encouragement to complex advice and scaffolding in order to achieve the understanding of a concept but rather than submit to define mediation it is more important to understand that it provides a position on how to look at interpersonal engagements and arrangements (Rogoff, 1995, P. 146-147). Psychological tools are those symbolic systems specific for a precondition culture that when internalised by individual learners become their inner cognitive tools (Kozulin et al, 2003, P. 3) which aid them in mastering me ntal processes (Daniels, 2001, P. 15) and gives them the great power to control the conditions of their future remembering (Bakhurst, 1996, P. 202). Vygotsky felt that the higher cognitive processes could only be accessed and developed by learners through copying or imitating adults or older more experienced people due to what he referred to as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) he defined this as a latent learning gap between what a child suffer do on his or her own and what can be through with the help of a more skilful other (Richardson, 1998, P. 163).It is through following the lead of someone else that individuals are able to develop the skills and the cognitive ability to be able to accomplish tasks alone.Siegler believed that the linear way of regarding cognitive development did not paint a full enough picture of the facts that one could observe about learning, such as the anomaly of a salmagundi of different skill levels within the same age group of children. He devel oped an overlapping waves theory in trying to better understand how children develop where the focus was on the number of strategies that a child expertness use at any age rather than which specific strategy a child might use most during which stage (Calais, 2008, P. 3). Siegler made three assumptions on which he based his idea children use a number of methods to address a problem, not just one methods of thinking and strategies that are used remain with people for indefinite periods of time children use the experiences that they have to enable them to build towards and move on to more complex strategic thinking. He states that variability is undeniable when one observes how an individual or group tackle a problem and that inconsistencies in approach can be seen in individuals who use different strategies to address the same issue on different days. Siegler highlights five stages in learning acquisition of sympathetic strategies, mapping strategies onto new problems, streng thu slying strategies for consistent usage, refining choices and executing good-hearted strategies (Calais, 2008, P. 4). These stages are all evident in the development of childrens cognitive abilities although they might actually be going through a number of them at the same time. Similar to Piaget and Vygotsky, Siegler discover that the ability of the learner to choose an appropriate strategy in order to address an issue got better the more mature and skilled they became thus possibly accounting for why individuals within a group might tackle a problem other than in spite of being from the same culture.The teaching techniques which are associated with these schools of thought are almost diametrically opposed to each other. The behaviourist model is one which is teacher focused and revolves around the pupils following instructions that they are given to achieve a specified end. It is a mechanical and stereotyped way of working but is one which is essential if children are to learn t he basics of any skill. Unfortunately there is no substitute in a great many areas of the political platform for instruction based teaching in order to ingrain the skills into students prior to moving on to more advanced skills. Examples of this can be readily seen in the mathematics classrooms where I myself sat through what seemed like endless practice of times tables both through chanting as a class or via targeted mocking of individuals to ensure that they had been learnt properly the basic rules of algebra need to be learnt onwards attempting to work out equations or problems Physical Education lessons are full of the command or practice style of lessons where instructions and demonstration of skills are given followed by practice of skills in isolation, feedback from the practitioner and peers followed by time for improvement and a short game to contextualise the newly learnt skill. The advantage of this type of learning environment is that it is very focused on specific learning goals, the lessons targeting those exclusively in bite size pieces which is ideal for those with learning issues the detriment is that it does not allow for freedom of expression or for the individual strengths of students to be developed.Cognitive schools of thought would encourage teachers to contextualise any skills that students are learning at all times or at the very least whenever it is possible to do so. This would involve starting work on a subject by assessing what the student already knows and constructing a programme of work from that point. This would enable the students with learning difficulties to feel confident in their ability to make progress in that they are beginning with beaten(prenominal) territory making the prospect of what is to come less intimidating and potentially overwhelming. Classrooms following this sort of approach are much more creative in that they allow, as far as possible, for the pupils to direct the learning towards set goals allowi ng for them to be as imaginative as possible in the process. This child centred approach requires a high degree of organisation in and management of the classroom and necessitates a measured lay out of the classroom for its various forms. In the primary classroom there would need to be specific areas for each different activity in order to maximise the learning potential of the environment for example a computer area, a construction area, a role playact area, a carpet area and a culture or quiet area. The teachers work area could be placed in the middle of the classroom for ease of access for all with clear gangways to aid uninhibited movement around the room. The displays should be vibrant, colourful and current indicating to the class that their work is valuable and becoming of being displayed a curiously important point for those with learning difficulties who incessantly have low self esteem. Topic based work allows cross curricular links to be forged which is a strength of this method of learning for example a topic on the Great fervency of London could be tackled encompassing a number of different areas of the computer program history would clearly be covered as the foundation of the study alongside a study of how the buildings of the time were constructed, why they would have fire so quickly and how they could have been constructed to make them safer English and Literacy could be covered through the construction of fire safety posters and poems and the community could be involved through a visit from the local fire service personnel. The children would be encouraged to work both on their own and as members of a group for different parts of the study that they are undertaking using the adults as a resource from which to glean information or to aid them in their planning of how to approach part or parts of their work. The disadvantage of this method of approaching teaching is the huge amount of preparation which needs to be completed originall y the session to accommodate the creative talents within the group of children but the advantage is that pupils are motivated to complete work to a high standard which expresses their knowledge and understanding of the topic to its fullest consummation irrespective of their relative talents or abilities.There is no easy or definitive way to teach the skill of reading to any child let alone those who experience learning difficulties. The current trends push through to be a blend of the behaviourist and the cognitive approaches which bring in the go around of both worlds. Before implementing any programme it is important to understand the level at which children are operating when they enter the classroom. Some primary children will already have acquired the basics of letter recognition and even some reading skills. However it is important to establish where they are and how to go about reinforcing the basic skills which will allow them to access books and reading materials in the future. It is crucial to understand that the teaching of reading is designed to cover two areas the mechanical aspects of decoding linguistic communication and the comprehension of them. Decoding is the means through which people are able to interpret written words on a page and make them into meaningful sounds this involves providing them with the skills to be able to sound out letters and syllables in order to construct the words that appear on the page. It gives people the ability to read almost anything even if it is slowly through the decoding process initially this involves using words with which the learner is familiar followed by the introduction of increasingly more complex ones.The most pop method at present is that of phonics the use of letter/sound associations to recognise words. There are five basic skills which are required for reading and writing which are learning the sounds of the letters, learning the formation of the letters, blending, recognising sounds in words and spelling words that are different or difficult (Jolly Phonics, n.d.). The concept has been popularised by the development of a number of products for the use of both parents and schools to aid students of all ages and abilities with their reading. Phonics provides the learner with that which is readily accessible, easily produced and comprehensible to them sounds, which can then be linked to words. There are a number of different approaches in terms of structure but I will be focusing on one, that of Jolly Phonics. To begin with children are taught the forty two main sounds in English in seven distinct groups(Jolly Phonics, n.d.)These are known as digraphs and are accompanied by a series of actions (encompassing a multi sensory approach, examples of which are below) which correspond to the letters to help the children to remember them which gradually become un unavoidable as the learner gains in confidence.sWeave hand in ansshape, like a snake, and sayssssssaWiggle finger s above elbow as if ants crawling on you and saya, a, a.tTurn head from side to side as if watching tennis and sayt, t, t.iPretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and yammeri, i, i.pPretend to puff out candles and sayp, p, p.n accept a noise, as if you are a plane hold munition out and saynnnnnn.(Jolly Phonics, n.d)They learn each letter by its sound, for example a is for ant which will help with blending later in the process. The first group of letter above are introduced at the outgrowth as they provide the greatest amount of three letter words when combined with each other. The students are then taught how to hold a pencil correctly followed by how to form letters in an appropriate way. This is followed by blending which is the process of articulating the individual sounds within a word before running them together to produce the whole. All children need to learn this stage and get better with practice and encouragement. This is often the key with those who have special needs having the encouragement and the confidence to try and not fear making mistakes. It may need the adult to say the parts of the word first to ensure that the pupil can hear them before repeating them which could be seen as the adult providing the support or scaffolding in order for the child to progress to the next level (Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development). Games can be played like I-Spy to encourage children to listen for the sounds in different parts of words and blending cards can be stabilizing in this process. Spelling is a different issue with a number of possibilities available to aid in this learning process for example Look, Cover, Write, disclose or Mnemonics (the first letter in each word of a saying spelling a word, e.g. fish Frogs In Silly Hats).As we can see from the above example of the teaching of reading and from teaching techniques in general there are advantages and disadvantages in each teaching method. If one wishes to get a safety mes sage across about crossing a road it would not be appropriate for the children to find out by playing chicken with the cars They would need to be given specific instructions as to how to accomplish the objective safely and if necessary practice in the playground in a role play situation to ensure that the message has been taken in. The basics in reading need to be given through instruction and practice before words can be used creatively in the context of story writing, telling and reading. Lots of practice and exposure to words in and around the classroom through colourful displays with pictures combined with words will lead to a comfort and familiarity with reading and the written word which is particularly valuable for those with learning difficulties. Reading is a basic and necessary skill which one needs not only to access a curriculum to be able to pass exams but to be able to function in the most basic way in life. Those with learning difficulties have the right to be taught and to learn this skill of communication there is no one all encompassing way to achieve this and practitioners have to develop a number of skills and techniques to accommodate the different needs of the personalities in their care. It would appear that there needs to be a blend of both the behaviourist and cognitive approaches to get the best from children as some aspects need to be specifically taught whereas others can be guided and discovered through shared activity with both their peers and adults alike.