Transformative Learning: An Analysis Of Psychosocial Theory And Social Cultural Practices

Discuss About The Transformative Learning Form That Transforms.

There are several challenges that this scenario presents for both the students and the teacher. There are several issues that are also not addressed after the teacher dismisses Eliza’s presentation.  One of the main roles of a teacher is to help students to be keen on discovering new things.  Eliza showed that she has keen interest in exploring and discovery by bringing a skeleton of a dead cat in class which was received with negative reaction by Ahmed and the teacher’s own perspective (West,2014).  Because of the negative reaction by Ahmed, Eliza’s interest is not explored and also other students are denied an opportunity to learn a new thing.  There are conflicting issues raised by the sight of a skeleton such as life and death. By exploring these concepts all the children in the class could have benefited greatly.  In this presentation,  Eliza is denied an opportunity to express her motivation by the teacher, she also denies other students the opportunity to learn from what Eliza has presented.

Such a scenario raises issues such as incompetency where the teacher is perceived as not having control of the class. One student cannot deny the rest of the student an opportunity to learn just because they have negative feelings towards something (Olson,2015). . Ahmed’s negative economics denied the rest of the students an opportunity to learn.  Other issues raised in this scenario are such as feelings of rejection which could deter students from using their initiative.

Eliza’s self esteem could be negatively affected by the teachers angry reaction and her comments about Eliza’s parents. Her own perception of family and life could be changed. A teacher should nurture a sense of respect and security for each child and affirm their beliefs with regard to their backgrounds. A teacher should know better on how to handle his or her students .

Psychosocial development is where a classroom setting should develop the child’s interest and should nature a sense of exploration without fear or judgment. The developer of this theory Erik Erikson theorized that children develop psychosocially in stages.  In the third development stage there is what is known as initiative vs Guilt (Engeström, 2018).. By presenting the skeletons to her peers , Eliza was demonstrating her desire and interest to have an initiative of exploring in this stage of psychosocial development. On the other hand, the teacher demonstrated a social rejection of interest by her reaction (Green&Piel,2015). . This reflects a conflict in terms of psychosocial theory. The conflict is between the needs of the child in wanting to explore and the limitations that the society puts in relation to that. Therefore, in future Eliza’s approach and desires to use her initiative will be shaped by how she manages this conflict.

Psychosocial theory

The teacher’s reaction i.e rejecting her ideas could negatively affect the psychosocial development of the child. This is because it may have left the girl feeling guilty and insecure for presenting her idea, which perfectly demonstrates the theory of initiative versus guilt developed by Erikson. Sometimes it is necessary to restrict the initiative of the child where it is inappropriate but teachers and educators need to assess whether the societal judgment is outweighed by the student’s collaborative needs on the appropriateness. In this scenario the teacher should have assessed whether or not to limit exploration of this subject(West,2014).  . This is because all other students had shown interest in the subject. The teacher should have considered nurturing the sense of interest and initiative which would be beneficial to all other students.

Stage four of psychosocial development according to Erikson is industry vs. incompetency. A child is able to achieve goals when their industry is supported and reinforced by other children in their peer group. This is because the child develops the confidence and the ability to do that kind of work (Sigelman & Rider2014) . Therefore, when a child is rejected when trying to present ideas, he/she is left with feelings of inferiority or what some call inferiority complex. Therefore when a good approach is provided to a child who is presenting their ideas, they develop a sense of competency.  Thus, an educator should ensure that the children develop a sense of self control and modesty in their exploration and also a sense of competency. In this scenario, it would be worthwhile to engage in some exploration because of the interest that other children showed , while doing so, the teacher should also mind the needs of other children who were upset by the skeleton presented by Eliza.

 In making use of the psychology theory on this situation, the teacher might well  have known the specific response of the students ; Ahmed’s was distressed, and the other students had   interest in the skeleton. by means of supporting the children in being familiar with and know-how each other’s response, the educator can cultivate a sense of empathy. this will make certain the youngsters do no longer experience judged by means of their friends but rather, supported.

All these theories seek to influence the child positively and engage the children in positive learning experiences and consequently have the well being of the individual as a primary goal. There are variations on how to all these theories are applied in teaching practice (Newman & Newman, 2017). . The use of modeling techniques to define and shape a child’s behavior is done in during the formative stages of a child.  Behaviorism theory focuses on external behaviors. Humanism is used to consider knowledge, desires internal motivation and mistakes as the main opportunities for learning.

Review and comparison

On the other hand, as discussed above psychosocial theory nurtures a sense of developing an individuals initiative, encourages exploration and confidence. By using collaboration as key factors, this theory encourages learning and exploration (Kegan, 2018). The ZDP model is central to the socio cultural theory, which asserts the importance and benefits of peer learning.

Most of the key issues in this scenario are addressed by socio cultural practices. Social culturalism demonstrates practical application of some of these theories where by children are supported to share ideas and provide dialogue opportunities where they can express their experiences and own thoughts (Frosh, 2014). Consequently, the development of speech and communication enhances internal dialogue and the development of cognitive processing. Engagement creates a greater opportunity for learning where communication is based on topics of interest to the group.

social identity and Cultural background  are key factors in applying this theory.  There is need to consider societal awareness of the children as well as the different sensitivities during the learning period (LeVine, 2018). When applying the social cultural theory in this case study, an opportunity that offers various learning avenues to the children and provides various learning outcomes and should be a great learning experience to the children to develop their skills.

Behavioral theory is a theory that focuses on observable behavior and discounts any independent learning activity o the mind. Behavior theory defines learning as the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions. The two types of conditioning in behavioral theory that yield to a different behavioral pattern are;

Classic conditioning is where our reflex responds to a stimulus.  For example when Ahmed exhibits fear when he sees the skeleton is a classic conditioning. The second conditioning is called behavioral or operant conditioning which occurs when a response to a stimuli is reinforced.

In the new scenario, the teacher should put conditions that will help the students both who have phobia in such cases and for those who do not have phobias to learn effectively (Elkjaer, 2018).   The following are factors that First, Motivation is the most important factor in a learning environment. Motivation makes the student want to learn even if they have trouble understanding the information.  Motivation is not only on the students part but the teachers must also be highly motivated to teach. Second is aptitude, this determines how easy and quick learning will be. The instructor must have high aptitude for making attention holding presentations , preparing illustrative visuals and giving pertinent exercises. Also for easier learning the students too must have high aptitude(Klein & Mowrer, 2014). The teachers should put conditions that reduce the phobias of students who are afraid of the skeletons. For example, the teacher should affirm Ahmed that skeletons are not harmful by putting conditions that make it possible for all the students to learn. The students must have learning aptitude that make it easy for students to learn Instead of Eliza bringing the skeleton to class, the teacher advises her parents to instead take a photograph of the skeleton and bring it to class in order to help with the discovery (Mezirow, 2018). The sensitivities and individual needs of every student are well supported by the teacher and their needs are put into consideration, thus, the students actively participate and contribute to the learned outcomes (Illeris,2018).

New scenario

One of the conditions that can work is using photos to help in desensitizing the of the actual carcass to something that the students can easily approach and ask questions about.  There will be no negative emotions from the like of Ahmed when a photo is used.  The photos do not detract from Eliza’s interest and on the flipside , she is able to show her interest and communicate her thoughts to her classmates. The teacher can also  create a connection between real life experiences and the theory by arranging a trip to a museum for the students to learn more and in a deeper way (Feldman, 2016) . The best way for the students is by getting the best practical experience or real life experiences(Dennick, 2014)...

The teacher should address the questions  that are raised by the students in regards to the skeleton as part of creating a comfortable learning experience. When Ahmed gets memories of his diseased cat, the teacher should seize that moment to foster exploration of values and foster personal expression, cultural beliefs and individual knowledge. Based on the children’s reflections and discussion, the student decide that a farewell or a memorial is an appropriate way of honoring a cat that was once alive (Jarvis, 2018).

The analysis of the case study provides an opportunity for students too share ideas and also for collaborative learning. Whilst the information that is shared on theoretical perspectives were closely aligned with my own understanding from what I read, the practical application of the theories in regard to the creative output is what I was interested in mostly. This supports my belief that shared thinking and collaborative learning is mostly beneficial to those who are will and ready to take new ideas. My main input was comparing the theories and I also provided some help on editing the  new scenario and analysis part as well as sharing of ideas in these areas. This was a positive learning experience  and am thankful to the people ii worked with for their openness and receptivity.

References

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Elkjaer, B. (2018). Pragmatism: Learning as creative imagination. In Contemporary Theories  of Learning (pp. 66-82). Routledge.

Engeström, Y. (2018). Expansive learning: Towards an activity-theoretical reconceptualization. In Contemporary theories of learning (pp. 46-65). Routledge.

Frosh, S. (2014). Psychosocial theory. In Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1585-    1591). Springer, New York, NY.

Feldman, R. S. (2016). Development across the life span. Pearson.

Green, M. G., & Piel, J. A. (2015). Theories of human development: A comparative  approach. Psychology Press .

Illeris, K. (2018). A comprehensive understanding of human learning. In Contemporary    theories of learning (pp. 1-14). Routledge.

Klein, S. B., & Mowrer, R. R. (Eds.). (2014). Contemporary Learning Theories: Volume II: Instrumental Conditioning Theory and the Impact of Biological Constraints on     Learning. Psychology Press.

Jarvis, P. (2018). Learning to be a person in society: Learning to be me. In Contemporary theories of learning accounting. Routledge.

Kegan, R. (2018). What “form” transforms?: A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In Contemporary theories of learning (pp. 29-45). Routledge.

LeVine, R. A. (2018). Culture, behavior, and personality: An introduction to the comparative study of psychosocial adaptation. Routledge.

Mezirow, J. (2018). Transformative learning theory. In Contemporary Theories of Learning (pp. 114-128). Routledge.

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2017). Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Cengage Learning.

Olson, M. H. (2015). An introduction to theories of learning. Psychology Press.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2014). Life-span human development. Cengage Learning.

West, L. (2014). Transformative learning and the form that transforms: Towards a psychosocial theory of recognition using auto/biographical narrative research. Journal of Transformative Education, 12(2), 164-179.