What is the phenomena called when a student or pupil can learn better because he or she can associate the new knowledge with something previously known?
And:
What is the phenomena called when a student or pupil can strengthen theory by hands-on labs?
I am looking for the terms fitting to the two questions mentioned above. Since I am from natural science I am lacking a bit in educational terminology. Thank you very much for your input!
In my writings, I call the first my "Velcro View of learning". For example it appears in my forthcoming book under the heading "Soak yourself in the knowledge base".
I simply call the second "The reinforcement of theory with practical work".
If you want a quote: Kennedy, I. 'Dear Me, Working Strategies for coping with big classes'. Coping with Big Classes Conference. University of the Witwatersrand. 31st Oct - 1st Nov 2011 p8: "This is the author's Velcro view of learning: Students hook their learning onto what they already know. This creates problems when the lecturer is attempting to teach the student something for which they have nothing to hook the new knowledge onto. The acquisition of knowledge is likened to Velcro on material that is Velcroed onto other material that has already been internalized by the student. (Worse still is the situation where the most underlying – foundation – material does not exist.)"
Dear Ian, thank you very much for your answers. I was not too sure to take that terminologies but by some research on your term I found the term "analogical learning" which is quite fitting for the first issue. It seems like this was a topic at the end of the 80s, so I decided to take a more recent paper for an overview purpose, e.g.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1026692922914
I am not sure that "analogical learning" is what you are really looking for because it assumes that all learning is analogical, which is a very poor description of all the ways we can creatively learn.
If you sincerely cannot find a term for a phenomenon, you are entitled to make up a new name. For the second, lets agree to call it "Prac-Theory Reinforcement" (PTR)?
Yes, indeed I am not too sure myself. I see that your words I wisely chosen because they are quite fitting the scheme. Anyway, I searched a bit for the terminology you are using and I have not found too many other researchers using it. Velcro learning is to some extend in the literature (though not that much, to be honest).
I have not found the second term at all in other literatures. Still your input helped me to orientate more easily in the literature. A good basic paper for "proving" the existence of the second phenomena is
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v1n2/pdf/jones.pdf
nevertheless they do not use a specific term. A paper citing jones is
http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/Ivers-Helton-FINAL-DRAFT.pdf
they are using "hands-on learning" as a term which I like very much but fun fact is: the original cited paper never uses this term! A set of "hands-on learning" meanings is written down in
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED372926.pdf
but it even states there that "hands-on learning means many different things to different people.". Though I think I am going to stick to this term if you cannot support me with another source using "PTR".
I hope you are open for this terminology discussion :) .
Our "Velcro View of Learning" and also "Prac-Theory Reinforcement" are not in the literature by other names, so we are free to name them as we wish, and lay claim to the need for that invention and to those particular names.
"Hands-on learning" is another concept. It correctly suggests that people learn better through having their hands on the equipment than e.g. using a simulation or watching someone demonstrate.
It is silent on the issue of whether theory is being reinforced. However, you are after a term which describes the (well-known) concept of doing lab work to help the student to internalise the theoretical aspect.
I find it strange, that in spite of the two phenomena having well documented roots that no-one has bothered to name them. This makes talking about them and teaching them difficult!
Unless someone on ResearchGate can point to early nomenclature, it is our duty to write and publish on the topic. I will correspond with you.
Once again, I am convinced how "barren" and sterile is the "pure pedagogy" compared to engineering art ... how far it is from the reality of our world... More than 100,000 members of the educational community... and nobody react to this very important issue - the use of analogies as a bridge between the well-known old and the unknown new... and the learning by doing in the lab... basic principles of didactics...
Regarding the ed community, not all are computer literate; not all are RG members. not all are following this theme, not all know, and not all are bothered to post!
On-line, self-directed learning will be the wake-up call.
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