Learning Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Learning Theories - Essay Example Activities in the lesson plan are already aligned with principles of Cognitivism. Cognitivism is concerned about making students fully understand the concepts (Casas, 2011). Contrary to Behaviorism, which relies on memorization for mastery of the subject (Arizona State University), Cognitivism relies on higher thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Therefore, to incorporate principles of Cognitivism in the current lesson, one should focus on making students use higher thinking skills in mastering the concepts that will be taught. The first means of instruction is to use visual and verbal content at the same time. It entails the use of visual aids in the explanation of the story to better facilitate expedient learning on the students. The use of pictures is important because it appeals to the visual sense of the students. It is not enough to just mention Mississippi to engage students. Pictures will aid in making them imagine what they can find in the setting of the story. Also, instead of making students read the story right away, it will help students to understand the story more if the teacher presents vocabulary words used in the story. The short story makes use of the setting to highlight the theme. Therefore, for the main task, students are assigned to construct the timeline of the story. In making the timeline, they are expected to base their work on the events of the story. Making the timeline will challenge their analytical skills as they cut out Grandma Phoenix’s trail. Likewise, the visuals they will make will help to strengthen their knowledge of the plot, hence lead them to a deeper understanding of the story.