Student Name: Sibongile Zinzi Mfumbatha

Student Number: 65932099

Module Code: EDS 3701
Assignment Unique Code:736666
Assignment Number: 01
Primary Lecture: DR S.M Danke

Table of Contents

(A)Situated learning theory by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991) ........................................................ 2
(B)Experiential learning by David Kolb (1976) .......................................................................................... 3
(C)Constructivism theory by Fry et al (2003) ........................................................................................ 4
(D)References.................................................................................................................................... 5
(A)Situated learning theory by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991)
❖ How Situated learning theory is assisting me as a preservice teacher to become a better
teacher.
Situated learning will help placing learners in realistic settings where socially acquired ways of
knowing are often valued. Will help to increase the likelihood of application within similar
contexts.

❖ Discuss Situated learning theory in detail and examples to support my answer.

Situated learning theory discloses that every intention and human action is a generalization,
adapted to the ongoing environment; it is founded on the belief that what people learn, see,
and do is situated in their role as a member of a community (Lave and Wenger, 1991) Lave and
Wenger (1991) argues that learning is a social process whereby knowledge is co-constructed;
they suggest that such learning is situated in a specific context and embedded within a
particular social and physical environment.

Examples:
❖ Cooperative internships that allow students to be immersed in the workplace.
❖ Field trips in which students can experience the work environment.
❖ Laboratory settings where students actively participate in mock activities.
❖ Articulation of learning skills'
❖ Apprenticeship.
❖ Collaboration.
❖ Reflection.
❖ Coaching.
❖ Multiple practice.

The shortcomings of Situated learning theory.

❖ Failure to Acknowledge Objectivity
❖ Failure to Acknowledge Creative Individuality
❖ Its implementation within the parameters of the traditional school system as it exists today.
❖ The learner may find themselves in a situation where the stimulus for the correct response
does not occur, therefore the learner cannot respond.

How am I correcting the shortcomings Situated learning theory in my teaching.

❖ I will give learners the chance to engage with real-life, problem-solving contexts.
❖ I will strategically apply the learner's prior knowledge on a given subject.
❖ Learning through Doing: Focus on project or phenomenon-based learning where students
learn by doing real-world problem-solving tasks rather than learning from books.
❖ Act as Mentors: I will take on a mentorship role in which the students become apprentices in
their practice
 ❖ School Excursions: I will encourage learners to take internships or mentorship roles
in the local community. Students should be given opportunities to shadow practitioners as they
complete their daily tasks.
❖ School Incursions: Having community members come into the classroom to share how they
do things and vocabulary from their profession.
❖ I will design instruction that learners will recall.
❖ I will place learners in realistic settings where socially acquired ways of knowing are often
valued.

(B)Experiential learning by David Kolb (1976)

❖ How experiential learning is assisting me as a preservice teacher to become a

better teacher
Experiential learning helps me to form one-on-one structured sessions with students
with disabilities. It allows preservice educators to practice what they have learned and
reflect on their instruction (Haverback, & Parault, 2008) As subject experts, experiential
theory helps me to help learners to organize and connect their reflections to the subject
knowledge base. It helps me to teach by example, modelling and encouraging critical
thinking.

❖ Discuss experiential theory in detail and examples to support my answer

Is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience.
Kolb argues that effective learning is seen as the learner goes through the cycle, and
that they can enter the cycle at any time. Experiential learning is an engaged
learning process whereby students “learn by doing” and by reflecting on the experience.
Experiential learning focuses on the learning process for the individual.

Examples:
❖ Build in daily practice.
❖ Encourage Social Learning.
❖ Make learning visual.
❖ Use spaced repetition.
❖ Going to the zoo to learn about animals through observation, instead of reading
about them.
❖ Growing a garden to learn about photosynthesis instead of watching a movie about
it.
❖ Hoping on a bicycle to try and learn to ride, instead of listening to your parent explain
the concept.
 The shortcomings of experiential theory.
❖ Experiential learning includes hands of errors, as students work on the given tasks,
they may make mistakes and find various approaches to work better each time
❖ In sufficient educational spaces & equipment’s.
❖ Less experienced instructors and technicians.
❖ Not paying attention to parallel and additional experiences.
❖ Insufficient class.

How am I correcting the shortcomings experiential theory in my teaching.

❖ I will promote teamwork and communication skills.
❖ I will development of reflective practice habits.
❖ Ability to immediately apply knowledge.
❖ Access to real-time coaching and feedback.
❖ I will enable children to pursue their own areas of interest and to work through
problems as they arise in a real-life
❖ Encourage social learning.
❖ Interactive classroom games.

(C)Constructivism theory by Fry et al (2003)

❖ How constructive theory is assisting me as a preservice teacher to become a better

teacher
The theory will help to construct situations in the classroom in which the students will question
their own and each other's assumptions. As constructivist teacher creates
situations in which I will be able to challenge the assumptions upon which traditional
teaching and learning are based. An understanding of constructive theory will help me
bind to all different kinds of students. The theory will help me focus on different learning
styles to reach different students, creating teaching that focuses directly on student
needs and aptitudes so that I will become a better teacher. Constructivism promotes
social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes
collaboration and exchange of ideas. I will use the theory to help students learn how to
coherent their ideas clearly as well as to consort on tasks effectively by sharing in group
projects.

❖ Discuss constructive theory in detail and examples to support my answer.

Constructivism is the theory that says learners build comprehension rather than just
passively take in facts. As people experience the world and reflect upon those
experiences, they construct their own representations and incorporate new information
into their pre-existing knowledge (schemas).
 Examples:

❖ Reciprocal teaching/learning. Allow pairs of students to teach each other.

❖ Inquiry-based learning (IBL) Learners pose their own questions and seek answers to
their questions via research and direct observation.
❖ Problem-based learning.
❖ Cooperative learning.
❖ investigating and discovering knowledge for themselves. One of the best examples of
this is so-called ''discovery learning''.

The shortcomings of constructive theory:

❖ Learning through trial-and-error is a time-consuming process.

❖ The biggest disadvantage is its lack of structure.
❖ The bad side of constructivism lies in its tendency towards epistemological relativism
(including individual and social community relativism), which seems to be the major
challenge that constructivists face.

How will I correct the shortcomings constructive theory in my teaching:

❖ I will ask learners to build their own definition.

❖ I will ask students to extract their own connections between concepts.
❖ I will request learners to analyze a complex issue by constructing a report.
❖ Allow students to search the internet for source materials
❖ Create cognitive dissonance. Assign problems and activities that will challenge
students.
❖ I will teach learners to apply knowledge with feedback.
❖ I will reflect on learning.

(D)References

❖ Kolb DA. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and

development. FT press; 2014 Dec 17.
❖ Kolb, D.A., 2014. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and
development. FT press.
❖ Fox, 2001; and Cobb, 1996 for similar criticism)
❖ Jack Mezirow.
❖ McLellan (1994).
❖ Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991).
❖ Haverback, & Parault, (2008)