As a psychology graduate student, I have had the opportunity to learn many different things, including hands-on experience with research and teaching.  With the limited teaching experience I have had, I have developed a sense of the overarching theoretical approaches that shape how I interact with students inside and outside of the classroom.

Of the four theoretical approaches discussed in class (CI 501), only one or two really speak to my professional goals and personal approach to teaching.  To illustrate, I will describe how I approach the class I am currently teaching, a psychology research methods class.  In this class, students develop their own research hypotheses and test their hypotheses themselves.  One of the main goals of the psychology research process is to discover “truth” or “facts” about people and how they interact with others. 

Although this search for “truth” seems to align with the Perennialism view, in which the main focus of education is the search for an objective truth, independent of humankind (Cohen, 1999), psychology research is by its very nature dependent on humankind.  In order to understand other people, we have to study the nature of humankind.  The creative nature of psychology research—looking for intellectual “holes” in theories of behavior that have yet to be studied, or identifying unique combinations of ideas to study—precludes the dependence upon Essentialism.  I encourage students to think in irrational or more creative ways—with this approach, they are less likely to come up with standard or expected responses and instead come up with novel and interesting ideas.  However, it is important to be knowledgeable about existing research; therefore, Perennialism or Essentialism does partially contribute to the theory behind my teaching process (Cohen, 1999).  Students search for electronic or physical copies of previous studies; the advent of online information has made this preliminary step in the research process much easier and more streamlined.

Essentialism describes reality as being objective and emphasizes the accumulation of knowledge as content (Cohen, 1999).  Although psychological research methods, and indeed all psychology classes, could be taught with a content-based approach, I believe the most important thing my students learn will be the importance of the process of learning.  One of the purposes of the research methods class is the pursuit of new knowledge, not simple memorization of a standard set of facts.  In this manner, I identify the most with Progressivism or Reconstructionism. 

Original post: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

In Progressivism, the emphasis is on fine-tuning instructional approaches to constantly improve upon the student’s (and instructor’s) learning experience (Cohen, 1999).  Progressivism focuses on the process of acquiring knowledge, rather than the end goal of attaining knowledge (Cohen, 1999), although attaining knowledge is also assuredly important.  By continuing to refine the in-class activities, I try to find activities that help illustrate concepts we learn in class that are also memorable for students.  By incorporating humor and emotion into in-class activities, students will better remember the material (Parkin, Lewinsohn, & Folkard, 2011).  By making course content more personally relevant, students can improve their long-term retention of that information (Kahan & Johnson, 1992).  In order to make information more personally relevant for students, I poll them on the first day of class to compile a list of their favorite TV shows; I then include examples using characters from their favorite TV shows to make the content more personally relevant for students.  I also pull popular culture references into class using Internet memes and gifs, and I include video clips from YouTube that illustrate class concepts. 

Reconstructionism builds on Progressivism in that it questions the status quo and challenges students to influence their own outcomes, whether they are learning outcomes or society as a whole (Cohen, 1999).  Reconstructionism also strives to resolve the discrepancy between technological advancements and values (Cohen, 1999).  By encouraging students to set their own classroom guidelines regarding the appropriate use of personal electronics, they work towards reconciling this discrepancy as a group.

As an instructor of college students, I incorporate all learning theories into my approach to some degree.  In accordance with Perennialism and Essentialism, I believe the content learned in class is important; however, I believe the process of learning is the most important.  I want to impress upon students the importance of being life-long learners, so I work with them to develop the critical thinking skills they need to continue learning once they have graduated college.  I hope to instill in them a sense of wonder and joy about the world—there is so much to learn, and we can only hope to learn a sliver of it in our lifetimes.

References

Cohen, L. M. (1999). Section III: Philosophical perspectives in education, part 3. Retrieved from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html

Kahan, T. L., & Johnson, M. K. (1992). Self effects in memory for person information. Social Cognition, 10(1), 30-50. doi:10.1521/soco.1992.10.1.30
Parkin, A. J., Lewinsohn, J., & Folkard, S. (2011). The influence of emotion on immediate and delayed retention: Levinger & Clark reconsidered. British Journal of Psychology, 73(3), 389-393. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1982.tb01821.x