Unit information: Effective Learning: Psychological Perspectives in 2013/14

Unit name	Effective Learning: Psychological Perspectives
Unit code	EDUCM5408
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Claxton
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

What does effective learning involve? What are the characteristics of effective learners? And how can students be helped to become more effective in their learning? This unit explores the psychological background to these important educational questions. Traditional approaches to the psychology of learning have recently been supplanted by a variety of new, more productive perspectives. This unit explores these developments, and their implications for the design of educational cultures and pedagogical practices. Key areas include learning in neural network systems; psychological studies of implicit learning; observational and imitational learning; ideas of 'learning to learn' and 'creative learning'; and sociocultural explorations of 'communities of practice'. Emerging cognitive approaches to emotion and intuition, and their relationship to learning, will also be discussed. Students will gain an overview of these different 'layers' of study and analysis, and a feel for how they might impinge on practical concerns in education.

Aims:

• To develop an understanding and critical appreciation of current psychological approaches to the processes of human learning, and of how these have developed over recent years.

• To illuminate the relationship between emotion and learning, drawing on cognitive, evolutionary and neuroscientific approaches

• To review research on non-verbal and non-conscious forms of learning and thinking

• To discuss the relevance of recent research on learning for classroom practice.

• To develop critical awareness of claims about learning and ‘learning to learn’ in the educational literature.

• To explore implications of psychological research for the wider aims and methods of education.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate that they:

• Understand how the psychology of learning has developed in the last 20 years

• Have grasped key concepts in the current study of learning

• Have explored the way in which different layers and approaches to learning relate to and complement each other

• Are able to critically interrogate claims about learning in the educational literature

• Understand the implication of recent psychological research on learning for classroom practice

• Understand the importance of emotional, intuitive and non-conscious factors in learning

• Are able to evaluate the relevance of learning theory for educational policy and innovation.

Teaching Information

The course will be delivered through whole group lectures and discussions, student presentations of prepared reading, and small group workshop exercises.

The needs of a wide range of students, including those with disabilities, international students and from ethnic minority backgrounds have been considered. It is not anticipated that the teaching and assessment methods used will cause disadvantage to any person taking the unit. The Graduate School of Education is happy to address individual support requests as necessary.

Assessment Information

A 4000 word essay will assess students’ critical understanding of recent literature and concepts in the psychology of effective learning, and their ability to explore the implications of this research for their own practice, and/or for educational practice more widely. In negotiation with tutors, students will identify an appropriate and individualised context for their assignment. They will be expected to analyse relevant texts and synthesise concepts from psychology and education, make links/connections and recognise associations/relationships between these concepts, and draw upon current understanding of effective learning. They will be expected to develop balanced arguments that reflect a multidisciplinary awareness and an ability to contextualise concepts, and draw appropriately upon a wide range of evidence.

Reading and References

Bransford, J., Brown, A, and Cocking, R. How People Learn. National Academy Press: Washington DC, 2000.

Claxton, G.L. Wise Up: The Challenge of Lifelong Learning, Bloomsbury: London, 1999.

Dweck, C.S. Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development, Psychology Press: Hove, Sussex, 1999.

Phillips D.C. and Soltis, J.F., Perspectives on Learning, Teachers College Press: New York, 2003.

Tomasello, M. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition, CUP: Cambridge, 2001.

Watkins, C. Classrooms as Learning Communities, Routledge Falmer: London, 2005.