The Understanding of Educational Concept - Essay Example

CONCEPT IN EDUCATION Name Institution Course Professor Date CONCEPT IN EDUCATION Introduction Education as a subject takes various forms describing of its multidiscipline nature. According to Peters (2010, p. 9), the field of education has no specific process which allows the conformation of independent families into one whole. Moreover, philosophers consider it as both a task and achievement through the processes of teaching and learning. The primary understanding of educational concept relies on a comprehensive discussion and analysis of its elements in relation to the actions of teaching and learning. Supporting this paradigm is the work of Mayer (2016, p. 2) providing the didactic characteristics of the learning material elements, especially about their impacts on the students, instructors and the institution. The essay focuses on the culture of active learning as leading factor of improving the students’ outcome in the quest to obtain an education. The essay develops through the topics learning culture, active learning, application of active learning in education, and its significance. Learning Culture Winch and Gingell (1999, p. 50) describes education as the transmission of culture between the different stakeholders. In particular, the culture summarizes the beliefs and practices characteristic of a given society. However, Winch and Gingell (1999, p. 50) develops a culture in the education industry as consisting of both the intellectual and artistic practices of the community. High culture upholding the best intellect and beliefs is fundamental to the educations sector, particular being a field that attracts multiculturalism through the students. The imperative is the understanding of the characteristics of the learning culture in influencing the direction of the students. An example is an illustration by Winch and Gingell (1999, p. 50) describing the transition between the old culture into a popular one characteristic of the contemporary society. Traditional learning takes the form of learning on crafts compared modernism that focuses on literature (Winch & Gingell, 1999, p. 50). In particular, Winch and Gingell (1999, p. 50) present the case of the US where the culture of learning primarily emphasizes on the process of skill acquisitions at a costly price of retaining content. In this case, the quality of education presented to the students becomes second-rate with numerous challenges when it comes to real application in the field. In defining the learning culture regarding its components, Selden (2014, p. 28) identifies its component of values, belief, assumptions, and ideologies shared between the stakeholders. Although each of these elements contributes significantly to learning, Selden (2014, p. 28) argues that ideologies are the most important in developing a comprehensive culture. The necessity of ideology is its ability to incorporate the economic, social, and political changes that occur throughout life. Moreover, Selden (2014, p. 29) suggests that the assumptions as a component influence the individual understanding about culture. It is the preservation of the particular assumptions that values develop and taught to the public as a means to identify and describe a specific institution. The imperative is the effects of the values on personal and organizational behavior that occurs through a conscious or unconscious effort. Education culture develops as a contribution of histories of the institution especially concerning its founding principles (Selden, 2014, p. 31). Current learning practices are a combination of the past present and future influences. The imperatives are the present and the future aspects following their dynamism and unpredictability in influencing or shaping the type of learning the culture. Bruner (1996, p. 44) agrees on the dynamic nature of the learning culture through the statement that a schoolroom exists on the cultural border. The border describes the distinction between knowledge and its application in the living context. Moreover, the presence of the border in the context of teaching and learning develops the problem of meetings of the minds (Bruner, 1996, p. 45). The problem results from the intuitive thinking about the minds of others and how they work. The intuition develops a system of theories about the learning process of the student. It is from these theories that a learning culture develops involving the teacher and student through the carrying out of activities to influence the capacity of the mind to understand and grow. The application of the folk pedagogy and psychology follows the strategy of the instructors. An example provided by Bruner (1996, p. 44) involves a theorist who believes that a teacher should practice teaching and learning by allowing the student to develop a self-generalization in understanding concept. In this case, as the teacher believes in the model as the best learning tool, it is upon him/her to provide the child with the general cases. Comparatively, the student under instruction has a task of memorizing the examples (Bruner, 1996, p. 46). The case develops the understanding of the structure and culture of learning where the system follows particular theories or teaching elements deemed appropriate and effective in establishing learning. In enhancing the understanding of learning culture is the work by Teacher Leadership (2014, p.1) who describes learning as a culture by itself. According to Teacher Leadership (2014, p.1), learning is a human need engineered by the need to understand the environment. Therefore, it begins as a process of understanding the surrounding through learning and continuous as so through the knowledge obtained from the teachers. Its characteristic as a culture becomes more pronounced through its features of literacy, curiosity, self-adequacy, and ambition that all together form a process that is progressive (Teacher Leadership, 2014, p.1). Teacher Leadership (2014, p.1) believes on the possibility of the manipulation of the surroundings in creating a learning culture. This supports the idea by Bruner (1996, p. 46) that it is possible for the teacher to develop a specific culture through the habits, beliefs, and tools they utilize in the classroom. The idea involves creating conditions that allow for the effective learning according to the preferences of the instructor (Teacher Leadership, 2014, p.1). Active Learning CRLT (2016, p. 1) defines active learning as the engaging of students in activities stimulating the synthesis of class content. Comparatively, Prince (2004, p. 223) explains it as any technique that provides the engagement of the learner. Gilbert (2016, p. 1) agrees with the definition especially since the strategy enhances the academic success, engagement, attention, memory, and thinking skill. The model is a complete innovation of the traditional teaching mechanism which according to Prince (2004, p. 223) engineers a lot of interest and attention since its conception. Its usefulness in learning is its process of allowing the carrying out of an activity and thinking about each of the steps its accomplishment and impact. Students in today’s classrooms have different social, economic, and political challenges compared to those of earlier periods. In this case, Roehl, Reddy, and Shannon (2013, p. 44) address that educators are facing the challenge to improve the attention of the students through the incorporation of active learning techniques into the traditional teaching. The particular change includes adopting deep learning techniques that provide more impact compared to the lecturing models. Freeman et al. (2014, p. 8410) support the shift to a learning-centered paradigm especially in the sciences where lectures only cannot provide effective learning and mastering of content. Jensen, Kummer and Godoy (2015, p. 1) introduce the model of “flip classroom” where learning takes place outside the classroom and further amplified through the instructors class teaching. The realization of the technique follows the advancement of technology and its vast use in the current generations. Jensen et al. (2015, p. 1) identify the outside classroom as an online platform that provides rich information to the student about the particular field of interest. Moreover, the plan works by changing the system of learning by structuring the level of understanding to an individual setting. Its main advantage to the student includes the provision of prior understanding to the topic (content attainment) that becomes polished through the teachers’ aid. Further insights into the topic follow the argument of Chi and Wylie (2014, p. 219) where active learning describes the cognitive engagement of the students by establishing meaning from the learning materials. Chi and Wylie (2014, p. 219) present the engagement in three form of levels including the emotional, motivational and behavioral. In motivations, active learning achieves the positive development of interest in the students to participate in a learning activity. Comparatively, Chi and Wylie (2014, p. 219) explain the behavior element as the participation of the student in class and class attendance, while emotional input involves the reactions of the teachers and fellow students. The three component require the proper employment of approaches us specifying activities both personal and pair, the creation of informal groups, and initiating cooperative studies (Roehl et al. 2013, p. 45). Moreover, the teaching methods to facilitate the approaches include the use of simulations, peer teaching, case studies, brainstorming, conceptual mapping, and structuring of projects (Roehl et al. 2013, p. 45). Application of active learning in Education Kim, Kim, Khera and Getman (2014, p. 37) identifies the flipped classroom model as one of the existing strategies that enhance the adoption of active learning skills. In flipped classroom, the plan achieves more interaction during the class session, especially through the application of technology in managing the accessibility of information and reading materials. O'Flaherty and Phillips (2015, p. 85) agrees on the effectiveness of effectiveness of the inverted classroom in improving student engagement. Through the internet, the students can access multimedia lectures that help improve their understanding of the topic before the classroom session. Similarly, Kong (2014, p. 60) present the case of creating digital classroom as a plan to enhance the information literacy and critical thinking in the learners. The plan seeks to tap into the culture of a digital age and maximize its impacts in influencing active learning. Patterson, Kilpatrick, and Woebkenberg (2010, p. 603) discuss the use of Student Response System (SRS) whose application fosters an active learning environment. The model, though applied in the field of nursing, manages to provide a forum for one-on-one interaction in subjects that attract large classrooms (Mayer et al. 2009, p. 51). The SRS model applies technology in facilitating immediate feedback to questions which allows a better understanding of the learners’ grasp of the subject. Moreover, Mayer et al. (2009, p. 51) provide that the use of SRS in managing large classrooms accomplishes active concentration of the students by making them participate in the discussions and accounting for the individual thoughts about the specific question posed. Significance of Active Learning According to Butt (2014, p. 41), active learning through the application of an inverted classroom provides the student with a pre-reading opportunity in the preparation for the class session. O'Flaherty and Phillips (2015, p. 85) supports the significance of active learning through the flipped class model by mentioning specific advantages including shift of ownership of learning from the teachers to the students, improved interaction during class time, allows students to control the pace of learning, and provides more class time for in-depth discussion. Wieman (2014, p. 8319) address the advantages of active learning with the explanation of its significance in providing the student with an opportunity to actively process information. Moreover, it allows the application of critical thinking through the formation of group discussion and collaboration during projects. Therefore, active learning achieves greater impacts to a wide population of students. Based on Wieman (2014, p. 8319) the consistency of the models influences the establishment of a positive learning culture where education focuses on learning. Moreover, the argument by Wieman (2014, p. 8319) supports the contribution of active learning in improving performance and student satisfaction with the quality of education. Conclusion In summary, effective teaching and learning in the current century follow the application of active learning techniques. The rise of technology and its use in various industries promotes its application in the education sector as a means to improve the impact of learning to the students. The imperative is the understanding of learning culture in managing the style of teaching and learning. Culture contributes particular values, beliefs, and practices that altogether impact the education institutions. Comparatively, active learning includes the teaching aids that foster the mastering of content and deeper understanding of the subjects in achieving greater satisfaction and involvement of the learner. The particular advantages of active learning surpass the traditional models, encouraging its application in all levels of education institutions. References Bruner, J.S., 1996. The culture of education. New York: Harvard University Press. Butt, A., 2014. Student views on the use of a flipped classroom approach: Evidence from Australia. Business Education & Accreditation, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.33-43. Chi, M.T. and Wylie, R., 2014. The ICAP framework: Linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes. Educational Psychologist, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 219-243. CRLT., 2016. Active Learning. [online] Available at: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsal [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017]. Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H. and Wenderoth, M.P., 2014. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no.23, pp.8410-8415. Gilbert, S., 2016. 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