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Philosophy Of Knowing And Learning

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Introduction

Shuell (cited in Ertmer & Newby, 2013 p.45) defines learning as an “enduring change in behaviour, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience.” It is from this central motif that I will discuss my own philosophy of knowing and learning through the support of relevant educational theories and my personal experiences of tutoring this semester at Thomastown West Learning Club. I will also evaluate the theories critically and analyze their limitations and/or benefits when implemented during tutoring.

My philopshy of knowing and learning is that no one learner is the same and learning effectively requires the tutor to understand the student through their education level, …show more content…
His theory allowed me to generalize the majority of students’ cognitive abilities through biological maturation but failed to consider other environmental factors such as culture and social settings, which can impact cognitive development. According to Huitt and Hummel (2003), Piaget’s experiment was based on a small sample size of which was mainly focused on his own children growing up in Switzerland. Thus, it strongly indicates that the study was biased and should not be applicable to children from different socio-cultural backgrounds. Fortunately, once I told the students that there was only a minute difference in word count, they started to develop the ability to realize that the size of the book did not accurately inform them of the length of their reading time. Therefore, this demonstrates that educators were able to assist in the development of a certain cognitive function for the learner and do not necessarily have to be a biological occurring …show more content…
The learning process takes place within a community of tutors and learners, all sharing a common language (English), which enables us to transfer and receive knowledge. Moreover, interaction allows us to develop self-constructed schemas in other to communicate with each other effectively. This is observed when I was tutoring a second-generation Chinese boy who mainly spoke Mandarin to his family. He had trouble speaking and understanding certain English vocabulary but through interacting with a ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ (MKO), I was able to define English words through speaking in Mandarin. As his capacity of vocabulary increased throughout the weeks, he did not require me to explain certain terms in Mandarin and he was able to guess the definitions through analyzing the sentence structure and scenario. As supported by Philips and Soltis (2009, p.58), “Vygotsky recognized that a key factor in social learning was the young person’s ability to learn by imitation.” Therefore, communicating collaboratively with adults in social situations will provide the student opportunity to observe, emulate and develop their own higher mental

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