This essay will endeavour to identify the main theories and principles of learning and communication. Examining how to plan and apply them in the classroom to enable inclusive learning and evaluating one’s own strengths in relation to the application of the principles and theories of learning and communication to identify any personal development needs.
What is learning? Reece, Walker (1999) state learning is about change, whether it is purposeful or accidental it means understanding something new or developing a new skill, maintaining learning is a relatively permanent change. Many would argue the primary purpose of the teacher is to ensure learning occurs. It therefore seems important that teachers have an understanding how the
Gagne (1973 ) outlined a general process of learning, viewing learning as a change in human disposition or capability which persists over a period of time and which is not simply ascribed to the process of growth. The learning process has four phases, apprehending stimuli, the acquisition of knowledge, storage and the retrieval of knowledge He also outlined eight learner characteristics, and a hierarchy of eight phases of learning arguing the design of teaching should match the phase of learning. Every act of learning requires reflection and feedback if it is to be completed. Critics of the Cognitive approach argue the need for constant reinforcement place too larger responsibility on the teacher as there are simply too many learners. Many believe by rewarding behaviour students lose interest in learning for learning sake and by rewarding one student this can lead to a detrimental effect on the class. The Neo Behaviourist teacher’s role is as designer and manager of learning. Ensuring curriculum design and lesson planning meet the needs of individual learners, managed so low order skills are mastered before higher order skills. A logical construction is used to show how topics can be approached by a variety of paths and opportunities provided for the learner’s need to apply learning to test its validity. Effective