Pedagogical Theory and Practice and Improving Student Learning Experience

Introduction

Pedagogy involves the performance of teaching accompanied with theories and practices that shape it. It directly links the act of teaching with culture, structure and mechanisms of student or learner control. Pedagogy may also refer to the process by which teaching activities, interactions, and assignments are structured in accordance to ideas that develop out of theories¹. Pedagogy is influential when it is responsive, dynamic and flexible². Salvatori defines pedagogy as “reflexive praxis”³. According to Salvatori pedagogy must be reflective, implying “that a teacher should be able and willing to interrogate the reasons” for theory adoption and “to inform the possibility that a specific theory and the practice that implements it might not be effective at certain times or in certain circumstances”⁴. In other words, when teachers engage in reflexive cycles that encompasses theorizing, practical use of ideas, and evaluation of results in light of specific institutional contexts and student population, that’s when pedagogy is most effective. The theories and practices of pedagogy help students improve their learning experiences in a number of ways⁵.

Pedagogical Theory and Practice and Student Learning Experience

Our beliefs in true learning are informed by pedagogical theories and practices that were ably enumerated in the works of leading school reform researchers⁶. A large scale school restructuring study undertaken by Newmann and Wehlage in mid 1990s concluded that pedagogical theories and practices were necessary in improving student learning experiences⁷. The study identified three criteria’s of improving student learning experiences: one, engaging learners actively in constructive knowledge where the primary role of the teacher is to allow learners to actively engage their intellect in learning and problem solving; two, allowing learning to happen through disciplined inquiry in which learners develop deep understanding of concepts and theories through examining specific problems, applying complex forms of language for both learning and communication⁸; and three, ensuring that student learning experiences have value beyond measuring success in school⁹. Student’s experiences outside of learning environment should be integrated with school learning, and knowledge should extent beyond the classroom into the lives of students¹⁰.

Research on pedagogical theories and practices have had an impact on how nations have organized educational change initiatives. For instance, the state of Queensland in Australia focused their reform efforts in transforming teaching and learning efforts through New Basic Project, an integrated framework for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment¹¹

The New Basics are clusters, families or groups of practices that are essential for survival in the worlds that students have to deal with. There are four clusters that act as curriculum organizers and are entitled, Life Pathways and Social Futures, Multi-literacy and Communication Medias, Active Citizenship, and Environment and Technologies¹². These clusters are intended to assist students understand: who they are and where they are going; how they make sense of and communicate with the outside world; understand their rights and responsibilities in communities, culture and economies; and describe, analyze and shape the world around them ¹³.

The key features of the New Basics project included: productive pedagogies, explained as teacher practices that have a positive influence on student outcomes; productive assessment, which provides high order thinking and problem solving emphasis; and rich tasks through which learners “demonstrate their understandings, knowledge and skills through performance on Trans-disciplinary activities that have obvious connection with the outside world”¹⁴. There is much to learn from the research based initiative such as the New Basics Project. It offers evidence that pedagogical theories and practices are required to improve student learning experiences¹⁵.

Pedagogical Theories and Practices Helps in Motivating Students to Improve the Learning Experiences

A pedagogical theory of learning offers students learning experiences that are appropriate in a learning situation. It is a unique theory that target particular cases. Pedagogical theory commences from the single case, searches for the universal qualities, and returns to the single case. The pedagogical theorist leaves the learner symbolically in reflective thought; and engages the student in a real way to understand what is appropriate for the student every now and then¹⁶.

These theories and practices help in determining how teachers tackle student motivational matters in their learning experiences. Misapplication of pedagogical approaches in enhancing student motivational issues may undermine the entire process of learner motivation. Brennen defines motivation as “the level of an effort an individual is willing to expend towards the attainment of a specific goal”. According to McDevitt, “motivation energizes, directs and sustains behaviour and can either be intrinsic or extrinsic” ¹⁷. Motivational theories are behavioural, cognitive, humanistic, and biological.

Behavioural motivational theories are based on the contributions of operant learning theories of B.F Skinner. These theories explain the processes of enhancing the desired behaviour by applying either positive reinforcements or avoidance of negative stimuli as extrinsic forms of motivation. Cognitive motivation views “stress the activation of cognitive disequilibrium as a means to motivate students to learn new concepts” ¹⁸. Students are directed to behave in a manner that rediscovers equilibrium due to this state of cognitive dissonance. The cognitive theory puts more attention to intrinsic motivation and establishes circumstances where learners are stimulated to establish answers. Humanistic motivational views on the other hand, are based Maslow’s contributions on “motivation and personality”. It seeks to explain how learners endeavour to achieve five different levels of hierarchical needs. Maslow theory contends that if learners have their basic physical and safety requirements fulfilled, their needs of belongingness, self esteem, and self actualization will intrinsically improve their learning experiences¹⁹. According to achievement motivational theory, most individuals strive to attain goals they aspire to attain. On the other hand, “low achievers tend to attribute failure to lack of ability and success to luck. Biological motivational view postulates that “neutral activity in the brain guides individuals towards or away from particular outcomes and these synaptic events influence behavioural outcomes”²⁰.

Pedagogical theories and practices assist educators in higher education to adjust their teaching methods and philosophies to conform to the actively changing demographics from that of high school seniors to one of non-traditional students. The theories and practices encourage higher education to create an environment in which non-traditional students can enhance their learning. It maintains an environment where student and teacher dynamics are considered and implemented carefully. The underlying theories and practices of pedagogy at different levels of education, determine the type of learning experiences that learners meet in the classroom²¹.

Pedagogical Theories and Practices help in Encouraging Learning by Design

Kalantzis and Cope formulated pedagogical theories and practices that built in notions of learning by design²². The ultimate goal was to improve learning experiences for different categories of learners; ensuring that such experiences are meaningful and inclusive. Kalantzis and Cope were informed by Multilateralism which they helped to conceive. There work illustrates several objectives that indicate important orientation of work. These include: one, widely recognizing diverse learning needs of both learners and educators and promoting theories and practices that support student learning needs; two, improving the understanding of concepts related to the theory of Multilateralism and a capacity to incorporate ideas related to the theory to diverse teaching and learning contexts; three, enhancing multimodal techniques and practices of teaching awareness and improving teaching capacity in multimodal ways applying digital technologies where appropriate; four, improving the level of skill and knowledge of learners for the purpose of them achieving their aspirations and participate meaningfully in the peer groups and communities to which they are part and make their contributions to societies which they belong; last but not least, expanding teachers professional practice repertoires while assisting them acquire the confidence to combine and synthesize these practices appropriately²³.

In general, pedagogical theories and practices highlights the important place learners and their learning needs occupy in learning by design. These theories and practices encourage and provide knowledge to educators on the need to create learning environments which engage the sensibilities of learners who are increasingly involved in digital environments and multimodal settings²⁴. The theories and practices emphasize more on the role of the student in the learning process. Learning by design puts the student as the focal point. This is because it accommodates diverse learning needs and diverse learning preferences. Educators cannot treat all learners in the same manner²⁵.

There must always be a convincing pedagogy and possible rationale behind it for the learning to occur in a learning environment²⁶. Pedagogy presents the essence of schooling that under gird the entire educational sector. He contends that:

The reform of schooling must start with and be subsequently defined by pedagogical practice that is democratic. New organizational designs must emerge from pedagogy, the essence of schooling, and be shaped by it. It must not be the way it has been throughout the century, pedagogy accommodating to organization. Rather, pedagogy must create organization’s structure; pedagogy must shape organizational culture. From democratic pedagogy will raise democratic organization²⁷.

In sum, theory and practices of pedagogy is the science and art of education.

Pedagogical Theories and Practices helps in Encouraging Teaching that Builds on Students Prior Learning

Pedagogical theories and practices recognize the cultural backgrounds of students. This helps in building bridges from knowledge and discourses often neglected in school settings to the learning of conventional academic knowledge and Discourse. Much of this work is derived from cognitive and sociocognitive approaches that seek to activate the student’s prior knowledge and link their existing knowledge to the concepts targeted. Pedagogical theories provide teachers rich knowledge and cultural practices their students might contribute in school²⁸. Teachers are able to build between the mainstream academic knowledge and discourse, and the knowledge and discourse that students bring to classroom once they learn about the different forms of prior knowledge or the different discursive practices their students might bring in the classroom.²⁹

Pedagogical Theories and Practices foster Teaching that is Culturally Responsive

Theories and practices of pedagogy encourage teachers to involve all learners in the construction of knowledge. According to these theories and practices, teachers are required to be culturally responsive. Culturally responsive teachers create a learning environment in which all learners are encouraged to make sense of new ideas³⁰. This means that students are encouraged to construct knowledge that helps them better understand the world; rather than just memorize information that is pre-digested. Teachers, who assist their students in knowledge construction, involve them actively in learning tasks that promote the advancement of thought processes, including skills of hypothesizing, predicting, comparing, evaluating, integrating, and synthesizing³¹.

Pedagogy encourages teachers to give students an active role in learning by involving them in inquiry projects that have personal meaning to them. For instance, Rosebery and colleagues provided a good example of this practice; as applied in a science class for Haitian students in Massachusetts³². The majority of the students in this class believed that water from the school’s third floor fountains was better testing than the water from first floor fountains. The students were allowed to design and perform a blind taste experiment of water taken from several foundations to test their belief about superiority of third flour water. They were surprised to discover that two thirds of them preferred the first floor water. They expanded the experiment to include learners from other junior high school classes. The students were again surprised to discover that 88% of the sampled students preferred third floor water³³. They analyzed the school’s water to try and make sense of their findings, where they discovered that first floor water was 20 degrees colder than that of any other floor³⁴. They deduced that water becomes warmer as it moves up the pipe to the third floor and concluded that temperature was the likely factor influencing the respondents’ water preferences³⁵.

The involvement of the students in performing the experiment actively engaged them in learning. When these students were carrying out the tests, they asked questions, designed ways of testing their hypothesis, gathered and analyzed data, and generated explanations. Therefore, the teacher provided the students a strong motive to learn embedding learning in a meaningful activity on a topic of interest to learners. Theories and practices of pedagogy encourage students to work collaboratively in small groups of mixed ability in a manner that improves their active learning. These students are able to share the cognitive demands built into the overall task when they work in groups to solve a problem or perform a project³⁶. Brown and Palincsar, the benefit of small group task is maximized when each student adopts a different role³⁷… Some of the roles identified include the doer who designs plans of action or offers solutions to the problem posed, the critic who questions the ideas generated by the group, the instructor who reviews for all group members the ideas discussed, the record keeper who keeps track of the group’s work, and the conciliator who settles arising disputes. Glaserfeld recommends teachers to place teachers to place their students into groups of three or four and assign the role of reporting back to the entire class to the one they consider having the least command of the topic³⁸.

Pedagogical theories and practices encourage open dialogue which provides an opportunity for student’s active engagement in the construction of knowledge. It encourages effective dialogue which includes everyone, including the instructor, in a genuine exploration of questions to which none of the parties claim to know the answers. Pedagogy encourages teachers to promote a classroom environment that is conducive to conversation, both between the learners and teacher and the students themselves. It provides that students need to feel safe to ask questions, argue, and share views. Consequently, it demands for attitude of openness on the part of the teacher and a willingness to listen to the students³⁹.

Pedagogy advocates for cultural responsive teaching that supports students’ knowledge construction by allowing them to assume responsibility of their learning gradually. For instance, it encourages reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching requires a teacher and a group of learners to take turns leading a discussion that centres on a portion of text they are jointly trying to understand. The individual leading the discussion begins the exchange by asking questions and ends it by summarizing the main points raised in the discussion. During the discussion, students are able to clarify any comprehension difficulties and predict what would happen next. Pedagogy encourages teachers to model behaviour, keep discussions focused on content, and assist student leaders supervise the discussion to ultimate conclusion. It puts the responsibility for discussion, and learning that accompanies it on students. Students prefer seeing themselves in control of their own learning instead of the teacher. Thus, they are able to construct knowledge rather than to memorize the information⁴⁰…

Pedagogy helps in building personal and cultural strengths of learners. Learning institutions alienate students when the content of learning instruction does not relate to their lives or does not invite them to apply their pre-existing knowledge and skills. Pedagogy lays down a number of strategies that teachers can utilize to improve the knowledge of their students.

Pedagogy Builds the Interests of Students in Learning

Pedagogical theories and practices offer students opportunities to pursue topics of their interest, thus, enhancing their learning experiences. This aptly engages them in learning than when topics of instruction are of little relevance to their lives. Pedagogy guides on how to successfully build on the interest of learners. In a number of occasions, teachers are called upon to teach topics that are of no apparent interest to students. Majority of the students are usually disinterested because they fail to connect how the topic relates to their lives. Pedagogy practices encourage cultural teaching and therefore teachers are able to find ways of generating interest in such topics. An elementary teacher effectively demonstrated this practice in California. The teacher was introducing the topic that focused on drought situation in the state and the need of residence to consider water conservation. The teacher admitted that the drought topic had come up in class many times, but learners had expressed little enthusiasm for it⁴¹. The teacher commenced the unit by posing the following problem to students to generate interest;

You wake up tomorrow morning, and turn on your faucet to wash your face, and no water comes out. You check your faucet in the kitchen sink, there is no water there either. You go next door to see if your can use your neighbours bathroom to wash up, but you discover they don’t have water either. Then you find out that none of your neighbours has water. How would this situation affect your lives? What would it be like going without water for a week? This short introduction to learners assisted them to envision a link between the content of instruction and their personal lives. It provides the motivation the students required to explore the topic which they had expressed little curiosity before⁴².

Pedagogy encourages the Use of Varied Instructional Activities

Pedagogy helps responsive teachers to deliberately plan and implement instructional programs that involve all learners. Active participation in class by all students improves their learning experiences. To realize these in diverse classrooms, teachers need to have a large repertoire of strategies to represent each instructional topic. Instructional strategies may involve; mini lectures, group discussions, group projects, reciprocal teaching, peer centres and others. Pedagogy also ensures that teachers are skilled at choosing from these strategies instructional modes that are appropriate for learning experiences⁴³. Pedagogy creates learning tasks that offer students some choice in activities and flexible time for completion.

Pedagogical Theory and Practice assists Students to Look at the Curriculum from a Multiple Perspective

Pedagogical theory and practice assists culturally responsive teachers to guide students in interrogating the curriculum critically by having them address inaccuracies and distortions in the text; and broadening it to in include multiple perspectives⁴⁴. Pedagogy provides for curriculum interrogation for two main reasons; to help students from marginalized groups to overcome the sense of alienation many of them experience in school. It also prepares all students to fight all sought of inequality rather that assimilating inequitable social arrangements.

Theories and practices of pedagogy also encourage culturally responsive teaching to use varied approaches to student learning. It insists on the provision of standardized tests which offer information about how students measure to standardized educational criteria relative to others who have done the same test. A result from such tests provides insight into progress made towards equalizing educational opportunities available in society, or vice versa. In America for instance, the National Assessment Educational Program in the analysis of scores over time indicate whether the gap between the achievement of white students and that of students of colour has narrowed or widened. Such information is necessary for policy makers and educators. Pedagogy endeavours to use tests and assessment in the service of teaching and learning. Assists teachers in identifying particular strengths and weaknesses of students to assist then learn accordingly. Teachers are also able to design the most effective ways of building on what the students already know while helping them grow academically⁴⁵.

Assessments are important tools of learning; tools that aid the student development of understanding. Assessments go beyond multiple choice items which focus mainly on recall of factual information. Pedagogy on the other hand encourages learning centred assessments that require learners to construct responses rather than pick the right answer. It also helps in encouraging solving problems in the real world than applying their skills in decontextualized ways. For instance, it requires students to be asked to practice their developing competences through exhibitions, debates and others. Theories and practices of pedagogy encourage culturally responsible teachers to use consistently such authentic assessments⁴⁶.

Conclusion

Theories and practices of pedagogy help improve students learning experiences in diverse ways. For instance: they help in promoting the use of education research to improve the learning experiences of students; builds the environment that assists in supporting students learning experiences; raise students motivation and engagement in learning; encourages teaching that builds on students prior learning; encourages students to exercise competence and leaning by design; and promotes the use of educational research to improve student learning experiences.

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Footnotes

1. Danielewitz Jane, Teaching selves, SUNNY Press, New York, 2001, p. 133.
2. Daniel Harry, Vgotsky and Pedagogy, Routledge, New York, 2001, p. 131.
3. Leach Jenny, The Power of Pedagogy, SAGE Publications ltd, New York, 2001, p. 188.
4. Beethen Helen, Rethinking Pedagogy, Routledge, New York,2001, p. 1.
5. Britzman Deborah, Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach, Sunny Press, New York, p. 46.
6. National Research Council, Improving Students Learning: A Strategic Plan for Education, National Academies Press, New York, p. 40.
7. Jarvis Peter, Theory and Practice of Teaching, Routledge, London, 2002, p. 41.
8. Samaras Anastasia, Learning Communication in Practice, Springer, New York, 2008, 106.
9. Britzman Deborah, Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach, Sunny Press, New York, p. 46.
10. American Association for Teaching, Curriculum Development and Teaching Dialogue, IAP, New York, 1999, p. 158.
11. Grant Carl, Research and Multicultural Education, Routledge, London, 1992, p.110.
12. Nata Roberta, Progress in Education, Nova Publishers, New York, 2007, p. 83.
13. Nata Roberta, Progress in Education, Nova Publishers, New York, 2007, p. 83.
14. Moore Kenneth, Effective Instructional Strategies, SAGE, New york, 2005, p. 3.
15. Pollard Diane, African Centered Schooling in Theory and Practice, Greenwood Publishing, New York, 2000, p. 207.
16. Ginsberg Margery, Diversity and Motivation, Wiley and Publishers, New York, 2009, p. 24.
17. Ginsberg Margery, Diversity and Motivation, Wiley and Publishers, New York, 2009, p. 24.
18. Gayle Barbara, Classroom Communication and Instructional Processes, Routledge, New York, 2006, p. 362.
19. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 192.
20. Gayle Barbara, Classroom Communication and Instructional Processes, Routledge, New York, 2006, p. 362.
21. Loughran John, Developing A Pedagogy for Teacher for Teacher Education, Taylor and Francis, London, 2006,p. 20.
22. Mishra Ounny, Foculty Development and Design, IAP, 2007, p. 11.
23. Mishra Punny, Foculty Development and Design, IAP, London, 2007, p. 11.
24. Green Robert, Designing Teaching Strategies, Academic Press, New York, 2002, p. 4.
25. Nata Roberta, Progress in Education, Nova Publishers, New York, 2007, p. 83.
26. National Research Council, Improving Students Learning: A Strategic Plan for Education, National Academies Press, New York, p. 42.
27. Osborn Barry, Teaching Diversity and Democracy, Common Ground, New York, 2001, 164.
28. Hargreaves Andy, Extending Educational Change, Springer, New York, 2005, p. 177.
29. McNamara David, Classroom Pedagogy and Primary Practice, Routledge, New York, 1994, p. 67.
30. Jetton Tamara, Adolescence Literacy Research and Practice, Guilford Press, New York, 2004, p. 323.
31. Jetton Tamara, Adolescence Literacy Research and Practice, Guilford Press, New York, 2004, p. 324.
32. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 65.
33. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 192.
34. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 65.
35. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 65.
36. Michael Sarah, Ready Set Science, National Academic Press, New York, 2008, p. 158.
37. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 75.
38. Nata Roberta, Progress in Education, Nova Publishers, New York, 2007, p. 83.
39. Cooper Diane, Learning Through Supervised Practice in Students Affairs, Routledge Mental Health, London, 2002, 2002, p. 51.
40. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 94.
41. Villegas Anne, Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Sunny Press, New York, 2008, 25.
42. Stern Barbara, Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue. IAP, London, 2005, p. 24.
43. Ortony Andrew, Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993, p. 588.
44. Pendergast Donna, Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, New York, 2005, p. 272.
45. Lipman Pauline, Race, Class, and Power in School, SUNNY Press, 1998, p. 246.
46. Pendergast Donna, Teaching Middle Year: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Allen & Unwin, New York, 2005, p. 273.