Psychology 101: Informal Learning and Technology

Conceptual notions characterizing learning

Philosophies of teaching and learning

  • Adult-run: Responsibility for guidance and joint activity is fully assumed by the adult.
  • Children-run: Responsibility for guidance and joint activity is given the children. The adult provides enriched learning environment and minimum guidance when asked by a child for help.
  • Collaborative: Responsibility for guidance and joint activity are shared between the adult and the children. The adult is responsible for the guiding the process while the children are responsible for learning how to manage their own learning.
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    Approaches to organizing guidance

  • Bottom-up: The guidance is organized as a progression from learning parts, tools, and "how" of the activity to learning the whole, the purpose, and the "why".
  • Top-down: The guidance is organized as a progression from learning the whole, the purpose, and the "why" of the activity to learning parts, tools, and "how".
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    Types of the learning environment

  • Informal: The participants' actions (what to do and why in a given moment) are structured by the activity.
  • Formal: The participants' actions (what to do and why in a given moment) are structured by the teacher.
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    Areas of children's learning

  • ZPD: Activity can be carried out only with a necessary help of more knowledgeable other (i.e., adult or peer).
  • Self-assistance: The activity is still problematic but the child can either solve the problems by him/her self or learn from others how to solve by him/herself.
  • Automatization: Child's action are not problematic anymore for the child who flexibly apply them on fly in the activity.
  • De-automatization: Action or skill previously being non-problematic suddenly become problematic again to the child via change in the child or in the activity settings.
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