Pedagogical Principles: Teaching and Learning Dynamics
Understanding Teaching: Core Concepts
Defining Teaching: Meanings and Scope
The term “teaching” encompasses various meanings. Beyond its original sense of showing or demonstrating, and according to Titone, it carries connotations and transitive demonstratives that extend beyond the traditional educational environment. One can teach a city, an object, or a body part. In a colloquial sense, teaching is equivalent to transmitting knowledge.
Teaching as Achievement and Acquisition
Teaching can be viewed as an achievement or acquisition, as described by Moor. As an achievement, it implies involvement in the educational process and the act of becoming deeply involved with the student.
Teaching as an Intentional Activity
Teaching is an intentional activity. Many teachers are highly dedicated to their work, but as Smith states, a teacher should not merely aim for triumph but for success in their lessons. This requires paying close attention to what is happening, making accurate diagnoses, and being willing to change one’s own behavior.
Teaching as an Activity of Regulation
If education involves the transmission of cultural values, it is clear that teaching is an activity of regulation in the sense that it must meet certain ethical conditions. The teacher is not absolutely free in their activity, as the very values that shape the educational process are defined through minimal programs and macro goals. This consideration gives rise to concepts such as regulation, pedagogy, indoctrination, training, and instruction. Instruction, in particular, has long been a primary method for transmitting culture and habits of conduct.
Teaching as an Interactive Process
Teaching is a social factor that determines the social and cognitive development of individuals. It is much more than merely transmitting knowledge; it develops a person’s greatest potential. Students can learn from others, and teachers can learn from students. The role of the teacher is no longer to simply transmit information but to guide their learners.
Teaching as a Reflective Practice
Gonzalez emphasizes reflection in teacher training. Training requires professors to reflect on their practice. Professionalism, in this context, rests on two pillars: a clear didactic purpose and rigorous reflection. Contreras noted that reflection involves more or less rigorous criticism, requiring us to address practical problems and confront discrepancies between the outcomes of our actions and our original intentions. In short, teaching also involves teaching how to think.
The Dynamics of Learning
Learning as a Transformative Process
Learning speaks to the quality and greatest characteristic of humanity, as only humans consent to transmit and learn from their peers. Thus, the learning relationship emerges. Learning in the educational field should include an increase in culture, an enrichment of one’s existential perspective, and a change in attitude. A transformative change in training is characterized by its triple personal dimension (cognitive, affective, and action), which both student and teacher develop throughout life.
Learning as Interactive Engagement
Several factors influence interactive learning:
- Ability and Skill Development: This includes a series of skills or strategies for student learning, such as structuring information.
- The Role of Practice: Essential for subjects like mathematics and music.
- Perception of the Task: The understanding of an exercise differs between student and professor. A student might focus on completing the year, while a professor aims for a deeper understanding of the teaching process.
- Personal Expectations and Self-Image: How one perceives their environment and their self-image can influence success or failure, often shaped by the professor’s guidance.
- Attribution of Success or Failure: The relationship between skills, success, and effort must be well-taught within a value-based education, emphasizing the importance of effort, skill, motivation, and participation.
The Teacher’s Role in Facilitating Learning
Learning occurs at both the conceptual and practical levels. The teacher teaches students content and helps them comprehend it, and crucially, the teacher teaches the student how to learn. Teachers must possess the skills to facilitate students’ learning of cognitive strategies and help them identify their own thinking processes.
Lifelong Learning and Role Development
The development of learning skills is constantly evolving. According to Findlay (1989), a learning model involves:
- The development of capabilities to perform various roles in life.
- Learning to learn.
- The spiral organization of learning projects.
These roles include: student, parent, citizen, friend, worker, leisure user, and member of society. Findlay emphasizes that we must develop all these roles throughout our lives.