Psychology of learning

As part of my research I looked at the pschologies of how children learn, with particular regards to learnign through play. This was a well documented topic with many theorists having written books on the matter. My essay would detail these and explain how they relate to learning via EDG's. The main theorists I looked at were Howard Gardener, (2006), Jean Piaget, (1960) and Tina Bruce, (2008).

My research looked at the psychological processes for cognitive learning in the child. One of the most popular theories for learning, as described by Gardener (2006), is that children assimilate knowledge by three means; visual, auditory visual and kinaesthetic, often called VAK learning. Most taught lessons in the classroom are normally comprised of two of these at any one time, for instance a literacy lesson is spoken by the teacher while it is drawn on the whiteboard. Gardener continues to explain that the more successful lessons are taught using all three. Some theorists such as Piaget (2004) postulate that children are one of the other, an auditory learner, a visual learner or a kinaesthetic learner. Whichever is the case, perhaps one of the reasons that EDG’s are proving to be an effective teaching tools is that they work via all three. They are auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. Allowing children to not only assimilate learning in their own preferred style but also to encompassing all learning styles into one tool. This is perhaps one of the more important reasons that EDG’s are proving to be a success.

The system of learning through play is an intricate one, Bruce, (2004), explains that children learn best through play as they involve themselves deeply in their play and due to their level of immersion are hard to distract from their goal. She continues to explain that children are keen to try out their most recent learning, skills and competencies when they play. Via the play systems they revel in the knowledge and skills they have learned (p46). These theorems relate directly to learning through play via EDG’s as the processes are exactly the same. Although EDG’s present the child with a system of rules, and therefore not ‘free-form’ play, EDG’s are still a valid form of learning through play. Especially when the EDG is designed well enough so that the child does not realise that they are learning.