Principles of Instruction and Learning
Knowledge Base
A portfolio created by Autumn Elniski.
Learning Scenario: Social Learning Perspective
What is a Learning Scenario?
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A learning scenario is a brief (200-250 word) description of a scene in which an instructor is interacting with their students and a lesson or learning opportunities are occuring. The following is a learning scenario written for an instructor who is teaching their undergraduate students how to make a handsheet of paper for the first time with the TAPPI standard sheet former. This lesson would be typically observed in an undergraduate Paper Engineering program.
From the Social Learning Perspective
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This learning scneario can be observed and analyzed from a Social Learning perspective. Different items a social learning theorist might look for include:
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Modeling - a model (actual person, symbol like a cartoon or book, or a verbal description) performs some sort of behavior that learners observe, process it into their own knowledge base, and decide on whether they will perform that behavior or not
Imitation - learners imitate or attempt to imitate a behavior that they observed a model perform
Direct and/or Vicarious Reinforcement/Punishment - feedback provided to the learner about their behavior imitation/performance that either supports future practice of the behavior (reinforcement) or aims to decrease future practice of the behavior (punishment)
Putting Together Behavior Patterns - instances in which different desired patterns of behavior are combined to teach learners a specific sequence of behaviors
Rehearsal - practice of the desired behavior pattern that the learner attempted to imitate
Creating Shared Meaning - interaction between models and learners to generate a mutual understanding of the behavior that is expected of the learner
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The Social Learning Theorist looks for the development of behavioral patterns that are acceptable to society, whether it is behavior within the general public to specific patterns utilized in smaller communities. In this case, the learners are to make a handsheet using the TAPPI handsheet former and use the development of behavior patterns to imitate small-scale papermaking procedures. The students don't quite get far enough in the procedure to finish the handsheet (the sheet must be couched and dried to complete the procedure), so the desired learning objective is noted here instead.
Below is the same learning scenario that is analyzed from a Social Learning perspective to include applicable items listed above.
This is a rather interestin perspective on the learning scenario, particularly with this moment:
"Wait," a student interjects to their partner. They move the tube and re-latch it. "I think it was crooked." The students turn the water on and find no leaks.
In this scenario, the students are not only attempting to imitate and rehearse the desired behavior pattern modeled by the instructor, but the student that is correcting their peer is performing additional actions. That student is not only providing feedback to their peer about the setup of the equipment, but they are modeling that behavior for their peer and the other classmates in the laboratory. This also can serve as a type of vicarious reinforcement/punishment in a way; students who did not align their equipment correctly observed the public correction from their peer and may want to avoid such correction by adjusting their behavior in the future by setting up the equipment properly. Those students who did set up the equipment the right way may feel reinforced in that they performed the correct behavior the first time and won't necessarily face the same correction in future attempts at the same behavior. The praise that follows from the instructor may further support this reinforcement.
Throughout the scenario, the learners are putting behviors together to perform the task (or pattern of behaviors) that will yield a handmade piece of paper. This is not seen to completion due to the length limitation of the problem, but the introduction of the first few steps and putting these behaviors together is still noted. It is presented here instead of underlining nearly every step presented in the learning scenario.