Personal Learning Theory

I discovered a lot about how I learn by trying to teach myself how to knit a scarf on a loom. As I reflected back on the process of learning how to loom, I was intrigued by the fact that many of the things I learned come together to constitute my personal learning theory or the ways that I learn the best.

In order to really learn, you have to want to learn or have motivation. This motivation can be extrinsicintrinsic. When a person is intrinsically motivated, the process of learning in and of itself provides personal fulfillment. I was intrinsically motivated to learn how to loom. I wanted to be able to master looming because I felt like it was a valuable skill to have that would be applicable for the rest of my life. This same idea applies to me learning any new skill or concept—I have high intrinsic motivation when I know that what I am learning will help me in the future and that it will be applicable in situations I will encounter for the rest of my life. or

When I first obtained the loom, I was hoping I would be able to figure out how to do it all by myself. I quickly realized that I needed some help. So, I asked for written directions from my former third grade teacher—a more knowledgeable other. I then tried to teach myself with only the aid of written directions. I realized again that I needed more help, this time in the form of having a more knowledgeable other model the steps for me. At this point, my mom came to my assistance and fulfilled that role. I watched her go through each step (modeling). She was careful to explain things in ways that I could understand—in effect, she was teaching to my specific zone of proximal development. She then proceeded to help me complete the process. As she helped me, she was gradually removing her degree of assistance. My mom recognized that I as I moved further along in the process, I didn’t need as much scaffolding as I required at the onset of learning the loom. My mother teaching me how to learn the loom is a great example of cognitive apprenticeship. I think that this is a good way for students to learn because a more knowledgeable other serves as the example as he or she models the process the students themselves will then complete. In addition, this also serves as a way to increase student self-efficacy. When I saw that my mother mastered the loom by practicing, I believed that I too could master the loom, increasing my personal self-efficacy. This method of learning also caters to individual student needs by adapting instruction to fit into every student’s zone of proximal development. I believe that cognitive apprenticeship compliments guided discovery learning.

When I finally started to loom on my own, I experienced disequilibrium. I found that I started to make mistakes with the loom and it was difficult for me to learn how to correct the mistakes I made, especially when I had to take off so many rows to catch a simple error. I realized that I was still in the process of trying to transfer the knowledge I had about the looming process from my working memory to my long term memory. I had a hard time with this because I was not consistently practicing everyday. Because I wasn’t consistently looming, it would have helped me transfer my knowledge to my long term memory if I would have practiced maintenance rehearsal. When I began to loom for longer periods of time and looming multiple times the same day, I then began to develop automaticity. I found that looming became a mindless, automatic task that no longer took mental effort. I feel that I learn concepts and ideas in a similar fashion. If I am not constantly learning about the concept or idea, I have to practice maintenance rehearsal in order to transfer my newfound knowledge to my long term memory.

Overall, I think that my personal learning theory falls under the social constructivism theory. I know that I learn the best when I am able to watch someone (observational learning) model before I perform the task This increases my personal self-efficacy and my motivation for learning and completing the task correctly. I found that learning how to loom was often a hard process, but in the end I did master it! I find it fascinating that I am able to apply the lessons I’ve learned from looming to come up with the ways I learn best in a variety of situations. I hope to be able to use this learning style more in the future as well as continue to develop other learning styles.