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Teaching is a commitment to assist students in their quest for an education that will support success in their careers and their everyday lives in the world. Teaching has the responsibility to achieve an outcome, a measure of effort and the mastery of certain skills and knowledge. Teaching is providing opportunities to strengthen both the teacher's and student's capacity for reasoning and conscious decision making. Teaching must occur in a holistic manner, considering individual learning styles and time; thus recognizing that learning is shaped by personal experiences. This thought emphasizes that learning is student-centered. As a teacher, there's a need to identify, develop, test, implement, and assess various strategies to improve the quality of teaching, which hopefully result in improved quality learning. The learning environment must be' cooperative, collaborative, and supportive.
An outcome of good teaching is somebody who is able to contribute to society with an open mind, and heart as a citizen in the community, leaving an impression of perspective, motivation, academic skill, and intellectual honesty.
Nurses have always educated others - their patients, colleagues, and families because they know the importance of health teaching as a function within the scope of nursing practice, including responsibility for the promotion of health and the prevention of illness in schools, homes, industrial, and hospital settings. Nurses serve as a teacher and an agent of health regardless of the setting in which practice occurs. Nurses believe that health education is an essential requisite of nursing care delivery. And the teaching of patients is the means to accomplish the goals of providing cost ¬effective, safe, and high-quality care.
Presently, the demand for educators of patients and the general public is rapidly accelerating and the demand for educators of nursing students is at an all-time high.
The nurse should act as a facilitator, creating an environment that is conducive to learning and motivating individuals who want to learn and making it possible for them to learn. The nurse should act as a coordinator of teaching efforts and as a client-advocate in helping to lend consistency of care, helping to clarify information and support the patients and family members in their efforts to achieve the goal of optimal health.
Teaching of adults is a function involving complex concepts and requires special training in instructional if education programs conducted by nurses are to be successful. The provision of information to the learner should stress the fact that teaching and learning are participatory process, to actively involve learners in the education process.
It is the responsibility of the teacher to create environment and experiences that bring students to discover and construct knowledge for themselves. Teacher's role is to develop communities of learners that are able to make personal discoveries and achieve success physically, spiritually, academically, and socially. In developing communities of learning, let us view teacher's role as an advocate, to design learning strategies, which will encourage questions to emerge inside the learner, thus empowering the student.
Another facet of teaching is the role of mentor, who is able to encourage, give prompt feedback, share and respond to ideas, and establish a common understanding of goals. A mentor who is able to accomplish these goals is able to promote integration of new knowledge and mastery of concepts. A true mentor supports and permits students to explore, examine, and make discoveries.
By nurturing and sustaining the students, we hope to help them understand that they can succeed. We feel that an integral part of nurturing the student is having high expectations of academic rigor and discipline for both the student and for teacher - a commitment to excellence.
It is difficult to give an adequate definition of education since the subject of education is the human who is complex in his make-up and is gifted with a free will. Since the human is the subject of education, the underlying concept of the origin, the nature, and the destiny of man will greatly influence the concept of education and its function that is held by the individual educator.
Education is the deliberate and systematic influence by the mature person upon the immature through instruction, discipline, and the harmonious development of all the powers of the human being, physical, social, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual according to their essential hierarchy, by. and for their individual and social uses.
The education process is defined as a systematic, sequential, planned course of action consisting of two major interdependent operations: teaching and learning- the outcome of which is a mutually desired behavior change that fosters growth in the learner and, growth in the teacher as well with two interdependent players: the teacher and the learner.
The education process, like the nursing process, consists of the basic elements of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Education process parallels nursing process.
| ASSESSMENT | Ascertains learning needs, readiness to learn, and learning styles. |
| PLANNING | Develops teaching plan based on mutually predetermined behavioral outcomes to meet individual needs. |
| IMPLEMENTATION | Performs the act of teaching using specific instructional methods and tools. |
| EVALUATION | Determines behavior changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills. |
Teaching - is a deliberate intervention that involves the planning and implementation of instructional activities and experiences to meet intended learner outcomes according to a teaching plan. Teaching is both art and science. The art of teaching involves creative aspects like instructional design, and developing classroom presentation skills. The science of teaching is based in educational psychology and research and deals with learning theories and preferences, how people think, the domains of learning, and other aspects of learning.
If teaching is conceived to be merely the imparting of knowledge and the learning process the means by which the student assimilates a share of it, this is one thing. If teaching is conceived of something that stimulates and challenges the student to learn, of enhancing realization of the values of a subject, helping the student to bring to bear his own resources in formulating and pursuing a method of attack on learning the subject and guiding him in the process, the teaching is another thing.
Furthermore, if teaching is conceived to be concerned only with the immediate mastery of particular knowledge or skill, it is one thing; but if teaching is concerned with growth and the development of the "whole personality" of the student- his mind, spirit, character and behavior - then it is another thing. Immediate mastery of a subject with its related skills is important, but advancement toward growth in all spheres of the human personality, is even more important.
A portion of what is learned today is forgotten tomorrow, what remains and becomes the basis for further growth is that which enters into the total personality, changing habits and attitudes, reconstituting ideals, and enlarging interests.
Teaching as a system requires an understanding of the role of the more mature and experienced individuals in stimulating, directing, managing, and guiding the immature and inexperienced individuals in their adjustment of life.
Learning - is a change in behavior that can occur at anytime or in any place as a result of exposure to environmental• stimuli. It is an action by which knowledge, skills, and attitudes are consciously or unconsciously acquired such that behavior is altered in some way that can be observed or measured.
Learning may be defined as the mental activity by means of which knowledge, skills, attitudes, appreciations and ideals are acquired, resulting in the modification of behavior. This modification comes through knowledge and experience, implies something new which has not existed for that individual before. It is the addition of new knowledge and experience interpreted in the light of past knowledge and experience.
Learning may be described in terms of its process. It is a process of internal organization within the learner of a complex of thought patterns, perceptions, assumptions, skills, habits, attitudes, in relation of the problem of the living. The fulfillment of goals desired by the learner is the chief aim, but a multitude of varied learning activities and outcomes also occurs.
Learning is manifested by changes in the behavior of the person who is in the process of learning. This change in behavior involves the way a person thinks and feels as well as his overt action. Changes in behavior resulting from experiences constitute the essence of learning, not those that merely occur in the process of maturation. Learning as distinguished from mere biologic adaptation is a process in which the mental functions- (conceptualizing, abstracting, reasoning, judging, and generalizing) are used.
Learning can be described further as a process of apprehension, clarification, and application of meanings. It is the exploration and the discovery of meanings. It is a continuous extension and refinement of meanings. Learning involves a series of operations, each one reached by a learner at a given time. These include:
Teaching and learning supplement and implement each other. Both are important in the educative process.
Teaching is the stimulus, and the learning is the response. Note that the quality of learning attained by the student is directly proportional to the " quality of teaching.
The learner must be recognized as the center of the educative process. The quality of instructions must be adapted to the learner's interests, abilities, and needs.
Learning theory is a set of laws or principles about learning which comprises a set of constructs linking observed changes in performance with what is thought to bring about those changes.
The following are different theories of learning:
Behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors and discounts mental activities. Learning is nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior. Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. Behavioral or operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Behaviorist theory emphasizes the role of the environment in shaping our personalities and our behaviors with focus on the role of reinforcement and punishment and the extent to which behavior can be shaped by its consequences.
In Operant Conditioning, learning is controlled through reinforcement of certain stimulus/response patterns. According to this theory changes in behavior are the result of an individual, responding to events in the environment (stimuli). A response involves some action on part of the learner. When a desired stimulus-response pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond in a particular manner. Hence learning has occurred.
Classical Conditioning is "Stimulus (S) elicits >Response (R)" conditioning since the antecedent stimulus causes the reflexive or involuntary response to occur. Classical conditioning starts with a reflex: an innate, involuntary behavior elicited or caused by an antecedent environmental event.
Thorndike formulated Three Laws of Learning to explain his findings: the Law of Effect, which states that learners will acquire and remember responses that lead to satisfying after-effects; the Law of Exercise, which asserts that the repetition of a meaningful connection results in substantial learning; and the Law of Readiness, which notes that if the organism is ready for a connection, learning is enhanced, otherwise learning is inhibited.
Constructivism centers on the active role of the learner in building an understanding and identifies learning goals by emphasizing learning in context. Constructivists believe that cognitive experiences take place in authentic activities such as active engagement, inquiry, problem solving, and collaboration with others.
Cognitivists embrace the idea that to explain learning behaviors it is necessary to refer to internal mental processes and states. They therefore attempt to look inside the head of the learner to' see what mental processes are involved in the learning' process. Cognitive views the learner as an active participant in the knowledge acquisition process. Therefore, instruction should be designed to fully engage the learner.
Transformative Learning Theory is basically the kind of learning we do as we make meaning of our lives. It's become a very popular topic in adult education because it doesn't just involve classroom learning, it involves learning about our lives. This is important because as adults, the meaning ¬making process can change everything about how we look at work, family, and the world.
Transformative learning is the result of a learning experience. A student becomes aware of the process by which they gain their knowledge, as well as the values that influence their perspectives. Transformative experience deals with the active use of the concept, an expansion of perception, and an expansion of value.
Gestaltists believed that the organism adds something to experience that is not contained in sensory data, and that something is organization. These theorists maintained that our perception is broken up into organized wholes and these should be the basic subject matter of psychology.
Bandura's Social Learning Theory, basically combines elements of behaviorism and cognitive orientations. It is based on the notion that people learn through observation. Bandura has focused more on the cognitive process involved in the observation rather than the subsequent behavior. Much human learning and behavior is a function of observing the behavior of others or of symbolic models such as fictional characters and television or folk heroes. Imitation is often reinforced.
Humanist theories are more based on a certain system of belief and the perspective of the human potential for growth rather than rooted in scientific works and methods. Humanism embraces the idea that the human is capable of defining his/her own destiny through acquiring knowledge and insight to solve critical existential problems and constructing truthful meanings in the process of self- actualization to achieve and accomplish works of greatness and dignity.
Humanists do not believe that human beings are pushed and pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements (behaviorism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis). Humanists focus upon potentials. They believe that humans strive for an upper level of capabilities. Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of consciousness and wisdom.
Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs.
Maslow recommends ways education can switch from its usual person'-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches. He states that educators should respond to the potential an individual has for growing into a self-actualizing person of his own kind.
As educators:
The domains of learning are a tool for understanding how people think, feel and act. By understanding the domains of learning we can better plan what needs to be taught and how far we need to go through the material.
Benjamin Bloom described the major areas of learning and thinking and classified them into three large groups called the domains of learning:
The domains of learning are used in instructional design to write goals and objectives for a curriculum, serve as a means for instructors to decide about depth and breadth issues when, developing lesson plans, and serves as a means for instructors to develop test questions
Cognitive domain deals with didactic information, knowledge, and facts. It consists of six (6) levels of sophistication from simplest to most complex:
The behavioral domain of learning is concerned with psychomotor skills. Skills are viewed as the ability of an individual to perform certain behaviors. Skills can be learned and possessed by the learner, and then they can be demonstrated through performance as observable behaviors. This domain encompasses the ability to perform as a function of cognitive learning. Inferences about cognition and affect can be made through observing behaviors.
The psychomotor domain is skill based. The student will produce a product. The three practical instructional levels include imitation, practice, and habit.
The delivery is demonstration and proficiency building in nature. The evaluation will be a performance or skill test. The content that is needs to be known to do the skill is cognitive and should be treated accordingly.
The affective domain of learning is concerned with the attitudes and feelings of the learner in regard to knowledge and behaviors acquired in the other two domains. In most learning environments, affective learning is incidental to both cognitive and behavioral learning. This domain encompasses attitudes toward what has been learned cognitively and motivation to perform learned behaviors.
The affective domain is based upon behavioral aspects and may be labeled as beliefs. The three levels in the domain are awareness, distinction, and integration. The verbs for these domains are generally limited to words like display, exhibit, and accept and these apply at all levels. The first two levels are really cognitive; integration is behavioral and requires the learner to evaluate and synthesize. The content in this domain will usually involve discussions. The testing in the first two levels will be cognitive, whereas the third level is affective.
Adult nursing students require use of all three domains. Minimum competency in all domains must be achieved for practice as a professional in nursing. For example, a nurse must know (cognitive) the indications for oxygen therapy, recognize (cognitive) the signs and symptoms of respiratory distress, be able to assemble (psychomotor) an oxygen tank and flow the oxygen, and appreciate (affective) the level of distress and anxiety felt by the patient in order to effectively treat the patient~
Affective domain deals with attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, emotions and how much value an individual places on something. Considered the most difficult domain to evaluate and consists of five levels from simple to complex.
| Learning Theory | Learning Process |
| Behaviorism | |
| Constructivism | |
| Gestaltism | |
| Humanism |