Nazzar Hussain

Taking two examples of learning from your own life experience one you would call a good learning experience, one you would call a bad learning experience describe them and explain the differences in the experiences with reference to theories about learning. Can you draw any conclusions from your reflection and reading about the nature of effective learning experiences?
Many people think of learning as an automatic experience. However, there are numerous learning theories and methods which are associated to learning which can enhance as well as deteriorate learning. As a passionate mathematician, I devote a large amount of my time to improve my mathematical knowledge. Whether in the classroom or at home, I constantly want to learn more about maths and how it can be applied to real life situations. Through my studies I have partaken in two very distinct learning experiences. Through this essay I shall recount both experiences and how they have affected my understanding of the subject, as well as how they relate to various learning theories. I will start of with my good learning experience. This particular Maths teacher equipped me with skills which could not only be applied to maths, but also to other subjects and everyday life. His mantra for studying revolved around understanding the derivation of formulas in order to effectively use them to solve problems. For example, one lesson involved using Autograph software to manipulate graphs. Through this experimentation I was able to understand how polar coordinates work. This method of learning through experimentation is described by (put a reference here) as (relevant point from a resource put her about finding your own solutions). By not simply writing the rules we needed to memorise for the exam questions, and instead allowing us time to experiment, I was learning with understanding, (definition of that from your resource, then reference it). Once I began to tackle exam questions I was much more confident and answered questions easily, I believe this is because Mr Clarkes method for teaching (write something here) Through all this good experience there were some small bad points. Firstly, sometimes he went too quickly through the topics by not allowing enough time to consolidate what we learnt at school. But this was easily fixed by doing the questions outside of school. In addition, because I wasnt spoon fed, I was very independent which meant when I couldnt solve a problem I would become very anxious and stressed. Also, the problem with building my own knowledge was that all my knowledge only came from my own experiences, so an early misunderstanding could be carried on as I added to my learning. This proved to be a difficult problem to fix as the mistake would be embedded into my understanding and I would find it difficult to break the habit of following this mistake. My bad learning experience also comes from studying mathematics. During my bad experience I learnt some very valuable and important things which had as much of an impact on me as the good experience did. This teacher is very different to the teacher I described in my good learning experience. The two teachers have two completely different learning styles and teaching styles. The teacher was clearly educated thoroughly in the subject but had a poor teaching method. Firstly, she would simply write down all the formulas and examples rather than letting us see where the formula can be applied in real

Nazzar Hussain
life. By writing the formulas, I was deprived of the opportunity to be able to experiment with the formulas and experience the derivation first hand. She expected us to just memorize the formulae rather than actually learn it. She was very similar to the teacher described in the Transmission Method. The transmission method describes a teacher who teaches his class without getting his pupils to actually learn the facts. In the book, the teacher has spoon fed the pupils. The pupils are able to state formulas from repetition and memorisation rather than learning. his pupils were really asked to guess what was in his head. I was also being trained to pass an exam rather than to progress learning and see applications. We had been learnt like parrots. Furthermore, when I did encounter an obstacle, when I asked for help, she would simply tell me the corrected answer hence taking away the experience of me learning from my mistake. This is again in the transmission method. It says generosity to give the learners an opportunity to discover the solution for themselves. I would have preferred to have been pointed to the right answer, with subtle hints. It was obvious we were being spoon fed. Due to the lack of independence in lessons, when it came to homework and practice questions they were very difficult. This was due to me being spoon fed. As said in Meet Darren.. page 15 Spoon-feeding may improve results develop chewing muscles. I was also very frightened to ask questions which I thought would be silly because I was scared she would make an example of me to the rest of the class. I got very isolated and depressed in my studies of this subject. Just like I Meet Darren.page 11 He got frustrated and dispirited, confused. Also the ineffective learning in class meant I became less focused in the subject and had a lack of focus/drive to succeed. material to be learned may be presented to students innumerable times without noticeable results. She would also give is large amounts of assignments to do in a week. The workload was allowing me time to focus on other subjects. teachers without a strong.busy-work assignments.