Tag: learning theories

Vygotsky vs Durkheim’s Theories of Knowledge

Emile Durkheim is a French sociologist and is considered a ‘founding father’ of sociology as a separate field of study. Lev Vygotsky is a Russian psychologist who is the founder of a major school of developmental psychology.

Two major points common to both theorists

1. Knowledge is not in the ‘mind’ or located in the material world but in the historical development of human societies; it is the outcome of men and women acting on the world.

2. The acquisition and transmission of knowledge is central to education and to the possibilities of human societies; it is because human beings have the capacity to respond to pedagogy that they are able to create societies (and knowledge).

The above means that their theories of knowledge were also their theories of society and social change.

Vygotsky

More commonalities between Vygotsky and Durkheim
  1. Both had social theories of knowledge that were closely related to their ideas of education.
  2. Both shared a fundamentally social-evolutionary approach to knowledge and human development.
  3. Both recognized that knowledge is differentiated and not a seamless web; that theoretical and everyday or context-independent and context-bound forms of knowledge have different structures and different purposes.
  4. Both saw formal education as the source of and condition for our capacity for generalization and our development of the higher forms of thought.
  5. Both recognized that the acquisition of context-independent or theoretical knowledge was the main, if not the only goal of schooling and formal education generally.
  6. Both recognized that human beings are fundamentally social in ways that no animals are, and both interpreted man’s social relations as fundamentally pedagogic.

Although both were creatures of Enlightenment and believed in human and social progress, Durkheim tended to look backwards for the sources of knowledge and social stability whereas Vygotsky looked forward to men and women’s potential for creating a socialist society.

Reference: Young, M. (2007). Durkheim and Vygotsky’s theories of knowledge and their implications for a critical education theory. Critical Studies in Education. Vol. 48, No.1, pp. 43-6.

 

Patterns of variation and invariance in variation theory

Variation theory states that to learn a phenomenon means to simultaneously discern and focus on the critical aspects/features of the phenomenon. To discern a particular feature, the learner must experience variation in that dimension. When an aspect of a phenomenon varies while other aspects remain invariant, the aspect that varies would be discerned (Pang and Marton 2005). Click What is variation theory? for further explanation and example.

Proponents of variation theory defined four patterns of variation and invariance (contrast, separation, fusion, and generalization) to facilitate the discernment of critical aspects.

Contrast occurs when a learner experiences variation of different values or features in an aspect of a phenomenon. To experience something, the learner must experience something else to make a comparison. For example, to experience what “round” is, the learner must experience other shapes such as rectangle or triangle. Only after having experienced other values (rectangle, triangle etc.) of the aspect (shape) can the learner discern the specific shape of round. The pattern of contrast focuses on a particular value or feature of an aspect.

Separation happens when a learner focuses on an aspect of a phenomenon. To experience a certain aspect of something separately from other aspects, it must vary while other aspects remain invariant. In this pattern, the aspect is discerned by the learner. For example, to discern the aspect of the “shape” of an object, other aspects (e.g., size, color, and height) must be kept invariant while varying the aspect of “shape.” In this way, the aspect of “shape” can be separated from other aspects. Contrast and separation occur when two or more objects have a varying aspect while other aspects remain invariant.

Fusion takes place when a learner wants to discern several aspects of a phenomenon that vary simultaneously. To experience a phenomenon, the learner must discern all critical aspects at the same time when different critical aspects vary simultaneously. For example, if a teacher wants to teach students what a robin is, he/she should expose the students to simultaneous variation in all critical aspects of a robin (e.g., feathers, size, and sound). The students will grasp a concept if they can simultaneously discern all critical aspects of the concept.

Generalization occurs when a learner wants to apply his/her previous discernment to various contexts. To fully understand an object of learning, the learner must experience many other examples to generalize the meaning. The idea of “roundness” can only be achieved after the learner has experienced various round objects, such as a round ball, a round plate, a round table, and so on.

With respect to the sequence of using the four patterns of variation and invariance, researchers suggested that contrast and separation should be first used to help students discern each critical aspect separately, followed by fusion that simultaneously varies all critical aspects (Ki 2007; Marton and Tsui 2004; Pang 2002). Generalization could be used after students have simultaneously discerned all critical aspects to generalize the discernment to other contexts. (p. 255)

Source:

Learning from Comparing Multiple Examples: On the Dilemma of “Similar” or “Different” by Jian-Peng Guo & Ming Fai Pang & Ling-Yan Yang & Yi Ding. Published online: 22 February 2012. # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.

Educ Psychol Rev (2012) 24:251–269 DOI 10.1007/s10648-012-9192-0

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...