Learning Theories in Health & Social Care

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1 - ESSAY..........................................................................................................................3
In your essay answer the following questions:.....................................................................3
Q1. In the first part of your essay, use Bloom's Taxonomy of learning to explain how
different domains of learning apply to learning in health and social care............................3
Q2. In the second part of your essay, analyse how theories of learning relate to the
development of understanding and skills in health and social care.....................................6
TASK 2 – CASE STUDY............................................................................................................... 8
Q3. At what stage of Kolb’s Learning Cycle did Elma start her learning? What did she do in
respect of each of the subsequent stages of the cycle? Using the following questions
explain different ways in which learning can occur in health and social care workplaces.. .8
TASK 3 – ESSAY WRITING....................................................................................................... 10
Q4. Explain the concepts of learning styles........................................................................10
Q5. Explain factors that influence effective learning development....................................12
Q6. Use the VARK system or Honey and Mumford test to assess your own learning style.
........................................................................................................................................... 13
Q7. Analyse the various influences that affect your own learning in relation to the learning
theory................................................................................................................................. 14
TASK 4 – CASE SCENARIO....................................................................................................... 15
WORKPLACE LEARNING PLAN............................................................................................15
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 19
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix 1............................................................................................................................. 21
1

INTRODUCTION
This assignment is based on the various contemporary learning theories and how that could
be applied to the health and social care. Learning theories are the theoretical framework
that explains how students or learner acquire, practice & remember knowledge throughout
learning. Here, we are exploring these learning theories which could be relevant for
developing the practical skills and knowledge acquisition. These learning theories help to
understand the various ways of individual learning and prove to be an aid in the health &
social care sector for doing practice. In his assignment, we try to investigate learning need of
individual participating in health and social care workplace to provide support to care
workers. The various ways are explored in the assignment for planning the learning
opportunities and the various factors that will contribute to positive learning at the
workplace.
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TASK 1 - ESSAY
Q1. In the first part of your essay, use Bloom's Taxonomy of learning to
explain how different domains of learning apply to learning in health and
social care.
Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning was introduced in the year 1956 under the chairmanship of
Dr Benjamin Bloom an educational psychologist for promoting advanced procedure of
thinking in the education, like analytical and evaluation skills instead of just remembering
details. Bloom Taxonomy comprises three domains of learning - Cognitive domain: Mental
and knowledge skills i.e. Knowledge-based, Affective domain: Feelings and emotional
aspects i.e. Emotion based, and Psychomotor domain: Manual or physical skills i.e. Action
based (Forehand, 2010).
The Bloom’s Taxonomy is generally used for setting the learning objectives. Any field can
refer to set the standard objectives. Here we are considering the health and social care
sector to develop and understand the learning skills through the Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Figure 1: The three domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Source: http://educationaltaxonomy.weebly.com/home/may-02nd-20141
The cognitive domain aims towards the mental process while learning. The effective domain
aims to identify the emotional state and sentiments that is extended from the learning. The
last psychomotor domain explains the physical ability used to influence a tool. This domain
focuses towards change and development in skills.
The Cognitive Domain comprises of knowledge and development of the intellectual skills.
The educators principally focused on the Cognitive Model; they are originally divided into 6
levels of learning objectives – knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
and evaluation. .But, in 2001 a revision was made in the Bloom’s Taxonomy and the levels
are a little different as Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyse, Evaluate and Create (Adams,
2015).
Figure 1: Revised Cognitive Domain
(Source: https://www.nbna.org/files/Blooms%20Taxonomy%20of%20Learning.pdf)
The first level of the cognitive domain is knowledge which involves the recalling of data and
information.
The second level is comprehension where the information is comprehended or understood
an individual is having knowledge of communication and idea which is being communicated.
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The third level is application it refers to the application of the idea in a specific and actual
situation.
The fourth level is an analysis that involves an examination and breaking down of
information into various parts, determines the relation between parts, and identify the
purpose and source, make interpretations and then driving evidence for support.
The fifth level is synthesizing it refers to building a structure from different components and
also refers to combining parts to complete it.
In the last level evaluation, the judgements on information were made by defining opinions
and presenting them. The valid ideas and work quality should be based on some set criteria
(Seaman, 2011).
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