Presentation: Story of Learning, Theories of Teaching and Learning

This presentation recounts a compelling story of learning, focusing on how a young student overcame her fear of mathematics. The narrative details the application of behaviorist, cognitive, and constructivist learning theories by a tutor, Mrs. Gomez, to help the student develop a positive relationship with math. The presentation illustrates the gradual process, starting with repetitive practice (behaviorist), moving to real-world problem-solving (cognitive), and culminating in brainstorming and creative problem-solving (constructivist). The story highlights the importance of personalized teaching methods, real-world examples, and fostering a positive learning environment. The student's journey showcases a transformation from dread to enjoyment, demonstrating how targeted strategies can significantly impact a child's learning experience and academic performance.

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Learning is an integral part of all human life. This process of learning might follow 2 kinds
of path. They are either formal or informal. The learning experience that I will be talking about is
how my younger sister began with being extremely scared of mathematics, but came to love it as
she was taken through different processes of learning. I have mainly been experienced with
informal learning, as I was home-schooled as a child. My sister was the one who joined
kindergarten to begin her educational life. She dreaded mathematics when she reached junior
high and was almost on the verge of failing in the 3rd standard. That is when her teacher, Mrs.
Gomez began giving her private lessons at the beginning of 4th grade. She began using different
techniques in order for my sister to begin getting comfortable with the concept and workings of
maths. She followed three theories in employing the methods. These were,
1. Behaviourist: This theory was used in order to bring changes to the behaviour in learning.
Mrs. Gomez used methods such as repetitive practice of similar problems in the
beginning. She would give my sister very similar problems and would ask her to solve
them every day. This was done so that she develops a knack for practicing maths every
day. This somewhat involved rote memorization of processes as well. But the tutor
believed that this would help her get involved in the process more. Whenever my sister
would solve her whole set of problems correctly, the tutor would commend her with
positive comments and reinforcements, such as, ‘Good job!’ or ‘Well done!’. This
encouraged my sister to work harder.
2. Cognitive: This theory states that children learn from internalizing a concept learned and
is more dependent on the child’s internal faculties rather than external factors. This was
implemented by the tutor through providing real world examples and problem solving.
This meant that Mrs. Gomez would pick out problems such as provide grocery shop bills

2EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
and would ask her to tally and see which one shows more savings over discounted prices.
My sister loved this particular task thoroughly. The tutor would also give simple real life
situations and ask her questions which she had to use using her own common sense. This
increased her power of acquisition of problems she could on a daily basis, like at shops
and other such places.
3. Constructivist: This process of learning involves construction of new ideas or concepts
based on pre-existing knowledge. Therefore, this process involved some amount of
creativity. This is where Mrs. Gomez brought in the concept of brainstorming. She would
bring books which were of a considerable higher standard yet still understandable. Then
she and my sister would sit together and brainstorm till they came up with solutions. This
enabled my sister to create solutions instead of just remembering what she had learned
earlier and jotting it down. This helped her build up her thinking and problem solving
skills.
The aforementioned processes were followed sequentially. This is because these processes
required my sister to learn and get accustomed to mathematics slowly yet steadily.

3EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Storytelling with graphic design.
Title …………………………………………… Date ………………………
Scene 1 Scene 2

4EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
My little sister does not want to go to school.
She would get up every morning and throw
the same tantrum. We never understood why.
As a child I was homeschooled. I never
really understood the value of childhood
schooling to be honest. So I would try to
console her saying that I never got to school
and experience what it was, and she is
privileged in that way. The tables turned and
she told me, if I never went to school, and
can still go to high school, why does she
have to do otherwise?
Our parents never understood the whole case
either. There was not a single child in the
neighbourhood who does not want to go to
elementary or kindergarten. That’s what was
odd because my sister has always loved
going to KG. It was when our parents were
called for a Parent Teacher Meeting at the
results day of her 3rd grade, did the whole
story come out. My sister was frightened to
death by mathematics. She had been the
weakest performer in the class and has just
been saved from failing her finals by a
margin of two marks.
My parents were stunned. Even while
homeschooled, I was always good at
mathematics, they discussed. I told them that
learnability is not genetic. Different children
acquire different learning skills under different
conditions and circumstances. This made my
parents think, what if there was something
with the way math was taught at her level in
her school? They investigated, informally.
Turned out that there were a select few
children in the class who faced similar issues
with the subject. They were either too terrified
of the subject or were so disinterested that they
did not even bother to study.
The issue was major. Math has always been
considered a crucial part of early childhood
education. There was no way that my parents
would ever be satisfied if their child was
unable to figure out problems of mathematics.
According to them, the entire system would be
standing on wobbly grounds if that happened.
This was when we received a major help from
her teacher Mrs. Gomez. She called us and
offered to help my sister in mathematics by
offering private coaching at our house. She
mentioned that she would be trying an entirely
different approach from what they do at
school, which would help my sister not only to
overcome her fear of mathematics but also
enjoy it more.
Scene 3 Scene 4

5EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
First day of her class, Mrs. Gomez spent all
her time talking to my sister, did not really
teach anything. They talked for the couple of
hours she was here. It was curious to see
Mrs. Gomez talk with my sister about things
she never talks about in class. Like what food
she likes to eat and what did wear in her last
birthday party. My sister showed great
interest in talking about whatever her teacher
was asking her. I understood what she was
doing. She was breaking the ice with my
sister and making her comfortable in her
presence.
The next class, Mrs Gomez began in the
same jolly cheerful manner as the first one
and instead of telling my sister hat they were
going to do math, she told her that they were
going to play a game of treasure hunting. The
game was that my sister would be given a
number of lists of very short and easy
mathematical problems that she knew how to
solve. My sister was told that she would have
to solve one sheet everyday in order to break
the lock that was holding the treasure. Once
she was done solving all of them, she would
get a big treasure.
Surprisingly, my sister took the bait and
started solving one sheet every day and when
she completed one whole sheet, she would
find a toffee under her pillow every morning,
which was my task to put.
In a matter of two weeks, my sister developed
a knack for practicing math every day. We
could see significant improvement in her. She
was still performing poorly in class but there
was a significant increase in her concentration
and tolerance.
Then Mrs. Gomez told my sister that they will
be doing something else. Mrs Gomez said that
she needed help with some calculation in her
grocery bill. My sister would readily offer her
help. Grocery bills are real world examples
and are slightly more complex than textbook
examples. Curiously, My sister took a liking
towards that too. She was particularly
proactive in evaluating even our grocery bills,
something she has never been seen doing. Mrs
Gomez taught her how to calculate discounts
and she was asked to tally the bills and find
out which one showed more savings.

6EARLY CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Scene 5 Scene 6
By the end of one and a half months, we all saw
significant improvement in my sister’s math
skills. She was still appraising grocery bills but
had taken it one step ahead. She had learned to
recognize discounts at grocery sections in
supermarkets and would do mental calculations
and tell us which one would be profitable. Her
solutions were correct most of the time, but we
don’t always need them because we don’t exactly
need the vegetable she points towards. She even
started bargaining at shops.
Meanwhile, her teacher Mrs. Gomez introduced
her to a new learning process. My sister was
good at painting. She had a very creative mind.
Mrs Gomez built upon that skill of hers and
introduced her to what we call the art of
brainstorming. She was seen bringing in books
that were of a relatively higher level than my
sister’s. At first my sister was scared by the looks
of the books but her teacher assured her that it
was going to be a different kind of work and that
she would not have to all of it herself. That
seemed to my sister like a reassurance.
Soon, this last bit of their games became
my sister’s favourite. It turned out that
through constantly observing my sister for
the past couple of months, her teacher had
understood where her strengths,
weaknesses and knowledge existed. Based
on that bit of information, Mrs. Gomez
brought up from those books, interesting
stories and problems that would require a
bit of thinking in order to solve. Then we
would see my sister and her teacher
talking about a particular topic trying to
find out ways to solve it. They would
brainstorm for two hours and most days,
they would come up with a solution. On
days that they couldn’t, my sister would
drag me to try and help her find a solution
through the same brainstorming process.
By the end of three months, the change we
saw in my sister was phenomenal. Not
only was she scoring good grades in class,
her grades have been consistently climbing
upwards. She was not afraid of
mathematics anymore, instead she was one
of the few people in school who were able
to solve problems at a speed nobody in
their age group could.
Needless to say my parents and I were
extremely proud of what my sister had
achieved and felt nothing but gratitude for
Mrs. Gomez.