Methods used in this application would include exciting the students by first, informing them of the new information and what it would consist of, second, presenting to the students some sort of stimuli that would elicit a performance from each individual.
The teacher and other students could then provide feedback about the specific performance, and would therefore reinforce the learning process, ie; move the information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory.
The humanistic theory takes a different approach than both the cognitive and the behavioral theories. The humanistic perspective is on the self, it is you, your perception of your experiences.
Believing in the humanistic theory means that your behavior is freely chosen by you, rather than reacting to any environmental stimuli (behavior theory) or reinforcers. The major focus of the humanistic theory is dealing with issues of self-esteem and self-fulfillment and to facilitate the individual's personal development.
Abraham Maslow, an avowed humanistic theorist, feels that individuals have certain needs that can be met in a hierarchical fashion, starting with the lowest and moving to the highest.
He states that everyone has basic needs that must be met along with safety, love, belonging and achievement. He says that ultimately we all as individuals...
Maslow maintains that students learn by being 'empowered' and by having control over the learning process. Implementing this approach into the classroom setting would be a difficult endeavor in most instances, and in an attempt (in this case) to teach mathematics to the masses instead of the intrinsically motivated learners would be even more difficult, since the children in this case are rather young, and young students are not necessarily known for being motivated learners.
Works Cited
Cognitive Learning Theory - Web Quest, http://suedstudent.syr.edu/~ebarrett/ide621/cognitive.htm, Accessed August 10, 2006
Humanistic Perspective (1998), http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d46/psy/dev/Fall98/Theories/humanistic.html, Accessed August 10, 2006
