Learning and Teaching: A Constructive Approach

All teaching is directed at learning and the learner is at the heart of teaching. Teachers should critically question the widespread belief that teaching is telling (informing/ demonstrating) and understand culturally responsive teaching approaches that support learning. The contemporary view of learning is defined as knowledge construction. Hence, teachers better understand how learning occurs, how learners construct knowledge, acquire skill and develop disciplined thinking processes and know how to use instructional strategies that promote student learning. Teachers should appreciate that each learner’s cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and physical development influences learning and know how to make instructional decisions that build on learners’ strengths and needs.

This book is prepared to serve the educational purposes of students, teachers, teacher educators, student-teachers and parents for developing a better understanding about the different concepts related to learning and teaching. It offers a site for prospective teachers to reflect on and critique notions of learning and teaching that they have formed from their own experience and to move beyond them.