CED 521 Psychology of Religious Learning
Timothy W. Brock
Process of Learning
The material covered in this class session included Part 2 of the textbook, How We Learn: A Christian Teacher’s Guide to Educational Psychology, by Issler and Habermas.
Summary of the Information in the Text
In these three chapters of the text, the authors addressed AVENUES of learning by review three different families of teaching models. A very helpful diagram depicting these models is included as Figure 3.1 on page 50 of the text. These models, as well as specific avenues of teaching, are listed in the table below:
|
Family of Teaching Model
|
Specific Avenues of Teaching
within the Family
|
|
Information Processing
|
Identification Avenue
Building Bridges from the known to the unknown for students.
Example: The Advanced Organizer
|
|
Inquiry Learning
Challenging Students to think.
Example: Questions and Guided Discussion
|
|
Conditioning
|
Consequence Learning
Evaluating students’ performance.
Example: “Catch Them Being Good”
|
|
Cue Learning
Establishing helpful reminders and expectations for students.
Example: “Setting the Table” for Learning
|
|
Social
|
Structured Modeling
Demonstrating a planned example for students.
Examples: Structured Experiences, Case Studies, Role Play
|
|
Spontaneous Modeling
Living your life before students.
Examples: Establishing relationships outside of the classroom; being a role model
|
Prior to class, please read the assigned materials describing these three families of teaching models, noting any questions that you may have about the models and/or their application in the classroom context. The professor will conduct a brief overview of these models during the first hour of class.
Definitions: Process and Method
As we work to understand the avenues of the teaching/learning process, it is important to define the terms associated with this discussion.
· Process—the broad approach we use in educating…a series of actions that we take in order to accomplish our purpose. Example: the information processing family of teaching models describes the broad processes associated with assimilating information and developing critical thinking skills.
· Method—those specific activities and techniques that we use to carry out the process. Same example: If we use one of the information processing models in our teaching, we will probably use particular teaching methods to transmit knowledge to the student (i.e. lecture) and to develop critical thinking skills (i.e. asking questions and guiding discussions).
Assumptions about Process and Method
- The process and the method do not educate or teach…People Do! In that sense, we should spend time and resources to equip the people who teach in our churches.
- The process and the method are shaped by the contexts within which they are used. When selecting a process and a method, one must give thought to the environment, the people, and the content in order to educate in ways that will connect, in ways that are integrated.
- The process and method should be consistent with the purpose toward which we educate. We should not, for example, use a programmed text to teach people how to pray.
- The tendency is to focus on method. In educational circles, in general, and in the church context, in particular, we tend to be very trendy and faddish. We want to use the latest teaching methods to be cool, but we don’t really know why we need to use them or what we hope to accomplish.
- We tend to draw on a tried-and-true collection of familiar methods. Many times, we teach as we are taught, or we teach to our own learning style. The challenge is to expand our repertoire of both processes and methods in order to strengthen our educational work in the community of faith. Therefore, a working knowledge of the families of teaching processes discussed in today’s reading is a step in the right direction.
Core Qualities That Shape
The Process of Christian Education
As we consider the processes and methods associated with the task of teaching in the congregational context, we must be aware of some of the core qualities that shape the process of Christian education. These include:
· Informational—associated with the cognitive domain of learning and the information processing family of teaching, it is important to understand how we can facilitate the assimilation of information about the faith and the development of critical thinking skills (i.e. the capacity to thinking biblically and theologically).
- Experiential—associated with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains of learning and the information processing and conditioning families of teaching, it is important to facilitate the dynamic interaction of biblical truth and personal experience.
- Reflective—associated with the dispositional domain of learning and the information processing and conditioning families of teaching, it is important for people to make sense out of their experience, to find meaning in life. Human beings are experience-gatherers. Some people go through life simply gathering experiences, never taking the time to stop the action, never taking time to reflect on or think through these experiences, to make meaning from them. In Christian education, we need to make context and time for reflection (what Thomas Groome calls “critical reasoning,” “critical remembering,” or “creative imaging.”
- Relational—associated with the affective, behavioral, and dispositional domains of learning and with the social family of teaching, it is important for people to learn how to be a Christian by “hanging out with other Christians,” in both structured and unstructured contexts. This can be done through:
- Partnering—a person who has a share or part with another…working alongside one another, in mutuality, acceptance, and equal regard.
- Companioning---one who accompanies another, lives with, travels with, and assists in a variety of ways.
- Midwifery—one who assists another in giving birth, with the goal being to provide a safe and hospitable environment where all is in readiness for birth to occur.
- Sponsoring—one who enables, whether it is through providing resources, offering encouragement, or making accessible what is needed. A patron or matron saint is an example of this type of relational work.
- Guiding—one who shows the way, a point in the right direction, to show the way to go, helping us to make our faith map.
Key Guidelines
For Choosing Processes and Methods
- Processes and methods should be compatible with the content, the context, and the people in the educational setting.
- The broader your repertoire of processes and methods, the better.
- It is important to think through and practice a new process or method before using it.
- Remember that the purpose of a process or method is to help people learn, not to entertain or to impress.
Summary
Our approach to education in the church should be like choreography, the designing of a dance, with rhythm and fluidity in what we do---to choreograph and to improve as needed.
Practical Examples of Process and Method
The Traditional Bible Study Model
In most conservative, evangelical churches, The Traditional Bible Study Model is the “default” teaching model used in Bible study. This model is a three-step process which includes:
- Knowledge—focusing on the cognitive domain and on information processing teaching methods, this model assumes that information from and about the Bible is the foundation for all learning.
- Attitudes—focusing on the affective and dispositional domains of learning and on conditioning teaching methods, this approach further assumes that, once we have the proper knowledge, we will be able to assess and evaluated our attitudes, feelings, and volition in increasingly effective ways.
· Actions—focusing on the dispositional and behavioral domains of learning and on conditioning and social teaching methods, this approach finally assumes that, a change in knowledge and attitude will lead directly to a change in behavior, i.e. informed faithfulness.
In most cases, teachers using The Traditional Bible Study Model depend heavily on the lecture as the primary teaching method.
Experiential Bible Study Model
In an attempt to facilitate an experiential approach to the task of teaching in the congregation context, The Experiential Bible Study Model postulates that learning is an interaction among four specific dynamics:
Note: the material developed in this section of the lecture is based on the following books:
- Understanding Your Church Curriculum, by Colson and Rigdon
- To Thessalonians with Love, by John Hendrix
- Experiential Education, by John and Lela Hendrix
- Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, by David Kolb
- Learning Styles, by Marlene LeFever
Introduction:
The Crossing Point Theory of Learning
In the mid-1960’s, the dialogue in Christian education and publications of major denominational publishing houses began to shift toward an experiential approach to learning.
In Southern Baptist life, this movement was described by Colson and Rigdon, as they began to articulate the Crossing Point Theory of Learning.
In this approach, learning takes place when:
An Eternal Truth of God crosses
A Persistent Life Need of a Learner…
A Crossing Point is a moment of transformation, a time when the spiritual, rational, emotional, attitudinal, and physical dimensions of life dynamically interact to create a new being.
This theory assumes two areas of reality:
The eternal truth of God, and
Human existence
(with all our personal and cooperate sufferings,
struggles, hopes, victories, aspirations, frustrations, and failures).
When an eternal truth of God crosses one of these human predicaments, learning takes place.
Examples from scripture include:
· Nathan rebukes David for his indiscretions with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-22)
- The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
- Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-6)
According to Colson and Rigdon, this type of Crossing Point Experience should be the aim of all of our Bible teaching activities.
What is Experiential Bible Study?
The Crossing Point Theory of Learning provides a theoretical basis for experiential Christian education. The practical application of this theory is described by the Experiential Bible Study model (derived from Kolb and Hendrix).
What is Learning?
Learning can be defined as a relatively stable but permanent change (i.e. transformation) that results from the interaction of four elements:
Personal Experience
- PE is the “stuff” of everyday life: sufferings, struggles, joys, hopes, victories, dreams, frustrations, and failures.
- Humans are Experience-Gatherers. We seek out experiences and actively work to make sense of these experiences, i.e. to find truth.
- As educators, we at times ignore the experiences of the learners who attend our Bible studies. We are so intent on “sharing the Word” that we fail to get a read on the needs, desires, and emotions of the learners. They bring their experiences to the classroom…they desire to make sense out of them…and so, this, rather than the text of scripture, might be the best starting point for Bible study.
- Further, it is theological…the authority of personal experience has long been a part of Baptist heritage and theology. In fact, experience is an integral part of personal theology. Martin Luther said, “I did not find my theology all at once, but I had to search for it where my temptations took me.”
- There is always a need to encounter truth in life experience.
Biblical Exegesis
- Experience looks to scripture for interpretation. How do I make sense out of what has happened to me?
- We must use the best of the historical/critical approach to do exegesis: working with the historical context, working with the sequence of the text, working with images and word pictures, and working with words. It is a careful and precise documentation of biblical materials.
- It is not a sterile dissection of the scripture.
- It is not an academic exercise; the Scripture is impactful primarily because it is a heart story.
Critical Reflection
- This approach to learning is like a chemical reaction. In organic chemistry, sometimes it is necessary to create an emulsion—a collection of things that don’t readily mix well or react well with one another…until the proper conditions are applied. In this movement of the cycle, we hold biblical truth and personal experience “in solution.”
- Reflection is a talking process…we publish those things that are ruminating in our hearts and minds; the image of a cow chewing its cud comes to mind.
- Reflection requires a deliberate and disciplined effort to stop the action long enough to ask, “What is going on?” and “What am I beginning to learn?” It also asks, “If I really believe A, then what will I do about it?”
- Reflection moves from a verbal, logical, thinking mode to a more feeling, intuitive mode of thinking; it is increasingly creative, inventive, and self-expressive.
- This is also the thing that Baptists do least well…somehow, for many people, it is a sin to think critically about the scripture…
“Hands On” Application
- Application is both the motivation and the opportunity to test our learning in specific, daily situations.
- In African American congregations, the worshippers will coach the pastor to “Bring it home!”—to provide some application what he or she is talking about.
- This is not an Aesop’s Fable approach to scripture—it is not moralizing. It is active experimentation with practical strategies.
Summary
- Various ways of knowing are combined in the model. Exegesis and application represent knowing in terms of analysis, thinking, planning, verbalizing, reasoning, sequencing, and figuring out. Experience and reflection represent knowing in terms of imagination, visioning, dreaming, feeling, relating, gesturing, intuiting, and sensing. Each way of knowing is valued in the approach.
- Learning breaks down if all four areas are not addressed at some point in the learning process.
- The Bible (biblical truth, Truth, or truth) is the center of the process. The “ways of knowing” move around and through the center. The biblical core informs and transforms all the ways of knowing. The Living Word operates within the process and outside the process, working within and breaking in, making all things new.
Understanding our Preferences
Associated with Teaching Models and Methods
During the last segment of the class, the professor will administer and explain the TTI (Training Type Indicator). This inventory will help students identify their personal preferences with regard to teaching models and methods.
CED 521 Psychology of Religious Learning
Timothy W. Brock
Process of Learning
The material covered in this class session included Part 2 of the textbook, How We Learn: A Christian Teacher’s Guide to Educational Psychology, by Issler and Habermas.
Summary of the Information in the Text
In these three chapters of the text, the authors addressed AVENUES of learning by review three different families of teaching models. A very helpful diagram depicting these models is included as Figure 3.1 on page 50 of the text. These models, as well as specific avenues of teaching, are listed in the table below:
|
Family of Teaching Model
|
Specific Avenues of Teaching
within the Family
|
|
Information Processing
|
Identification Avenue
Building Bridges from the known to the unknown for students.
Example: The Advanced Organizer
|
|
Inquiry Learning
Challenging Students to think.
Example: Questions and Guided Discussion
|
|
Conditioning
|
Consequence Learning
Evaluating students’ performance.
Example: “Catch Them Being Good”
|
|
Cue Learning
Establishing helpful reminders and expectations for students.
Example: “Setting the Table” for Learning
|
|
Social
|
Structured Modeling
Demonstrating a planned example for students.
Examples: Structured Experiences, Case Studies, Role Play
|
|
Spontaneous Modeling
Living your life before students.
Examples: Establishing relationships outside of the classroom; being a role model
|
Prior to class, please read the assigned materials describing these three families of teaching models, noting any questions that you may have about the models and/or their application in the classroom context. The professor will conduct a brief overview of these models during the first hour of class.
Definitions: Process and Method
As we work to understand the avenues of the teaching/learning process, it is important to define the terms associated with this discussion.
· Process—the broad approach we use in educating…a series of actions that we take in order to accomplish our purpose. Example: the information processing family of teaching models describes the broad processes associated with assimilating information and developing critical thinking skills.
· Method—those specific activities and techniques that we use to carry out the process. Same example: If we use one of the information processing models in our teaching, we will probably use particular teaching methods to transmit knowledge to the student (i.e. lecture) and to develop critical thinking skills (i.e. asking questions and guiding discussions).
Assumptions about Process and Method
- The process and the method do not educate or teach…People Do! In that sense, we should spend time and resources to equip the people who teach in our churches.
- The process and the method are shaped by the contexts within which they are used. When selecting a process and a method, one must give thought to the environment, the people, and the content in order to educate in ways that will connect, in ways that are integrated.
- The process and method should be consistent with the purpose toward which we educate. We should not, for example, use a programmed text to teach people how to pray.
- The tendency is to focus on method. In educational circles, in general, and in the church context, in particular, we tend to be very trendy and faddish. We want to use the latest teaching methods to be cool, but we don’t really know why we need to use them or what we hope to accomplish.
- We tend to draw on a tried-and-true collection of familiar methods. Many times, we teach as we are taught, or we teach to our own learning style. The challenge is to expand our repertoire of both processes and methods in order to strengthen our educational work in the community of faith. Therefore, a working knowledge of the families of teaching processes discussed in today’s reading is a step in the right direction.
Core Qualities That Shape
The Process of Christian Education
As we consider the processes and methods associated with the task of teaching in the congregational context, we must be aware of some of the core qualities that shape the process of Christian education. These include:
· Informational—associated with the cognitive domain of learning and the information processing family of teaching, it is important to understand how we can facilitate the assimilation of information about the faith and the development of critical thinking skills (i.e. the capacity to thinking biblically and theologically).
- Experiential—associated with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains of learning and the information processing and conditioning families of teaching, it is important to facilitate the dynamic interaction of biblical truth and personal experience.
- Reflective—associated with the dispositional domain of learning and the information processing and conditioning families of teaching, it is important for people to make sense out of their experience, to find meaning in life. Human beings are experience-gatherers. Some people go through life simply gathering experiences, never taking the time to stop the action, never taking time to reflect on or think through these experiences, to make meaning from them. In Christian education, we need to make context and time for reflection (what Thomas Groome calls “critical reasoning,” “critical remembering,” or “creative imaging.”
- Relational—associated with the affective, behavioral, and dispositional domains of learning and with the social family of teaching, it is important for people to learn how to be a Christian by “hanging out with other Christians,” in both structured and unstructured contexts. This can be done through:
- Partnering—a person who has a share or part with another…working alongside one another, in mutuality, acceptance, and equal regard.
- Companioning---one who accompanies another, lives with, travels with, and assists in a variety of ways.
- Midwifery—one who assists another in giving birth, with the goal being to provide a safe and hospitable environment where all is in readiness for birth to occur.
- Sponsoring—one who enables, whether it is through providing resources, offering encouragement, or making accessible what is needed. A patron or matron saint is an example of this type of relational work.
- Guiding—one who shows the way, a point in the right direction, to show the way to go, helping us to make our faith map.
Key Guidelines
For Choosing Processes and Methods
- Processes and methods should be compatible with the content, the context, and the people in the educational setting.
- The broader your repertoire of processes and methods, the better.
- It is important to think through and practice a new process or method before using it.
- Remember that the purpose of a process or method is to help people learn, not to entertain or to impress.
Summary
Our approach to education in the church should be like choreography, the designing of a dance, with rhythm and fluidity in what we do---to choreograph and to improve as needed.
Practical Examples of Process and Method
The Traditional Bible Study Model
In most conservative, evangelical churches, The Traditional Bible Study Model is the “default” teaching model used in Bible study. This model is a three-step process which includes:
- Knowledge—focusing on the cognitive domain and on information processing teaching methods, this model assumes that information from and about the Bible is the foundation for all learning.
- Attitudes—focusing on the affective and dispositional domains of learning and on conditioning teaching methods, this approach further assumes that, once we have the proper knowledge, we will be able to assess and evaluated our attitudes, feelings, and volition in increasingly effective ways.
· Actions—focusing on the dispositional and behavioral domains of learning and on conditioning and social teaching methods, this approach finally assumes that, a change in knowledge and attitude will lead directly to a change in behavior, i.e. informed faithfulness.
In most cases, teachers using The Traditional Bible Study Model depend heavily on the lecture as the primary teaching method.
Experiential Bible Study Model
In an attempt to facilitate an experiential approach to the task of teaching in the congregation context, The Experiential Bible Study Model postulates that learning is an interaction among four specific dynamics:
Note: the material developed in this section of the lecture is based on the following books:
- Understanding Your Church Curriculum, by Colson and Rigdon
- To Thessalonians with Love, by John Hendrix
- Experiential Education, by John and Lela Hendrix
- Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, by David Kolb
- Learning Styles, by Marlene LeFever
Introduction:
The Crossing Point Theory of Learning
In the mid-1960’s, the dialogue in Christian education and publications of major denominational publishing houses began to shift toward an experiential approach to learning.
In Southern Baptist life, this movement was described by Colson and Rigdon, as they began to articulate the Crossing Point Theory of Learning.
In this approach, learning takes place when:
An Eternal Truth of God crosses
A Persistent Life Need of a Learner…
A Crossing Point is a moment of transformation, a time when the spiritual, rational, emotional, attitudinal, and physical dimensions of life dynamically interact to create a new being.
This theory assumes two areas of reality:
The eternal truth of God, and
Human existence
(with all our personal and cooperate sufferings,
struggles, hopes, victories, aspirations, frustrations, and failures).
When an eternal truth of God crosses one of these human predicaments, learning takes place.
Examples from scripture include:
· Nathan rebukes David for his indiscretions with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-22)
- The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
- Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-6)
According to Colson and Rigdon, this type of Crossing Point Experience should be the aim of all of our Bible teaching activities.
What is Experiential Bible Study?
The Crossing Point Theory of Learning provides a theoretical basis for experiential Christian education. The practical application of this theory is described by the Experiential Bible Study model (derived from Kolb and Hendrix).
What is Learning?
Learning can be defined as a relatively stable but permanent change (i.e. transformation) that results from the interaction of four elements:
Personal Experience
- PE is the “stuff” of everyday life: sufferings, struggles, joys, hopes, victories, dreams, frustrations, and failures.
- Humans are Experience-Gatherers. We seek out experiences and actively work to make sense of these experiences, i.e. to find truth.
- As educators, we at times ignore the experiences of the learners who attend our Bible studies. We are so intent on “sharing the Word” that we fail to get a read on the needs, desires, and emotions of the learners. They bring their experiences to the classroom…they desire to make sense out of them…and so, this, rather than the text of scripture, might be the best starting point for Bible study.
- Further, it is theological…the authority of personal experience has long been a part of Baptist heritage and theology. In fact, experience is an integral part of personal theology. Martin Luther said, “I did not find my theology all at once, but I had to search for it where my temptations took me.”
- There is always a need to encounter truth in life experience.
Biblical Exegesis
- Experience looks to scripture for interpretation. How do I make sense out of what has happened to me?
- We must use the best of the historical/critical approach to do exegesis: working with the historical context, working with the sequence of the text, working with images and word pictures, and working with words. It is a careful and precise documentation of biblical materials.
- It is not a sterile dissection of the scripture.
- It is not an academic exercise; the Scripture is impactful primarily because it is a heart story.
Critical Reflection
- This approach to learning is like a chemical reaction. In organic chemistry, sometimes it is necessary to create an emulsion—a collection of things that don’t readily mix well or react well with one another…until the proper conditions are applied. In this movement of the cycle, we hold biblical truth and personal experience “in solution.”
- Reflection is a talking process…we publish those things that are ruminating in our hearts and minds; the image of a cow chewing its cud comes to mind.
- Reflection requires a deliberate and disciplined effort to stop the action long enough to ask, “What is going on?” and “What am I beginning to learn?” It also asks, “If I really believe A, then what will I do about it?”
- Reflection moves from a verbal, logical, thinking mode to a more feeling, intuitive mode of thinking; it is increasingly creative, inventive, and self-expressive.
- This is also the thing that Baptists do least well…somehow, for many people, it is a sin to think critically about the scripture…
“Hands On” Application
- Application is both the motivation and the opportunity to test our learning in specific, daily situations.
- In African American congregations, the worshippers will coach the pastor to “Bring it home!”—to provide some application what he or she is talking about.
- This is not an Aesop’s Fable approach to scripture—it is not moralizing. It is active experimentation with practical strategies.
Summary
- Various ways of knowing are combined in the model. Exegesis and application represent knowing in terms of analysis, thinking, planning, verbalizing, reasoning, sequencing, and figuring out. Experience and reflection represent knowing in terms of imagination, visioning, dreaming, feeling, relating, gesturing, intuiting, and sensing. Each way of knowing is valued in the approach.
- Learning breaks down if all four areas are not addressed at some point in the learning process.
- The Bible (biblical truth, Truth, or truth) is the center of the process. The “ways of knowing” move around and through the center. The biblical core informs and transforms all the ways of knowing. The Living Word operates within the process and outside the process, working within and breaking in, making all things new.
Understanding our Preferences
Associated with Teaching Models and Methods
During the last segment of the class, the professor will administer and explain the TTI (Training Type Indicator). This inventory will help students identify their personal preferences with regard to teaching models and methods.
|