A Learners’ View (ALV) Is Of Choices on The Shortest And Fastest Path To Learning, The Oxygen Of Social Life.

Definition: 1. a To desolve learning into its observable parts that describe observable ways people use social interaction (social patterns) to learn. b A graph or other form reporting the frequencies and probabilities that observable behavior patterns used by a learner resolve a problem or contribute to reaching another criterion for a lesson.

2. a Separation of learning into elemental social activity (social part, observable patterns) as objects of the senses; clarification of how people learn; as, through experimental empirical behavioral and social science research of learning. b Identifying social patterns of learning; the use and lack of use of components of learning in an assessment of a person’s behavior patterns to solve a problem or to meet another learning criterion. c An examination of learning in order to describe and monitor its observable component parts and their relationships to the whole process; as, an analysis of learning described by results of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. d Identifying the use of a behavior pattern to resolve a problem; as, in the first line of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Longfellow: Listen my children and you shall hear.

3. a A form of description, such as a graphic of the Stimulus-Response model by Skinner; the process of ascertaining the stage of learning or its place in a system of classification, such as a graphic of a Learning Efficiency Analysis Paradigm (aLEAP), illustrating generic relationships among observable parts of behavior patterns people use to learn. b The determination of elements of learning in a lesson; frequency of learner’s use of these elements to respond; probabilities of these responses reaching criterion. Determination of the nature of elements is qualitative analysis of learning; of their frequency and probabilities of meeting criterion, quantitative analysis.

Comment: People distinguish between the learning and accomplishments of each other according to observable patterns of social activity. These differences identify people least and most likely to survive common problems.

Contemporary formal analysis of learning began with the development of the Simon-Binet intelligence scale to identify children most likely to learn to read. Simon and Binet published their assessment tool in 1902.

Since then, uncounted hundreds of mostly informal variations of this scale have emerged. Three types of scales have evolved most prominently. Intelligence tests use observed patterns of social action (behavior patterns) to infer variations in cognition, a social construct used to explain why people do what they do. Educators rely on such social constructs to plan, offer, and interpret results from lessons.

1. One type gives priority to assessing “intelligence.” Intelligence tests consist of increasingly more difficult logic to use with familiar vocabulary in order to solve problems successfully.

2. The second type of test assess the “achievement” of learners. These tests consist of increasingly more difficult vocabulary to use with familiar logic to solve problems successfully.

3. Criterion Referenced Tests assess the extent to which a learner meets specfic, measurable, objective academic standards, such as state and common core academic performance standards. These assessments do not necesssarily systematically distinguish between levels of logic and vocabulary in the same way as in intelligence and achievement assessments. In general, responding correctly to all items in a criterion referenced test indicates minimum requirements for an acceptable performance, such as receiving a “D” or “C” grade for achievement.

In addition to the formal results of these tests, learning analysts also compare a learners responses to individual items with procedures used to construct the test. Protocols for such analyses vary by tests and by the level of sophistication of the analyst.

References

1. Army General Classification Test.
2. Terman, L. and Merrill, M. (1960). The Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale: Manual for the Third Revision Form L-M. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
3. Weschler, D. (1958). The Measurement and Appraisal of Adult Inteiilgence. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.

 Related Reading

1. Berger, P. and Luckmann, T (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge.
2. Gardner, H. Theories of Multiple Intelligences.
3. Heiny, R. A Learning Efficiency Analysis Paradigm (aLEAP).
4. Terman, L. and Merrill, M. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
5. Weschler, D. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adults.
6. Stimulus-Response Model

 Related Resources

1. Learning Analysis Lecture Notes