Social Cognitivism - TIPR Theatre Arts
Ok, Social Cognitivism is defined as learning that occurs through observing and imitating someone else's behavior. Yeah......you just defined acting. Isn't that what acting is in the most basic form, a meaningful imitation of life? Social cognitivism is a learning theory, meaning that the point of the theory is to be able to understand how people learn and therefore use the theory to teach. But I think it's interesting that acting's main goal is to imitate life in a meaningful way. The one thing that every acting method have in common is described in this learning model, to observe those around you and imitate other's behavior. Mind blown.
So, how does this translate to a middle school theatre class? Observation is the first step in the research Albert Bandura did on this theory. In the class I was observing, and in every theatre situation ever, the end result of theatre involves people observing. So in a theatre class, formative performance assessments become deeply valuable for the students who are performing but also for the students who are observing. Bandura states that there are five elements of observational learning which are naturally emphasized in a theatre performance. First, the learners must pay attention. This can be a constant requirement by emphasizing and requiring that the students who are not performing to be a polite audience member. Second, the observers must retain what they have seen. This was demonstrated in my observation class by the teacher leading a group discussion about each performance. Third, the students need to produce their own work. In this case, the assignment was for each pair to perform a scene from "The Importance of being Ernest". The whole assignment included observation of other scenes and learning from them to perform the student's own scene. Fourth is motivating the students. To motivate students who were not terribly interested in memorizing classical dialogue, the teacher set deadlines for lines to be memorized and gave it a grade. This is a good example of extrinsically motivating students, but I think it would have been more effective if the teacher coupled the memorization requirement with intrinsic reward. This can be accomplished by helping the students understand the value of work they are producing. They should be taught that they are only a few people in their grade who will be able to quote a classic writer such as Oscar Wilde. Encouraging self efficacy and inner pride when doing a difficult task can gratley increase intrinsic motivation. This assignment required the students to self-regulate as they had a lot of in class time to practice their scenes.
Triarchic Reciprocal Causality
-3 components
-back and forth
-what causes what
The learning goal for this assignment was to have the students practice memorization with formal language, practice performing for an audience, and polish their acting skills. I think the teacher's implimentation of her lesson plans alligned with Bandura very well, and the students did come away from the assignment having mastered the skills they practiced.
observation=imitation=learning
So, how does this translate to a middle school theatre class? Observation is the first step in the research Albert Bandura did on this theory. In the class I was observing, and in every theatre situation ever, the end result of theatre involves people observing. So in a theatre class, formative performance assessments become deeply valuable for the students who are performing but also for the students who are observing. Bandura states that there are five elements of observational learning which are naturally emphasized in a theatre performance. First, the learners must pay attention. This can be a constant requirement by emphasizing and requiring that the students who are not performing to be a polite audience member. Second, the observers must retain what they have seen. This was demonstrated in my observation class by the teacher leading a group discussion about each performance. Third, the students need to produce their own work. In this case, the assignment was for each pair to perform a scene from "The Importance of being Ernest". The whole assignment included observation of other scenes and learning from them to perform the student's own scene. Fourth is motivating the students. To motivate students who were not terribly interested in memorizing classical dialogue, the teacher set deadlines for lines to be memorized and gave it a grade. This is a good example of extrinsically motivating students, but I think it would have been more effective if the teacher coupled the memorization requirement with intrinsic reward. This can be accomplished by helping the students understand the value of work they are producing. They should be taught that they are only a few people in their grade who will be able to quote a classic writer such as Oscar Wilde. Encouraging self efficacy and inner pride when doing a difficult task can gratley increase intrinsic motivation. This assignment required the students to self-regulate as they had a lot of in class time to practice their scenes.
Triarchic Reciprocal Causality
-3 components
-back and forth
-what causes what
The learning goal for this assignment was to have the students practice memorization with formal language, practice performing for an audience, and polish their acting skills. I think the teacher's implimentation of her lesson plans alligned with Bandura very well, and the students did come away from the assignment having mastered the skills they practiced.
observation=imitation=learning
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