Classifying learning bugs: The typology of learning impediments

Diagnosing 'learning bugs'

The typology of learning impediments is a model of the different types of 'learning bugs' that may occur when our teaching does link to students' thinking in the ways we intend. The model was developed in the context of science teaching (developing 'Science Learning Doctors') but has much wider applications.

Learning blocks typology:

The main distinction is between

Null learning impediments - where The intended learning may not take place because the student is unable to make sense of the teaching in terms of existing ideas
and
Substantive learning impediments - where Learning may occur which does not match the intended learning because the student interprets teaching in terms of existing ideas in a different way to intended

Null Learning Impediments

Null learning impediments, where the intended learning does not take place because the student is unable to make sense of the teaching in terms of existing ideas, come in two main types:

Deficiency learning impediments - which may be because the student has never acquired the necessary pre-requisite knowledge,
and
Fragmentation learning impediments when the student may simply not recognise how their existing ideas are relevant

Substantive Learning Impediments

Substantive Learning Impediments occur where learning does not match the intended learning because the student interprets teaching in terms of existing ideas in a different way to intended. These may also be of two main types:

Grounded learning impediments - which occur because existing understanding is inconsistent with accepted scientific thinking,
and
Associative learning impediments - which may occur because the student makes an unintended (and unhelpful) link with prior learning

Grounded learning impediments

Grounded learning impediments occur because existing understanding is inconsistent with accepted scientific thinking. Such ‘alternative conceptions’ may derive from various sources:

• ‘intuitive’: …the students’ own intuitive interpretation of the way the world seems to be…
• ‘life-world’: folk beliefs - common scientifically dubious ideas acquired from friends, family, the media etc.,…
• ‘pedagogic’: impediments due to limitations of previous teaching, such as over-simplification, use of poor analogies and unhelpful models, etc

Associative learning impediments

Associative learning impediments occur because the student makes an unintended link with prior learning. These may be of various types:

• ‘linguistic’: - taking a cue from a word’s ‘everyday’ usage, or the similarity of a word with the label for an existing concept…
• ‘creative’: inappropriate analogies - spotting (creating) an unhelpful analogy between the material being taught and some existing knowledge…
• ‘epistemological’: over-interpreting models - or lacking the epistemological sophistication to appreciate the limitations of models, analogies and metaphors used in science teaching, and so interpreting teaching in a too literal and absolute sense

Using the typology to diagnose learning bugs

The typology may be used as a guide to questioning students to identity the nature of specific learning bugs, and so to respond accordingly:

Image reproduced from Taber, 2006: The Science Learning Doctor’s Guide. (download the Learning Doctor 'Guidebook')

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Dr Keith S Taber kst24@cam.ac.uk

University of Cambridge Faculty of Education

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© Keith S Taber, 2012