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Modelling
This refers to learning through direct observation. It involves a model and an
observer. The model may be the father, mother, sibling, teacher, or peer while
the observer is the learner. The model demonstrates behaviour which the learner
imitates. The behaviour could be mannerisms, gestures, dressing style, language
use, walking style, display of aggression, manner of working, attitudes, and
values. In order to acquire any of the above behaviours the observer watches the
model demonstrate the behaviour and practices it.
Application of Modelling
To apply the concept gained from the modelling theory the teacher should do
the following:
 Become models of good behaviour like good grooming, punctuality, hard
work, positive attitudes, responsibility, honesty, etc.
 The teacher should recognize models of good behaviour from among
students and reinforce them positively.
 The teacher should also invite models of the desired behaviour from the
community to come and speak to the students. For example models of
women who earn a living through mathematics, physics, chemistry, and
biology can be invited to talk to the girls and encourage them to take
these subjects seriously and also to confirm to them that women can
actually excel in them.
Insightful/Gestalt learning
This type of learning is also referred to as field learning. It is a cognitive type of
learning which focuses on the use of mental processes like thinking, perception
and insight in finding a solution to the problems confronting a learner. This
theory focuses on the ability of animals and people to solve problems through
reorganizing the perceptual world and using the facilities available to solve
problems.
The experiments to demonstrate how learning occurs through insight were
conducted by Wolfgang Kohler in the 1920s. Kohler worked with Chimpanzees.
He had one bright chimpanzee called Sultan (Atkinson, 1990). Kohler put sultan
in a cage and then put a banana outside the cage, but out of sultan s reach. In the
cage, Kohler put a stick. Sultan reached out for the banana but he could not
retrieve it with his hand because it was out of reach. When he did not get the
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banana he looked around the cage and saw the stick. He quickly went for the
stick and used it to retrieve the banana. On the next day Kohler put the banana
further away outside the cage but at the same time placed two bamboo sticks in
the cage. Sultan ran for one of the sticks to get the bananas. However, as he
played with both sticks, one end of the stick entered the hollow side of the other
stick. Sultan looked at the joined sticks and immediately ran to solve his
problem. With the now lengthened stick, he pulled the bananas. Insight then is
that mental activity that is very rapid; almost immediate that helps us to solve a
problem, when we mentally see the relationships of things in our immediate
environment. It is a rapid perception of relationships, which helps us to
restructure and reorganize our perceptual world. For example sultan was able to
restructure his environment and reorganize it to solve his immediate problem.