Responding not only acknowledges a new idea but interacts with it by questioning, responding, and receiving a satisfactory response to it. The new value is now not so “new.”

Valuing makes the transitional point of accepting the new idea. One accepts the value as one’s own, making it a preference and making a commitment to it.

Organization happens when the newly affirmed and accepted value begins to influence one’s life and one begins to restructure and reorganize one’s values, commitments, and relationships.

Characterization by a value or value complex occurs when the value has taken such a firm presence in one’s life that one exemplifies that value, or the value characterizes the person. What was once a value only to be listened to, one’s life is now all about.

Krathwohl’s taxonomy actually explains the process of conversion better than other taxonomies and theories of learning. We were once willing to listen to the gospel, entertain the message, and accept Christ for ourselves (valuing), and then he began to transform our lives until we became more and more Christlike (characterization).8 The learning theories that parallel or inform learning in the affective domain are described

as humanist learning theories, which we’ll describe in greater detail in chapter 11. Affective learning focuses on the individual and personal clarification of experiences and values, and learning theories that are more aligned with secular humanism emphasize this domain of learning. Affective learning is more value-driven, more prescriptive, rather than descriptive. Education usually has a low “core” and is heavy on electives because it is student centered.9 For this reason teachers are described as facilitators rather than authority figures. Humanist learning theories are most associated with the ideas of psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, child educator John Hold, and adult educators Malcolm Knowles and Jack Mezirow, as well as Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. How does this affect us practicing Christian education? Experiences, especially Christian

ones, are crucial to forming faith. How many congregations sponsor cross-cultural mission trips to provide a unique ministry experience designed to challenge believers and facilitate growth? How many congregations emphasize the formation of community and building of relationships through small group ministries? The key to helping believers learn affectively through experience is to identify the desired values, attitudes, or characteristics and then provide the experiences that are most likely to elicit or stimulate these outcomes, even providing a role model or some information to help them process the experience and encourage the acceptance of change. When one reflects on affective learning theory and strategies, the church’s practical function

and necessity become even more evident. The church models and provides an experience of a real, living faith. While experience may not be able to teach propositional truth, which is essentially cognitive, it does aid in the application and practical expression of belief. Learning through experience calls us as educators to become increasingly aware of our own life experience and the experiences of our students. Life experience teaches us, but often we are unaware of it, and hence as Christian educators we need to assist students in reflecting theologically on their life experience by raising probative and reflective questions.

Maddix, M. A., & Estep, J. R. J. (2017). Practicing christian education : An introduction for ministry. Baker Academic. Created from amridge on 2022-03-01 04:45:22.

Just like when you learned to tie your shoes, the teacher works with the student, who becomes more capable and less reliant on the teacher until the student is capable of performing the task on their own. The taxonomies often denote the step-by-step development of the student’s capabilities, usually in five tiers, but label them distinctively depending on the skill on which the taxonomy is based. One learning theory that lends itself well to learning by practicing is that of Russian theorist Lev Vygotsky. He theorized learning in “zones”: the zone of potential development, the zone of actual development, and finally the zone of proximal development. The student has a potential for development, but that is usually more than their actual development—that is, what the student is able to do at present is not their full potential. The distance between these two zones is the area of proximal development, which is the area needed to close the gap, wherein the teacher provides insight, guidance, practice, and feedback until the student meets their full potential and is able to accomplish the task themselves. While Vygotsky used his zones to describe even cognitive development, the acquiring of skills obviously is addressed in his writing.10 Often the behavioral theories of learning are relevant to the psychomotor or behavior domain of learning, beginning with the theories of Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner. These theories focus on the motivation of the student toward a desired behavior or action through the introduction of rewards and punishments for performance designed to reinforce learning.11 What does this have to do with practicing Christian education? Not everything about the

Christian faith can be taught in a classroom or experienced in a prayer meeting. Part of our education ministry has to be about training believers in the skills necessary for their faith and for active participation in ministry. Learning to do something new requires them to actively participate, but only with guidance and feedback from a capable teacher, to develop their own abilities and reach their potential, cultivating good performance while correcting underperformance. As with the other learning domains, a danger exists in emphasizing this kind of learning over