Teaching methods and their conceptualisation from a cognitive perspective of knowledge acquisition

Abstract

The concept of method has been substantially conditioned by the sources and principles on which the different methods have emerged throughout history. Accordingly, methods have been characterised by the virtues and deficiencies of such sources and principles. Due to easily understandable reasons, methods have not hitherto had access to the essential cognitive component in learning: the biological support on which it depends, that is to say, the brain, its structure, its functioning, and both the neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic elements and processes which trigger learning. It is argued that these factors should not only be studied and considered, but that they should be urgently integrated into the construct of method and its practical implications.