Psychology 9-1 GCSE - 

1.1.3 - Understand the effects of learning on development using Daniel Willingham's learning theory, including strengths and weaknesses of the theory:

a) Factual Knowledge Precedes Skill - 

In summary this is saying that factual knowledge of an activity or subject is crucial for becoming skilled in said subject or activity. An example is if someone asked two people to install RAM onto a motherboard, one of these people knows the science of computers and the other does not. Obviously the person with the knowledge of computers will figure it out and complete the task quicker than someone with no prior knowledge of computer layouts.

b) The importance of practice and effort - 

People say practice means perfect a lot and that's very true. When we practice anything our brains use trial and error to learn from mistakes we make and learn more effective ways of doing something. As well as our brains refining its motor skills, the more we do something, the more our brain adapts and remembers it and the actions or thought processes involved. Effort is loosely defined by choosing to use your time and energy on something. Effort is needed to learn and grow.

c) Strategies to support cognitive development - 

Daniel Willingham, in short, believes that there can be different styles of teaching that match up with the students different styles of learning. He thinks that changing the ways of teaching to fit the type of learner will help them learn more effectively.

d) Strategies to support physical development - 

Strategies Daniel suggests for helping children develop physically are helping kids to interpret their surroundings, learning to adapt them often and learning to work socially. 

e) Strategies to support social development - 

Children need to be encouraged to learn and develop using social situations. They need to learn good teamwork skills for later in their life to be able to share knowledge. Strategies for this will be to let children participate in group work during class and perform research and practical tasks together. They can also do presentations and speeches to work on sharing their knowledge.