Jaclyn Ann S. Cardenas C.R.T. R.N.

St. Paul University Manila

As a future nurse educator, it is important to identify the philosophy of education to be

used in order to be an effective nursing instructor . So I personally chose Behaviorism
and Cognitivism/Constructivism by Vygotsky. I chose these philosophies because it
matches the same scheme of how my mentors educated me. And I believe that these
philosophies are very effective to induce effective learning to students. Behaviorists
theorists believe that behavior is shaped deliberately by forces in the environment and
that the type of person and actions desired. In other words, behavior is determined by
others, rather than by our own free will. By carefully shaping desirable behavior,
morality and information is learned. Learners will acquire and remember responses that
lead to satisfying effects. By repetition of meaningful connections it will result in
learning. Motivation to learn is the satisfying effect or reinforcement. An example is my
two year old daughter. Every morning I gather her books, set up a play mat and I ask
her to reading and story telling session while she pays attention. As an end result, each
morning she calls me and yell “Mommy, I want my book “. It has become a routine
environment as well as the formation of her desirable behavior. My daughter became
advance for her age. As a 2 year old toddler she can sing the ABC and count 1 to 12.
On the other hand Cognitivists or Constructivists believe that the learner actively
constructs his or her own understandings of reality through interaction with objects,
events, and people in the environment, and reflecting on these interactions. For
learning to occur, an event, object, or experience must conflict with what the learner
already knows. Motivation to learn is experiencing conflict with what one knows, which
causes an imbalance, which triggers a quest to restore the equilibrium. The learner
organizes his or her understanding in organized structures. I believe this philosophy
induces critical thinking and problem solving. Nurses are always facing ethical conflicts
and dilemmas on an everyday basis. It’s of extreme importance for nurses to become a
critical thinkers and problem solvers. Example is a Head Nurse prioritizing, delegating
and assigning task or patients to RNs against the LPNs.

My personal philosophy of motivation, and critical thinking are the essentials

component to effectively educated nursing student. As a future Nurse Educator it is not
only that we are supposed to be good in theory and nursing skills. We should also
promote an effective and the best teaching method. Their should be adequate mental
stimulating activities combine with an ideal learning environment.

Based on this drawn philosophies, my vision of the future of education in the Philippines
is very promising. I am very hopeful that students given the right mind set and ideal
environment for learning they will excel on their field of study. It’s always never too late.
for an educator. There should be a never ending patience and interest on everyday
learning. We can always get student to developed interest and discipline. At the same
time trained them to use their mind for analytical and critical exercise. These processes
will set their state of mind into right psyche. An mind set for information processing and
inputs. End result is a competent and a knowledgeable student, a future teacher or a
leader.