Learning Theories

THE LEARNING THEORIES

CHAPTER 1: THREE LEARNING THEORIES

            Learning theories are an organized set of principles explaining how individuals acquire, retain, and recall knowledge. By studying and knowing the different learning theories, we can better understand how learning occurs. The principles of the theories can be used as guidelines to help select instructional tools, techniques and strategies that promote learning.

Three learning theories:

                                   

Behaviorism

Behaviorism stems from the work of B.F Skinner and the concept of operant conditioning.  Behaviorism theorists believe that knowledge exists independently and outside of people. They view the learner as a blank slate who must be provided the experience. Behaviorists believe that learning actually occurs when new behaviors or changes in behaviors are acquired through associations between stimuli and responses. Thus, association leads to a change in behavior.

Learning process

The learning process is based on objectively observable changes in behavior. Behavior theorists define learning simply as the acquisition of a new behavior or change in behavior. The theory is that learning begins when a cue or stimulus from the environment is presented and the learner reacts to the stimulus with some type of response. Consequences that reinforce the desired behavior are arranged to follow the desired behavior. The new behavioral pattern can be repeated so it becomes automatic. The change in behavior of the learner signifies that learning has occurs. Teachers use behaviorism when they reward or punish student behaviors.

Example and applications of behaviorist learning theory:

• Repetitive practice
• Bonus points (providing an incentive to do more)
• Participation points (providing an incentive to participate)
• Verbal reinforcement (saying “good job”)
• Establishing rules

Unfortunately, behaviorism instruction does not prepare the learner for problem solving or creative thinking. Learners do what they are told and do not take the initiative to change or improve things. The learner is only prepared to recall of basic facts, automatic responses or performing tasks.

Cognitive Information Processing (Cognitivism)

Cognitive information processing is based on the thought process behind the behavior. The theory is based on the idea that humans process the information they receive, rather than merely responding to stimuli. The changes in behavior are observed, but only as an indictor to what is going on in the learner’s head. The learner’s mind is like a mirror from which new knowledge and skills will be reflected.

Cognitive information processing is used when the learner plays an active role in seeking ways to understand and process information that he or she receives and relate it to what is already known and stored within memory. Cognitive learning theories are credited to Jean Piaget.

Learning process

Cognitive learning theorists believe learning occurs through internal processing of information. Unlike behaviorism, cognitive information processing is governed by an internal process rather than by external circumstance. The cognitive approach to learning theory pays more attention to what goes on inside the learner’s head and focuses on mental processes rather than observable behavior. Changes in behavior are observed, and used as indicators as to what is happening inside the learner’s mind.

Learning involves the reorganization of experiences, either by attaining new insights or changing old ones. Thus, learning is a change in knowledge which is stored in memory, and not just a change in behavior.

Examples and applications of cognitive learning theory:

·         Classifying information

·         Linking Concepts (associate new content with something known)

·         Providing Structure (organizing your lecture in efficient and meaningful ways)

·         Real world examples

·         Discussions

·         Problem solving

·         Analogies

·         Imagery/providing pictures

·         Mnemonics

Constructivism

Constructivism is based on the premise that we all construct our own perspective of the world, based on individual experiences and internal knowledge. Learning is based on how the individual interprets and creates the meaning of his or her experiences. Knowledge is constructed by the learner and since everyone has a different set of experiences and perceptions, learning is unique and different for each person.

Learning Process

Constructivist theorists believe that learning is a process where individuals construct new ideas or concepts based on prior knowledge and experience. Each of us generates our own mental models, which we use to make sense of our experiences. We resolve conflicts between ideas and reflect on theoretical explanations. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate our new experiences.

This theory is used to focus on preparing people to problem solve. Therefore, to be successful, the learner needs a significant base of knowledge upon which to interpret and create ideas. Additionally, with constructivism, outcomes are not always predictable because learners are constructing their own knowledge. Thus constructivism does not work when the results always need to be consistent.

Examples and applications constructivism:

·         Case studies

·         Research Projects

·         Problem based learning

·         Brainstorming

·         Collaborative learning/group work

·         Discovery learning

·         Simulations

Summary

All three theories are important to understand. When deciding which strategies to use, it is important to consider:

·         The level of knowledge of the learners

·         The thought processing demands, and

·         The desired outcome (generation of new ideas or single answer)

CHAPTER 2: BEHAVIOURAL THEORY

Although initially developed in the 1920s, behaviourism still dominates approaches to teaching and learning in many places.

Behaviourist psychology is an attempt to model the study of human behaviour on the methods of the physical sciences, and therefore concentrates attention on those aspects of behavior that are capable of direct observation and measurement.

At the heart of behaviourism is the idea that certain behavioural responses become associated in a mechanistic and invariant way with specific stimuli. Thus a certain stimulus will evoke a particular response. At its simplest, it may be a purely physiological reflex action, like the contraction of an iris in the eye when stimulated by bright light. However, most human behaviour is more complex.

Nevertheless behaviourists have demonstrated in labs that it is possible to reinforce through reward or punishment the association between any particular stimulus or event and a particular behavioural response. The bond formed between a stimulus and response will depend on the existence of an appropriate means of reinforcement at the time of association between stimulus and response. This depends on random behaviour (trial and error) being appropriately reinforced as it occurs. This is essentially the concept of operant conditioning, a principle most clearly developed by Skinner (1968).

He showed that pigeons could be trained in quite complex behaviour by rewarding particular, desired responses that might initially occur at random, with appropriate stimuli, such as the provision of food pellets. He also found that a chain of responses could be developed, without the need for intervening stimuli to be present, thus linking an initially remote stimulus with a more complex behaviour.

Furthermore, inappropriate or previously learned behaviour could be extinguished by withdrawing reinforcement. Reinforcement in humans can be quite simple, such as immediate feedback for an activity or getting a correct answer to a multiple-choice test.

CHAPTER 3: COGNITIVIST THEORY

Humans have the ability for conscious thought, decision-making, emotions, and the ability to express ideas through social discourse, all of which may be highly significant for learning. Cognitivists therefore have focused on identifying mental processes for internal and conscious representations of the world.

Thus the search for rules, principles or relationships in processing new information, and the search for meaning and consistency in reconciling new information with previous knowledge, are key concepts in cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology is concerned with identifying and describing mental processes that affect learning, thinking and behaviour, and the conditions that influence those mental processes.

Cognitive approaches to learning cover a very wide range. At one end, the objectivist end, cognitivists consider basic mental processes to be genetic or hard-wired, but can be programmed or modified by external factors, such as new experiences. Early cognitivists in particular were interested in the concept of mind as computer, and more recently brain research has led to a search for linking learning to the development and reinforcement of neural networks in the brain. In terms of practice this concept of mind as computer has led to several technology-based developments in teaching, including:

·         Intelligent tutoring systems, a more refined version of teaching machines, based on analyzing student responses to questions and redirecting them to the appropriate next steps in learning. Adaptive learning is the latest extension of such developments

·         Artificial intelligence, which seeks to represent in computer software the mental processes used in human learning (which of course if successful would result in computers replacing many human activities – such as teaching, if learning is considered in an objectivist framework.)

·         Pre-determined learning outcomes, based on an analysis and development of different kinds of cognitive activities, such as comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

·         Certain instructional design approaches that attempt to manage the design of teaching to ensure successful achievement of pre-determined learning outcomes or objectives.

On the other hand, many other cognitivists, coming from a more constructivist epistemological perspective, would argue that mental states or even processes are not fixed but constantly evolving as new information is integrated with prior knowledge, and new strategies for seeking meaning are developed by the individual. Thus teachers who place a strong emphasis on learners developing personal meaning through reflection, analysis and construction of knowledge through conscious mental processing would represent much more of a constructivist epistemological position. It is here that the boundaries between cognitivist and constructivist learning begin to break down.

Cognitive approaches to learning, with a focus on comprehension, abstraction, analysis, synthesis, generalization, evaluation, decision-making and creative thinking, seem to fit much better with higher education than behaviourism, but even k-12 education, a cognitivist approach would mean for instance focusing on teaching learners how to learn, on developing stronger or new mental processes for future learning, and on developing deeper and constantly changing understanding of concepts and ideas.

Put simply, brain have more plasticity, adaptability and complexity than current computer software programs, and other factors, such as emotion, motivation, self-determination, values, and a wider range if senses, make human learning very different from the way computers operate, at least at the moment. Education would be much better served if computers scientists tried to make software to support learning more reflective of the way human learning operates, rather than trying to fit human learning into the current restrictions of behaviourist computer programming.

Nevertheless, cognitivists have increased our understanding of how humans process and make sense of new information, how we access, interpret, integrate, process, organize and manage knowledge, and have given us a better understanding of the conditions that affect learners’ mental states.

CHAPTER 4: CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

Constructivism, on the other hand, is led by the ideas of Jean Piaget and his theories of the four childhood stages of development. The theories of Constructivism are founded on the belief that “the child, at first directly assimilating the external environment to his own activity, later, in order to extend this assimilation, forms an increasing number of schemata which are both more mobile and better able to intercoordinate” (Piaget, 1955). Led by Piaget’s theory, Constructivists that currently practice education believe more in learning by doing. If a child is able to experiment for himself, the learning will be more profound.

It is more difficult to define examples of Constructivism historically in educational scenarios, as there is a vast array of educational practices that would quality as being more Constructivism is nature. These examples range from projects arranged by educators to have students learning by discovering on their own, to the simple daily activity of letting students interact with other students and learning a variety of lessons (in many different educational realms) just through this interaction. Teachers have been facilitating these educational events for a long time that is not easily defined. Constructivist theories, did, however, lay foundation for the design of curricula. Hypermedia and multimedia are examples of instructional technologies that are more Constructivist in nature. Along with the increased use of such educational technologies came the emphasis on problem solving. This is particularly Constructivist in theory, and through positive aspects of Behaviorism in learning have been identified, there has been a major shift toward more Constructivist learning situations involving problem solving (Sutton, 2003). The main argument is that learners actively construct their own knowledge based on their own experiences.

There is a huge push toward more of a Constructivist approach, however, when implementing instructional technologies. There are many supporters of this, and they provide a convincing argument. “One way forward is to switch our attention from the design of software packages (which act solely as storehouses of information) to an interactive problem-based environment in which the student assumes the key. With this profile in place, the learning task can be tailored to the student’s capabilities rather than the student having to fit in with the software designer’s generalized understanding of how learning should take place. The creation of these rich learning environments will also have to ensure that texts, reference sources, multimedia and communication facilities are fully integrated” (Shield, 2000). Learning, if taking place in authentic and real-world environments, and with relevance to the learner, is a “primary catalyst of knowledge construction” (Camp, 1999). We can clearly see the relevance that Constructivist ideas have in today’s educational practices, as real-world Constructivist learning situations are more motivating to students through practical application of knowledge. There is clearly a need for this learning as well as rote memorization, as much of what students will do as adults relies heavily on practical application of knowledge. There is clearly a need for this learning as well as rote memorization, as much of what students will do as adults relies heavily on practical applications.

REFERENCES

Camp, W.G., & Doolittle, P.E. (1999). Constructivism: The career and technical education perspective, Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, 16(1).

Piaget, J. (1955). The construction if reality in the child. London: Routledge.

Sutton, M.J. (2003). Problem representation, understanding, and learning transfer implications for technology education. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 40(4).

Education Theory

Constructivism and Social Constructivism in the Classroom

General Overview

In the constructivist classroom, the focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students. The classroom is no longer a place where the teacher (“expert”) pours knowledge into passive students, who wait like empty vessels to be filled. In the constructivist model, the students are urged to be actively involved in their own process of learning.

In the constructivist classroom, both teacher and students think of knowledge as a dynamic, ever-changing view of the world we live in and the ability to successfully stretch and explore that view-not as insert factoids to be memorized.

Key assumptions of this perspective include:

1.      What the student currently believes, whether correct or incorrect, is important.

2.      Despite having the same learning experience, each individual will base their learning on the understanding and meaning personal to them.

3.      Understanding or constructing a meaning is an active and continuous process.

4.      Learning may involve some conceptual changes.

5.      When students construct a new meaning, they may not believe it but may give it provisional acceptance or even rejection.

6.      Learning is an active, not a passive, process and depends on the students taking responsibility to learn.

The main activity in a constructivist classroom is solving problems. Students use inquiry methods to ask questions, investigate a topic, and use a variety of resources to find solutions and answers. As students explore the topic, they draw conclusions, and, as exploration continues, they revisit those conclusions. Exploration of questions leads to more questions.

There is a great deal of overlap between a constructivist and social constructivist classroom, with the exception of the greater emphasis placed on learning through social interaction, and the value placed on cultural background. For Vygotsky, culture gives the child the cognitive tools needed for development.

Selected Resources

List of learning theories and how they apply to practice:

http://icebreakerideas.com/learning-theories/

list of models and good info on each:

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html

outline of learning theories:

http://www.learning-theories.com/

THE MODELS OF LEARNING

Effect of models of Teaching

Models of teaching have a very positive effect on students’ behavior. Bruce Joyce classified the effect as Instructional effect and Nurturant Effect. Instructional effects are the direct effect of an instruction on students’ cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain. Nurturant effects are the indirect effect other than the teacher intends to achieve through the model.  It is the additional achievement gained by the students through the unique nature classroom interaction. Examples are the development of problem solving ability, analytical thinking, critical thinking, social skill, tolerance etc.

FAMILIES OF MODELS OF TEACHING

Joyce & Weil (2014) categorized the models of teaching in to four families. The classification has been made in accordance with the theoretical basis and fundamental aim of the teaching model. The four families explained below in detail.

THE INFORMATION PROCESSING FAMILY

Models in the information processing family focus on the cognitive activity of child.  It includes scientific inquiry for collecting original information, organizing and properly storing of the information. Some models provide the learners with information and concept, some emphasis concept formation and hypothesis testing and still other generate creative thinking.  Joyce & Weil (2014) listed eight models in Information Processing Model.

THE SOCIAL FAMILY

The focus of the social model family is to build synergy (collective energy) in the classroom for addressing ongoing problems of personal, social, national as well as international importance. Social models help the students to develop Self directed problem solving ability, sense of belongingness towards the society and make them responsible citizens of the country.

THE PERSONAL FAMILY

The personal models begin from the perspective of the selfhood of the individual. Individual consciousness and development of unique personality is the chief focus of this family. The models in personal family attempt to make them understand their self and thereby students can shape their future. The cluster of personal models pays great attention to the individual perspective and seeks to encourage productive interdependence, increasing people’s self awareness and sense of responsibility for their own destinies.

THE BEHAVIOURAL SYSTEM FAMILY

Modification of behavior is the main focus of this family. The stance taken is that human beings are self correcting communication systems that modify behavior in response to the information about how successfully tasks are navigated. The role of predetermined objectives, observable behavior, clearly defined task and methods, feedback and reinforcement are the foundations of models in behavior family.

CONCLUSION

Models of teaching are very effective teaching strategies which are meant for transacting specific topic to students. The nature of the topic, presentation method and classroom environment will direct the teacher that what model of teaching s/he has to select for teaching the concerned topic. However the teachers and student teachers should be well aware on the concept and various models of teaching. Hence they can implement the models of teaching in their professional life and make wonder in their classroom interactions.

                              


THE SOCIAL FAMILY