Overview of Learning Theories

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Overview of Learning Theories

• Lynn Schultz

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Learning Theories Behaviorism

• Behaviorism focuses on objectively observable
  behaviors and discounts mental activities
• Human behavior is a product of the
  Stimulus-Response interaction
• Learning is a more or less permanent change in
  behavior

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Learning Theories Behaviorism

• Two approaches to Behaviorism
• Classic conditioning occurs when a natural
  reflex responds to a stimulus (Pavlov, Thorndike,
  Watson)
• Operant conditioning occurs when voluntary
  behaviors are used to control the environment
  (Skinner)

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Impact of Behaviorism

• Punishment and rewards
• Writing objectives (learning, behavioral,
  performance)
• Behavior to be learned
• Conditions under which the behavior to be
  demonstrated
• Criteria by which to judge the amount of learning

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Impact of Behaviorism

• Programmed Instruction
• Instruction broken into small steps
• Active response to each step
• Teaching machine
• Task Repetition
• Task Sequencing Reinforcement
• Automatism

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Criticisms of Behaviorism

• Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of
  learning, it disregards the activities of the
  mind
• Behaviorism does not explain some learning--such
  as the recognition of new language patterns by
  young children--for which there is no
  reinforcement mechanism

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Learning Theories Cognitivism

• Builds upon the Behaviorist principal of
  reinforcement, but moves beyond the idea that
  only outcomes that can be measured are valid
• Human Information-Processing Model people
  process information through a series of different
  systems (sight, hearing, attention and control)
• Human knowledge is structured and organized
  (short and long term memory)

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Impact of Cognitivism

• Instruction
• Students learn through different senses lessons
  should teach through different modalities if
  possible
• Students need organization skills to help relate
  new and prior information (concept mapping
  Ausubel) putting the new information into a
  context (schema) that allows new information to
  connect to previous info.
• ICAI (intelligent computer assisted instruction)
  software developed

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Critics of Cognitivism

• Lack of recognition of the social context in
  which learning occurs
• More recent and local experiments found formal
  operations (abstract thinking) to occur earlier
  than Piaget's subjects

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Learning Theories Constructivism

• Best learning is situated learning where
  learners solve problems, perform tasks, and learn
  new material in a context that makes sense to
  them
• Learners should be supported throughout the
  learning process by scaffolding
• Learning should be student-centered, not
  teacher-centered

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Learning Theories Constructivism

• key factor in knowledge construction is action
  and participation in activities
• encourage students to discover principles by
  themselves
• student should engage in an active dialog (social
  aspect very important)
• student continually builds upon what they have
  already learned

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Impact of Constructivism

• Curriculum
• using curricula customized to the students' prior
  knowledge and/or real world tasks
• Instruction
• emphasizes on using Cooperative Learning and PBL
  strategies
• focus on making connections between facts and
  fostering new understanding in students
• tailor teaching strategies to student responses
  and encourage students to analyze, interpret, and
  predict information

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Impact of Constructivism

• Assessment
• assessment becomes part of the learning process
  so that students play a larger role in judging
  their own progress

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Critics of constructivism

• Elitism successful with children from privileged
  backgrounds (outstanding teachers, committed
  parents, and rich home environments)
• Tyranny of the majority few students' voices
  or interpretations dominate the class
• Lack of accountability for students' progress in
  light of standardized testing requirements

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Learning Styles

• Represents our preferences for dealing with the
  world around us
• Learning Styles are usually assessed through a
  learning style inventory test
• NOT set in stone!! This may change over time and
  maturity
• NOT directly connected to Learning Theory

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Learning Styles

• Inventories
• There are many different learning style
  inventories that can be used to asses learning
  style preferences
• Most are based upon the ancient idea of four
  basic temperament areas
• Paragon (preferred for this course) is based upon
  the Myers-Briggs Inventory

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Learning Styles

• Affect in the classroom
• We tend to teach as we prefer to learn
• Our classrooms are made up students with ALL
  types of learning styles, so some students really
  DO learn differently than we teach
• Good teaching will try to accommodate as many
  learning styles as possible