Learning Theories

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Learning Theories
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The Ways People Learn

• Behaviorism
• Constructivism
• Information Processing

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Behaviorism

• The internal, non visible process, of learning
  through cause and effect relationships.
• Behaviorism can be modified through 3 types of
  conditioning.
• Positive Reinforcement
• Increase in desired behavior through a stimuli
  (prize, award, praise or privilege)
• Negative Reinforcement
• Increase in desired behavior through a removal of
  a stimuli (I.e. If you do all of your homework
  you wont have to do the dishes tonight)
• Punishment
• Decrease in behavior resulting from undesirable
  consequences

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Constructivism

• Humans construct all of the knowledge in there
  minds through individual experiences.
• Learning occurs when an person is able to create
  unique mechanisms for learning and an individual
  version of the learned knowledge.

• It is recommended that students participate in
  meaningful activities in order to generate their
  own knowledge.

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Information Processing

• The human mind processes information through
  internal mechanisms rather than external
  experiences and events.
• There are three different memory stores which
  work together.
• 1. Sensory Register- recognizes new information
  and classifies it amongst the already known or
  completely new information.
• 2. Short Term Memory- stores new information as
  long as it is in use. Can hold five plus or
  minus two new things at once. Information can be
  lost.
• 3. Long Term Memory- stores information which has
  been effectively used or memorized and is capable
  of retrieval of such information. Information can
  be lost.

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Beliefs in Learning Theories
Learning Theory
How People Learn
Technological Use
Behaviorism Cause and effect relationships Children can learn through reinforcement Educational software as well as Multi-media should be used as stimuli to aid students in focusing and retaining information
Constructivism Humans gain knowledge within their own minds through experiences. Multi-media helps children think about how they think Computers help in developing individual creativity
Information Processing The mind works much like that of a computer, through internal processes rather than external events. Educational software helps to identify students problem areas as well as develop prerequisite skills. Multi-media is used to present content during instruction.
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Additional Resources

• Behaviorism
• Construstivism
• Information Processing