Learning Theories and Principles

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Learning Theories and Principles
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Learning Principles and Theories

• Introduction
• Definitions
• Brief overview of more than 100 years of learning
  research
• Origins
• Empiricism
• Connectionism
• Genetic Epistemology
• Behaviorism
• Gestalt ...
• More detailed list handout

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Definitions of Learning

• Several definitions exist..

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1) A relatively permanent change in behavior.

• The change must be relatively permanent
• (i.e.not due to transient reactions to stimuli,
  such as a startle response) and must be due to
  practice rather than fatigue, drugs, injury, and
  so on. This definition is favored by behaviorists
  and is still commonly cited in introductory
  psychology textbooks.

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2) Organized knowledge which grows and becomes
better organized

• (Charniak and Mc Dermott,1985,610)

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3) Any process whereby people or machines
increase their knowledge or skill
(Stillings et al, 1987,198).
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4) An experience-dependent generation of enduring
internal representations and/or
experience-dependent lasting modification in such
representations

• A representation is information in the nervous
  system that stands for something. This definition
  is favored by neuroscience.
• (Dudai, 1986, 6).

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5) The acquisition of knowledge and/or skills.

• Knowledge is this sense is factual information-
  i.e. that Paris is the capital of France and that
  112 and skills are coordination of perception
  and action, such as the skills of typing an car
  driving.

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What is knowledge?

• Information that has been processed by experience
• Representations in long term memory that consist
  of information

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• "DATA" will be defined as input gathered through
  the senses and
• "INFORMATION" as integrated data which denotes a
  significant change in the environment.
• Information is converted to "KNOWLEDGE" by
  interconnecting it with known concepts and skills
  as part of achieving a goal.
• "WISDOM" is knowledge about knowledge (AKA
  Metadata).
• Chris Dede. 1988. "The Role of Hypertext in
  Transforming Information into Knowledge." In W.C.
  Ryan (ed.), Proceedings of the National
  Educational Computing Converence '88. Eugene, OR
  International Council on Computers in Education.

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The Philosophical Beginnings
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Where does knowledge come from?
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Plato

• 427-347 B.C.
• -Knowledge is innate

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• 375 B.C.
• Knowledge is gained through the senses (through
  experience)

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Associationists

• How old concepts become associated with memory
  and new concepts are formed.
• There is a direct correspondence between
  experience and memory.
• Experience consists of sensations, and and memory
  consists of ideas

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Aristotle s 3 principle of association

• Continuity
• Similarity
• Contrast

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• 1. Continuity
• the more closely together in space or time two
  items occur, the more likely will the thought of
  one item lead to the thought of the other.

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• 2. Similarity
• the thought of one concept often leads to the
  thought of similar concepts

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• 3. Contrast
• an item often leads to the thought of its
  opposite (i.e., night-day, girl-boy)

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Empiricist

• John Locke
• 1632-1704
• Mind at birth is a tabula rasa, a blank slate.

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British Associationists

• AKA the British empiricists
• Thomas Hobbes (1651)
• John Locke(1690)
• James Mill (1829)
• John Stuart Mill(1843), and other
• Believe that that every person acquire all
  knowledge empirically-that is-through experience.

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Nativism
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Immanuel Kant

• 1724-1804
• Knowledge is acquired from experience but argued
  that some must be inbuilt.

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The Scientific Beginnings

• The Birth of Psychology

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• World s first psychological laboratory in
  Leipzig, Germany by Wilhelm Wundt-1879

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The First Psychology Experiment

• 1880- Herman Ebbinghaus

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Ebbinghauss Experiments on Memory

• First to test the Associationistss principles
• Conducted the first experimental studies on
  memory using himself as the subject.

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Ebbinghauss Major Findings
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The Effects of Repetition

• supports Thomas Brown's secondary principles of
  association which states that the frequency of
  pairings directly affects the strength of an
  association.

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The Effects of Time

• also proved Browns principle of recency which
  states that the more recently two items have been
  paired , the stronger will be the association
  between them.

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The Role of Contiguity

• found that the strength of association between
  two items depends on their proximity in the
  original list

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Backward Association

• recall is better when items must be remembered in
  the same order in which they were originally
  studied

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List Length

• If the amount of material to be learned is
  doubled, the time needed to master the material
  is more than doubled.

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Connectionism

• 1913 - Thorndike
• Laws of effect/exercise
• Learning requires both practice and rewards
• Laws of readiness
• A series of Stimuli-Responses (SR) can
  be chained together if they belong to the
  same action sequence
• Transfer of learning occurs because of previously
  encountered situations

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Behaviorism

• 1914 - J.B. Watson
• Founder who was influenced by empiricism,
  associationism, and the mechanistic philosophy of
  Rene Descartes
• Learning is conceptualized as a change in
  behavior.

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Behaviorists

• 1920 Pavlov Classical
  Conditioning
• 1935 Guthrie Contiguity
• 1938 Skinner Operant Conditioning
• 1950 Estes Stimulus Sampling Theory

• Elaboration on connectionist ideas
• Conditioning, stimulus patterns, association
• Practice SR sessions
• Gradual steps
• Feedback
• Increased level of difficulty

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Genetic Epistomology

• 1929 - Piaget
• Stages of cognitive development
• Children of different stages have different R to
  the same S
• Learning activities and materials must be
  appropriate for the stage (level)
• Learning is a process of cognitive development
  that requires adaptation (assimilation
  accommodation)

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Information Processing Theory

• 1956 - Miller
• Short term memory (or attention span) is limited
  to seven chunks of information -gt Planning
  Behavior

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Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• 1957 - Festinger
• Dissonance occurs when the individual must choose
  between attitudes and behavior that are
  contradictory

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Gestalt Theory

• 1959 - Werthermer
• WHOLE - was far more important than the elements
  themselves
• Proximity, closure, similarity or simplicity
• Gaps, incongruities or disturbances are important
  for learning process

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Originality

• 1960 - Maltzman
• Originality can be increased through instructions
  or practice to produce uncommon responses

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Social development LT
Date Author
Theory
1962 Vygotsky Social development

• Full cognitive development requires social
  interaction

1963 Bandura Social Learning Theory

• The highest level of observational learning is
  achieved first organizing and rehearsing the
  modeled behaviors systematically and then
  enacting it overtly.
• Self efficacy. Individuals are more likely to
  adopt a modeled behavior if it results in
  outcomes they value

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Subsumption Architecture

• 1963 - Ausube
• The most general ideas should be presented first
  and then progressively differentiate in terms of
  specificity and detail

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Conditions of learning

• 1965 - Gagne
• Different instruction is required for different
  learning outcomes
• Events of learning operate on the learner in ways
  that constitute the conditions of learning
  (learning evironment is important)

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Script Theory (AI)

• 1975 - Schank
• Conceptualization is defined as an act of doing
  something to an object in a direction
• All memory is episodic and organized in terms of
  scripts
• Scripts allow individuals to make inferences

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Algo-Heuristic

• 1976 - Landa
• It is more important to teach students heuristic
  processes (rule of thumb) than prescriptions
  (know processes) on the other hand, teachers
  need to know both.
• Teaching students hot to discover processes is
  more valuable than providing them already
  formulated
• Break down processes into elementary operations
  of size and length suitable for each student
  (individualization of instruction)

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ACT - Adaptive Character of Thought

• 1976 Anderson
• Identify the goal structure of the problem space.
  
• Provide instruction in the goal of problem
  solving. Provide immediate feedback on errors.
• Minimize working memory load. Adjust the grain
  size of the instruction.

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Adult learning theory-Andragogy?

• 1981 - Cross
• Adult learning programs should capitalize on the
  experience of the participants
• Adults should have as much choice as possible in
  the availability and organization of the learning
  programs
• Adults should be challenged to more increasingly
  advance stages of personal development

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Component Display Theory

• 1984- Merrill
• Instruction will be more effective if all three
  primary performance forms (remember, use,
  generality) are present
• Primary forms can be presented in any order,
  just as long as they are present
• Primary forms can be presented by either an
  explanatory or inquisitory learning strategy
• Student should be given control over the number
  of instances or practice items they receive

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