Learning Theory
COMPETENCE III
Learning theories
Behaviorism
Cognitivism
Social Constructivism
Behaviorism
Cognitive Constructivism
Social Constructivism
View of
Knowledge is a repertoire Knowledge systems of
knowledge of behavioral responses to cognitive structures are
environmental stimuli.
actively constructed by
learners based on preexisting cognitive structures.
Knowledge is constructed within
social contexts through
interactions with a knowledge
community.
View of
learning
Active assimilation and
accommodation of new
information to existing
cognitive structures.
Discovery by learners.
Integration of students into a
knowledge community.
Collaborative assimilation and
accommodation of new
information.
View of
Extrinsic, involving
motivation positive and negative
reinforcement.
Intrinsic; learners set their
own goals and motivate
themselves to learn.
Intrinsic and extrinsic. Learning
goals and motives are
determined both by learners
and extrinsic rewards provided
by the knowledge community.
Implication Correct behavioral
s for
responses are transmitted
Teaching
by the teacher and
absorbed by the students.
The teacher facilitates
Collaborative learning is
learning by providing an
facilitated and guided by the
environment that promotes teacher. Group work.
discovery and
assimilation/accommodation.
Passive absorption of a
predefined body of
knowledge by the learner.
Promoted by repetition
and positive
reinforcement.
Behaviorism
The assumption has been that if teachers speak
clearly and students are motivated, learning
will occur. If students do not learn, the logic
goes, it is because they are not paying
attention or they do not care. These ideas were
grounded in a theory of learning that focused
on behavior. One behavior leads to another,
behavioral-learning theorists argued, and so if
teachers act in a certain way, students will
likewise act in a certain way. Central to
behaviorism was the idea of conditioning—that
is, training the individual to respond to stimuli.
Behaviorism

Learning is defined by the outward
expression of new behaviors

Focuses only on visible behaviors

A biological basis for learning

Learning is context-independent

Classical & Operant Conditioning


Reflexes (Pavlov’s Dogs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxu
zI
Feedback/Reinforcement (Skinner’s Pigeon Box)
Cognitivism
Research suggests that learners—from a very
young age—make sense of the world,
actively creating meaning while reading
texts, interacting with the environment, or
talking with others. Even if students are
quietly watching a teacher speak, they can
be actively engaged in a process of
comprehension, or “minds on” work, as
many teachers describe it. As Bransford,
Brown, and Cocking (2000) wrote, “It is now
known that very young children are
competent, active agents of their own
Cognitivism

Grew in response to Behaviorism

Knowledge is stored cognitively as symbols

Learning is the process of connecting
symbols in a meaningful and memorable
way

Studies focused on the mental processes
that facilitate symbol connection
Cognitivism

Jean Piaget


Genetic Epistemology
 Assimilation and Accommodation
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A9SgbAK5I
Jerome Bruner
Discovery Learning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz2fOBcqU
HY

Learner as independent problem-solver
Social Constructivism
According to Vygotsky (1978, 57), every
function in the child’s cultural development
appears twice: first, on the social level and,
later on, on the individual level; first, between
people (interpsychological) and then inside the
child (intrapsychological). This applies equally
to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and
to the formation of concepts. All the higher
functions originate as actual relationships
between individuals. Vygotsky’s theory of social
learning has been expanded upon by numerous
later theorists and researchers.
Social Constructivism

Grew out of and in response to Cognitivism, framed around
metacognition

Knowledge is actively constructed

Learning is…
 A search for meaning by the learner
 Contextualized
 An inherently social activity
 Dialogic and recursive
 The responsibility of the learner

Lev Vygotsky
 Social Learning
 Zone of Proximal Development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Im_GrCgrVA
Other Learning Theories

Multiple Intelligences

Brain Based Learning

Situated Learning (J. Lave)

Subsumption Theory (D. Ausubel)

Conditions of Learning (R. Gagne)
Multiple Intelligences (MI)

Grew out of Constructivism, framed around
metacognition

H. Gardner (1983 to present)

All people are born with eight intelligences:

1. Verbal-Linguistic
5. Musical
2. Visual-Spatial
6. Naturalist
3. Logical-Mathematical
7. Interpersonal
4. Kinesthetic
8. Intrapersonal
Facilitates students to power their strengths and
decisively target and develop their weaknesses
Brain-Based Learning (BBL)

Grew out of Neuroscience and Constructivism

D. Souza, N. Caine and G. Caine, E. Jensen
(1980’s to present)
12 governing principles

1. Brain is a parallel processor
7. Focused attention and peripheral
perception
2. Whole body learning
8. Conscious and unconscious processes
3. A search for meaning
9. Several types of memory
4. Patterning
10. Embedded learning sticks
5. Emotions are critical
11. Challenge and threat
6. Processing of parts and wholes
12. Every brain is unique
Our Brain