Education
Why is it important
To obtain a job in the future.
To know how to raise a family
My inspiration!
 I want to inspire young children to
become excited about learning!
 They should WANT to learn
 They should know the MEANING
behind what they are learning
Definitions of learning…
Behaviorist
Cognitive
Situative
Using repetition and
memorization to
learn “what”
Using schemas and
prior knowledge to
learn “how”
Being a part of a
bigger learning
community to learn
the “meaning”
Educational Psychology
The study of teaching,
learning,
development…
A young science…
“science” was just getting big at
the end of the 19th century
Learning about
learning!
philosophy and psychology – the
same?
Still arguing about what
“science” is!
psychology, philosophy, politics –
all wrapped up together!
Two different frames
The “theoretical” frame
• Behaviorist
• Cognitive
• Situative
psychology, philosophy, politics
all together!
Who agrees with what??
Ed 333 Class results
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
9
7
Males
Females
2
Behaviorist
Cognitive
Situative
Behaviorist
 example: Thorndike
 Empiricist
 associated with associationist,
behaviorist theory
 learning is forming associations
 transfer is direct
 OUT of the head – behavior ONLY
Cognitive
 example: Piaget
 Rationalist
 associated with cognitive,
constructivist, information-processing
theory
 learning is cognitive growth,
formation of conceptual structures
 IN the head
Situative
 example: Dewey, Vygotsky
 Pragmatic/Marxist (and much else…)

Associated with pragmatism, situative, socio-cultural, sociohistorical, cultural-historical, distributed cognition, situated
cognition, legitimate peripheral participation, etc…
 learning is enculturating, expanding
possibilities for perception and action
 OUT of and IN the head
 Culture
 Distributed cognitions
 Internalization
Now, back to the beginning…
 Looking again at my definition of
“learning”
 My definition of learning is Cognitive!
Which one
do you
Agree
with??