Learning Theories

1. Impact on Adult Education Program By Claudia Gomez 10/12/2008 EDTC 3320 Learning Theories

2. B.F Skinner Behavioral Theorist • Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author, inventor, advocate for social reform and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. He invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviorism. He became famous for his work with rats using his "Skinner Box". He took the extreme liberty of transferring his experience and theories of rats directly to human beings. It should be kept in mind that rats and people are tremendously different creatures, yet Skinner had no problem with easily assuming what was true for rats, on a very simple scale, would be applicable to human beings in very different and complex situations.

3. Jean Piaget Cognitive Theorist • Jean Piaget [ʒɑ̃ pjaʒɛ] (1896-1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist, and developmental theorist, well known for his work studying children, his theory of cognitive development, and for his epistemological view called “genetic epistemology." Piaget, of course, argued that intellectual development reached its zenith with the full attainment of formal operations in late adolescence, and no further growth is possible, save for some specialization in areas of interest to the individual. Formal operations, however, pertains to only one dimension of adult thinking, that is, logical-mathematical and scientific reasoning.

4. Cognitivism vs. Behaviorism • Behaviorism equates learning with changes in either the form or frequency of observable performance. • Behaviorists assess the learners to determine at what point to begin instruction as well as to determine which reinforces are most effective for a particular student. The most critical factor, however, is the arrangement of stimuli and consequences within the environment. The cognitive approach focuses on the mental activities of the learner that lead up to a response and acknowledges the processes of mental planning, goal-setting, and organizational strategies. Cognitive designers use techniques such as advance organizers, analogies, hierarchical relationships, and matrices to help learners relate new information to prior knowledge. Forgetting is the inability to retrieve new information from memory because of interference, memory loss, or missing or inadequate cues needed to access information.

5. Cognitivism’s Impact on Learning • Because of the emphasis on mental structures, cognitive theories are usually considered more appropriate for explaining complex forms of learning (reasoning, problem-solving, information-processing) than are those of a more behavioral perspective. • cognitive emphases imply that major tasks of the teacher/designer include (1) understanding that individuals bring various learning experiences to the learning situation which can impact learning outcomes; • determining the most effective manner in which to organize and structure new information to tap the learners’ previously acquired knowledge, abilities, and experiences

6. Behaviorism’s Impact on Learning • Behavioral theories imply that teachers ought to arrange environmental conditions so that students respond properly to presented stimuli. Cognitive theories emphasize making knowledge meaningful and helping learners organize and relate new information to existing knowledge in memory. Instruction must be based on a student’s existing mental structures, or schema, to be effective. It should organize information in such a way that learners are able to connect new information with existing knowledge in some meaningful way.

7. Applicability of Behaviorism Theory • Behaviorists attempt to prescribe strategies that are most useful for building and strengthening stimulus-response associations, including the use of instructional cues, practice, and reinforcement. • Behaviorism was used as the basis for designing many of the early audio-visual materials and gave rise to many related teaching strategies, such as Skinner’s teaching machines and programmed texts. • More recent examples include principles utilized within computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and mastery learning.

8. Applicability of Behaviorism contd’.. • An emphasis on producing observable and measurable outcomes in students [behavioral objectives, task analysis, criterion-referenced assessment • Pre-assessment of students to determine where instruction should begin learner analysis • Emphasis on mastering early steps before progressing to more complex levels of performance sequencing of instructional presentation, mastery of learning of cues, shaping and practice to ensure a strong stimulus-response association simple to complex sequencing of practice, use of prompts • Use of reinforcement to impact performance [tangible rewards, informative feedback

10. Applicability of Cognitivism • Cognitivists make use of feedback (knowledge of results) to guide and support accurate mental connections. • Cognitivists look at the learner to determine his/her disposition to learning, (i.e., How does the learner activate, maintain, and direct his/her learning?). • Cognitivists examine the learner to determine how to design instruction so that it can be readily assimilated (i.e., What are the learners’ existing mental structures?). • Cognitivism emphasizes the role that environmental conditions play in facilitating learning. Instructional explanations, demonstrations, illustrative examples and matched non-examples are all considered to be instrumental in guiding student learning.

12. Contrast between Cognitivism and Behaviorism Cognitivism Behaviorism • An internal process that isn't necessarily reflected in an organism's behavior. Believes that some learning processes are unique to humans. • Edward Tolman Jerome Bruner Jean Piaget Lev Vigotsky • Information processing, Sensory register, short term memory, working memory, long term memory, schema, assimilation, accommodation • Attention, pattern recognition, selection, connection of ideas and knowledge, elaboration, prior knowledge, long-term memory storage processes, and retrieval methods • As a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. Believes that all organisms share essentially the same learning traits • B.f Skinner Ivan Pavlov John Watson Lee Thorndike • Stimuli, response, reinforcement, chaining, shaping • Strength of reinforcement, consistency of reinforcement, cleaning of environment to isolate desired stimuli, practice

13. Works Cited • Brown, Green, Abbie, Timothy (2006). The Essentials of Instructional Design. New Jersy, New Jersy: Pearson Education, Inc. • Gonzalez, John Cognitivism Knowledge Based Introduction. Retrieved October 12, 2008, from Cognitivism Knowledge Based Web site: http://web.syr.edu/~jagonz01/621/cognitivism.html • Newby, T.J (1993). Learning Environments. Retrieved October 12, 2008, from Learning Environments Web site: http://www.geocities.com/learningenvironments/learningenvir onments.html