Lecture 2: Theories of Learning Part 1
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The document provides an overview of different learning theories, including behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. It discusses key theorists and concepts within each approach. Behaviorism focuses on external environmental factors and observable behaviors, exemplified by theorists like Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner. Cognitivism views learning as information processing and emphasizes internal mental processes, as explored by Piaget and Gardner through concepts like schemas and multiple intelligences. Constructivism posits that learners construct knowledge through social experiences, as discussed by Vygotsky through the influence of culture. The document also compares the strengths and weaknesses of each theoretical perspective.
Lecture 2: Theories of Learning Part 1
- 1. The Future of Learning Dr James Stanfield Lecture 2: Learning Theories Part 1 Tuesday 8th October 2019
- 2. Plan of Action Part I: Understanding Behaviourism Part II: Understanding Cognitivism Learning theories are research-based ideas about how we learn. Theories combine what is known about genetics, development, environment, motivation, and emotions to explain how we acquire, store, and apply knowledge.
- 3. Part I: Understanding Behaviourism A focus on the environmental factors influencing how we learn
- 4. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) McLeod, S. A. (2018, April 05). What are the most interesting ideas of Sigmund Freud?. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html
- 5. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) Russian physiologist • Mathematician, empirical observation, desire for a scientific approach • Led psychology towards external observation and away from analysis of reported internal thoughts (Freud) • Towards external influence • Classical conditioning “Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin”. Classical conditioning is "classical" in that it is the first systematic study of basic laws of learning / conditioning.
- 6. John B. Watson (1879-1958), American Psychologist • father of the psychological school of behaviourism • struggled academically and was arrested twice during high school • completed a doctorate in Psychology at the University of Chicago in 1903 under John Dewey but “never understood a word he said”. • Lecturer at John Hopkins University in 1908 • Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It. Columbia University, 1913. • Behaviourism, according to Watson, was the science of observable behaviour. Only behaviour that could be observed, recorded and measured was of any real value for the study of humans or animals. • a child's environment is the factor that shapes behaviours over their genetic makeup or natural temperament.
- 7. John B. Watson (1879-1958), American Psychologist Men are built, not born.... Give me the baby, and I'll make it climb and use its hands in constructing buildings of stone or wood.... I'll make it a thief, a gunman or a dope fiend. The possibilities of shaping in any direction are almost endless. The first aim of a good college is not to teach books, but the meaning and purpose of life. Hard study and the learning of books are only a means to this end. We develop power and courage and determination and we go out to achieve Truth, Wisdom and Justice. If we do not come to this, the cost of schooling is wasted. Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
- 8. Edward Thorndike (1874, 1949), American Psychologist Colours fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure. The function of intellect is to provide a means of modifying our reactions to the circumstances of life, so that we may secure pleasure, the symptom of welfare. From Edward Thorndike's work, three laws of learning surfaced. The Law of Effect proposes that pleasurable consequences lead to repetition, while unpleasant outcomes extinguish behaviour. The Law of Readiness explains that learners will be resistant to learning until they are ready and the Law of Exercise states that what is practiced strengthens, while what is not practiced becomes weaker. McLeod, S. A. (2018). Edward Thorndike. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/edward- thorndike.html
- 9. B.F Skinner (1904-1990) American Psychologist He believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He called this approach operant conditioning. Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. If you're old, don't try to change yourself, change your environment The ideal of behaviourism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behaviour that benefits everyone. A person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment. McLeod, S. A. (2018). Skinner - operant conditioning. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
- 10. What do behaviourist pedagogies and approaches look like? What role will these play in the future of learning?
- 11. Part II: Understanding Cognitivism The cognitivist paradigm essentially argues that the “black box” of the mind should be opened and understood. The learner is viewed as an information processor (like a computer). This is a type of learning which mainly uses cognitive processes, such as perception and reasoning, and in which the contribution of the learner is emphasized.
- 12. Jean Piaget (1896-1980), a Swiss psychologist • Background in history and philosophy • Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual”. • investigated the hidden side of children’s minds and studied areas of intelligence like perception and memory • Examined children's conversations in a social context • Different to a ‘fixed’ behaviourist approach which doesn’t take into account development and interaction • Progression from intuitive to ‘scientific’ and socially accepted response McLeod, S. A. (2018, June 06). Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
- 13. Piaget's theory of cognitive development
- 14. “Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society ... but for me and no one else, education means making creators... You have to make inventors, innovators—not conformists" If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society“Play is the answer to how anything new comes about.” “Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research. Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the essential thing is that in order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself, he must re- invent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand that which we allow him to discover by himself will remain with him visibly for the rest of his life.”
- 15. Cognitive learning models: Bloom’s taxonomy Cognitive learning models: Gardner’s multiple intelligences
- 16. Metacognition • Understanding how we learn and having strategies for learning • Metacognitive knowledge • Metacognitive skill Metacognition is a subdivision of cognition, or a type of cognition. Metacogition is defined as the scientific study of an individual's cognitions about his or her own cognitions.
- 17. What do cognitivist pedagogies and approaches look like? What role will these play in the future of learning?
- 18. Overview of learning models Theorists Pavlov, Skinner, Watson Bloom, Piaget, Gardener Vygotsky, Bruner Key features Based on observable changes in behaviour and repetition until automatic Based on the thought process behind the behaviour. We each construct our own perspective of the world Mind Black box Develops schema: internal knowledge structures. Sensory register, short term memory, long term memory We have individual experiences and schema Development of theory Knowledge Objective, externalised view of knowledge Objective view of knowledge. Schema are acquired or re- organised to accommodate knowledge Subjective view of knowledge as a construct Learning support Instruction, transmission, repetition, reinforcement, reward Repetition, pattern, reinforcement Through social, cultural and sensory interaction Strengths Simple, controllable. The learner can focus on a clear goal Enables consistency. Establishes routine Creative, personal, cultural, social. Able to apply learning in different situations. Empathy. Weaknesses Over simplistic, not holistic, not like real life, learner cannot understand anomalies Doesn’t acknowledge socio- cultural influences or individuality Can we have shared understanding? Divergent thinking isn’t always welcome Behaviourist Cognitivist Constructivist 7
- 23. The problem with learning styles
- 24. Any questions?
- 25. Select a chapter. Read it. Reflect. Blog.
- 26. #edu8213
Editor's Notes
- #3: Talk to the person next to you: Do you agree or disagree? What year was it said?
- #4: Talk to the person next to you: Do you agree or disagree? What year was it said?
- #10: Negative reinforcement – taking something away as a reward – i.e you’ve done the dishes so I will stop nagging you. You’ve eaten some broccoli so you don’t have to have any more
- #12: Talk to the person next to you: Do you agree or disagree? What year was it said?
- #13: Learning depends on interaction with others and the world. It has stages
- #14: Moving away form a reliance on the senses towards the ability to think in an abstract way.
- #19: Key differences with constructivism – emphasis on the individual. The belief that we construct knowledge, rather than that it is ‘out there’ waiting for us to grasp it for us to be fed with it. There is no one ‘truth’ about the world – it is what we make of it. Cognitivist related methods can be useful in helping us develop but we are all different. In social constructivism -We learn from each other.