LEARNING THEORIES ETEC 5300 By Jennifer Massey

What You Will Learn  Definitions to learning theories  Implications of theories in classroom  Discussion of High Tech High video in relation to learning theories  Discussion of PBS video in relation to cognition and schema  My thoughts on learning theories

Defining Learning Theories: Behaviorism  Founded by John B. Watson (psychologist)  Learning = a change in the probability of a behavior occurring  Change occurs in response to environmental stimulus  No consideration given to internal mental states (cognition/emotions/mood)  Teacher:  Reinforces consequences following student behavior to achieve required result (called conditioning)  Types of conditioning  Classical: natural stimulus is paired with neutral stimulus. When neutral stimulus evokes response without natural stimulus, subject is considered to be conditioned.  Operant: Rewards or punishments are given for behavior. Associations are made based on consequences to behavior.

Defining Learning Theories: Cognitivism  Learning = change in knowledge stored in memory  Process: receive---encode---retrieve from memory  Teacher: helps to organize and link new information to prior knowledge (attention/encoding/retrieval aids)  Components  Sensory Memory: Visual stimuli is processed quickly (often an unconscious task) and given limited processing time. Only salient information is passed on to working memory.  Working Memory: Sensory memory that is not deleted passes on to working memory. Limited capacity restricts the amount of information is processed (selective control used). Rehearsal and repetition make some tasks seem automatic (articulatory loop). Maintenance and further processing occur for non-verbal and visual information (visual sketch pad). Efficiency of processing is increased by automaticity and selectivity.  Long Term Memory: Storage of information; not constrained by capacity. Information is encoded from working memory or retrieved from long term memory and placed back into working memory. Efficient organizational strategies must be employed for efficiency of encoding and retrieval.

Defining Learning Theories: Constructivism  Learning = change in meaning through experience  Process: repeated dialogue and collaboration while problem solving  Teacher  Pose a “good” problem  Create/model/guide collaborative group learning  Employs active techniques (experiments/real world problems)  Encourages constant reflection = expert learners Ideas gain complexity Develop skills to integrate new information Learn how to understand how things work Hypothesis/test/draw conclusions

High Tech High Video Analysis  Constructivism at its best!  Teams of students collaborate on projects  Content/students/real world issues are always integrated  Students can Ask questions Consider perspectives Make connections  Project Based Learning with clear expectations  Positively affects students  Constantly refining thoughts/assimilating new knowledge  Actions are questioned and qualified at every step

Analysis of PBS Video  Behaviorism was primary focus for early psychologists  Made no distinction between animal or human behavior  Cognitivism: includes thinking process and behavior  Sensory processes—selective filtering---storage  Process is sequential  Concepts: mental representations of related things  Basic levels make up most of thinking  Way to categorize  Schema: way to fit elements into concepts Way to infer what is part of a situation and what is not Creates a mental map of concept; eliminates things that are not part of concept Example: “I am going to have a picnic lunch.” Schema allows you to infer that the speaker is not going to eat a picnic basket. They will eat a selection of items (sandwiches/fruits/etc.) that are found in the basket and will be eating outdoors.

Analysis of PBS Video  People do not think rationally/efficiently  Need concepts and schema to think efficiently  Creating computer models that model our thinking process helped psychologists to realize this  Students need more mental models to assimilate new schema into existing concepts  Advanced organizers  More opportunities to collaborate  More hypothesis testing

My Thoughts on Learning Theories  Behaviorism is useful to teach basic skills  Walking in a line across campus  Holding a pencil  Raising your hand before asking a question  Cognitivism is useful when planning how students should interact with an experience.  What is their prior knowledge?/How can I get them to recall it?  How can I help them organize new knowledge?  Example: Making comparisons between Civil War and WWI What were key themes in Civil War? What were key themes in WWI? Technology: How did it help progress of each war? Leading Ideologies: How did each war form “sides”? Lessons learned: What did each era hope to avoid in the future?  This theory creates a framework for understanding how the mind processes information.  Instructors should keep this in mind when planning a learning experience.

My Thoughts on Theories  Constructivist Theory  Most useful for producing students that can function in the real world  Moves beyond processing of information see in Cognitivism How can they apply it?!  Learning is experiential Students must hypothesize/test/conclude  Since this is relatively new, there needs to be a shift in the educational setting.  Teachers need the “know-how” to implement more of these lessons  Teachers also need confidence that the core concepts will still be maintained (and possibly exceeded) with project based learning  Teachers/administrators need to revise schema No more sage on the stage (or less of it) No more high stakes testing! Products can replace tests.

What I Learned  Behaviorism has its moments, but is not a global model for teaching or learning.  Cognitivist theory explains how we learn.  Should be used when thinking about how to implement the core concepts of a lesson.  Anything more could lead to rote factual transfer, which does not show evidence of learning  Constructivist theory leads to learning or transfer of knowledge.  When students can apply what they know to a new situation, they have learned the core concept, made new schema, and assimilated the knowledge effectively.