1. Introduction to Cognitive Learning Theories and Learning Technologies
C. Candace Chou
CIED551
Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction
University of St. Thomas

2. Skinner Behaviorist Theories
Before Skinner, learning theories are dominated by Pavlov’s classical conditioning concepts, S -> R
Skinner identified three kinds of conditions that shape behavior
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment

3. Behaviorist Theories Implications for education
Teaching is a process of arranging contingencies of reinforcement effective to bring about learning.
Implications for technology integration
Drill-and-practice software
Praise correct answers to tutorial software
Memorization of basic information

4. Information-Processing Theory: The Mind as Computer
Based on a model of memory and storage proposed by Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968
The brain contains certain structures that process information like a computer
Human brain has three kinds of memory or “stores”
Sensory registers: the parts receive all information
Short-term memory (STM): working memory
Long-term memory (LTM): hold information indefinitely

5. Information-Processing Theories II
Implications for education
Ask interesting questions and display eye-catching materials to draw student attention
While presenting information, give instructions that point out the keys of the new learning materials
Give students practice exercises to help assure the transfer of information from short- to long-term memory

6. Information-Processing Theories III
Implications for technology integration
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications, an attempt to develop computer software that can simulate the thinking and learning behaviors of humans.
Drill-and-practice software helps students encode and store newly-learned information into long-term memory

7. Gagné: Principles of Instruction
Translate behaviorist and information -processing theories into instructional strategies
Types of learning
Intellectual skills (problem solving, higher-order thinking, defined concepts, concrete concepts, discriminations)
Cognitive strategies
Verbal information
Motor skills
Attitudes

8. Gagné II Events of instruction Gain instruction
Informing the learner of the objectives
Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning
Presenting new materials
Providing learning guidance
Eliciting performance
Providing feedback about correctness
Assessing performance
Enhancing retention and recall

9. Gagné III
Learning hierarchies: Learning is a building process that the lower-level skills provide the foundation for higher-level skills.
Math example: to work with long division problems requires the prerequisite math skills in number recognition, number facts, simple addition and subtraction, multiplication, and simple division.

10. Gagné IV Implications for education
Widely used to develop systematic instructional design principles
Sequence skills
Implications for technology integration
Plan lesson for instructional software such as drill, tutorial, simulation.
Tutorial could be stand-along and accomplish all of the events of instruction

11. Vygotsky: Social Constructivism
Cognitive development is the result of social interactions in cultural contexts.
Focus on social factors in knowledge construction
Zone of proximal development: the difference between difficulty level of a problem child can cope with independently and the level that can be accomplished with adult help.
Cognitive changes takes place in the “construction zone.”

12. Vygotsky II
Instructional Scaffolding: A teacher provides students with selective help (e.g. asking questions, directing attention, giving hints) to enable them to do things they could not do own their own.
Implications for technology integration:
Concepts of scaffolding and developing individual’s potential
Logo to virtual reality: using real-life examples relevant to individuals’ needs to advance student understanding.

13. Vygotsky III Implications for education: Davydov (1995)
Education is intended to develop children’s personalities
The human personality is linked to its creative potential and education should be designed to discover and develop this potential to its fullest in each individual.
Teaching and learning assume that students master their inner values through some personal activities.
Teachers direct and guide the individual activities of the students but they do not force their will on them or dictate to them.
The most valuable methods for student learning are those that correspond to their individual developmental stages and needs, therefore the methods can not be uniform across students.

14. Piaget: Stages of Development
Piaget believed that all children go through four stages of cognitive development
Sensorimotor stage (0 - 2)
Explore the world through senses and motor activities
Preoperational stage (2-7)
Capable of speech communication, number recognition, & self-control
Concrete operational stage (7 - 11)
Capable of abstract reasoning and observation tasks
Formal operations stage ( )
Can form hypotheses, organize information & reason

15. Piaget II Ormrod (2000) summarized:
Children are active and motivated learners
Children’s knowledge of the world becomes more integrated and organized over time
Children learn through the process of assimilation and accommodation
Cognitive development depends on integration with one’s physical and social environment
The processes of equilibration (resolving disequilibrium) help to develop increasing complex levels of thought
Cognitive development can occur only after certain genetically controlled neurological changes occur
Cognitive development occurs in four qualitatively different stages.

16. Piaget III Implications for education
More of a philosophy
Need more concrete examples in explaining abstract concepts
Implications for technology integration
Logo simulation for learning programming
Real-world simulation before real-life experience

17. Seymour Papert: Turtles and Beyond
Integrating the control of a robot in the shape of a turtle on screen into the Logo language.
Implications in education and technology
Discovery learning and “powerful ideas”: allow children to teach themselves with Logo and develop powerful ideas
Logo and the microworlds concept: allow children to see the cause and effect between programming commands and the pictures that result. He called microworld the “incubator of knowledge.”

18. Cognition & Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV)
Based on constructivism
Preventing inert knowledge: Inert knowledge is knowledge that can usually be recalled when people are explicitly asked to do so, but is not used spontaneously in problem solving even though it is relevant.

19. CTGV II Situated cognition and the need for anchored instruction
Teachers can prevent the problem of inert knowledge by situating learning in the context of what they called authentic experiences and practical apprenticeships
“Anchored instruction provides a way to recreate some of the advantages of apprenticeship training in formal educational settings

20. CTGV III Building knowledge through generative activities
Learning is most meaningful when it builds (scaffolds) on experiences they have already had.
Students are also most likely to remember knowledge that they build or “generate” themselves, rather than that which they simply receive passively.
Implications: Video-based scenarios posing interesting but difficult problems for students to solve, e.g. Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving series.

21. Gardner: Multiple Intelligences
Types of intelligence
Linguistic
Musical
Logical-mathematical
Spatial
Bodily-kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist

22. Gardner II Implications for education and technology
IQ tests may not be the best way to just a given student’s ability to learn.
Intelligent behavior is likely to take different forms in children from different ethnic backgrounds.
Distributed intelligence: each student makes a different, but valued contribution to creating a product or solving a problem
Group collaboration among students of different intelligences

23. Schema Theories Schema are ...
Scripts of plays (Schank & Abelson, 1977)
Chunks of knowledge stored by patterns, structures, and scaffolds (West et al., 1991)
Can be “instantiated” by specific examples of concepts or events (Bruning et al., 1995)
Schema activation of learner’s prior knowledge in similar fields , building upon previous knowledge
Advance organizers employ the structure of materials that learners are familiar with
Implications
Web-based instruction
Computer-based instruction

24. Meaningful Learning Active (Manipulative/Observant)
Constructive (Articulative/Regulatory)
Authentic (Complex/Contextual)
Cooperative (Collaborative/Conversational)

25. Educational Technologies
1950s-1970s
Slide projector
Radio
Educational Television
1980
Drill-and-practice on computers
Productivity tools (desktop publishing, word process, graphics programs
1990
Communication and multimedia production
Computer-mediated communication systems
Audio-video conferencing systems
Virtual Reality

26. What is Learning Technology?
Your Definitions:

27. Learning Technologies
Engage learners in
Knowledge construction, not reception
Conversation, not reception
Articulation, not repetition
Collaboration, not competition
Reflection, not prescription (Jonassen et. al., 1999)

28. References
Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G., J. & Ronning, R. R (1995). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction. Merrill Prentice Hall.
Roblyer, M. D. & Edwards, J. (1999). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Merrill Prentice Hall.
Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., & Wilson, B. G. (1999). Learning with Technology: A Constructivist Perspective. Merrill Prentice Hall.