Unit 1

PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES

IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING
Learning Theories Related to
Health Care Practice
Learning is defined as a relatively permanent
change in mental processing, emotional functioning,
and/or behavior as a result of experience. It is the
lifelong, dynamic process by which individuals
acquire new knowledge or skills and alter their
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions.
Learning is defined as a relatively permanent
change in mental processing, emotional functioning,
and/or behavior as a result of experience. It is the
lifelong, dynamic process by which individuals
acquire new knowledge or skills and alter their
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions.
A learning theory is a coherent framework of
integrated constructs and principles that describe,
explain, or predict how people learn.

Educational psychology provides alternative theories

and perspectives on how learning occurs
and what motivates people to learn and change.
• How do the environment and the internal dynamics of the
individual influence learning?
• Is the learner viewed as relatively passive or more active?
• What is the educator’s task in the learning process?
• What motivates individuals to learn?
• What encourages the transfer of learning to new
situations?
• What are the contributions and criticisms of each learning
theory?
Behaviorist
• focuses on how a person’s environment and
surroundings will bring about changes in their
behavior
• Focusing mainly on what is directly observable,
behaviorists view learning as the product of the
stimulus conditions (S) and the responses (R) that
follow—sometimes termed the S-R model of learning.
• behaviorists closely observe responses and then
manipulate the environment to bring about the
intended change.
Operant
conditioning, which
was developed
largely by B. F.
Skinner (1974, 1989).
Operant conditioning
focuses on the
behavior of the
organism and the
reinforcement that
occurs after the
response.
Cognitive
• stress the importance of what goes on inside
the learner. Cognitive theory is assumed

• the key to learning and changing is the

individual’s cognition (perception, thought,
memory, and ways of processing and structuring
information).
• Cognitive theorists, unlike behaviorists, maintain
that reward is not necessary for learning.

• More important are learners’ goals and

expectations, which create disequilibrium,
imbalance, and tension that motivate them to act.
• Educators trying to influence the learning process
must recognize the variety of past experiences,
perceptions, ways of incorporating and thinking about
information, and diverse aspirations, expectations,
and social influences that affect any learning situation
 Subsequently, Gagné and his colleagues outlined nine
events and their corresponding cognitive processes
that activate effective learning (Gagné, Briggs, &
Wagner, 1992):
• Gain the learner’s attention (reception)
• Inform the learner of the objectives and expectations
(expectancy)
• Stimulate the learner’s recall of prior learning
(retrieval)
• Present information (selective perception)
• Provide guidance to facilitate the learner’s
understanding (semantic encoding)
• Have the learner demonstrate the information or skill
(responding)
• Give feedback to the learner (reinforcement)
• Assess the learner’s performance (retrieval)
• Work to enhance retention and transfer through
application and varied practice (generalization)
Social

• is largely the work of Albert Bandura (1977; 2001),

who mapped out a perspective on learning that
includes consideration of the personal
characteristics of the learner, behavior patterns, and
the environment
• the learner has become viewed as central (what
Bandura calls a “human agency”), which suggests the
need to identify what learners are perceiving and how
they are interpreting and responding to social
situations.
• this theory helps explain the socialization process
as well as the breakdown of behavior in society.
Responsibility is placed on the educator or leader
to act as an exemplary role model and to choose
socially healthy experiences for individuals to
observe and repeat (requiring the careful
evaluation of learning materials for stereotypes,
mixed or hidden messages, and negative effects).
 Principles of Teaching and
Learning Theories Related to
Health
DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF THE LEARNER
ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
Birth to 12 months
1-2 years old
3 to 8 years old
6 to 10 years old
12 to 17 years old
 ages 18-35 years
ages 36-55 years

older than 55 years

 PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Students’ prior knowledge can help or hinder

learning.
If students’ prior knowledge is robust and accurate and
activated at the appropriate time, it provides a strong
foundation for building new knowledge. However, when
knowledge is inert, insufficient for the task, activated
inappropriately, or inaccurate, it can interfere with or impede
new learning.
• Administer a diagnostic assessment or have
students assess their own prior knowledge
• Use brainstorming to reveal prior knowledge.
• Identify discipline-specific conventions explicitly.
• Ask students to make and test predictions
• Students’ motivation determines, directs, and
sustains what they do to learn.
When students find positive value in a learning goal or
activity, expect to successfully achieve a desired learning
outcome, and perceive support from their environment,
they are likely to be strongly motivated to learn.
• Connect the material to students’ interests.
• Provide authentic, real-world tasks
• Show relevance to students’ current academic lives.
• Provide rubrics
• How students organize knowledge influences
how they learn and apply what they know.
When those connections form knowledge structures that
are accurately and meaningfully organized, students are
better able to retrieve and apply their knowledge effectively
and efficiently. In contrast, when knowledge is connected
in inaccurate or random ways, students can fail to retrieve
or apply it appropriately.
• Provide students with the organizational structure of the
course.
• Share the organization of each lecture, lab, or
discussion explicitly
• Make connections among concepts explicit.
• Ask students to draw a concept map to expose their
understanding of how course material is organized.
• To develop mastery, students must acquire
component skills, practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they have learned.
Students must develop not only the component skills (i.e.,
fundamental skills) and knowledge necessary to perform
complex tasks, they must also practice combining and
integrating them to develop greater fluency and automaticity.
Finally, students must learn when and how to apply the skills
and knowledge they learn.
• Provide isolated practice of weak or missing skills.
• Give students opportunities to practice skills including
low-stakes, ungraded assignments
• Give students opportunities to apply skills or
knowledge in diverse contexts.
• Specify skills or knowledge and ask students to identify
contexts in which they apply.
• Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted
feedback enhances the quality of students’
learning.
Learning and performance are best fostered when students
engage in practice that focuses on a specific goal or
criterion, targets an appropriate level of challenge, and is of
sufficient quantity and frequency to meet the performance
criteria. Practice must be coupled with feedback
• Be explicit about your goals in your course materials
• Stage assignments by breaking tasks into smaller
assignments.
• Look for patterns of errors in student work.
• Prioritize your feedback
• Students’ current level of development interacts
with the social, emotional, and intellectual
climate of the course to impact learning.
Many studies have shown that the climate we create has
implications for our students. A negative climate may
impede learning and performance, but a positive climate
can energize students’ learning.
• Make uncertainty safe.
• Examine your assumptions about students.
• Model inclusive language, behavior, and attitudes
• Establish and reinforce ground rules for interaction
• Use the syllabus and first day of class to establish the
course climate
• To become self-directed learners, students must
learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to
learning.
Learners may engage in a variety of metacognitive processes to
monitor and control their learning—assessing the task at hand,
evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses, planning their
approach, applying and monitoring various strategies, and
reflecting on the degree to which their current approach is
working.
• Check students’ understanding of the task.
• Have students do guided self-assessments.
• Require students to reflect on and annotate their own
work.
• Prompt students to analyze the effectiveness of their
study skills.
• Have students engage in peer feedback.
References
 Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, Carnegie Mellon
University (n.d.) Theory and Research-based Principles
of Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/principles/learning.htm