Specific Didactics II

Learning Theories

Two main divisions.

1. Philosophical theory:

Greeks: Plato was the teacher, Aristotle was his student. They wondered if knowledge was
outside or inside. They started talking to people to know where knowledge was. Socrates
established “Dialectic Methods”.

Romans: they only cared about what people did, they wanted to build better citizens. They
wanted to train people. Apprenticeship and practices.

Church: the roman catholic church became powerful in Europe and the priest became the
source of knowledge. Memorization, long expositions.

Renaissance: they questioned religion, they wanted a liberal way of education and wanted to
include art and humanities. Copernicus, Martin Luther, etc. They questioned how medieval
education was. Reproduction of facts and rudimentary skills vs educating for thinking.

Descartes: human reasoning.

Rousseau: Education should be shaped to the child.

Lock: empiricism, learning from experiences.

Kant: interaction with the environment.

2. Psychological theory:

They began when it was possible to study people in labs.

Thorndike: trial and error.

Skinner: children learn a desired behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement.

Piaget: developmental stages (4). Students construct knowledge based on their

experiences/knowledges. Mental, physical and psychological development.

Vigotsky: crucial for Piaget’s theory, he added context and social interaction to his theory, the
social contructivism theory appears.

Dewey: he agreed with Rousseau, education should be child centered.

Montessori: children learn automatically by interacting with their environment. Teachers

should be guides instead of authorities.

Bruner: theoretical development should connect to the child’s development.

Behaviourism

One of the most important theorists is Skinner. Theorists believe that knowledge exists
independently and outside of people. For them, learning is a mechanical process of associating
the stimulus with response, which produces a new behaviour. Such behaviour is strengthened
by the reinforcement. The learner is viewed as a passive person and a blank slate (board) that
must be provided with experience.
Positive as well as negative reinforcement increase the probability of the repetition of the
behaviour, whereas the punishment decreases the chances of repetition of the behaviour.
Learning is therefore defined as a change in the behaviour of the learner.

Learning process

Learning begins when a stimulus from the environment is presented and the learner reacts to
the stimulus with some type of response. Consequences that reinforce the desired behaviour
are arranged to follow the desired behaviour. The new behavioural pattern can be repeated so
it becomes automatic. The change in behaviour of the learner signifies that learning has
occurred.

Strengths:

 It is helpful in bringing about behaviour modification with the help of reinforcement,

punishment and extinction.
 Success of outcome is easily measurable.
 Guarantees specific learning.
 Ease of application.

Weaknesses:

 It fails to explain the development of human languages.

 Effect of the environment in shaping the behaviour of a human is not taken into
account.
 It does not prepare the learner for problem solving or creative thinking.
 No initiative from the learner.

Application in the classroom:

 Drilling technique
 Repetitive practice
 Bonus and participation points
 Verbal reinforcement
 Establishing rules

Cognitivism

Cognitive information processing is based on the thought process behind the behavior. The
theory is based on the idea that humans process the information they receive, rather than
merely responding to stimuli (i.e. that think about what is happening). The changes in behavior
are observed, but only as an indicator to what is going on in the learner's head. The learner's
mind is like a mirror from which new knowledge and skills will be reflected.

Cognitive information processing is used when the learner plays an active role in seeking ways
to understand and process information that he or she receives and relate it to what is already
known and stored within memory. Cognitive learning theories are credited to Jean Piaget.

Learning process

Cognitive learning theorists believe learning occurs through internal processing of information.
Unlike behaviorism, cognitive information processing is governed by an internal process rather
than by external circumstance. The cognitive approach to learning theory pays more attention
to what goes on inside the learner's head and focuses on mental processes rather than
observable behavior. Changes in behavior are observed, and used as indicators as to what is
happening inside the learner's mind.

Learning involves the reorganization of experiences, either by attaining new insights or

changing old ones. Thus, learning is a change in knowledge which is stored in memory, and not
just a change in behavior.

Use of this theory: Cognitivism is suited well for problem solving, where the concepts are
complex and must be broken down into smaller parts. Ideas and concepts from these
problems are linked to prior knowledge, which in turn helps the learner develop a stronger
comprehension (Stavredes, 2011)

Strengths: Organized structure to learning: information comes in and is processed into short
term memory before being stored away in long term memory. When problems are broken
down into smaller parts, learners are not overwhelmed with incoming information and have
time to process smaller bits.

Weaknesses: Because learning is very structured, it may become difficult to adapt to changes
in what has already been processed and learned

Constructivism

When talking about constructivism, we talk about constructing something. Tthat something is
knowledge. How do we build that knowledge? Through individual experiences and internal
knowledge. Making participation and engagement are some of the factors that influence the
learning process, based on socialization.

Learners’ role: active participants in the construction of knowledge

Teachers’ role: facilitator.

Vygotsky noted a Zone of Proximal Development: in which learners develop a level of meaning
on their own, but it can grow even more after interacting with classmates and the teacher. It
also refers to the range of abilities a learner can perform with the help of an expert, but cannot
yet perform on their own.

Jean Piaget introduced cognitive constructivism: he said that knowledge is constructed by

either assimilation or accommodation.

 In assimilation: incoming information is associated with a schema.

 In accommodation: incoming information does not match a schema. So, we must
change that schema in order to accommodate this conflict.

Schema: all the information stored in our brain. Our schema changes and grows as we aqcuire
more life experiences.

Strengths: relevant Constructivist activities and real-world based. Learners construct

knowledge and meaning by relating the information to their own experiences.

Weaknesses: perhaps a specific, desired outcome may not always be achieved when different
people approach the problem or task.
Use of this theory: Constructivism is best utilized when learners take control of the learning
situation, such as in Problem-Based Learning.

As learners engage themselves in an activity:

 They develop an understanding of the importance of the problem

 They comprehend the relevance of the topic
 They construct knowledge through their experiences.

Constructivism is sometimes misunderstood as a theory that obligates or forces students to

reinvent the wheel, but instead, it encourages students to attempt to learn how it functions
and apply this to real-world learning.