Learning Theories
- Explains the way that information is
LEARNING THEORIES
- Are concepts and propositions that
explain why people learn and predict
what circumstances they will learn.
➔ Major Learning Theories
– Behaviorist Theories
– Cognitive Theories
– Social Learning Theories
BEHAVIORIST THEORIES
●
Behavioral Learning Theories
●
Earliest formal theories for learning,
used for children
● Focused on studying thoughts and
feelings, fears and phobia
➔ Theorists:
1. John Watson
- Defined behavior as a muscle
movement
- began studying behaviour
because it is more objective.
2. Watson and Guthrie
- Contiguity Theory
- Believed that even a skill such
as walking is learned through a
series of conditioned responses.
3. Thorndike and Skinner
- reinforcement Theory
- proposed that stimulus-response
bonds are strengthened by
reinforcements such as reward
or punishment.
COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORIES
Cognitive Science
- a study of how our brains work in
the process of perceiving, thinking,
remembering and learning.
Information Processing
- sometimes used to describe a
subset of this field of study.
handled once it enters the senses
and how it is organized and stored.
Learning (in cognitive perspective)
-
an active process in which the
learner constructs meaning based
on prior knowledge and view of the
world.
➔ Theorists:
1. Breuer
- Learning is a process whereby
the novice becomes expert
2. Feden, 1994
- An active process which the
learner constructs meaning
based on prior knowledge and
view of the world
- Student-teacher interaction
3. Ausubel, 1963
- Developed earliest model of
cognitive learning
- The Subsumption Theory of
Meaningful Verbal Learning
- New information is subsumed
into existing thought and
memory structures
- Meaningful Learning is thought
to occur only if existing cognitive
structures are organized and
differentiated.
- Repetition of meaningful material
and its use in various contexts
would enhance the retention of
the material
4. Rumelhart, 1980
- Concept of schema or schemata
- “all knowledge is packaged
into units. These units are
schemata.”
- Schemata - knowledge
structures that store concepts,
 and the knowledge of how to use
them in memory.
3 Kinds of Learning Based on
Schema Theory
a. Accretion
- The learning of facts
- New information is added to
existing schemata
- No changes are made to existing
knowledge
b. Tuning (schema evolution)
- Existing schema evolve or
refined throughout the lifespan
as new situations and issues are
encountered
c. Restructuring (schema
creation)
- Development if new schemata
by copying an old schema and
adding new elements that are
different to create a new schema
Other Theories/ Models of
Information Processes
1. Level of Processing Theory
- Information is processed
sequentially, from perception to
attention- to labelling and meaning
2. The Parallel Distributing Model
- Information is processed by
different parts of the memory
system simultaneously rather than
sequential
3. Connectionist Model
- The information is stored in any
places throughout the brain,
forming network of connections
4. Stage Theory of Information
Processing
- Relates to memory activity
- Information is both processed and
stored in 3 stages: Sensory,
Short-Term Memory, and
Long-Term Memory
3 Stages of information Processing
a. Sensory Memory
- Fleeting or passing swiftly
b. Short-Term Memory
- Working Memory
- Needs interest
- Informations are filtered
- Retain indefinitely if rehearsed or
meaningful to us
c. Long-Term Memory
- Selective Memory
- Memories/informations are
stored
- Use of mnemonic device
Common Concepts of Cognitive
Theories
1. Learning
● Behaviorist: requisition of
knowledge and skills that changes
a person’s behavior
● Cognitive theorists: focuses more
on the acquisition of knowledge
than on the resulting behavior
● Feden: Domain-Specific Learning
2. Metacognition
● Sometimes defined as “thinking
about one’s thinking
● A process that learners use to
gauge or measure their thinking
while reading, studying or
problem-solving
● To know what they know and what
they do not know
● Journal writing, group dialogue,
problem-based learning,
rationalization of test questions
3. Memory
● Sensory, short term and long term
● Consolidation
● Chunking: information is clustered
into patterns
4. Transfer
● Ability to take information learned in
one situation and apply it to another
● Concepts and principles are used
or adopted not just to one particular
situation but to all other situations
as well
● Successful transfer depends on
several factors:
- The extent to which the material
was originally learned
- The ability to retrieve information
from memory
- The way in which the material
was taught and learned
- The similarity of the new
situation to original
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES
● Albert Bandura (1977)
● Observational Learning Theory
● Explains that behaviour is the result of
an interaction among the person
(characteristics, personality etc.) to the
environment (physical, social etc) and
the behaviour itself.
● People learn as they are in constant
interaction with their environment
➔ Key components:
a. Attentional processes
b. Retention processes
c. Reproduction
d. Motivation
Key Components of Social Learning
Theory
a. Attentional Processes
- The behavior of the model must
grab the learner’s attention for
them to notice the behavior and
to implement observational
learning
b. Retention Processes
- It is how well the behavior is
remembered
c. Reproduction
- Refer to the ability to execute the
model’s behavior
d. Motivation
- Motivation through valued
outcomes (rewards) rather
punishing outcomes
- Perceived reward is a good
motivator
8 Types of Learning
Gagne’s Conditions of Learning
1. Signal Learning (conditioned
response)
- Simplest level of learning
- Person develops a general diffuse
reaction to a stimulus
2. Stimulus-Response Learning
- Developing a voluntary response to
a specific stimulus or combination
of stimuli
3. Chaining
- Acquisition of a series of related
conditioned responses or
stimulus-response connections
4. Verbal Association
- Type of chaining
- Process of learning medical
terminology
5. Discrimination Learning
- The more new chains that are
learned, the easier it is to forget
previous chains
- To retain large number of chains,
you need to discriminate among
them
6. Concept Learning
- Learning how to classify stimuli into
groups represented by a common
concept
7. Rule learning
- Rule: chain of concepts or a
relationship between concepts
 - Expressed as “If.... And then ..”
relationships
8. Problem solving
- Highest level of learning
- Applying previously learned rules
that relate to situation
- Process of formulating and testing
hypotheses