2.

0 LEARNING
2.1 INTRODUCTION
In lesson one we have noted Educational Psychology is a science that deals
with learning and teaching. In this lesson we will discuss the following:
 Definition of learning.
 The relevance of learning.
 Behaviorism and concepts that are applicable to the classroom situation.
 Modeling and how to apply some of the concepts in the classroom situation.
 Insightful learning and its application.
 The information processing model and its application.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the student should be able to:
 Discuss the relevance of learning.
 Define learning.
 Discuss the various types of learning.
 Bring out the application of the concepts learned from the types of learning
in a classroom situation.

2.3 THE RELEVANCE OF LEARNING

This is a question of why we should be concerned about learning. When we
hear about learning most of us think about studying and school. We think
about subjects for example mathematics, languages, geography, history,
biology and so on. But we need to know that learning is not limited to school
subjects, (Woolfolk, 1998).

We need to understand that all learning is intended to enable the person to

adopt completely in life situations:
 To think and solve problems.
 Fit well in the community.
 Perceive the word in a realistic manner.

This actually means that learning is not limited to the formal school settings.
There are many informal settings where learning takes place. For example:
 At home.
 In street corners.
 In the fields.
 In religious institutions.
 Through the mass media.
From these places children learn many unintentional things.

Even when children are in school they learn many unintentional things for
example:
 They acquire certain attitudes positive or negative.
 They learn something about their capabilities; their areas of strength.
 Their limitations; their areas of weakness
 Their school; whether they like or dislike it.
 Their teachers; whether they are good or bad.
 Their subjects; whether they are interesting or boring.

What is the teacher’s role in the learning process?

The teacher is very important in both the formal and non-formal settings
within the school. So although the teacher’s primary role is to deliver content
knowledge he can influence the student’s life in many other ways for example:
 He can provide experiences that contribute to the acquisition of behavior
patterns that are desirable and necessary for competent living.
 He should be the facilitator of learning. As a facilitator he should provide an
enabling environment for learning.

2.4 DEFINITION OF THE TERM LEARNING

What is learning? We are going to look at a few definitions of learning.
Santrock (2004) defines learning as relatively permanent influence on
behaviour, knowledge and thinking skills, which comes about through
experience.

Lefrancois (1994) defines it as the acquisition of information and knowledge,

skills and habits, attitudes and beliefs.

2.5 TYPES OF LEARNING

The types of learning are derived from the theories of learning. In this lesson we
shall focus on the following types of leaning.
 Classical conditioning.
 Instrumental conditioning.
 Observational learning.
 Insightful learning.
 Information processing model.

2.5.1 Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is also referred to as respondent learning. It is a simple
form of learning through associations. Normally people tend to associate events
that occur together in time and place. These events are said to be contiguous
because the appearance of one indicates that the other event is to be
anticipated. In everyday life people know that where there is smoke there is fire
because the two events are contiguous. Also when lightning is seen people
anticipate thunder to follow contingently because the two events occur together
in time and space.

Ivan Pavlov’s experiments

The classical example that illustrates how learning occurs through classical
conditioning is derived from the experiments that were conducted by Ivan
Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist. He was a physiologist who
conducted experiments on the dogs’ digestive system. He had won a Nobel Prize
for his work. His experiments involved harnessing the dog in the laboratory
and giving it food and then measuring the amount of saliva the dog produced.
The dogs were used to being given food by Pavlov. During the course of the
experimentation Pavlov noted that the dog salivated when he heard his
footsteps and also when it saw the food bowl. Pavlov guessed that the dog had
learnt to associate his footsteps and even the sight of the food bowl with food
and that this association caused salivation. Pavlov deduced that this salivation
was a learned response. He then set out to conduct a series of experiments to
confirm his believe. His experiments have several stages.

The acquisition stage

During the acquisition stage Pavlov put a hungry dog in the experimental
position, then he sounded a tone and then gave the dog food. He repeated this
sequence of events many times. After many repeated trials the dog the dog
would salivate at hearing the tone alone. If the dog hears the tone and
salivates, it means that it has learned the association between the tone and
food. The acquisition stage may require a minimum of ten trials.

Bell  food  salivation

Terminology used in classical conditioning

 The food
The food given to the dog before the conditioning process is referred to as the
natural stimulus because under natural conditions the dog will elicit
salivation on being presented with food.

 The Natural response

Salivation when the dog salivates when it has been given food it is called a
natural response because naturally salivation is elicited by the presentation
of food.

 The neutral stimulus

Before the conditioning process, the bell or tone is called the neutral
stimulus because it has no relationship whatsoever with salivation. Dogs will
not normally salivate as a consequence of hearing a bell.
  Conditioning stimulus
The bell during and after conditioning is called the conditioned stimulus
because it acquires the power to elicit salivation by its association with the
food.

 Conditioned response
Salivation that occurs because the dog has learned to associate the tone or
bell with food is called the conditioned response. It is the learned response.

Principles of classical conditioning

1. The principle of reinforcement

When the dog is put in the experimental situation and the tone is sounded and
then food is given this constitutes reinforcement. The food is a pleasant event
presented to the dog and it constitutes positive reinforcement.

2. The principle of extinction

Extinction refers to the dying of the learned response, which occurs when
reinforcement is withdrawn. This occurs when a dog has been conditioned to
associate the tone or bell with presentation of food and after some time the food
is not delivered. When the experimenter rings the bell or sounds the tone
without giving the dog food the learned response disappears.

3. The principle of spontaneous recovery

Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a learned response. It follows the
following stages:
 First the dog is conditioned to salivate when the bell tone is presented.
 Then the food, which reinforces the salivation, is withdrawn. This
removal of the food causes extinction.
 Then the dog is given a resting period during which no bell tones are
presented.
 After the resting period, the dog is re-introduced to the experimental
situation.
 The bell tone is sounded but no food is given this time.
 This dog remembers the learned association and salivates. This
salivation is the spontaneous recovery. This response dies very fast if
reinforcement is not re-introduced.

4. The principle of generalization

Generalization refers to responding to stimuli, which is similar to the original
stimuli as long as both are reinforced.
E.g. If the experimenter reinforces the dog with food every time he sounds
different types or tones or bell sounds the dog learns to salivate that every time
there is a bell sound of whatever type. So when there is a tone similar to the
one it was conditioned to.
5. The principle of discrimination
Discrimination refers to learning to pick the differences in the stimuli and
therefore responding to a very specific stimulus that is reinforced. This occurs
when a dog has been reinforced in response to a particular stimulus. If the
experimenter introduces other stimuli he does not accompany them with the
reinforcement. Discrimination training takes a much longer time and more
trials to establish.

Application of classical conditioning to the teaching learning process

In this section I have looked at the aspects of classical conditioning, which are
applicable in the classroom setting.

1. The learning environment

From classical conditioning we learn that it is important to provide a conducive
learning environment. The believe is that all behavior is controlled by
environmental conditions and demands. The learning environment should be
enriched enough. It should be arranged in a manner that makes learning
probable. It is true that if Ivan Pavlov had not provided the right environment
for learning the dog would never have been conditioned to learn the association
between the bell and the food.

2. The principle of contiguity

This principle states that events that occur closely together in time and in
space are associated together. These are the events that are paired. When we
look at the school situation we are concerned about the event that are paired If
the teacher pairs pleasant experiences with the school experiences the
students learn to approach school with enthusiasm. They learn to enjoy school
and learning.

On the other hand the teacher who pairs the school experiences with
unpleasant events conditions pupils to fear and hate school.

There are many unpleasant events that can be present in school. These
include; the use of harsh words, insulting language and punitive events. These
negative events affect the pupil adjustment to school as well as their
performance. They also create negative feelings and attitudes towards the
teacher, the subject he teaches and school in general. Teachers are therefore
advised to pair school experiences with pleasant events.

2.5.2 OPERANT CONDITIONING

Operant conditioning is the second type of simple learning through association.
There are differences between learning through classical conditioning and
operant conditioning.
Operant learning is a little more complex than classical conditioning. Its
complexity is observed in the following ways:
 In classical conditioning the dog is a passive learner.
 It is given food and expected to salivate without working for the food.
 Salivation in the dog is said to be elicited since it is an involuntary
behavior in order to learn the associations and earn its reinforcement
 In operant conditioning the organism earns its reinforcement by showing
desirable behaviour.

Operational conditioning Experiments

Experiments to illustrate how learning occurs through operant conditioning
were conducted by B.F. Skinner. Skinner devised an apparatus called the
Skinner box. The Skinner box was a small enclosure, which was equipped with
a few gadgets. At one corner of the box was a lever or bar. This lever was
connected to a food magazine, which contained food pellets. Skinner would put
a hungry rat in the Skinner box. Hunger would motivate the rat to move about
in the box. Each movement was called a trial. The rat would move all over the
box without finding food. Accidentally it would touch the bar, which would
operate the food magazine. The food magazine would release a few pellets of
food which the rat would eat and continue the exploration of the box. After
many trials the rat learned to associate a certain corner of the box with food.
This would reduce the unnecessary movement all over the box as it would
confine its exploration of the box to the particular corner, which yielded food.
Soon the rat would learn to associate the bar-pressing behavior with the food
and would press the bar until there is enough food. Therefore the bar-pressing
behavior was the learned response, which was accompanied by the food, which
was the reinforcement.

Application of operant conditioning in the teaching learning situation

In operant conditioning, reinforcement is a key element in learning. The
principle is that reinforcement strengthens behaviour and makes it more
probable.

Operant conditioning can be applied in the teaching-learning process in the

following way in the use of:

 Positive reinforcement.
 Negative reinforcement
 Primary reinforcement
 Secondary reinforcement
 Learner involvement.

Positive reinforcement
This is the administration of a pleasant event contingent upon the desired
response. Positive reinforcers are like food, candy or something valued by the
learner like a smile, a nod an exclamation of “good!”, “great!” or even
permission to do something the child desires.

Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement refers to the removal of a noxious stimulus in order to
encourage the desirable behavior. Noxious or unpleasant stimuli include:

 Annoying noise
 Harsh criticism
 A teachers nagging.

Students always want to escape from these events. This reinforcement works in
the following way when the child is under negative stimuli like a teacher
nagging or harsh criticism he is in a state of discomfort. This state of
discomfort reinforces him to do the desired task. When the desired task is done
the nagging stops. This type of reinforcement ensures that the desirable
behavior is strengthened and repeated by the child in order to escape or avoid
the unpleasant stimulus.

Primary and Secondary reinforcers

We need to make the distinction between primary and secondary reinforcers.

Positive primary reinforcers are stimuli like food, water, pain avoidance,
temperature regulation and sex. These are physiological states that arouse the
physiological needs. By satisfying BOTH physiological needs and secondary
needs we can strengthen behavior in both human beings and animals.
Physiological needs are unlearned and survival related. Secondary needs on the
other hand are learned or acquired. They are not related to survival. The
person acquires these needs as he interacts with other people. Secondary
reinforcers are things like the need for money, power, prestige, good grades are
very reinforcing. The learner who is achieving well is liked by the teacher and
the parents and is also envied by the peers.

Learner involvement
From operant condition we can also apply the principle of learner involvement.
This is because when skinner put the rat in the Skinner box he wanted it to
learn actively. The rat had to explore the box and as a result, discovered the
relationship between bar pressing behavior and food. Likewise the teachers
should encourage learner involvement. The learners should be given the
chance to be searchers of knowledge. If they search knowledge it becomes very
significant for them. They should be allowed to discover knowledge under
conditions of reinforcement.
Programmed Instruction
From operant conditioning the teacher can apply the programmed instruction
procedures. This involves the following;

 Taking a topic or sub-topic of a given content.

 Breaking down the content into small manageable parts.
 Presenting the parts sequentially, each part at a time.
 Testing for the mastery of each part progressively.
 This is beneficial in the mastery of content which may be perceived as
difficult.
 It is also a piece-meal approach to learning which can help the less gifted
learners achieved a degree of mastery of the content.

Behaviour Shaping
Behaviour shaping is used by animal trainers. It is also used by special
educators to train mentally retarded children acquire mastery of important
skills. People training psychiatric patients also benefit from behaviour shaping
procedures. The following steps are used in behaviour shaping:

 The trainer identifies the behaviour to be acquired by the animal or

person. For example, training a dog to retrieve balls that are thrown at a
distance.
 The trainer will reinforce the dog with meat when the dog is facing the
direction where the ball is. This is a successive approximation.
 The dog will be reinforced when it is moving towards the ball. This is
another successive approximation.
 When the dog is touching the ball it is reinforced.
 These reinforcements procedures are carried out until the dog learns to
retrieve the ball.

2.5.3 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

This type of learning is also referred to as observational learning. The theory is
based on the belief that people acquire knowledge, belief, attitudes and values
through observing others in their social world, (Atkinson, 1990). Children
observe their parents, siblings, teachers, and community figures.

This theory was developed by Albert Bandura, (1986, 1977); Bandura believed
that traditional behavioral views of learning although accurate were incomplete
because they gave only partial explanation of learning. The behavioral theories
overlooked important elements because they ignored social influences on
learning (Woolfolk, 1998).

According to the Bandura’s theory people learn new behaviors through two
types of observational learning namely: Vicarious conditioning and Modeling.
Vicarious conditioning
Let us look at vicarious conditioning. This is learning that occurs when the
child observed another child’s behavior and its consequences. For example, a
young sibling could observe an older sibling being praised or rewarded for
demonstrating positive behavior patterns like obedience, hard work, honesty
and good grooming or even excellence in field events.
The learner is the young sibling who will be motivated to engage in the behavior
the older sibling is rewarded or praised or for. This child tries to excel in that
behavior in order to be treated like the older sibling. The younger sibling can
also observe the older sibling being punished for bad behavior like cheating,
bullying others, laziness, poor grooming and so on. The younger sibling
watches as the older sibling suffers as he carries out the punishment or as he
takes blame from either the parents or the teachers. He learns to avoid all
those behaviors the older sibling is punished for. He learns to behave
differently in order to be praised or rewarded. He learns to avoid punishment.

Application of vicarious conditioning to school

From vicarious conditioning we must ensure that the learners are exposed to
model of good behavior. At the same time, when good behavior occurs it should
be ignored. It should be recognized and rewarded in order to encourage its
occurrence and its spread to other children. The problem among people is the
tendency to take things for granted. When good behavior is ignored it dies out.
To avoid this the teacher should recognize the efforts that learners are making
and reinforce them. Reinforcement strengthens the good behaviors. It also
motivates other children to emulate the model.

Modeling
Modeling refers to learning through direct observation. It involves a model and
an observer. The model may be the father, mother, sibling, teacher, and peers.
While the observer is the learner, the model demonstrates behavior, which the
learner imitates. The behavior could be mannerisms, gestures, dressing style,
language use, walking style, aggression, manner of working, attitudes and even
values. In order to acquire any of the above behaviors the observer watches the
model demonstrate the behavior and practices it.

The process of behavior acquisition

For the observer to acquire the behavior and demonstrate it just like the model
he must do the following things:
 Attend to the behavior. That is, see it, hear and even experience it.
 The behavior must be retained. This means that it must be stored in
memory.
 In order to produce the behavior it must be practiced well until it is
perfected.
 The behavior must be motivated and reinforced. This means that for the
behavior to be produced there must be an incentive. Good incentives could
be, complementing remarks, encouragement or even taught rewards.

Application

To apply the concept gained from the modeling theory the teacher should do
the following:
 Become models of good behavior like good grooming, punctuality, hard
work, positive attitude, responsibility, honesty and so on.
 The teacher should recognize models of good behavior from among the
students and reinforcement positively.
 The teacher should also invite models of the desired behavior from the
community to come and speak to the students. For example model of
women who earn a living through mathematics, physics, chemistry or
even biology can be limited to talk to the girls and encourage them to
take these subjects seriously and also to confirm to them that women
can actually excel in them.

2.5.4 INSIGHTFUL LEARNING

This type of learning is also referred to as field learning. It is a cognitive type

of learning which focuses on the use of mental process like thinking.
Perception and insight in the solution of the problem confronting the organism.
This theory focuses on the ability of animals and people to solve problems
through reorganizing the perceptual world and using the facilities thereof to
solve problems.

 The experiments to demonstrate how learning occurs through insight

were conducted by Wolfgang Kohler in the 1920’s. Kohler worked with
chimpanzees. He had one bright chimpanzee called Sultan, (Atkinson,
1990). Kohler put Sultan in a cage then put a banana outside the cage
out of Sultan’s reach. In the cage Kohler put a stick. Sultan wanted to
reach out for the banana but he could not retrieve it with his hand
because it was out of reach. When he did not get the banana he looked
around the cage and saw the stick. Quickly he went for the stick and
used it to retrieve the banana.

 On the next day Kohler put the banana further away outside the cage
but at the same time placed two bamboo sticks in the cage. Sultan ran
for one of the sticks and tried to retrieve the banana. He failed to pull the
banana within arm’s reach because the stick was not long enough. He
then sat frustrated at one corner of the cage. Then he saw the other
sticks and went for it. Initially he did not know how to use both sticks to
 get the bananas. However as he played with both sticks. One end of the
sticks entered into the hollow side of the other stick.
 Sultan looked at the joined sticks and immediately ran to solve his
problem. With the now lengthened stick he pulled the bananas in and
ate them.

 Following this story insight refers to that moment in time that Sultan is
able to mentally see the relationship between the stick or sticks and the
bananas.

 Insight then is that mental activity that is very rapid, almost immediate
that helps us to solve a problem, when we mentally see the relationships
of things in our immediate environment.

 It is a rapid perception of relationships, which helps us to restructure or

reorganize our perceptual world. For example Sultan was able to
restructure his environment and reorganize it to solve his immediate
problem.

Application
From the theory of insightful learning we need to take note of the following:

 The teacher should enrich the learning environment by providing

facilities/resources that learners could use to solve learning problems.

 The teacher should have faith in the learner’s mental abilities to work
over information until they solve problems.

 The teachers should realize that learners like to make sense of what they
learn by cognitively restructuring events.

 Insightful learning is whole, complete and unforgettable.

2.5.5 INFORMATION PROCESS SYSTEM

The information processing system deals with the ability of human mind to
take in information (code), store it by maintaining it memory and the ability to
retrieve or recover information from memory.

There are a number of theories of information processing system, but we will

focus on the model developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin, (1968). This model
draws on the similarity between the human mind and the computer. Just like
the computer the human mind senses, stores and retrieves information much
as a computer does.
The model discusses three hypothetical memory levels or stages. These memory
levels explain how learners acquire complex concepts; how these are attended
to, how they enter the memory banks sand how they are accessed when
needed. This model discusses three memory levels also called memory banks.
They are the following:

 The short-term sensory storage/sensory register.

 The short-term memory/working memory.
 The long-term memory.

We need to look at what happens to information at each memory bank in order

to understand the conditions that facilitate learning or those that hinder
learning.

The Short Term Sensory Storage (STSS)/Sensory Register

This memory bank is also called the sensory register. Its function is to receive
sensory information from the environment. This information is stored briefly at
the short Term sensory register. This memory bank has limited capacity. The
STSS memory consists of the exact replica of sensory information. The visual
memory is called iconic memory. It looks like a snap shot that fades away in
about 0.5 seconds. It is visual spatial. This means that objects are seen in
different positions in space e.g. we see a bird up a tree, the dog under the
table, the hills in the horizon, the moon high in the sky and so on.

The auditory memory is called echoic memory and lasts for 4 seconds. This
memory is phonological; it contains the echo of the sounds that we hear. The
STSS is bombarded by information all the time. Therefore it must select what
information to focus on or to attend to. Any information that is not attended to
is lost and we do not ever remember sensing it.

However, the information that is attended to is processed and encoded

enabling it to move further along the memory levels. It moves to the short-term
memory and working memory banks.

The short term memory

This bank is also called the working memory. It is the conscious memory
because this is where thinking occurs. For this reason it is also called the
thinking pad. This memory bank receives all the information that is attended to
at the STSS. At this memory level information is processed based on what the
information looks like, sounds like or means. This memory bank has limited
duration, which last for 20 to 30 seconds. It can contain 5 to 9 pieces of
information at a time. Information is stored acoustically and semantically, this
is how it sounds like and what it means.
Two things happen to information at this bank. One may get information that
we do not want to keep for a long time. For example you may want to go to the
shop to buy a few items but you do not write a shopping list. On your way to
the shop you will rehearse the items you want to buy until you buy them. Once
you have bought them you do not need to rehearse the information again and
you quickly forget it. This kind of rehearsal is called maintenance rehearsal
and its purpose is to keep the information in memory for a short time. This
information does not move further along the memory bank.

The second thing that could happen to information is that you may want to
process information for the purpose of storing it in the long-term memory
bank. In this case you will engage in elaborate rehearsal. This rehearsal
involves a rehearsal of information and a memory search. You will search the
memory to find out whether there is information there that is similar to the
incoming information. This enables you to link the new information with the
information already in memory. For example if you are introduced to your
lecturer for the first time and you are told that he is called Mr. Kamau you will
search your memory and finds another Kamau stored there. You will link the
new Kamau to the old one to help you to remember him next time he comes to
class. Elaborate rehearsal helps to help to get information into the long-term
memory bank.

The long term memory bank (LTM)

The long-term memory is the permanent storehouse of information. We store

first dates, special birthdays, capital cities and other information accumulated
throughout ones lifetime there. This memory bank has unlimited capacity. We
may want to look at how information enters this memory bank. In our
discussion of term memory we have noted that information is kept in memory
through both maintenance and elaborate rehearsal. The maintenance rehearsal
is for information that we do not intended to keep in memory for long. The
elaborate rehearsal is for memory we want to make permanent. It involves a
recreation of information through repetition and also giving it meaning through
its connection with already existing information. This information is then
stored in memory band is easier to remember if it has gone through elaborate
rehearsal.

SUMMARY

 Brought out the relevance of the topic learning.

 Defined the term learning.
 Discussed the following types of learning

- Classical conditioning
 - Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
- Insightful learning
- Information processing model of learning
 For each type of learning the application aspects were addressed

This lesson discussed learning by doing the following:

 Showing the relevance of the topic.
 Defining learning.
 Discussing types of learning.
 The application of concepts to teaching learning.

KEY TERMS
Learning: -an enduring change in behavior potentiality which occurs as a result of reinforced
practice.

Classical conditioning: - Also called respondent learning. A type of association learning in

which events that appear together in time and place are associated.

Operant conditioning: -A type of association learning in which the organism produces an

expected behavioral response in order to receive reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement: - The administration of a pleasant event contingent upon the desired
behavior.

Social learning: -Learning through observing other people and imitating them.

Information processing model: -A theory of learning that draws an analogy between the human
being and information processing system.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Discuss situations in life that can be explained by:

I. Classical conditioning.
II. Operant conditioning.
III. Insightful learning.
2. Discuss the role played by attention and rehearsal in learning.
3. Explain instances where the theory of insightful learning is applicable at
home and classroom situations.