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Learning Theories
Behaviourism, cognitivism,
social constructivism.
Relevance of Learning Theories

Exploring these topics has relevance for:
 A)

 B)

You
your personal learning style and study
Your work
problem solving and design solutions
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Learning

Psychologists refer to learning as:

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“a relatively permanent change in behaviour as a
result of experience”
Learning - not just for the classroom
Fundamental process in all animals
 the
higher up the evolutionary scale, the more
important is the ability to learn

Animals adapt their behaviour to fit in with their
environment and to changing circumstances
 Why?
In order to survive!
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Theories on how people learn:
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Behaviorism
Cognitivism
Social Constructivism
Piaget’s Developmental Theory
Neuroscience
Brain-Based Learning
Learning Styles
Multiple Intelligences
Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking
Communities of Practice
Control Theory
Observational Learning
http://www.funderstanding.com/content/about-learning
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We are concerned with:

Behaviourism
 actions

Cognitivism
 learner

based on stimuli
processes & strategies
Social Constructivism
 knowledge
is constructed through
social interaction
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Behaviourism
“Carrot & stick”
Behaviourism
Overview
 Behaviourism a school of thought that assumes a learner is
essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli.
 The learner starts off as a clean slate (i.e. tabula rasa)
 Much of our behaviour consists of learned responses to simple
signals

behaviour is the sum of many simple stimulus-response connections
Basis of the theory
 Reinforcement shapes behaviour

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Positive - increases the probability the behavior will happen again
Negative - decreases the likelihood the behavior will happen again

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Positive - indicates the application of a stimulus
Negative - indicates the withholding of a stimulus
http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html
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Focus - scientific & objective

Behaviourists try to explain the causes of
behaviour by studying only those behaviours that
can be observed and measured

Prior to behaviourism – “unscientific” techniques
such as introspection, dealing with unmeasurable
aspects of behaviour such as the role of the
unconscious mind

Behaviourists focus their efforts on two types of
learning processes:
1.
2.
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
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Behaviourists
Psychologists who focus on stimulus-response connections

Notable behaviourists:
 Ivan Pavlov
 (1849–1936) a Russian physiologist,
psychologist, and physician
 John Broadus Watson
 (1878–1958) an American psychologist,
established the psychological school of
behaviorism, after doing research on animal
behavior
 B.

F. Skinner
(1904–1990) an American psychologist, author,
inventor, advocate for social reform, and poet
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Classical Conditioning
(Pavlov)
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Learning by association.
Salivation in dogs as part of research programme
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dogs had started to salivate when they saw the people that usually fed
them (also responded to the sound of the dishes being used for their
meals)
Pavlov set up an experiment to find out if the dogs could be trained
to salivate at other stimuli, e.g. a bell or a light
At feeding times, Pavlov would ring a bell and the amount of saliva
produced by the dog was measured.
After several 'trials' Pavlov rang the bell without presenting the food
and found that the dogs salivated in the same way as if food was
being presented.
Note:

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conditional response is the same as unconditioned response
difference = response was evoked by a different stimulus
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“Pavlov’s Dog”
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Operant Conditioning
(Skinner)
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Operant conditioning reinforces the response to a stimulus making the response more probable in the future.
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Positive reinforcement is when a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of experiencing a
positive condition. For example:
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Negative reinforcement is when a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of stopping or
avoiding a negative condition. For example:
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A rat is placed in a cage and immediately receives a mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a negative
condition for the rat. The rat presses a bar and the shock stops. The rat receives another shock, presses the bar
again, and again the shock stops. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is strengthened by the consequence of
stopping the shock.
Punishment a particular behavior is weakened by the consequence of experiencing a negative condition.


A hungry rat presses a bar in its cage and receives food. The food is a positive condition for the hungry rat.
The rat presses the bar again, and again receives food. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is strengthened by
the consequence of receiving food.
A rat presses a bar in its cage and receives a mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a negative condition
for the rat. The rat presses the bar again and again receives a shock. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is
weakened by the consequence of receiving a shock.
Extinction a particular behavior is weakened by the consequence of not experiencing a positive condition or
stopping a negative condition. For example:

A rat presses a bar in its cage and nothing happens. Neither a positive or a negative condition exists for the rat.
The rat presses the bar again and again nothing happens. The rat's behavior of pressing the bar is weakened by
the consequence of not experiencing anything positive or stopping anything negative.
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Operant Conditioning
http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/behaviorism/Reinforce_Punish.jpg
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Behaviorism & Learning
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Learning for behaviourism is defined as a permanent
change in behavior in the learner.
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This theory is relatively simple to understand because
it relies only on observable behavior and describes
several universal laws of behavior.
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Behaviorism often is used by teachers, who reward or
punish student behaviours.
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Not all students respond to this type of “motivation”...
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Criticisms of Behaviorism
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Too simplistic:
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Gaps in science
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Even simple responses to stimuli require the
processing of a vast amount of information
Does not explain some learning for for which
there is no reinforcement mechanism, e.g.
recognition of new language patterns by
young children
Moral implications

If behavior can be explained without the
need to consider internal mental states or
consciousness, what about responsibility?
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Cognativism
Cognitivism

The cognitivist paradigm essentially
argues that the “black box” of the
mind should be opened and
understood. The learner is viewed
as an information processor (like a
computer).
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Originators and important contributors:
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Merrill -Component Display Theory (CDT),
Reigeluth (Elaboration Theory),
Gagne,
Briggs,
Wager,
Bruner (moving toward cognitive constructivism),
Schank (scripts),
Scandura (structural learning)
http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html
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Cognitivism - Origins
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1960s - cognitivist revolution replaced behaviorism in as the dominant
paradigm.
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Mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problemsolving need to be explored (Snelbecker, 1983).
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Knowledge can be seen as schema or symbolic mental constructions.
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Learning is defined as change in a learner’s schemata.
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A response to behaviorism, people are not “programmed animals”
that merely respond to environmental stimuli; people are rational
beings that require active participation in order to learn, and whose
actions are a consequence of thinking. Changes in behavior are
observed, but only as an indication of what is occurring in the
learner’s head. Cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind as
computer: information comes in, is being processed, and leads to
certain outcomes.
http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html
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Focus - inner mental activities

Ulric Neisser coined the term 'cognitive psychology' in his book, Cognitive Psychology, published
in 1967
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“The term ‘cognition’ refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated,
stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of
relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations...”
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The main issues that interest cognitive psychologists are the inner mechanisms of human thought
and the processes of knowing. Cognitive psychologists have attempted to throw light on the
alleged mental structures that stand in a causal relationship to our physical actions.
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Cognitivism investigates the internal mental processes of thought, such as:
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Visual processing
Memory
Problem solving
Language
Opening the “black box” of the human mind is valuable and necessary for understanding how
people learn.
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How does learning occur?

Learning is equated with discrete changes between states of knowledge,
rather than with changes in the probability of response
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Cognitive theories stress the acquisition of knowledge and mental
structures
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Focus on students’ conceptualization of learning processes
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Address the issues of how information is received, organized stored and
is retrieved by the mind
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Concerned not so much with what learners do, but with what they know
and how they come to acquire it
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Knowledge acquisition is described as a mental activity that requires
internal coding and structuring by the learning. The learner is a very
active participant in the learning process.
Ertmer, P. & Newby, T. (1993)
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Information processing model
Explanations for
how cognitive
processes work are
known as
information
processing theories
or models.
The threecomponent model
of information
processing is
taught in
Educational
Psychology.
http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/cognitivism/index.htm
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Which factors influence
learning?
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Environmental conditions play a role (like in Behaviourism)
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Teacher
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Student (mental activities of the learner)
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Instructional explanations
Demonstrations
Illustrative examples
Practice
Corrective feedback
Mental planning
Goal-setting
Organisational strategies
The way learners attend to, code, transform, rehearse, store and retrieve information
Learners’ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and values are influential in learning process
Focus of cognitive approach is on changing the learner by encouraging him/her to
use the appropriate learning strategies (to cope with unstructured domains)
Ertmer, P. & Newby, T. (1993)
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Constructivism
Social Constructivism
Constructivism

Constructivism is a theory on how people learn
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It holds that learning is an active, constructive process
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Constructivism in education
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the curriculum should be learner-centered rather than teacher-centered.
learners arrive in the educational setting with prior knowledge that they can use as a building block for
acquiring new knowledge.
learners construct meaning and understanding based on prior knowledge. (http://design.test.olt.ubc.ca/CognitiveConstruction)

The learner is an information constructor. People actively construct or create their own
subjective representations of objective reality. New information is linked to to prior knowledge.

The learner is not a blank slate (tabula rasa) but brings past experiences and cultural factors to a
situation.
http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html
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Some of the guiding principles of
constructivism in education
1.
Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must
start with the issues around which students are actively trying to
construct meaning.
2.
Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And
parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the
learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.
3.
The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or
her own meaning, not just memorize the “right” answers and
regurgitate someone else’s meaning.
http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism
Jacqueline and Martin Brooks, The Case for Constructivist Classrooms.
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“Parts must be
understood in
the context of
wholes.”
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Originators and important
contributors:

Originators and important contributors:
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Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky

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Vygotsky, Piaget, Dewey, Vico, Rorty, Bruner
(1896–1934) a Russian-Belarusian psychologist,
developed a social constructivism view of learning (“zone
of proximal development”). Work was largely unkown to
the West until it was published in 1962.
Jean Piaget

(1896–1980) a Swiss psychologist and philosopher, well
known for his pedagogical studies.
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Vygotsky & social constructivism
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Vygotsky believed that learning is a social process, hence his
theory is referred to as “social constructivism”
Vygotsky’s social development theory is one of the foundations for
constructivism.
He believed that language, particularly self-talk and inner speech,
plays a major role in learning.
Major applications of Vygotsky's theory to education include:
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Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding
Guided participation
Apprenticeship
Peer interaction
http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
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Vygotsky’s focus
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Vygotsky focused on the connections between people and the
sociocultural context in which they act and interact in shared
experiences (Crawford, 1996).
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According to Vygotsky, humans use tools that develop from a
culture, such as speech and writing, to mediate their social
environments. Initially children develop these tools to serve solely as
social functions, ways to communicate needs.
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Vygotsky believed that the internalization of these tools led to
higher thinking skills.
http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
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Social Development Theory

Vygotsky’s social development theory asserts three major themes:
1.
Social interaction plays a fundamental role in cognitive development.
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2.
The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO).

3.
Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development
“Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social
level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and
then inside the child (intrapsychological).” (Vygotsky, 1978).
The MKO refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than
the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. The MKO is normally
thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a
younger person, or even computers.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

The ZPD is the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task under adult
guidance and/or with peer collaboration and the student’s ability solving the problem
independently. According to Vygotsky, learning occurred in this zone.
http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
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Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
"What a child can do with assistance today, she will be able to do by herself tomorrow"
(Vygotsky, p. 81, 1978).
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Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD) - definition

Within this definition, all three themes of Vygotsky’s
writings are apparent.
1.
There is a social aspect, consisting of someone with expertise
providing guidance
2.
The social connections in conjunction with various cultural
mediators, like symbols or even technology, allow for...
3.
internalization of these processes to be applied in the future by
the learners themselves
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Social Development in Education
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Many schools have traditionally held a transmissionist or
instructionist model in which a teacher or lecturer ‘transmits’
information to students.
In contrast, Vygotsky’s theory promotes learning contexts in which
students play an active role in learning.
Roles of the teacher and student are therefore shifted, as a
teacher should collaborate with his or her students in order to help
facilitate meaning construction in students. Learning becomes a
reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.
In a constructivist classroom the teacher must function not as the
"knower of all things", but as a facilitator of learning.
Constructivism is a highly progressive model of education because
it transfers control of learning from the teacher to the learner.
No longer an instructor, the term “coach” may be a better
application in educational settings.
The learner constructs and validates his/her own set of knowledge
with the prodding and instructions of his/her coach. Knowledge is
negotiated and achieved through collaborative work (Mishra,
2002).
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http://design.test.olt.ubc.ca/Vygotsky%27s_Zone_of_Proximal_Development
Constructivist Learning Goals

Constructivist Learning Goals
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Emphasizes learning in context through
meaningful activities

Focus on high-level thinking activities to develop cognitive flexibility

Constructivists are interested in having learners identify and pursue
their own learning goals

Problem solving, reasoning, critical thinking and reflection
constitute the goals of constructivist instruction
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Constructivist Assumptions
about Learning

Constructivism is a view in which knowledge is believed to be constructed
rather than acquired. It is not one theory but a multitude of approaches.

Only the active learner is a successful learner. Learning by doing enables
learners to achieve deep levels of understanding.

Knowledge is constructed by learners as they attempt to make sense of their
experiences.

Learners are actively seeking meaning because learning with understanding is
desired, as opposed to rote learning.

Many constructivist theorists agree that there is a social component to
learning, as learners test their own understandings against those of others, such
as those of teachers or more advanced peers. Therefore, the social structure
of a learning environment is important
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Constructivist Conditions for
Learning - conclusion

Process not products
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Minimal hand-holding

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Higher mental processes develop through social interaction. Students develop and defend individual
perspectives while recognizing those of others and teachers support multiple perspectives and the use
of multiple modes of representation.
Mulit-sensory experience


Simplifying tasks for learners will prevent them from learning how to solve the complex problems they
will solve in real life by providing for social negotiation as an essential part of learning.
Academic / social development


Focus on the process of learning, rather than the products of learning. This can be accomplished
by embedding learning in complex, realistic and relevant environments.
Viewing the same content through different sensory modes (such as visual, auditory, or tactile)
enables different aspects of it to be seen and encourages ownership in learning.
Self-direction

Students are actively involved in determining what their own learning needs are and how those
needs can be satisfied, rather than being passive recipients of instruction that has been designed for
them. Teachers share in the learning process rather than controlling it.
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Recap on Learning
Theories
Behaviourism, cognativism,
social constructivism
Learning Theories
Questions
Behaviourism
Cognativism
Constructivism
How does learning
occur?
Black box – observable
behaviour main focus
Structured, computational
Social meaning created
by each learner (personal)
What factors influence
learning
Nature of reward,
punishment, stimuli
Existing schema, previous
experiences
Engagement,
participation, social,
cultural
What is the role of
memory?
Memory is the hard-wiring
of repeated experiences where reward and
punishment are most
influential
Encoding, storage,
retrieval
Prior knowledge remixed
to current context
How does transfer
occur?
Stimulus, reponse
Duplicating knowledge
constructs of “knower”
Socialization
Types of learning best
explained by this
theory?
Task-based learning
Reasoning, clear
objectives, problem
solving
Social, vague (“ill
defined”)
Adapted from Siemens' (2006) response to Verhagen, “Connectivisim: Learning theory or pastime for the self-amused?”
http://design.test.olt.ubc.ca/Situating_Connectivism
based on Ertmer, P. & Newby, T. (1993) 'Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: comparing critical features
from an instructional design perspective', Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4): 50-72
38
Learning Theories

Behaviourism
 stimulus-response

Cognativism
 mind is an operating system

Social Constructivism
 knowledge is constructed in a social context
39