Lecture 4: Learning Theories

WHAT IS LEARNING THEORY?

• Learning is a lifelong activity
• Can be intentionally or incidentally
• A complex affair which involves a persisting change in human performance or performance potential
• While, theory is a set of laws or principles about learning

As a future teacher, I have to learn the learning theory so that I can help my students acquire facilitate their goals.

There are 2 types of Learning Theory:

1. Behaviorism
2. Cognitivism

Behaviorism: 

- Learning as a product

- Prediction and control of behavior

- Change in learner’s behavior

Cognitivism:

- Look into how learners construct meaning of the knowledge learnt 

- What happens in the mind

- Begins with what learners know

- From cognition – the process of knowing; which involves perception, memory & thinking. 

Example of behaviorism is Skinner’s radical behaviorism. Skinner’s radical behaviorism is related to Pavlov’s stimulus-response.

Last but not least, let's look at some of example of cognitivism:

1. Piaget’s Stages of cognitive development: Believes that all individuals proceed through a number of stages of intellectual development
2. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development: Learners can reach the higher ground in a particular knowledge domain
3. Ausubel’s Meaningful Reception learning: Making meaningful learning  through the use of learning tools

That is all for today~