Université Libanaise
Rectorat
Educational Psychology
Course Instructor: Dr Rita Zgheib
Rita.zgheib@gmail.com
1 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT - 2
1.1
3 HOURS
DECEMBER 2, 2014
LEARNING THEORY - AUSUBEL
David Paul Ausubel (1918–2008) was an American psychologist born in New York. His most
significant contribution to the fields of educational psychology, cognitive science, and science
education learning was on the development and research on advance organizers since 1960.He
studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with honors in 1939, receiving a
bachelor's degree majoring in Psychology. Ausubel later graduated from medical school in 1943
at Middlesex University. Following his military service with the US Public Health Service,
Ausubel earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University in
1950. He continued to hold a series of professorships at several schools of education.
In 1973, Ausubel retired from academic life and devoted himself to his psychiatric practice.
During his psychiatric practice, Ausubel published many books as well as articles in psychiatric
and psychological journals. In 1976, he received the Thorndike Award from the American
Psychological Association for "Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education".
At the age of 75 in the year 1994, Ausubel retired from professional life to devote himself fulltime to writing, from which four books resulted.
1. Meaningful Verbal Learning vs. Rote Learning: Ausubel's focus was on meaningful learning
rather than rote learning. To him new learning was meaningful when it could be related in a nonarbitrary fashion to that which a person already knew. Meaning happens when new information
is taken into a person's existing cognitive structure and is related to the previously learned content
forming new connections between this new information and the existing information.
Meaningful learning sticks and becomes the basis for learning additional information. Rote
learning does not stick because it does not have these meaningful connections. Thus, it fades from
memory rather quickly.
2. Discovery vs. Reception Learning: Ausubel does not see an advantage for discovery learning.
In fact, he sees several limitations of discovery learning and no advantages.
 For one thing, discovery learning almost certainly will take longer because the learner
has to figure out what she/he has to learn and then go about the process of bringing the
new knowledge in and relating it to prior knowledge in their cognitive structures to form
meaning.
 Another limitation of discovery learning is that the student may discover some
information that is not correct and therefore learn erroneous content.
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3. Cognitive Structure: Cognitive structure represents both the content of that which we already
know and its organization. Our cognitive structures are organized with the larger, more inclusive,
abstract ideas and concepts at the top – this is progressive differentiation. The cognitive structure
is a key concept influencing learning according to Ausubel because unless someone has relevant
prior knowledge in her or his cognitive structure to which the new information can be related –
anchorage - the new information can only be learned in a rote fashion and thus, is more prone to
be forgotten.
4. The Process of Subsumption: Subsumption is the process by which new previously unencountered information is brought into a student’s existing cognitive structure and
systematically compared and contrasted with prior knowledge. Subsequently, this new
knowledge takes on meaning and becomes anchored within that person's cognitive structure.
5 Correlative, Derivative, Combinational, Superordinate, and Obliterative Subsumption.
New content can be learned, that is subsumed, in one of five ways:
a. The new content can be compared with the existing content and then take on meaning.
This process is called correlative subsumption.
b. On the other hand, the new content maybe derived from existing content and then take
on meaning. This process is call derivative subsumption.
c. There is a third form called combinational subsumption which describes a process by
which the new idea is derived from another idea that is comes from his previous
knowledge. Students could think of this as learning by analogy.
d. Superordinate subsumption is the process of knowing the examples of a concept first
e.
and then grouping them all under one concept.
Obliterative subsumption does not relate to learning but rather to forgetting. In
Ausubel's view, forgetting is a process where we lose the specific details of a piece of
information because it was not firmly established in our cognitive structure.
6. Advance Organizers are introductory items that precede instructional materials that introduce
new content. The advance organizer allows students to already have a bird’s view or to see the
“big picture” of the topic to be learned even before going to the details. In essence, an advanced
organizer gives students a heads-up about where the new material should fit into their cognitive
structures.
a. Expository: Describes the new content; provides new knowledge that students will
need to understand the upcoming information; often used when the new learning
material is unfamiliar to the learner. They often relate what the learner already knows
with the new and unfamiliar material—this in turn is aimed to make the unfamiliar
material more plausible to the learner.
b. Narrative: Presents the new information in the form of a story to students.
c. Skimming: is looking over the new material to gain a basic overview.
d. Graphic Organizer: Visuals to set up or outline the new information. This may include
pictographs, descriptive patterns, concept patterns, concept maps, Venn diagrams, etc.
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7. Readiness for learning: Ausubel's emphasis was on meaningful learning not rote learning.
Thus, students are ready to learn some specific content when they have sufficient pre-existing
knowledge in their cognitive structure to which the new material could be related. For Ausubel,
unlike Piaget or Bruner, readiness to learn does not relate to some stage of development but rather
to the existence of specific prerequisite knowledge in their cognitive structures.
8. Practice: in learning Ausubel views learning as a process of subsumption in which new
information is brought into a cognitive structure, compared and contrasted with the current
information that resides in that structure, and then the new information is incorporated and
becomes a part of the student's cognitive structure. Practice is essential to this part of the learning
process because it provides the occasion for students to strengthen the relationship of the new
information with information already in their cognitive structure and thus ensure that the new
information is sufficiently anchored so it doesn't disappear. Practice matters in this theory, but so
does the placement of the practice. Stronger learning results from practice that is spread out over
time rather than bunched together and happening all at once. It produces stronger learning when
a student is provided an opportunity to practice new learning on multiple occasions.
8. Ausubel vs. Behaviorists Regarding Practice: Practice is a very important feature of learning
for the behaviorists like Skinner, and practice is also an important feature of learning for a
cognitive theorist like Ausubel. However, their understanding of why practice works and how it
works to influence learning is quite different. In Skinner’s behavioral theory practice is important
because learning happens only when a behavior is reinforced. Practice does nothing more than
provide the opportunity for reinforcement. In Ausubel's cognitive theory the importance of
practice is to provide opportunity for the internal processing by which new information is
brought into a cognitive structure, sorted out, and connected with other information so that it
becomes anchored in a meaningful manner and thus learned.
1.2
INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY
Computer - Mind Analogy
. The development of the computer in the 1950s and 1960s had an important influence on
psychology and was, in part, responsible for the cognitive approach becoming the dominant
approach in modern psychology (taking over from behaviorism).
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. The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor, or analogy, to which they could
compare human mental processing. The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human
mind handles information is known as the computer analogy.
. Essentially, a computer codes (i.e. changes) information, stores information, uses information,
and produces an output (retrieves info). The idea of information processing was adopted by
cognitive psychologists as a model of how human thought works.
. For example, the eye receives visual information and codes information into electric neural
activity which is fed back to the brain where it is “stored” and “coded”. This information is can
be used by other parts of the brain relating to mental activities such as memory, perception and
attention. The output (i.e. behavior) might be, for example, to read what you can see on a printed
page.
. Hence the information processing approach characterizes thinking as the environment
providing input of data, which is then transformed by our senses. The information can be stored,
retrieved and transformed using “mental programs”, with the results being behavioral responses.
. Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated many other approaches and areas of study
to produce, for example, social learning theory, cognitive neuropsychology and artificial
intelligence (AI).
1.
Information Processing & Attention
When we are selectively attending to one activity, we tend to ignore other stimulation, although
our attention can be distracted by something else, like the telephone ringing or someone using
our name.
Psychologists are interested in what makes us attend to one thing rather than another (selective
attention); why we sometimes switch our attention to something that was previously unattended
(e.g. Cocktail Party Syndrome), and how many things we can attend to at the same time
(attentional capacity).
One way of conceptualizing attention is to think of humans as information processors who can
only process a limited amount of information at a time without becoming overloaded. Broadbent
and others in the 1950's adopted a model of the brain as a limited capacity information
processing system, through which external input is transmitted.
The Information Processing System
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Information processing models consist of a series of stages, or boxes, which represent stages of
processing. Arrows indicate the flow of information from one stage to the next.
* Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.
* Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli internally in the brain and can include coding
and manipulation of the stimuli.
* Output processes are responsible for preparing an appropriate response to a stimulus.
2.
Critical Evaluation
A number of models of attention within the Information Processing framework have been
proposed. However, there are a number of evaluative points to bear in mind when studying these
models, and the information processing approach in general. These include:
1. The information processing models assume serial processing of stimulus inputs.
Serial processing effectively means one process has to be completed before the next starts.
Parallel processing assumes some or all processes involved in a cognitive task(s) occur at the
same time.
There is evidence from dual-task experiments that parallel processing is possible. It is difficult to
determine whether a particular task is processed in a serial or parallel fashion as it probably
depends (a) on the processes required to solve a task, and (b) the amount of practice on a task.
Parallel processing is probably more frequent when someone is highly skilled; for example a
skilled typist thinks several letters ahead, a novice focuses on just 1 letter at a time.
2. The analogy between human cognition and computer functioning adopted by the information
processing approach is limited. Computers can be regarded as information processing systems
insofar as they:
a. Combine information presented with stored information to provide solutions to a
variety of problems, and
b. Most computers have a central processor of limited capacity and it is usually assumed
that capacity limitations affect the human attentional system.
BUT a. The human brain has the capacity for extensive parallel processing and computers
often rely on serial processing;
Humans are influenced in their cognitions by a number of conflicting emotional and
motivational factors.
3. The evidence for the theories/models of attention which come under the information
processing approach is largely based on experiments under controlled, scientific conditions. Most
laboratory studies are artificial and could be said to lack ecological validity.
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In everyday life, cognitive processes are often linked to a goal (e.g. you pay attention in class
because you want to pass the examination), whereas in the laboratory the experiments are carried
out in isolation form other cognitive and motivational factors. Although these laboratory
experiments are easy to interpret, the data may not be applicable to the real world outside the
laboratory. More recent ecologically valid approaches to cognition have been proposed.
1.3
PROBLEM SOLVING
. Problem based learning is an instructional, learner centered approach that empowers learners
to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a
viable solution to a defined problem. (J.R Savery, 2006, p12)
. PBL also has the potential to help learners to develop flexible understanding and lifelong
learning skills. (C.E Hmelo-Silver, 2004, p235)
. Students work in collaborative groups to identify what they need to learn in order to solve a
problem.
. Students engage in self-directed learning and then apply their new knowledge to the problem,
reflect on what they have learned and assess the effectiveness of the strategies employed. (C.E
Hmelo-Silver, 2004, p235)
. The teacher in PBL becomes a facilitator of the learning process rather than providing the
knowledge.
Characteristics of PBL:
 Students must have the responsibility for their own learning.
 PBL is learner centered.
 Problem simulations must be ‘ill-structured’.
 Learning should be integrated from a wide range of disciplines or subjects.
 Collaboration is essential.
 Student learning through self-directed process must be applied back to the problem with
analysis, resolution and discussion.
 Peer and self-assessment should be carried out.
 PBL activities must be those valued in the real world.
 Student assessment should include measurement of student progress toward goals of
student problem-solving capabilities.
 PBL should be the pedagogical base in the curriculum and not a part of a didactic
curriculum.
 Expected outcomes:
 Flexible knowledge
 Effective problem-solving skills
 Self-directed learning skills
 Effective collaboration skills
 Intrinsic motivation
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