Learning Theory
Dianne Peck
A/General Manager, Student Learning Programs Division, OGSE
Different definitions from different fields
• Process by which the brain reacts to stimuli
by making neuronal connections that act as
an information processing circuit and
provide information storage (Koizumi, 2003)
• Significant changes in capability,
understanding, attitudes or values of
individuals, groups, organisations or society.
(Coffield, 2005) Note: explicitly excludes the acquisition of
information that does not contribute to such changes
How does learning occur?
Briggs
Dewey
Scandura
Vygotsky
Reigeluth
Piaget
Wager
Gagne
Bandura
Skinner
Rorty
Bruner
Thorndike
Pavlov
Vico
Behaviourism
All behavior caused by external stimuli (operant
conditioning). All behavior can be explained without the
need to consider internal mental states or
consciousness.
Originators and important contributors: John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B.F.
Skinner, E. L. Thorndike (connectionism), Bandura, Tolman (moving
toward cognitivism)
The ‘empty vessel’ view of education
Cognitivism
This 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).
Originators and important contributors: Merrill -Component
Display Theory (CDT), Reigeluth (Elaboration Theory),
Gagne, Briggs, Wager, Bruner (moving toward cognitive
constructivism), Schank (scripts), Scandura (structural
learning)
Keywords: Schema, schemata, information processing,
symbol manipulation, information mapping, mental models
Cognitivism
Constructivism
Constructivism posits that learning is an active,
constructive process. The learner is an
information constructor. People actively
construct or create their own subjective
representations of objective reality. New
information is linked to prior knowledge, thus
mental representations are subjective.
Originators and important contributors: Vygotsky, Piaget, Dewey, Vico,
Rorty, Bruner
Keywords: Learning as experience, activity and dialogical process;
Problem Based Learning (PBL); Anchored instruction; Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD); cognitive apprenticeship (scaffolding);
inquiry and discovery learning.
MAPS
WINDOW ON THE
WORLD
X
FINDING OUT
EVENTS
AND
THINGS
TAKING ACTION
BAG OF TRICKS
Richard Bawden's Visual representation of Kolb's (Kolb 1984)
Building on what students know and
are able to do
Mediated Learning
- Diagnosis
- Scaffolding
- Focus attention
Teaching is PURPOSEFUL
(Vygotsky)
How People Learn
http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/
• Research on human learning,
inc. new developments from
neuroscience
• Learning research with
implications for P-12
• Research that explores
possibility of all individuals
achieve their fullest potential
(2000)
How People Learn
Students come to the
•
classroom with
preconceptions about how
the world works. If their initial
understanding is not
engaged, they may fail to
grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught,
or they may learn them for
purposes of a test but revert
to their preconceptions
outside the classroom.
Teachers must draw
out and work with the
pre-existing
understandings that
their students bring
with them.
How People Learn
To develop competence in an •
area of inquiry, students
must
a) Have a deep foundation of
factual knowledge
b) Understand facts and
ideas in the context of a
conceptual framework
c) Organise knowledge in
ways that facilitate
retrieval and application.
Teachers must teach
some subject matter
in depth, providing
many examples in
which the same
concept is at work and
providing a firm
foundation of factual
knowledge
How People Learn
A ‘metacognitive’
approach to instruction
can help students learn
to take control of their
own learning by
defining learning goals
and monitoring their
progress in achieving
them.
• The teaching of
metacognitive skills
must be integrated
into the curriculum
in a variety of
subjects.
Designing classroom environments
1. Schools and classrooms must be learner
centred
2. Attention must be given to what is taught
(information, subject matter), why it is taught
(understanding) and what competence or
mastery looks like.
3. Formative assessments are essential.
4. Requires the development of norms for the
classroom and school, as well as connections
to the outside world, that support core learning
values.
Two types of knowledge.
‘FRAGILE’
KNOWLEDGE
can be:
• Missing (exposed to, but
can’t remember)
• Inert (it’s there but you
can’t do anything with it)
• Naïve (simplistic,
stereotypical or wrong)
• Ritualistic (pattern useful
for school task, nothing
more)
‘GENERATIVE’
KNOWLEDGE
focuses on:
• Retention of
knowledge AND
• Understanding of
knowledge AND
• Active use of
knowledge.
requires ‘GOOD’ THINKING
(David Perkins)
A good performer in Maths……
• ‘I know what to do by looking at the
examples. If there are only two numbers I
subtract. If there are lots of numbers I add.
If there are just two numbers and one is
smaller than the other it is a hard problem.
I divide to see if it comes out even and if it
doesn’t I multiply.’
Perkins ‘Smart Schools’ p25
Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a
Learning Science
• Synthesises existing
and emerging findings
from cognitive and
brain science
• Information on:
- Changes through life
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Neuromyths
(2006)
LEARNING THEORY
Knowledge of
the discipline
Pedagogical
content
knowledge
Generalised
pedagogical
knowledge
EFFECTIVE
TEACHING