Cognitivism
Key Theorists: Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Robert Mills Gagne, Marriner David Merill,
Charles Reigeluth, and Roger Schank
Definition and Background
Cognitive psychology emerged in the 1950s and became dominant in the 1960s.
Departing from the comparative emphasis of behaviorists, cognitivists see human
beings as rational creatures quite different from animals. Consequently, cognitive theory
explores the complexities of the human mind as it processes information.
It views behavior as a result of one's thoughts. Maxwell states that cognitivists "try to
understand how we learn, think, and behave by looking at how our mind works to
process, integrate, perceive, decide, emote, and understand existence. Cognitivism
helps us see how we use our previous knowledge and experiences to learn new things
and develop."
Using the computer as a metaphor for the human mind, cognitivists see learning as a
product of mental faculties and activities, including thought, knowledge, memory,
motivation, reflection, and problem-solving. Recasting learning as the acquisition of
knowledge and the development of understanding, this approach emphasizes reading
and lecture as learning modalities.
Rather than measuring learning based on observable behaviors, cognitivists evaluate
learning based on a learner's demonstration of knowledge and understanding.
Maxwell says, "Like all good structures, they’ve come up with some useful rules of
thumb for optimized learning. Here’s four of them: 1. Make sure the learning has a
relevant purpose. 2. Ensure that the learner is focused. 3. Encourage the learner to
move towards their own goals. 4. Arrange teaching to foster discovery of ideas and
support the learner in slotting those new ideas into whole-mind understanding, at their
own pace."
Key Principle(s)
Cognitive psychology understands knowledge acquisition schematically and
symbolically. It posits learning as the process of changing a learner's mental model or
schematic understanding of knowledge.
In this view, human behavior reflects internal processing of the human mind, rather than
simply a conditioned response to external stimuli. Learning involves the integration of
information into a stored and usable body of knowledge.
Cognitive psychology derives, in part, from Jean Piaget's stages of development, which
depend on biological factors such as age. Learning capacity and activity change over
time as a person moves through life. For example, although older people have
accumulated more knowledge, they do not always remain as teachable due to their
tendency to adopt a more fixed outlook over time.
Cognitivism emphasizes the importance of an expert in transmitting accurate
information, yet sees a learner's success or failure in absorbing this information as
largely dependent upon the learner's mental capacity, motivation, beliefs, and effort.
Application
The setup of many learning experiences today reflects persistent cognitivist ideas,
approaches, and assumptions.
Although many contemporary educational psychologists see cognitivist approaches as
outdated, teachers often deliver lectures in front of a classroom and expect students to
demonstrate their retention of content through information-oriented tests.
However, teachers' efforts to balance lectures with activities that encourage mental
processing also reflect cognitivist influence. Self-reflection — a widely used cognitivist
technique — helps students think about and transform their understanding of the
subject at hand.
Cognitivism
Cognitivism focuses on the mind, and more specifically, mental proceses such as thinking, knowing,
memory, and problem-solving, with the goal of opening the “black box” of the human mind, the
process of which is deemed valuable and necessary for learning to occur. Knowledge is approached
as schema constructions, and learning is viewed as a change in the learner's schemata, or the
redefining of prior knowledge.
Key Concepts:



Mind as a "Black Box"
Learning is explained as a "recall"
of stored information
Instruction usually grabs the attention of
learners and helps make sense of the
information so it can be stored more
readily stored (learned) later for recall.
Key Words (and Definitions)

Schema Theory is defined as a mental representation of something previously known,
including actions, events, and perspectives. These are the building blocks of knowledge.


Gestalt Theory states that perceptions are entirely dependent upon the whole and not of
the individual parts. All of our understanding is built upon whole objects, events and not of
their small parts.
Equilibrium is the state in which our minds exists before we learn something new. The
process,
called "adaption"
by
Piaget,
flows
as
follows:
Equilibrium-->New Situation/Schema-->Disequilibrium-->Accomodation-->Assimilation
Applications in Educational Technology
The best way for a teacher to approach
using cognitivism in the classroom is to
ask questions to help students refine their
thinking and recognize where they may be
wrong. You want to approach topics that
they may think they already know and
introduce some new aspect to make them
redefine something. Alternately, for
entirely new topics, you want to draw
upon background knowledge before you
challenge existing ideas (schema) and
create learning toward amplification or
change of those schemata.
A quick video of an example in general
education using a cognitivist approach.
Some great examples of Cognitivism in educational technology can be found in online games and
reinforcement activities, such as sorting games, puzzles, and flashcards. These games will often
present prior knowledge schema in a different method, thus creating disequilibrium and a need to
adapt and learn the new information in order to continue. For example, the online
resource Quizlet creates a means of listing vocabulary, pictures, and even mathematical procedures
and then taking that list and producing several ways of practicing the previously known schemata,
including the incorporation of audio and video.