AN EXPERIENTIAL FRAMEWORK FOR
TEACHING AND UTILIZING THEORIES OF
LEARNING AND COGNITION
Steven K. Wojcikiewicz - Western Oregon University
Educational Psychology and Classroom
Instruction – the great divide?

Three main theoretical perspectives on learning and
cognition:
 Behaviorist
 Cognitive
 Situative



Which one explains learning? All? None?
A rich field is theoretically beneficial, confusing in
practice…
What do students, and teachers, know about
learning theory? Can we do better?
Philosophical and Practical Issues



"Philosophy recovers itself when it ceases to be a
device for dealing with the problems of
philosophers and becomes a method, cultivated by
philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men."
(John Dewey, 1917)
Dewey wanted to use philosophy to solve practical
problems
In this work, philosophy addresses the teaching, and
utilization, of theories of learning and cognition
John Dewey (1859-1952)




Worked in philosophy, psychology, education
Developed a holistic, distributed, democratic vision of
education
“Edward L. Thorndike won and John Dewey lost”
(Lagemann, 1989, p. 184)
Now associated with “hands-on” or “studentcentered” learning
School is necessary, dangerous



Complex societies require formal schooling
“As formal teaching and training grow in extent, there
is the danger of creating an undesirable split
between the experience gained in more direct
associations and what is acquired in school. (Dewey,
1916, p. 13)
“the isolation of the school is the isolation of
knowledge from action” (Dewey, 1937/1946, p. 50)
What’s missing in school?

The trouble with education is not the absence of
situations in which the causal relation is exemplified
in the relation of means and consequences. Failure
to utilize the situations so as to lead the learner on
to grasp the relation in the given cases of
experience is, however, only too
common…(1938/1997, p. 84, bold added)
Having an Experience

An experience has pattern and structure, because it is
not just doing and undergoing in alternation, but
consists of them in relationship. To put one’s hand in a
fire that consumes it is not necessarily to have an
experience. The action and its consequence must be
joined in perception. This relationship is what gives
meaning; to grasp it is the objective of all
intelligence. The scope and content of the relations
measure the significant content of an experience.
(1934/1980, p. 44, bold added)
Means and Ends


For Dewey, “experience” developed “intelligence,”
the ability to formulate ends and to utilize means to
meet those ends
Both abilities are necessary:
 Means
without ends = no ability to set one’s own
priorities or know one’s own mind, action without
thought
 Ends without means = castles in the sky, thought without
action
Principles which describe the
“educative” experience

Principle of interaction:
 Means-ends
connections are perceived and acted upon
in the present moment

Principle of continuity:
 Means-ends
connections are perceived and acted upon
in the future

Dewey used these two principles to separate
educative experiences from those which he labeled
as “mis-educative”
Mis-educative experience #1

Learning without understanding

Cooking an egg:



“For the child simply to desire to cook an egg, and
accordingly drop it in water for three minutes, and take
it out when he is told, is not educative. But for the child
to realize his own impulse by recognizing the facts,
materials, and conditions involved, and then to regulate
his impulse through that recognition, is educative.”
(Dewey, 1915)
The child acts, but does not grasp the reasons
behind the actions
No connections between ends and means in the
present (principle of interaction)
Mis-educative experience #2

Learning with understanding, even great skill, but
without consideration of ends or consequences
Skilled craftsman/technician (1916/1922)
Skilled burglar:





“…a man, for example, who starts out on a career of burglary may
grow in that direction, and by practice may grow into a highly
skilled expert burglar. Hence it is argued here that “growth” is not
enough; we must also specify the direction in which growth takes
place, the end towards which it tends” (1938/1997, p. 36).
Means and ends are connected, but future growth is
limited
Consideration of means and ends restricted to
“technical” aspects of activity
Three “types of learning” described by Dewey

Three types described by Dewey:

Learning “what”



Learning “how”



Learning without understanding
Mis-educative
Learning with understanding, limited to
“technical” aspects of activity
Mis-educative
Learning “why”


Learning with understanding that extends
moral/aesthetic questions
Educative
And yet, not all of our learning experiences
are “educative”…

At times, we simply learn how to do things without
learning how those things work:
cooking eggs
 memorizing multiplication tables
 driving a car without being able to repair it


At other times, we may exercise great skill in a task
without full intelligent or artistic consideration of its
ends:

Demonstrating of skill in school without considering why they
are doing the work beyond the desire for a grade
Charles S. Peirce (1839 – 1914)



Scientist, mathematician, philosopher, madman
Like Dewey, a philosopher of experience
Came up with a way to categorize experience –
and applied it to everything!




Firstness
Secondness
Thirdness
We can apply this categorical system to Dewey’s
conceptions of learning – avoids labeling some
types of learning as less desirable
Peirce’s Universal Categories of Experience

“The first is that whose being is simply in itself, not
referring to anything nor lying behind anything. The
second is that which is what it is by force of
something to which it is second. The third is that
which is what it is owing to things between which it
mediates and which it brings into relation to each
other.” (Peirce, quoted in Corrington, 1994)
More on the three categories



Firstness: unity, unreflective sense, immediate,
feeling, direct
Secondness: duality, awareness, relational,
experience, reactional
Thirdness: mediative triad, connected, “would be”,
extended to future, consequences, intent, the
“moral”
Dewey and Peirce together

Three types of learning described in Dewey, three categories
of experience in Peirce

Firstness:




Secondness:





unconsidered, learning without understanding
learning “what”
Cooking an egg
dyadic and interactive
learning with understanding
learning “how”
Skilled technician, no thought of “ends”
Thirdness:



intent and purpose
learning “why”
Educative experience – ends and means together
Combining Dewey and Peirce: Three New
Categories of Learning

ACCEPTING learning
 learning

ANALYTICAL learning
 learning

“what”
“how”
EVALUATIVE learning
 learning
“why”
Three new categories of learning



accepting learning
 Rote or mechanical
 Done without understanding - superficial
 Unanalyzed and rather inflexible, though useful
analytical learning
 Deeper and more flexible
 Possibly leading to great skill
 Without consideration of purposes/ends/moral goals
evaluative learning
 Deals with ends or consequences of application of skills and
knowledge
An example: following an instruction
manual

Accepting learning (first/what)
Read the instructions and follow them exactly
 Useful, but inflexible – no understanding of what it all
means


Analytical learning (second/how)
Read the instructions, but tinker, interact, learn how the
machine works
 More flexible, can cope with changes


Evaluative learning (third/why)

Why am I running this machine? What am I aiming to
accomplish? Will this do it?
The results of the three types of learning

Accepting learning:

leaves one with knowledge/skills that are narrowly applicable, usually in
specific situations determined by others
Limited transfer and flexibility
Analytical learning:



Can be applied skillfully when indicated
 bounded by the task itself
Evaluative learning:
 Allows “intelligent” activity – bringing together of means and ends
 Works on the moral level


leaves one with flexible and applicable knowledge and skill, useful in meeting
ends set by others
The “types of learning” and theories of learning


The three theoretical perspectives on learning can
be fitted into this categorical system
Each theoretical perspective thus describes one
aspect of learning
 Not
independent descriptions, but complementary ones
 All are necessary for the full picture of learning
 A very different way of describing theories of learning

More than a fit between two triadic systems
 The
perspectives fit in a variety of ways
Associated “Type” or “Category” of Learning

behaviorist
 Firstness
– Accepting - learning “what”
 Monadic – individual/environment unity

cognitive
 Secondness
- Analytical – learning “how”
 Dyadic - interaction, mind/world separate and
interacting

situative
 Thirdness
- Evaluative – learning “why”
 Triadic – transaction, individual/activity in context
Learning is…



Behaviorist/Accepting/”what”:
 Acquisition of behaviors, can be in the form of
knowledge or skill; formation of associations
Cognitive/Analytical/”how”:
 Growth in conceptual structures, active construction of
knowledge
Situative/Evaluative/”why”:
 Growth
in participation in communities, practices,
disciplines; awareness of meanings, identity,
affordances; internalization
Associated Teaching Methods

Behaviorist/Accepting/”what”:
 Repetitive drill, memorization; routines; rote learning, stepby-step tasks with reinforcement; behavioral outcomes
Cognitive/Analytical/”how”:
 Accessing prior knowledge, using multiple
approaches/situations to build concepts; problem-solving,
and explicit teaching and deliberate use of strategies,
conceptual change

Situative/Evaluative/”why”:


Contextualized learning, building learning communities,
participation in “meaningful” social activities, formulation of
and working toward goals, scaffolding
Associated Learning Outcomes

Behaviorist/Accepting/”what”:


Cognitive/Analytical/”how”:


Mechanical skills or knowledge; efficient performance of
tasks; performance of sequential tasks, component tasks,
and clearly defined skills
Understanding, application of general concepts or
structures, strategic activity, problem solving
Situative/Evaluative/”why”:

Growth in participation in, awareness of, communities or
practices; change in identity; increased sensitivities to
affordances and constraints
Awareness of means-ends relationships

Behaviorist/Accepting/”what”:
 No understanding of means-ends relationships
Cognitive/Analytical/”how”:
 Understanding of means-ends relationships , though
bounded by activity

Situative/Evaluative/”why”:

 Understanding
of means-ends relationships includes
issues of cultural, moral, aesthetic meaning
“Aspect” of activity emphasized

Behaviorist/Accepting/”what”:
 Form

Cognitive/Analytical/”how”:
 Function

Situative/Evaluative/”why”:
 Meaning
Implications for teachers


Does not replace the educative experience
Calls for use attention to of all the types of learning
 Learning
“what,” “how,” and “why” are all important
 A full learning experience needs all three (esp. “why”)

Educators can be aware of their own means and
ends – artistic teaching, according to Dewey
 Theoretical
perspective and associated teaching
methods can be chosen according to learning goals
 A pragmatic view of learning theory and practice
Implications for Teacher Educators

Theories of learning taught in a “pragmatic” fashion
 Chosen

according to learning goals
An improvement over teaching the theories as
separate explanations of learning
 No
need to pick one theory or another
 Ends debates over which theory is “correct”
 Puts teachers in a powerful position – choosing rather
than following theories
 More realistic: schools aren’t based on one or the other
Further implications…

All types of learning are portrayed as important
 In
schools, learning “how” and “why” may be receiving
less attention
 In this system, all are emphasized

A relatively simple description for a complex idea
 Learning
“what,” “how,” and “why” is easy to remember
and to employ
 Can be explained at a variety of levels of complexity
and detail
THE END
COPIES OF THE PAPER ARE
AVAILABLE, AND COMMENTS
ARE WELCOME!
So…any questions?