Mina Naziri
LEARNING THEORIES ACTIVITY
Directions: Read the Jonassen Chapter and complete the following chart focusing on how the tenets of each theory
aligns with the principles of Theory Building, Cognitive Conflict, and Conceptual Change.
Suggestions: Include enough detail to make this a useful reference in the future.
Learning Theory
Key Theorist(s)
Summary of Theory
Relationship to: Theory Building, Cognitive Conflict, and
Conceptual Change
Anchored
Instruction
J. Brandsford,
CTGV (Cognition
and Technology
Group at
Vanderbilt)
Has 2 purposes. 1) Allowing the learner
to explore the material. 2) Designing the
lessons around an “anchor” of some sort
that is either related to a case-study or a
problem solving situation.
The relationship it has with theory building occurs through
learners experience and through their reflection. Anchored
Instruction allows the learner to explore the material. It would
also relate to cognitive conflict since the leaner is able to
understand something they already know but may be different
from what they learn. So again, its allowing the learner to
explore the material on their own. Conceptual change is not
about learners experience however, it comes from the learners
preconceptions. This will relate to anchored instruction because
lessons are made in problem solving situations which you can
figure out the learners misconceptions.
Cognitive
Flexibility Theory
R. Coulson, P.
Feltovitch, R.
Spiro.
Focuses on providing many different
ways to present the materials. By seeing
multiple representations of the same
material, the learner will grasp the
concept of the information. Cross-over
lessons between the lessons will help
with understanding.
This relates to conceptual change because conceptual change is
depends on the learners preconceptions. The material is provided
and by the learner having this preconceptions it can have a big
impact on data. It also relates to theory building because material
is being presented in different ways and this way the learner can
EXPERIENCE and REFLECT on what they learned. This theory
has cross over lessons to help learners with understanding the
material which therefore relates to cognitive conflict. Because if
a student already thought they knew something and after a lesson
saw a inconsistency between what they knew and what they
learned.
Connectionism
E. Thorndike
Consists of 3 laws: Laws of effect: learn
and practice= rewards. Laws of
readiness: can link stimulus and
response connections together if they
belong to the same sequence. Laws of
exercise: the more you practice, the
stronger the learning outcome becomes,
and weakened when the practice is
discontinued.
The law of exercise certainly relates to theory building because it
means the more you practice the stronger the learning outcome,
and since theory building is based on learners experience they
will be able to experience when they practice and therefore their
learning outcome will be successful. Law of readiness I would
think relates more towards cognitive conflict. Since cognitive
conflict means when the learner WANTS to understand
something but then conclude that theres a difference between
what they KNEW and what the LEARNED. Conceptual change
would related to all there laws since conceptual change depends
on the learners actual preconceptions.
Constructivist
Theory
Dewey, J. Piaget, L.
Vigotsky, J. Bruner.
Student are encouraged to learn
principles on their own. Four major
aspects: willingness for learning, the way
in which the principles will be
understandable, the best way to present
the materials, and the practice rewarding
and punishment.
With the Constructivist learning theory.. Theory building is
definitely related since in this theory students are encouraged to
learning principals on their own and in theory building students
learn through their OWN experiences and then add conceptual to
what they learn. It also relates to cognitive conflict because in
this theory students learn something and then they experience a
change in what they learned and what they expected. Again they
are doing this on their own. Of course it related to conceptual
change since its based on the nature of the students
preconceptions and from there we see the impact on data.
Experiential
Learning
C. Rogers
Learning is more interesting when the
subject matter is more appealing to the
student. It proceeds faster when the
learning is self-initiated and it lasts
longer.
It would relate to cognitive conflict because experiential learning
means when learning is more interesting and in cognitive conflict
its WHEN the student WANTS to understand something. So
obviously it should be appealing to them if they WANT to
understand it regardless if what they learned and what they
expected are different from each other. Through theory building
the students are able to experience and reflect the topic of their
CHOICE and then reorganize their theories as they learn. This
would relate to conceptual chance since it depends on the
learners preconceptions this way they can take those
preconceptions and learn about their interesting topic and then
build on that.
Information
Processing
G. A. Miller
Consists of 2 concepts: capacity of short
term memory, which consists of
“chunks” or limitations of 7 pieces of
information. The second concept is
called TOTE (test operate test exit). The
goal is to be tested and see if it has been
understood. It is the cycle of test-operate
which is repeated until the goal is
achieved.
With theory building through experience and reflection this will
allow the students to remember what they actually learned and
will be able to be tested. With cognitive theory they will be able
to better understand the topic since they will compare and
contrast what they already know and what they expect. This way
they can achieve the goal. With conceptual change the learner
does things for their own meaning-making process. They are
able to take their preconceptions and see how that has an impact
on data. From there they can better understand a topic.