PNS:/teaching/: Learning Theories (much from: On Purpose Associates.)

[Alternative Teaching] (metodologies, etc.
[Alternative Teaching] Montessori, etc

Downloaded from: http://www.funderstanding.com/about_learning.cfm
on 2008.04.05

Content by: On Purpose Associates. (except my notes [] - etc)

This section examines 12 different theories on how people learn:

Constructivism
Action Research
Behaviorism
Piaget's Developmental Theory
Neuroscience
Brain-Based Learning
Learning Styles
Multiple Intelligences
Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking
Communities of Practice
Control Theory
Observational Learning
Vygotsky and Social Cognition

Constructism

See also: Action Research (below)

Defn: Constructivism is a philosophy of learning
founded on the premise that, by reflecting
on our experiences, we construct our own understanding
of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own
"rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.

There are several guiding principles of constructivism:

Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning
must start with the issues around which students are
actively trying to construct meaning.

Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts.
And parts must be understood in the context of wholes.
Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary
concepts, not isolated facts.

In order to teach well, we must understand the mental models
that students use to perceive the world and the assumptions
they make to support those models.

The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his
or her own meaning, not just memorize the "right" answers and
regurgitate someone else's meaning. Since education is
inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to
measure learning is to make the assessment part of the
learning process, ensuring it provides students with
information on the quality of their learning.

How Constructivism Impacts Learning

Curriculum--Constructivism calls for the elimination of
a standardized curriculum. Instead, it promotes using
curricula customized to the students' prior knowledge.
Also, it emphasizes hands-on problem solving.

Instruction -- Under the theory of constructivism,
educators focus on making connections
between facts and fostering new understanding in students.
Instructors tailor their teaching strategies to student
responses and encourage students to analyze, interpret,
and predict information. Teachers also rely heavily on
open-ended questions and promote extensive dialogue
among students.

Assessment -- Constructivism calls for the elimination
of grades and standardized testing. Instead,
assessment becomes part of the learning process so that
students play a larger role in judging their own progress.

Reading
:
Jacqueline and Martin Brooks,
The Case for Constructivist Classrooms.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

See also: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html

Action Research

http://www.cis.gsu.edu/~rbaskerv/CAIS_2_19/CAIS_2_19.html
(classical app of AR)

http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arr/arow/kms.html
(iterative ideas included)

http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/rigour2.html#a_r2_ar
(another look at rigour in AR)

http://www.caledonia.org.uk/par.htm
Sixteen Tenets of PAR

http://mypage.iusb.edu/~gmetteta/Classroom_Action_Research.html
Gwynn Mettetal's excellent page w/many links, and
resources...

Behaviorism

Defn: Behaviorism is a theory of animal and human
learning that only focuses on objectively
observable behaviors and discounts mental activities.
Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more
than the acquisition of new behavior.

Experiments by behaviorists identify conditioning as
a universal learning process. There are two different
types of conditioning, each yielding a different
behavioral pattern:

Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex
responds to a stimulus. The most popular example
is Pavlov's observation that dogs salivate when
they eat or even see food. Essentially, animals
and people are biologically "wired" so that a
certain stimulus will produce a specific response.

Behavioral or operant conditioning occurs when a
response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically,
operant conditioning is a simple feedback system:
If a reward or reinforcement follows the response
to a stimulus, then the response becomes more
probable in the future. For example, leading
behaviorist B.F. Skinner used reinforcement
techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl
a ball in a mini-alley.

There have been many criticisms of behaviorism,
including the following:

Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of
learning, since it disregards the activities
of the mind.

Behaviorism does not explain some learning --
such as the recognition of new language patterns
by young children -- for which there is no
reinforcement mechanism.

Reserach has shown that animals adapt their
reinforced patterns to new information. For
instance, a rat can shift its behavior to
respond to changes in the layout of a maze
it had previously mastered through reinforcements.

How Behaviorism Impacts Learning

This theory is relatively simple to understand because
it relies only on observable behavior and describes
several universal laws of behavior. Its positive and
negative reinforcement techniques can be very
effective -- both in animals, and in treatments for
human disorders such as autism and antisocial behavior.
Behaviorism often is used by teachers, who reward or
punish student behaviors.

Reading: D.C. Phillips & Jonas F. Soltis,
Perspectives on Learning, Chapter 3.
Teachers College Press.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Piaget's Theories

Defn: Swiss biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget
(1896-1980) is renowned for constructing a
highly influential model of child development and
learning. Piaget's theory is based on the idea that
the developing child builds cognitive structures --
in other words, mental "maps," schemes, or networked
concepts for understanding and responding to physical
experiences within his or her environment. Piaget
further attested that a child's cognitive structure
increases in sophistication with development, moving
from a few innate reflexes such as crying and sucking
to highly complex mental activities.

Piaget's theory identifies four developmental stages
and the processes by which children progress through
them. The four stages are:

Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years old) -- The
child, through physical interaction
with his or her environment, builds a set of
concepts about reality and how it works. This is
the stage where a child does not know that physical
objects remain in existence even when out of sight
(object permanance).

Preoperational stage (ages 2-7) -- The child is not
yet able to conceptualize abstractly
and needs concrete physical situations.

Concrete operations (ages 7-11) -- As physical experience
accumulates, the child starts to conceptualize,
creating logical structures that explain his or her
physical experiences. Abstract problem solving is also
possible at this stage. For example, arithmetic equations
can be solved with numbers, not just with objects.

Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15) -- By this point,
the child's cognitive structures are like those of an
adult and include conceptual reasoning.

Piaget outlined several principles for building cognitive
structures. During all development stages, the child experiences
his or her environment using whatever mental maps he or she has
constructed so far. If the experience is a repeated one, it fits
easily--or is assimilated--into the child's cognitive structure
so that he or she maintains mental "equilibrium." If the
experience is different or new, the child loses equilibrium,
and alters his or her cognitive structure to accommodate the new
conditions. This way, the child erects more and more adequate
cognitive structures.

How Piaget's Theory Impacts Learning

Curriculum -- Educators must plan a developmentally appropriate
curriculum that enhances their students' logical
and conceptual growth.

Instruction -- Teachers must emphasize the critical role that
experiences -- or interactions with the surrounding
environment -- play in student learning. For example,
instructors have to take into account the role that
fundamental concepts, such as the permanence of objects,
play in establishing cognitive structures.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Neuroscience

Defn: Neuroscience is the study of the human nervous
system, the brain, and the biological basis of
consciousness, perception, memory, and learning.

The nervous system and the brain are the physical
foundation of the human learning process. Neuroscience
links our observations about cognitive behavior with
the actual physical processes that support such behavior.
This theory is still "young" and is undergoing rapid,
controversial development.

Some of the key findings of neuroscience are:

The brain has a triad structure. Our brain actually
contains three brains: the lower or reptilian brain
that controls basic sensory motor functions; the
mammalian or limbic brain that controls emotions,
memory, and biorhythms; and the neocortex or
thinking brain that controls cognition, reasoning,
language, and higher intelligence.

The brain is not a computer. The structure of the
brain's neuron connections is loose, flexible,
"webbed," overlapping, and redundant. It's
impossible for such a system to function like a
linear or parallel-processing computer. Instead,
the brain is better described as a self-organizing
system.

The brain changes with use, throughout our lifetime.
Mental concentration and effort alters the physical
structure of the brain. Our nerve cells (neurons)
are connected by branches called dendrites. There
are about 10 billion neurons in the brain and
about 1,000 trillion connections. The possible
combinations of connections is about ten to the
one-millionth power. As we use the brain, we
strengthen certain patterns of connection, making
each connection easier to create next time. This
is how memory develops.

How Neuroscience Impacts Education

When educators take neuroscience into account, they
organize a curriculum around real experiences and
integrated, "whole" ideas. Plus, they focus on
instruction that promotes complex thinking and the
"growth" of the brain. Neuroscience proponents
advocate continued learning and intellectual
development throughout adulthood.

Readings

Gerald Edelman, Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the
Matter of the Mind. Basic Books, 1992.

Bobbi Deporter, Quantum Learning, Chapter 2. Dell Trade, 1992.

Renate and Geoffrey Caine, Making Connections: Teaching and
the Human Brain.

Robert Sylwester, "What the Biology of the Brain Tells Us
About Learning," Education Leadership, December, 1993.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Brain Based Learning
Brain-based Learning

Defn: This learning theory is based on the
structure and function of the brain.
As long as the brain is not prohibited from
fulfilling its normal processes, learning
will occur.

People often say that everyone can learn. Yet the reality
is that everyone does learn. Every person is born with a
brain that functions as an immensely powerful processor.
Traditional schooling, however, often inhibits learning
by discouraging, ignoring, or punishing the brain's
natural learning processes.

The core principles of brain-based learning state that:

The brain is a parallel processor, meaning it can
perform several activities at once, like tasting
and smelling.

Learning engages the whole physiology.

The search for meaning is innate.

The search for meaning comes through patterning.

Emotions are critical to patterning.

The brain processes wholes and parts simultaneously.

Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral
perception.

Learning involves both conscious and unconscious processes.

We have two types of memory: spatial and rote.

We understand best when facts are embedded in natural, spatial memory.

Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.

Each brain is unique.

The three instructional techniques associated with
brain-based learning are:

Orchestrated immersion -- Creating learning environments
that fully immerse students in an educational
experience

Relaxed alertness -- Trying to eliminate fear in learners,
while maintaining a highly challenging environment

Active processing -- Allowing the learner to consolidate
and internalize information by actively processing it.

How Brain-Based Learning Impacts Education

Curriculum -- Teachers must design learning around student
interests and make learning contextual.

Instruction -- Educators let students learn in teams and
use peripheral learning. Teachers structure
learning around real problems, encouraging
students to also learn in settings outside
the classroom and the school building.

Assessment -- Since all students are learning, their
assessment should allow them to understand
their own learning styles and preferences.
This way, students monitor and enhance
their own learning process.

What Brain-Based Learning Suggests

How the brain works has a significant impact on what kinds
of learning activities are most effective. Educators need
to help students have appropriate experiences and capitalize
on those experiences. As Renate Caine illustrates on p. 113
of her book Making Connections, three interactive elements
are essential to this process:

Teachers must immerse learners in complex, interactive
experiences that are both rich and real. One excellent
example is immersing students in a foreign culture to
teach them a second language. Educators must take
advantage of the brain's ability to parallel process.

Students must have a personally meaningful challenge.
Such challenges stimulate a student's mind to the
desired state of alertness.

In order for a student to gain insight about a problem,
there must be intensive analysis of the different ways
to approach it, and about learning in general. This is
what's known as the "active processing of experience."

A few other tenets of brain-based learning include:

Feedback is best when it comes from reality,
rather than from an authority figure.

People learn best when solving realistic problems.

The big picture can't be separated from the details.

Because every brain is different, educators should allow
learners to customize their own environments.

The best problem solvers are those that laugh!

Designers of educational tools must be artistic in their
creation of brain-friendly environments. Instructors need
to realize that the best way to learn is not through
lecture, but by participation in realistic environments
that let learners try new things safely.

Readings:

Renate and Geoffrey Caine, Making Connections: Teaching
and the Human Brain.

Leslie Hart, Human Brain, Human Learning.

Learning Styles

Defn: This approach to learning emphasizes the
fact that individuals perceive and process
information in very different ways. The learning
styles theory implies that how much individuals
learn has more to do with whether the educational
experience is geared toward their particular style
of learning than whether or not they are "smart."
In fact, educators should not ask, "Is this student
smart?" but rather "How is this student smart?"

The concept of learning styles is rooted in the
classification of psychological types. The learning
styles theory is based on research demonstrating
that, as the result of heredity, upbringing, and
current environmental demands, different individuals
have a tendency to both perceive and process
information differently. The different ways of doing
so are generally classified as:

Concrete and abstract perceivers -- Concrete perceivers
absorb information through direct
experience, by doing, acting, sensing, and feeling.
Abstract perceivers, however, take in information
through analysis, observation, and thinking.

Active and reflective processors -- Active processors
make sense of an experience by
immediately using the new information. Reflective
processors make sense of an experience by reflecting
on and thinking about it.

Traditional schooling tends to favor abstract perceiving
and reflective processing. Other kinds of learning aren't
rewarded and reflected in curriculum, instruction, and
assessment nearly as much.

How the Learning Styles Theory Impacts Education

Curriculum -- Educators must place emphasis on intuition,
feeling, sensing, and imagination, in addition
to the traditional skills of analysis, reason,
and sequential problem solving.

Instruction -- Teachers should design their instruction methods
to connect with all four learning styles, using
various combinations of experience, reflection,
conceptualization, and experimentation.
Instructors can introduce a wide variety of
experiential elements into the classroom, such
as sound, music, visuals, movement, experience,
and even talking.

Assessment -- Teachers should employ a variety of assessment
techniques, focusing on the development of
"whole brain" capacity and each of the different
learning styles.

Readings:

Bernice McCarthy, The 4-MAT System: Teaching to Learning Styles
with Right/Left Mode Techniques.

David Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development.

Carl Jung, Psychological Types.

Gordon Lawrence, People Types and Tiger Stripes: A Practical
Guide to Learning Styles.

Multiple Types of Intellegence

Defn: This theory of human intelligence, developed
by psychologist Howard Gardner, suggests there
are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving
and understanding the world. Gardner labels each of
these ways a distinct "intelligence"--in other words,
a set of skills allowing individuals to find and
resolve genuine problems they face.

Gardner defines an "intelligence" as a group of
abilities that:

Is somewhat autonomous from other human capacities

Has a core set of information-processing operations

Has a distinct history in the stages of development
we each pass through

Has plausible roots in evolutionary history

While Gardner suggests his list of intelligences may not
be exhaustive, he identifies the following seven:

Verbal-Linguistic -- The ability to use words and language

Logical-Mathematical -- The capacity for inductive and
deductive thinking and reasoning,
as well as the use of numbers and
the recognition of abstract patterns

Visual-Spatial -- The ability to visualize objects and spatial
dimensions, and create internal images and pictures

Body-Kinesthetic -- The wisdom of the body and the ability to
control physical motion

Musical-Rhythmic -- The ability to recognize tonal patterns
and sounds, as well as a sensitivity to
rhythms and beats

Interpersonal -- The capacity for person-to-person
communications and relationships

Intrapersonal -- The spiritual, inner states of being,
self-reflection, and awareness

How Multiple Intelligences Impact Learning

Curriculum -- Traditional schooling heavily favors the
verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical
intelligences. Gardner suggests a more balanced curriculum
that incorporates the arts, self-awareness, communication,
and physical education.

Instruction -- Gardner advocates instructional methods that
appeal to all the intelligences, including
role playing, musical performance, cooperative learning,
reflection, visualization, story telling, and so on.

Assessment -- This theory calls for assessment methods
that take into account the diversity of
intelligences, as well as self-assessment tools that
help students understand their intelligences.

Reading: Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of
Multiple Intelligences.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Links

-[emtech.net]-
Superb jump page

http://pzweb.harvard.edu/ebookstore/index.cfm
studio thinking text ...hmmm?

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm
Applying Bloom's Taxonomy

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html
More on Bloom & Cognitive approach...

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/topic.htm
The Classics in Psychology (papers)

Learning Theories

On-Purpose Associates' pages

Constructism

Action Research

Behaviorism

Piaget's Theories

Neuroscience

Brain Based Learning

Learning Styles

Multiple Types of Intellegence

Links