Learning theory (education)
Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a worldview, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.
Educators who embrace cognitive theory believe that the definition of learning as a change in behaviour is too narrow, and study the learner rather than their environment—and in particular the complexities of human memory.
Those who advocate constructivism believe that a learner's ability to learn relies largely on what they already know and understand, and the acquisition of knowledge should be an individually tailored process of construction.
Locke offered the "blank slate" theory where humans are born into the world with no innate knowledge and are ready to be written on and influenced by the environment.
Watson believed the behaviorist view is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science with a goal to predict and control behavior.
Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness.
[15] Educational approaches such as Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, curriculum-based measurement, and direct instruction have emerged from this model.
[18] Current learning pedagogies focus on conveying rote knowledge, independent of the context that gives it meaning[citation needed].
These examples encourage critical thinking that engages the student and helps them understand what they are learning—one of the goals of transfer of learning[24] and desirable difficulties.
[27] Over the years, the Gestalt psychologists provided demonstrations and described principles to explain the way we organize our sensations into perceptions.
Two key assumptions underlie this cognitive approach: that the memory system is an active organized processor of information and that prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.
In the late twentieth century, situated cognition emerged as a theory that recognized current learning as primarily the transfer of decontextualized and formal knowledge.
[34] In other words, individual cognition should be considered as intimately related with the context of social interactions and culturally constructed meaning.
Curricula framed by situated cognition can bring knowledge to life by embedding the learned material within the culture students are familiar with.
Under the theory of radical constructivism, coined by Ernst von Glasersfeld, understanding relies on one's subjective interpretation of experience as opposed to objective "reality".
[41] The teacher acts as a facilitator who encourages students to discover principles for themselves and to construct knowledge by working answering open-ended questions and solving real-world problems.
In scientific areas in the classroom, constructivist teachers provide raw data and physical materials for the students to work with and analyze.
[44] Transformative learning takes place by discussing with others the "reasons presented in support of competing interpretations, by critically examining evidence, arguments, and alternative points of view".
The three dominant methods for measuring brain activities are event-related potential, functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Researchers expected that new technologies and ways of observing will produce new scientific evidence that helps refine the paradigms of what students need and how they learn best.
[50] The formal discipline approach seeks to develop causation between the advancement of the mind by exercising it through exposure to abstract school subjects such as science, language and mathematics.
With student's repetitive exposure to these particular subjects, some scholars feel that the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to science, language and math is of "secondary importance", and believe that the strengthening and further development of the mind that this curriculum provides holds far greater significance to the progressing learner in the long haul.
They illustrate their skepticism by opining that it is foolish to blindly assume that people are better off in life, or at performing certain tasks, because of taking particular, yet unrelated courses.
[52][53] Multimedia learning refers to the use of visual and auditory teaching materials that may include video, computer and other information technology.
Multimedia learning seeks to give instructors the ability to stimulate both the visual and auditory channels of the learner, resulting in better progress.
Learner characteristics and cognitive learning outcomes have been identified as the key factors in research on the implementation of games in educational settings.
[61] However, the current research has not been able to find solid scientific evidence to support the main premises of learning styles theory.
[72] Philosophical anthropology expanded upon these ideas by clarifying that rationality is, "determined by the biological and social conditions in which the lives of human beings are embedded.
[5] Situated cognition focuses on how humans interact with each other and their environments, which would be considered the "social conditions" explored within the field of philosophical anthropology.
[5] Transformative learning theories operate with the assumption that humans are rational creatures capable of examining and redefining perspectives, something that is heavily considered within philosophical anthropology.
