Learning theories

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Learning theories

• Computers in Education 1
• Lecture 5

Ruth Geer
Sem 1, 1999
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Changes brought about by technology

• Most students today will experience at least 4
  career changes in their lifetime
• The base of essential knowledge is growing
  constantly
• Knowing what questions to ask will be as
  important as the right answers
• Emphasis on becoming skilled decision- makers

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Views on learning

• Disagreement over what strategies are most
  effective to achieving todays goals
• two views clearly identifiable
• directed instruction (grounded in behaviourist
  theory information processing branch)
• constructivist (other branches of cognitive
  learning theory)

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Theories associated with directed instruction

• Behavioral theories
• Skinner, Thorndike, Gagne
• - observable indications of learning
• - sequence of stimulus - response actions
• Information processing theories
• Atkinson, Ausubel, Gagne ( guided development
  of Artificial Intelligence)
• - model of memory
• - receive and store information

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Information Processing theories
Lost
Lost
Lost
Input
Working (Short-term) Memory
Long- term Register
Sensory Register
Attention
Rehearsal Meaningful Learning Organising Elaborati
ng Imagery
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Characteristics of directed instruction

• Associated with teacher-directed , more
  traditional instruction and assessment methods
• Clearly stated skills objectives
• Test items matching objectives
• More individualised work than group work

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Needs addressed by directed instruction

• Individual pacing and remediation
• Providing self instructional sequences
• Performing time consuming and labour intensive
  tasks
• More efficient learning

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Instructional aims and objectives - Systems
approach

• Am I teaching what I intended to teach?
• Do my students have lower level skills?
• Do the tests measure what I teach?
• Are my instructional activities appropriate?
• How successful have students been in meeting the
  objectives?

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Gagnes events of instruction

• Guidelines for optimal conditions of learning
• gaining attention
• informing learner of objective
• stimulating recall
• presenting new material
• providing learning guidance
• eliciting performance
• providing feedback
• assessing performance
• enhancing retention and recall

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Theoretical foundations of constructivism

• Derived from branches of cognitive science
• Dewey - centre instruction around meaningful
  activities
• Vygotsky - scaffolding, zone of proximal
  development
• Piaget - learners are active and motivated,
  interaction with environment
• Bruner - stages of intellectual development
• Papert - learners build own intellectual structure

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Characteristics of constructivist learning

• Problem-oriented learning
• Learning through exploration
• Emphasis on cooperative learning
• Rich environments
• Authentic assessment methods
• Emphasis on more global goals

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Needs addressed by constructivist learning model

• Skills are made more relevant
• Enhanced motivation through active engagement
• Cooperative learning
• Higher order skill development

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Integration based on directed instruction model

• Remedy identified weakness
• Promote automaticity of prerequisite skills
• Make learning more efficient
• Remove logistical hurdles

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Integration based on constructivist model

• Encourage motivation to learn
• Foster creativity
• Increase transfer of learning
• Foster collaborative learning
• Facilitate self-analysis and metacognition

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Characteristics of constructivist approach

• Learning through exploration and discovery
• Emphasis on group work
• Learning focused around more authentic tasks

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Merging of approaches

• Molenda (1991) - students should be able to move
  from one approach to the other depending on
  learning needs
• Bereiter (1990) - argues for a more all-inclusive
  learning theory
• different methods required for different types of
  problems
• Roblyer, Edwards, Havriluk (1997) - neither model
  in itself meets needs of all students