Introduction to Cognitive Learning Theories and Learning Technologies

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Introduction to Cognitive Learning Theories and
Learning Technologies

• C. Candace Chou
• CIED551
• Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction
• University of St. Thomas

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Skinner Behaviorist Theories

• Before Skinner, learning theories are dominated
  by Pavlovs classical conditioning concepts, S -gt
  R
• Skinner identified three kinds of conditions that
  shape behavior
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment

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Behaviorist Theories

• Implications for education
• Teaching is a process of arranging contingencies
  of reinforcement effective to bring about
  learning.
• Implications for technology integration
• Drill-and-practice software
• Praise correct answers to tutorial software
• Memorization of basic information

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Information-Processing Theory The Mind as
Computer

• Based on a model of memory and storage proposed
  by Atkinson Shiffrin, 1968
• The brain contains certain structures that
  process information like a computer
• Human brain has three kinds of memory or stores
• Sensory registers the parts receive all
  information
• Short-term memory (STM) working memory
• Long-term memory (LTM) hold information
  indefinitely

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Information-Processing Theories II

• Implications for education
• Ask interesting questions and display
  eye-catching materials to draw student attention
• While presenting information, give instructions
  that point out the keys of the new learning
  materials
• Give students practice exercises to help assure
  the transfer of information from short- to
  long-term memory

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Information-Processing Theories III

• Implications for technology integration
• Artificial intelligence (AI) applications, an
  attempt to develop computer software that can
  simulate the thinking and learning behaviors of
  humans.
• Drill-and-practice software helps students encode
  and store newly-learned information into
  long-term memory

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Gagné Principles of Instruction

• Translate behaviorist and information -processing
  theories into instructional strategies
• Types of learning
• Intellectual skills (problem solving,
  higher-order thinking, defined concepts, concrete
  concepts, discriminations)
• Cognitive strategies
• Verbal information
• Motor skills
• Attitudes

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Gagné II

• Events of instruction
• Gain instruction
• Informing the learner of the objectives
• Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning
• Presenting new materials
• Providing learning guidance
• Eliciting performance
• Providing feedback about correctness
• Assessing performance
• Enhancing retention and recall

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Gagné III

• Learning hierarchies Learning is a building
  process that the lower-level skills provide the
  foundation for higher-level skills.
• Math example to work with long division problems
  requires the prerequisite math skills in number
  recognition, number facts, simple addition and
  subtraction, multiplication, and simple division.

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Gagné IV

• Implications for education
• Widely used to develop systematic instructional
  design principles
• Sequence skills
• Implications for technology integration
• Plan lesson for instructional software such as
  drill, tutorial, simulation.
• Tutorial could be stand-along and accomplish all
  of the events of instruction

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Vygotsky Social Constructivism

• Cognitive development is the result of social
  interactions in cultural contexts.
• Focus on social factors in knowledge construction
• Zone of proximal development the difference
  between difficulty level of a problem child can
  cope with independently and the level that can be
  accomplished with adult help.
• Cognitive changes takes place in the
  construction zone.

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Vygotsky II

• Instructional Scaffolding A teacher provides
  students with selective help (e.g. asking
  questions, directing attention, giving hints) to
  enable them to do things they could not do own
  their own.
• Implications for technology integration
• Concepts of scaffolding and developing
  individuals potential
• Logo to virtual reality using real-life examples
  relevant to individuals needs to advance
  student understanding.

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Vygotsky III

• Implications for education Davydov (1995)
• Education is intended to develop childrens
  personalities
• The human personality is linked to its creative
  potential and education should be designed to
  discover and develop this potential to its
  fullest in each individual.
• Teaching and learning assume that students master
  their inner values through some personal
  activities.
• Teachers direct and guide the individual
  activities of the students but they do not force
  their will on them or dictate to them.
• The most valuable methods for student learning
  are those that correspond to their individual
  developmental stages and needs, therefore the
  methods can not be uniform across students.

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Piaget Stages of Development

• Piaget believed that all children go through four
  stages of cognitive development
• Sensorimotor stage (0 - 2)
• Explore the world through senses and motor
  activities
• Preoperational stage (2-7)
• Capable of speech communication, number
  recognition, self-control
• Concrete operational stage (7 - 11)
• Capable of abstract reasoning and observation
  tasks
• Formal operations stage (12 - 15)
• Can form hypotheses, organize information reason

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Piaget II

• Ormrod (2000) summarized
• Children are active and motivated learners
• Childrens knowledge of the world becomes more
  integrated and organized over time
• Children learn through the process of
  assimilation and accommodation
• Cognitive development depends on integration with
  ones physical and social environment
• The processes of equilibration (resolving
  disequilibrium) help to develop increasing
  complex levels of thought
• Cognitive development can occur only after
  certain genetically controlled neurological
  changes occur
• Cognitive development occurs in four
  qualitatively different stages.

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Piaget III

• Implications for education
• More of a philosophy
• Need more concrete examples in explaining
  abstract concepts
• Implications for technology integration
• Logo simulation for learning programming
• Real-world simulation before real-life experience

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Seymour Papert Turtles and Beyond

• Integrating the control of a robot in the shape
  of a turtle on screen into the Logo language.
• Implications in education and technology
• Discovery learning and powerful ideas allow
  children to teach themselves with Logo and
  develop powerful ideas
• Logo and the microworlds concept allow children
  to see the cause and effect between programming
  commands and the pictures that result. He called
  microworld the incubator of knowledge.

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Cognition Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV)

• Based on constructivism
• Preventing inert knowledge Inert knowledge is
  knowledge that can usually be recalled when
  people are explicitly asked to do so, but is not
  used spontaneously in problem solving even though
  it is relevant.

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CTGV II

• Situated cognition and the need for anchored
  instruction
• Teachers can prevent the problem of inert
  knowledge by situating learning in the context of
  what they called authentic experiences and
  practical apprenticeships
• Anchored instruction provides a way to recreate
  some of the advantages of apprenticeship training
  in formal educational settings

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CTGV III

• Building knowledge through generative activities
• Learning is most meaningful when it builds
  (scaffolds) on experiences they have already had.
  
• Students are also most likely to remember
  knowledge that they build or generate
  themselves, rather than that which they simply
  receive passively.
• Implications Video-based scenarios posing
  interesting but difficult problems for students
  to solve, e.g. Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving
  series.

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Gardner Multiple Intelligences

• Types of intelligence
• Linguistic
• Musical
• Logical-mathematical
• Spatial
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• Naturalist

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Gardner II

• Implications for education and technology
• IQ tests may not be the best way to just a given
  students ability to learn.
• Intelligent behavior is likely to take different
  forms in children from different ethnic
  backgrounds.
• Distributed intelligence each student makes a
  different, but valued contribution to creating a
  product or solving a problem
• Group collaboration among students of different
  intelligences

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Schema Theories

• Schema are ...
• Scripts of plays (Schank Abelson, 1977)
• Chunks of knowledge stored by patterns,
  structures, and scaffolds (West et al., 1991)
• Can be instantiated by specific examples of
  concepts or events (Bruning et al., 1995)
• Schema activation of learners prior knowledge in
  similar fields , building upon previous knowledge
• Advance organizers employ the structure of
  materials that learners are familiar with
• Implications
• Web-based instruction
• Computer-based instruction

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Meaningful Learning

• Active (Manipulative/Observant)
• Constructive (Articulative/Regulatory)
• Authentic (Complex/Contextual)
• Cooperative (Collaborative/Conversational)

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Educational Technologies

• 1950s-1970s
• Slide projector
• Radio
• Educational Television
• 1980
• Drill-and-practice on computers
• Productivity tools (desktop publishing, word
  process, graphics programs
• 1990
• Communication and multimedia production
• Computer-mediated communication systems
• Audio-video conferencing systems
• Virtual Reality

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What is Learning Technology?

• Your Definitions

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Learning Technologies

• Engage learners in
• Knowledge construction, not reception
• Conversation, not reception
• Articulation, not repetition
• Collaboration, not competition
• Reflection, not prescription (Jonassen et. al.,
  1999)

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References

• Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G., J. Ronning, R. R
  (1995). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction.
  Merrill Prentice Hall.
• Roblyer, M. D. Edwards, J. (1999). Integrating
  Educational Technology into Teaching. Merrill
  Prentice Hall.
• Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., Wilson, B. G.
  (1999). Learning with Technology A
  Constructivist Perspective. Merrill Prentice Hall.