Slide 4 of 22
Notes:
Learning Theory: an idea designed to explain how people and animals acquire a skill or modify behavior as a result of conditioning or other stimuli "The term 'learning theory" suggests the empirical study of human and animal learning stemming from the behaviorist paradigm in psychology". http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/learning-formal/
There are too many theories to list them all here, but some of the more well-known are:
- Behaviorism 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. (http://www.funderstanding.com/behaviorism.cfm). This theory is most often defined by the research of Pavlov (classical conditioning) and B.F. Skinner (behavioral/operant conditioning).
- Learning Styles This theory is based on the idea that people learn in different ways. You may not learn by listening to a lecture and then reflecting on what was said (active and reflective processors) but you may understand completely if you are giving the opportunity to actively engage in a task which involves the concept that you need to learn (concrete and abstract perceivers). This learning theory could be quite useful during assessment by helping teachers to understand how to use a variety of assessment techniques.
- Social Cognition the social cognition theory states that we learn from the culture we are exposed to. Development takes place by learning alongside others, by being guided. According to this theory, instruction should be developed so that the instructor scaffolds the learner and adjusts their level of help to the need of the learner.
