THEORIES ON LEARNING

Koffka’s Ideational Learning

Koffka believed that most of early learning is what he referred to as, "sensorimotor learning," which is a type of learning which occurs after a consequence. For example, a child who touches a hot stove will learn not to touch it again. Koffka also believed that a lot of learning occurs by imitation, though he argued that it is not important to understand how imitation works, but rather to acknowledge that it is a natural occurrence.

According to Koffka, the highest type of learning is “ideational learning”, which makes use of language.

Problem solving Theory by Wolfgang Köhler

Born in Jan 21, 1887 Died in June 11, 1967Born in Reval (now Tallinn), Estonia Psychologist and phenomenologist

In 1913, Köhler went to the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands for six years Köhler observed the manner in which chimpanzees solve problems, such as that of retrieving bananas when

positioned out of reach. He found that they stacked wooden crates to use as makeshift ladders, in order to retrieve the food.

If the bananas were placed on the ground outside of the cage, they used sticks to lengthen the reach of their arms.

Köhler concluded that the chimps had not arrived at these methods through trial-and-error (which American psychologist Edward Thorndike had claimed to be the basis of all animal learning, through his law of effect), but rather that they had experienced an insight (also sometimes known as an “aha experience”), in which, having realized the answer, they then proceeded to carry it out in a way that was, in Köhler’s words, “unwaveringly purposeful”.

The bouba/kiki effect

The Bouba/Kiki Effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929.

In psychological experiments, first conducted on the island of Tenerife (in which the primary language is Spanish), Köhler showed forms in the previous slides asked participants which shape was called "takete" and which was called "baluba" ("maluma" in the 1947 version). Data suggested a strong preference to pair the jagged shape with "takete" and the rounded shape with "baluba".

In 2001, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard repeated Köhler's experiment using the words "kiki" and "bouba" and asked American college undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India “Which of these shapes is bouba and which is kiki?”

In both the English and the Tamil speakers, 95% to 98% selected the curvy shape as "bouba" and the jagged one as "kiki", suggesting that the human brain is somehow able to extract abstract properties from the shapes and sounds.

Recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect.

Ramachandran and Hubbard suggest that the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary.

The rounded shape may most commonly be named "bouba" because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sound "kiki".

The sounds of a K are harder and more forceful than those of a B, as well.

The presence of these “synesthesia-like mappings” suggests that this effect might be the neurological basis for sound symbolism, in which sounds are non-arbitrarily mapped to objects and events in the world.

Individuals with autism do not show as strong a preference. Where average people agree with the typical result 90% of the time, individuals with autism only agree 60% of the time (Ramachandran, V.S., Oberman, L.M. Evidence for Deficits in Mirror Neuron Function, Multisensory Integration, and Sound-form Symbolism in Autism Spectrum Disorders)

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Instructional Design by Kurt Lewin

Born Sept 9, 1890 Died Feb 12, 1947 Born in Mogilno, Poland Psychologist "founder of social psychology“ Worked closely with the Gestalt psychologists

Force field Analysis

Provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation, originally social situations.

Lewin believed the "field" to be a Gestalt psychological environment existing in an individual's (or in the collective group) mind at a certain point in time that can be mathematically described in a topological constellation of constructs.

Action Research

first coined the term “action research” in about 1944. In his 1946 paper “Action Research and Minority Problems” he described action research as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action”.

Instructional Design

1. Active Learning

Instruction must be planned with a clear vision of what the students will do with the content presented. It is critical that students interact with the instructional content and that activities be developed to promote and support open-ended, self-directed learning. Content should never be delivered for memorization, but instead for use as a tool in planned and sequenced activities.

2. A Cohesive Approach

Lewin wrote that a piecemeal approach to guiding learners to accept new ideas, attitudes, and behaviors is ineffective. Instead, a cohesive approach must be utilized to support changes in cognition, affect, and behavior.

3. Impact of the Social Environment

Lewin theorized that before changes in ideas, attitudes, and behavior will occur, modifications in a learner's perception of self and his/her social environment are essential. He also argued that it is easier to create change in a social context than individually. 

More work on Instructional Design

Maximise the effectiveness, efficiency and appeal of instruction and other learning experiences. The process consists of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition.The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed.

KURT LEWIN’S CHANGE THEORY

1. Force Field Analysis: Driving Forces

Driving Forces are forces that push in a direction that causes change to occur.

They cause a shift in the equilibrium towards change.

i.e. A married couple who has to get ready for a party, the husband is on the couch watching the football game. The wife encourages her husband to get ready because there is going to be free beer at the party. The husband starts to get ready in a hurry. The driving forces are: The wife encouraging the husband & The incentive of free alcohol at the party.

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2. Force Field Analysis: Restraining Forces

Restraining forces are forces that counter driving forces. They oppose change.

Restraining forces cause a shift in the equilibrium which opposes change

i.e.In the case of the husband and wife getting ready for the party. Present at the party is going to be the husbands cousin whom he despises. The cousin and the husband have not got along for many years and if the husband was to go, there surely would be a fight. The husband also finds out that the beer is non-alcoholic.

3. Force Field Analysis: Equilibrium

Equilibrium is a state of being where driving forces equal restraining forces and no change occurs

Equilibrium can be raised or lowered by changes that occur between the driving and restraining forces

Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory Consists of three distinct and vital stages:

“Unfreezing” “Moving to a new level or Changing” “Refreezing”

1. “Unfreezing”

Involves finding a method of making it possible for people to let go of an old pattern that was counterproductive in some way

2. “Moving to a new level”

Involves a process of change in thoughts, feeling, behavior, or all three, that is in some way more liberating or more productive

3. “Refreezing”

Is establishing the change as a new habit, so that it now becomes the “standard operating procedure.” Without this stage of refreezing, it is easy to backslide into the old ways.

Cumulative LearningRobert Mills Gagné

Born in Aug 21, 1916 Died in April 28, 2002 Born in in North Andover, Massachusetts educational psychologist best known for his “Conditions of Learning” involved in applying instructional theory to the design of

computer based learning.

The Gagné Assumption different types of learning exist, and that different instructional conditions are most likely to bring about these different types of learning.

Five Categories of Learning

1. verbal information2. intellectual skills3. cognitive strategies4. motor skills5. attitudes

Eight Types of Learning

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1. Signal Learning - The individual learns to make a general, diffuse response to a signal. Such was the classical conditioned response of Pavlov.

2. Stimulus-Response Learning - The learner acquires a precise response to a discriminated stimulus.3. Chaining - A chain of two or more stimulus-response connections is acquired.4. Verbal Association - The learning of chains that are verbal.5. Discrimination Learning - The individual learns to make different identifying responses to many different

stimuli that may resemble each other in physical appearance.6. Concept Learning - The learner acquires a capability of making a common response to a class of stimuli.7. Rule Learning - A rule is a chain of two or more concepts.8. Problem Solving - A kind of learning that requires the internal events usually called thinking.

Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention - Curiosity motivates students to learn. 2. Inform learners of objectives - These objectives should form the basis for assessment. 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning - Associating new information with prior knowledge can facilitate the

learning process. 4. Present the content - This event of instruction is where the new content is actually presented to the

learner. 5. Provide “learning guidance” - use of examples, non-examples, case studies, graphical representations,

mnemonics, and analogies. 6. Elicit performance (practice) - Eliciting performance provides an opportunity for learners to confirm their

correct understanding, and the repetition further increases the likelihood of retention. 7. Provide feedback - guidance and answers provided at this stage are called formative feedback. 8. Assess performance - take a final assessment. 9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job - Effective education will have a "performance" focus.

David Ausubel by Meaningful Learning Theory

Biography

Born: October 25, 1918 Died: July 9, 2008 Grew up in Brooklyn, New York He graduated from medical school at Middlesex University. Later he earned a Ph.D in Developmental Psychology at Columbia University. He was influenced by the work of Piaget. In 1973, Ausubel retired from academic life and devoted himself to his psychiatric practice.  In 1976, he received the Thorndike Award from the American Psychological Association for

"Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education".

Meaningful Learning Theory

Concerned with how students learn large amounts of meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations in a learning activities.

Meaningful learning results when new information is acquired by linking the new information in the learner’s own cognitive structure

Learning is based on the representational, superordinate and combinatorial processes that occur during the reception of information.

A primary process in learning is subsumption in which new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure on a non-verbatim basis (previous knowledge)

The processes of meaningful learning:

Ausubel proposed four processes by which meaningful learning occur:

1. Derivative Subsumption Describes the situation in which the new information pupils learn is an instance or example of a concept that pupils have already learned.

2. Correlative Subsumption More valuable learning than that of derivative subsumption, since it enriches the higher-level concept.

3. Superordinate Learning

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In this case, you already knew a lot of examples of the concept, but you did not know the concept until it was taught to pupils

4. Combinatorial Learning It describes a process by which the new idea is derived from another idea that is comes from his previous knowledge (in a different, but related, “branch”) Students could think of this as learning by analogy

Principles of Ausubel’s Meaningful Reception Learning Theory

Within a classroom setting include:

The most general ideas of a subject should be presented first and then progressively differentiated in terms of detail and specificity.

Instructional materials should attempt to integrate new material with previouslypresented information through comparisons and cross-referencing of new and oldideas.

Principles of Ausubel’s Meaningful Reception Learning Theory Instructors should incorporate advance organizers when teaching a new concept. Instructors should use a number of examples and focus on both similarities and differences. Classroom application of Ausubel's theory should discourage rote learning of materials that can be learned

more meaningfully. The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows.

Summary

For Ausubel, meaningful learning is a process that related new information relevant to the concepts contained in a person’s cognitive structure. 

In order to be meaningful to students ‘learning, then learning should be linked and relevant to students’ cognitive structures. 

Relevance to students’ cognitive structures can happen when we pay attention to early knowledge of the concepts that preceded the concept to be learned.

It is important for students to construct knowledge through learning. The essential theory of meaningful learning is a teaching which Ausubel enables students can associate the

beginning of knowledge with new knowledge that will learn and how teachers can facilitate learning by preparing the facility as a presentation of the subject matter which allows students to build knowledge in discovery learning activities.

Jerome BrunerConstructivism & Discovery Learning

Learning theorist Associated with the Constructivist view of learning Originated Discovery method of learning.

Who is Jerome Bruner? 1915: Born in NYC In WW2 worked for U.S. Army intelligence reviewing the effectiveness of propaganda. 1947 : Ph. D. , Psychology from Harvard Positions on faculties of Harvard, Oxford, and currently NYU Founded Center for Cognitive studies with Leo Postman Who is Jerome Bruner? rooted mainly in the study of cognition Reacted against behaviorist model of learning founded “New Look” movement in psychology Change from behaviorist model

What ideas and influences are associated with Bruner? 1. Constructivism

paradigm of learning learners create their own subjective constructs of reality Other Constructivists include Piaget, Vygotsky and Dewey. Builds on the concept of stages of development (Piaget) Environment has bigger role in learning development.

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"any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development.“ The Process of Education (1960)

What is Discovery learning? Learner builds on past experience Students interact with environment Discovers facts and relationships on own Students create own construct of knowledge through narrative

Advantages of Discovery Learning active engagement promotes motivation Promotes ownership of learning the development of creativity and problem solving skills. a tailored learning experience

Criticisms of discovery learning Too much information (cognitive overload) Often requires vast resources unavailable in traditional classroom. Lack of teacher control Potential misconceptions Teachers may fail to recognize misconceptions

Examples of discovery learning learning with and through narratives case-based learning guided discovery problem-based learning simulation-based learning incidental learning

Four Key themes emerged in Bruner's early work: Bruner emphasized the role of structure in learning and how it may be made central in teaching. Structure refers to relationships among factual elements and techniques.

Four features of Bruner's theory of instruction

1. Predisposition to learn. This feature specifically states the experiences which move the learner toward a love of learning in general, or of learning something in particular. Motivational, cultural, and personal factors contribute to this. Bruner emphasized social factors and early teachers and parents' influence on this. He believed learning and problem solving emerged out of exploration. Part of the task of a teacher is to maintain and direct a child's spontaneous explorations.

2. Structure of knowledge. it is possible to structure knowledge in a way that enables the learner to most readily grasp the information. This is a relative feature, as there are many ways to structure a body of knowledge and many preferences among learners. Bruner offered considerable detail about structuring knowledge.

Understanding the fundamental structure of a subject makes it more comprehensible. Bruner viewed categorization as a fundamental process in the structuring of knowledge. (See the section below on categorization.)

Details are better retained when placed within the contest of an ordered and structured pattern.

To generate knowledge which is transferable to other contexts, fundamental principles or patterns are best suited.

The discrepancy between beginning and advanced knowledge in a subject area is diminished when instruction centers on a structure and principles of orientation. This means that a body of knowledge must be in a simple enough form for the learner to understand it and it must be in a form recognizable to the student's experience.

3. Modes of representation: visual, words, symbols. 4. Effective sequencing- no one sequencing will fit every learner, but in general, increasing difficulty.

Sequencing, or lack of it, can make learning easier or more difficult. Form and pacing of reinforcement

Form and pacing of reinforcement

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Bruner gave much attention to categorization of information in the construction of internal cognitive maps. He believed that perception, conceptualization, learning, decision making, and making inferences all involved categorization.

Bruner suggested a system of coding in which people form a hierarchical arrangement of related categories. Each successively higher level of categories becomes more specific, echoing Benjamin Bloom's understanding of knowledge acquisition as well as the related idea of instructional scaffolding (Bloom's Taxonomy).

Categories are "rules" that specify four thing about objects. 1. Criterial attributes - required characteristics for inclusion of an object in a category. (Example, for an object

to be included in the category "car" it must have an engine, 4 wheels, and be a possible means of transportation,

2. The second rule prescribes how the criteral attributes are combined. 3. The third rule assignees weight to various properties. (Example, it could be a car even if a tire was missing,

and if it was used for hauling cargo it would be shifted to a different category of "truck" or perhaps "van". 4. The fourth rule sets acceptance limits on attributes. Some attributes can vary widely, such as color. Others

are fixed. For example a vehicle without an engine is not a car. Likewise, a vehicle with only two wheels would not be included in "car".

There a several kinds of categories: Identity categories - categories include objects based on their attributes or features.

Equivalent categories (provide rules for combining categories. Equivalence can be determined by affective criteria, which render objects equivalent by emotional reactions, functional criteria, based on related functions (for example, "car", "truck", "van" could all be combined in an inclusive category called "motor vehicle"), or by formal criteria, for example by science, law, or cultural agreement. For example, and apple is still an apple whether it is green, ripe, dried, etc (identity). It is food (functional), and it is a member of of a botanical classification group (formal).

Coding systems are categories serve to recognize sensory input. They are major organizational variables in higher cognitive functioning. Going beyond immediate sensory data involves making inferences on the basis of related categories. Related categories form a "coding system." These are hierarchical arrangements of related categories. Bruner's theories introduced the idea that people interpret the world largely in terms of similarities and differences.

This is a significant contribution to how individuals construct their unique models of the world.

Application Bruner emphasized four characteristics of effective instruction which emerged from his theoretical

constructs.

1. Personalized: instruction should relate to learners' predisposition, and facilitate interest toward learning,

2. Content Structure: content should be structured so it can be most easily grasped by the learner

3. Sequencing: sequencing is an important aspect for presentation of material

4. Reinforcement: rewards and punishment should be selected and paced appropriately.

Intellectual Development

Bruner postulated three stages of intellectual development.

The first stage he termed "Enactive", when a person learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.

The second stage was called "Iconic" where learning can be obtained through using models and pictures.

The final stage was "Symbolic" in which the learner develops the capacity to think in abstract terms. Based on this three-stage notion, Bruner recommended using a combination of concrete, pictorial then symbolic activities will lead to more effective learning.

Information Processing Theory by George Armitage Miller

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Born Feb 3, 1920 Age 90 Born in Charleston, West Virginia Psychologist and Cognitive Scientist founder of WordNet

“Miller’s Magic Number”

TOTE: “Test-Operate-Test-Exit” an iterative problem solving strategy based on feedback loops test where the system is currently, then perform some operation that makes a change, then retest again, and to repeat this until the answer is satisfactory, at which point the process is complete and ends (or exits).

The following is an example of a simple TOTE: When driving a car and looking for the appropriate turn off.

Test - is this the turnoff? - No Operate - keep driving Test - is this the turnoff? - No Operate - keep driving Test - is this the turnoff? - Yes Exit

Miller’s Magic Number

7 ± 2

"The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" (Miller 1956) is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology

He looked at Memory span - which is a long list of items (e.g., digits, letters, words) that a person can repeat back immediately after presentation in correct order.

Miller observed that memory span of young adults is approximately 7 chunks. He noticed that memory span is approximately the same for stimuli with vastly different amount of information .

Charles M. Reigeluth Elaboration Theory

instruction is made out of layers and that each layer of instruction elaborates on the previously presented ideas. By elaborating on the previous ideal, it reiterates, thereby improving retention

Present overview of simplest and most fundamental ideas Add complexity to one aspect Review the overview and show relationships to the details Provide additional elaboration of details Provide additional summary and synthesis

The Eight Steps in Elaboration Theory

1. Organizing Course Structure: Single organisation for complete course2. Simple to complex: start with simplest ideas, in the first lesson, and then add elaborations in subsequent

lessons.3. Within-lesson sequence: general to detailed, simple to complex, abstract to concrete.4. Summarizers: content reviews presented in rule-example-practice format 5. Synthesizers: Presentation devices that help the learner integrate content elements into a meaningful whole

and assimilate them into prior knowledge, e.g. a concept hierarchy, a procedural flowchart or decision table, or a cause-effect model .

6. Analogies: relate the content to learners' prior knowledge, use multiple analogies, especially with a highly divergent group of learners.

7. Cognitive strategies: variety of cues - pictures, diagrams, mnemonics, etc. - can trigger cognitive strategies needed for processing of material.

8. Learner control: Learners are encouraged to exercise control over both content and instructional strategy. Clear labelling and separation of strategy components facilitates effective learner control of those components.

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