Key Learning Theories

Running head: Learning Theories  

Key Learning Theories
Deborah Lynne Kittredge

    Deborah Kittredge
            Keiser University
EDU521
                                                                                                                  Dr. Leigh Baldwin  
  August 22,2009

[   ]Abstract
This paper views the learner, the learning theories and how they relate to the most effective classroom environment. The learners that are discussed are third grade American Indian children. The learning theories are taken from the behavioral, cognitive and constructivist theories. Different theorist are included and the theories of Howard Gardner are added as part of effective classroom strategies. Finally a description of the classroom environment is included that relates to the theories and students discussed.

The Most Effective Classroom Environment
The Purpose of Education
Michael Martinez asks in his book, Learning and Cognition, “what is the purpose of education?“ ( Martinez,Michael E., 2010, p. 348). He answers this question by saying that there are divergent views based on the stake holder. Parents desire one outcome for education where students and educators may have an entirely different view of the purpose. His final remarks are that “among the many possible and legitimate goals of education, one is the enhancement of intelligence” ( Martinez,Michael E., 2010, p. 348). To make this happen there would have to be a conceptual shift, which Martinez explains that this change would   have to be “to see intelligence as a malleable human characteristic, one that is sensitive to the quality of experience” ( Martinez,Michael E., 2010, p. 348).
    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a paper on The Purpose of Education in which he said,
It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in     society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to... [continues]

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