Theories of Learning
Learning Theories
There are many different types of learning theories that are used to help guide individuals through the teaching and or learning process. It has been developed that individuals develop through stages of learning until he or she can reason logically on their own. The two learning theories this paper will focus on is the conditions of learning theory originated by Robert Gagne and the model of discovery learning originated by Jerome Bruner.
Gagne’s theory recognizes that there are five major categories of learning; verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes and that each type of learning is obligatory of different internal and external conditions (Zemky, 1999). Gagne’s conditionings of learning, he believes, are the root to all innovations as long as instructions of “how to” was firstly provided. In order to follow and comprehend the instructions provided, Gagne implies that individuals need to know and understand nine events of instruction to make learning happen. The nine events are to gain the attention of the learning, describe the goal of accomplishment of knowing and understanding the knowledge, stimulate recall of prior knowledge by reiterating things individuals already know, present material to be learned by any means necessary, provide guidance for learning, not just through presentation but by instructing individuals on how to learn, elicit performance practice by allowing individuals to apply the knowledge acquired, provide feedback, assess their performance through testing, and lastly enhance retention and transfer by presenting information and allowing individuals to speak out on their understanding of what they think it could be. This is evidence of an individual’s progress towards finally mastering any task (Zemky, 1999).
Jerome Bruner’s model of discovery is an inquiry-based style learning based on the "enactive" phase, when children learn to take action for themselves,
There are many different types of learning theories that are used to help guide individuals through the teaching and or learning process. It has been developed that individuals develop through stages of learning until he or she can reason logically on their own. The two learning theories this paper will focus on is the conditions of learning theory originated by Robert Gagne and the model of discovery learning originated by Jerome Bruner.
Gagne’s theory recognizes that there are five major categories of learning; verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes and that each type of learning is obligatory of different internal and external conditions (Zemky, 1999). Gagne’s conditionings of learning, he believes, are the root to all innovations as long as instructions of “how to” was firstly provided. In order to follow and comprehend the instructions provided, Gagne implies that individuals need to know and understand nine events of instruction to make learning happen. The nine events are to gain the attention of the learning, describe the goal of accomplishment of knowing and understanding the knowledge, stimulate recall of prior knowledge by reiterating things individuals already know, present material to be learned by any means necessary, provide guidance for learning, not just through presentation but by instructing individuals on how to learn, elicit performance practice by allowing individuals to apply the knowledge acquired, provide feedback, assess their performance through testing, and lastly enhance retention and transfer by presenting information and allowing individuals to speak out on their understanding of what they think it could be. This is evidence of an individual’s progress towards finally mastering any task (Zemky, 1999).
Jerome Bruner’s model of discovery is an inquiry-based style learning based on the "enactive" phase, when children learn to take action for themselves,