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OVERVIEW OF LEARNING THEORIES
Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals acquire, organize and deploy skills and knowledge. To help readers organize and apply this extensive body of literature, various authors have classified these theories in different ways. For this summary, learning theories are grouped into three basic categories:-
• Behaviorist learning theories
• Cognitive-information processing learning theories
• Cognitive-constructivist learning theories
Behaviorist Learning Theories
The origins of behaviorist learning theories may be traced backed to the late 1800 's and early 1900 's with the formulation of "associationistic" principles of learning. The general goal was to derive elementary laws of learning and behavior that may then be extended to explain more complex situations. Inferences were tied closely to observed behavior in "lower organisms" with the belief that the laws of learning were universal and that work with laboratory animals could be extrapolated to humans. It was believed that a fundamental set of principles derived from the study of learning in a basic or "pure" form could then be applied to the broader context of learning in schools. Three experimental approaches are related to the study of associationistic learning including:
1. The use of nonsense syllables and individual words to study the association of ideas
2. The use of animals to study the association between sensations and impulses
3. The use of animals to study association and reflexology
The Association of Ideas
Following a tradition begun by Ebbinghaus (1885), researchers studied learning in terms of memory for individual items, most commonly nonsense syllables and individual words. It was assumed that understanding simpler forms of learning would lead to understanding of more complex phenomena. During this time, the predominate research methods were those of serial list
Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals acquire, organize and deploy skills and knowledge. To help readers organize and apply this extensive body of literature, various authors have classified these theories in different ways. For this summary, learning theories are grouped into three basic categories:-
• Behaviorist learning theories
• Cognitive-information processing learning theories
• Cognitive-constructivist learning theories
Behaviorist Learning Theories
The origins of behaviorist learning theories may be traced backed to the late 1800 's and early 1900 's with the formulation of "associationistic" principles of learning. The general goal was to derive elementary laws of learning and behavior that may then be extended to explain more complex situations. Inferences were tied closely to observed behavior in "lower organisms" with the belief that the laws of learning were universal and that work with laboratory animals could be extrapolated to humans. It was believed that a fundamental set of principles derived from the study of learning in a basic or "pure" form could then be applied to the broader context of learning in schools. Three experimental approaches are related to the study of associationistic learning including:
1. The use of nonsense syllables and individual words to study the association of ideas
2. The use of animals to study the association between sensations and impulses
3. The use of animals to study association and reflexology
The Association of Ideas
Following a tradition begun by Ebbinghaus (1885), researchers studied learning in terms of memory for individual items, most commonly nonsense syllables and individual words. It was assumed that understanding simpler forms of learning would lead to understanding of more complex phenomena. During this time, the predominate research methods were those of serial list
References: FELDER-SILVERMAN LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLES MODEL Richard Felder’s prominent work is the Felder-Silverman learning and teaching styles model (1988) and the Solomon-Felder Index of Learning Styles (1991) Sequential learners (linear, orderly, learn in small incremental steps) or global learners (holistic, systems thinkers, learn in large leaps) (Felder, 1996, p. 19). The Four Learning Style Dimensions Felder and Silverman (1988), define four learning style dimensions Sensing and Intuitive Learners The following information on sensing and intuitive learners is a summary from Felder and Silverman’s (1988) article Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, p Visual and Verbal Learners The following information on visual and verbal learners is a summary from Felder and Silverman’s (1988) article Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, (pp Visual learners remember best what they see: pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, demonstrations. They may forget information that is communicated to them verbally (Felder & Silverman, 1988, p. 677). Active and Reflective Learners The following information on active and reflective learners is a summary from Felder and Silverman’s (1988) article Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, p Active Learners do not learn much from lectures because they require them to receive information passively. They work and learn better in situations that allow for group work and hands on experimentation (Felder & Silverman, 1988, p. 678). Sequential and Global Learners The following information on sequential and global learners is a summary from Felder and Silverman’s (1988) article Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, p