Learning Theories Abstract, Learned Phenomena

Learning Theories

Abstract, Learned Phenomena

Unlearned Phenomena

Methods of Assessing Learning

Transfer of Knowledge, Skills, Strategies

Vygotsky Views

B.F. Skinner

Albert Bandura

Cognition and Learning

Prominent Theories of Learning

Contextual Influences

Strategies and Metacognition

Self-Regulation in Learning

Motivation

Having knowledge of learning theories and is an imperative in today's teaching environment. This paper introduces, critiques and reviews a number of learning theories and strategies from some well-known and some not-so-well-known scholars and educators. But the key to the issue of learning theories is for a teacher (and a student that is truly motivated) to implement any one or a blend of several to meet the appropriate classroom challenge.

Instances of Learned Phenomena:

In music, when a person achieves an "absolute pitch" that is a learned phenomenon, according to Jasba Simpson David Huron (1994). The way in which Simpson arrived at that conclusion was backed up by the application of the Hick-Hyman law (AKA "Hick's Law"); the reaction time for a "given stimulus" relates directly to its "expected frequency of occurrence" (Simpson). Hearing the opening key / chords of Western music the learned phenomena for the vocalist allows that person to instantly achieve the learned pitch that is required to sing the song. Hick's law example: if a reader is given a particular word to find in a list, he or she must scan the list. But if the list is alphabetical, the learned phenomena takes over and in Hick's law terminology the reader uses a subdividing strategy, part of a learned phenomenon.

Critical thinking input: Our brains have functions well beyond what we humans can understand, but that isn't the point. The point is to know and understand the psychological reality that much of what we do in our lives is learned phenomena. The ability to be listening to music, and at the same time when we hear the sound of a dog scratching on the back door we do not need to abandoned the music's lyrics (which we probably know by heart) to let the dog in and give him his little reward snack.

Instances of unlearned phenomena:

Important to unlearning mechanisms are these criteria: the creation for specific new knowledge; "poor performance" on previous applications; "react[ion] to changing environment"; "changes in management"; and the phenomena "is too complicated to use" (Mustonen-Ollila, 2004). The instance alluded to by Mustonen-Ollila, et al., is that due to the "rapid diffusion of microcomputers" -- technological development was moving forward at an accelerated pace -- at the onset of the 1980s, new skills were needed and old skills had to be unlearned. "Unlearning is…a fundamental change in understanding and perception" in that previous knowledge structures "are obliterated" in organizational learning (Mustonen-Ollila).

Critical thinking input: for some Americans learning computer and other digital technological skills is extremely difficult in the first place and requires much patience; so once they have learned for example how to design a simple blog page (and post images and graphs on the page), they never want to have to unlearn that skill. However, new ways of designing pages and uploading images are "user-friendly," more than previous applications, so that person who is shy about learning new skills must unlearn the design skill and learn the new and more efficient strategy. It's about letting go. We let go of our childish habits when we emerge as young adults; the same principle applies here.

Methods of assessing learning:

Helen S. Lepke identifies five instruments for assessing learning: ELSIE (Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise); Cognitive Style Interest Inventory; Learning Modalities and Individual Differences Inventories; Paragraph Completion Method; and Learning Style Inventory. The ELSIE method is based on a person's response to fifty spoken words and a good example for this paper. The words cannot require the learner to have to think about what it means -- and preferably the word commonly used and is "monosyllabic to reduce the time required to pronounce the word." When he or she hears the word does the learner visualize it? Does it appear to be spelled out in the mind's eye? Is there a response to the sound of the word? In response to four modes of internalization (visualization; written word; listening; and activity) the instructor can assess the learning abilities of the participant.

Critical thinking input: There are many more strategies for assessing learning, and certainly there are assessments used in schools today that are proven and modern; it boils down to what works best for the instructor. In fact a teacher who is effective can quite literally create her own system of assessment using some of the tools from professional strategies and implementing some of her own creative, original tools. Knowing one's students well, listening to them and interacting one-on-one with them -- and being willing to update the process of assessment on a regular basis -- is part of the key to success.

Historical views -- transfer of knowledge, skills, and strategies:

Knowledge transfer. In a math class at State Teachers College in Jersey City, NJ, students were making many errors in division; the instructor believed it was caused by "lapses in attention." But also the frequent incorrect multiplication products was a result of the fact that multiplication was being used in solving division problems. If the multiplication fact had been isolated from the division process, "the pupil would have been able to give the correct product" (Grossnickle, 1936). Bottom line: there was a failure to transfer knowledge from multiplication to division dynamics. Skills transfer. "Transfer of learning is the influence of prior learning on performance in a new situation," according to Clark (2004). Without the transfer some of our skills and knowledge from prior learning," every new thing a person learns would mean starting from scratch, and that would be wasteful and nonproductive as a learning experience. Strategies: A strategy for learning was successfully carried out with first-grade students who were asked to complete tasks as individuals, and later asked to complete assignments in small groups (Gabbert, 1986). The results showed that "on all tasks, groups achieved more than did individuals"; and the higher achievement of students in the "cooperative condition transferred to individual testing" later. The strategy of placing students in groups worked and in fact students in groups used "higher level reasoning strategies in completing the tasks" than did the students working as individuals (Gabbert, p. 265).

Critical thinking input: Every competent teacher knows when to place students in groups and when to have them work individually. I had a teacher in high school in an advanced class who had us work together by row when it came to research projects (often on some difficult, unfamiliar material). And the row that presented the material to the entire class most effectively got the prize for that day (no air conditioning in the building so sometimes it was a liter of coke with glasses of ice). Incentives work, and students can transfer knowledge to one another if it is made into competition that is fun.

Vygotsky and his views:

Major processes in his learning theories. The major thrust of Vygotsky is his ZPD ("zone of proximal development"); it is the distance between "the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving" and the level of development that potentially could be ascertained through "problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Chak, 2001). If learning is properly structured it can result in the development of mental processes which in turn "set in motion a variety of developmental processes" (Chak).

Constructivist learning environments and principles. Since the central task is to teach the learner to solve problems, the ZPD goal is a) to produce a process that helps the learner gain "awareness and control over one's cognition"; b) that process should be such that the child is not just a "passive recipient" and the instructor is not just a "technician" -- but rather there is a joint collaborative "negotiation and reconstruction of goals between child and adult" (Chak). Some of the exchanges in the adult-learner interactions are verbal, and some are non-verbal -- but for the adult, he or she should be aware of how their own tendencies of presentation influence the child's verbal and non-verbal responses. Major components of learner-centered principles (APA). a) nature of the learning process (habit formation; generation of knowledge; cognitive skills learning); b) goals of the learning process (relevant, well-presented goals that embrace "personal and educational" interests of the student); c) construction of knowledge (existing knowledge and new information can be linked); d) strategic thinking (these skills can be taught); e) thinking about thinking (reflecting on what is learned and how it is learned enhances the ability to solve problems); f) context of learning (since learning doesn't take place "in a vacuum" many variables come into play and it is up to the teacher to create strategies that interest the student and motivate the student too); g) motivational and emotional influences (these dynamics, if positive and interesting, help the student achieve knowledge and strategies); h) intrinsic motivation to learn (some tasks can bring out a "natural curiosity" in students that in turn motivates them to want to know more); i) effects of motivation on effort (the more motivated the student, the more effort will go into learning); j) affects of motivation on effort (quality assignments that are positive and relevant kick-state motivation and effort); k) developmental influences on learning (if the material is presented at the student's developmental level, based on his culture and physical abilities, he'll learn more easily); l) social influences (if the learning is based on his social comfort level it will be more successful); m) individual differences in learning (each student is given certain capabilities and talents; it's the teacher's job to harvest those effectively); n) learning and diversity (teachers who are effective understand ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic dynamics vis-a-vis their students); o) standards and assessment (teachers must be able to assess the progress students make and adjust the material or strategy as necessary) (www.apa.org).

Critical thinking input: Good teachers that truly understand how distracted today's young people are (with technology, etc.) learn how to get the most out of students by combining proven strategies of engagement with scholarship challenges that are both entertaining and compelling to their active minds.

B.F. Skinner

Historical views of transfer. When something is said to you and it reminds you (without you having to conjure up memories) instantly of something from the past. You transfer, or project your feelings to that moment in the past, or that person in the past. Dr. Michael Conner (psychologist) explains that transference responses are caused "by unmet emotional needs, neglect, seductions and other abuses that transpired when you were a child" (Conner, 2009). Perhaps a loved one was seriously injured or killed and the sound of the first responder's emergency vehicle arriving stays in the back of the mind; years later when that person hears a siren of an emergency vehicle, the transference back to that very bitter, sad day is instantly accomplished in his mind.

How learning occurs (Skinner). Learning is a function of "changes in overt behavior" which in turn result from an individual's "response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment" -- according to Skinner. When a particular "stimulus-response" pattern is rewarded or reinforced then the individual who initiated the action learns to respond (www.tip/psychology.org/skinner.html). Typically factors that influence learning are: a) reinforcement in the form of praise given verbally or in writing; reinforcement in the form of a better grade or a personal feeling of satisfaction. This is Skinner's operant conditioning -- a kind of behavior modification that reinforces -- and it can be continuous, interval, and ratio reinforcement; b) punishment can influence learning but Skinner believed that while punishment can create fear that fear can fade away and the behavior that was punished originally can and will return. Information processing: Skinner believed that information should be presented to learners in small amounts, so they could digest it, absorb it, and retain it. Cognitive information processing looks at the role of three of memory's stages, according to Purdue University's educational department. Those three stages are sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory; the stages, according to Skinner retrieve information and transfer it for storage and for availability to be recalled when needed. The sensory portion of memory gives the learner the power to organize patterns or groups of information; "learners recognize and then process these patterns" (Purdue). Small amounts of information can be retrieved in the short-term memory fields -- and if the short-term memory information is "effectively connected to previous knowledge, it is stored in long-term memory" (Purdue). Long-term memory gives the learner the power to recall that information and then apply it "across learning environments" for most appropriate use.

Why is conditional knowledge important for learning? One of the most important of the kinds of knowledge is conditional knowledge because it helps the learner understand why certain information is important and valuable. Having conditional knowledge doesn't suggest that the learner has full understanding of an issue, but it connects the learner to a more thorough meaning. Having conditional knowledge of baseball helps the learner understand why the manager takes the pitcher out of the game in the 8th inning -- but it doesn't answer (nor does it have to) as to the psychological or emotional reasons the manager made that particular decision with that particular pitcher.

Critical thinking input: One problem that today's teachers may encounter is that students are often perfectly willing to gain conditional knowledge of a subject or an issue but never challenge themselves to look deeper into that subject. Surface interest can get a student through school, but the job of the teacher is to challenge the student to dig deeper.

Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Views

The process of triadic reciprocity causality. Bandura broke with many traditional behavioral theorists with his theory of triadic reciprocity. Bandura postulated that meaning was created through the individual, his environment and his behavior, and that all three are necessarily intertwined prior to the achievement of true meaning. Bandura's quote is from his book Social Learning Theory (1977, p. 22): "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling; from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. Because people can learn from example what to do, at least in approximate form, before performing any behavior, they are spared needless errors" (Bandura, 1977, p. 22).

Factors that effect observational learning and performance. If reading instruction is effective, Bandura explained, it can create positive attitudes among learners and hence those learners can improve their ability to achieve. The long-term goal for a teacher is to create a condition in which the learner has sustained motivation to learn. Bandura's key to learning is his "self-efficacy" concept -- a person's confidence that he or she can perform a specific task competently and successfully (Pajaraes, 2003). One factor that goes into learning is the belief that each individual possesses self-beliefs that help them exercise a certain measure of control over their actions, their thoughts and feelings. Observing students while they were in the learning stages of the writing process helped Bandura come up with positive strategies. One, assess what confidence level as they begin the writing assignment; two, challenge the student's ability to actually complete the task -- it could be as simple as writing a letter to a friend -- and three, to ask students at the end of their writing performance what grade they would give themselves.

Factors that influence learning. According to Bandura's approach (in his Social Learning Theory) factors that influence learning -- through the modeler and the student's responses -- include: attention (any distractions can wipe out the potential for learning; and on the other hand if the learning model is of particular interest, it will capture the full attention of the learner); retention (storing information and the ability to store information when it is part of a process is vital; moreover the ability to retrieve that information later is also vital to observational learning); reproduction (the attentiveness to the model that the teacher has presented will pay off when it comes time to practice the learned behavior that was sought from the beginning of the exercise); and motivation ("…in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled"; and moreover, reinforcement and punishment always play a pivotal role in motivating the learner; an example of rewards and how they motivate, if a student sees that another student gets extra credit for being in class on time, that first student may begin showing up early as well to cash in on the rewards) (Van Wagner, 2008).

Self-concept and self-efficacy. As mentioned previously, Bandura's self-efficacy relates to a person's belief in his or her own capabilities to get a grasp on a project (writing, researching, finishing an assignment) and to succeed. It's an issue of building self-confidence, but it goes farther than that. "Self-efficacy can have an impact on everything from psychological states to behavior to motivation" (Van Wagner, 2009).

Kendra Van Wagner, writing in about.com explains that "virtually all people" have goals they need to complete and things they would like to change, but how to go about getting it done is another matter. Bandura, meanwhile, has discovered through his research and observations that a person's self-efficacy can play a "major role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached" (Van Wagner).

For example, if a person has a strong sense of self-efficacy, then they will: a) look at "challenging problems" as merely "tasks to be mastered"; b) develop "deeper interest in the activities in which they participate"; c) form a "stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities"; and d) be able to get over "setbacks and disappointments" easier and quicker. On the other hand, those with a weak sense of self-efficacy tend to: a) avoid those projects and tasks that appear to be challenging; b) believe that it is over their heads to tackle a difficult or challenging project; c) "focus on personal failings and negative outcomes"; and d) lose their sense of confidence in a hurry when their personal skills and abilities are put to the test (Van Wagner) (Bandura, 1994).

Beyond the description of people with and without self-efficacy Bandura goes on to offer four major sources of self-efficacy: a) mastery experience (doing a task the right way and succeeding at it "successfully strengthens our sense of self-efficacy" but failing to complete the task undermines and "weakens" self-efficacy; b) social modeling (seeing other people finishing assignments and completing projects can be uses as an important source of self-efficacy; "Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers' beliefs that they too possess the capabilities master comparable activities to succeed" (Bandura, 1994) (Van Wagner); c) social persuasion (it is possible to persuade people to believe in themselves enough to succeed; for everyone, there was a time when they felt incapable of completing something but another person came along and offered verbal and emotional encouragement -- and that persuasion helped get the job done, hence social persuasion is viable; and d) psychological responses (how people respond to situations and what moods and stress levels they exhibit plays a pivotal role in self-efficacy; if a person is too shy to speak in front of a group they then need to work on learning how to "minimize stress and elevate mood" when they face seemingly daunting tasks (Van Wagner).

Critical thinking input: Bandura's theories and strategies are renowned and revered throughout the academic community, but notwithstanding all the worthy books he has written and the speeches he has made, what he should be remembered most for is self-efficacy. It is a very simple yet profound concept: if a strong parent, teacher, mentor or supervisor can lead that person to one successful conclusion to a hitherto big challenge, then other challenges will be tackled with the confidence developed from the completion of the first big challenge. It's all about confidence built around actually doing something that didn't seem possible.

Cognition and Learning:

The definition of "cognition" (from Princeton University's wordnetweb.edu) is very straight forward: "the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning." Cognition also relates to the simple, automatic mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension. Gaining knowledge should also include thinking, solving problems, understanding and even passing judgment. Along with comprehending what one is seeing, hearing, feeling or sensing there are higher levels of cognition that teachers and professors understand are functions of the brain. Cognition at a higher level embraces a grasp of language and philosophical concepts.

Cognition and learning are of course linked as closely together as fingers are to hands. A person will struggle to learn without being cognizant of what the message is, or what the assignment and challenge are. Cognition and learning are twin towers in the land of comprehension and intellectual growth.

Critical thinking input: The student who understands that cognition doesn't just hit you in the face like a video game, but it has to be received with an openness to go beyond the obvious. That next frontier for the student is full use of one's imagination, unlocking the door to perception of the deeper, more philosophical aspect of life and learning.

Processes in prominent theories of learning:

There are many theories that relate to learning, including of course Bandura and Skinner. Another theory that is worthy in the field of psychology is by Jean Piaget; his "stage theory" relates to the cognitive development of children. Paiget figured out through observation and testing that children were no less intelligent than adults but they simply think differently. In her article about Piaget, journalist Kendra Van Wagner quotes Einstein, who called Piaget's discovery "So simple only a genius could have thought of it" (Van Wagner, 2008). The concepts that go into Paiget's theory include: Schemas (these are "categories of knowledge" that help individuals understand the world through alert interpretation; the schema is both a process of gaining knowledge, and a category of knowledge); assimilation (taking in new information); accommodation (altering previous beliefs and bits of knowledge based on new schemas entering into the mind); and equilibration (there has to be a balance between the new schemas and what is already there in the brain; equilibration assists the student to move seamlessly from one stage of thinking on to the next) (Van Wagner).

Other prominent theories of intelligence (that correlate with learning abilities) include: Charles Spearman (the "g factor" means general intelligence, i.e., when a student scores well on one cognitive test he or she will likely score well on another cognitive test); Louis L. Thurstone (there are seven primary mental abilities; verbal comprehension, reasoning, perceptual speed, numerical ability, word fluency, associative memory and spatial visualization); Howard Gardner (his theory of "multiple intelligences" holds that learning shouldn't be based on test scores but rather he breaks it down into eight specific areas of intelligence that relates to skills that have value in various cultures. The eight categories of intelligence are very interesting albeit a bit esoteric too: visual-spatial; verbal-linguistic; bodily-kinesthetic; logical-mathematical; interpersonal; musical; intra-personal; and naturalistic).

Robert Sternberg's "Triarchic Theory of Intelligence sounds complicated but it basically boils down to three areas of intelligence that should be understood by scholars, instructors, leaders and parents: a) analytical intelligence (being able to solve problems); b) creative intelligence (dealing with unfamiliar situations using previously learned skills); and c) practical intelligence (adapting to any situation or environment).

Critical thinking input: an alert student can and should look through all available theories on learning and intelligence and select those particular components that make the most sense. On the surface, all the theories have validity, but some are more valid than others and critical thinking skills on the part of the student can be put to good use in the investigation into which makes the most sense. The eight components of Gardner's multiple intelligence theory, for example, seem more like skills to be developed than actual separate intelligences.

Contextual influences

Aptitude treatment interactions (ATI):

ATI is not a complicated concept in psychology -- it is simply the notion that some instructional strategies (or treatments) "…are more or less effective for particular individuals depending upon their specific abilities" (http://tip.psychology.org). The framework in which ATI serves psychology is that "optimal learning" can only be achieved when the kind of instruction is "exactly matched to the aptitudes of the learner" (tip.psychology). This concept of course requires that assessments of learning abilities have been conducted so the instructor can in fact match the assignments with the abilities of the student.

The main conclusions according to the late Psychologist Richard Snow, Aptitude treatment interactions are: a) very common in education; b) many ATI combinations are "complex and difficult to demonstrate clearly" and no specific ATI effect is well enough understood to base instructional practice on; and c) Snow believes that there is a serious "lack of attention to the social aspects of learning" (tip.psychology).

Cognitive styles:

Yuliang Liu of Texas A&M University asserts that cognitive styles and learning styles are interchangeable -- with cognitive styles relating more to theory and academic research and learning style related to the practical application of teaching and learning. For the purposes of a thorough approach, to cognitive styles, Liu references Ausburn and Ausburn (1978) and notes their three "important properties" of cognitive styles. Those are a) "generality and stability across tasks over time" (these are resistant to "training and change"); b) the relative "independence of cognitive styles from traditional measures of general ability"; and c) cognitive styles have relationships with specific abilities, characteristics and learning tasks (and there is either a positive or a negative relationship with motivation and achievement of academic goals but that depends on the learning task) (Liu).

Liu points to several cognitive styles, and due to space considerations this paper will only address two of those. The Holist-Analytic cognitive style is what it sounds like it is -- holists view a situation in its wholeness and the analytics break situations down into "a collection of parts" but frequently they choose two or so aspects of the collection of parts at a time (Liu). The Sensory Preference cognitive style employs one of the senses (usually visual, auditory and kinesthetic) to interact with the environment. The data Liu presents indicates that between 20 and 30% of students in the United States are auditory; around 40% of students are visually inclined and the remaining 30 to 40% are either "tactual/kinesthetic, visual/tactual, or some combination of the major senses. Some researchers believe verbal thinking is emphasized too much during intelligence testing and others believe a visual cognitive style is most revealing.

Critical thinking input: No teacher or professor worth his or her salt is going to give an assignment to a student that has shown no aptitude for learning in that genre or handling a tough challenge. So on one level, a thinking teacher just automatically knows about ATI; on another level, if high quality research on a student's abilities and aptitudes has been conducted, it becomes obvious what level of challenge is appropriate for that person. As to cognitive style choice, there is a veritable avalanche of learning styles and cognitive psychological approaches to teaching and learning; each person must assess the individual competencies and aptitudes he or she is working with, do the homework to see what works best in that specific classroom environment.

Strategies and Metacognition:

Variables affecting metacognition:

According to Julie Halter at San Diego State University, metacognition consists of two basic processes and those two processes happen simultaneously. One, as a person learns he or she monitors the progress during the learning process; and two, during that learning process changes and adaptations are implemented if the process doesn't seem to be going as well as hoped for. Though it is a term that sounds scientific and perhaps a bit high toned, metacognition is simply a person taking "conscious control of learning, planning and selecting strategies"; and along with those actions, a person monitors the progress of learning and is able to correct errors, analyze the quality of what has been done and change strategies and/or behaviors when it is obvious those behaviors need adjustment (Halter, 2007).