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Relevant course objectives:
- Have a conceptual understanding of Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, and Montessori.
- Explain basic functions of the brain and connect current brain research to classroom instruction.
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The debate on how people best learn is as old as the beginning of time. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all had their theories. Heady questions such as ‘is truth found within us and to be found through self-reflection?’ and ‘can truth only be found through reason?’ relate to strongly held philosophies. We’ll pick up on the discussion in the beginning of the 20th century with the thoughts of B.F. Skinner (1904-1990).
Behaviorism
B. F. Skinner, best known for his work in behaviorism, proposed that learning happens when specific skills are practiced and rewarded with reinforcement. His work builds on ideas from Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) who was is thought to be the first modern education psychologist who took a scientific approach to further understand how learning happens. Behaviorist learning theory has had a strong influence on how educators approach curriculum and instruction. Highly sequenced and structured programs that emphasize skill development through practice and reinforcement can be connected to behaviorist learning theory.
Click here to watch a 7 minute video on operant conditioning and an explanation of learning as a result of a reinforcing stimulus.
Cognitivism & Constructivism
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) described learning as a developmental cognitive process, one in which a learner creates knowledge verses receives knowledge from a teacher. Some people think of Piaget as a ‘constructivist’ because he explained that learners construct knowledge through their experiences. We place him under the ‘cognitivism’ category because of his theory on the qualitative change in the way children think as they progress through cognitive stages of development. You can think of him as a cognitivist and constructivist. The same argument can be made for Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) who extended Piaget’s theory to include social-cultural influences. Vygotsky proposed the concept of zone of proximal development (ZPD) which explains that people best learn with the assistance of a ‘more knowledgeable other’ that acts a bridge between what a people understands independently and what they could further understand with assistance. The use of cooperative learning and discourse in classrooms acknowledges Vygotsky’s theory that putting language to thought helps deepen thought and that learning should be “scaffolded” to help students get to the next level of understanding.
Click on the image below for an explanation of Piaget’s assimilation and accommodation
Click on the image below to watch a video that further explains ZPD and Scaffolding in the Classroom
Constructivists believe that learning is happens when meaningful connections are made by interacting with the world, including other people. Similarly, schema theory is rooted in the belief that humans have an innate drive to make connections to discover and create relationships. When people assimilate and accommodate for new knowledge, their schema is growing and shifting. Individuals acquire schemata through their experiences. This experiential learning (be it social or individual) causes the learner to refine, revise, reshape, and restructure their schemata.
Philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) believed that education should be child-centered and inquiry-driven. Dewey also believed that the environment was a key aspect of the learning process.
Click here to read more about John Dewey, Father of Progressive Education
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was a contemporary of John Dewey. A female trailblazer in Italy, she believed in the child as the worker and the adult observer. Montessori believed in play as the child’s work, something to be seen as a necessary means to develop self-expression, social skills, and cognition. A Montessori-inspired classroom would involve carefully chosen activities that relate to practical life skills, an environment of movement and order, multisensory instruction, and focus on peacefulness.
-Click on the image below to watch a 6 minute video on the Montessori approach. It’s “salesy”, but informative too.
Jerome Bruner (1915-) has many of the same beliefs of Dewey and Montessori; however, his major contribution expended these beliefs to the crafting of curriculum. Bruner conceptualized curriculum as a spiral, the idea that subject matter should be revised a periodic points. With each “spiral” of the content, the learner is required to understand the subject matter at a deeper level.
Click on here to watch a 1 minute video titled Learn. Notice the many connections to constructivism.
Click on the here to watch a 10 minute Ted Talk called How to Learn? From Mistakes
Self-Theories
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) is often associated with humanistic psychology, a branch of psychology that emphasizes the innate human capacity for growth and acknowledges the complexity of individuals. Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs (more on that after the video), but he also helped us understand the impact of pique experiences, motivation, and self-actualization.
Watch this video about Maslow, created by Jessica Grogan, cultural historian and author of Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture, and the Shaping of the Modern Self and Daniel Oppenheimer (Grogan’s husband).
Abraham Maslow described a hierarchy of needs that helps us understand behavior and how to create a positive learning environment by acknowledging the needs that learners are trying to meet given their contexts.
Carol Dweck (1946-) is the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, published in 2006. Her interests are in the areas of personality, motivation, and social psychology as it relates to ability and intelligence. Is intelligence based on innate ability? Or, is intelligence a result of hard work and doggedness? Dweck asserts that how you answer these questions has a significant impact on you handle challenges.
Click here to watch a 120 second video that further explains this theory.
Blended Theories
Viewing learning theories as separate constructs is a starting point, but in actuality, the overlap in areas are quite complex. Reflect on how you learn. The answer to that question will vary depending on what you are learning, why you are learning it, for what purpose, your mood, your background, any number of factors. Modern learning theories incorporate the multiple influences on human growth and development, the environment for learning, the role of cultural influence, the way people think and feel about their own learning, and our ever-evolving understanding of the brain. So that begs the question: Given what we know about learning, what is the best way to teach? There is no simple response; however, effective teachers recognize that different approaches are needed for different kinds of learners, contexts, and subject matter.
Learning is based on the associations we make and how we connect new information with existing knowledge. But, how does the brain process new information, store it, and retrieve it when we need it? How can we use what is currently know about the brain and translate it into our teaching methods?
Click here to read a succinct article on brain-based teaching and learning.
Click here to read an article about brain-based learning titled The Neuroscience of Joyful Education
The infographic below summarizes major learning theories, but also acknowledges that learning theories don’t stand in isolation.
Source: The infographic, Theories of Learning, is from edudemic.com.
Source: The Learning Classroom: Theory Into Practice http://www.learner.org/courses/learningclassroom/
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OPTIONAL READINGS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Overview of Learning (with an emphasis on Behaviorism)
Click here to read an interesting Google Doc written around the theme of “How I Learn”. Add to it if you’d like!