Understanding Learning and Acquisition of Knowledge

Chapter 1

UNDERSTANDING LEARNING AND ACQUISITION OF

KNOWLEDGE

Reported by: Sheila Mae Rosali d.N. Lavapie

Introduction

• Learning

-is a biological response to external stimuli.

-means constructing a personal interpretation of reality.

-continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do.

Nature of Learning• Ornstein (1990)

-”as a reflective process whereby the learner either develops new insights & understanding or changes & restructures his or her mental processes.”

• Lardizabal (1991)-”learning is an integrated, on-going process

occurring within the individual, enabling him to meet specific aims, fulfill his needs and interests, & cope with the learning process.”

-unfreezing, problem diagnosis, goal setting, new behavior, & refreezing.

• Slavin (1995)-change in an individual caused by experience.

• Calderon (1998)-acquisition through maturation & experience of new

& more knowledge, skills, & attitudes that will enable the learner to make better & more adequate reactions, responses, & adjustments to new situations.

Views on How Learning Occurs

Two major groups of Learning theories:

•Behavioristic Theories•Cognitive Theories

Theorists from both sides agree that learning is a result of experience, but they disagree on how learning occurs & how to best establish the conditions that maximize learning in the first place.

Theories of Learning-are sets of conjectures & hypotheses that explain the process of learning or how learning takes place.

•Behavioral•Cognitive•Cognitive Constructivist•Social Constructivist Theories

A. Behavioral Theories of Learning

-Using techniques borrowed from the physical sciences, researchers began conducting experiments to understand how people & animals learn.

-Important researchers are Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike & B.F. Skinner.

1. Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Theory

• Stimulus generalization-refers to the process by which the conditioned response transfers to the other stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

• Generalization-appears to explain the transfer of a response to a situation other than that in w/c the original learning occurred.

•Discrimination-refers to the process by w/c we learn not to respond to the similar stimuli in an identical manner.

•Extinction-refers to the process by w/c

conditioned responses are lost.

2. Thorndike’s S-R Theory

•Law of Effect-states that if an act is followed by a satisfying change in the environment, the likelihood that the act will be

repeated in the similar situation increases.

•Law of Exercise-states that any connection is

strengthened in proportion to the number of times it occurs and in proportion to the average vigor and duration of the connection.

•Law of Readiness-states that when an organism, both human and animal, is ready to form connections to do so is satisfying and not to do so is annoying.

3. B.F. Skinner Operant Conditioning Theory

•Reinforcement-defined as any behavioral consequence that strengthens (that is, increases the frequency of) a behavior.

•Positive reinforcers-are events that are presented after a response has been performed and that increase the behavior or activity they follow.

•Negative reinforcers-are escapes from unpleasant situations or ways of preventing something

unpleasant from occurring.

Category of Reinforcers

•Primary reinforcers-are those that satisfy basic human

needs. (food, water, security, warmth & sex)

•Secondary reinforcers-are those that acquire reinforcing

power because they have been associated with primary reinforcers. (money, grades)

4. Social Learning Theory

-developed by Albert Bandura, social learning theory accepts most of the principles of behavioral theories but focuses to a much greater degree on the effects of cues on behavior and on internal mental processes, emphasizing the effects of thought on action and action on thought.

Bandura’s Model of Observational Learning

Modeled Behavior kATTENTIONExperience

Personality characteristicsRelationship w/ model

Situational vaiables

RETENTIONRehearsal

OrganizationRecall

Other cognitive skills

REPRODUCTIONCognitive representation

Concept matchingUse of feedback

MOTIVATIONExternal incentives

Vicarious incentivesSelf-evaluation & incentives

Internalized standardsSocial comparison

Matching Behavior

Four Phases of Observational Learning

1.Attention-an observer must attend to and

recognize the distinctive features of the model’s response because mere exposure to a model does not ensure acquisition of behavior.

2. Retention-reproduction of the desired behavior implies that a student symbolically retains the observed behavior.

3. Motor reproduction processes-after observation and after urging the students to form an image of the task’s solution they should be asked to

demonstrate the solution as soon as possible.

4. Motivational processes-although an observer acquires and retains the ability to perform modeled behavior, there will be no overt

performance unless conditions are favorable.

1.Bruner’s Cognitive Learning Theory

-categorization of the forming of concepts provides a possible set of answers to how the learner derives information from the environment.

•“Toward A Theory of Instruction”-written by Jerome Bruner, in which he explained how his ideas might be

translated into practice in the classroom.

Three Stages in Bruner’s Theory of Intellectual Development

1.Enactive-where a person learns about the world through actions on objects.

2. Iconic-where learning occurs through using models and pictures.

3. Symbolic-which describes the capacity to think in abstract terms.

2. Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning Theory

-meaningful learning implies that the material to be learned is potentially meaningful.

-meaningful learning occurs when the material to be learned is related to what the students already know.

•Advance Organizer-is a general overview of new

information to be learned that occurs in advance of the actual reading.

3. Gagne’s Cognitive Learning Theory

-according to him task would be best learned by following specific sequences of nine events:

•gaining attention;•informing the learner of the objectives;•stimulating recall of prerequisite learning;•presenting new material;

•providing learning guidance;•eliciting performance;•providing feedback about performance;•assessing performance; and•enhancing retention and recall.

Five Major Categories of Learning

•Verbal information•Intellectual skills•Cognitive strategies•Motor skills•Attitudes

C. Constructivist Learning Theories

• Constructivism-emphasizes the building that occurs in people’s minds when they learn.

-suggests that the learner is much more actively involved in a joint enterprise with the teacher in creating meanings.

• “Cognitive constructivism”-is about how the individual learner understands things in terms of developmental stages and learning styles.

• “Social constructivism”-emphasizes how meanings an understanding grow out of social encounters.

• “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD)

-by Lev Vygotsky, placed considerable emphasis on children’s potential for intellectual growth rather that intellectual abilities at a particular point in time.

Constructivist Teaching and Learning Principles

1.Learners have their ideas.2.Learners need first-hand experiences.3.Learners like their ideas.4.Learners see what they want to see.5.Learners often are not aware of what they know.6.Students need to know how to learn.7.Learners may not discover experts’ conclusions.

General Educational Applications of CLT

First, learning depends on how information is mentally processed.

Second, educators must also consider the student’s level of cognitive development when planning topics and methods of instruction.

Third, students organize the information they learn.

General Educational Applications of CLT

Fourth, new information is most likely acquired when people can associate it with things that have already learned.

Fifth, from an operant conditioning perspective, students actively respond if they are to learn.

• Semantic Networks

-is a method of representing knowledge as a system of connections between concepts in a memory.

Schematic Presentation of a Semantic Network

CRUST

BREAD

BUTTER KNIFE

SCALPEL

DOCTOR

NURSE

Types of Knowledge

• Declarative knowledge-refers to one’s memory for

concepts, facts, or episodes.

• Procedural knowledge-refers to the ability to perform

various tasks.

Knowledge Acquisition

1.Process the material semantically.2.Process and retrieve information

frequently.3.Learning and retrieval conditions should

be similar.4.Connect new information to prior

knowledge.5.Create cognitive procedures.

• Mnemonics-are strategies considered as memory aids

that provide a systematic approach for organizing and remembering facts that have no apparent link or connection of their own.

Ex. Order of Planets in the Solar System(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,

Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)Mnemonic: “My Very Educated Mother

Just Served Us New Pizzas”

• Word Identification Strategy-part of the Strategic Instructional Model, the steps are remembered using the first-letter mnemonic.

Ex. DISSECT• Discover the context;• Isolate the prefix;• Separate the suffix;• Say the stem;• Examine the stem;• Check with someone; and• Try the dictionary.

Identifying and Articulating learning Objectives

•Objectives-are statements of what will be

achieved as a result of the instruction the teacher is designing.

•Performance objectives-are objectives that specify what the learner will be able to do when the

instructional event concludes.

Performance objectives have the following characteristics:

S - specificM- measurableA - attainableR - result-orientedT - time-bound

Six Levels of Cognition

1.Knowledge2.Comprehension3.Application4.Analysis5.Synthesis6.Evaluation

End of Report