Module 2 Review of Theories for Adult Learning

Section 1: Key Theories of Learning

The objectives of today's lesson are to:
  • Describe three fundamental theories of learning for adult.
  • Compare the strengths and weaknesses of key learning theories.
  • Explain the types of instructional models influenced by each learning theory.
  • List the types of instructional methods and strategies for adult learning.
Expected time for learning activity: 90 minutes 

Three Fundamental Theories of Learning

1. Behaviorism

As founded in the early decades of the twenties century (Watson, 1924), behaviorism assumes three fundamental beliefs about learning: (1) learning should focus on observable behavior rather than internal mental processes, (2) the environment in which learner is surrounded influences the learner's learning behavior, (3) and learning is maximized when contiguity (close in time between learning events) and reinforcement play central roles during the course of individual learning process. From these perspectives, behavioral theorists define learning as a matter of the acquisition of new behavior.

Compared to Watson's view, Skinner (1938) adopted the radical behaviorism that identified conditioning as a universal learning process. Two types of conditioning were used to explain the radical behaviorism:

  • Classic conditioning: this occurs when a learner responds to a stimulus. The most popular example is Pavlov's experiment that dogs salivate when they eat or see food.
  • Behavioral/operant conditioning: learning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. The operant conditioning is like a feedback system. As found from Skinner's experiment, we can teach animals to dance if a reward or reinforcement follows the response to a stimulus because the response becomes more probable in the future.

Criticisms of Behaviorism

  • Behaviorism does not explain the consequences for other types of learning that occurs without the use of reinforcements or punishments such as self-directed learning and reflective learning.
  • Behaviorism does not account for free will and internal influences such as moods, thoughts, and feelings during the course of learning process.
  • People tend to adapt their behavior when new information is introduced, even if a previous behavior pattern has been established through reinforcement.

Strengths of Behaviorism

  • Due to its emphasis on observable behaviors, this approach of learning allows quantifying learning data and information to be used for evaluation and research.
  • Behavioral approach is useful to develop various learning interventions to improve observable behaviors for adult learning. Examples are training programs to change maladaptive or harmful behaviors of addicted people.

For more information about behaviorism, please review the following resource sites:


2. Cognitivism

By criticizing behaviorist orientation about learning being too concerned with single events and actions and too dependent on observable behavior to explain learning, a group of researchers (Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka, Lewin) initiated a different approach of human cognition and learning. They claimed that "the human mind is not simply a passive exchange-terminal system where the stimuli arrive and the appropriate response leaves. Rather, the thinking person interprets sensations and gives meaning to the events that impinge upon his/her consciousness" (Grippen & Peters, 1984). Simply put, cognitivism is concerned about internal mental states for learning to occur. Cognitive theorists view learning as involving the acquisition or reorganization of the cognitive structures through which humans process and store information.

Key Concepts of Cognitive Theory

  • Schema - a cognitive knowledge structure where new information is compared to existing cognitive structures and the structures are extended or altered to accommodate new information.
  • Information processing - new information first is entered through a sensory register, processed in short-term memory, and then transferred to long-term memory for storage and retrieval.
  • Sensory register - receives input from senses which lasts up to four seconds and then disappears through replacement. Much of the input never reaches short term memory without any reinforcement.
  • Short-term memory - important or interesting input is transferred from the sensory register to the short-term memory. Memory can be retained for up to 20 seconds or more if rehearsed repeatedly. Short-term memory best holds about 7+2 chunks of items, meaning its capacity can be expanded if information is chunked into meaningful parts.
  • Long-term memory - stores input from short-term memory for long term use with unlimited capacity. Rote memorization and over learning are ways to force some information into the long-term memory while deeper levels of processing (generating linkages between old and new information) are better ways for longer and successful retention of information.

3. Constructivism

Constructivists' view assumes learners interpret and construct their surrounding reality based upon their perceptions of experiences. From this assumption, individual's knowledge is a function of one's prior experiences, mental structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events (Jonasson, 1991).

Two major orientations of constructivism (Cobb, 1996)

Realistic constructivism - learners construct mental structures corresponding to external structures in the environment.

Radical constructivism - cognition serves to organize the learners experiential world rather than to discover ontological reality.

Merrill's assumptions of constructivism in learning (1991)

  • Knowledge is constructed from experience
  • Learning is a personal interpretation of the world
  • Learning is an active process in which meaning is developed on the basis of experience
  • Conceptual growth comes from the negotiation of meaning, the sharing of multiple perspectives and the changing of our internal representations through collaborative learning
  • Learning should be situated in realistic settings; testing should be integrated with the task and not a separate activity

Constructivism claims that the purpose of learning is to construct individual's own meaning from a learning, but not just memorize the right answers. Therefore, within constructivists orientation, the learning process has taken through understanding concepts, not isolated facts.

More detailed information about the constructivisim is found from:

   
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