viewpoints on learning a review of learning theories

Viewpoints on learning

A review of learning theories

Primitive views of intelligence• Single factor--gray matter--and

mostly inherited• Considered crystallized and un-

alterable from birth• Environment was not considered a

factor

First beginnings of scientific thought• Charles Spearman (1863-1945) for

whom the Spearman correlation was also named

• Used correlation to prove that there were at least two factors of intelligence

• Two-factor theory--a general or inherited factor, and a specific factor, which we would today attribute to environment

Edward L. Thorndike

• 1874-1949• Proposed three kinds of intellience--

abstract, concrete, and social• This was going on at a time when

most inquiry in the behavioral sciences was still rather impressionistic and qualitative, not empirical

Louis L. Thurstone

• 1887-1955• In 1933 proposed a seven factor

theory of intelligence

Joy Paul Guilford

• In various revisions found 90, then 120, then 150, and finally 200 independtly opearting, verifiable factors in intelligence.

• Has some explanations for LD:

• Chief obstacle: how do we apply a 200 factor theory of intelligence?

Wechsler Intelligence Scale theory• A de facto theory of

intelligence with 13 factors

• After all, that’s what we test, isn’t it?

• Six factors are verbal (and presumed heavily environmental)

• Seven factors are performance (motor) and might be assumed to be somewhat hereditary.

• WAIS was developed in 1949; WISC and WPPSI followed; WISC-III is used now

Multiple Intelligences--Howard Gardner, 1989 & 1993• Linguistic• Musical• Logical-mathematical• Spatial• Bodily-kinesthetic• Interpersonal• Intrapersonal

A great synthesis--Robert Gagne (1972)• Signal learning

(classical conditioning)

• Stimulus-response ( B. F. Skinner)

• Motor chaining• Verbal chaining

• Multiple discrimination learning

• Concept learning• Principle learning• Problem solving

• Gagne’ removed us from either-or!

While all of the behaviorism was going on, a radically different view of intelligence was being spawned by developmental psychologists such as Jean Piaget. Features of his theories included:

Stage transition

Use of schemata or thoughts in explaining learning

Assimilation and accommodation

Cognitive dissonance (Piaget; also Leon Festinger, 1957)

The importance of environment

The following slides are from the new brain research that has been coming out in the past five years or so.

“Educators must develop a basic understanding of the psychobiology of the brain to enable them to evaluate emerging

educational applications.”Robert Sylwester

Brain Basics: The Brain and LearningBrain Basics: The Brain and Learning

There are two types of brain cells.

Neurons

10% of your brain cells are neurons.

Glia

90% of your brain cells are glia.


• The average three-pound brain contains about 100 billion neurons.

• The average three-pound brain contains about 1000 billion glial cells.


The average three-pound brain has about one quadrillion connections

between neurons.


It is the connection between neurons that makes us “smart”.


• Heredity provides about 30-60% of our brain’s wiring.

•40-70% of our wiring comes from environmental impact.


“Experience is the chief architect of the brain.”


•Neurons consist of a cell body, an axon and dendrites.


Brain Basics: How Neurons CommunicateBrain Basics: How Neurons Communicate

.

.

.

Axon

Dendrites

Cell Body

The axon sends information.

The dendrites and cellbody receive information.

The action inside the cell iselectrical.

The action between cellsis chemical.

Reoccurring electrical stimulation between cells promotes cell growth. This cell growth occurs in the form of dendrite branching. More dendrite branches

create more connections. Hence, better understanding.


•We learn on many levels at once. The cellular level is just one way learning occurs. Learning and

behavior are also strongly affected by the other chemicals in the brain: the monomines and peptides.

•Some estimate that over 98% of the brain’s communications occur through peptides and perhaps

only 2% occurs through the synapses.


Brain Basics:Brain Basics: The Memory ProcessThe Memory Process

SensoryMemory

Short Term Memory

Long TermMemory

Not transferred to short term memory and so not stored in the memory system

Rehearsal

Retrieval

Initial Processing

Elaboration andOrganization

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

Sensory memory influences different areas of the brain.


Brain Basics: Reaction to StimuliBrain Basics: Reaction to Stimuli

This slide represents blood flow changes that occur while an individual is seeing words in print.

Brain Basics: Reaction to StimuliBrain Basics: Reaction to Stimuli

This slide represents blood flow changes that occur while an individual is hearing words.

Memory is a process rather than a skill or a thing. A given “memory” is not

created or stored in one single place in the brain.


Brain Basics: The Learning ProcessBrain Basics: The Learning Process

SensoryMemory

LimbicSystem

Short-termMemory

Long-termMemory

Sensesreceiveinformation.

Brain determineswhich information is emotionallyimportant enough to attend to.

Neurons are stimulated. Electro-chemical activity strengthens the synapse.

Repeated activation improves messageTransmission.

The more these networks of neurons are used, the stronger they become…the more easily they are accessed and information

recalled.

Brain Basics: M -SpaceBrain Basics: M -Space

The capacity of short-term memory appears to develop with age. The number of spaces increases by one unit every other year beginning at age three.

Juan Pascual-Leon, 1970

3 5 7 9 11 13 15

Age

The m-space capacity ofindividuals increases at about this rate but can vary up or down by up to two units for each age group.

Brain Basics: ChunkingBrain Basics: Chunking

A chunk is any cohesive group of items of information that we can remember as if it were a single item.

The difference between novices and experts in a field appears

to be that experts tend -- because of a great deal of experience

in a field -- to organize information into much larger chunks,while novices work with isolated bits of information.

Benjamin Bloom

Brain Basics: SchemasBrain Basics: Schemas

Our neural networks make up a map that represents our general knowledge about the world. This neural map is often called “schema”. Our schema provides us with the way for us to understand a subject or the

world around us.“In order to comprehend, we select a

schema that seems appropriate and fill in the missing information.”

Pat Wolfe

Without the appropriate schema, students have no wayto assimilate new information.


For more information about the brain and learning, visit the ArtFul Minds web

site.

http://library.advanced.org/50072/

Best applications of all of the theories (1)• Do nothing aversive unless there are

very clear-cut reasons for doing so.• Have some exposition time, but also

much hands-on time for students to explore.

• Tolerate some ambiguity. No two students learn things entirely alike.

• The behaviorists are correct about the optimal sequencing of instruction

Best applications (2)

• Genetics lays the basic pattern, but environment offers a lot of room for change

• Positive reinforcement, for whatever it may mean to any given student, is not out of date.

• Arranging the conditions of learning (Gagne’) can enhance learning opportunities, but not guarantee them.

Best applications--3rd

• Learning occurs best when people feel free to make some mistakes

• Learning occurs best when people have some idea of what the new learning will look like in operation--in short, modeling

• Learning occurs best when people can be shown connections between what they already know and the new piece of information

viewpoints on learning a review of learning theories

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