Lesson 2: Learning Theories

On the 2nd class of Literacy in Education we had a rather much more interesting and eye opening lesson on Learning Theories (how people learn). Information Literacy is based on learning theory or how people learn. The lesson was basically based on a number of schools of though as developed and proven by Psychologists debating on different ways of how learning. The two theories that I found interesting were Behaviourism and Constructivism. They just brought back some memories from my primary school days. Just to give a brief discussion of what the theories discuss:

1. Behaviourism (developed by Pavlov and Skinner) - argues that the learner must be treated as a clean slate (has no clue of what is happening and required) and that his/her learning behaviour will be shaped or determined by both positive and/or negative reinforcement.




For example: remember in lower grades when we worked hard on our school work just for that "gold-star" on our little foreheads? and did we walk tall for the whole classroom to see us and envy us? Priceless - according to Behaviourism Learning Theory, that is positive reinforcement that is proven to assist in enforcing learning. This simply means that learners are motivated on what they will get if they do well.


Have you even been told to write "I will do my homework" times 2500 times? after that the first thing you wanted to get rid of when you get home was to do that homework and move on with your day (example of negative reinforcement), can also provide positive results in enforcing learning. However, this theory argued that there are no guaranteed outcomes on what results can be produced by negative reinforcement.


2. Constructivism (by Jean Piaget) - argues that learning is about how learners make sense of the world. However, constructivism disagrees with Behaviourism on the point that a learner is a "clean slate). This theory believes that learners bring along life experiences as part of learning and use them to solve situations. For example: class debates are a good example of constructive learning (learners learn from other learners). Here, learners will engage on the conversations based on what they have experienced in their lives or that of their peers/community.


Comments

  1. OZZY19 August 2017 at 02:35

    The theories were interesting, I was thinking back to my school days in how my teachers taught me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nonto21 August 2017 at 00:43

    Very interesting reflections, to think that most schools still use the stimulus method to get learners to do the work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown21 August 2017 at 02:14

    well I am not too sure if it still works with the new generations, with all the rights they have these days, you will be scared to do anything to them

    ReplyDelete

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