Comparison Of Two Major Learning Theories

Throughout the semester we have studied many different Learning theorists and their different learning theories. The two theorists that stood out were Jean Piaget and William Kay Estes. Estes created a stimulus sampling theory which explained learning through stimulus-response, but also believed that learning is always happening and continuous as you keep making stimulus-response pairings. Piaget had a theory of cognitive development that explained how there is four different stages to children's cognitive development. These two theorists explain learning in two different ways that can explain the learning behavior of children and adults.

-Behaviourism Theory is maintaining a focusing on the change in observable way as the formal way of learning.

How do people learn? Years of research and multiple theories have emerged in order to answer to this age-old question. Three of the leading learning theories that are being utilized today include behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Ertmer and Newby (2013) composed a paper that delved into the details of these theories in order to compare them. They touched lightly on the history of each theory, and then answered a set of questions about each theory with the goal of distinguishing them from one another. In distinguishing the theories, they hoped to make the theories more applicable to the field of instructional design.

The purpose of this essay is to show an understanding of the main learning theories. This assessment will allow the chance to begin applying these theories in a classroom setting by using an essay that analyses teaching practice within classroom. By looking further into the statement ‘Effective teachers need a range of strategies to ensure that students learn’. Critically using personal beliefs about learning as well as teaching to reflect on these beliefs as well as considering their influence of developmental factors within the classroom, to show that it is vital for a fully working classroom. For a teacher to have a variety of strategies so their student s learns as effective as possible.

Behaviorism was a slow revolution that proved to become a popular study within psychology that lasted through the second decade of the twentieth century and through the beginning of the cognitive science revolution (Behjamin, 2014). During this time, there had been a vast amount of academic individuals that contributed to the multifaceted studies within the context of behaviorism. Many of the studies within this movement were based on the concept that all behaviors are the result of conditioning which the individual could be trained in an identified manner regardless of their previous background. In respect to the worldview of this psychological approach, it assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli (n/a, 2016). The theory discusses that the learner begins with a clean slate and the behavior is then shaped through the use of negative or positive reinforcement or reinforcement which increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will occur again (n/a, 2016). In contrast, punishment (positive and negative) decreases the likelihood the antecedent behavior will occur again. In respect to the act of positive reinforcement, the application of a stimulus in action, negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus (n/a, 2016). Learning is defined as a change in behaviors of the learner, but in this approach, it is considered to be created with reinforcement. In regards to the benefits of allowing researchers to investigate observable

The learning (or behaviourist) approach, at its core, is about how experience affects our behaviour and how we learn behaviours. This approach postulates that all humans are born as ‘blank slates’ and we become shaped by the environment that the person lives in. Behaviourism is concerned with the observable characteristics of humankind; their behaviour. This approach dismisses any internal workings because these workings are too subjective and difficult to observe; whereas observable behaviour can be scientifically and objectively measured, so more concrete theories can be based off the research undertaken into behaviour. Unsurprisingly, the behaviourist approach works closely with the experimental branch of psychology, and it also works

There exist several theories that support learning. These are the conceptual guidelines and frameworks that explain how information from a tutor is absorbed by students, processed and then retained.

Behaviourism is the theory that human beings and animals can be conditioned to act a certain way. This started with the observations from Pavlov in 1902, in which he conducted and experiment with a dog. He started his theory from the idea that there are many things a dog does not have to learn.

One theorist who has contributed to behaviourism was John B. Watson who had the idea that all behaviours can be trained, measured and changed. One theorist who has contributed to the theory is Pavlov. He came up with the idea of classical conditioning which is the process of learning behaviours through association. There are 3 stages of classic conditioning. The first stage involves an unconditioned stimulus when produces an unconditioned response. This means that the response to the unconditioned stimulus has not been learnt

One of the simplest and most commonly-used methods of conceptualizing learning is that of reinforcement theory (Noe 2010: 142). Every time a parent promises a child a toy for being good during a grocery store trip or threatens a teen with being grounded for bad grades, he or she is using reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is based upon the assumption that people want to experience as much pleasure as possible and avoid pain. Thus, businesses offer workers bonuses for good work, and issue reprimands (such as docking pay or denying a promotion) for poor behavior.

Learning has indeed a contradictory aspect. It differs with the time, persons, and locations. Sometimes, it can be simple or complex, but its diverse meaning and behaviour causing facets make it the entity that synergizes

Learning is defined as a, "relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience" (Myers, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to present a critical analysis of the different theoretical approaches and explanations for learning through an examination of the theories of behaviorism, social learning and cognitive. I will investigate the principles and postulates of each theory, their strengths and their weaknesses. It is my belief that because each theory is best applicable to varying types of learning, it is best that a combination of each is used to provide the most complete learning experience.

Despite Richard Fox criticized that constructivist view of learning is essentially a process of making sense of the world. (Fox,2001), I believe, we do not learn a definition and go apply it, we learn by looking at things, noticing similarities, bringing those similarities together and exerting ourselves to make sense.

Behaviourism, along with several newer variations that have names like information processing theory, emphasize the learning of facts and skills that authorities, such as teachers or school boards, have decided are important. While these theories have many different names we will use the term behaviourism here. Names associated with behaviourism include John Watson, an American psychologist who was very influential in the 1920s and 1930s, and B. F. Skinner, another American psychologist who had a tremendous impact on education in the 1950s and

The ways in which children learn is variable, learning practices and singular theories cannot explain by themselves the very process of learning but gives some idea when these theories are viewed simultaneously; working through the limitations and expressing the benefits held across the theoretical principles. This assignment will analyse and critically evaluate behaviourist and cognitivist theories in terms of learning and education; reflecting back on application to a classroom environment. This assignment delves into areas of behaviourism developed by Skinner, Bandura, and Pavlov to name a few; which mainly works on the principle expedited by Pavlov, taking the name ‘Classical Conditioning’ of learning; which can be linked back into classroom practice; for children need to feel that they are in a positive, inductive centre of learning where they associate the positive environment with the educational situation they are placed within (Alan Pritchard, (2009)). The other side of the coin however delves into the constructivist or cognitivist theories developed by such theorists as Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner. Cognitivist theory mainly focuses on learning as a social principle, in which the learning is the responsibility of the students, who receive and organise their information, with the teacher acting as a facilitator who scaffolds the learning process. This can be linked to classroom practice in terms of ‘Active learning’ and ‘Social transmission’, in which the children