The Three Different Learning Theories

Learning, as defined by Slavin (2012), is “a change in an individual caused by experience” (p. 116). Learning can occur intentionally or unintentionally. All learning, however, is stimulated by something that is the learner (student) has encountered. As an instructor, your goal every day is to use the right stimuli to capture the student’s attention so they can absorb the knowledge you are trying to share.

Behaviorism is one of the most used theories in education. Due to it can fit in both a classroom setting and at home. Educators had sought out the reason why for many years. But due to each child learns a different way so should the educator. Behaviorism was study by many great Psychologists over the years. Just to name some that had done work and publish books on the subject are, John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, Clark Hull, and B.F. Skinner.

Teachers have an important task of translating learning theories into practice. Knowledge about learning theories allows teachers to consider different approaches and apply various techniques and valuable strategies in specific contexts and with specific learners to promote learning. This essay will provide an insight into three well-known theories of how children learn. It will examine Behaviourism, Social Constructivism and Humanism and how these learning theories underpin a range of pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning and promote inclusive practice.

The readings in module five covered different perspectives on why crime does or does not occur. It covers differential association theory, learning theories, and control theories. Many of these theories play off each other when trying to explain why there is criminal behavior.

The self-directed learning theory is when adults make their own decisions about learning. They have full control over their learning and how it will define their future. Self-directed learning lets adults have their independence in the learning process. For example, students are to do a project on any subject as long as it deals with business. This lets the adults decide what topic they want to do, how they want to put the project together, and allows

In a sense human beings can actually be programmed to react a certain way, we call this learning. In actuality we learn by experiencing certain events which brings forth a permanent behavior. Our learned behaviors may come from nature or nurture. Furthermore we have to keep in mind that not all types of changes in behaviors are due to learning. As previously mentioned, nature contributes to behavior. We are raised to learn as soon as we were babies it starts with the simply and then evolves into more complex processes such as observational, classical and operant learning.

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.

Learning is a multifaceted perception unique to each individual. In looking to address the intricacies of learning, there have been a multitude of learning theories established over the centuries. To this day new theories are developed and traditional theories continue to be developed and expanded upon. (Swinburne Online, 2016)

Latent learning: Latent learning is the one which occurs but it is not evident in behaviour until later,

As we discussed in class, motivation plays an intrinsic role in creating successful self-directed learning. Those who practice this form of learning, in various ways, are driven by personal or external incentives, such as the desire to learn something, or simply for curiosity 's sake, self-esteem and self-efficiency. Because of this self-directed learners are known to take initiative, view issues as challenges to overcome, become confident, have a desire to evolve, and appreciate and seek out learning opportunities (Taylor, 1995).

Cognitive and behavioral learning theories tend to dominate modern discussions of learning theories. Employed in both educational and clinical settings, both have important contributions to understanding how and why individuals learn. Is one approach statistically better than the other, or do they each have their own place where one approach may be more effective under specific circumstances? Each theory has supporters who claim the efficacy of their theory is superior. Comparison of the theories is necessary to determine if one is significantly better than the other, or even if one theory may be slightly more effective than the other. Determining if one competing theory

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.

This essay will compare and contrast three key theories of learning; Behaviourism, Cognitive Learning Theory and Constructivism.

Behavioral Learning Theories Most theorists agree that learning occurs when experience causes a change in a person's knowledge or behavior . Behaviorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli in learning and focus on the behavior, i.e., an observable response. Behavioral theories are based on contiguity, classical and operant conditioning, applied behavior analysis, social learning theory and self-regulation/cognitive behavior modification. Early views of learning were contiguity and classical conditioning.

Learning is no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom or even in the school building itself. In today’s society we are learning more by doing and stumbling than sitting in a desk listening to a teacher lecture. Students are going out in the community doing service projects, getting internships in different career fields to find what they may like, and they are using a variety of technology tools for networking and learning. Going out into the community and being a part of cooperative education experiences provides a social environment, learning experiences and knowledge you cannot get when sitting in the classroom (Fleming, 2015). Our students are not using old school methods of research or learning everything