Behaviorism, Cognitivism & Constructivism
CONSTRUCTIVISM
COGNITIVISM
It is considered to be a branch of cognitivism and it distinguishes itself from traditional cognitive theories in a number of ways
Has multiple roots in the philodophical and psychological viewpointsof the century
It is not a new approach to learning
It is a theory that equates lesrning meaning from experience
Constructivists do not share the belief that knowledge is mind-independent and can be "mapped" into a learner
The internal representation of knowledge is constantly open to change
Knowledge emerges in contexts within which it is relevant
Factors that influence learning
Both learner and environmental factos are critical to be constructivist
The interaction between this two variables create knowledge
It is argued that behavior is situationally determined
It is critical that learning occur in realistic settings and that the selected learning tasks be relevant to the students' lived experience
Role of the memory
The goal of instruction is not to ensure that individuals know particular facts but rather that they elaborate on and interpret information
"Memory" is alwasy under construction as a cumulative history of interactions
Constructivists emphasize the flexible use of pre-existing knowledge rather than the recall of packaged schemas
Mental representations developed through task-engagement are likely to increase the efficiency with which subsequent tasks are performed
How transfer occurs
Transfer can be facilitated by involvement in authentic tasks anchored in meaningful contexts
An essential concept os that learning always takes place in a context and that the context forms an inexorable link with the knowledge embedded in it
If learning is decontextualized, there iis little hope for transfer to occur
The goal of instruction is to accurately portray tasks, not to define the structure of learning required to achieve a task
Appropiate and effective use comes from engaging the learner in the actual use of the tools in real-world situations
How instructions should be structured
Constructivists look at the learner as more than just an active processor of information
The role of instruction is to show students:
To promote collaboration with others to show multiple perspective
To arrive at self-chosen positions to which they can commit themselves
How to construct knowledge
The tasks of a designer:
To instruct the student on how to construct meaning, as well as how to effectively monitor, evaluate, and update those constructions
To align and design experiences for the learner so that authentic
Role of memory
Teacher's are responsible for assisting learners in organizing information in some optimal way
Designers use techniques such as advance organizers, analogies, hierarchical relationships, and matrices to help learners relate new information to prior knowledge
Cognitive theories stress the acquisition and internal mental structures and are closer to the rationalist end of the epistemology continuum.
Learning is equated with descrete changes between states of knwoledge
Cognitive theories focus on the conceptualization of students' learning processes and address the issues of how information is received, organized, stored and retrieved by the mind.
Learning is concerned with what they know and how they come to acquire it
The learner is viewed as a very active participant in the learning process
Factors that influence learning
Just like behaviorism, it emphasizes the role that environmental conditions play in facilitating learning
Instructional explanations, demonstrations, illustrative examples and matched non-examples are considered to be instrumental in guiding student learning
The real focus of the cognitive approach is on changing the learner by encouraging them to use appropiate learning strategies
The cognitive approach focuses on the mental activities that lead up to a response and aknowledges processes like:
mental planning
goal-setting
organizational strategies
How transfer occurs
Transfer occurs when a learner understands how to apply knwoledge in different contexts
Transfer is a function of how information is stored in memory
Prior knwoledge is used to establish boundary constraints for identifying the similarities and differences of novel information
The knowledge must be stored in memory as well as the uses of it
How isntructions should be structured
Cognitivsts examine the learner to determine how to design instructions so that it can be readily assimilated
Specific principles that have relevance to instructional design:
Recall of prerequisite skills: use of relevant examples or analogies
Emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate optimal processing
Use of hierarchical analyses to identify and illustrate prerequisite relationships
Emphasis on the active involvement of the learner in the learning process
BEHAVIORISM
Behaviorism equates learning with changed in either the form or frequency of observable performance
Learning is accpmplished when a proper response is demosntrated following the presentation of a specfific environmental stimulus
Learning is accomplished when a proper response is demonstrated following the presentation of a specific environmental stimulus
Focuses on the importance of the consequences of those performances and contends that responses that are followed by reinforcement
The learner is characterized as being reactive to conditions in the environment as opposed to taking an active role in discovering the environment
Factors that influence learning
Both learner and environmental factoes are considered important by behaviorists, environmental conditions receive the great emphasis
The most critical factor is the arrangement of stimuli and consequences within the environment
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How transfer occurs
Transfer refers to the application of learned knowledge in new ways or situations just as to how prior learning affects new learning
Transfer is a result of generalization
Situations involving identical or similar features allow behaviors to transfer across common elements
How instructions should be instructures
The goal of instruction is to elicit the desired response from the learner who is presented with a target stimulus
The learner must know how to execute the proper response
Instruction frequently uses cues to initially prompt the delivery of the response and reinforcement to strengthen correct responding in the presence of the target stimulus
arrange practice situations in which prompts are paired with the target stimuli
The job of the teacher/designer is to:
determine which cues can elicit the desired responses