Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Definition of learning- is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills,
knowledge, understanding, values and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience.
It is therefore a relatively permanent change in behavior.
Other Definitions:
1. A process inferred from relatively stable changes in behavior that result through practice of
interaction with and adaptation to the environment (Goodwin and Klausmeier)
2. The development of new associations as a result of experience ( Good and Grophy).
3. The modification of an organism’s behavior as a result of maturation and environmental
experience.
Theories of Learning
a. Law of effect
b. Law of exercise
c. Law of readiness
E. Wolfgang Kohler’s Insight Theory- Gaining insight is a gradual processes of exploring analyzing and
restructuring perceptions until a solution is arrived at.
F. Gestalt Theoru (Kohlerm Wertheimer and Koffka)- The primary focus of this theory is on PERCEPTION
and how people assign meanings to visual stimuli,”The whole is more than the sum of all its parts”
G. Kurt Lewin’s Topological and Vector Theory (Field Theory)- the behavior of an individual at a given
moment is the result of existing forces operating simultaneously in his life space. (Internal and External
forces).
I. Information processing Theory- The theory describes the psychological events in terms of
transformations of information form input to output. It stresses the value of perception, attention and
memory in the learning process.
Type of Learning:
The Theory of Transfer of Learning was introduced by Thorndike and Woodworth (1901). They explored
how individuals would transfer learning in one context to another context that shared similar characteristics.
Their theory implied that transfer of learning depends on the learning task and the transfer task being
identical, also known as “identical elements. There is a close relationships between transfer of learning and
problem solving a problem in a new situation.
Type Characteristics
Metacogntion- refers to thinking about cognition ( memory, perception, calculation, association, etc.) itself
or to think/reason about one’s own thinking.
Metacognition involves two types of knowledge: 1) explicit, conscious, factual knowledge, and 2)
implicit/unconsciousness knowledge.
The efforts of metacognition are aimed at developing learner autonomy, independence and self-
regulated learners.
A reward is that which follows an occurrence of a specific behavior with the intention of acknowledging
the behavior in a positive way. A reward often has the intent of encouraging the behavior to happen again.
There are two kinds of rewards, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are external to, or outside of, the individual;
for example, praise or money. Intrinsic rewards are internal to or within, the individual; for example,
satisfaction or accomplishment.
Some authors distinguish between two forms of intrinsic motivation: on based on enjoyment, the other on
obligation. In this context, obligation refers to motivation bases on what an individual thinks ought to be
done. For, instance, a feeling of responsibility for a mission may lead to helping others beyond what is
easily observable, rewarded, or fun.
A reinforce is different from reward, in that reinforcement is intended to create a measured increase in the
rate of a desirable behavior following the addition of something to the environment.
Intrinsic motivation is evident when people engage in an activity for its own sake, without some obvious
external incentive present. A hobby is a typical example.
Intrinsic motivation has been intensely studied by educational psychologists since the 1970s, and numerous
studies have found it to be associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by the students.
There us currently no”grand unified theory” to explain the origin or elements of intrinsic motivation. Most
explanations combine elements of Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory, Bandura’s work on self-efficacy
and other studies relating to locus of control and goal orientation. Thus it is thought that students are more
like to experience intrinsic motivation if they:
Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (eg. The amount of effort they put
in, not fixed ability).
Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (eg. The results are not determined by dumb
luck).
Are motivated towards deep mastery of a topic, instead of just rote-learning performance to get good grades.
In knowledge-sharing communities and organizations, people often cite altruistic reasons for their
participation, including contributing to a common good, a moral obligation to the group, mentoship or
giving back”. This model if intrinsic motivation has emerged from three decades of research by hundreds
of educationalists and still evolving.
In work environments, money is typically viewed as an important goal ( having food, clothes etc) may well
be more powerful than the direct motivation provided by an enjoyable worklace.
Issues regarding learning style are somewhat related, i.e students that willing and able to think in more
abstract terms and/or to critically examine what they do may show better performance.
A learning style refers to the relationship between individuals and their ways of learning whereas learning
strategies refer to attitudes and behavior that is oriented towards goals . As an example, one could
compare/oppose.
Self-assessment Self-assessment
Situated learning has antecedents in the work of Gibson (theory of affordances) and Vygotsky ( social
learning). In addition, the theory of Schoenfield on mathematical problem solving embodies some of the
critical elements of situated learning framework. Situated learning is a general theory of knowledge
acquisition. It has been applied in the context of technology-based learning activities for schools that focus
in problem-solving skills.
1. Knowledge needs to be presented in an authentic context, i.e, setting and applications that would
normally involve that knowledge
2. Learning requires social interaction and collaboration.
Multiple Intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligence was developed in 1983 by Dr, Howard Gardner, professor of education
at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligences to account for a broader range
of human potential inchildren and adults.
Learning Preferences
Visual/Verbal
Visual/Nonverbal
Tactile/Kinesthetic
Auditory Verbal
An exceptional child is one that is different in some way form the” normal” ot”average” child. The term
“exceptional child” includes those with special problems related to physical disabilities, sensory
impairments, emotional disturbances, learning disabilities and metal retardation. Most exceptional children
require a lot of understanding and patience as well as special education and related services if they are to
reach their full potential development.