Learning Theories

and
Integration Models
(Integrating Educational
Technology into Teaching)

Learning Theory
Is a body of psychological
research

that

describes

how people modify their

behavior patterns as a
result

of

experience
experiences
model.

personal
or
of

the
a

role

Integration
A

combination;

combination of parts or
objects

that

together well.

work

Current Educational Goals and

Methods
Directed instruction: is grounded primarily
in

behaviorist

learning

theory

and

the

information processing branch of the cognitive

learning theories (IETIE p55), such as drill
and practice, and tutorials.
Constructivism:

evolved

from

other

branches of thinking in cognitive learning

theory (IETIE p55), such as problem solving,
multimedia applications, telecommunications.

Differences in Terminology

Advocates
of directed
instruction
say:

To Describe
Directed Instruction
Teacherdirected
Systematic
instruction
Systems
approaches

To Describe
Constructivism
Discovery
learning
Unstructured
learning
Self-directed
learning

Differences in Terminology

Advocates
of Constructivism
say:

To Describe
Directed Instruction
Teachercentered
Knowledge
transfer
Transmission
models

To Describe
Constructivism
Studentcentered
Knowledge
construction
Generative
learning
models

Differences in Philosophical
Foundations
Constructivists and their opposites come
from separate and very different planets
(Molenda,1991; Philips,1995).
Philosophers believe that knowledge has
a separate, real existence of its own
outside the human mind(IETIT p.56).

Differences in Philosophical
Foundations( cont.)
Advocates of directed instruction believe that learning

happens when knowledge is transmitted to the learner.

Constructivist philosophers believe that humans

construct all knowledge in their minds, so that learning
happens when a learner constructs both mechanisms
for learning and his or her own unique version of the
knowledge, colored by back and etc( Willis, 1995).

Instructional Needs Met by Two

Instructional Models
Needs Addressed by Directed Instruction
1. Individual pacing and remediation, when a
teachers time is limited.
2.

Making

learning

paths

more

efficient,

especially for instruction in skills that are

prerequisite to higher-level skills.

Instructional Needs Met by Two

Instructional Models (cont.)
3. Performing time-consuming and labor-intensive
tasks,

freeing

teaching

time

for

other, more

complex student needs.

4.

Supplying

the

sequence

for

self-instruction,

especially when human teachers are not available,

teacher time for structured reviews is limited,
and /or students are already highly motivated to
learn skills.

Instructional Needs Met by

Two Instructional Models
(cont.)
Needs addressed by Constructivism
1. Making skills more relevant to students back ground
and experiences by anchoring learning tasks in
meaningful, authentic, highly visual situations.
2. Addressing motivation problems through interactive
activities in which students must play active rather
than passive roles.

Instructional Needs Met by

Two Instructional Models
(cont.)
3. Teaching students how to work together to
solve

problems

through

group-based,

cooperative learning activities.

4. Emphasizing engaging, motivational activities
that require higher-level skills and prerequisite
lower-lever skills at the same time.

Summary of Characteristics of
the Two Instructional Models
Directed instructional models tend to:
1. Focus on teaching sequences of skills that begin with
lower-level skills and build to higher-level skills.
2. Clearly state skill objectives with test items matched
to them.
3. Stress more individualized work than group work.
4.

Emphasize
methods.

traditional

teaching

and

assessment

Summary of Characteristics of
the Two Instructional
Models(cont.)
Constructivist leaning models tend to:
1. Focus on learning through posing problems, exploring
possible

answers,

and

developing

products

and

presentations.
2. Pursue more global goals that specify general abilities
such as problem solving and research skills.
3. Stress more group work than individualized work.

Summary of Characteristics of
the Two Instructional
Models(cont.)
4. Emphasize alternative learning and assessment
methods: exploration of open-ended questions and
scenarios, doing research and developing products;
assessment

by

student

portfolios,

performance

checklists, and tests with open-ended questions;

descriptive narratives written by teachers.

Learning Theories Associated

with Directed Instruction
Behavioral theories.

Behavioral theorists concentrated on immediately

observable changes in performance as indicators of
learning (IETIT p59).
Information-processing theories.

Focused on the memory and storage processes that

make learning possible.

B. F. Skinner
Psychologist

Burrhus Frederic "B. F."

Skinner (Mar 20, 1904
August 18, 1990) was an
American
psychologist,
behaviorist,
author,
inventor,
and
social
philosopher. He was the
Edgar Pierce Professor of
Psychology at Harvard
University from 1958 until
his retirement in 1974.

Skinners Behaviorist Theories

of Learning
Stimulus. An event, combination of
relationship among events that affect
perception.

events, or
a learners

Reinforcement.
An event that increases the probability
immediately preceded it.

of an act that

Contingencies of reinforcement.
Arranging situations for the learner in which
reinforcement is made contingent upon a correct
response.

Skinners Behaviorist Theories

of Learning (cont.)
Respondents.
Reflex actions elicited by a given stimulus.
Operants.
Responses without any obvious stimulus,
which are, therefore, attributed to internal
processes in the brain.

The Contributions of
Behavioral Theories
Grandfather of Behaviorism, B.F. Skinner
generated much of the experimental data that
serves as the basis for behavioral learning
theory.
Two behavioral principles:
1. Behavior modification techniques
in classroom management.
2. Programmed instruction.

The Contributions of
Information Processing
Theories
Emphasis on sensory input, memory, and
application.
Didnt agree with the behaviorists view that
stimulus-response learning alone could form
the basis for building higher-level skills.
More concerned with the internal processes.
cognitive structures
advance organizers

Three Tasks to Link

Learning Theories
1. Develop & State prerequisite skills
2. Supply instructional conditions
3. Determine the type of learning.
systematic instructional design
(foundational) or systems approaches
(self-contained tutorials).

Robert M. Gagn
Psychologist

Robert
Mills
Gagn
(August 21, 1916 April
28,
2002)
was
an
American
educational
psychologist best known
for his "Conditions of
Learning".
Gagn
pioneered the science of
instruction during World
War II when he worked
with the Army Air Corps
training pilots.

Gagnes Principles
Events of Instruction.
1. Gaining attention

2. Informing the learner of the objective

3. Stimulating recall of
prerequisite learning
4. Presenting new material
5. Providing learning guidance
6. Eliciting performance

Gagnes Principles
(cont.)
7. Providing feedback about correctness
8. Assessing performance
9. Enhancing retention and recall

Types of learning
1. Intellectual skills
-- Problem solving
--Higher-order rules
--Defined concepts

Gagnes Principles
(cont.)
--Concrete concepts
--Discriminations
2. Cognitive strategies
3. Verbal information
4. Motor skills
5. Attitudes

The InformationProcessing Theorists

WM(ST)

Sensory Register
Working (STM)
Long Term Register

LT

Managing the Complexity

of Teaching
Gagne specialized in the use of
instructional task analysis to identify
required sub-skills and conditions of
learning for them. Briggss expertise
was
in
systematic
methods
of
designing training programs to save
companies time and money. Together
the two are credited with ISD.

Managing the Complexity

of Teaching (cont.)
When they combined these two area
of expertise, the result was known as
a systems approach to instructional
design or systematic instructional
design came into use in the 1970 s
and 1980s (IETIT p63).

Evaluate and Improve

Teaching Plans
Instructional goals and objectives
Instructional analysis (task analysis)
Tests and measures
Instructional strategies
Evaluating and revising instruction

Directed Methods:
Problems
Students cannot solve problems
Students
find
directed
unmotivating and irrelevant.

instruction

Students cannot work cooperatively.

Learning Theories
Associated with
Constructivism
Constructivists strategies attempt to account
for and remedy perceived deficiencies in
behaviorist
and
information-processing
theories and the teaching methods based on
them.
Constructivists try to inspire students to see
the relevance of what they learn to prevent
what the CTGV (1990) call inert
knowledge (IETIT p65)

The Contributions of
Early Cognitive
Learning Theories
Dewey
Laying the theoretical ground-work for many
characteristics of todays educational system.
Progressive Movement in Education
Lev Vygotsky
scaffolding and zone of proximal
development twin concept.

Lev Vygotsky: Scaffold

Implications for education Vygotskys:
1. Education is
personalities.

intended

to

develop

childrens

2. Develop human potential.

3. Help students master their inner
values.
4. Direct and guide the individual activities of
students.
5. Link student learning with individual development.

Lev Vygotsky
Psychologist

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky

(Nov 17, 1896 June 11,
1934)
was
a
Soviet
Belarusian psychologist, the
founder of a theory of
human cultural and biosocial
development
commonly
referred to as culturalhistorical psychology, and
leader of the Vygotsky
Circle.

John Dewey
Philosopher

John Dewey (October

20, 1859 June 1,
1952) was an American
philosopher,
psychologist,
and
educational
reformer
whose ideas have been
influential in education
and social reform.

The Contributions of Early

Cognitive Learning
Theories(cont.)
Piaget
Stages of Cognitive Development in children
ranging from sensory motor to formal
operations (IETIT p65). Experiences a child
has helps it experience, assimilate, and
adapt to its environment.
Jerome Bruner - intellectual development
with intervention (active participation)

Jean Piaget
Psychologist

Jean Piaget (August 9, 1896

- September 16, 1980) was a
Swiss
developmental
psychologist
and
philosopher known for his
epistemological studies with
children. His theory of
cognitive development and
epistemological view are
together called "genetic
epistemology".

Jerome Bruner
Psychologist

Jerome Seymour Bruner

(October 1, 1915) is a
psychologist who has made
significant contributions to
human cognitive psychology
and cognitive learning theory
in educational psychology, as
well as to history and to the
general
philosophy
of
education.

Piagets Theories
Ormrod (1995)summarizes Piagets basic
assumptions about childrens cognitive
development in the following way:
1. Children
learners.

are

active

and

motivated

2. Their knowledge of the world becomes

more integrated and organized over
time.

Piagets Theories
(cont.)
3. Children learn through the processes of
assimilation and accommodation.
4.Cognitive
development
depends
on
interaction with ones physical and social
environment.
5. The processes of equilibration helps to
develop increasingly complex levels of
thought.

Piagets Theories (cont.)

6. Cognitive development can occur only
after certain genetically controlled
neurological changes occur.
7. Cognitive development occurs in
four qualitatively different stages.
(IETIE p67)

Jerome Bruners Theories

Enactive stage - initiation of actions
Iconic stage - use of imagery
Symbolic stage - representations
Six indicators or benchmarks that revealed
cognitive growth.
1. Responding to situations differently.
2. Internalizing events into a storage system.

Jerome Bruner Theories

(cont.)
3. Increased capacity for language.
4. Systematic interaction with a tutor.
5. Language as an instrument for ordering the
environment.
6. Increasing
demands.

capacity

to

deal

with

multiple

Discovery Learning is most successful with

prerequisite knowledge & structured experiences.

Paperts microworlds
Like Piaget, Papert characterized children as

builders of their own intellectual structures, and he

asserted that these structures developed in a
certain order(IETIT p68).
Logo offered what he called mircroworlds, or self-

contained, orderly environments that children could

use as incubators for knowledge (IETIT p69).

Seymour Papert
Mathematician

Seymour
Papert
(February 29, 1928 )
is
an
MIT
mathematician,
computer
scientist,
and educator. He is
one of the pioneers of
artificial
intelligence,
as well as an inventor
of
the
Logo
programming
language.

John Seely Browns Theories

Inert knowledge, a term introduced in
1929 by Whitehead, is a problem which was
identified by John Seely Brown.
Cognitive apprenticeships is a term that
refers to a students ability to transfer
knowledge in meaningful ways.

John Seely Brown

John Seely Brown (1940),
also known as "JSB", is a
researcher who specializes in
organizational studies with a
particular bent towards the
organizational implications of
computer-supported
activities.

CTGV
Stands for The Cognition and Technology
Group at Vanderbilt.
Anchored instruction or teaching that is
situated
in
engaging,
problem-rich
environments
that
allow
sustained
exploration by students and teachers
(IETIT p 70).
Generative learning

Characteristics of
Constructivist Approaches
Problem-oriented activities.
Visual formats and mental models.
Rich environments.
Cooperative or collaborative(group)
learning.
Learning through exploration.
Authentic assessment methods.

Constructivist Methods

How can one certify skill learning?

How much prior knowledge is needed?
Can students choose the most effective
instruction?
Which topics suits Constructivist methods?

Constructivist Methods (cont.)

Will skills transfer to practical situations?

What objective evidence demonstrates the
effects of Constructivist methods?

Integration Strategies Based

on Directed Models
Integration to remedy identified weaknesses.
Integration
to
promote
fluency
automaticity of prerequisite skills.

or

Integration to make learning efficient for

highly motivated students.
Integration to optimize scarce resources.
Integration to remove logistical hurdles.

Integration Strategies Based

on Constructivist Models
Integration
learning.

to

generate

motivational

Integration to foster creativity.

Integration to facilitate self-analysis and
metacognition.
Integration to increase transfer
knowledge to problem solving.

of

Integration to foster group cooperation.

Education should not

merely be a preparation
for future life but a full life
in itself.
John Dewey