BEHAVIORISM

How Does Learning Occur?

• Behaviorism equates learning with changes in either the form or
frequency of observable performance. Learning is accomplished when
a proper response is demonstrated following the presentation of a
specific environmental stimulus.
• Behaviorism focuses on the importance of the consequences of those
performances and contends that responses that are followed by
reinforcements are more likely to recur in the future.
• The learner is characterized as being reactive to conditions in the
environment as opposed to taking an active role in discovering the
environment.
WHICH FACTORS INFLUENCE
LEARNING?
• Although both learner and environmental factors are considered
important by behaviorist, environmental conditions receive the
greatest emphasis.
• Behaviorist assess the learners to determine at what point to begin
instruction as well as to determine which reinforcers are most
effective for a particular student.
• The most critical factor, however, is the arrangement of stimuli and
consequences within the environment.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MEMORY?
• Memory, as commonly defined by the layman, is not typically
addressed by behaviorists. Although the acquisition of “habits” is
discussed, little attention is given as to how these habits are stored or
recalled for future use.
• Forgetting is attributed to the “nonuse” of a response overtime.
• The use of periodic practice or review serves to maintain a learner’s
readiness to respond (Schunk, 1991).
HOW DOES TRANSFER OCCUR?
• Transfer refers to the application of learned
knowledge in new ways or situations, as well as to
how prior learning affects new learning.
• In behavioral learning theories, transfer is a result of
generalization.
• Situations involving identical or similar features allow
behaviors to transfer across common elements.
WHAT TYPES OF LEARNING ARE
BEST EXPLAINED BY THIS
POSITION?
• Behaviorist attempt to prescribe strategies that are mostly useful for
building and strengthening stimulus-response associations (Winn,
1990), including the use of instructional cues, practice, and
reinforcement.
• These prescriptions have generally been proven reliable and effective
in facilitating learning that involves:
• Discriminations (recalling facts)
• Generalizations (defining and illustrating concepts)
• Associations (applying explanations) and
• Chaining (automatically performing a specified procedure.
WHAT BASIC ASSUMPTIONS/PRINCIPLES OF
THIS THEORY ARE RELEVANT TO
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN?
• Many of the basic assumptions and characteristics of behaviorism are
embedded in current instructional design practices.
• Specific assumptions or principles that have direct relevance to
instructional design include the following:
• An emphasis on producing observable and measurable outcomes in students.
• Pre-assessment of students to determine where instruction should begin
• Emphasis on mastering early steps before progressing to more complex levels
of performance
• Use of reinforcement to impact performance
• Use of cues, shaping and practice to ensure a strong stimulus-response
association
HOW SHOULD INSTRUCTION BE
STRUCTURED?
• The goal of instruction for the behaviorist is to elicit the desired
response from the learner who is presented with a target stimulus.
• Behavioral theories imply that the job of the teacher/designer is to:
• Determine which cues can elicit the desired responses
• Arrange practice situations in which prompts are paired with the target
stimuli that initially have no eliciting power but which will be expected to
elicit the responses in the “natural” (performance) setting
• Arrange environmental conditions so that the students can make the correct
responses in the presence of those target stimuli and receive reinforcement
for those responses (gropper,1987)
COGNITIVISM
HOW DOES LEAARNING OCCUR?
• Cognitive theories stress the acquisition of knowledge and internal
mental structures and, as such, are closer to the rationalist end of the
epistemology continuum (Bower & Hilgard, 1981)
• Learning is equated with discrete changes between states of
knowledge rather than with changes in probability of responses.
• Cognitive theories focus on the conceptualization of student’s
learning processes and address the issues of how information is
received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind.
WHICH FACTORS INFLUENCE
LEARNING?
• Cognitivism, like behaviorism, emphasizes the role that
environmental conditions play in facilitating learning.
• The cognitive approach focuses on the mental activities of
the learner that lead up to a response and acknowledges the
processes of mental planning, goal setting, and
organizational strategies (Shuel, 1986)
• The real focus of the cognitive approach is on changing the
learner by encouraging him/ her to use appropriate learning
strategies.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MEMORY?
• Memory is given a prominent role in the learning process.
• Learning results when information is stored in memory in an
organized, meaningful manner.
• Teacher/designers are responsible for assisting learners in organizing
that in formation in some optimal way.
• Forgetting is the inability to retrieve information from memory
because of interference, memory loss, or missing or inadequate cues
needed to access information.
WHAT TYPES OF LEARNING ARE
BEST EXPLAINED BY THIS
POSITION?
• Because of the emphasis on mental structures, cognitive
theories are usually considered more appropriate for
explaining complex forms of learning than are those of a
more behavioral perspective (Schunk, 1991)
• Behaviorist would focus on the design of the environment to
optimize that transfer, while cognitivist would stress efficient
processing strategies.
WHAT BASIC ASSUMPTIONS/PRINCIPLES OF THS
THEORY IS RELEVANT TO INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN?

• Many of the instructional strategies advocated and utilized by

cognitivist are also emphasized by behaviorist, yet usually for different
reasons. An obvious commonality is the use of feedback.
• Specific assumptions or principles that have direct relevance to
instructional design include the following:
• Emphasis on the active involvement of the learner in the learning process
• Use of hierarchical analyses to identify and illustrate prerequisite
relationships
• Emphasis on structuring, organizing, and sequencing information to facilitate
optimal processing
• Creation of learning environments that allow and encourage students to make
connections with previously learned material
HOW SHOULD INSTRUCTION BE
STRUCTURED?
• Cognitive theories emphasize making knowledge meaningful and
helping learners organize and relate new information to existing
knowledge in memory.
• Instruction must be based on a student’s existing mental structures,
or schema, to be effective. It should organize information in such a
manner that learners are able to connect new information with
existing knowledge in some meaningful way
• Analogies and metaphors are examples of this type of cognitive
strategy.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
HOW DOES LEARNING OCCUR?
• Constructivism is a theory that equates learning with creating
meaning from experience (Bednar et sl., 1991)
• Constructivist do not share with cognitivist and behaviorist the belief
that knowledge is mind-independent and can be “mapped” onto a
learner.
• Learners do not transfer knowledge from the external world into their
memories; rather they build personal interpretations of the world
based on individual experiences and interactions. Thus, the internal
representation of knowledge is constantly open to change; there is
not an objective reality that learners strive to know.
• Knowledge emerges in contexts within which it is relevant.
WHICH FACTORS INFLUENCE
LEARNING?
• Both learners and environmental factors are critical to the
constructivist, as it is the specific interaction between these two
variables that creates knowledge .
• Just as the learning of new vocabulary words is enhanced by exposure
and subsequent interaction with those words in context, likewise it is
essential that content knowledge be embedded in the situation in
which it is used.
• For this reason, it is critical that learning occur in realistic settings and
that the selected learning tasks be relevant to the student’s live
experience.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MEMORY?
• “memory” is always under construction as a cumulative history of
interaction.
• Constructivist emphasize the flexible use of pre-existing knowledge
rather than recall of prepackaged schemas.
• Clearly the focus of constructivism is on creating cognitive tools which
reflects the wisdom of the culture in which they are used as well as
the insights and experiences of individuals.
• To be successful, meaningful, and lasting, learning must include all
three of these crucial factors: activity, concept, and culture.
HOW DOES TRANSFER OCCUR?
• The constructivist position assumes that transfer can be facilitated by
involvement in authentic tasks anchored in meaningful contexts.
• Since understanding is “indexed” by experience, the authenticity of
the experience becomes critical to the individual’s ability to use ideas.
• One does not learn to use a set of tools by following a list of rules.
Appropriate and effective use comes from engaging the learner in the
actual use of the tools in real-world situations.
• If learning is decontextualized, there is little hope for transfer to occur.
WHAT TYPES OF LEARNING ARE
BEST EXPLAINED BY THIS
POSITION?
• The constructivist view does not accept the assumption that types of
learning can be identified independent of the content and the context of
learning.
• Constructivist believe that it is impossible to isolate units of information or
divide up knowledge domains according to a hierarchical analysis of
relationship.
• Jonassen agrees that introductory knowledge acquisition is better
supported by more objectivistic approaches (behavioral and/ or cognitive)
but suggests a transition to constructivist approaches as learners acquire
more knowledge which provides them with the conceptual power needed
to deal with complex and ill-structured problems.
WHAT BASIC ASSUMPTIONS/PRINCIPLES OF
THIS THEORY ARE RELEVANT TO
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN?
• The following are several specific assumptions or principles from the
constructivist position that have direct relevance for the instructional
designer:
• An emphasis on the identification of the context in which the skills will be
learned and subsequently applied
• An emphasis on learner control and the capability of the learner to manipulate
information
• The need for information to be presented in a variety of different ways
• Supporting the use of problem-solving skills that allow learners to go “beyond
the information given.”
• Assessment focused on transfer of knowledge and skills
HOW SHOULD INSTRUCTION BE
STRUCTURED?
• As one moves along the behaviorist-cognitivist-constructivist
continuum, the focus of instruction shifts from teaching to learning,
from the passive transfer of facts and routines to the active
application of ideas to problems.
• Eventhough the emphasis is on learner construction, the instructional
designer /teacher’s role is still critical. Here the tasks of the designer
are two-fold:
• To instruct the student on how to construct meaning, as well as how to
effectively monitor, evaluate, and update those construction;
• To align and design experiences for the learner so that authentic, relevant
contexts can be experienced.