Week 10: Learning theory

This week we learned about different learning theories and styles. The two that were focused on were behaviorism and constructivism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior can be modified and that cause and effect relationships are internal and cannot be seen. One method of conditioning is called classical conditioning. Some examples would be advertisements and whistles on a sports field. Operant conditioning is changing someone's behavior by using consequences. The three components that go along with this type of conditioning are reinforcement, extinction and punishment. The information process theory is another idea we learned. It consists of the change in behavior that is visible to the observer. The computer analogy is often used to describe how learned information is processed. It suggests that there are three different memory stores that work together. They are process, store and retrieve information.
Another theory is the constructivist theory. It is the idea that all knowledge is created by participating in experiences. Learning occurs when the person creates his/her own version of the information. Problem oriented activities, complex environments, cooperative learning, and project based learning are all recommended for this type of learning. There are problems with it though. One is the fact that the teacher cannot verify individual skill levels. Students might not have the prerequisites needed or they may not choose the most efficient method, not all topics are designed for this type of learning and the skills obtained might not work in practical situations.
There is not really one best choice. As a teacher, I will have to keep in mind the fact that everyone learns differently and that I should used multiple strategies when teaching. Some students are more visual while others prefer to listen. While I might have students do some groupd projects, I will need to remember that not everyone likes working with others and that some students learn better on their own. These theories are important to know so that I can use different strategies in the classroom.

This is a website that I thought was very interesting. You have to click on each question in order to read what is written. It was cool, because not only did it provide a background on constructivism, but it also compared comstructivist learning to traditional learning. It also talked about the pros and cons as well as some ideas that can be used in the classroom for students to demonstrate what they have learned.

Constuctivism in the Classroom