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Behaviourist Theory

1. The document discusses five different theories of teaching and learning: behaviourism, social/humanist, cognitivism, constructivism, and metacognition. 2. Behaviourism focuses only on observable behaviours, social/humanist theories emphasize natural desire to learn and learner empowerment, and cognitivism views learning as a function of mental processes like thinking. 3. Constructivism argues humans generate knowledge through experience and ideas, and the teacher guides students to reflect and build knowledge. Metacognition refers to higher-order thinking involving control over cognitive processes during learning.

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khairul
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173 views

Behaviourist Theory

1. The document discusses five different theories of teaching and learning: behaviourism, social/humanist, cognitivism, constructivism, and metacognition. 2. Behaviourism focuses only on observable behaviours, social/humanist theories emphasize natural desire to learn and learner empowerment, and cognitivism views learning as a function of mental processes like thinking. 3. Constructivism argues humans generate knowledge through experience and ideas, and the teacher guides students to reflect and build knowledge. Metacognition refers to higher-order thinking involving control over cognitive processes during learning.

Uploaded by

khairul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Objective: To find relationships between theory of teaching and learning

1. Behavioural Theory
Behaviourism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable
behaviours and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behaviour theorists
define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behaviour based on
environmental conditions

2. Social and Humanist


Social Learning Theory states that learning can be done through observation or
direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement.
Meanwhile, Humanistic theories of learning tend to be highly value-driven and hence
more like prescriptions about what ought to happen rather than descriptions of what
does happen.
They emphasise the "natural desire" of everyone to learn. Whether this natural desire
is to learn whatever it is you are teaching, however, is not clear. It follows from this,
they maintain, that learners need to be empowered and to have control over the
learning process. So the teacher relinquishes a great deal of authority and becomes
a facilitator.

3. Cognitivist
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding
through thought, experience, and the senses. In psychology, cognitivism is a
theoretical framework for understanding the mind that gained credence in the 1950s.
The movement was a response to behaviourism, which cognitivists said neglected to
explain cognition.
The cognitivist revolution replaced behaviourism in 1960s as the dominant paradigm.
Cognitivism focuses on the inner mental activities opening the black box of the
human mind is valuable and necessary for understanding how people learn. Mental
processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving need to be
explored. Knowledge can be seen as schema or symbolic mental constructions.
Learning is defined as change in a learners schemata.
As a response to behaviourism, people are not programmed animals that merely
respond to environment stimuli. People are rational beings that require active
participation in order to learn, and whose actions are a consequence of thinking

changes in behaviour are observed, but only as an indication of what is occurring in


the learners head. Cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind as computer,
information comes in, is being processed, and leads to certain outcomes.

4. Constructivist
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate
knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their
ideas. It has influenced a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology,
education and the history of science.
In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of
different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging
students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create
more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how
their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the
students pre-existing conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then
build on them.
Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is
helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies,
students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives
them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom
environment, the students learn how to learn.
ou might look at it as a spiral. When they continuously reflect on their experiences,
students find their ideas gaining in complexity and power, and they develop
increasingly strong abilities to integrate new information. One of the teacher's main
roles becomes to encourage this learning and reflection process.

For example: Groups of students in a science class are discussing a problem in


physics. Though the teacher knows the "answer" to the problem, she focuses on
helping students restate their questions in useful ways. She prompts each student to
reflect on and examine his or her current knowledge. When one of the students
comes up with the relevant concept, the teacher seizes upon it, and indicates to the
group that this might be a fruitful avenue for them to explore. They design and

perform relevant experiments. Afterward, the students and teacher talk about what
they have learned, and how their observations and experiments helped (or did not
help) them to better understand the concept.

Contrary to criticisms by some conservative or traditional educators, constructivism


does not dismiss the active role of the teacher or the value of expert knowledge.
Constructivism modifies that role, so that teachers help students to construct
knowledge rather than to reproduce a series of facts. The constructivist teacher
provides tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities with
which students formulate and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and
pool and convey their knowledge in a collaborative learning environment.
Constructivism transforms the student from a passive recipient of information to an
active participant in the learning process. Always guided by the teacher, students
construct their knowledge actively rather than just mechanically ingesting knowledge
from the teacher or the textbook.

Constructivism is also often misconstrued as a learning theory that compels students


to "reinvent the wheel." In fact, constructivism taps into and triggers the student's
innate curiosity about the world and how things work. Students do not reinvent the
wheel but, rather, attempt to understand how it turns, how it functions. They become
engaged by applying their existing knowledge and real-world experience, learning to
hypothesize, testing their theories, and ultimately drawing conclusions from their
findings.

5. Metacognition
Knowing about knowing. It is a process of the mind that invoke its awareness in
terms of learning beyond just simple process of remembering and critical process of
cognition.
In actuality, defining metacognition is not that simple.
"Metacognition" is one of the latest buzz words in educational psychology, but what
exactly is metacognition? The length and abstract nature of the word makes it sound
intimidating, yet its not as daunting a concept as it might seem. We engage in
metacognitive activities every day. Metacognition enables us to be successful
learners, and has been associated with intelligence (e.g., Borkowski, Carr, &
Pressley, 1987; Sternberg, 1984, 1986a, 1986b). Metacognition refers to higher order
thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in
learning. Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning task,
monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress toward the completion of a task
are metacognitive in nature. Because metacognition plays a critical role in successful
learning, it is important to study metacognitive activity and development to determine
how students can be taught to better apply their cognitive resources through
metacognitive control.

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