Essay

Learning is the process of acquiring a skill or technique and is an aspect of nature.

To understand how learning takes place, different theories have been formulated over the
years. Some of the theorists who studied the way learning takes place used facts, laws and
hypotheses to explain the manner in which learning takes place.
The three most popular theories of learning are behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism.
In writing of this essay I proposed the following objectives
1.Creating a constructive vision about behaviorism, cognitivitism ,constructivism.
2.Defining one's own opinion about the mentioned theories.
3.Identifying the conceptual links between behaviorism, cognitivitism ,constructivism.
Human behavior flows from three main sources desire, emotion, and knowledge.
Plato

Motivating students using the behaviorist approach entails laying out objectives at the
beginning of every period Each day, before the teacher begins with the lesson, s/he discusses the
learning objectives to the students. This routine focuses the students towards attaining goals. It
also prepares them for activities designed for the day, and gives them a detail of desired
performances in advance. At the end of the day, a short evaluation should be conducted by the
class. This guides students to determine for themselves if they have accomplished the goals, and
likewise informs the teacher of the need to reinforce skills with follow-up activities.
Behaviorist theory of learning focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of
learning. Some of the most important researchers include Ivan Pavlov, Edward Thorndike and
B.F.Skinner. They believe learning is evident by a change in behavior, the environment shapes
behavior and the principles of relationship with time and reinforcement are central to explaining
the learning process. Skinner’s work focused on the relation between behaviour and its
consequences. For example, if a student’s behaviour is immediately followed by pleasurable
consequences, the child will engage in that particular behaviour more frequently. This is
referred to as operant conditioning.
I believe that the stimulus-response type learning is ineffective, particularly in helping
students gain higher order skills. However, I do believe that behaviorist learning principles can
be applied to certain disciplines for specific purposes. For example, acquiring typing skills is an
example that is often brought up by those in favor of direct instruction. Also, in secondary
language learning, rote memorization of vocabulary is necessary in becoming a proficient
communicator in a different language. In such cases, direct instruction and rote memorization
are good strategies of teaching and learning.
“The principal goal of education is to create individuals who are capable of doing new
things,not simply of repeating what often generations have done.”
Jean Piaget(1896-1980),swiss cognitive psychologist
Information processing theory is often tied to cognitivitist learning theory.
Jean Piaget is an influential psychologist that has contributed greatly to the understanding
of cognitive psychology. Jean Piaget’s work on children’s cognitive development has acquired
much attention within the field of education. One contribution of Piagetian theory concerns the
developmental stages of children’s cognition. His work has afforded mathematics educators
with critical insights into how children learn mathematics concepts and ideas.
It is believed that students need to construct their own understanding of each scientific
concept, so that the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or attempt to ‘transfer’
scientific knowledge. It is to create situations for students that will foster their making the
necessary mental constructions. They do not absorb ideas as teachers present them rather they
create their own knowledge through play and interaction with their environment.
Constructivism focuses on how people learn. It suggests that knowledge in mathematics and
science results from people forming models in response to the questions and challenges that
come from actively engaging mathematics problems and environments.
The teacher is required to “create experiences that engage the student and support his
own explanation, evaluation, and application of the mathematical models needed to make sense
of the experiences”
The teacher can also improve teaching by discovering for various ways to engage
individual students, develop rich environments for exploration and eliciting and communicating
student perceptions and interpretations.
Using strategies such as rehearsal and chunking, information becomes transferred to
long-term memory. Long-term memory is where knowledge is permanently stored. It is
believed that once information is stored in long-term memory, it is never lost. However,
information from long-term memory must be stored efficiently to enable easy retrieval. Endel
Tulving’s discovery of episodic and semantic memory suggested that there were two
information processing systems in long-term memory. Episodic memory was for specific events
and semantic memory is general information. In education, the focus is on semantic memory.
My personal belief about cognitivism is that it strengthens our understanding of learning
from where behaviorist left off, and that its concepts can be applied to constructivist
methodology. Behaviorists believed that the mind was a blank box and, thus, minimized its
importance as a function of learning. However, when cognitivists opened the box, it revealed
cognitive processes that could better describe human learning and engagement
Radical constructivism, thus, is radical because it breaks with convention and develops a
theory of knowledge in which knowledge does not reflect an 'objective' ontological reality.
Paul Watzlawick

It is believed that students need to construct their own understanding of each

mathematical concept, so that the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or attempt
to ‘transfer’ mathematical knowledge. It is to create situations for students that will foster their
making the necessary mental constructions. They do not absorb ideas as teachers present them
rather they create their own knowledge through play and interaction with their environment.
Constructivism focuses on how people learn.It is a theory with the fundamental belief that
knowledge is constructed by the individual and that it is a continuous process. There are a
number of types of constructivism. Trivial constructivism is a combination of information
processing and knowledge construction by the individual. Radical constructivism is attributed to
von Glasersfeld and the idea that knowledge is constructed based on individual experiences.
Social constructivism is attributed to Vygotsky, emphasizing the idea that knowledge is a shared
experience between people. Situativity theory, which is associated to the works of Lave and
Wenger, can be argued as another type of constructivism where the emphasis is on social and
physical context.
Constructivist learning theory should not be confused with constructivist methods of
instruction. Generally, constructivist methods assume a) students are naturally motivated; b)
students actively construct method, rather than have it transmitted by someone else; c) meaning
is created through connecting new information with prior knowledge; d) knowledge can be
personally or socially constructed; and e) knowledge is best constructed in authentic learning
contexts where ill structured problems parallel real life issues and problems.
I believe that constructivism is appropriate for the changing nature of learners in a society
that is changing rapidly. When I was in high school, plagiarism in an English class meant that a
student had copied off of another student or had copied off of Cliff notes. However, with the
prevalent use of the Internet, not only are book notes available, but also, discourse and feedback
to those books, mp3 and YouTube videos that helps describe or create mental models, among
many other ways in which information is delivered. Thus, it seems as though finding the correct
answer is less important than finding a good answer supported by good evidence. Acquisition
and transfer of such skills will be fundamental for a student’s life-long process of learning.
My understanding is that learning varies, based on context and purpose. I believe that we
no longer live in a world where there is only one solution to a problem. Perhaps my current
research in constructivism has affected the way I perceive the educational experience.
Nonetheless, I firmly believe that it is important to be able to understand and apply the different
theories based on the fundamental goal of helping students become successful not only during
their studies, but also, after their studies as well.
 Conclusions:
 All of the theories examined are important contributors to the teaching and learning of
Science.
 Piaget’s stages of cognitive development have shown the reasons why some topics in
Science are done at a higher level than in the lower ones.
 Constructivists believe that children learn from their interaction with the world and from
their experiences.
 Behaviourists also believe the rewards from teachers are important to the conditioning of
the child to want to achieve in Science, since more praise a child receives for doing well
the more he will want to do well.