Learning Theories Presentation

1. Learning Theories Presentation By Shannon Ferguson

2. Learning Theories • Over time instructional designers have come to a better understanding of how individual learn. • With this understanding several theories about how people learn have taken hold and gained credit in the educational field. • Two common theories of the 20th and 21st century are Behaviorism and Cognitivism. • These two theories have similar believes but different view on how we learn. (Brown & Green, 2011)

3. Behaviorism and Cognitivism Behaviorism believes that the environment that one grows up in greatly effects how and what that person learns. We learn what is around us and what we experience. Cognitivism believes that the learning is the mental responds to stimulus and by learning and understanding these mental responses to these stimulus instructional designers can develop lessons to motivate our natural learning process. (Brown & Green, 2011)

4. Behaviorism Behaviorist Believe • The way a person learns is greatly effected by the environment that we grow up in. • The thing we come in contact in our lives dictate what we learn and who we become. • Our parents, our school we attend, the neighborhood we grow up in, the people we associate with all dictate how and what we learn. (What is Behaviorism, 2011)

5. Behaviorism Continued • A persons talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, or even race of his ancestors really did not matter. A person can be taught anything if you put them in the right environment. • They believe the mental changes in the mind are to small and can not be studied. (What is Behaviorism, 2011)

6. Cognitivism • Believe that we learn through mental reactions in the brain and that it has little to do with our environment. • They believe that our mind reacts to stimulus and we learn from the mental reactions that take place in the brain. • By understanding these reactions we can tailor lessons to maximize the learning process. (Learning Theories Knowledgebase ,2011)

7. Cognitivism Continued Rita Smilkstein’s book, ”We are Born to Learn, “ details the process of learning takes place in the brain. The highlights of the book as follows: • The brain is born to learn. • As your brain learns it actually grows and adds new fibers called dendrites to the brain. • As we add more dendrites connections in the brain between related dendrites are connect by synapses. • The our brain is exposed to a particular subject the more of these connections are made. These connections let us perfect skills. • With out these connection and regardless of the environment we would not be able to learn. (Smilkstein,2003)

8. Cognitivism Continued This growth in the brain can be effect by negative and positive reactions in the brain. • Self doubt, fear, lack of sleep, etc. can release hormones in the brain that actually block the growth of dendrites and synapses and there forth stump learning • Confidence, interest, curiosity release hormones that help grow the brain. (Smilkstein, 2011)

9. Two Theories Applied Place: Texas State Technical College, Waco TX Department: Information & Communication Technology Core Background: This department teaches all first and second semester courses for incoming freshman. Most students coming in are low to middle income, dependant on financial aid. Project: Both of these theories were looked at and as a result changes to the classroom and curriculum were made.

10. Changes in the Enviroment • Classrooms received new computers with latest software. • Classrooms received 56 in monitors for presentations in the class. • Standardized Policies( enforced uniformly through out the department) • Attendance • Tardiness • Late Work • Grading Rubrics

11. Changes put in place to help the brain learn • Curriculum change to make sure students seen material multiple times (Tutorial, Lab, Project and a Test each week). • Because of the positive effect confidence has on learning, emphasis put on encouraging students even when they need to make improvements • Because of the negative effects of hunger and lack of sleep has on learning. Light snacks and coffee are provided in some classes • A big worry among student is books, so there is discussions going on about adding the book into the cost of the tuition. Alleviating the stress to the student that does not have the book until their financial aid comes in.

12. Results • The changes have only been in place a few semesters and preliminary data is starting to be taken. • All indications are the changes will boost the completion rate of classes as well as retention to the next semester.

13. Summary Instructional designers need to be aware that both theories should be implemented in the curriculums that they design. The way the brain learns material is as important to what we learn as the environment that leads us to learn what we do.

14. Work cited • Brown, A., & Green, T.D. (2011). The Essentials of Instructional Design (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson • What is Behaviorism(2011). About.com. Retrieved October 11th, 2011 from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism.htm • Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011, October). Cognitivism at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved October 13th, 2011 from http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html • Smilkstein, R. (2003)We’re Born to Learn: Using the brain’s Natural Learning Process to Create Today’s Curriculum, Corwin Press