EDU 528 Week 1: Learning Theory and Adult Learning Theory

Slide
No
Topic Narration
1 Introduction Welcome to Methods of Teaching in Adult Education. In this
lesson, we will look at learning theory and adult learning
theory.
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!"#ecti$es %&on com&letion of this lesson, you will "e a"le to'
(om&are and contrast learning theory with adult learning
theory.
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) *u&&orting
To&ic
*&ecifically, we will discuss'
The $arious definitions of learning and the theorists
contri"utions to the definitions+
Elemental model of de$elo&ment+ and
,olistic model of de$elo&ment.
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- .efinition of
/earning
,istorically, learning theorists ha$e &ro$ided what they
consider to "e a definition of learning. The $arious
com&onents of these definitions include change, filling a need,
learning as &roduct, learning as &rocess, learning as function,
natural growth, de$elo&ment of com&etencies, fulfillment of
&otential, &ersonal in$ol$ement, self0initiated, learner0
e$aluated, and inde&endent learning.
/earning certainly in$ol$es change. !nce an indi$idual
ac1uires ha"its, knowledge, and attitudes, they are then a"le to
make &ersonal and social ad#ustments. Thus any change in
"eha$ior im&lies that learning is taking &lace or has taken
&lace. The author contends that when learning occurs during
this &rocess of change, then the conce&t can "e referred to as
the learning &rocess or the learning ex&erience as some
referenced "y some authors.
/earning as &roduct em&hasi2es the end result or outcome of
this learning ex&erience. When taking a dance class not too
long ago, my hus"and and I continued to &ractice, &ractice,
&ractice on this &articular dance that we "oth lo$ed so much.
When it was time for us to &erform in front of our instructor,
we were a "it ner$ous "ut we were sure that the &roduct was
good. In other words, our dance classes, the learning &rocess
had resulted in a successful &roduct, which was the dance
ste&.
/astly, learning as function em&hasi2es certain critical as&ects
of learning such as moti$ation, retention, and transfer which
make changes in "eha$ior relati$e to learning &ossi"le. We
were moti$ated to take the dance classes "ecause we were told
that it was fun, it was good exercise, it "rings cou&les closer,
and it was something different to do other than mo$ies,
dinner, and sho&&ing. We were also moti$ated "ecause we
had "een in$ited to one of the city3s "iggest "alls and we
wanted to look good on the dance floor. All of these reasons
not only moti$ated us "ut ke&t us coming to the class until we
accom&lished our goal.
While there is naturally some o$erla& in the terminology used,
4nowles uses these com&onents as the foundation for his
definition of learning which is the &rocess of gaining
knowledge and0or ex&ertise.
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5 Elemental
World$iew
/ets look at two models of de$elo&ment' the elemental and
holistic world$iews. These models were $alua"le in
enhancing an understanding of learning and ultimately
&ro$ided theorists with a foundation to "uild their theories.
The elemental world$iew, the "asic meta&hor of which is the
machine re&resents the world as a system com&osed of
different &ieces o&erating in a spatio-temporal field, in other
words o&erating in some rele$ance of s&ace and time. When
these &ieces are &laced in motion, all other more com&lex
&henomena are reduced. A se1uence of e$ents "egin to occur
which makes com&lete &rediction &ossi"le. !ne writer
contends that when the uni$erse is re&resented this way, it
"ecomes easy to 1uantify. Thus, easy to ada&t and react to.
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6 (heck 7our
%nderstanding
8 Theories 9ased
on the
Elemental
Model
Theorists such as Watson, Thorndike, Pa$lo$, *kinner, and
,ull contri"uted to 4nowles3 de$elo&ment of the
Androgogical Theory of Adult /earning in a $ariety of ways.
:ohn Watson is considered the father of "eha$iorism "ut
Edward Thorndike conducted the first in$estigations in the
%nited *tates relati$e to learning. This study was relati$e to
learning in animals. Thorndike "elie$ed that inex&erienced
learners res&onded to stimuli randomly and automatically.
More s&ecifically, a res&onse is connected to a stimulus when
it is rewarded. 7ou may hear Thorndike3s system referred to
as "ond &sychology or connectionism.
Three laws were de$elo&ed "y Thorndike that go$erned the
learning of animals and human "eings'
The law of readiness ; circumstances under which a learner
tends to "e satisfied or annoyed, to welcome or to re#ect. <or
exam&le, a teacher gi$ing a &o& 1ui2 to students can "e
annoying or satisfying de&ending on whether the student feels
&re&ared to take the 1ui2
The law of exercise ; strengthening of connections with
&ractice+ for exam&le, a student learns more a"out the su"#ect
matter when it is &racticed=read=studied
The law of effect ; strengthening or weakening of a
connection as a result of its conse1uences+ for exam&le a
student that fails the 1ui2 could "ecome discouraged and thus
intimidated "y the su"#ect matter or encouraged to study
harder to &erform "etter the next time
Pa$olo$ on the other hand ex&erimented with the conce&t of
conditioned res&onses. In an exam&le cited in the text using a
dog+ an unconditioned stimulus such as food and an
unconditioned res&onse such as sali$a is changed "y a
re&eated conditioned stimulus such as light, which results in a
conditioned res&onse of sali$a each time the light comes on
a"sent the food. Pa$lo$3s system was e$entually named
classical conditioning and consisted of conce&ts such as
reinforcement, extinction, generali2ation, and differentiation.
>einforcement is when a conditioned res&onse "ecomes fixed
"y &ro$iding the conditioned stimulus and re&eatedly
following it with the unconditioned stimulus and res&onse at
a&&ro&riate time inter$als.
Extinction ha&&ens when reinforcement is discontinued and
the conditioned stimulus is &resented alone and not
accom&anied "y the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned
res&onse e$entually disa&&ears?"ecomes extinct.
@enerali2ation means that a conditioned res&onse attached to
one stimulus can also "e e$oked "y other stimuli different
than the first.
.ifferentiation means that the initial generali2ation is
o$ercome "y contrasts, $is a $is, one &air of stimuli is
consistently reinforced and the other is not+ e$entually the
conditioned res&onse occurs only to the reinforced stimulus
and not the non0reinforced stimulus.
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A Theories 9ased
on the
Elemental
Model,
continued
*kinner3s work resulted in the educational technology of
&rogrammed instruction and teaching machines which "ecame
$ery &o&ular in the 1B6C3s. This was considered a ma#or
ad$ance in "eha$iorist &sychology.
/astly, ,ull was considered a descendant of Thorndike in that
he used reinforcement as a necessary attri"ute of learning.
,ull de$elo&ed a mathematico-deductive theory focusing on
the idea that there are o$erriding $aria"les in the organism that
affect what res&onse will occur following the "eginning of a
stimulus. <or exam&le, he created 16 assum&tions regarding
the function of the $aria"les and &resented them in such exact
terms that they were easily su"#ected to 1uantitati$e testing.
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A Theories 9ased
on the ,olistic
Model
The next model we will discuss is the ,olistic Model or
World$iew which &arallels the Elemental Model.
:ohn .ewey3s work falls more in the category of educational
&hiloso&hy "ut there was a lot of em&hasis &laced on interest
and effort as well as the child3s moti$ation to sol$e their own
&ro"lems. This line of theori2ing was gi$en the name
functionalism which "ecame the "asis for &rogressi$e
education and according to one writer, when effecti$ely
&racticed, &ro$ides an en$ironment for considera"le growth
toward a child3s inde&endence and self0control.
The next theorists, Edward Tolman, has "een considered to
re&resent a "ridge "etween the elemental and holistic models.
,e $iewed "eha$ior as "eing &ur&osi$e. ,e "elie$ed that it is
the route to the goal that is learned+ an indi$idual is ca&a"le of
recogni2ing and learning the relationshi& "etween the sign and
the desired goal. <or exam&le, if a student earns good grades,
then the end result is to &ass the course. The grades are the
signs and &assing the course is the goal.
9reaking totally from "eha$iorism were @erman theorists
Wertheimer, 4offka, and 4ohler who &ro&osed that stimuli "e
&ercei$ed in wholes and not &arts in order for learning to
occur. The theorists "elie$ed that a learner will organi2e this
whole or total &attern according to four laws'
The law of &roximity ; The &arts of a stimulus &attern that are
close together tend to "e &ercei$ed in grou&s+ thus the
closeness of the &arts in time and s&ace affects the learner3s
organi2ation of the field.
The law of similarity and familiarity ; !"#ects that are similar
in form, sha&e, color, or si2e tend to "e grou&ed in &erce&tion+
familiarity with an o"#ect results in the learner esta"lishing a
figure0ground &attern.
The law of closure ; /earners try to achie$e a satisfying final
state of e1uili"rium+ incom&lete sha&es, missing &arts, and
ga&s in information are filled in "y the &ercei$er.
And the law of continuation ; !rgani2ation in &erce&tion
tends to occur in such a manner that a straight line a&&ears to
continue as a straight line, a &art circle as a circle, and a three0
sided s1uare as a com&lete s1uare.

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B Theories 9ased
on the ,olistic
Model,
continued
In continuing the discussion along the lines of s&ace and time,
s&atio0tem&oral, 4urt /ewin $iewed indi$iduals as existing in
a life space where many forces are o&erating such as material
o"#ects encountered and mani&ulated, &eo&le met, &ri$ate
thoughts, tensions, goals, and fantasies. /earning thus occurs
"y a change in two ty&es of forces'
!ne. (hange in the structure of the cogniti$e field itself+ or
Two. (hange in the internal needs or moti$ation of the
indi$idual.
!ther la"els for the field0theoretical a&&roach include
&henomenological &sychology, &erce&tual &sychology,
humanistic &sychology, and third0force &sychology which all
focus on the study of the &rogressi$e de$elo&ment of the
mind, $is a $is, humans constantly seeking greater &ersonal
efficacy. Thus, the dri$ing force moti$ating all human
"eha$ior is the urge for self0actuali2ation.
/astly, :ean Piaget and :erome 9runer, contem&orary
&sychologists, focus on cognition and theory of instruction.
Piaget $iews the &rocess of learning and thought in
e$olutionary stages. In other words "eha$ior "egins with
organi2ing sensory0motor reactions and intelligence increases
as coordination "etween the reactions to o"#ects "ecome more
interrelated and com&lex. Think a"out when you learned how
to ride a "ike. 7ou saw others riding the "ike and it &ro"a"ly
looked relati$ely easy. Then you got on the "ike and tried to
mimic what you saw "ut certainly fell se$eral times. 7our
teacher, whether it was your &arent, si"ling, or friend had to
show you different methods for learning to ride as well as all
of the &arts of the "ike so that you would understand how the
"ike worked such as the handle "ar, the "rakes, and other
relati$e &arts.
Another cogniti$e theorist, :erome 9runer, ex&ressed interest
in the &rocess of intellectual growth "y structuring and
se1uencing knowledge into a theory of instruction which
includes three simultaneous &rocesses'
!ne. Ac1uisition of new information+
Two. Transformation or changing knowledge to make it fit
new tasks+ and
Three. E$aluation.
Piaget, 9runer and other cogniti$e theorists ha$e "een
critici2ed for their o$er em&hasis on cogniti$e skills at the
ex&ense of emotional de$elo&ment.
1C (heck 7our
%nderstanding
1C *ummary We ha$e now reached the end of this lesson. /et3s take a look
at what we3$e co$ered.
We first looked at the com&lexities of defining learning.
Dext, we co$ered the elemental model and the theories that
were "ased on these $iews such as "eha$iorism, classical
conditioning, &rogrammed instruction, and systematic
"eha$ior theory.
In com&arison, we looked at the holistic model of learning and
the $arious theories that were "ased on this $iew. These
theories consisted of functionalism, &ur&osi$e "eha$iorism,
@estalt theories de$elo&ed "y a grou& of @ermans, field
theory and lastly cognition and the theory of instruction.
This com&letes this lesson.