Essay on Behavioral Learning Theories Learning Theories What Are Learning Theories? Key Learning Theories Learning Theories

1. Essay on Behavioral Learning Theories
Behavioral Learning Theories
Most theorists agree that learning occurs when experience causes a change in a person's knowledge
or behavior . Behaviorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli in learning and focus on the
behavior, i.e., an observable response. Behavioral theories are based on contiguity, classical and
operant conditioning, applied behavior analysis, social learning theory and self–regulation/cognitive
behavior modification. Early views of learning were contiguity and classical conditioning. In
contiguity learning, two events are repeatedly paired together and become associated in the learner's
mind. Pavlov took this idea one step further in his experiments on classical conditioning where a
...show more content...
A 6–week inservice program focusing on the principles of operant conditioning and positive
reinforcement was implemented. The study was designed to evaluate the use of behavior
management strategies in the classroom, and positive results were found in the decrease in restraints
and crisis incidents. Crisis incidents were defined as a child being required to leave the classroom
because of unacceptable behavior, e.g., persistent noncompliance. As the revised treatment module
began to work, community special education programs began to send students for short term
diagnostic placements, and a plan is in development for "transition classrooms" intended for children
who no longer need intensive treatment but are not yet ready to return to the community. Applied
behavior analysis provides teachers with methods for encouraging positive behaviors and coping
with undesirable ones. Negative reinforcement and forms of punishments like reprimands and social
isolation can help alter behavior, but should be used with caution. Teachers can reinforce desirable
student behavior through attention, recognition, praise and other reinforcers. An article entitled
"Food For
Thought: Teacher Nonverbal Immediacy, Student Learning, and Curvilinearity" touched on
immediacy behaviors as a type of reinforcer. The article states
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2. Learning Theories
As centuries changes, so too does the learning styles of students' changes. Hence different learning
theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism have been used to improve learning,
performance and class involvement of student. Each of theories has distinctive features based on
their individual perspectives of the learning process. In this essay, I will mainly discuss 3 things: 1)
the main tenet of behaviorism and constructivism, 2) a comparison between cognitive and
constructivism and 3) the implications that constructivism has for the classroom teacher with the
central task of teaching.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is an approach which denies (with greater / lesser insistency) that consciousness has any
relevance to...show more content...
Thirdly, reinforcement and punishment is strongly embedded in this approach. Due to the fact that
behavior is the result of external stimuli, theories suggest that a behavior can be modified through
the use of reinforcements and punishments. Reinforcements are stimuli that encourage a person to
do the behavior again, while punishments discourage the behavior. For example, preventing your
child from using the computer when he breaks curfew would be considered a punishment because
you want the behavior of breaking curfew to stop. Behavior modification through reinforcement and
punishment is called operant conditioning.
Constructivism
According to KristinsdГіttir (2001) " the view of constructivist, learning is a constructive process in
which the learner is building an internal illustration of knowledge, a personal interpretation of
experience." This representation is continually open to modification, its structure and linkages
forming the ground to which other knowledge structures are attached. Firstly, learning is an active
process in which meaning is accomplished on the basis of experience. Although both cognitivists and
constructivists view the learner as being actively involved in the learning process ( student centric),
the constructivists look at the learner as more than just an active processor of information. Learners
create their own meaning of knowledge. Therefore, the goal of
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3. What Are Learning Theories?
What are learning theories?
Learning theories are conceptual frameworks describing how knowledge is absorbed, processed,
and retained during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior
experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed and
knowledge and skills retained. Although there are many different approaches tolearning, there are
four basic types of learning theory: behaviorism, cognitive constructivist, social and cultural
constructivist, and constructivism.
Theories
There are four dominant theories used in educational psychology. They are: behaviorism, social and
cultural, cognitive, and constructivism. These theories are displayed in multiple ways in the
classroom and help teachers to teach their students.
Behaviorism is a learning theory entered around objective observable behavior. It discounts any
independent activities of the...show more content...
I believe that constructivism learning best supports teaching and learning for my discipline. This is
because this learning theory is centered around students being able to learn in an environment where
they can apply or be exposed to real life skills in the cognitive sense. Constructivist teachers
encourage their students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain a better
understanding of what they are doing. I believe that having students question themselves and their
strategies they would become expert learners. When this is done they will then have gained tools to
help broaden their learning.
I would have students reflect on their experiences. When they do this, they would find that their
ideas gained or increased in complexity and power, and they would develop increasingly strong
abilities to integrate new information. With using this theory in the classroom, I would be tapping
into and triggering student's innate curiosity about the world and how things
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4. Key Learning Theories
The purpose of this essay is to show an understanding of the main learning theories. This assessment
will allow the chance to begin applying these theories in a classroom setting by using an essay that
analyses teaching practice within classroom. By looking further into the statement 'Effective
teachers need a range of strategies to ensure that students learn'. Critically using personal beliefs
about learning as well as teaching to reflect on these beliefs as well as considering their influence
of developmental factors within the classroom, to show that it is vital for a fully working
classroom. For a teacher to have a variety of strategies so their student s learns as effective as
possible.
Learning as a whole can be quite different, ranging...show more content...
The first looks at babies which can include joy, anger, sadness and fear. Later as a child begins to
develop a sense of a child's self, more complex emotions such as becoming shy, surprise, guilt,
shame as well as empathy. A child in primary school, is still learning to identify their emotions, to
use this to understand why they happen and how they can manage these appropriately. As a student
develops, there are things that provoke that emotional response change, as do the strategies they
may use to manage them. There is also many things that can affect the way a child expresses
emotions, both through words as well as behaviour. These may also include values, beliefs about
appropriate as well as inappropriate ways of expressing emotions that children learn. Whether this is
from parents, carers as well as teachers. How effective a student's emotional needs are usually met, as
well as a student's temperament.
Moral development refers to the change and understanding of morality from infancy through to
becoming an adult. Moral development works to further look at how a child's system of values
form, on which to base decisions concerning right as well as wrong good and bad. It is also
important to know values are underlying assumptions about moral decisions. Lawrence Kohlberg
(1927–1987), an American psychologist who built upon piaget's work in cognitive
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5. Learning Theories
Instructional Setting The teacher is teaching in a small country public school in Crane, Missouri.
The class sizes are small, and there are approximately 45 students in each grade. Crane is a
Pre–K–12 school, and all grades are on the same campus. The teacher teaches first grade with
approximately 17 students in my class. The classroom that this student was in has the student sitting
in small groups with centers all around the classroom. Some of the centers are word art, writing
using the word wall, there is a reading center and a math center. The classroom has visual aids such
as the word wall and picture cues to help the students with their writing. The student is eight years
old. The student has already been retained...show more content...
Another reason this is beneficial is the teacher is able to reflect on the lesson, and the teacher will
become a better teacher form the reflection. They concentrate on immediate observable behaviors
(Robler, 2003). When students demonstrate the desired situations the behaviorist reinforces the
students (Robler, 2003). The Constructivist learning theory focuses on learning through experiences
and hands on activities. Constructivists believe that students learn better by students learning the
material themselves rather than learning the material from a teacher (Ertmer, & Newby, 1993).
Through personal experiences, when the teacher provides hands on activity the students have a
better understanding of the material being learned. An example of this is if a teacher was teaching
students about how much salt is left in the water from the sand run off the teacher would have the
students put sand and salt on a cookie sheet. Then the students would pour water on the sheet as the
cookie sheet is on a 45–degree angle. The teacher would then place the runoff on a bunsen burner.
The teacher will give the students resources help them while they are setting their goals (Ertmer, &
Newby, 1993). The students in a constructivist classroom work in cooperative or collaborative
learning groups (Ertmer, & Newby, 1993). The students are assessed through authentic
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