5-LEARNING THEORIES AND STYLES

• Learning Theory


  Framework to explain how people learn and predict learning outcomes
• Behaviorist Theories


  Focus on observable behaviors, conditioning, and reinforcement
• Conditioning


  Learning process where behavior depends on environmental stimuli
• Reinforcement


  Strengthening of behavior through rewards or punishments
• Cognitive Learning Theories


  Focus on mental processes like perception, thinking, and memory
• Cognitive Science


  Study of brain processes in perceiving, thinking, and learning
• Subsumption Theory


  New info integrated into existing cognitive structures for meaningful learning
• Schema


  Knowledge structures stored in memory for comprehension and prediction
• Accretion


  Adding new info to existing knowledge without changing it
• Tuning


  Evolving existing schemata with new experiences
• Restructuring


  Creating new schemata by modifying existing ones
• Constructivism


  Learners actively build knowledge based on prior experiences
• Stage Theory of Information Processing

  Information processed and stored in sensory, short-term, and long-term memory
• Advance Organizers


  Statements to activate prior knowledge before new learning
• Elaboration


  Discussion providing additional information for better understanding
• Metacognition


  Thinking about one's thinking process for better learning strategies
• Multiple Intelligences


  Howard Gardner's theory of different types of intelligence
• Bodily-Kinesthetic


  Skilled coordination of movement and awareness of the body.
• Interpersonal


  Understanding relationships and communication.
• Intrapersonal


  Understanding one's own feelings and emotions.
• Naturalist Intelligence


  Ability to see patterns in nature and work in natural environment with livestock, wildlife, plants, etc.
• Existential Intelligence


  Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence.
• Successful Intelligence Theory


  Robert Sternberg's theory of intelligence, including subsets: analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.
• Memory Consolidation


  Process where items are stationed in memory.
• Memory Construct


  Process of taking different memory fragments and assembling them to form a memory.
• Chunking


  Technique of organizing individual pieces of information into 'chunks' for easier retrieval and recollection.
• Transfer


  Ability to apply information learned in one situation to another.
• Positive Transfer


  Enhancement of present learning by past learning.
• Negative Transfer


  Interference of past learning with present learning.
• Factors Affecting Successful Transfer

  Include the extent of original learning, ability to retrieve information, teaching method, learning setting, and similarity of situations.
• Social Learning Theory


  Theory explaining behavior as a result of interaction among people, environment, and behavior.
• Model of Adult Learning

  Malcolm Knowles' model emphasizing adult education differences from children's education.
• Andragogy


  Teaching of adults focusing on self-directed learning and life experiences.
• Pedagogy


  Teaching of children with a more teacher-dependent approach.
• Learning Propositions


  Agreed-upon principles in psychology related to learning, reinforcement, punishment, and motivation.
• Memory Forgetting


  Occurs due to disuse over time, disease, or interference from new memories.
• Forgetting Curve


  Rapid initial forgetting followed by slower decline; recall shortly after learning reduces forgotten material
• Recall vs. Rereading


  Recalling information aids learning more than rereading
• Concept Presentation


  Effective teaching involves presenting concepts in various ways, contrasting experiences, and encouraging precise formulations
• Frustration Threshold


  Excessive frustration leads to irrational behavior; threshold varies and is lowered by past failures