Learning+Theorists

 I chose to highlight three psychologists from three separate schools of educational learning theories: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism. Edward Thorndike is the behaviorist with his theory of “Connectionism.” Jean Piaget is my constructivist psychologist with his theory of “General Epistemology” My cognitivist is Robert Gagne with his “Conditions of Learning.” These psychologist and their theories, I have not previously explored.
 * Comparisons between Learning Theorists: Gagne, Piaget, and Thorndike **

 Robert Gagne (1916-2002) was an American psychologist, who’s major contribution was his “Conditions of Learning.” Gagne breaks learning into five categories: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes. “His theory outlines nine instructional events and corresponding cognitive processes:  (1) gaining attention (reception)  (2) informing learners of the objective (expectancy)  (3) stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)  (4) presenting the stimulus (selective perception)  (5) providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)  (6) eliciting performance (responding)  (7) providing feedback (reinforcement)  (8) assessing performance (retrieval)  (9) enhancing retention and transfer (generalization). These events should satisfy or provide the necessary conditions for learning and serve as the basis for designing instruction and selecting appropriate media” (Gagne, 1992)

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist whose theory of cognitive development is called “Genetic Epistemology.” Epistemology is the study of the scope and nature of knowledge. Piaget was interested in how knowledge developed in humans. At the center of his theory is a concept of developmental structures he called “cognitive structures.” “There are four primary cognitive structures (i.e., development stages) according to Piaget: sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, and formal operations.” (Culatta, 2011) These structures change through a process of accommodation and assimilation. The result is that instruction must be applied in different ways depending on the stage of development of the learner.

Edward “Ted” Thorndike was an American psychologist who worked at Teachers College at Columbia University. Thorndike’s theory on “Connectionism” became the basis for modern educational psychology. Connectionism has “three primary laws: (1) law of effect - responses to a situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation, (2) law of readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in annoyance if blocked, and (3) law of exercise - connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued.” Student learning could be explained without referring to any internal states.

It was difficult to contrast and compare three theories from different schools of thought as their theories, at times, share little common ground. Some of the common ground came from similar, unspecified assumptions about the human condition. Understanding these theories helps me to realize that education bounces around between these three schools of thought and like fashion, each has its season were it is in favor.

Bibliography- Culatta, Richard. "Genetic epistemology." 2011. 27 September 2011. .

Gagne, Robert. "Conditions of learning." 1992. 26 September 2011. .

"Learning theories matrix." 26 September 2011. .

Thorndike, Edward. "Connectionism." 03 October 2011. .