Behaviorism and Cognitivism as Learning Theories Essay

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Learning is a process that puts together emotional, environmental, and cognitive experiences and influences for enhancing, acquiring, and making changes in one’s values, knowledge, skills, and views. The description of what happens is what constitutes the learning theories. Learning, therefore, has two values which include providing vocabulary and the conceptual framework for interpreting them and places to look for solutions in case of practical problems. This paper seeks to identify and describe two learning theories and the activities involved in the learning process (Tolman, 2000).

The learning theories can be grouped into the following categories: Behaviorism, which focuses on the observable behavior of human beings; cognitive, where learning is seen as a purely neurological and mental process; humanistic, in which emotions and effects have a role in learning; and social which recognizes that humans learn best when involved in group activities. Some of these theories developed from negative reactions of earlier theories while others developed as a result of taking the initial ones to a more sophisticated level. This paper will focus only on two learning theories chosen to aid the learners through the learning activities. That is the behaviorism learning theory and the cognitive learning theory (Jones, 2004).

The rationale for choosing the behaviorism learning theory lies in its foundation and principle of the stimulus-response act. All the behavior exhibited by learners can be explained without considering the state of consciousness. This learning theory is appropriate for learners because it assumes that the learner is passive essentially and only responds to the environmental stimuli. It is a good learning theory, especially where the learner starts from a clean state which is the case of our learners.

In order to ensure that the learning theory is being utilized fully, the tutor must see to it that the behavior of the learners is shaped via positive or negative reinforcement, whichever suits the purpose of learning. Both the negative and positive reinforcement has an increasing ability on the probability that the behavior antecedent will have to occur again.

Positive reinforcement indicates that there is an application of the stimulus while negative reinforcement has an indication of withholding the stimulus. Learning in this case of behaviorism theory is a change in the learner’s behavior. This learning theory is feasible to our learners in that it is built on the effects of the learner’s emotions which form part of great learning (Henle, 2003).

As a tutor, I also chose cognitivism as a learning theory to help our learners in their learning process. The rationale for choosing this learning theory is that it has its basis in the mind of the learner. It argues that the mind of the learner should remain open and understood. In this learning theory, a learner is viewed as one who processes information. The cognitivism learning theory is appropriate to learners because it majorly focuses on the mental activities of the learner.

It opens the learner’s mind. This learning theory is feasible in that it opens the human mind and views it as a valuable thing that is necessary in order to understand the manner in which people learn. So as to ensure the learning theory is utilized fully, the tutor helps the learners to explore their mental processes such as memory, thinking, problem-solving, and knowing. This learning theory is also best for the learners as it views knowledge as a symbolic or just schema of mental constructions. Here, learning is referred to as the change in the schemata of the learner. The cognitivism learning theory uses a metaphor of the mind, which in this case is the computer, where the information comes in, processed, and produces some outcomes (Tolman, 2000).

The activities involved in both the learning theories are similar and are a good example of the application of both theories. Some of the activities involved in these learning theories include the teacher directly involving the learners in the learning process and giving them group assignments as well as individual assignments. In a classroom set up, the teacher would do the following activities to ensure the two learning theories discussed above are utilized fully;

  • The teacher greets the learners and introduces the topic of study.
  • The teacher asks the learners what views they have concerning the topic of study and then comments on their opinions.
  • The teacher involves the learners in the study through group participation and assignments.
  • The teacher gives the learners class assignments and marks in class for evaluation of the whole lesson.
  • The teacher finally gives a take-home assignment for further evaluations (Jones, 2004).

In summary, the mentioned activities will be taken as the steps that the tutor will take in order to ensure the learning theories are followed and utilized fully for an effective learning process.

References

Henle, M. (2003). Gestalt Psychology and Therapy. New York: Cengage Learning.

Jones, M. (2004). Pedagogical Seminary. London: Springer.

Tolman, E. (2000). Psychological Review. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

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