1. Educational Orientations

2. Different learning theories have different foci
Behaviourist
Humanist
Cognitive
Social Cognitive
Constructivist

3. Behaviourist Environmental factors determine behaviour John Watson
Classical Conditioning
Edward Thorndike
Early 20th Century
Law of Effect: A pleasing after-effect strengthens the action that produced it
Stimulus-Response Theory

4. Behaviourist Ivan Pavlov B.F. Skinner (1938) Reinforcement
Conditioned reflex
B.F. Skinner (1938)
Operant conditioning
Reinforce desirable behaviour
Ignore undesirable behaviour

5. Discussion
What educational practices are informed by the behaviourist perspective?

6. Humanist Human potential for growth. Educate the whole person.
Maslow (1970)
Hierarchy of needs

7. Humanist Rogers (1983) Characteristics
Learning that leads to personal growth
Often adopted for Adult learning
Characteristics
Personal Involvement
Self-initiated
Pervasive
Evaluated by learner
Making meaning of experiences

8. Discussion
What educational practices are informed by the humanist perspective?

9. Cognitive Learning is influenced by internal state of the mind
Prior knowledge
Processing of information in memory
Jean Piaget
Assimilation and accommodation
Sensorimotor stage
Pre-operational stage
Concrete operational stage
Formal operational stage

10. Cognitive Ausubel (1967) Bruner (1965) Rote learning = no context
Meaningful learning = new information related to existing experiences
Bruner (1965)
Discovery-based learning
Acquire new knowledge
Manipulate knowledge to fit task
Evaluate whether it is a good fit

11. Discussion
What educational practices are informed by the cognitive perspective?

12. Social Cognitive
Recognition that learning occurs when observing others
Albert Bandura (1976)
Learning through imitation
Vicarious learning
Learning involves individual and the environment
Self-efficacy
Estimate of ability to succeed in a given context

13. Discussion
What educational practices are informed by the social cognitive perspective?

14. Constructivist Learning is the process of constructing meaning
Neo-Pigetian theorists
Learning is individual
Process of adjusting internal schema to environment
Practical activities are central

15. Social Constructivist
Knowledge constructed through discussions and social interaction
Shared understanding of meaning
Lev Vygotsky (1978)
Learning mediated through culture
Foundation for Activity Theory, which focuses on activities and artefacts that form the basis for learning in the classroom
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

16. Discussion
What educational practices are informed by the social cognitive perspective?