Theories of Learning
Claire O’Malley
School of Psychology
Outline
Three perspectives on learning:
Associationist
skill acquisition
Constructivist
representational change
Sociocultural
apprenticeship to communities of practice
Implications for teaching
1. Learning as skill acquisition
Re-representing
declarative (explicit)
knowledge as
condition-action rules
(procedures / implicit)
Progressive
automatisation of
procedures
Associationism
Fred Skinner John Anderson
1904-1990
1947-
Skinner’s Learning Theory
Conditioning stimulus-
response (S-R)
associations through
reinforcement
Shaping behaviour
through selective
reinforcement
Operant conditioning
Anderson’s ACT theory
Facts Skills
(knowing (knowing
that) how)
Experts
Remember better
Use different problem solving strategies to
novices
Have better & more elaborated problem
representations
Superior performance is based on knowledge
not some basic capacity
Become expert through extensive practice
Stages of skill acquisition
Declarative representation
Proceduralisation
Condition-action rules
IF same weight on each side
THEN the beam is balanced
IF any side has more weight
THEN that side of the beam goes down
Automaticity
Tutoring
Identify goal structure of problem space
Provide instruction in the problem
solving context
Immediate response to learner errors
Provide reminders of the learning goal
Support successive approximations to
competent performance
Implications for design
Learning by doing (active engagement)
Learning taxonomies (e.g., concept classification vs rule
following) guide selection of learning objectives and
instructional strategies
Conditions can be identified that lead to effective learning
(I.e., to achieve x objective, arrange for y conditions)
Explicit formulation of behavioural (observable) objectives
Focus on learning outcomes
Consistency between objectives, instructional strategies &
assessment
Implications for design
Decomposition of tasks
Parts-to-whole instructional strategy (I.e., learn sub-
tasks first)
Small successes
Response-sensitive feedback
The closer the training to job performance, the more
effective (I.e., just-in-time learning)
Direct instruction, practice & transfer
Individualised instruction (I.e., adapted to individual
needs)
2. Representational change
Restructuring prior
knowledge to
accommodate new
information
Process of explicitation
of implicit knowledge
Constructivism
Jean Piaget
1896-1980
Jerome Bruner
1915-
Jean Piaget
Worked with Binet on
developing intelligence tests
Clinical interviews and
observational methods
Interested in the relation
between biological and
psychological development
Goal was to develop a scientific
method for understanding how
knowledge is acquired
Genetic epistemology
Knowledge develops by becoming increasingly
organised and adaptive to the environment
Intellectual development takes place through the
active construction of knowledge by the
individual acting in the world
Knowledge construction is driven by the need to
resolve conflicts between prior knowledge and
new information as it is encountered
Evidence for Piaget’s theory
Children in different cultures pass through
the same stages and sub-stages predicted
by Piaget’s theory (up to & including
concrete operations)
Rates of development vary across cultures
(décalages)
Schooling & literacy affect rates of
development
BUT formal operational thinking is not
universal
Two major problems
The progressive construction of logic passes
through a series of universal stages
The same (i.e., isomorphic) problems framed in
different ways could be solved by very young
children or could present problems for adults
Logic as the appropriate framework for thinking
about the development of mind
but logic is only one (specialised) form of reasoning
other forms (e.g., pragmatic reasoning schemas)
are just as rational
J.S. Bruner (1915- )
Emphasis on processes of coming to
know rather than structure of knowledge
Domain dependent individual
differences rather than universal stages
But shared Piaget’s emphasis on the
importance of action and problem
solving
Modes of representation
Enactive – similar to Piaget’s notion of practical
intelligence
E.g., child can sort objects according to shape
Iconic – representations bearing one-to-one
correspondence with represented object
E.g., picture of object
Symbolic – representations that do not have one-to-
one correspondences
E.g., ‘+’, ‘x’
Instruction
Instruction should concern the experiences
and contexts that make students willing and
able to learn (readiness)
Curriculum should be structured so that it can
be easily grasped (spiral organisation)
Instruction should be designed to enable
extrapolation (going beyond the information
given)
NB: scaffolding (and relation to Vygotsky…)
Development and learning
Piaget
Development as active construction of
knowledge; learning as passive formation of
associations (therefore not of interest!)
More recent developmental theory
reconciles the distinction between
learning and development
E.g., Constraints theory (Case; Karmiloff-
Smith; Gelman)
NB: see Siegler (2000)
Implications for design
Stages of information processing
Cognitive task analysis can be used to
identify errors and target instruction
Attentional demands
Prior knowledge
Working memory load
Distinction between declarative and
procedural knowledge
But see Rittle-Johnson et al., 2001
Implications for design
Skill compilation
Meaningful encoding (chunking; elaboration)
Forms of representation
Metacognition, self-regulation
Motivation
Experts versus novices
Developmental constraints on learning
Conceptual change (schemas, mental models)
3. Apprenticeship
Learning as legitimate
peripheral participation
in communities of
practice
Learning as situated in
practical action
Learning as meaning-
making
Sociocultural theory
Lev Vygotsky
Michael Cole
Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Genetic (developmental) method
Higher mental processes in the
individual have their origins in
social processes
Higher mental processes can be
understood by studying how they
are mediated by tools, artefacts
and signs
Zone of proximal development
The Social Origins of Mind
‘Genetic law of cultural development’
“development appears on two planes, first on
the inter-psychological then on the intra-
psychological”
(Vygotksy)
The Zone of Proximal Development
"the distance between a child's actual
developmental level as determined by
independent problem solving and the
higher level of potential development as
determined through problem solving
under adult guidance or in collaboration
with more capable peers"
(Vygotsky)
The Individual, Social & Cultural
INTRA-INDIVIDUAL
DOMAIN
The child experiences concepts The child learns, through media,
in practice & through parents, teachers & peers, the
negotiation of meaning frameworks for making sense
INTERPERSONAL SOCIOCULTURAL
DOMAIN DOMAIN
Co-ordinated interaction with peers and Smith, Cowie &
teachers filters the cultural framework. Blades (2003),
This interaction is itself defined by p. 494
culture.
Scaffolding & contingent tutoring
David Wood (based on Bruner’s theory)
Goals
The learner should not succeed too easily
Nor fail too often
Principles
When learners are in trouble, give more
help than before (scaffolding)
When they succeed, give less help than
before (fading)
Example: ‘Tower of
Nottingham’
Levels of instruction
Level 1 General encouragment
“Carry on!”, “You’ve made a pair”
Level 2 Specific verbal information
“Get a bigger one”, “Turn them round”
Level 3 Selection
Pointing at or handing over material, as well as
verbal cues
Level 4 Orientation
Lining up blocks
Level 5 Demonstration
Successful construction by tutor
Contingent Instruction
Contingent Non-contingent
Tutor Learner Tutor Learner
4c -- 4c --
-- success -- success
3c -- 5n --
-- success -- in trouble
1c -- 1n --
-- in trouble -- wrong blocks
2c -- 1n --
-- wrong construct -- success
3c -- 3n --
Situated Learning
Jean Lave
Barbara Rogoff
Problems for cognitive psychology
Practical action is not always driven by plans
People aren’t very good at formal reasoning
Transfer of knowledge from context to context
is hard to achieve
Ecological validity is problematic because we
treat context as a ‘nuisance variable’
Paradigms of person-environment
interaction
Behaviourism
individual as passive recipient of
information from the environment
Constructivism
focus on individual activity; environment
seen as a ‘trigger’
Contextual/Sociocultural
environment mediates individual activity
Characteristics of a situated or
contextual approach
Recognition of the relationship between
psychological processes and their social,
cultural and historical settings
Explanation of how different contexts create
and reflect different forms of mental
functioning
Explanation of how human action is mediated
via context
School vs Everyday Life
Different types of social ‘niche’
Differences in who determines what is
of interest and when
Tasks in everyday life are socially
negotiated and reflexive
People don’t just act in task
environments — they help to create and
maintain those task environments
The culture of learning
just plain folks students practitioners
causal stories laws causal models
situations symbols conceptual
situations
negotiable fixed meanings negotiable
meanings meanings
socially constructed immutable concepts socially constructed
understanding understanding
Situated Problem Solving
"take three-quarters of two-thirds of a cup
of cottage cheese"
3/4 x 2/3
OR
Situated Learning
Learning as apprenticeship, or
‘legitimate peripheral participation’ in
‘communities of practice’
(Lave & Wenger, Situated Learning: Legitimate
Peripheral Participation, 1991)
Implications for design
Learning in context
Communities of practice construct and
define appropriate discourse, practices
Learning as active participation
Knowledge in action
Mediation of artifacts
Tools and artifacts as cultural
repositories
Implications for design
Cognitive tools embody cultural rules, norms and
beliefs
Situations make sense within a historical context
Cognition as dynamic interplay between
individual and social levels of activity
Interactionism: just as situations shape individual
cognition, individual cognition shapes situations
Roles, identities and constructions of self (e.g., as
worker, learner, etc.)
Readings & resources
Alessi, S. & Trollip, S.R. (2000) Multimedia for Learning.
Pearson Higher Education. Chapter 2.
Bransford, J. et al. (2000) How People Learn. National
Academy Press. Chapters 2-4, 6-7.
Jonassen, D.H. & Land, S.M. (2000) (Eds.) Theoretical
Foundations of Learning Environments. Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates. Chapter 3.
Laurillard, D. (2001) Rethinking University Teaching: A
Framework for the Effective Use of Educational
Technology. Routledge. Chapters 1-4.
Rittle-Johnson, B., Siegler, R.S. & Alibali, M.W. (2001)
Developing conceptual understanding and procedural
skill in mathematics: An iterative process. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 93(2), 346-362.
Readings & resources
Siegler, R.S. (2000) The rebirth of children’s learning.
Child Development, 71(1), 26-35.
Smith, P., Cowie, H. & Blades, M. (2003) Understanding
Children’s Development. Blackwell (4th Ed.) Chapter
15.
Wood, D.J. & Wood, H. (1996) Vygotsky, tutoring and
learning. Oxford Review of Education, 22, 5-15.
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