Chunking: A learning strategy that involves taking large amounts of information and grouping them in to more manageable bits. This strategy can improve short-term memory.
Example: Learning my girlfriend’s phone number was made easir by using the standard chunking method of 123-4321. Trying to remember all 7 numbers in a row, 1234321, would have been much harder.
Resources:
http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/chunking.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhZrQQeZ0WA
Classical Conditioning: Made famous by Ivan Pavlov, this behaviorist approach to learning theorizes that learning happens when an unconditioned (unlearned) response becomes a conditioned (learned) response once a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. Put simply, the process involves changes in behavioral responses through association. See: Association
Example: My dog hides whenever I turn on the vacuum cleaner. The sound of the vacuum is an unconditioned stimulus and the hiding is an unconditioned response. Now my dog associates the mere presence of the vacuum cleaner in the room with the sound it makes. The result is my dog now hides whenever he sees the vacuum even if it is not turned on. Here the presence of the vacuum results in a conditioned, response, which is my dog hiding.
Resources:
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/classcnd.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP5lCleK-PM
Cognitivism: A theory of learning that accounts for a learner’s internal thought processes unlike Behaviorism, which primarily focuses on external stimuli and responses. The process of learning is internalized and processed by the mind.
Example: At some point in my life, I learned that drinking coffee helped me focus on tasks. Today I drank a cup of coffee while I worked on my final project for Dr. Bonk’s P540 class. A cognitivist would examine the internal processes that lead me to drink the coffee such as, did I drink the coffee because I liked the taste. This is opposed to a behaviorist approach, which would only look at external observable factors.
Resources:
http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/31012664/Cognitivism
http://innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/cognitivism/index.htm
Cognitive Information Processing Theory: cognitivists use this term to describe the active state of learning within the brain that allows an individual to gather external information and utilize it systematically to produce behaviors. The concept of a computer can be used as an analogy to CIP where the mind receives data which it can then collect, store, reject, and transform the information for use immediately or at a later time.
Example: After a search on Yelp.com for reviews on nearby Italian restaurants, I use all of the information I gathered to make a decision as to where I want to go. I initially choose the closest restaurant but I remember the road that takes me there is under construction thus making the trip longer. Using that information, I choose to go to a different restaurant that is a bit further away but will take less time to get to.
Resources:
http://www.expertlearners.com/cip_theory.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcb6zLIVq5k
Combinatorial learning: One of Ausubel’s four processes of meaningful learning, this describes the acquisition of new knowledge by joining it with knowledge that not hierarchical (subordinate or superordinate). See: meaningful learning
Example: I can help teach someone about how cars use fossil fuels to create energy by combining that information with a similar analogy of how humans use food to also create energy.
Resources:
https://notendur.hi.is//~joner/eaps/wh_ausub.htm
http://www.mhxml.com/SC/Learning.htm
Comparative organizers: One of two kinds of advanced organizers, this term is used in meaningful learning theory to describe tactics that allow for efficiently comparing and contrasting of information.
Example: By using all of the information I’ve learned from Dr. Bonk’s P540 course, I can compare and contrast each of the learning theories we have discussed throughout the semester to look for trends.
Resources:
http://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/ausubels-learning-theory/
http://kb.edu.hku.hk/advance_organizers.html
Concept Mapping: A learning strategy that makes use of visual diagrams to illustrate relationships between multiple concepts.
Example:
Resources:
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/assesslearning/conceptmaps.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBLI6ijHHg
Connectivism: described as a learning theory for the digital age, Downes and Siemens conceived of Connectivism in 2005. Connectivist learning theory describes the acquisition of knowledge by an individual through the process of connecting to nodes or online learning communities and gathering information from multiple sources. Connectivism largely seeks to account for the rise of the digital age and how it’s affected how we learn. Critics of Connectivism claim that many of the components of the theory have already been proposed and are similar to the previously proposed learning theory, constructivism.
Example: In order to learn more about Connectivism, I used the Internet to search for learning communities that have done research on this learning theory. I visited Wikipedia, JSTOR, and various university (.edu) sites and compiled all of the information I learned. I then took that knowledge and used it to search for criticism of Connectivism and related learning theories.
Resources:
http://www.connectivism.ca/about.html
http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2014/04/connectivism-as-learning-theory.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx5VHpaW8sQ
Constructivism: A learning theory that posits a learner actively constructs information by building on previously learned information. Personal experiences contribute to the learning process. Information that is constructed by an individual is subjective. This theory is contrasted with the behaviorist assumption that a learner’s previous experiences do not play a role in the acquisition of new information.
Example: When Jerome is taught the word for cat in Spanish, he does not need to relearn what a cat looks like. He is able to take previously learned information such as purring, a tail, wiskers, and four legs to construct a mental image of a cat and relate that image to the new word for cat (gato).
Resources:
http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk
Constructionism: A learning theory that posits learning most effectively occurs when knowledge is acquired through tangible information. This theory is similar to constructivism in that it assumes that knowledge is accumulated through experiences. However, constructivism focuses more on cognition rather than external factors.
Example: I read about how to change the oil in my car online. But, understood the process much better after I watched a mechanic change the oil on a similar car and then mimicked his actions on my own car.
Resources:
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Constructionism
http://learning.media.mit.edu/content/publications/EA.Piaget%20_%20Papert.pdf
Correlative subsumption: One of Ausubel’s four processes of meaningful learning, this describes the acquisition of new knowledge by adding new information to a subject that is related to it and extends the original concept of the subject. See: meaningful learning
Example: Jane knows that pianos have black and white keys. When she learns that pianos typically have 88 keys, she uses correlative subsumption to extend her knowledge of or concept of a piano.
Resources:
