COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

Basis and Focus

Basis: Principles of cognitive psychology

Focus: Role of cognitive processes in learning

Focus
The mental processes involved in learning:
Observing, categorizing, forming generalizations to make sense of the information provided

Main Assumptions

Learning results from internal mental activity and not from externally imposed stimuli

 The learner comes with knowledge, skills and related experiences to the learning situation

Role of the Learner

Active participant in the learning process, using various strategies to process and construct their personal understanding of the content to which they are exposed

Piaget, Bloom, Bruner, Ausubel

Each of these psychologists focused on different cognitive conditions that impact on learning

Jean Piaget
Constructed models of child development and the learning process Identified 4 developmental stages and the cognitive processes associated with each of them

Developmental Stages
Sensory-motor - understands his environment through the basic senses Intuitive /Pre-operational - Thoughts more flexible, memory and imagination begin to play a part in learning, capable of more creativity

 Concrete Operational Can go beyond the basic information given, but still dependent on concrete material and examples to support reasoning Formal Operational Abstract reasoning becomes increasingly possible

Accommodation
Accommodation The process by which we modify what we already know to take into account the new information

Assimilation
The process by which new knowledge is changed / modified / merged in our minds to fit into what we already know

Equilibration
The balance between what is known and what is currently being processed, mastery of the new material

Implications for the Classroom

Learning is the process of relating new information with what was previously learnt
Learning is cumulative

Implications

Learners should be assigned tasks that are age and stage appropriate

Blooms Taxonomy

Identifies and describes, in hierarchical order, the cognitive processes involved in learning

Implication for Teaching

Use verbs aligned to the taxonomy to plan lessons that would ensure that learners cognitive skills develop from LOTS to HOTS

Revised Taxonomy
The original taxonomy has now been revised to make provision for the new knowledge and skills that now exist as a result of the integration of web 2.0 tools in teaching

Original and Revised Taxonomies

Bloom (Rev.) and Web 2.0

Jerome Bruner - Focus

Development of conceptual understanding, cognitive skills and learning strategies rather than the acquisition of knowledge

Bruners Focus

Teaching Approach - Learners should be encouraged to discover solutions via appropriate tasks which require the application of relevant critical thinking skills

Bruner Modes of Thinking

Extended aspects of Piagets theory. He identified three ways in which learners process information

 Enactive Level learning takes place via direct manipulation of objects and materials

 Iconic Level Objects are represented by visual images and are recognized for what they represent

 Symbolic Level Learning can take place using symbols, objects and mental images. Language is used to represent thoughts and experiences

Implications for Teaching

Providing opportunities for learners to be actively engaged in making sense of the language input, through meaningful tasks

 Providing opportunities for learners to develop the ability to analyze the language, make generalizations about rules, take risks in trying out the language, and to learn from errors

 Catering for interaction of learner with curriculum material and the learning environment
Catering for the three modes of thinking (Bruner)

 The Spiral Process: The cumulative nature of learning requires frequent opportunities for reviewing previously learnt material even as new material is introduced.

David Ausubel - Focus

Stressed the importance of active mental participation in meaningful learning tasks
Learning must be meaningful to be effective and permanent

 Made a distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning Meaningful Learning relatable to what one already knows so it can be easily integrated in ones existing cognitive structure

 Rote Learning the material to be learnt is not integrated / subsumed into an existing cognitive structure but learnt as isolated pieces of information

Implications for Classroom

Teacher has to enhance the meaningfulness of new material to increase the chances of its being anchored to what is already known

 New material must be organized to be easily relatable to what is already known

New material must be appropriately sequenced to facilitate integration

 Use of advance organizers. These facilitate the learning process by providing ideas to which the new knowledge can be attached

Advance Organizers
Introductory material presented in advance of the new material

Information that activates relevant background knowledge

Advance Organizers
Material that orients learners to the subject matter and relates new learning to what is already known Can take the form of textual material, pictures, titles, topic summaries, questions

Attention should be given to:

The need to organize and structure meaningful learning activities. The requirements of the task must be appropriate to the developmental stage (Piaget, Bruner) and allow for the development of HOTS (Bloom)

Moving from LOTS to HOTS