Ausubels Theory

Prepared by:
Prepared
Nurulasyiqqin Binti
Nurulasyiqqin
BintiAhmad
AhmadShah
Shah
MPP151041
MPP151041

Biography
David Paul Ausubel (1918 2008)
An American psychologist, born in Brooklyn, New York.
Did his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania (pre
med and psychology).
Graduated from medical school at Middlesex University.
Earned a Ph.D in Developmental Psychology at Columbia
University.
Influenced by the work of Piaget.

Biography
David Paul Ausubel (1918 2008)

His principal interests in psychiatry have been general psychopathology, ego

development, drug addiction, and forensic psychiatry.
Served on the faculty at several universities and retired from academic life in
1973 and began his practice in psychiatry.
Published several textbooks in developmental and educational psychology,
and more than 150 articles.
In 1976, he received the Thorndike Award for Distinguished Psychological
Contributions to Education from the American Psychological Association.

What is meaningful
learning
Individuals must relate new knowledge to relevant
concepts they already know.
New knowledge must interact with the learners
knowledge structure.
During meaningful learning, the person subsumes, or
organizes or incorporates, new knowledge into old
knowledge.
The most crucial element in meaningful learning is how
the new information is integrated into the old knowledge
structure.
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Cont
Subsumption theory suggests that our mind has a way to
subsume information in a hierarchical or categorical
manner if the new information is linked with prior
knowledge.
Teachers are encouraged to teach prior knowledge first
rather than new information to help information subsume.
Advance organizers provide concepts and principles to the
students directly in an organized format.
The strategy of advance organizers basically means to
classify/ categorize/ arrange (organize) information as
student proceed (advance) to the next complex level.
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Propose
1

The most general ideas of a subject should be

presented first and then progressively
differentiated in terms of detail and specificity.

Instructional materials should attempt to

integrate new material with previously presented
information through comparisons and crossreferencing of new and old ideas.

Propose
Helps introduce a new lesson, unit, or course.
Helps summarize major ideas in new lesson or unit.
Based on students prior knowledge.
Show similarities between old material and new material.
Allows student to transfer or apply knowledge.
Provides for structure for new information.
Helps teach complex material that is similar to information
learned previously.
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Diagrammatic
Representation
Correlative
subsumption

Subsumption theory
Derivative
subsumption

Superordinate
learning

Combinatorial
learning

Strategy used
Advance organizer

Expository teaching
( Old + New )

Comparative teaching
( Old + New )

Meaningful learning
O+N=L
O = Old information (Prior knowledge)
N = New information
L = Learning (meaningful learning)

The process of meaningful

learning

Ausubel proposed four processes of meaningful

learning:
Derivative subsumption
Correlative subsumption
Superordinate learning
Combinatorial learning

Derivative
subsumption
New material can be derived from the existing structure. Information can
be moved in the hierarchy, or linked to other concepts or information to
create new interpretations or meaning.

Example
(Stage 1)

Suppose students have acquired a basic concept

such as atoms 3 different types of subatomic
particles (protons, neutrons, electrons)
Now, students learn about isotopes that they have
never learn before conforms to their previous
understanding of the structure of the atom.
Their new knowledge of isotopes is attached to their
concept of subatomic particles, without substantially
altering that concept in any way.
So, they had learned about the isotopes through the
process of derivative subsumption.

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Correlative
subsumption
New material is an extension or elaboration of what is already known.

Example
(Stage 2)

Suppose they encounter isotopes topic, now they

should be able to understand the concept of the
electronic structure of an atom.
In order to accommodate this new information, they
have to alter or extend their concept of isotopes to
include the information of electron arrangement,
electron structure and electron valance.
They have learned about electronic structure through
the process of correlative subsumption.

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Superordinate learning
An individual is able to give a lot of examples of the concept but does not
know the concept itself until it is taught.

Example
(Stage 3)

Example: spraying perfume will distribute in entire

room, the smoke of cigarette spreads but they did not
know, until they were taught, that these are examples
of the process of diffusion.
In this case, they already knew a lot of examples of
the concept, but they did not know the concept by
themself until it was taught.
This is superordinate learning.

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Combinatorial learning
The first three learning processes all involve new information that
"attaches" to a hierarchy at a level that is either below or above
previously acquired knowledge. Combinatorial learning is different; it
describes a process by which the new idea is derived from another idea
that is neither higher nor lower in the hierarchy, but at the same level.

Example
(Stage 4)

Now, suppose they learn about how a pencil partly in

a glass of water.
They might relate it to previously acquired knowledge
about object we see in water are not in the location
where the image appears.
Both of the ideas are different, but it is related to the
refraction of light.
You could think of this as learning by analogy.

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Advance organizer
Advance organizers are used to relate prior
information to new concepts.
There are four types of advanced organizers:
1. Expository describes new knowledge
2. Narrative presents new information in story
format
3. Skimming skimming through information
4. Graphic Organizers pictographs, descriptive
or conceptual patterns, concept maps
Can be classified : expository or comparative.
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Using Graphic Organizers for

Prewriting and Writing
Assessment
From helping students generate writing topics to
organizing the details of a written piece, graphic
organizers are important tools for students to use
during prewriting, or the planning stages of writing.
Simple, visual planning tools, like graphic organizers,
can help students think and plan before attempting to
map out complex sentences, comprehensive
paragraphs, and longer written pieces.

Story Web
Help students brain storm before writing.
Have the children identify a topic and main areas they want to
share about the topic.
Have them record details about each on the branches.
Each subtopic circle and its branches represent the main idea of
a paragraph and the supporting details.
Have students number the circles to reflect the order in which
they plan to organize their written paragraphs.
This exercise will allow students to get a jump start on their
writing.

Expository teaching
While presenting new material.
Use beginning of lesson.
Presents several encompassing generalizations where
detailed contents will be added later.

Example

The teacher discuss the process of the

absorption of water and minerals into the plants
through the tap and fibrous root system.

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Comparative organizer
Useful when the knowledge to be presented is new to
learner.
Compares new material with knowledge already known by
emphasizing the similarities between 2 types of material &
showing the information that is to be learnt.
Ausubels teaching approach is deductive in nature.

Example

A teacher shows the similarities and differences

among two major root system, the tap root and
the fibrous root system.

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Conclusion
Ausubels theory is concerned with how individuals
learn large amounts of meaningful material from
verbal/ textual (lecture/ books) presentations in a
school setting as opposed to theories developed
based on experimental settings.
Therefore, learning is based upon the kinds of
superordinate, representational, and combinatorial
processes that occur during the presentation of
information.

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