Ausubel’s Theory

Prepared by:
Nurulasyiqqin Binti
Nurulasyiqqin BintiAhmad
AhmadShah
Shah
MPP151041
MPP151041

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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.

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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. 3
 What is meaningful
learning
Individuals must relate new knowledge to relevant
concepts they already know.
New knowledge must interact with the learner’s
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

• The most general ideas of a subject should be

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

• Instructional materials should attempt to

2 integrate new material with previously
presented information through comparisons
and cross-referencing of new and old ideas.

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 Propose
• Helps introduce a new lesson, unit, or course.

• Helps summarize major ideas in new lesson or unit.

• Based on student’s 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. 7
Diagrammatic
Representation Subsumption theory

Correlative Derivative Superordinate Combinatorial

subsumption subsumption learning learning

Strategy used
Advance organizer

Expository teaching Comparative teaching

( Old + New ) ( Old + New )

Meaningful learning
O+N=L
O = Old information (Prior knowledge)
N = New information
L = Learning (meaningful learning) 8
 The process of
meaningful learning

Ausubel proposed four processes of

meaningful learning:

Derivative subsumption
Correlative subsumption
Superordinate learning
Combinatorial learning

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 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.

• 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
Example never learn before – conforms to their previous
understanding of the structure of the atom.
(Stage 1) • 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.

• Suppose they encounter isotopes topic, now they

should be able to understand the concept of the
electronic structure of an atom.
Example • In order to accommodate this new information, they
have to alter or extend their concept of isotopes to
(Stage 2) 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: spraying perfume will distribute in entire

room, the smoke of cigarette spreads but they did
not know, until they were taught, that these are
Example examples of the process of diffusion.
• In this case, they already knew a lot of examples
(Stage 3) 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.

• Now, suppose they learn about how a pencil partly

in a glass of water.
• They might relate it to previously acquired
Example knowledge about object we see in water are not in
the location where the image appears.
(Stage 4) • 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.

• The teacher discuss the process of the

absorption of water and minerals into the
Example 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.
Ausubel’s teaching approach is deductive in nature.

• A teacher shows the similarities and

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

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 Conclusion

Ausubel’s 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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