In chapter 11, the authors mention three different learning approaches which are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Each part represents a learning theory that displays how the theory is conducted and how to use it to learn. Different theorists define learning in various ways which shows how people learn.
The first main theory behaviorism focuses on the importance of a learning environment. It defines learning as a reaction which stimulated in a special environment. The learning was done when the reaction was appropriate for the stimulus. The next main theory is cognitivism. Theorists propose cognitivism as a process of cognition, and learning contains complex thinking and information processing. Learning theory began to transfer from behaviorism to cognitivism representing that learning is not only a reaction of stimulus but also more about processing. Cognitivism supports that learning needs the brain to participate in the process the new knowledge and rearrange it. Based on the theories above, constructivism was discovered by theorists. This theory claims that learning is what we can extract from personal or others’ experiences and transfer them into our knowledge. Constructivism may be thought of as a branch of cognitivism, but these two theories are different from each other. Constructivists think that learners process information from the external world and then create it in a special format in the brain to learn.
In my opinion, learning needs to combine these theories.
Based on my personal experiences, what I learned from school is more likely be behaviorism. In my hometown, we received knowledge only from the textbook, teachers, and our parents. School is more focused on how students process the information given by teachers and use it on exams. Therefore, students are more likely to rote memorization for a better grade. According to the article, the low processing is conducted by behaviorism strategies. I prefer to study to be more constructive. The information that we extract from others’ experiences helps me to learn it better. I would like to combine three learning theories as to my study strategy. For example, for my major class, I will receive the knowledge from the professor, and then I rearrange it in my brain using my special style, then I would like to talk with my classmates and see what they think about it.
Comments about others:
https://kylap.opened.ca/2021/09/15/edci-335-blog-1-learning-theory/