In this summary, I provide an explanation of the major concepts of learning throughout the 20th century, which are the following: behaviorism, gestalt psychology, constructivism, and cognitivism. Also, theories of learning and educational practice, and current understandings of learning are discuss...
De Corte, E. (2012). Historical developments in the understanding of learning.
Reader (p 55- 87)
- 36. Introduction
- New ideas are learned by relating them to already existing mental states by a process of
‘apperception’
- In this article:
o Relationship research – practice
o Review of dominant current perspective on learning in educational settings
- Major concepts of learning throughout the 20th century
- Behaviorism: learning consists of a change in behavior based on the acquisition,
strengthening and application of associations between stimuli from the environment and
observable responses of the individual. [Thorndike and Skinner]
o 37. Thorndike: “connectionism”, laws of learning “law of effect”
o Skinner: “operant conditioning”
- Gestalt psychology and the Würzburg School of “Denkpsychologie” – European counterpart of
behaviorism. – “configuration”, an organized whole, insights
- 38. Cognitive psychology - cognitive revolution, information-processing (computers),
analyze what happens in sb’s mind
- 39. Constructivism: learners construct knowledge actively through interactions,
interpretations
- 40. Socio-constructivism: important role of context – social interaction
- 41. The evolving concept of learning [is eigenlijk samenvatting van bovenstaande]
- Theories of learning and educational practice: an awkward relationship
- Educational learning theory should involve:
o Aspects of competence that need to be acquired
o The learning processes required to pursue and attain competence
o Principles and guidelines to initiate and support those learning processes
o Assessment methods for monitoring and improving learning processes
- 42. In practice: large gap between tasks and situations covered by the research on the one
hand, and the complex realities of classrooms on the other. Gestalt psychology made
interesting contribution…
- 43. Developments over the decades blablablah
- 44. Gap: classrooms are too complex/complicated to make one theory for that fits all
- Current understandings of learning
- Three major strands in research on learning (Bransford et al)
o Implicit learning and the brain (not being aware of learning)
o Informal learning (homes, playgrounds, museums, peers)
o Designs for formal learning and beyond (educational setting)
- 45. Adaptive competence a the ultimate goal of education and learning
o Adaptive expertise vs routine expertise
- 46. Adaptive competence needs:
o A well-organized and flexibly accessible domain-specific knowledge base
o Heuristic methods
o Meta-knowledge
o Self-regulatory skills
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