How we think. But he did not emphasize this aspect of constructivism. Piaget was more interested in what children and youth could figure out on their own, so to speak, than in how teachers or parents might be able to help the young figure out (Salkind, 2004). Today in modern era, education psychology is the foundation of education. The situated, relational nature of knowledge and the social, engaged nature of effective learning are the foundational principles of social and contextual learning theories. The combining of both is noticeable in the examples in the previous paragraph. For example, constructivist influence shapes the common teaching practice of posing questions or problems and then inviting students to answer and solve them in their own ways. Bloom’s taxonomy, as it is usually called, describes six kinds of learning goals that teachers can in principle expect from students, ranging from simple recall of knowledge to complex evaluation of knowledge. If the expert is skilled and motivated to help, then the expert arranges experiences that let the novice to practice crucial skills or to construct new knowledge. Decide whether Goldilocks was a bad girl, and justify your position. Predict some of the things that Goldilocks might have used if she had entered your house. Behaviorism defines learning as observable behavioral change that occurs in response to environmental stimuli. Behaviorism also influences the sequence and methods used during the teaching and learning process. These are cyclical stages that function as an ongoing feedback loop, which in turn allows learners to improve skills and apply new or recent knowledge. When acting or reacting to his or her surroundings, the child has relatively little language skill initially. A student who clowns around inappropriately in class, for example, may not be “supported” by classmates’ laughter every time it happens, but only some of the time. Connectivism is the newest educational learning theory. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), implemented today in various domains from education and communication to psychology, refers to the acquisition of knowledge by direct observation, interaction, experiences, and outside media influence (Bryant, & Oliver, 2002). In more everyday, non-behaviorist terms, the cue allows the student to learn when it is acceptable to speak, and when it is not. As development proceeds, of course, language skills improve and hence the child becomes progressively more “teachable” and in this sense more able to learn. Departing from the comparative emphasis of behaviorists, cognitivists see human beings as rational creatures quite different from animals. So each perspective suggests things that you might do in your classroom to make students’ learning more productive. (2001). Consequently, cognitive theory explores the complexities of the human mind as it processes information. The original research about this model of learning was not done with people, but with animals. Lev Vygotsky, Albert Bandura, Jean Lave, Rogoff, Etienne Wenger, and Thomas Sergiovanni. A seventh-grade boy makes a silly face (the operant) at the girl sitting next to him. However, educational psychologists can also pursue careers as researchers, consultants, and teachers in a variety of contexts, including schools, community organizations, government research centers, and learning centers. At most it might be misconstrued as an oversimplified, overly concrete idea—as “just” about taking votes in class, for instance. In classrooms, cues are sometimes provided by the teacher deliberately, and sometimes simply by the established routines of the class. As a result, teachers account for the demographics of their classrooms as much as they do lesson planning. New York: Macmillan. Generalization is a lot like the concept of transfer discussed early in this chapter, in that it is about extending prior learning to new situations or contexts. From this perspective a teacher should limit the amount of thinking about abstract ideas that she expects from students. The image of the teacher therefore is more one of collaborating with students’ ideas rather than challenging their ideas or experiences. But of course, no one said that teaching is easy! For teachers concerned both about motivating students and about minimizing inappropriate behaviors, this is both good news and bad. Finally, behavioral psychologists have studied the effects of cues. As I hope you will see, each describes some aspects of learning not just in general, but as it happens in classrooms in particular. Although many contemporary educational psychologists see cognitivist approaches as outdated, teachers often deliver lectures in front of a classroom and expect students to demonstrate their retention of content through information-oriented tests. It uses psychological concepts and research methods to understand teaching, learning, and human development (Berliner, 2006). Learning involves the integration of information into a stored and usable body of knowledge. Other schools of thought critique behaviorism for underemphasizing biological and unconscious factors, denying free will, equating humans with animals, and overlooking internal learning processes or types of learning that occur without reinforcement. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Skinner called the changes in the rat’s behavior an example of operant conditioning, and gave special names to the different parts of the process. Originating in part from Piaget’s understanding of intellectual growth as occurring through the interaction between old and new knowledge, constructivism views knowledge acquisition as a process of building upon a learner’s previous knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. By placing an emphasis on activities that prompt effective perception and processing, educators can activate the learner’s prior experience, demonstrate a new skill for the learner, ask the learner to practice the skill, and then invite application of those skills in practical scenarios. Alberto, P. & Troutman, A. But more about this issue later! Lave and Wenger, on the other hand, view the diversity in knowledge levels as the best asset to a community of practice. These theories emphasize instinctual or inborn needs and drives that influence our behavior. For example, educators can use concepts from educational psychology to understand and address the ways rapidly changing technologies both help and harm their students’ learning. A sixth-grader takes home a book from the classroom library to read overnight (the operant). It is true that external reinforcement may sometimes alter the nature or strength of internal (or intrinsic) reinforcement, but this is not the same as saying that it destroys or replaces intrinsic reinforcement. And still another example—one often relevant to new teachers: when I began my first year of teaching, I was more focused on doing the job of teaching—on day-to-day survival—than on pausing to reflect on what I was doing. Experiential learning theories identify meaningful everyday experience as the most central factor in increasing a learner’s knowledge and understanding, as well as transforming their behavior. 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