THE COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

What is it?

This theory explain “Learning” as internal mental process -learning activities need to focus on building intelligence and cognitive and meta-cognitive development.-Brain based learning.

Advocates and Theorists

Edward Tolman, Piaget's developmental theory

Edward Tolman

“Edward Chace Tolman (April 14, 1886 – November 19, 1959) was an American psychologist. He was most famous for his studies on behavioral psychology.

Born in West Newton, Massachusetts, brother of CalTech physicist Richard Chace Tolman, Edward C. Tolman studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1915. Most of his career was spent at the University of California, Berkeley (from 1918 to 1954), where he taught psychology. Tolman's father was a president of a manufacturing company and his mother was adamant of her Quaker background. Tolman attended MIT because of family pressures, but after reading William James' "Principles of Psychology" he decided to abandon physics, chemistry, and mathematics in order to study philosophy and psychology He enrolled in Harvard and worked in the laboratory of Hugo Munsterburg. James' influence on Tolman could be seen in Tolman's courageous attitude and his willingness to cope with issues that cause controversy and are against the popular views of the time. Tolman always said he was strongly influenced by the Gestalt psychologists, especially Kurt Lewin and Kurt Koffka ^].

Tolman is best known for his studies of learning in rats using mazes, and he published many experimental articles, of which his paper with Ritchie and Kalish in 1946 was probably the most influential. His major theoretical contributions came in his 1932 book, Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men, and in a series of papers in the Psychological Review, "The determinants of behavior at a choice point" (1938), "Cognitive maps in rats and men" (1948) and "Principles of performance" (1955).”

He was a S.S (Stimulus- Stimulus) and a non-reinforcement behaviorist.

Extracted from Wikipedia_

Theory formulation

Since the 1960's cognitivism has provided the predominant perspective within which Learning Research has been conducted and theories of learning have evolved. Based on his research of rats, Tolman proposed that rats and other organisms develop cognitive maps of their environments. They learn where different parts of the environment are situated in relation to one another. The concept of a cognitive map also called a mental map has continued to be a focus of research.

Contribution to Learning Theory (in brief):

Edward Tolman proposed:

•Learning can occur without reinforcement.

•Learning can occur without a change in behavior.

•Intervening variables must be considered.

•Behavior is purposive.

•Expectations of fact behavior.

•Learning results in an organized body of information.

Piaget’s Developmental theory:

Piaget is a swiss psychologist. He started his work just before second world war. The main research areas of Piaget were how children develop and learn. He compared his theory with pervious laboratory experiments and he developed the theory from child’s observable behaviours.

Theory Formulation

Stage theory/ Stages of Development

Knowledge can be described in terms of structures that change with development. Piaget proposed the concept of schema. As children develop, new schemes emerge, and are sometimes integrated with each other into cognitive structures. Piaget defined cognitive development more than the addition of new facts and ideas into existing store of information. He propounded that Cognitive development results from the interactions that children have with their physical and social environments.

Classification of main three influences on children’s cognitive development 

Piaget explained that three dominant influenced factors on children’s cognitive development as:

 1.      Maturation:

It is the unfolding of biological changes that are genetically programmed into us at birth.

2.      Activity:

Activity is related with maturation directly. This means that an increase maturations means child will be more cognitively develop and act to the environment and surroundings and learn from those actions.

3.      Transmission:

The word transmission is used to describe the act of learning from others. As an when child become an adult and interact more people, a positive influence on child’s learning can be observed because of social interaction with others.

Piaget’s stages of Development

Stage	Stage defined	Explanation/ Implications
1 Sensorimotor	0-2 years	Use of imitation, memory and thought Recognize that objects do not cease to exist when they are hidden Moves from reflex actions to goal-directed activity
2 Preoperational	2-7 years	Develops use of language and ability to think in symbolic form. Think operations through logically one direction. Difficulties in seeing other persons viewpoint
3 Concrete Operational	7-12 years	Able to solve concrete (hands-on) problems in logical fashion, Understands the law of conversation and is able to classify and seriate. Understands reversibility
4 Formal Operrational	12s plus years	Able to solve abstract problems in logical fashion. Becomes more scientific in thinking. Develops concerns about social issues, identity. Overcoming talent develops Own beliefs and attitudes develops gradually

Some Piagetian Conservation Tasks

Teaching the Preoperational Child – Piagetian Approach

1.      Use concrete propos and visual aids whenever possible.

2.      Make interaction relatively short- not too many steps at once – Use actions as well as words.

3.      Help students to  develop their ability to see the world from someone else’s point of view.

4.      Be Sensitive to the possibility that students may have different meanings for the same word or different words for the same meanings. Students may also expect everyone to understand the words that they have invented.

Critisms of Piaget’s Stage Theory

1.      Stages of learning are too rigid ( the stage implications may differ from child to  child and it can not  be generalized)

2.      Individual differences ignored. (The effect of cultural and SES (Socia-Economic Status) on Learning is ignored)

3.      Piaget gave little importance on construction  of new knowledge through social interaction and constructivist ideas.

Vygotsky's  developmental theory:

Vygotsky:

He was a Russian psychologist. Died at a younger age and influenced by the work of Piaget. Vygotsky work fetched influence after his death and he was quite unknown during his time.

Central Ideas and Contribution to Learning theory:

1. Vygotsky emphasis on language development and its effect on learning. He believed its not the maturity element that improves one’s cognitive but the social interaction for conceptual understandings.

2.  Complex mental processes began as social activities. Vygotskycalled this process of social activities being internalized as mental activities "internalization."

3.  Children can often accomplish more difficult tasks when they have the assistance of other people more advanced and competent than themselves.

4. Tasks within the zone of proximal development promote maximum cognitive growth. This is the zone of learning for a child where he can learn something with the assistance of others.

5. The idea of scaffoldinglearning comes from Vygotsky'szone of proximal development theory.

Scaffolding refers to learning situations in which adults and other more competent individuals provide some form of guidance or structure that enables students to engage in learning activities within their zone of proximal development.

6 He believed that it is co-operation that act as a basis of learning.

Vygotsky's Proximal Zone of Development

Basic assumptions of cognitive learning theory;

1. Memory system is an active organized processor of information.

2. That prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.

3. Some learning processes may be unique to human beings.

4. Learning involves the formation of mental representations or associations that are not necessarily reflected in overt behavior changes.

5. People are actively involved in the learning process.

6. Knowledge is organized.”

7. Objective, systematic observations of people’s behavior should be the focus of scientific inquiry

8. Many cognitive theories focus on how people think about the information they receive from the environment-

9. How they perceive the stimuli around them,

10. How they put what they’ve perceived into their memories,

11. How they “find” what they’ve learned when they need to use it, and so own…collectively known as “information processing theory” (Ormrod, 2008, p. 163).

Application in Learning and Teaching

General educational implications of cognitive theories:

1. Cognitive processes influence learning.

2. Learning difficulties often indicate ineffective or inappropriate cognitive processes, especially for children with learning disabilities, who tend to process information less effectively. Therefore, teachers need to be aware that all students are trying to learn something, as well as what they are trying to learn.

3. As children grow, they become capable of increasingly more sophisticated thought.

4. People organize the things they learn. Therefore, teachers can facilitate students' learning by presenting information in an organized manner. This organization should reflect students' previous knowledge and show how one thing relates to the other (i.e., helping students understand and make connections).

5. New information is most easily acquired when people can associate it with things they have already learned. Teachers should then show how new ideas relate to previous learning.

5. People control their own learning. Ultimately students, not their teachers, determine what things will be learned and how they will be learned.

Other Contributors;

Gestalta psychologist emphasized the importance of organizational processes of perception, learning, and problem solving.

•Perception is often different from reality. This includes optical illusions.

•The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

•The organism structures and organizes experience.

•The organism is predisposed to organizeexperience in particular ways

Summary:
Cognitivism is currently the predominant perspective within which human learning is described and explained. Contemporary cognitivism emphasizes mental processes and proposes that many aspects of learning may be unique to the human species.  Cognitivism has affected educational theory by emphasizing the role of the teacher in terms of the instructor's effectiveness of presentation of instructional material in a manner that facilitates students' learning (e.g., helping students to review and connect previous learning on a topic before moving to new ideas about that topic, helping students understand the material by organizing it effectively, understanding differences in students' learning styles, etc.)