Learning Theories and Implications for Educational Technology
Abstract
The theories of Vygotsky, Gardner, and Gagne present vary different models of learning. Vygotsky and Gardner see culture as an important factor in how a child learns, and see growth and development and individual thing. Gagne, however, focuses on a formal model of instruction, with the method used depending upon the content being taught. All three theories have a role to play in educational technology.
Learning Theories and Implications for Educational Technology
There are a variety of learning theories that have been presented over the past several decades, each proposing different thoughts on how and where learning takes place and how instruction should be designed. The theories of Lev Vygotsky, Howard Gardner, and Robert Gagne propose different models of learning and instruction. Thought they are quite different, they each do have a role in instruction in an educational technology setting.
Lev Vygotsky
The social cognition learning model is based on the notion that the way an individual thinks, learns and reasons is primarily is a result of the culture that they are surrounded by. To Vygotsky, intelligence is “much more specific to the culture in which a child was reared.” (Vasta, R., Haith, M.M., Miller, S.A. 1995 as quoted by Kristinsdóttir 2001). According to Kristinsdóttir (2001), “Vygotsky viewed cognitive developments as a result of a dialectic process where the child learns through shared problem solving experiences with someone else.” Parents, teachers, friends, and siblings all aid the development process as they talk and work with a child through task and or problems. Early on in the process the adult or other person who is leading...
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Kristinsdóttir, S. (2001) Lev Vygotsky Retrieved October 29, 2004 from http://starfsfolk.khi.is/solrunb/vygotsky.htm
Multiple Intelligences (H. Gardner) (n.d.) Retrieved October 30, 2004, from the Theories Into Practice website: http://tip.psychology.org/gardner.html
Robert Gagne (n.d.) retrieved October 29, 2004 from http://www.ittheory.com/gagne1.htm
Robert Gagne (n.d.) retrieved October 30, 2004, from the Instructional Development Timeline website: http://www.my-ecoach.com/idtimeline/theory/gagne.html
Shutz, Ricardo (2002) Vygotsky & Language Acquisition retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.english.sk.com.br/sk-vygot.html
Smith, M.K. (2002) ‘Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences’, the encyclopedia of informal education, retrieved November 4, 2004 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Political issues or matters concerning the well-being of mankind is not something new to us. Social and political hierarchies have existed for millennia, yet the ways in which people have voiced their concerns or opinions on sensitive topics related to these hierarchies have evolved over time. One way in which people have addressed important society matters has been through satire. Typically satirical writings are fueled by anger brought about by a political event or societal issue. Instead of voicing their anger directly to the people, Jonathan Swift and other satirical authors, have used satire as “the engine of anger, rather than the direct expression of anger” (Egendorf 40). In doing so,
Howard Gardener is a psychologist and a professor of neuroscience at Harvard University who also designed the nine theories of Multiple Intelligence (MI). In 1983, he introduced the first seven theories of multiple intelligences in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences; then, he introduced his last two theories in his 1999 publication of Intelligence Reframed. According to Parkay & Stanford, “Howard Gardener believes that human beings possess at least eight separate forms of intelligence” (2003, p.300-301). Thus, Gardner’s theories began to question the conventional beliefs about how students are educated in the classroom. This paper will examine the teacher’s role in incorporating these theories into the classroom, the definitions of MI including classroom activities, and benefits of using this theory. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence includes the following intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalists, and existentialist. Only two of the intelligences are commonly recognized in most classrooms: linguistic, and logical-mathematical. There are five intelligences that are frequently overlooked by educators: spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. The last two are generally not considered in the classroom: naturalists, and existentialist, but naturalist can be applied with the use of science context. According to King, the theory of MI has “…motivated educators to develop programs that instruct students in multiple domains” (2010, p. 250).
Charles Spearman's model of intelligence and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory are two of the most widely used theories of intelligence. In order to understand how similar the two theories are we must first understand their differences. These two men differed in opinion on how IQ and intelligence should be measured, and they differed in opinion on what made a person "smart". In order to examine these things they first had to understand the human brain and how it works. They had to examine the human study habits and rituals, along with the human test taking habits.
John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural Approaches to Learning and Development: A Vygotskian Framework. Educational Psychologist, 191-206.
Psychology is one of the newest sciences. Because it is the science of the mind and behavior, it is also less concrete than some of the other sciences. Over the years, social scientists have developed theories or perspectives based off of their observations, research, and the perspectives of other scientists. Although there is some overlap, each of the major perspectives of psychology is unique. As a result, they each have strengths and weaknesses and explain psychology in a different way. One theory, the sociocultural perspective, is exactly what its name suggests. It’s the idea that the society and groups that an individual belongs to are what influences development, thoughts, and behavior. The sociocultural perspective was pioneered by a Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, in the 1920’s (John-Steiner, 1998). Vygotsky stressed the idea that children learn through what he called guided participation (Sigelman, 2009). His theory was that children develop through interactions with parents, teachers, and other knowledgeable members of the culture and are given tools to adopt the group’s way of thinking.
Lev Vygotsky developed his theory of learning in the 1920’s but it was not until the late 1960’s that his ideas about learning became popular and were used to contribute to “Constructivism” as a method of teaching. (Krause [et al.] 2010 p. p81).
In the preface to the second edition of The Conditions of Learning, Gagné commented further on this shift to the information-processing model of cognition and it’s influence on his approach to designing instruction. He stated, "I consider this form of learning theory to represent a major advance in the scientific study of human learning" (Gagné, 1977). In 1989, Michael J. Striebel noted, "Instructional design theories such as Gagné's theory, take the cognitivist paradigm one logical step further by claiming that an instruction plan can generate both appropriate environmental stimuli and instructional interactions, and thereby bring about a change in cognitive structures of the learner (Striebel, 1989).
A satire is the “use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people 's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues” (OED) to reveal or shame. Satire is used as a way for people to deal with problems and inequalities that are to big to deal with head on. Satire is a way of expression, that makes it easier to respond to the issues existence, while denying the issues hold on the emotions. Satire also brings the attention of social issues to people that might ignore them otherwise. It also points out the faults of society and gets people to critics’ things they may take for granted. Satirical tones can be seen in plays, movies and
Jacoby believes the death penalty protects society by threatening future murders with fear. Gaes believes the death penalty is necessary because the overpopulation in prisons causes emotional and physical distress. The stronger side of the debate seems to be that the death penalty does not discourage crime at all nor does it help the victim’s family heal. It would be useful to know whether or not death-penalty states as a whole have lower rates of crime than non-death penalty states when arguing for the death penalty.
While satire isn’t necessarily a genre of writing in itself, it has proven to be a rather useful and unique form of writing in order to convey many different messages. For the most part, satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, humor, and even exaggeration to express a negative opinion against current events occurring around the writer. According to Megan LeBoeuf, a student at the University of Rhode Island, in an essay she wrote entitled The Power of Ridicule: An Analysis of Satire, she states, “Satire also has the ability to protect its creator from culpability for criticism, because it is implied rather than overtly stated.” Most writers use satire as an undercover and covert way to speak about social and political issues in order to evoke change, without the writer necessarily having to take the blame. In both Don Quixote de la Mancha, one of the first European novels by Miguel de Cervantes, and The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgement of the Journey to the West, a Chinese novel translated by Anthony C. Yu, the use of satire gives both writers a voice against the religious and political issues of their time.
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence focuses more on how numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a full and accurate depiction of people’s abilities (McFarlane, 2011). He includes and describes eight intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures. The eight intelligences include visual-spatial (e.g. sailor navigating with no navigational systems), verbal-linguistic (e.g. poets, writers, orators, and communicators), bodily-kinesthetic (e.g. dancers, athletes, surgeons, craftspeople), logical-mathematical (e.g. mathematicians and logicians), interpersonal(e.g. salespeople, teachers, clinicians, politicians, and religious leaders), musical (e.g. musicians and
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two very well-known theorists who emphasized the development of cognition in their theories. In Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental theory, he claimed that children go through a series of stages, which he used to describe human development. In Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Learning, he believed culture and social interaction played a role in cognitive development. Although Piaget and Vygotsky both focused their theories on cognitive development they take different stances a series of developmental issues. This paper will look at the similarities and differences between these theorist’s views on critical developmental issues, such as view of human nature, mechanisms of development, and their
Each of the three learning theories, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Behaviorism, has worth and merit in my opinion. Yet, each one has its own unique qualities with one common factor, the learning process. It seems to me that the best teacher is one who would utilize all the theories of learning. However, if I look closely, I am most likely favoring one or two more than the others in my own instructional methods. I read the brief definition of these three theories and realized that I needed to examine a more in-depth explanation of each of them. The theory of cognitivism focuses on the mind of the learner
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.
From this research Gardner’s multiple intelligence therapy was created. The multiple intelligence theory is based on the belief that everyone succeeds in at least one of the eight types intelligence, linguistic, mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist. Each intelligence different from the other, however one person can strive at multiple intelligences or simply strive at one intelligence. Once Gardner released his book “frame of minds” in 1983 (Gardner’s multiple intelligence) the educational outlook on student’s success started to transform. With a new understanding that each student is different educationally then it became clear that students obtain education differently as well, the modern day class room transformed to fit each