Compare And Contrast Theories Of Learning

Learning, along with teaching, has been studied for thousands of years. Theories have been made based on those studies and are still debated to this day on the best ways to teach and how students learn. Theorist, Ernest Hilgard (1948) once said, “The science of learning remains in a state of flux, in part because we have not yet reached agreement upon the most appropriate concepts to use in stating our problems and interpreting our data.” Theories of learning are somewhat different than theories of teaching however. We look at learning as the way in which a person learns, but teaching concerns the way in which another person influences another to learn. As an educator, I find it to be essential that I study both types of theories to become

Theories of learning can be broken down as either holistic or elemental, with the latter being visualized a mechanical process. In the elemental theory, learning is broken down into fragments. “When forces are applied in the operation of the system, a chain-like sequence of events results; and since these forces are the only efficient or immediate cause of the events, complete prediction is possible in principle (Knowles, Holton and Swanson, 2005, p. 23).” Elemental learning theories are about cause and effect and are predictable. Edward Thorndike, one of the first modern education theorists, believed that people learned through a trial and error approach. Theorist, B.F. Skinner followed Thorndike’s understanding and studied observable human behavior. He thought that the best way to understand behavior was to look at the causes of an action and its ramifications. In 1938, he coined this term operant conditioning, and spent much of

We as learners need the learning to be relevant to our experiences. Experiences make our education.

Although theorist Ernest Hilgard believed that the science of learning had not found agreement, he identified twenty principles from stimulus-response, motivation and personality, and cognitive theories in which he thought could be accepted by many different theory families. He found agreement in Thorndike and Skinner’s belief in reinforcement, along with Gagne’s ideas on a teacher’s management of components like feedback. He sewed together the seams of multiple theories. As I once again near the end of my school year, I find myself not only acting as a “theory consumer” (Barth 1990), but also as a “theory maker.” I observe my students in the classroom, examine their work, talk to them and listen to them. It allows me to make sense of my own practices and helps me try to make sense of the state of flux Hilgard suggests. I recognize that there are many different styles of learning and that I need to manage the environment, so that I can become a more effective teacher. I like those that have theorized before me, need to continue my research as it may lead to a new system of