Educational Technology - Module #3: The Learning Theories and Models of Learning

Module #3: The Learning Theories and Models of Learning

Learning theory consists of cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained. Geographical learning theory focuses on the ways that contexts and environments shape the learning process. As for learning model, it is a description of the mental and physical mechanisms that are involved in the acquisition of new skills and knowledge and how to engage those those mechanisms to encourage and facilitate learning. The primary learning styles that exist are visual, auditory and kinesthetic (physical) learning.

Behavioral theory or also known also as behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions. Behaviorism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions.

Cognitive theory defines learning as "a semi-permanent change in mental processes or associations." Cognitivists do not require an outward exhibition of learning but focus more on the internal processes and connections that take place during learning. Cognitivism is the study in psychology that focuses on mental processes, including how people perceive, think, remember, learn, solve problems, and direct their attention to one stimulus rather than another. Psychologists working from a cognitive perspective, then, seek to understand cognition. It has been told that it concerned with identifying and describing mental processes which can affect learning, thinking, behaviour and the conditions that influence those mental processes.