Cognitivist Learning Theory: Behaviorist And Social Learning Theories

Contrast behaviorist and cognitivist learning theories.

BEHAVIORIST THEORY COGNITIVIST LEARNING THEORY

Learning takes place only if observable behavior change takes place. Learning does not have to result in a change in behavior.

Learning is viewed largely as a matter of trial and error: In any new situation, people try a variety of responses, increasing those that lead to desirable consequences and leaving unproductive ones behind. Most learning takes place not through trial and error but instead through observing both the behaviors of other individuals and the outcomes that various behaviors bring about.

Learning is traditionally defined as a behavior change; from such a perspective, no learning can occur unless behavior does change. People

Example I

I use Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory with my intervention groups. While reading the textbook’s description of modeling and the conditions necessary for effective modeling to occur, I immediately thought of how I apply modeling and other strategies such as attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation to my small groups.

At our school we use the five finger retell strategy with students who struggle with retell. In this strategy each finger represents setting, characters, problem, events, and solutions. When this strategy was first introduced to my intervention students, I had to do a lot of modeling. I would read a story aloud to the students and then cognitively model the five finger strategy by using each finger to describe the characters, setting, problems and etc. I purposely modeled my thinking process aloud in order for students to get a sense of what I was thinking during retelling. I wanted my students to make a connection with what I was thinking to what I was actually doing. This strategy was modeled several times until students were able to demonstrate the strategy effectively without

Mayer’s Multimedia Learning with my kindergarten students. Every year I teach a unit on yoga and relaxation stretches. Each lesson is designed to give students an authentic experience of what it is like to participate in a yoga session, in which students perform various yoga routines modeled by the teacher. While the design of the lesson extremely successful with my older students, I do not yield the same results with my younger students. As a result, I use kid yoga cards with my kindergarten and first grade students in order to provide an additional visual tool.

It is stated that individuals take in information both visually and auditorily. Each yoga card contains a printed word of the yoga movement, a picture of the child performing the movement, and a script of the instructions for the teacher to read aloud to the students. In addition, the card contains an outline of the animal or object of the movement, for instance if the movement is the tree pose the card shows a picture of a child performing the tree pose and a drawing or sketch of a tree outlines the child. When students view the card they see the title of the pose in print, a child performing the movement, and a sketch of the animal and an audio of the teacher describing the