Learning Theory and Learning Styles

Who would have thought that there could be so many learning styles? When I was at school (back when Adam was a boy), learning was strictly based on the behaviourism (Learning-Theories.com, 2013) where learning was simply a response to conditioning. This took the form of repetition and involved lots of rote learning. Today multiple learning theories abound.

Cognitivism (Mergel B. , 1998) later tried to explain learning in terms of mental processing. It was felt that if we knew more about how the brain worked, we would understand how we learn. They have explained the learning process in a three stage model:

• the sensory register

• working memory

• long term memory

Constructivism theory (Mergel B. , 1998) suggests that "learners construct their own reality or at least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences," (Mergel, 1998). Also known as social constructivism, it is founded on the notion that individual learning comes from social interactions either within a learning or expert community. Crucial to this learning theory is the support of the teacher who is responsible for "scaffolding" (Scaffolding, 2003) the learning experiences. This scaffolding should involve demonstrations, modelling, instruction, offering suitable tools and opportunities for collaboration.

Siemens cited connectivism (Siemens, 2004) as "the learning theory for the digital age,"  as it bases itself on the networking nature of learning that occurs using technology and the Internet. He notes that as it is no longer possible to know all that we need to know, the new focus in education should be on where and how to find knowledge. Using his analogy, "the pipeline and its connections are more important than what is in the pipeline" is the basis for this theory.

However, many educationalists believe that constructivism is the most appropriate learning theory when we think about how ICTs can impact on education as knowledge is constructed and built upon in collaboration with other learners.

And what of learning styles? Indeed, many theories also exist for this area. To me, the two most complete and applicable to the classroom are those of Gardner’s multiple intelligences (Paik, 1998)and de Bono’s Thinking Hats (De Bono Thinking Systems, 2013).

Gardner’s research considered the biological factors that can influence cognitive function ahead of psychological that previous researchers had considered.  His theory suggests that there are seven different branches of intelligence:

• linguistic

• musical

• spatial

• bodily

• intrapersonal

• interpersonal

• logico-mathimatical (Paik, 1998)

Other researchers add an eighth form:

• naturalist

My learning styles from: http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm

 

Edward de Bono (de Bono, 2013) is the man who gave us the term ‘lateral thinking.' His research looked at human creativity.  The Six Thinking Hats theory that came out of this work is not so much about how we think, but how we should think to get the most out of our creativity.

From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjVxSk1MqO4 

Bibliography

Scaffolding. (2003, July 21). Retrieved March 30, 2013, from University of Tasmania: http://www.educ.utas.edu.au/users/ilwebb/research/scaffolding.htm

De Bono Thinking Systems. (2013). Six thinking hats. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from De Bono's Thinking Systems: http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm

de Bono, E. (2013). Biography of Edward de Bono. Retrieved April 4, 2013, from Edward de Bono: Father of lateral thinking: http://www.edwdebono.com/biograph.htm

Learning-Theories.com. (2013). Behaviourism. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from Learning-Theories.com: http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html

Mergel, B. (1998, May). Cognitivism. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from University of Saskatchewan: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The Basics of Cognitivism

Mergel, B. (1998, May). Constructivism. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from University of Saskatchewan: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The Basics of Constructivism

Paik, H. S. (1998). One intelligence or many? Alternative approaches to cognitive abilities. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from Personality Research: http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/paik.html

Siemens, G. (2004, December 12). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from elearnspace: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm