Psychological Theories of Learning - Essay Example

? Psychological Theories of Learning and Psychological Theories of Learning Introduction Psychologists have advanced various theories to explain the process of cognitive development and learning experiences in children during the years of schooling. The most famous theories that have been advanced to explain children’s cognitive behaviors during developmental stages include the Piagetain theory, Vygotskian theory and the Information Processing (IP) theories. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) proposed the Piagetian theory (Bajic & Rickard, 2011). Piaget believed that the wrong answers revealed by children had significance differences between the reasoning of adults and children. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was the founder of the Vygotskian framework of cognitive development. The elements of Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development include the role of social interactions, the More Knowledge Other, and the Zone of Proximal Development. The Vygotskian theory stresses that social interactions are critical in the cognitive development of children. Information-Processing frameworks are based on the perspective that mental processes undergo maturational changes during children’s development (McCartney & Phillips, 2011). Different cognitive theories of development bear diverse propositions about cognitive stages of development; however, these theories share some similarities concerning cognitive development of children during school years. The Piagetian Theory The Piagetian theory argues that children have the ability to construct and understand the world around them, and experience the difference between their existing knowledge and new information they acquire in the environment (Smith, 2008). The fundamental believe held by Piaget is that reality is a dynamic system characterized by a continuous change. This implies the conception of reality is viewed differently across the ages of development. Some stages of development are filled with imaginations of unreal world, while other stages of development consist of children having the real sense of the world. According to Piaget, the concept reality involves transformations and states. Transformation constitutes the manners of changes that a person undergoes during various stages of development (Smith, 2008). States are the conditions and appearances that characterize developmental stages as they are viewed between transformations. Piaget developed six stages of cognitive development that change as children grow (Bremner and Lewis, 2006). The stages include sensory motor (birth to 2 years), pre-operational stage (2 to 5 years), concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years) and formal operational stage (above 12 years). Children develop various cognitive activities as they undergo these stages. The Concepts of Assimilation, Accommodation, Equilibration and Conservation in Piaget’s Theory Assimilation Assimilation describes the process through which the human mind perceives and adapts to new information. Human beings take in their environment and the new information available and attempt to fit it into the pre-existing cognitive schemas. The human mind tries to make sense of the new learning by referring to be previously acquired information in order to make sense of it (Bekoff, Allen & Burghardt, 2002). The concept of assimilation declares learning a continuous process. The theory also reveals that prior information is crucial in understanding new information. This implies that children who have some concepts of knowledge find it easier to acquire additional knowledge than those who do not have any knowledge. Accommodation According to Johnson, Munakata and Gilmore (2009), accommodation involves taking new information from the environment and adjusting the current schemas to fit in the new learning. Accommodation describes the ways through which human beings continue to interpret new theories, frameworks, and schemas. The mind is adaptive enough to allow proper mental adjustments to accommodate the new learning Children acquire new knowledge in class and interpret it based on their prior experiences. For example, when the teacher explains the flow of water in a river, children tend to interpret this flow with their experiences with the practical river. Equilibration Some information acquired from the environment could be contracting to the already existing schemas (Smith 2008). The human mind has to seek consensus between the existing information and the new knowledge to find out the true concept. The mind cannot achieve the state of equilibrium unless a consensus has been reached. The human mind is programmed through evolution to achieve equilibrium; the mind maintains the state of equilibrium through equilibrating the environmental acquisitions with the schemata. Conservation According to Brown (2008), conservation is the logical thinking ability that becomes evident in children during the concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years). Children in this stage of cognitive development logically determine that a particular quantity of an object remains the same despite change in shape, adjustment of the container, or apparent size (Miller, 2011). For example, if 100 millilitre of water in a thin, tall tube is poured into a broad-based glass, a child at the concrete operational stage will argue that water in the glass is equal to the water in the tube. Children who can conserve have the abilities to reverse transformations mentally and comprehend compensations. Practical Applications of the Piagetian Theory Piaget’s theory has both domestic and school applications. Parents apply Piaget’s stages of cognitive development o decide the appropriate support required by children at each level of development. This includes decisions playing materials needed to support the child’s growth and development (Smith, 2008). Teachers and curriculum developers use Piaget’s theory when considering learning content and the subjects that are relevant to each grade. Children at concrete stages require abstract content than those at the pre-operational stages. The Vygotskian Theory of Cognitive Development Kozulin (2007) contends that the Vygotskian theory constitutes one of the foundations of constructivism. The first element of the theory is the role of social interaction in cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, cognitive development in children emerges through practical interaction with the social environment. Vygotsky believed that there is a strong relationship between the social environment and cognitive development that plays a central role in the process of “making meaning” the environmental events (Meadows, 2006). The nature-nurture controversy reveals that the environment does great works in enhancing the functionality of heredity materials. Children are empty slates at birth; a concept referred to as “tabula rasa” (Brown, 2008). The environment plays a key role in developing the mental structure of children as they undergo life stages of development. The second principle of Vygotsky is the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO). This principle implies that a person who has a higher understanding ability than the learners’ level preferably makes transfer of knowledge possible (Driscoll, 2005). The more knowledgeable person does not necessarily need to be an older person; however, age mates who understand activities better than the learner can act as peer teachers. Children learn faster when the trainer has a higher potential to understand information than the learner does. Vygotsky’s third principle is referred to as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The Zone of Proximal Development is the minimum distance between the leaner’s ability to perform a task under the guidance of a teacher or a more knowledgeable peer and the ability to complete the task at his or her own. Vygotsky rejected the theories of constructivism, behaviourism and gestalism because these theories contradicted his belief that learning always precedes development in the Zone of Proximal Development (Hoy & Ohio State University, 2013). The ZPD proposes that assistance by a more capable person than the learner would enable the learner to acquire knowledge that go beyond the actual developmental or maturational level of the child. This implies that providing appropriate guidance for learners who are at the ZPD would give them sufficient boost to complete the task easier than learners who have not attained the stage of the ZPD. Schools actually provide assistance (scaffold) for children through teachers’ intervention. Learners are left to do other tasks such as assignments, father readings and evaluation tests. Vygotsky seems to be against the traditional rote learning method that takes place in educational institutions (Bremner, & Lewis, 2006). Vygotsky believed that transmissionist models in which educators transferred information to the students were traditional and outdated. Therefore, Vygotsky proposed learning contexts that allow learners to play an active role in learning while teachers act as facilitators of learning, and not instructionists (Smith, 2008). Modern computers are programmed to act as More Knowledgeable Other and transmit learning materials to students. Additionally, children understand concepts faster if they read texts before the teacher comes to teach than when they wait for the teacher (Kozulin, 2007). Prior reading makes learners occupy a better position in the ZPD. The Information Processing Theories Information processing theories compares the human mind with a computer in order to understand the mind processes information and stores it in the memory. The model argues that information is taken into the memory as input (Kozulin, 2007). Input information undergoes encoding to give meaning and make comparisons with the already existing information. The information is finally stored in the memory. The memory can be divided into three categories that constitute the structure of the information-processing system. The human information processing system has three components: sensory register, the working memory and the long-term memory (Miller, 2011). The sensory register receives and briefly stores both external and internal stimuli for unconscious processes to analyse it and determine whether should be discarded or brought into the working memory (Miller, 2011). Learners encounter several occurrences in their classrooms or during private studies; they use the sensory register to select what to attend to and what to ignore. The working memory is the centre of the conscious thought and is compared to the central processing unit of a computer. The working memory combines the information from the long-term memory and the environment to solve problems. The working memory has a small capacity, which cannot attend to several sources of information simultaneously. Learning environments and examination rooms are usually kept out of noise. This enables students to avoid distractions (Berger, 2011). Learning cannot be effective in noisy environments. The long-term memory represents a person’s knowledge that is in dormant state. The environment triggers the short-term memory to activate the long-term memory into use when there is a problem to solve. Children tend to remember their previously learnt concepts and apply them to solve problems later in life. The information processing is comprised of four pillars: thinking, analysis of stimuli, situational modification and obstacle evaluation. Thinking includes mental processes that lead to perception of external stimuli, encoding and storing of data (Berger, 2011). Analysis of stimuli involves the process of altering encoded stimuli to fit the cognition and interpretation of the brain during the process of decision-making. Situational modification is the use of long-term memory and stored information to handle similar situations in future (Hoy & Ohio State University, 2013). The pillar of obstacle evaluation takes into consideration the nature of the problem besides a person’s development level. This is because unnecessary and misleading information may confuse the intellectual and cognitive acumen of a person despite having successfully handled a similar task earlier. Comparison of Psychological Learning Theories Similarities The three theories, Piagetian, Vygotskian and the Information Processing (IP) theories believe that the environment contributes greatly towards the development of children. Piaget considers cognitive development as a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from environmental experience. Vygotsky believes that proper reasoning emerges due to practical activities in the social environment. According to McCartney & Phillips (2011), Information Processing theory, children develop by advancing their abilities in responding to information they receive from the environment through their senses. The three theories belief that prior knowledge is a critical consideration in the learning process since it makes learning easy and fast. New information is added to the already existing in knowledge. Interpretation of new theories, facts, principles and rules becomes easy when children have learnt similar information in the past. The Information Processing model contends that input information undergoes encoding to give meaning and make comparisons with the already existing information (McCartney & Phillips, 2011). The ZPD model proposed by Vygotsky concentrates on the significance of prior information in the learning process. Similarly, Piaget argues that the human mind, through assimilation and accommodation, it tends to reconcile the existing schema with the existing information through arbitration. Differences One of the most notable differences between these theories is the way through which the environment contributes to cognitive development. Vygotsky disagrees with Piaget’s concept of environment in cognitive development. Piaget argued that development precedes learning (Miller, 2011). Vygotsky rejected this argument using his ZPD model where he believed that learning always preceded development. Another difference between these theories is that Piaget presented his developmental stages and characteristics revealed at each using a linear age system. Vygotsky did not take into consideration the age of learners. The Information Processing theory classifies the information-processing structures into three categories, but does not consider the characteristic of each structure at different ages. Conclusion The most commonly used theories of cognitive development include Piagetain theory, Vygotskian theory and the Information Processing (IP) theories. The theories of development primarily explain the rationale between children’s during the developmental stages. The psychological theories of cognitive development focus on the suitability of the environment to enhance learning and boost the child’s development. Parents and teachers need to understand these theories for them to provide adequate materials and content to support children’s growth and development. Proper integration of psychological theories can potentially reveal the requirements of children as they develop and provide counteractive mechanisms to eliminate the limiting factors of development. References Bajic, D., & Rickard, T. C., 2011. Toward a generalized theory of the shift to retrieval in cognitive skill learning. Journal of Memory & Cognition, 39(7), pp. 1147-1161. Bekoff, M., Allen, C., & Burghardt, G. M. 2002. The cognitive animal: Empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Berger, A. 2011. Self-regulation: Brain, cognition, and development. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association. Bremner, J. G., & Lewis, C. 2006. Developmental psychology I: Perceptual and cognitive development. London: SAGE. Brown, C. 2008. Developmental Psychology. London, UK: Sage Driscoll, M. 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