Nursing curricullum - Essay Example

Despite there being a clear significance of the learning process to every person’s development, health, functioning, the well-being and health, debate about how learning takes place, the experiences that deem to hinder or facilitate learning, and the key elements that ensures learning becomes relatively vital has never ceased. Arguably, one such crucial elements pertains a learning theory. A learning theory is the coherent framework of some integrated principles and constructs that can be used for describing predicting or explaining how individuals learn.

Education psychology has provided alternative theories alongside perspectives concerning how the process of learning takes place. The curriculum for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN's), has adopted a number of learning theories that have evidently been useful at boosting the training, as well as the learning processes of its staff (Fitzpatrick, & Whall, 2005).. . They are more significant in influencing the pedagogical practice. More often than not, behaviourists tend to be of a view that all behaviour, no matter their complexity can easily be reduced to simple stimulus response association.

In essence, behaviourists are emphasize on the measurable outcomes rather than imaginary thoughts and feelings (introspective processes). Ivan Pavlov, while conducting an experimental research with dogs, found out that dogs tend to salivate whenever the laboratory technician enters the room (McKenna, & Slevin, 2008). Research conducted over the same revealed that dogs had made the association between stimulus (food) and the technicians (neutral stimulus) thereby leading to the dog’s drooling response.

This theory was termed as Pavlovian conditioning and was further developed by Watson who further demonstrated the classical conditioning among humans with the use of the young boys called Little Peter and Little Albert (McKenna & Slevin, 2008). Extending on this theory, Skinner used this theory to provide an explanation of the more complex forms of learning. Skinner believed that it was possible to utilize principles underpinning animal experimentation with children and infants. He went ahead coining the terminology Operant conditioning in explaining the influence negative and positive reinforcers have upon maintaining and shaping the behaviour of a child.

The AACNs have adopted the Skinner’s theory as used in reward and punishment systems used by teachers in shaping and maintaining the behaviour of pupils. Praise, star charts, positive feedback, alongside circle time are crucial examples of the commonly used positive reinforcers, while