Cognitive Approaches to Learning

1. Cognitive Approaches to Learning A presentation by ETEC 512 “Group 1” Ian Brown, Roberta Luchinski, Marie-Louise Thomas

2. Behaviourism • Behaviorism is rooted in the idea that human behavior is part of scientific, natural law. • Its basic premise is that behavior is overt and measurable and can be quantitatively studied and assessed. It declines the notion that behavior is the result of internal thought processes.

3. Cognitive Approaches to Learning • Behavioral Conditioning Theory suggests that all learning involves forming associations between stimuli and responses. • Cognitive Information Theory does not reject these associations, but focuses more on the internal (mental) processes that intervene between stimuli and responses. Schunk, D. H. (2008). pp. 130-131.

4. Behaviourism • Its core is “stimulus/response theory”, and it embraces the concepts of positive and negative reinforcement. • It is highly accountable, and used in these applications:

5. Behaviourism Leading psychologists in Behaviorist Theory include: • B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) • Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) • John B. Watson (1878 – 1958) • Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

6. Connecting Behaviourism’s Gaps to Cognitive Learning with ModelsA Concept Map Created By Marie-Louise Thomas

7. “Connecting Behaviourism's Gap to Cognitive Learning”The Role of Models Illustrating the Gap between Behaviourism and Cognitive Learning Theories – Notes to Concept Map • (1) In Novak’s (1998) discussion of Ausubel’s Assimilation Learning Theory, he illustrates that meaningful learning comes from learning relevant knowledge, from meaningful material which the learner chooses. Novak clearly differentiates between meaningful and rote (merely rehearsed) learning. Rote learning is discouraged (p. 53). • (2) Bandura et al's study (1961) explains that much research on social learning is focused on shaping behaviour through rewarding and punishing behaviour. The study debunks the theory that there needs be observable behaviour to measure learning. Observation of cues produced by the behaviour of models is an effective means to eliciting certain forms of responses for which the original probability was low or zero. (p. 12)

8. Cognitivism • Cognitivism emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a reaction against Behaviorism. • It probes the weaknesses of Behaviorism's entirely external, environmental approach to the study of behavior, but does not entirely reject stimulus/response and reinforcement theory. • It looks beyond the external, to the internal mental processes involved in learning behavior.

9. Cognitivism • Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) and many of the previously mentioned psychologists, developed cognitive theories of learning. • Like the behaviorists, cognitivists, see knowledge as "given and absolute".

10. Social Learning Theory • Albert Bandura was one of the first to publish on the social learning theory. He demonstrated that people learn by observing one another's behavior.

11. Social Learning Theory • Social Learning Theory suggests that people learn new behavior through overt reinforcement or punishment, or via observational learning from the social actors in their environment. • If people observe positive, desired outcomes in the observed behavior, then they are more likely to model, imitate, and adopt the behavior themselves.

12. Application of Cognitive Learning Theories in a Grade 8 English Language Arts Classroom - Roberta Luchinski • In this Grade 8 English Language Arts Class the students are engaging in activities that “traditional” teachers might find unusual. The influence of Cognitive Learning Theories (Schunk, 2008, p. 77-103) has reached the classroom level through new curricula that focus on active learning by the students. Curriculum outcomes include self-reflection on how they are achieving and goal setting for improvement. The students are given models or “exemplars” of how Grade 8 work should look. Differentiated instruction (http://www.members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/differentiating.html) and multiple intelligences (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm ) assessments are tools used by the teacher to ensure that each child has equitable access to learning. Visual Organizers and Metacognitive Strategies (http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/metacognition/start.htm ) are used to help learners organize their thoughts.

13. Cognitive Modeling(Michenbaum, 1977 as cited in Schunk, 2008, p. 88) • During a recent ELA class the students were asked to respond to a reading by writing a brief paragraph. No model was given. The responses returned varied from two sentence incomplete paragraphs to well-written thoughtful paragraphs. This was the “baseline data” for the teacher as to how the students would give a written response to a reading on their own. The following day the “hamburger paragraph strategy” (http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/strategy.htm) was introduced/reviewed (some students used this the previous year) as a model for paragraph writing. The teacher modeled use of the paragraph strategy as a class while students participated by suggesting ideas and suggesting sentences to write. In this way a model for writing a one paragraph response to a reading was created.

14. Self Instruction (Michenbaum, 1977 as cited in Schunk, 2008, p. 89) • Students in this ELA class are divided into groups that correspond approximately to their reading and writing skill level, for the purpose of facilitating tiered assignments (http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=instruction&section=main&subsection=udl/tiered). The teacher needs to make sure that the students understand and use the rules for working as a group, as a class criteria for a rubric are discussed and organized. The following day, the teacher distributes copies of the rubric to the class and provides a topic to discuss based on a reading done in class. After the group has finished their discussion, they are to complete the rubric for their group to evaluate how they have done. In the next group learning situation, the class will be asked to refer to the rubric, think about where they decided they need to improve, and work on that skill while doing the assigned group task. (http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/science9/saskenviro/worddocs/lesson3/rubric2.pdf )

15. Goals(Schunk 2008, p.98) • On the first day of school, students were asked to introduce themselves in writing, doing their best job. This initial writing sample serves as baseline data against which improvements will be measured. In their Learning Journals, students are asked to reflect on what they like and do not like about their writing. They are asked to set goals for improvement. The students are then shown exemplars of Grade 8 writing and asked to refine their goals. • Using a smart goal template (http://www.goalsettingstrategies.com/smart_goal_template.html ) students refine their goals, setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals. Students will be provided with opportunities to practice through guided writing assignments, metacognitive tools (such as COPS http://www.k12.nf.ca/fatima/copsstra.htm and TOWER and visual organizers and drill and practice exercises as needed http://www.west.net/~ger/dsps77.html ).

16. The Dual-Process Model in a Second-Language Learning Class A Concept Map by M-L Thomas

17. The Two-Store (Dual Memory) Model Applied to Second-Language Learning in the Classroom (adapted from Schunk, 2008, pp. 132-133) • In an F.S.L. classroom learners are encouraged to create meaning of new sounds by connecting the spoken word to actions and gestures. In this example, students learn that word “viens” in French is “come” in English. • Information processing begins with a teacher modelling a new word to students. An auditory stimulus input (the sound “viens”) and a visual/kinesthetic stimulus (a hand gesture that signals “come”) impinge on two of the learners’ senses (hearing and sight). The appropriate sensory register receives the input and holds it briefly in sensory form. It is here that perception (pattern recognition) occurs, assigning meaning to the new stimulus. While this does not typically involve naming, the input (the sound “viens” not necessarily interpreted as an actual word) stays in the sensory register for only a fraction of a second. • Perception involves matching an input (the sound “viens”) to known information (the hand gesture for “come” (Schunk, p. 133). The sensory register transfers information (the sound “viens”) to Short Term Memory (STM). STM or working memory (WM) corresponds to awareness, or what one is conscious of at the given moment. WM is limited in duration; for the sound to be retained in WM, it must be repeated (the teacher repeats the paired sound and gesture). Without rehearsal the information is lost in a few seconds. • Once sound is rehearsed by the learner and meaningfulness is added to the sound (now a meaningful word) “viens”, the learner can use and produce the word.

18. The Dual-Process Model in a Second-Language Learning ClassNotes to Concept on Concept Maps • (1) This is the information that already has meaning for the learner and is stored in LTM. Unlike the stimuli pairings in Behaviourism which often involve unlearnt, instinctual, or involuntary actions, the hand gesture was learnt earlier by the learner and coincided with their first language. • (2)The learner has already given meaning to the word 'viens' having seen and heard the model's actions and model's successes saying 'viens' and using the hand gesture in the classroom. The model's repetition leading to the learner's new perceptions are only one step in learning. For continued meaningfulness and more permanent learning, the learner must now produce the word 'viens' in its appropriate context (Schunk, p. 98). • (3) Indeed there are behaviourist undertones in the pairing of the two stimuli, sound and hand gesture. Yet, there is no overt student response in the initial stages of learning. Learning takes place using the two-store model in WM and LTM, through the actions of the model, and the cognitive processing by the learner that gives meaning to the new word. • (4) This rehearsal generally occurs in the classroom in interactions between the teacher and students. Eventually, students respond to the sound ‘viens’ without the model’s use of the hand gesture. This appears to be a behavioural learning process. Yet, the emphasis here is that the model's success, not the student's success, motivates learning. Moreover, more LTM learning is created after the students have created the meaningful connections themselves. The importance learner’s perceptions make this a cognitive process. • (5) This information has no initial meaning to the learner unless it it repeated by the model along with the hand gesture "come". In the initial scenarios, the sound is held in WM until it can move successfully to LTM.

19. Social Cognitive Theories of LearningBuild on the Gaps in Behaviourism Do Behaviourists account for unreinforced behaviour? Behaviourism is a theory that accounts for part of the learning process—the observable, measurable, aspects of learning that clearly show a correlation between stimuli and changes in behaviour (Upton, 2009). Some learning is less measurable because it is less observable.

20. Learning Occurs in the Absence of Reinforcement Social Cognitive Theories of LearningBuild on the Gaps in Behaviourism – continued Behaviourism cannot account for observable and measurable behaviour that has not been reinforced. For example, a child who has listened to the educational television program, Dora the Explorer begins to produce context-appropriate Spanish phrases at playtime with their stuffed animals. The cartoon character repeatedly models context-appropriate Spanish. The language has been learnt, but the Spanish was not reinforced by a parent or by the teacher (Dora on the television show ). Social cognitivists would argue that learning had occurred even before the Spanish was produced by the learner. Similar television programmes like Sesame Street encourage new learning without negatively or positively reinforcing appropriate language use.

21. Social Cognitive Theories of LearningBuild on the Gaps in Behaviourism—conclusion • Skinner (as cited in Bandura et al., 1961) necessitates simply reinforcing learner approximations for learning new social behaviours. • Yet, Behaviourism does not explain why children only imitate some reinforced behaviour or produce behaviours that were not initially reinforced, as in the previous case of a young Spanish learner (Mergel, 1998). Do Behaviourists account for unreinforced behaviour? Not according to Cognitivists.

22. References • Bandura, A., Ross, D. & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582. Retrieved September 27, 2009 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm. • Mergel, B. (1998 ). Instructional design & learning theory. Scholarly paper: University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved September 29, 2009, from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm. • Novak, J. D. (1998). Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. (pp. 49-78). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. • Shunk, D. H. (2008). Learning theories: An education perspective (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson.

23. - Focus Questions -Post your responses on the discussion thread: Unit 2 Theory Comparison Which theory, Social Learning Theory or Behaviousism, offers more for education? Are some learning tasks better approached by one or the other of these theories?