Chapter 2: Theories of learning or Learning theories

A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn; hereby helping us to
understand the inherently complex process of learning. Different psychologists tried to define the
concept of learning and came up with different theories of learning. Below are the main theories:

I. BEHAVIORISM
1. Definition

This theory was developed by different behaviorists. They include John B. Watson. Ivan P.
Pavlov, Frederic Skinner and others like Edward Thorndike. Those behaviorists define learning
as an acquisition of new behaviours by changing the previous ones. They argue that learning has
only taken place if a change in behavior is observable. Their laws of behavior are based on
stimulus and response theory.

2. Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning.

A) Classical conditioning

Behaviorists argue that learning takes place through the process of conditioning and there are
two basic ways and conditioning:

 Classical conditioning/ Respondent.

 Operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning or respondent conditioning is sometimes referred to Pavlovian

conditioning because it was discovered by Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936) a Russian psychologist. As
a part of his work on digestive processes, Pavlov studied the relationship between salivation and
digestion in dogs. Pavlov measured the amount of salivation that dogs produced when given
meat powder (as food).

The process of the study.

o Before conditioning
 UCS (meat) UCR (salivation)
 N.S (bell) No salivation
o During conditioning
 N.S (bell) +UCS (meat) UCR( salivation)

After several times of paring the bell with meat neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus.

 C.S (bell)+ UCS (meat) UCR (salivation)

o After conditioning
 C.S (bell) CR (salivation)
Note that:

UCS (unconditioned stimulus) refers to the event that produces a response without prior
learning. Meat powder was the UCS in his experience because it automatically made the dog
salivate when placed in its mouth.

UCR (unconditioned response) is the reaction to the unconditioned stimulus; it is a response that
occurs automatically without previous training.

The tone (bell) in Pavlov’s situation is originally a neutral stimulus because at the beginning of
the experiment it does not elicit the specific response, salivation. However, after being paired
with food on several occasions the tone by itself will become a conditioned stimulus (CS).
Because it will then lead to the salivation response. Thus the conditioned stimulus is one that
does not bring out the specific response prior to training but does so after training. The reaction
that is produced by the conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response (CR). In Pavlov’s
experiment the conditioned response was the salivation produced after the tone-food pairing
when the tone was sounded without food.

Thus, classical conditioning is a type of learning whereby a conditioned stimulus is associated

with neutral stimulus to produce a conditioned response. It is purely involuntary learning because
the organism’s behavior is controlled by the external factors such as the sound of the bell.

o Principles-characteristics in classical conditioning.

 Reinforcement: acquisition phase.
If a conditioned response is reinforced by using the UCS, it will be strengthened. If
withdraw, the CR will weaken. To strengthen salivation in the dog we must keep pairing
the meat powder and the bell. When pairing stops the response weakens. Hence
reinforcement is the application or removal of stimulus so as to increase or decrease the
strength of the behaviour.
 Generalization (stimulus generalization)
It is a reaction to a stimulus that is similar to the one you’ve learnt to react. In this step, a
dog will salivate not only to the tone that was paired with the food but also to other
similar tones. (e.g.: whistle, sound of the bell, buzzer, etc.)
 Discrimination: it is the ability to distinguish between similar and to respond only to
actual conditioned stimuli or to react only to a single specific object or event.
 Extinction: it is the process through which the conditioned response is eliminated
through repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the presence of the
unconditioned stimulus. For example, presenting the bell without the meat powder will
weaken salivation which will gradually fade away.
 Spontaneous recovery: it is the process by which the conditioned stimulus will gain
elicit the conditioned response long after extinction has occurred and without much
training. If the animal is left to rest from the influence of the bell alone, the response of
salivation comes back.

o Implication of classical conditioning to classroom learning.

 Teachers should avoid presenting fear-eliciting stimuli such as ridicule, bitter
remarks, open hostility in the classroom, etc. Otherwise learners may learn (be
conditioned) to fear or hate school because of painful experience.
 In stimulus discrimination, Pavlov noticed that the dog restricted its responses to one
stimulus that had been reinforced while responses to other stimuli had not. That
implies that teachers when teaching they should identify the most important aspects
of the lesson and emphasize them.
 In order for the dog to be conditioned, Pavlov, made several pairings of the bell and
food. So teachers should give more opportunities to use and repeat the knowledge
then have acquired.
 Teachers should apply the principle of extinction in the classroom situation by
reinforcing desired behavior extinguishing undesired ones.
 In spontaneous recovery, Pavlov noticed that after the dog had rested it would still
elicit a response that had been extinguished. The dog would recall its earlier learning
the same; teachers should give pause to learners and afterwards resume so as
enhancing internalization of learnt material.
 To maintain connection for longer period teachers should again review leant materials
just as Pavlov made the dog use earlier conditioned stimulus after it had rested by
 ringing the bell again. Maintaining a firm connection between stimulus and response
for a long time is higher order conditioning.

1. With a schematic diagram, show the processes of classical conditioning? And application of
classical to classroom learning.

2. How does the behavioral approach/view contribute to our understanding of human learning?

3. What are the principles of classical conditioning and application to classroom learning?

B) Operant conditioning/ instrumental conditioning

Operant conditioning is the process by which a behaviour usually a voluntary one, becomes
associated with its consequences. It is learning by consequences. In this conditioning, a response
is made more probable to occur or more frequent by reinforcement.

It involves the use of pleasant consequences to control the occurrence of behaviour. This type of
learning is different from Pavlov’s classical conditioning in that their behaviour is reinforced
or regarded after it had occurred. While in classical conditioning it is reinforced as it
occurs. In addition, learning is voluntary, it follows R-S pattern, the organism is active and what
is learnt is the association of the behavior (R) and its consequences (S) while in classical
conditioning learning is involuntary, it is based on S+ S pattern, what is learnt is the association
of stimuli and the organism is passive.

This theory was put forward by the psychologist [Link] (1932).

Experiment of Skinner:

Skinner put a hungry rat into a box (Skinner’s box) with a bar and a cup underneath the bar. (The
rat had to learn to press the bar which released food pellets into cup), after a few accidental bar
presses, the rat started pressing the bar frequently receiving food reinforcement each time.

B. F. Skinner used a Skinner box to study operant learning. The box contains a bar or key that
the organism can press to receive food and water, and a device that records the

organism’s responses

Therefore, in operant conditioning reinforcement is an event that follows a response and

increases its probability to reoccur or is a process by which a particular behaviour is
strengthened, making it possible to occur more frequently. Operant conditioning was
supported by other psychologists such as Edward Thorndike and John WATSON.

In classical conditioning, the key to learning is ‘what happens before a response is made’
while in operant conditioning, the key to learning is ‘what happens after the response is
made’.

The experience of the above psychologists (Thorndike and Skinner) led to some principles of
operant conditioning:

 The law of effect: it states that response that followed by satisfying or pleasant
consequences (reward) tends to be repeated. While a response followed by unpleasant
consequence (punishment) tend not to be repeated.
 Law of exercise: ‘law of use and disuse’. It states that the more S-R connection is used,
the stronger it is will become. Then less it is used, the weaker it will be (law of disuse).
  The law of readiness: when an organism is in a state in which S-R connections are ready
to conduct learning, learning is satisfying otherwise it is annoying.
 The law of similarity of stimuli: the more similar the stimuli are, the greater the chance
that corrects response will be supplied by the organism.
 The law of contiguity/immediacy: it states that the reinforcement should be very close
to when the response is made.
 The law of spacing: as the organism needs time for the new learning to settle and be
meaningful, the more spaced out stimuli are in terms of time, the better the responses are
likely to be in terms of correctness. That is, give few tasks, get response and wait for
sometimes before you give similar tasks. This may be the reason why on timetable
subjects are arranged in a way that one subject has to be taught in a given period of time
per a day or in different periods.

Then major purpose of operant conditioning are increasing or decreasing the probability that a
behaviour (specific one) will occur in future by using positive/pleasing stimuli or
negative/unpleasant/aversive stimuli. Stimuli are also called reinforces. Therefore there are:

 Positive reinforcement: pairing a pleasant stimulus with a desired behaviour. Ex.

Praise, a sweet, etc.
 Negative reinforcement: pairing a response with negative stimulus. Positive
reinforces are also called rewards while negative reinforces are punishment.

 Educational implications of operant conditioning.

 Teachers should decide what behaviour they want from students and reinforce them when
such behaviours occur by rewarding or praising them.
 Teachers should be aware of the timing of reinforcement (rewarding the important
behavior).
 Teachers should use carefully punishment because it may cause more problems than it
involves. If a teacher punishes a student he/she should later let the student do something
than can lead to being positively reinforced so as to avoid punishment produce hostile
and sees teachers as punishment agent.
  The teacher should provide feedback on progress and link rewards with progress.
 Results of evaluation should be used to reward or to guide learners towards improvement.
 Active involvement of learners should imply doing more exercises so as to acquire.

C) Trial and error learning

Trial and error learning is based on the following principles:

 Learning involves trial and error or selection and connection

Thorndike maintained that learning to the identification of the correct response from
incorrect ones through the process of trial and error.

 Learning is incremental not insightful

He concluded that learning performance is dependent upon the number of trial or opportunities
provided to learners. More we increase the number of trials or practice, more performance
gradually improves.

 Learning is a result of formation of connection

Thorndike believes that there is in learning definite association between sense impression,
impulse and action. This association is called bond or connection since it is through straightening
or weakening those bonds or connections that results in making or breaking habits.

 Learning is directed not mediated by ideas.

Thorndike did not acknowledge any role of cognition in the process of learning.

o Implications of trial and error learning.

Teachers should encourage the pupils to try school tasks than seem to be hard for them as people
learn from typing and making some errors that are eliminated during the process of learning.
1. Make a comparison of classical and Operant conditioning.

2. Should parents use both punishment as well as reinforcement to discipline their children? On
what principles of learning do you base your opinion?

3. Come up with your own ways on how to increase desirable behavior in an educational setting.

4. "How does the behavioral approach/view contribute to our understanding of human learning?"

II. COGNITIVISM THEORIES

It is school/view of psychology that advocated different theories about learning. There are called
cognitive theories of learning. Cognitive theory defines learning as a semi-permanent change in
mental processes or associations. Cognitivists do not require an outward exhibition of learning,
but focus more on the internal processes and connection that takes place during learning.

Among different cognitive theories there are:

1. Insight (learning by insight/gestalt theory or intuition)

 According to Marx Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kholer, learning is not
by random steps not by trial and error, not by conditioning but insight (understanding).
 For them (e.g. Kholer) learning is about:
• Gaining insight into the nature of the problem and its solution,
• Use of intuition and decision- making,
• Gaining a perceptual whole,
• Mental organization and formation of mental structures,
 • Construction of cognitive maps and new configurations,
• Active search for meaning and new relationship.

o Classroom implications of gestalt theory of learning

 The teacher when teaching should normally organize student’s experience or prior
knowledge into meaningful,
 When planning a lesson, a teacher should include starting with things which are similar
and basing each step on things that students have already prior knowledge or experience
or perception.
 The teacher should avoid mechanical and blind drills (repeated exercises) instead, his/her
lesson structure should be based on comprehension/understanding as opposed to mere
memorization,
 When a skill has been acquired through insight, repeated application of this in normal
situation should be encouraged,
 Motivation to the learners,
 The teacher should develop problem solving attitudes to the learners,
 The teacher should encourage reasoning, develops thinking, trains imagination and
creative activities,
 The teacher should develop problem solving attitudes to the learners
2. Constructivism
 It has its roots into cognitive theory of J. Piaget and Vygotsky. Constructivism learning
theory states that students use cognitive processes to construct knowledge or
understanding of the material to be learnt. It is the way a student is able to build on
knowledge to understand and develop new concepts. Constructivism states the learning is
an active-conceptualized process of constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it.
 The student is the key to learning; the students construct knowledge for themselves.
 Piaget stated that this process of understanding and change involves two basic functions:
assimilation, accommodation and adaptation.
 Assimilation is how humans perceive and adapt to new information. It is the
process of fitting new information into pre-existing cognitive schemas.
Assimilation in which new experiences are reinterpreted to fit into, or
 assimilate with, old ideas. It occurs when humans are faced with new or
unfamiliar information and refer to previously learned information in order
to make sense of it.
 In contrast, accommodation is the process of taking new information in
one's environment and altering pre-existing schemas in order to fit in the
new information. This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does
not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.
 Assimilation and accommodation are the two sides of adaptation, Piaget’
term for what most of us would call learning. Piaget saw adaptation,
however, as a good deal broader than the kind of learning that Behaviorists
were talking about. He saw it as a fundamentally biological processes.
Even one’s grip has to accommodate to a stone, while clay is assimilated
into our grip. All living things adapt, even without a nervous or brain. When
in balance with each other, assimilation and accommodation generate
mental schemas of the operative intelligence. When one function dominates
over the other, they generate representations which belong to figurative
intelligence.

Principles of constructivism: “[Link]”

 Readiness: instruction must be concerned with the experiences and context that makes
the students have willing and be able to learn,
 Spiral organization: instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped/
understood by students.
 Going beyond the information given: information should be designed to facilitate
extrapolation or fill in the gaps. To construct is to understand the whole concept and after
you will be able to construct new meaning.

In addition, constructivists’ strategies include presenting other’s viewpoints, promoting dialogue

and emphasizing conceptual understanding rather than rote learning (memorization).

Education implications of constructivism theory

  Provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning
something new.
 Make sure to wait for long enough after posing a question so that the students have time
to think about their answers and be able to respond thoughtfully.
 Encourage communication between teacher and students and between the students.
 When assigning tasks to the students, use cognitive terminology such a “classify,
analyze, predict, and create”.
 Encourage and accept automatically the initiative of the student.
 Encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking those thoughtfully open-ended
questions.

3. Social constructivism

Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge that applies the general philosophical
constructivism into social settings where in groups, students construct knowledge for one
another, collaboratively creating small culture of shared artifacts with shared meaning. Its origins
are largely attributed to LevVygotsky.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) has become the foundation of much research and theories in
cognitive development particular in what has become known as social development theory.

 Vygotsky’s theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the

development of cognition. As he believed strongly that community plays a central role
in the process of “making meaning”.
 In order to understand Vygotsky’s theory, one must understand the main principles of
Vygotsky’s work which are:
 MKO (More Knowledgeable than Others): it refers to someone who has better
understanding or higher ability level than the learner with respect to a particular
task, process or concept. Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher
or older adult, this is not the case. Many times a child’s peers or an adult’s
children may be the individuals with more knowledgeable or experience. The
 key to MKO is that, they must have more knowledge about topic being learned
than the learner does.
 ZAD (Zone of Actual Development): it refers to the tasks that a child can
complete by himself. It is his ability that he already possesses to perform a
certain task at a certain degree.
 ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development): it refers to skills (tasks) too difficult for
a child to master on his/ her own but, that can be done with guidance and
encouragement from adults or more skilled children. This concept of ZPD is
related to “difference/gap between what a child can achieve independently and
what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from skilled
pattern”. Vygotsky sees ZPD as an area where the most sensitive instruction or
guidance should be given allowing the child to develop skills they will then use
on their own development of higher mental function. He views interaction with
peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggested that
“teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children
develop with help from more skillful peers within the “ZPD”.
 Scaffolding: Scaffolding instruction as a teaching strategy originates from Lev
Vygotsky’s theory. In scaffolding, a more knowledgeable other provides scaffold
(supports to facilitate the learner’s development). Those scaffolds facilitate student’s
ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The activities
provide in scaffolding instruction are just beyond the level of what the learners can do
alone. The more capable other provides a scaffold so that learner can accomplish the
task she/ he could not complete.
 Vygotsky also talked about “language” as a tool of communication where he
believed that language develops from social interactions for communication purposes.
Later, language ability becomes internalized as thought and inner speech. Thought is
a result of language. Vygotsky stresses the importance of socialization in the
development of thought and language. He believed that speech was originally social
in nature and used as a communication tool. Thought and language are eventually
determined by society and both develop according to cultural condition.
Four principles are applied in any Vygotskian classroom

 Knowledge is not individually constructed but is co-constructed between two or more

people,
 Elementary cognitive functions are transformed into higher mental functions through
interactions with more knowledgeable adults and peers,
 The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) can serve as a guide for curricular and lesson
planning,
 School learning should occur in a meaningful context and not be separated from learning
and knowledge children develop in the “real world”,
 Out of school experiences should be related to the child’s school experience,
 External social activity becomes internalized as cognitive representations.

Implications of Vygotsky’s theory for teaching

 Use cooperative learning groups comprised of members of varying abilities.

 Provide peer tutoring opportunities. Note the central role of verbal communication in
these approaches.
 Use dynamic assessment techniques which reveals the ZPD.
 Develop instructional plans aimed at each students’ ZPD.
 Encourage self-regulation processes used to activate, sustain thinking, behaviour, and
emotions to achieve one’s goals.

o Educational implications of Vygotsky' theory

 Use Zone of Proximal Development: teaching should begin toward the zone’s upper
limit, where the student is able to reach the goal only through close collaboration with the
instructor.
 Use scaffolding: look for opportunities to use scaffolding when students need help with
self-initiated learning activities. Use also it to help students move to a higher level of skill
and knowledge.
  Use more-skilled peers: as teacher, remember that it is not just adults that Vygotsky
believed are important in helping students learn important skills. Students also benefit
from the support and guidance of more skilled students.
 Encourage collaborative learning and recognize that learning involves a community of
learners. Both students and adults engage in learning activities in a collaborative way.
 Consider the cultural context of learning: an important function of education is to guide
children in learning the skills that are important in the culture in which they live.
 Encourage students’ talks.
 Use dynamic assessment to measure learning potential (to see if a child moves from
ZPD)

o Comparison of Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s theory

Vygotsky was opposed by Piaget in his theory that “thought precedes language” means that the
ability to think is present before the child learns to use language. While Vygotsky believed that
“language precedes thought” means that language development enables the child to think about
the world around them; only when the child can verbalize, He/ She can think.

o Tabulate the similarities between Piaget's and Vygotsky's theory

Piaget Vygotsky

Both agree children are active learners who actively construct knowledge

Thinking development in recognizable stages, Development of thinking is dependent upon

which depend on natural maturation language and culture

Role of teacher is important, but use of 'more- Use of "more other" is seen as a fondamental
expect other" no central part of cognitive development

Readiness is a central concept in education- Children should be actively encouraged to

children need to be ready to progress in their move through ZPD-do not need to be ready,
learning. but should be given the opportunity to engage
 in problems that are beyond their current level
of ability, but within ZPD.

4. Bloom’s taxonomy

Psychologist Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues identified three domains or learning outcomes
of educational activities. This classification framework came to be known as the taxonomy of
educational objectives or “Bloom’s Taxonomy”.

It identifies three areas or domains of learning ranged hierarchically: Cognitive domain,

psychomotor and affective domain.

 The cognitive domain. It involves knowledge and development of mental skills. There
are six levels listed from the simplest to the complex.
1. Knowledge-remembering: is defined as collection or recall of appropriate,
previously learnt information. It includes the recall of terminology and scientific
facts. Verbs to use at this level include define, describe, enumerate, identify, label,
match, name, read, select, reproduce and state.
2. Comprehension-understanding: it entails the grasping or understanding of
information so as to be able to translate, perceive and interpret instructions and
problems. The verbs to use at this level are: to classify, cite, convert, describe,
discuss, explain, give examples, paraphrase, restate in own words, summarize,
understand, distinguish, rewrite.
3. Application-applying: It refers to use previously learnt information in new situations
to solve problems. The verbs to use are: apply, change, compute, construct,
demonstrate, discover, manipulate, modify, predict, prepare, relate, solve, show, use
and produce.
4. Analysis-analyzing: refers to the ability to break down information in new
information to solve problems. The verbs to use: to break down, correlate,
discriminate, differentiate, distinguish, focus, point out, recognize, separate, select
and compare.
 5. Synthesis- creating: refers to build of structure or patterns from various kind of
elements. Learners can put parts together to form a whole that has a new meaning or
structure. Verbs to use: categorize, combine, compile, compose, devise, design,
modify, rearrange, organize, explain, express.
6. Evaluation-evaluating: refers to the process of making judgments about information,
its value and quantity. Verbs to use: to conclude, contrast, compare, criticize, decide,
support, defend, judge, interpret, justify, discriminate, evaluate.

 The affective domain

The affective domain is concerned with emotions and attitudes. It includes the manner in
which we react to people and things emotionally. There are five levels arranged from the
simplest to the most complex.
1. Receiving: it involves awareness and paying attention the key terms in guiding
learners at this level include: choose, follow, describe, give, name, point out, use,
reply, select.
2. Responding: it involves active participation in the learning process. The learner
receives and reacts to a particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes at this level
include compliance in responding, willingness to respond or satisfaction in
responding (motivation). Measuring verbs: answer, assist, aid, comply, conform,
discuss, help, label, record, tell and write.
3. Valuing: this describe the value or worth that a learner attaches to a particular object
phenomenon or behavior, it ranges from the simple acceptance to commitment. Key
terms to use to guide learning at this level include: complete, join, demonstrate,
differentiate, explain, form, initiate, invite, justify, propose, read, report, share, study
and work.
4. Organizing: this involves arranging values according to priority by comparing,
relating and synthesizing them. Learners at this level should demonstrate the capacity
to alter, arrange, combine, compare, defend, explain, formulate, generalize, identify,
integrate, modify, order, organize, prepare, relate and synthesize.
5. Internalizing values- characterizing: at this level, the learner has formed value
systems that influence his or her behavior. The behavior is characteristic of the
 learner; for that reason, the level is often referred to as characterizing. Key words to
use to guide learners include; act, discrimination, display, influence, listen, perform,
practice, propose, quantify, question, revise and verify.

 The psychomotor domain

It involves physical movement, coordination and use of motor skill areas. Skills in this
domain describe the ability to physically manipulate things such as tools. It focuses on
change- development in behavior or skills. They are:
1. Perception: this is the ability to use the senses to guide motor activity. Individuals
experiencing learning at this level should be able to choose, describe, detect,
differentiate, distinguish, identify, isolate, relate and select. E.g. detect
non-verbal/communication cues.
2. Set: this indicates the readiness to act. At this level; individuals should be able to
display, explain, move, show, proceed, restate and volunteer, react. It includes
mental, physical and emotional sets. E.g. show a desire to learn.
3. Guided response: this refers to the early stages of learning a complex skill that
include imitation and trial and error. Achievement at this level is attained by
practicing. Learning is demonstrated by copying, following, reacting and
reproducing.
4. Mechanism: this refers to the intermediate stage of learning a complex skill. Learnt
responses should become habitual, confident and proficient. Learners can assemble,
construct, dismantle, fasten, fix grind, heat, measure, and sketch, organize, and
calibrate. E.g. Drive a car, use a personal computer.
5. Complex overt response: this is the skillful performance of physical acts that
involve complex movement patterns. Proficiency is indicated by quick, accurate and
highly coordinated performance requiring a minimum of energy. It includes
performance without hesitation. Key terms that show the learning at this level
include: assemble, build, calibrate, construct, display, fix, measure, manipulate,
fasten, organize and sketch. E.g. display competence in playing piano. Note: key
words are the same as mechanism.
 6. Adaptation: individuals experiencing learning at this level have well developed
skills and are able to make modifications to fit special requirements. Learners at this
level adapt. Alter, change, rearrange and reorganize, vary.
7. Origination: this involves creativity; the learner can create a new patterns to suit
different situations. Individuals at this level should demonstrate the ability to
arrange, build, combine, compose, construct, design, and make even originate. E.g.
create a new gymnastic routine, construct a new theory.

Implications of Bloom’s taxonomy in education.

 The taxonomy of educational objectives helps planners to specify educational goals and
objectives.
 It facilitates teachers to select objectives and learning experiences based on psychological
needs, interests, abilities and previous experiences of learners at different levels.
 It assists teachers and others educators to identify knowledge and skills relevant to an
area of specialization.
 It forms a basis for determining appropriate evaluation instruments, techniques and
methods.
 The taxonomy helps teachers map content to tasks that students need to perform.
 Bloom’s taxonomy provides universal effective strategy for creating all types of content
to impart learning.
 It helps teachers to make decisions about classification of content.
 It guides teachers to develop higher levels of thinking process for critical thinking or
creative thinking.
 Using the taxonomy, a teacher develops questions or projects requiring the development
of thinking and reflection from knowledge level to the evaluation level.
 A teacher creates class activities based on Bloom’s taxonomy.

 Relationship between Bloom’s taxonomy and learning

- Bloom’s taxonomy shows areas of learning outcomes because learners acquire
knowledge, skills and attitudes that correspond to these domains as follows:
 In cognitive domain they develop knowledge.
  In psychomotor domain they develop skills.
 In the affective domain they develop attitudes and values.
- This taxonomy is applied to human learning.
5. Social learning theory

Social learning theory is also known as observation learning, modeling or imitation. It was
developed by Albert BANDURA (1986). It examines how people learn by observing models and
imitating the behaviours of others. (Children learn through observing, modeling and imitation of
other people’s behavior). It mainly helps in the acquisition of language and behavior.

Bandura (1986) analyzed four (4) major processes of observational learning (phases).

1. Attention phase

The first process in social learning is paying attention to the model. Unless learners pay attention
to modeled events, they cannot learn much from them. This process enables the observer to
determine which aspects of the modeled information are relevant or irrelevant. In the classroom
situation, teacher as a model, gains students ‘attention by presenting clear information and
motivation’

2. Retention phase

This involves symbolic coding, organization of what has been received, attention and rehearsal.
In classroom, after gaining students’ attention, a teacher can model the behavior he/she wants
students to imitate and then give chance to practice.

3. Reproduction

After attention to and retaining modeled behavior, the observer is ready to produce the behavior.
The reproduction process is influenced by the observer’s capacity and whether the modeled
behavior is socially acceptable.
4. Motivation

Students will imitate a model because they believe that doing so will increase their chance to be
reinforced. In classroom, the motivation process entails praise or grades given for matching the
teacher’s model.

 Principles of social learning

1. Direct reinforcement

It is provided by external environment. For example, in classroom if a teacher shows how to

calculate a number in mathematics and a student does it as required, the teacher may praise or
reward the student; hence direct reinforcement.

2. Vicarious learning

This refers to learning from other’s successes and failure. For example, in the classroom when
some students are disruptive, a teacher may single out other who are well behaved and reinforce
them. The misbehaving students may change their behavior so as to be liked and reinforced too.

Example 2: a boy observes his elder brother being rewarded for his good performance; he
may also learn hard so as to be rewarded.

3. Modeling

Although teacher have less influence on students’ behaviour outside the school environment;
within the classroom, they are major source of model information in the following ways:

 By observing teachers, students learn not only academic skills but also much important non-
academic behaviours.

 Students may learn interpersonal interaction skills by observing how teachers interact with
students.

 They also adopt teachers ‘attitude towards a variety of issues, ranging from those related to
education and schooling to those extending beyond the classroom. They may even imitate
 mannerisms that their teachers exhibits, way of dressing, walking. A learner learns from
imitating the behaviors of another person.

o Implication of social learning

Since the knowledge of social learning is critical to the educational process, some applications of
the principles have been suggested.

 The vicarious principle of learning should be applied when dealing with misbehaving
learners.
For example, when some students come late to school and teacher refuses them to enter,
others who have the same habit of coming late may refrain from it as a result of seeing
their friends punished.
 Learning through modeling or by imitation as observing can bring new behaviour or
change the frequency of previously learned behaviours. Therefore, as model, a teacher
should manifest exemplary behaviors. He/she should keep in mind that his behavior,
both intentional and unintentional can profoundly affect what students learn. Also,
he can influence the attitudes, beliefs and behavior of learners. A teacher should show
interest and enthusiasms in the content he is teaching and interact with learners in
an expressive manner. He should show enthusiasm in activities done in class. This
may help learners to gain interest and show enthusiasm too, like their model.
 A teacher must first identify the specific social and effective students learning outcomes.
He considers important fairness, thoughtfulness, cooperation and consideration as
qualities most people agree are important.
6. Transfer of learning

1. Definition

Transfer of learning exists when previously learnt content has influence upon the learning or
performance of new/ current responses, either positively or negatively. It entails application of
knowledge gained in on context /study to another subject or the same subject.
Knowledge gained in geography can be used to solve a problem in agriculture. Transfer enables
students to make previously learned responses in new situations. It results in the ability to
perform sensibly and adequately in a new task. It is crucial in learning because it allows students
to apply information on their own, to new contexts (Santrock, 2011).
2. Factors affecting transfer of learning

There are various factors that influence a student’s ability to transfer learning:
a) Similarity between learning situations: the closer the relationship between different
learning situations, the more likely transfer is likely to occur.
b) Depth of original understanding: transfer requires a high level of original understanding.
The creation of opportunities for students to practice enhances the depth of understanding,
and increases the likelihood of transfer.
c) Quality of learning experiences: the examples used and other content representations should
include all the information that students need to understand the topic.
d) Context for learner’ experiences: learners encode information together with the context in
which the information is presented. If transfer is to occur effectively, knowledge and skills
learnt in on context should be applied to others.
e) Variety of learning contexts and experience: variety is crucial in transfer of learning. It is
sometimes referred to as multiple knowledge representation. Topic should be covered in
several ways and from different perspectives. As learners construct understanding and
prepare for transfer, diverse examples should be used. Lack of variety may make learners to
understand, generalize, and to form incomplete concepts, and consequently failure to
transfer.
f) Emphasis on Metacognition: this is the awareness and control of one’s cognitive process. It
entails encouraging students to monitor, reflect upon and improve their learning strategies
and problem-solving skills. This increases the likelihood of transfer of understanding.

3. Theories of transfer
a) Transfer through identical elements: the identical elements theory proposed that
transfer occurs readily when the contents or techniques in the two tasks are similar. In
school, transfer from mathematical concepts and skills to engineering skills is possible
because both disciplines involve similar symbols and operations.
 b) Transfer of principles: in transfer of principles, there is greater emphasis on cognitive
element such as understanding and problem-solving rather than on characteristics of the
learning situations. A study of puzzle solving capacities in adults for example, thrower
that they sowed puzzles involving similar principles without errors. The adults who did
not learn the principles failed to show much transfer.
c) Role of derived principles: principles derived by the learner through the process of
discovery may be transferred more readily than principles learnt as a result of guidance
provided by the teacher.

4. Types of transfer

a) Positive transfer

It occurs when knowledge acquired in one situation helps the learner to acquire knowledge, skills
or principles in another situation much faster. In a school setting, learning of principles on one
subject assists learners in acquiring principles in other subjects such as Mathematics versus
Physics, Grammar versus writing composition, and Biology versus Agriculture. This is an
indication of positive transfer. Teachers should guide students in looking for relationship
between particular topic areas in given subjects. Positive transfer takes at two different levels:
 Lateral transfer: this is whereby knowledge or content is transferred laterally or
horizontally at the same level in a particular subject or situation e.g. in arithmetic
4x5=20, 5x4=20; 3+6=9, 6+3=9
 Vertical transfer: knowledge acquired is applied to other learning at a higher level
in the same or another subject e.g. learning of various subjects in form one is a
foundation for form 2, 3 and 4. This entails the mastery of subjects at the foundation
level to enable generalization later on; learning grammatical rules-speaking of
correct English-Writing competently-using English to study other subjects.

b) Negative transfer
 It occurs when the content in a subject or two different subjects has a negative influence on
one another. This occurs when what is learned in one situation hinders or inhibits what is
learned in another situation.

Negative transfer operates the same way as proactive and retroactive inhibition does. In
proactive interference, old learning interferes with new information, while in retroactive
interference, new information/ learning interferes with old information.

A good example is the learning of two languages at the same time. A learner
experiences difficulties mastering both due to interference and mix up. This can also
down or retard learning.

 Application of transfer of learning to classroom learning

Teachers should adapt the following strategies for maximizing transfer of learning within and
outside their classroom:
1) Make the learning or training situation as similar to real-world situations as possible.
2) Provide many practice opportunities on the original tasks before the transfer task is
attempted to ensure that learners have thoroughly mastered the initial stages of given
content before moving on the next.
3) Provide a good deal of practice on related sets of problems.
4) Emphases proper sequencing and prerequisite learning of a series of tasks . Once learners
master a series of tasks early, they are placed in a better position to transfer their
knowledge to related tasks.
5) Whenever principles based on generalizations are stated, provide a wide variety of
examples. For example, when teaching about the concept of the communities, one can
talk about ants and bees.
6) Assist the learners to link between what they learn in the classroom and the world outside
their school by creating problem-solving situations in which learners are required to
apply the content learnt in class.
 7) Encourage distributed learning where they are breaks in between learning sessions or
coverage of content such as breaks are useful as they provide for positive transfer and
assist learners to consolidate whatever has been learnt.
8) Emphasize the use of inductive approaches to learning as a way of encouraging learners
to work out rules and principles for themselves. This will contribute to positive transfer.
Inductive approaches such as the use of project work, assessment and discussions help in
making learning realistic and relevant to the life of the learner.
9) Emphasize the similarities between the content and the situation to which the new
learning will apply.

10) Ensure that concepts, skills and attitudes that are necessary for the learning of a given
task are correctly and proficiently handled in class.

Recommended reading

1. Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget’s theory. P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of child psychology. 4th edition.
[Link] York: Wiley

2. Kendra Cherry (2014). Piaget’s stages of cognitive Development (available at

[Link] theory/a/key [Link].

3. Vygotsky L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychology process.
Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.

3. Vygotsky, L.S (1987). Thinking and Speech. Minick N, Trans. New York: Plenum Press.

4. Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press.
 1. Discuss any four implications of Vygotsky’s theory for teaching

2. Explain five teaching strategies for helping student transfer information.

3. What are factors affecting transfer of learning?

4. Explain four ways of promoting transfer of learning?

[Link] are relationship between Bloom's taxonomy and learning.

[Link] are implications of social learning?

7. What are different strategies are you using in your lesson to increase the probability of
transfer of the learning? Cite 5 strategies

8. How might we incorporate principles of observational learning to encourage acts of

kindness and selflessness in our society?

Group (3):
Make a comparison between Piaget and Vygotsky theories (relating to education teaching and
learning).
Group (4):
How can different approaches to psychological issues help our understanding of human
thought and behavior?(Focus on the processes of teaching and learning).