Behaviorism

Introduction

    The theory of behaviourism focuses on the study of observable and measurable

behavior. It emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning and
reinforcement (rewards and punishment). It does not give much attention to the mind
and the possibility of thought processes occurring in the mind. Contributions in the
development of the behaviorist theory largely came from Pavlov, Watson, Throndike
and Skinner. 

Abstraction/Generalization

Behaviourism
    Ivan Pavlov – a Russian psychologist, is well known for his work in classical
conditioning or stimulus substitution. Pavlov’s most renowned experiment involved
meat, a dog and a bell. Initially, Pavlov was measuring the dog’s salvation in order to
study digestion. This is when he stumbled upon classical conditioning.
    Pavlov’s Experiment – before conditioning, ringing the bell (neutral stimulus) caused
no response no response from the dog. Placing feed (unconditioned stimulus) in front of
the dog salivation (unconditioned response). During conditioning, the bellwas rung a few
seconds before the dog was presented with food. After conditioning, the ringing of the
bell (conditioned stimulus) alone produced salivation (conditioned response). This is
classical conditioning. See illustration below:

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Stage 1 – Before Conditioning 

Stage 2 – During Conditioning
Stage 3 – After Conditioning 

Somehow you were conditioned to associate particular objects with your teacher. So at
present, when you encounter the objects, you are also reminded of your teacher. This is
an example of classical conditioning.

    Pavlov also had the following findings:

Stimulus Generalization. Once the dog has learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it
will salivate at other similar sounds.
Extinction. If you stop pairing that bell with the food, salivation will eventually cease in
response to the bel. 
Spontaneous Recovery. Extinguished responses can be recovered after an elapsed
time, but will soon extinguish again if the dog is not presented with the food. 
Discrimination. The dog could learn to discriminate between similar bells (stimuli) and
discern which bell would result in the presentation of food and which would not.
Higher – Order Conditioning. Once the dog has been conditioned to associate the bell
with food, another unconditioned stimulus, such as a light may flashed at the same time
that the bell is rung. Eventually, the dog will salivate at the flash of the light without the
sound of the bell.

Edward L. Thorndike-Thorndike” Connectionism Theory gave us the original S-R

framework of behavioral psychology. He explained that learning is the result of
association forming between stimuli (S) and response ( R ). Such associations or habits
become strengthened or weakened by nature and frequency of the S-R pairings.
The model for S-R theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses came
to be repeated more than others because of rewards. The main principle of
connectionism was that learning could be adequately explained without considering any
unstable internal states.
Three Primary Laws
Law of Effect – states that a connection between a stimulus and response is
strengthened when the consequence is positive (reward) and the connection between
the stimulus and the response is weakened when the consequence is negative.
Law of Exercise – tells us that the more an S-R bond is practiced the stronger it will
become. “Practice makes perfect”. He revised the law when he found out that practice
without feedback does not necessarily enhance performance.
Law of Readiness – states the more readiness the learner has to respond to the
stimulus, the stronger will be the bond between them. When a person is ready to
respond to a stimulus and is not to respond it becomes annoying to the person. For
instance, the teacher calls a student to stand up and recite and then the teacher asks
the question and expects the students to respond right away when he is still not ready.
This will be annoying to the student. That is why teachers should remember to say the
question first and wait for a few seconds before calling on anyone to answer.

Principles derived from Thorndike’s Connectionism

Learning requires both practice and reward. (law of effect/exercise)
A series of S-R connectionism can be chained together if they belong to the same
action. (law of readiness)     
Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.

Burrhus Frederick Skinner. He believed in the stimulus response pattern of conditioned

behaviour. Skinner’s work differ from that of the three behaviorists before him in that he
studied operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used in operating on the environment).
Thus this came to known as Operant Conditioning.

Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in
overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events
(stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces consequences such as
defining a word, hitting a ball or solving a math problems. When a particular stimulus-
response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded) the individual is conditioned to respond.
Reinforcement is the key element in 
Edward L. Thorndike – Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism Theory gave us the original
S-R framework of behavioural psychology. More than a hundred years ago he wrote a
text book entitled, Educational Psychology. He was the first one to use this term.
Explained that learning is the result of association forming between stimuli (S) and
response (R). Such associations or “habits” become strengthened or weakened by the
nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The model for S-R theory was trial and error
learning in which certain responses came to be repeated more than others because of
rewards. The main principle of connectionism (like all behavioural theory) was that
learning could be adequately explained without considering any unstable internal states.
    
    Thorndike’s theory on connectionism, states that learning has taken place when
strong connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed. He came up with
three primary laws. 
    
    1. Law of Effect. The law of effect states that a connection between a stimulus and
response is strengthened when the consequence is positive (reward) and the
connection between the stimulus and the response is weakened when the consequence
is negative. Thorndike later on, revised this “law” when he found that negative rewards
(punishment) do not necessarily weaken bonds, and that some seemingly pleasurable
consequences do not necessarily motive performance.
    
    2. Law of Exercise. This tells us that the more an S-R (stimulus-response) bond is
practiced the stronger it will become. “Practice makes perfect” seem to be associated
with this. However, like the law of effect, the law of exercise also had to be revised
when Thorndike found that practice without feedback does not necessarily enhance
performance.

    3. Law of Readiness. This states that the more readiness the learner has to respond
to the stimulus, the stronger will be the bond between them. When a person is ready to
respond to a stimulus and is not to respond, it becomes annoying to the person. For
example, if the teacher says, “Okay we will now watch the movie (stimulus) you’ve been
waiting for” and suddenly the power goes off. The students will feel frustrated because
they were ready to respond to the stimulus but was prevented from doing so. Likewise,
if the person is not at all ready to respond to a stimulus and is asked to respond, that
also becomes annoying. For instance, the teacher calls a student to stand up and recite,
and then the teacher asks the question and expects the students to respond right away
when he is still not ready. This will be annoying to the student. That is why teachers
should remember to say the question first, and wait for a few seconds before calling on
anyone to answer.

Principles Derived from Thorndike’s Connectionism

    1. Learning requires both practice and rewards (law of effect/exercise)
    2. A series of S – R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same
action sequence (law of readiness)
    3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
    4. Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned. 

Burrhus Frederick Skinner. Like Pavlov, Watson and Thorndike, Skinner believed in the
stimulus response pattern of conditioned behaviour. His theory zeroed in only on
changes in observable behaviour including any likelihood of any processes taking place
in the mind. Skinner’s 1948 book, Walden Two, is about a utopian society based on
operant conditioning. He wrote, Science and Human behaviour, (1953) in which he
pointed out how the principles of operant conditioning function in social institution such
as government, law, religion, economics and education.

    Skinner’s work differs from that of the three behaviourists before him in that he
studied operant behaviour (voluntary behaviors used in operating on the environment).
Thus this came to known as Operant Conditioning.

    Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in
overt behaviour. Changes in behaviour are the result of an individual’s response to
events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequences
such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problems. When a particular
Stimulus-Response (S – R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is
conditioned to respond. 

    Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner’s S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything

that strengthens the desired response. There is a positive reinforcer and negative
reinforcer.

    A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that is given or added to increase the response.
An example of positive reinforcement is when a teacher promises extra time in the play
area to children behave well during the lesson. Another is a mother who promises a
new cell phone for her son who gets good grades. Still, other examples include verbal
praises, star stamps and stickers.

    A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a

response when it is withdrawn or removed. A negative reinforcer is not a punishment, in
fact it is reward. For instance, a teacher announce that a student who gets an average
of 1.5 for the two grading periods will no longer take the final examination. The negative
reinforcer is “removing” the final exam, which we realize is a form of reward for working
hard and getting an average of 1.5.

    Shaping of Behavior. An animal on a cage may take a very long time to figure out that
pressing a lever will produce food. To accomplish such behaviour, successive
approximations of the behaviour are rewarded until the animal learns the association
between the lever and the food reward. To begin shaping, the animal may be rewarded
for simply turning in the direction of the lever, then for moving toward the lever, for
brushing against the lever, and finally for pressing the lever.

    Behavioural chaining comes about when a series of step are needed to be learned.
The animal would master each step in sequence until the entire sequence is learned.
This can be applied to a child being taught to tie a shoelace. The child can be given
reinforcement (reward) until the entire process of thing the shoelace is learned.

    Reinforcement Schedules. Once the desired behavioural response is accomplished,

reinforcement does not have to be 100%; in fact, it can be maintained more successfully
through what Skinner referred to as partial reinforcement schedules. Partial
reinforcement schedules include interval schedules and ratio schedules. 

    Fixed Interval Schedules. The target response is reinforced after fixed amount of time
has passed since the last reinforcement. Example, the bird in a cage is given food
(reinforcer) everytime it presses the bar 5 times. 

    

    Implications of Operant Conditioning. These implications are given for programmed

instruction.
    1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus) – answer (response) frames
which expose the student to the subject in gradual steps. 
    2. Require that the learner makes a response for every frame and receives
immediate feedback.
    3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct
hence, a positive reinforcement.
    4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers
such as verbal praise, prizes and good grades.

    Principles Derived from Skinner’s Operant Conditioning 

    1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur, intermittent reinforcement is
particularly effective.
    2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be
reinforced.
    3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”)
producing secondary conditioning.
Application 

1. Observation 
    a. Choose a place where you can observe adult-child interactions – such as in a
small, in church, at the playground, etc. Spend one – hour observing such adult – child
interactions. Focus your attention on the stimulus – response – consequences patterns
you observe.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________

    b. Describe the consequences you observe. (It is better to write or scribble the details
on the spot or as soon as you finish your observation).
    c. Answer these questions:

INFORMATION PROCESSING

Introduction 
    Information processing is a cognitive theoretical framework that focuses on how knowledge
enters and is stored in and is retrieved from our memory. It is one of the most significant
cognitive theories in the last century and it has strong implications on the teaching-learning
process.

Advance Organizer 

Activity/Analysis

Discussion Questions: 
In what ways our cognitive processes like the functioning of a computer?
In what ways our cognitive processes differ from the functioning of a computer?
Can a computer perform all our cognitive processes? Explain your answer.

Abstraction/Generalization 

    Information Processing Theory

        Relating how the mind and the computer work is a powerful analogy. The terms used in the
information processing theory (IPT) extend this analogy. In fact, those who program and design
computers aim to make computers solve problems through processes similar to that of the human
mind. Read on to know more about IPT.

        Cognitive psychologists believe that cognitive processes influence the nature of what is
learned. They consider learning as largely an internal behavior change (as behaviorist theorists
thought). They look into how we receive perceive, store and retrieve information. They believe
that how a person thinks about and interprets what she/he receives what he/she will learn. All
these notions comprise what is called the information processing theory.

    IPT describes how the learner receives information (stimuli) from the environment through the
senses and what takes place in between determines whether the information will continue to pass
through the sensory register, then the short term memory and the long term memory. Certain
factors would also determine whether the information will be retrieved or “remembered” when
the learner needs it. Let us go into details.

    We first consider the types of knowledge that the learner may receive.

“Type” of Knowledge 

General vs. Specific: this involves whether the knowledge is useful in many tasks, or only in one.
Declarative – this refers to factual knowledge. They relate to the nature of how things are. They
may be in the form of a word or an image. Examples are your name, address, a nursery rhyme,
the definition or IPT, or even the face of your crush.
Procedural – this includes knowledge on how to do things. Examples include making a lesson
plan, baking a cake, or getting the least common denominator.
Episodic – this includes memories of life events, like your high school graduation.
Conditional – this is about “knowing when and why” to apply declarative or procedural
strategies.

Stages in the Information Processing Theory

    The stages of IPT involve the functioning of the senses, sensory register, short-term memory
and the long-term memory. Basically, IPT asserts three primary stages in the progression of
external information becoming incorporated into the internal cognitive structure of choice
(schema, concept, script, frame, mental model, etc.)

These three primary stages in IPT are: 

Encoding – informed is sensed, perceived and attended to
Storage – The information is stored for either a brief or extended period of time, depending upon
the processes following encoding.
Retrieval – the information is brought back at the appropriate time and reactivated for use on
current task, the true measure of effective memory.

What made IPT plausible is the notion that cognitive processes could be described in a stage-like
model. The stages to processing follow a trail along which information is taken into memory
system, and brought back (recalled) when needed. Most theories of information processing
revolve around the three main stages in the memory process.

Sensory Register
    The first step in the IP model holds all sensory information for a very brief time.
Capacity: Our mind receives a great amount of information but it is more than what our minds
hold or perceive.
Duration: The sensory register only holds the information for an extremely brief period – in
order of 1 to 3 seconds.
There is a difference in duration based on modality, auditory memory is more persistent than
visual.

The Role of Attention

To bring information into consciousness, it is necessary that we give attention to it. Such that, we
can only perceive and remember later those things that pass throughout attention “gate”.
Getting through this attention filter is done when the learner is interested n the material; when
there is conscious control over attention, or when information involve novelty, surprise, salience,
and distinctiveness.
Before information is perceived, it is known as “precategorical” information. This means that
until that point, the learner has not established a determination of the categorical membership of
the information. To this point, the information is coming in as uninterpreted patterns of stimuli.
Once it is perceived, we can categorize, judge, interpret and place meaning to the stimuli. If we
fail to perceive, we have no means by which to recognize that the stimulus was ever encountered.

Short-term Memory (STM or Working Memory)

Capacity: The STM can only hold 5 to 9 “chunks” of information, sometimes described as 7+1-
2. It is called working memory because mentally processed. STM maintain information for a
limited time, until the learner has adequate resources to progress the information, or until the
information is forgotten.
Duration: Around 18 seconds or less.
To reduce the less of information in 18 seconds, you need to do maintenance rehearsal. It is
using repetition to keep the information active in STM, like when you repeat a phone number
just given over and over.

Long-term Memory (LTM)

    The LTM is the final or permanent storing house for memory information. It holds the stored
information until needed again. 
Capacity: LTM has unlimited capacity.
Duration: duration in the LTM indefinite.

Executive Central Processes

    The executive control processes involve the executive processor o what is referred to as
metacognitive skills. These processes guide the flow of information through the system, help the
learner make informed decision about how to categorize, organize or interpret information.
Example of processes are attention, rehearsals and organization.

Forgetting 
    Forgetting is the inability to thrive or access information when needed.
    There are two main ways in which forgetting likely occurs:
Decay – Information is not attended to, and eventually “fades” away. Very prevalent in working
memory.
Interference – New or old information “blocks” access to the information in question.

Methods for Increasing Retrieval of Information

Rehearsal – this is repeating information verbatim, either mentally or aloud.
Meaningful Learning – this is making connections between new information and prior
knowledge.
Organization – it is making connections among various pieces of information. Info that is
organized efficiently should be recalled.
Elaboration – this is adding additional ideas to new information based on what one already
knows. It is connecting new info with old to gain meaning.
Visual Imagery – this means forming a “picture” of the information
Generation – thing we “produce” are easier to remember than things we “hear”.
Context – Remembering the situation helps to recover information. 
Personalization – it is making the situation helps recover information relevant to the individual.

Other Memory Methods

Serial Position Effect (recency and primary) – you will remember the beginning and end of a
“list” more readily.
Part Learning – break up the “list” or “chunk” information to increase memorization.
Distributed Practice – break up learning sessions, rather than cramming all the info in at once
(massed Practice)
Mnemonic Aids – these are memory techniques that learners may employ to help them retain and
retrieve information more effectively. This includes the local technique acronyms, sentence,
construction, peg-word and association techniques, among others. 

Information is received through the senses and goes to the sensory memory for a very brief
amount of time. If not found relevant, information may decay. It goes to the STM and if given
attention and is perceived and found to be relevant, it is sent to the LTM. If not properly encoded
forgetting occurs. Different cognitive processes applied to the information will then determine if
information can be retrieved when needed later. 

NEO- BEHAVIORISM: TOLMAN AND BANDURA

Conditions necessary for effective modeling to occur

Bandura mentionn four conditions that are necessary before individua l can successfally model the
bebavior of someone else:

Four conditions for effective modeling:

1. Attention-The person must first pay ttentiom to the model.

2. Retention- The odserver must be able to remember the behavior that has been observed. One way of
incressing this is using the technique verbal rehearsal.

3.Motor reproduction- The third condition is the ability to replicate the the behavior that the model has
just demonstrated. This means that the observer has to be able to replace the action. which could be a
problem with a leaner who is not ready developmentally to replicate the action. Example, littkle children
have difficulty doing complex physical motion.

4. Motivation- The final necessary ingredient for modeling to occure is motivation. Learners may want
demonstrate what they have learned . Remember that since these four conditions vary among
individuals, different people will reproduce he same behaviour differently.

Effects of modeling on behavior:

1. Modeling teaches new behavior

2. Modeling influences the frequency of previosly learned behaviors.

3. Modeling may encourage previously forbidden behavior

4. Modeling incresses the frequency of similar behaviours. For example a student might see a friend
excel in baseketball and he tries to excel in football because he not all enough for basketball.

Assessment tasks/or Activity output to be submmitted on

1. In your own words and in not morethan 5 sentences, explain:

a. Tolman's purposive behaviorism

b. Bandura's social learning theory

2. Give atleast one teaching application of each theory.

b. 5-minute non-stop writing

Your 5-minute non-stop writing begins NOW!

from he Module on Neo-behaviorism: Tolman and Bandura, I realized

that.....__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________
Contemporary social learning perspective of reinforcement and punishment.

1. Contemporary theory proposes that both reinforcement and punishment have

indirect effects on learning.

2. Reinforcement and punishment influences the extent to which an individuals

exhibits a behavior that has been learned.

3. The expectations of reinforcement influences cognitive processes that promote

learning. Therefore attention pays a critical role in learning. And attention is
influenced by the expectation of reinforcement. An example would be when the
teachers tells a group of students that what they will study next is not on test.
Students will not pay attention because they do not expect to know the
information for a test.

Cognitive factors in social learning:

Social learning theory has cognitive factors as well as behaviorist factors (actually
operant factors)

1. Learning without performance

2. Cognitive processing during learning

3. Expectations

4. Reciprocal causation

5. Modeling

Effects of Modeling Behavior

1. Modeling teaches new behaviors.

2. Modeling influences the frequency of previously learned behaviors.

3. Modeling may encourage previously forbidden behaviors.

4. Modeling increases the frequency of similar behaviors.

General principles of social learning theory

 1. People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of
those behaviors.

2. learning can occur without an observable change in behavior.

3. cognition plays a role in learning and Over the last 30 years social learning theory
has become increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of human learning.

4. social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between

behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theory.

How the Environment Reinforces and Punishes Modeling

people are often reinforce for modeling the behavior of others. Bandura suggested that
the following environment also reinforces modeling. This is in several possible ways:

1. The observer is reinforced by the model

2. The observer is reinforced by a third person

3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing consequences

4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the observer’s behavior vicariously.

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Abstraction/generalization

Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Social Learning Theory Social learning theory focuses on the learning that occurs
within a social context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such
concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling.

Neo behaviorism tolman and bandura

instruction:
With new researches, explanations provided by the basic principles ofbehaviorism
appeared not to satisfy all learning scenarios. New theories cameinto view which
maintained some of the behaviorist concepts but excluded othersand added new ideas
that later came to be associated with the cognitive views oflearning. The neo-
behaviorists, then, were a traditional group, bridging the gapbetween behaviorism, and
cognitive theories of learning.

Tolman’s Purposive BehaviourismUsually people who worked on the maze activity

which you just did would say they found the second maze easier. This is because they
saw that the two mazes where identical, except that the entrance and exit points were
reversed. Their experience in doing the maze A helped them answer maze B a lot easier.
People create mental maps of things they perceived. These mental maps help them
respond to other things are task later, especially if they see the similarity. You may begin
to respond with trial and error (behaviouristic), but later on your response becomes
more internally driven (Cognitive Perspective). This is what Neo behaviourismis about. It
has aspects of behaviourism that it also reaches out to the cognitive perspective.
 AUSUBEL’S MEANINGFUL VERBAL
LEARNING/SUBSUMPTION THEORY

Introduction
    Many educational psychology theories often criticize the expository or presentational manner
of teaching. They say that teachers assume such a major role in learning as providers of
information, while students remain as passive receivers of information. David Ausubel, instead
of criticizing this manner of teaching, proposed ways of improving it. He suggested the use of
advance organizers. His ideas are contained in his theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning.

Advance Organizers

Activity 
The figure above is an advance organizer.
Study it. Read the words found in each box.
Examine how the lines connect the boxes.
Describe the advance organizer, specifically on how the words are related to each other.

Analysis 
Why was the advance organizers presented before the discussion of the topic?
How can the advance organizers help the students?

Abstraction/Generalization
    The main theme of Ausebel’s theory is that knowledge is hierarchically organized; that new
information is meaningful to the extent that it can be related (attached, anchored) to what is
already known. It is about how individuals learn large amounts of meaningful material from
verbal/textual presentations in a school setting. He proposed the use of advance organizers as a
tool for learning.

Focus of Ausebel’s Theory 

The most important factor influencing learning is the quantity, clarity and organization of the
learner’s present knowledge. This present knowledge consists of facts, concepts, propositions,
theories, and raw perceptual data that the learner has available to him/her at any point in time.
This comprises his/her cognitive structure.
Meaningful learning takes place when an idea to be learned is related in some sensible way to
ideas that the learner already possesses. Ausebel believed that before new material can be
presented effectively, the students’ cognitive structure should be strengthened. When this done,
acquisition and retention student’s cognitive structure is by using advance organizers that allow
students to already have a bird ‘s eye view or to see the “big picture” of the topic to be learned
even before going to the details.
Ausubel’s belief of the use of advance organizers is anchored on the principle of subsumption.
He thought that the primary way of learning was subsumption: a process by which new material
is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure. Likewise, Ausubel pointed out, that
what is learned is based on what is already known. This signifies that one’s own prior knowledge
and biases limit and affect what is learned. Also, retention of new knowledge is greater because
it is based on prior concrete concepts.

Meaningful Learning can take place through four processes:

 Derivative subsumption. This describe the situation in which the new information you learn is
an example of a concept that you have already learned. Let’s say you have acquired a basic
concept such as “bird”. You know that a bird has feathers, a beak, lays egg. Now you learn a
kind of bird that you have never seen before, let’s say a blue jay, that conforms to you previous
understanding of bird. Your new knowledge of blue jays is attached to your concept of bird,
without substantially to your concept in any way. So an in Ausubel’s theory, you had learned
about blue jays, through the process of derivative subsumption. 
Correlative subsumption. Examine this example. Now, let’s say you see a new kind of bird that
has a really big body and long strong legs. It doesn’t fly but it can ran fast. In order to
accommodate this new information, you have to change or expand your concept of bird to
include the possibility of being big and having long legs. You now include your concept of an
ostrich to your previous concept of what a bird is. You have learned about this new kind of bird
through the process of correlative subsumption. In a sense, you might say that this is more
“valuable” learning than of derivative subsumption since it enriches the higher-level concept.
Superordinate learning. Imagine that a child was well acquainted with banana, mango, dalandan,
guava, etc., but the child did not know, until she was taught, that these were all examples of
fruits. In this case the child already knew a lot of examples of the concepts but did not know the
concept itself until it was taught to her. This is superordinate.
Combinatrial learning. This is when newly acquired knowledge combines with prior knowledge
to enrich the understanding of both concepts. The first three learning processes all included new
information that relates to a hierarchy at a level that is either below or above previously acquired
knowledge. Combinatorial learning is different; it describes a process by which the new idea is
derive from another idea that is neither higher nor lower in the hierarchy, but at the same level
(in but related, “branch”). It is a lot like as learning by analogy. For example, to teach someone
bout how to plants “breathe” you might relate it to previously acquired knowledge of human
respiration where man inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. 

Advance Organizers
    The advance organizers is a major instructional tool proposed by Ausubel. The advance
organizer gives you two benefits: 1) you will find it easier to connect new information with what
you already knew about the topic, and 2) you can readily see how the concepts in a certain topic
and go through the four learning processes, the advance organizers helps you link the new
learning to your existing scheme. As such, advance organizers facilitate learning by helping you
organize and strengthen your cognitive structure.
    
    Ausubel stressed that advance organizers are not the same with overview and summaries
which simply emphasize key ideas and are presented at the same level of abstraction and
generality as the rest of the material. Organizers act as a subsuming bridge between new learning
material and existing related ideas. 

Types of Advance Organizers 

Expository – describes the new content
Narrative – presents the new information in the form of a story to students.
Skimming – is done by looking over the new material to gain a basic overview.
Graphic organizers – visual to set up or outline the new information. This may include
pictographs, descriptive patterns, concept patterns, concept maps.

Application of Principles
The most general ideas of a subject should be presented first and then progressively
differentiated in terms of detail and specificity. He called this progressive differentiation.
According to Ausubel, the purpose of progressive differentiation is to increase the stability and
clarity of anchoring ideas. The basic idea here is that, if you’re teaching three related topics A, B,
and C, rather than teaching all of the topic A, then going on to B, etc., you would take a spiral
approach. That is, in your first pass through the material, you would teach the “big” ideas (i.e.
those highest in the hierarchy) in all three topics, then on successive passes you would begin to
elaborate the details. Along the way would point out our principles that the three topics had in
common, and the things that differentiated them. 
Instructional materials should attempt to integrate new material with previously presented
information through comparison and cross-referring of new and old ideas.