Theories of Learning Book + Lecture Notes FINALS PERIOD

kase di lang naman tayo receiving… we

understand and connect all pieces of
info.
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
• The whole > the sum of its parts
—————————————————— - IMPORTANT PARIN ANG DETAILS
• Gestalt Psychology emphasizes the importance of kase we still have to complete and
organisational processes in perception, learning, connect information.
and problem solving.
———————————————————————
• Main proponents
Basic Ideas to emerge from Gestalt
- Max Wertheimer
PERCEPTION IS OFTEN DIFFERENT FROM
- Wolfgang Kolher REALITY

- Kurt Koffka • Phi Phenomenon

• Gestalt was initially a response to behaviourism - a visual illusion where two motionless
• Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt objects appear to move when they

Koffka studied perception and concluded that appear and disappear in rapid

people are not passive learners. succession.

• Para sa kanila, active learners ang tao since hindi • Perception of an experience is sometimes different

lang naman pagcollect ng info ang learning… from the experience itself.

rather, people actively process and restructure it

para mas maintindihan. This is called “perceptual
THE WHOLE IS MPRE THAN THE SUM OF ITS
process”
PARTS
• This theory emphasised the importance of sensory
• Human experience can’t be successfully
wholes and the dynamic nature of visual
understood if various aspects of experience are
perception.
studied as seperate, isolated entities.
• Gestalt is a “perceptual theory” meaning we attach
• Dito, ineemphasize yung importance ng
to what we see.
interrelationships among stimuli.
- Diba (going back sa lesson ng
• Transposition experiment of Kohler (1929)
perception and sensation) ang
sensation ay receiving info or stimuli… - Hens were shown 2 sheets of grey
tapos perception is receiving and at the paper, yung isa mas darker and grains
same time organising and processing were placed on both sheets.
yung nakuhang info… according Kina
wertheimer, perceptual yung gestalt

 • Kunware, etong dots (minarcos ko lang sa book),

- Ngayon, inulit yung experiment… this you dont only see 9 dots pero your mind organised
time, yung sheets of paper same dun sa them as 3 units/groups.
color na pinili nila nung last time and isa
• The law of similarity is another organizational
dun sa mga sheets ay medyo mag
principle.
darker.
- It says that people tend to think of things
- So pumunta sina chickens sa darker
that look alike as being the same.
shade ulit
- As early as 6 or 7 months, children
- This shows us that the chickens learned
show evidence that they perceive the
something about the relationship
world in accordance with the law of
between the two sheets of paper — the
similarity
darker is better.
• Law of Closure

- People tend to fill in missing pieces to

AN ORGANISM STRUCTURES AND ORGANIZES
complete a picture
EXPERIENCE
• Law of Prägnanz (basta eto rin yung
• Gestalt is a German word that roughly means
“simplicity” ITP)
“structured whole”
- Individuals always organise their
• Structure is not always a part of a situation;
experience as simply, concisely,
instead, it is imposed by an organism.
symmetrically, and completely as
possible

AN ORGANISM IS PREDISPOSED TO ORGANIZE - As simple as possible

IN CERTAIN WAYS

• Gestaltists thought that organisms, especially

people, tend to organize their experiences in
similar, predictable ways.
• The law of proximity is a major rule that affects
how people organize information: People tend to
think of things that are close together in space as
a single unit.
LEARNING FOLLOWS THE LAW OF PRÄGNANZ
• Gestalt psychologists figured that learning
happens when memory traces are made
• The law of Pragnanz says that over time, these
memory traces tend to become simpler, shorter,
and more complete than the actual input.

PROBLEM S O LV I N G I N V O LV E S
RESTRUCTURING AND INSIGHT

• Gestaltists believed that organisms solve

problems in a more cognitive way.

• For example, Wolfgang Kohler (1925), who

watched chimpanzees solve different kinds of
problems, said that solving a problem involves
mentally combining and recombining different
parts of the problem until you come up with an ———————————————————————
organizational structure that solves the problem.
Gestalt Learning Theory in Philosophy
• Gestalt psychology still has an effect on how
• The Gestalt Theory is based on the idea that
cognitive psychologists think about how people
learning is a result of observing and
learn and think.
comprehending stimuli in relation to one another,
——————————————————————— not just individually.

Insight • The theory emphasizes the importance of an

individual’s awareness of their environment and
• It means sudden grasping of the solution for a
how it integrates with their previous knowledge
problematic situation
and experience.
• Parang biglang naintindihan mo — a flash of
———————————————————————
understanding
Gestalt Learning Theory in Education
• It is the sudden awareness or perception of the
essential relationship in a situation • The Gestalt Theory of Learning in education refers
to the utilization of our senses as well as past
experiences to comprehend stimuli.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE INSIGHT
• It shows how the way people react to natural
• Experience connections can help them learn new things.

• Intelligence • The theory is based on the idea that everything we

do and see affects who we are. This includes
• Learning Situation
teaching methods, school culture, and the
• Initial Errors environment of the classroom. The idea also

• Repetition and Generalisation includes how we learn throughout our lives (i.e.,
not just in school) and how that affects how we
think about knowledge, information, and data.

 • The Gestalt Theory of Learning says that there is
no one way to teach.
- Instead, the way each student is taught
depends on what works best for that
particular student.
• The main focus of the method is on how people
process knowledge, not just on the content or
information.
• The best way to put the Gestalt Theory of Learning
into practice is to give students a chance to look at
a lot of different stimuli and how they relate to
each other.
• The most significant advantage of the Gestalt
theory is that it helps people understand ideas
better. Because the theory really emphasizes the
idea of connectedness, students will be able to
see patterns and relationships between things,
ideas, or events.
———————————————————————
Disadvantages of Gestalt
• It does not provide any specific guidelines
regarding how to implement the theory.
• Some people believe that the theory is too vague
and difficult to understand.
• Many educators do not agree with the theory’s
emphasis on experiential learning.
• The theory has been criticized for actually
promoting passive learning.
• The theory focuses more on human behavior than
on cognitive processes.
• The theory emphasizes the importance of context
but fails to explain why certain contexts work
better than others.
• The theory assumes that all learners will respond
similarly to similar situations.
• The theory ignores cultural differences between
individuals.
———————————————————————
Views on Gestalt
• Theorists say that the Gestalt Theory of Learning
is active, emergent or constructive, and a whole.
Learning doesn't happen in a straight line from A to
B. Instead, it happens through a process called
"emergence," in which one thing leads to another
and creates a unique experience for each person.
• For example, if someone stays inside all day, they
will have a different experience than if they go
outside on the same day. This is because they will
be exposed to different things.
• Another important part of this theory is that
everything is connected to everything else. This
means that if something changes, it will affect how
other things change around it. The Gestalt Theory
of Perception shows this. This theory says that
things are seen as wholes before their parts are
seen.

 • Another thing about gestalt learning is that it is an

active process, not just watching something. The
person doesn't just sit there and take in
information; instead, they try to focus on what's
important to them. They may look away or really
pay attention to certain things that relate to their
own goals. This makes sense, since you can't be
expected to know everything about a subject when
you're trying to learn about it. Instead, you should
focus on what's most important to you.

• Project-based learning is the best way to improve

your learning experience because it gives students
more chances to feel like they're learning as a
whole.

• It's important to note that this theory doesn't mean

that teachers shouldn't lecture, because lecturing
is still a good way to make students aware of
certain topics and give them a general idea of
what they're going to learn before they start.