Teaching and Learning

Unit IV
Learning Theories and Characteristics of
Adult Learners

Muhammad Ziad
Lecturer INS-KMU Peshawar

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 Outlines of the session:

At the end of this session students will be able to:

•Define Key Terms.
•Discuss principles of learning.
•Discuss characteristics of adult learning.
•Differentiate between adult and child learning.
•Identify factors that influence learning.
•Discuss domains of learning.
•Explain different learning theories and their classroom implications.
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 Learning Theories

Five major theories of how people "learn”

•Behaviorism: Stimulus Response

•Cognitivist : Flow of Knowledge

•Constructivism: Mental Models

•Experimentalism: Learning experiences

•Social & contextual: Learn from and with others

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory

Behaviorism
Key behaviorist thinkers including Thorndike, Pavlov and Skinner.

•Hypothesized that learning is a change in observable behavior caused by

external stimuli in the environment.

•The key principle of Behaviorism is the reward or punishment of a new

behavior.

•No focus on mental state in learning.

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)

Individuals learn to behave through conditioning.

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)
Classical Conditioning:
Classical conditioning involves pairing a naturally occurring
stimulus with a response. Then a previous neutral stimulus is paired with
the naturally occurring stimulus. The neutral stimulus begins to evoke the
same response without the natural occurring stimulus.

•Ivan Pavlov is known for using dogs for behavioral tests.

•He used a bell to teach the dogs to know that food was being given and it
resulted in the dogs salivating while waiting for the food.
•This became known as classical conditioning

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Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)
Operant Conditioning: (BF Skinner)   
Learner is able to make a connection with the consequences
associated with his/her behavior through positive and negative
reinforcement and punishment.

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)
Positive reinforcement- offering a rewarding factor to increase a response -words of encouragement or
physical rewards.
•e.g. A mother gives her son praise (reinforcing stimulus) for doing homework (behavior).

Negative reinforcement- relinquishing a negative factor to increase a response.

•e.g. Removing restrictions from a child
when she follows the rules
is an example of negative reinforcement.

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)
Positive Punishment- adding negative factor to decreases the chances of a negative
behavior happening again.
•e.g. adding more chores to the list when your child neglects their responsibilities.

Negative Punishment- it involves taking something good or desirable away to reduce

the occurrence of a particular behavior.
•e.g. Losing access to a toy, being grounded, and losing reward tokens

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)
Thorndike's (1898) law of effect:
According to this principle, behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences
is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is less
likely to be repeated.

e.g. Example of law of effect:

•If you study and then get a good grade on a test, you will be more likely to study for
the next exam.
•If you work hard and then receive a promotion and pay raise, you will be more likely
to continue to put in more effort at work.

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Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)

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 Behaviorism Learning Theory (cont)

CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:
•A student learns what behaviors are or are not appropriate.
• A student received a bad behavior mark for talking during class. The bad
behavior mark (or punishment) will teach the student that talking while the
teacher is talking is not an appropriate behavior.

•A student could also be classically conditioned to behave a certain way

in a classroom.
• If students realize that they always have pop quizzes when their teacher is
carrying an orange-colored folder, they will learn to prepare for a pop quiz at the
sight of the orange-colored folder, even if there is not a pop quiz.
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 Cognitivism Learning Theory

• The cognitivist revolution replaced behaviorism in 1960s as the dominant

paradigm for understanding the learning process.

• It was important to open the ‘black box’ of the human mind in order to
understand how people came to learn.

• Exploring inner mental activities and processes such as thinking,

memory, knowing, and problem-solving was important and became the
focus of educational psychological exploration.
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 Cognitivism Learning Theory (cont)

Main Assumptions:

•The mental processes involved in learning: – Observing, categorizing,

forming generalizations to make sense of the information provided

•Learning results from internal mental activity and not from externally
imposed stimuli.

• Active participant in the learning process, using various strategies to

process and construct their personal understanding of the content to which
they are exposed
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 Cognitivism Learning Theory (cont)

Jean Piaget

Constructed models of child development and the learning process.

• Identified 4 developmental stages and the cognitive processes associated

with each of them

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Cognitivism Learning Theory (cont)

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 Cognitivism Learning Theory (cont)
Developmental Stages

Sensory-motor: understands his environment through the basic senses.

Pre-operational: Thoughts more flexible, memory and imagination begin

to play a part in learning, capable of more creativity

Concrete Operational: Can go beyond the basic information given, but

still dependent on concrete material and examples to support reasoning.

Formal Operational: Abstract reasoning becomes increasingly possible.

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 Cognitivism Learning Theory (cont)
CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:
•Cognitivism is prevalent in our classrooms today.
•Using cues, questions, and advance organizers
•as well as summarizing,
•note taking,
•concept mapping,
•and virtual field trips are all ways that teachers utilize the cognitive
learning theory in their classrooms.

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 Constructivism Learning Theory

• Construct our own understanding and knowledge of the world, through

experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

• A learning strategy that draws on students' existing knowledge, beliefs,

and skills.

• With a constructivist approach, students synthesize new understanding

from prior learning and new information.

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Constructivism Learning Theory (cont)

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 Constructivism Learning Theory (cont)
Phases of Learning Constructivism:
Engage: is to pique student interest and get them personally involved in
the lesson, while pre-assessing prior understanding.
Explore: is to get students involved in the topic; providing them with a
chance to build their own understanding.
Explain: to provide students with an opportunity to communicate what
they have learned so far and figure out what it means.
Elaborate: to allow students to use their new knowledge and continue to
explore its implications.
Evaluate: is for both students and teachers to determine how much
learning and understanding has taken place.
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 Constructivism Learning Theory (cont)

CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:

•Encourage and support student initiative and autonomy.

•Try to use raw data and primary sources.

•Create a thinking and problem-solving environment.

•Supporting to build student understanding.

•Frame tasks using processes such as classifying, analyzing, predicting and

creating.
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 Constructivism Learning Theory (cont)
CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:

•Encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also
between the students.

•Encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them

thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to
each other.

•Provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when
learning something new

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Constructivism Learning Theory (cont)

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 Social Learning Theory

• Social learning theory, proposed by Albert Bandura.

• Emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating the

behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others.

• Social learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive

factors interact to influence human learning and behavior.

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 Social Learning Theory (cont)

• SLT agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical

conditioning and operant conditioning. However, adds two important
ideas:
Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.
Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of
observational learning.

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 Social Learning Theory (cont)

Observational Learning:

•We observe the people around them behaving in various ways.

Individuals that are observed are called models.

•In society, children are surrounded by many influential models, such as

parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their
peer group and teachers at school.

•Reinforcement and punishment can also play role in social learning.

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 Social Learning Theory (cont)

Mediational Processes

•Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were

at work.

•These mental factors mediate (i.e., intervene) in the learning process to

determine whether a new response is acquired.

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Social Learning Theory (cont)

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Social Learning Theory (cont)

Mediational Processes

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 Social Learning Theory (cont)

CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS:

Social learning theory can be used to encourage and teach desirable

behaviors in the classroom through the use of positive reinforcement and
rewards.

For example, a student who is praised for raising their hand to speak will
more than likely repeat that behavior.

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 References:

• Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.

Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.
• Cassady, J. C., & Johnson, R. E. (2002). Cognitive test anxiety and
academic performance. Contemporary
• Educational Psychology, 27(2), 270–295.
• Edelman, C. L., Kudzma, E. C., & Mandle, C. L. (2014). Health
promotion throughout the life span (8th ed.).
• St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
• Guthrie, E. R. (1935). The psychology of learning. New York, NY:
Harper & Row.

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