Application exercise: How would the instruction be designed differently by a behaviorist, a cognitivist, and a constructivist? Scenario: A high school social study teacher is planning a class on the Vietnam War.
In Chapter 11, Peggy and Timothy discussed three learning theories – behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. In behaviorism theory of learning, the focuses are on arranging stimulus and consequence in the environment, targeting towards the knowing of what. This theory requires a low degree of processing. The purpose of the instruction designed by behaviorists is creating an environment to form and reinforce good responses/behaviors. In this scenario, the teacher tries to provide a learning environment to help students shape good learning habits and support them to learn the basic event. In order to let students preview the content, a teacher using behaviorism can say “I will ask some basic questions about the topic – Vietnam War in the first a few minutes and randomly ask some students to answer.” And teacher provide some feedback on students’ answers. Students can learn to do some pre-class reading and the teacher will continue asking questions before class. The teacher can present class material in PowerPoint format and play a few minutes of documentary about the Vietnam War, when students start to get tired of the standard lecture format. These techniques will stimulate visual and auditory senses and help students to learn.
Cognitivism theory of learning focusses on encouraging students to actively participate in the learning and to guide them to process information effectively. This theory targets at the knowing of how and requires an increased level of processing. The purpose of instructional design is creating the learning environment, making connections with the learners’ previous studies, and helping them find effective organizing strategies. In this scenario, the teacher focuses on letting students learn how events relate to each other and how to effectively process what they have learned into memory. The cognitive teacher can use an outline presenting how the War began, what is going on in this War and how the War ended. Besides the teacher can introduce a map of the important historical events that took place in the Vietnam War, which can help students to gain a better understanding of the relation among different events. In addition, the teacher can ask students to compare the Korean War against the Vietnamese war (if they have already learned about the Korean War) to make connection with their previous experience.
Constructivism theory of learning focuses on creating personal meanings/interpretations from their experience. A constructivist instructor encourages students to learn and practice in the context. Constructivism theory targets reflection and how to develop new techniques. It requires a high level of processing. The purpose of instructional design is assisting learners to create, access and update their meanings, and helping learners practice in real and related environments. In this scenario, the instructor tries to let students find their own meanings, introduces different perspectives and guides them so they can think beyond the information. An instructor using constructivism theory can provide different perspectives, from the side of South Vietnam, North Vietnam, US, China and the Soviet Union, and how people in those countries think about this war. Besides that, the teacher can conduct group discussions about the topic “as a Canadian in 1960s – 1970s, what do you think the government of Canada should do”? This question allows students to share their thoughts and learn from others through their responses.
Hi Song,
You did a great job explaining how an instructor can apply each of the learning theories to teach a class of students. I personally enjoy answering constructivism questions in class because it allows for a variety of answer from students. Also there is usually no right or wrong answer, meaning that learners do not have to worry as much about the answers they give.
Out of the three learning theories, which one do you personally like best?