Learning+Theories+Scavenger+Hunt

 = Learning Theories Scavenger Hunt =

===Behaviorism | Cognitivism | Humanism | Constructivism ===

Behaviorism
**Operant Conditioning**   http://youtu.be/qy_mIEnnlF4 (Please click on the screen capture to view the video. Embedding was disabled by the YouTube user that uploaded the video.)

 According to Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011), "Behaviorism is a worldview that operates on a principle of 'stimulus-response.' All behavior caused by external stimuli (operant conditioning). All behavior can be explained without the need to consider internal mental states or consciousness."

 In this scene from the TV show, "The Big Bang Theory," which airs on CBS, Sheldon trains Penny to exhibit what he determines are desirable behaviors through operant conditioning. He provides positive and negative reinforcement by giving Penny a piece of chocolate (positive reward) or showing outward signs of disappointment (negative reinforcement) as well as squirting water at Leonard to curb negative behavior. When I was trying to think of examples for this assignment, I remembered this scene from the show. Sheldon even notes the works of Thorndike an B.F. Skinner and discusses how long it would take to make Penny perfect in his eyes through operant conditioning techniques.

**Applied Behavior Analysis**   http://www.autismspeaks.org/whattodo/what_is_aba.php

 Applied Behavior Analysis is a technique often used to treat Autism. It is rooted in Behaviorism, with the main tenants involved being positive and negative reinforcement of behavior (not just aiming to curb misbehavior, but to develop life skills through a system of reward-punishment). Children with Autism who participate in ABA develop and build on skill sets by starting with basic item recognition (example: The therapist asks the child to "give me the ball" w/ a ball and other stimuli available. If the child gives the therapist the ball, the action is repeated 5-10 times to make sure the skill is indeed learned, if the child does not perform the task accurately the majority of the time, this skill is continually worked on, and revisited from time to time to make sure the behavior is committed to long-term memory. Rewards can be various items or actions, from simply praise to a favorite food, or listening to music. While completing my first graduate degree, I worked with preschool aged children providing ABA therapy and saw the benefits firsthand. It was wonderful to see my students grow and learn!

Key Concepts
Shaping - Positive reinforcement is used when only approximates the desired behavior, making the behavior more and more like the target until it is fully learned. Chaining - Building on simple concepts already known to the learner to learn more complex behaviors. Discrimination - Providing similar stimuli so the learner can discriminate and exhibit the desired behavior. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fading - Non-reinforced behaviors tend not to occur. After repetitive practice, the discriminative stimulus is gradually removed so the behavior does not require the stimulus to occur. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinforcement - positive and negative reinforcement is used to obtain desirable behaviors.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Humanism
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Montessori School Curriculum** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.espritinternationalschool.com/philosophy.html

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Motessori School curriculum is rooted in humanism. Humanist learning theory states that the teacher fills the role of facilitator and students are given the freedom to exhibit their natural curiosity through self-directed learning. The teacher provides support for the students' learning. Students are treated as individuals and encouraged to develop individual interests. The learning environment is set up to foster creativity and cooperative learning. Student self-esteem is enhanced through achievement, positive relationships with teachers and peers and mutual respect for others. Teachers, students and the community all play a role in the development of the children. Motessori school curriculum takes a holistic approach to learning and strives for children to move toward self-actualization on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Learning Language Through Play** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="custom" key="8471466" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In this video, the teacher is teaching Italian to Romanian students through holistic learning. As you can see in the video, the teacher is acting as a facilitator and speaks in only Italian. Through song and play, students' vocabulary and actions are shaped as they participate in the group activities. They play and interact with the doll, the teacher, and other students by speaking Italian. The approach is student-centered. Creating a fun and engaging learning environment where children are free to participate in self-directed learning is a key component of humanistic learning theory.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> As someone who has lived in a foreign country and taught English as a second language there, I see the value of this approach. I also took a humanist approach to teaching foreign language by taking the role as facilitator and trying to foster an open learning environment with one concrete rule: speak ONLY English. I often let my students work in groups with their peers and participate in self-directed activities and "free talk" where they could talk about any subject they wanted. For myself learning Korean, and for my students learning English was easier when we could relate learning to our own interests (for me, this was acquiring knowledge of language so I could discuss things that were of personal interest). In my class, and in the video above, students were forming a knowledge base of language in a self-directed manner with freedom to attach their own meaning to the activity, with the intent to make them self-actualized, fluent speakers.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Key Concepts
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Independent Learning and Self-evaluation - Students are left to form their own knowledge in an environment facilitated by the teacher. They strive to learn what they are curious about and want to know. They evaluate their own learning. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Open Learning Environment - The classroom is often not set up in a traditional way with rows of desks, but often left open for children to move around and explore, or engage in team learning. Students feel secure and safe. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Social and Emotional Development - Social and Emotional develop is just as important as learning factual concepts. Treat the student as a whole being.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cognitivism
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Attribution Theory** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="tzLZD1gA5us" height="390" width="480" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzLZD1gA5us

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In this clip from the show, "What Would You Do?", the purpose of the activities in the show is to study why people do what they do. The show puts unsuspecting participants in a public place into a situation where their response to an event is measured. The show manipulates the same scenario in different ways to view how the participants respond differently depending on the environment. In this clip, the scenario is a woman leaves her belongings on the beach and walks away, and a theft comes and steals her belongings in front of the other people at the beach. In the first part of the experiment, the woman does not interact at all with those around her. Then she exchanges pleasantries, and then is obnoxious. The experiment seeks to examine how people interact when it is obvious a theft is stealing her belongings.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> According to Weiner’s Attribution Theory, the most important factors affecting attributions are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Do the participants have the ability to stop the thief? Do they want to make the effort? How difficult is the task? Do the different factors of how the woman looks, and interacts with her environment change the response?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Gorilla Speaks American Sign Language** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="Pmuu8UEi2ko" height="390" width="480" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmuu8UEi2ko

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In this video, Koko, the gorilla is demonstrating a knowledge of American sign language. Koko is a famous gorilla who lives at the San Francisco Zoo. Koko's teacher uses verbal language and sign language to communicate with Koko and he communicates through sign language. Cognitive Learning Theory states, "mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving need to be explored. Knowledge can be seen as schema or symbolic mental constructions. Learning is defined as change in a learner’s schemata" (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2011). Koko is thinking about what his teacher is saying, retrieving the appropriate signs from his memory, he knows how to respond, and he is demonstrating that new schemata have been formed.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Key Concepts
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Elaboration - Students elaborate on prior knowledge, building on an existing knowledge network. Students apply new concepts to knowledge base. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Meaningful and Useful Learning - Learning is meaningful when it can be connected to prior knowledge and expanded, or if it is useful to the learner. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Reconstructing - Students reconstruct new knowledge instead of simply recalling, relating to prior knowledge in their own way. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Feedback - Focus learners on important components of learning materials, evaluate if concepts are related correctly, encourage students to build on prior knowledge by asking questions relating to previously learned concepts. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Schema - Knowledge is seen as "schema," or mental constructs. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Three-stage information processing mode; sensory register, short- and long- term memory - Learning takes place in three stages, students process information, commit it to their sensory register, then to short- and long- term memory. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scaffolding - The teacher using scaffolding to help the learner construct or change their own schemata.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Constructivism
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Edventure Children's Museum** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.edventure.org/programs.aspx

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Edventure Children's Museum in Columbia, SC takes a constructivist approach to learning. Through Bruner's "discovery learning" approach, children who visit this museum are free to participate in lots of hands-on learning activities and are given the opportunity to discover facts and relationships for themselves. Children draw on past experiences and knowledge, and learn "new truths" or attach new knowledge and understanding to concepts through inquiry-based problem solving and manipulating of objects in the museum.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Discovery learning's main advantages are:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">encourages active engagement
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">promotes motivation
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">promotes autonomy, responsibility, independence
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the development of creativity and problem solving skills.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a tailored learning experience

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Classroom Applications of Constructivism** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/classroom_applications/

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Teachnology is an online teacher resource site that provides lesson plans and activities for teachers. On this page, the site discusses Constructivist learning examples and how the teacher can take the role of facilitator of learning and encourage critical thinking in his or her classroom. Teachers are encouraged to let students take an active role in their own learning by bridging past experience and knowledge with new concepts through problem solving and critical thinking.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The site provides links to lesson plans, graphic organizer templates, and suggestions for group work, or letting students take on the role as "expert" and becoming the teacher or facilitator themselves.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Key Concepts
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Multiple representation - Students create multiple representations of reality through learning. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Discovery learning - Students engage in active learning, are self-motivated, develop creativity, and attach meaning to experiences. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Inquiry-based instruction - Students are encouraged to ask and answer questions and relate concepts to their own knowledge base in a meaningful way. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Self-regulation - Students are responsible for shaping knowledge that is meaningful to them and regulating their own learning experience from concepts taught in the classroom. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Authentic learning - Real-world learning is taking place that has real meaning to the learner that can be applied in the outside world.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011, February). Behaviorism at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved February 23th, 2011 from http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html