Learning: Concepts and Theories
What makes us human? Many would say it is our opposing thumb, but others would posit the fact that we are intelligent thinkers. Our ability to learn from the world around us is what separates us from many of the other creatures in the animal kingdom. We can learn from our experiences in order to create a better world for ourselves. Yet, the concept of how we learn is often still mysterious, even despite generations of fundamental research on the topic. There are a number of theories that present the process of learning as being much different; yet, they all still share some common principles that give us a more detailed idea of how we learn.
If learning a one of our most successful attributes, how can we best define it for proper course of study? Essentially, learning is the training process in which we train our brain to understand and cope with the outside world around us. Our ability to learn helps us get through the many obstacles we face in this very uncertain life. Without strong physical features to give us a competitive edge, we must often rely on our heightened rational abilities to solve complicated problems and generate the methods for fulfilling the needs of our survival. We learn from our experiences; utilizing our prior knowledge to build upon what we know and learn more and more things about the external environment in which we live our lives. Learning is a process that begins almost the second we open...
When children are given the option between a reward they would like and the internal desire to learn something, most children would rather have the reward. That is also true of many adults, whether they are in an educational setting or a business setting. Still, that does not mean that intrinsic interest cannot come along with extrinsic reward, or that operant theory is completely wrong. Many educators mix operant
Apa.org). Critical thinking input: Good teachers that truly understand how distracted today's young people are (with technology, etc.) learn how to get the most out of students by combining proven strategies of engagement with scholarship challenges that are both entertaining and compelling to their active minds. B.F. Skinner Historical views of transfer. When something is said to you and it reminds you (without you having to conjure up memories) instantly of something from
Chance tries to explain the key differences in Pavlovian procedures by stating that "the most important difference is that Pavlovian conditioning involves pairing stimuli (the CS and U.S.) while operant learning involves pairing responses and stimuli." (pg 111) the average reader is likely not to readily discern the difference that easily. Turning back to the section on Pavlovian conditioning is imperative at this point in the book and therefore another
The organization must define what competencies will be necessary in the future, and continually build upon existing employee skills to avoid obsolescence. "If employees do not possess the competence to handle a new strategy, a company should provide training to enhance the skills of its managers and employees. Without adequate training and support, the relationships between employees and managers will suffer and the organization will lack flexibility" (Richards-Gustafson 2013).
In conjunction with these perspectives on how to create a highly effective online learning platform that aligns to the specific needs of students, there is a corresponding area of research that concentrates on teaching resiliency in the teaching process. The work of Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University underscores the need for leading students to continually challenge themselves to grow and have a very strong growth mindset vs. A limited
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