Psychology of learning

The psychology of learning is concerned with the psychological processes of learning and related cognitive processes; So as humans or animals acquire, process and store information. Products of this science are theories of learning.

Disciplines are on the basis of page ethology, neurobiology and brain research, and on the application side, the educational psychology and didactics.

While the philosophical theory of learning long speculative explained, for example, Plato recollection of knowledge before birth, came about at the beginning of the 20th century, an experimentally - scientifically oriented learning theory.

Historical Overview

Beginnings ( 1900)

In the beginning was the attempt to explore mental processes through experimental self-observation or introspection. This contributed in Germany first Wilhelm Wundt (1879 ) and Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose book about the experiments with its own memory performance ( with useful free learning material ) appeared in 1885. They formed the basis for the experimental psychology of memory, formulated some rules and regulations:

  • The Ebbinghaus - law,
  • The learning curve ( slightly increased learning material requires considerably more repetitions ),
  • The forgetting curve ( loss initially most )
  • The Jostsche laws (if in doubt do you keep the first learned )
  • Primary and Rezenzeffekt (so-called Primacy - recency effect: the elements in the middle you learn the hardest ).

Because of the uncertainty of self-observation method other psychologists began to conduct experiments to study on animals. In the United States grew out of the critique of introspection, behaviorism. From a compound of association psychology, reflexology and behaviorism in connectionism Edward Lee Thorndike in 1898 developed a learning theory that the aspect " gain" advanced the stimulus-response scheme: From zufallsverteiltem behavior the one is learned, the contingent ( directly and specifically ) and enough is often amplified. Thorndike's rules for " Instrumental conditioning" and for successful learning are:

  • Law of readiness (law ​​of readiness )
  • Law of effect (law ​​of effect)
  • Law of practice (law ​​of exercise )

Theories in the early 20th century

From his research on the digestive secretions of dogs classical reflexology of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who in 1905 created the rules for the

  • Classical conditioning took place.

In continuation of Thorndike's work Skinner created the rules for " operant conditioning ". Some specific educational applications exist to the present day:

  • Programmed instruction ( 1960s-1980s ),
  • ( Educational ) behavior modification.

A contrary view was of the Gestalt psychology and Gestalt theory, which is abstracted from the association psychology:

  • Learning as insight and productive thinking (Karl Duncker, Max Wertheimer ). Is not learned by habituation to the right ( effective ) procedure in many experiments with purely random variations ( = behaviorism ), but by recognizing the most effective method for a problem. The structure of the initial situation and experience ( problem space ), intelligence, and the objectives of the learning system affect this insight into the right solution, then so engage in certain partial solutions that the approach assumes an insightful shape form. A solution can thus be found in only one trial and learned forever. Humans also can complement Missing independently to "shape", learning is not mere imaging.

" Cognitive Turn" at about 1960

A new section was the development theory of Jean Piaget (1896-1980, Epistemological functionalism ), the stresses developed in the learners' cognitive structures and levels as a condition of the learning act and calls attention to age. Man does not learn by mapping the outside world, but takes out the outside world depending on the achieved stage in cognitive development otherwise true. The development itself does not take place simply as maturation, but the interplay between learner and environment. Thus, a wide field was created for the

  • Generates meaning, generative, discovery learning (in the U.S. David Paul Ausubel, Jerome Bruner, in Switzerland Hans Aebli, and Germany Manfred Wittrock )

In a departure from the black-box model of behavioral behavioral psychology wants to explain the processes taking place in the learner processes of information processing. It is a paradigm shift and a development of the behaviourist to a cognitive mindset that although the black box still does not illuminate, but is aware of it.

  • Social - cognitive model - learning: Older theories that learning back only led to imitation external or internal identification were extended by the cognitively oriented learning model which significantly influenced the basis of the aggressive behavior of young people since 1963, the Canadian Albert Bandura.

Of great importance for the psychology of learning was also to distinguish different forms of memory in the memory: the sensory memory, short-term or working memory and long-term memory (RC Atkinson and RM Shiffrin, 1968). The research points to the presence of numerous developments of this theory, which show the complicated path of cognitive processing for sustainable knowledge and skills.

Constructivism

This resulted in constructivist learning theories that had a foundation in constructivism:

  • Educational constructivism,
  • " Learning as knowledge construction "

The term learning is currently much broader than the memorization of early memory research, can be read on the variety of possible goals of learning:

  • Learning with target skill, the ability to automate mental and motor skills;
  • Learning with the aim of problem solving;
  • Learning with the aim of keeping and present holding of knowledge;
  • Learning process ( learning to learn, learning work, learn lookup, learn to read critically );
  • Learn increasing the abilities and powers with the aim of later transmission ( formal education: to let learn the classic justification, Latin );
  • Learning with the goal of building an ethos, value system, attitude;
  • Learning with the aim of gaining deeper interest in the subject;
  • Learning with the aim of changing behavior (Roth 1963 after Seel 2003).

Learning is something other than habituation. Learning is a characteristic of intelligent behavior. Learning and thinking done with the aid of ( gestural, pictorial, linguistic, symbolic) sign. Thinking creates new knowledge on the basis of existing ones. " The single most important factor that influences learning is what the learner already knows. " (Ausubel 1968, after Seel 2003).

Recent approaches broaden the cognitive- constructivist model by taking into account also motivational, affective and socio-cultural variables.

Cognition Learning theory (education) Philosophy Association (psychology) Stimulus–response model Cognitive revolution Ulric Neisser Constructivist epistemology Thought Affect (psychology)
508292
de