Numerous theories about teaching and learning have developed over time and have been utilized to explain how learning may occur and what the role of a teacher is in the learning process. Classifying and organizing the learning theories has been difficult due to an overlap in some of the concepts or key elements. Reese and Overton (1970), however, determined two basic models for learning theories: the elemental model and the holistic model. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2015) defines learning as “a process that brings together personal and environmental experiences and influences for acquiring, enriching or modifying one’s knowledge skills, values, attitudes, behaviour and world views” (Most
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Key ideas from this learning theory are reinforcement, extinction, generalization, and differentiation. Pavlov’s work explores how stimuli and response can be used to increase the likelihood of a reflex, extinguish the reflex, and to stimulate the reflex in some situations, but not in others. Yet another elemental learning theory, the principle of contiguity of cue and response, comes from the work of Guthrie. Guthrie suggested learning takes place through a stimulus-response association and his only law of learning is “a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement” (Hilgard and Bower, 1966, p. 77). An additional elemental learning theory is the systematic behavior theory developed by Hull, who noted reinforcement as critical element of learning. Hull’s central idea was that variables in the organism impact which response will happen after a particular stimulus. While the elemental model represents the universe as a machine, the holistic model “represents the world as a unitary, interactive, developing organism” and is an “active and adaptive model of man” (Knowles et al., 2015, p. 101). Functionalism, gestalt theories, and field theory all are part of the holistic …show more content…
In his The Conditions of Learning (1965), he describes eight distinctive types of learning. These types of learning are: signal learning, stimulus-response learning, chaining, verbal association, multiple discrimination, concept learning, principle learning, and problem solving. Gagné suggested these types of learning were ways that the environment acts on the learner. When planning a learning environment, Gagné suggested teachers must consider the combination of external factors and abilities of students and that some combinations may be ineffective for some
Key ideas from this learning theory are reinforcement, extinction, generalization, and differentiation. Pavlov’s work explores how stimuli and response can be used to increase the likelihood of a reflex, extinguish the reflex, and to stimulate the reflex in some situations, but not in others. Yet another elemental learning theory, the principle of contiguity of cue and response, comes from the work of Guthrie. Guthrie suggested learning takes place through a stimulus-response association and his only law of learning is “a combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement” (Hilgard and Bower, 1966, p. 77). An additional elemental learning theory is the systematic behavior theory developed by Hull, who noted reinforcement as critical element of learning. Hull’s central idea was that variables in the organism impact which response will happen after a particular stimulus. While the elemental model represents the universe as a machine, the holistic model “represents the world as a unitary, interactive, developing organism” and is an “active and adaptive model of man” (Knowles et al., 2015, p. 101). Functionalism, gestalt theories, and field theory all are part of the holistic …show more content…
In his The Conditions of Learning (1965), he describes eight distinctive types of learning. These types of learning are: signal learning, stimulus-response learning, chaining, verbal association, multiple discrimination, concept learning, principle learning, and problem solving. Gagné suggested these types of learning were ways that the environment acts on the learner. When planning a learning environment, Gagné suggested teachers must consider the combination of external factors and abilities of students and that some combinations may be ineffective for some