Module 6

LEARNING THEORIES

There are many different styles of learning. Everybody develops a preferred approach to learning and many people have tried to categorise the ranges of learning styles.

Watson (1878-1958) was the first psychologist to believe learning is determined by environment and coined the term behaviourism. Behaviourists believe humans can learn to respond to stimuli in the same way Pavlov demonstrated with animal experiments in 1927 with teachers providing stimuli for learning responses to occur. Although critics say humans do not display behaviourism when higher thinking is involved some workers think that behaviourist theory can be used to reinforce and encourage learners.

Cognitivism replaced behaviourism. This was developed by Gagné and Briggs, among others. It takes into account how complex learning…