Theories on How We Learn - Chapter 2
What is Learning?
- Learning is the process by which we
- Acquire new knowledge, skills, or attitudes
- Modify existing knowledge based on new information or experiences
- Reinforced previously learned knowledge through repetition and practice
- Occurs through various methods such as
- Direct experience & hands-on practice
- Teaching & instruction from others
- Reflections
- Greek philosophers Plato & Socrates → first Western thinkers to document whether basic
knowledge about the world exists before birth or whether we accumulate it through
experience
- Thoughts later revised by thinkers of European Enlightenment Area → John
Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Experience
- Exposure to external or internal events
- These events are called stimuli
Learning
- All relatively permanent changes in behaviour or knowledge that result from experience
that is not due to reflexes, fatigue, aging, drugs, or injury, or disease
Change in Behaviour
- Measurable change in behaviour in the present or the possibility of change in the future
, -
Different Perspectives of Learning
- Different people/schools of thought offer distinct view of how learning occurs
- Ranging from cognitive processes to observable behaviour changes &
- From the belief in innate knowledge to a focus on learning through experience and
interaction with the world
Philosophy-Based
- Plato & Aristotle
- Is truth and knowledge to be found within us (rationalism - Plato) or is it to be found
outside of ourselves by using our senses (empiricism- Aristotle)
- Discourse and reflection as tools for developing thinking - owe much to Socrates and
Plato
Plato
- Founded the first Western institution of higher learning → The Academy
- As a rationalist, developed the belief that knowledge and truth can be
discovered by self-reflection
- Studied under Socrates
Aristotle
- The empiricist, used his senses to look for truth and knowledge in the world
outside of him
- Advocated the dialectic method alongside Plato → use of debate, conversation,
reflection & active engagement using the dialectic method to support intellectual
growth & development
Socrates
- Developed the Socratic/Dialectic method of discovering truth through
conversations with fellow citizens
What is Learning?
- Learning is the process by which we
- Acquire new knowledge, skills, or attitudes
- Modify existing knowledge based on new information or experiences
- Reinforced previously learned knowledge through repetition and practice
- Occurs through various methods such as
- Direct experience & hands-on practice
- Teaching & instruction from others
- Reflections
- Greek philosophers Plato & Socrates → first Western thinkers to document whether basic
knowledge about the world exists before birth or whether we accumulate it through
experience
- Thoughts later revised by thinkers of European Enlightenment Area → John
Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Experience
- Exposure to external or internal events
- These events are called stimuli
Learning
- All relatively permanent changes in behaviour or knowledge that result from experience
that is not due to reflexes, fatigue, aging, drugs, or injury, or disease
Change in Behaviour
- Measurable change in behaviour in the present or the possibility of change in the future
, -
Different Perspectives of Learning
- Different people/schools of thought offer distinct view of how learning occurs
- Ranging from cognitive processes to observable behaviour changes &
- From the belief in innate knowledge to a focus on learning through experience and
interaction with the world
Philosophy-Based
- Plato & Aristotle
- Is truth and knowledge to be found within us (rationalism - Plato) or is it to be found
outside of ourselves by using our senses (empiricism- Aristotle)
- Discourse and reflection as tools for developing thinking - owe much to Socrates and
Plato
Plato
- Founded the first Western institution of higher learning → The Academy
- As a rationalist, developed the belief that knowledge and truth can be
discovered by self-reflection
- Studied under Socrates
Aristotle
- The empiricist, used his senses to look for truth and knowledge in the world
outside of him
- Advocated the dialectic method alongside Plato → use of debate, conversation,
reflection & active engagement using the dialectic method to support intellectual
growth & development
Socrates
- Developed the Socratic/Dialectic method of discovering truth through
conversations with fellow citizens
