Discuss the influence of cognitive learning theories on educational Essay

Discuss the influence of cognitive learning theories on educational policy and practice - Essay Example Behaviorism The behaviorist learning perspectives started off in the early 1900s. They later became dominant at the beginning of the 20th century. The main idea used in behaviorism is the fact that learning consists of behavior changes due to the reinforcement, application and acquisition of associations among stimuli achieved for the environment and recognizable responses of a person. Many behaviorists are attracted in measurable changes seen in a person’s behavior. Thorndike, a most important behaviorist theorist, asserts that a response to an incentive is toughened when followed by positive rewarding effects (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2013). He goes on to assert that response to incentives become stronger by repetition and exercise. This learning view explained is akin to the programs of drill and practice. Skinner, one of the most influential behaviorists, projected his variant of behaviorism referred to operant conditioning. In his views, gratifying the right parts found on the more difficult behavior reinforces it and supports its recurrence. As a result, reinforcers have power over the occurrence of the preferred partial behaviors. Many people understand learning as a successive or the step by step approximation of the proposed partial behaviors by using punishments and rewards. In Skinner’s theory, the best known application is programmed instruction. This shows how the right sequences of the partial behaviors needed to be learned are specified by complicated task analysis (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2013). Cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology was instigated in the late 1950s. This psychology has made a contribution to move away from behaviorism. The individual is no longer seen as responses collections to external incentives, as the behaviorist understand. Cognitive psychology views these individuals as information processors. Additionally, cognitive psych ology paid more concentration to difficult mental phenomena unnoticed by behaviorists and was inclined by the coming out of computers as information processing devices, which later became analogous to the mind of individuals. In cognitive psychology, individuals understand learning as gaining of knowledge. The person learning is the information processor that takes in information, carries out cognitive operations on the information and stocks the information in memory. Therefore, the preferred instructional methods used in cognitive psychology are reading and lecturing textbooks. At its most greatness, the person learning is a passive knowledge recipient by the instructor (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2013). Constructivism Constructivism was established in the 1970s and 1980s. It gave rise to the ideas that people learning are not passive receivers of information. These learners actively build their knowledge by interacting with the environment a nd by reorganizing their mental structures. The individuals learning are seen as sense-makers, not only recording any information issued but also interpreting it. These learning views made people change from acquisition of knowledge to construction of knowledge metaphors. The growing evidence supporting the