Running head: LEARNING THEORIES
LEARNING THEORIES
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LEARNING THEORIES
Introduction
Learning involves obtaining or gaining knowledge, behaviors, or skills due to
experiences or given instructions. It is an active process that involves building on the previously
acquired knowledge. In education, learning theories help in determining how students or
individuals obtain and retain then knowledge they are taught during the learning process.
Through these learning theories, people get to understand the best ways to impart knowledge to
various types of students or people (Zimmerman, 2013, p.17). These theories are essential in the
selection of educational tools, techniques, and strategies to make learning more accessible to all
types of learners. These theories are crucial in explaining individual differences among learners
as they tend to identify the most suitable methods to impart knowledge on each learner
differently to achieve success in the learning process. In this paper, we shall focus on the major
learning theories and how they tend to explain individual differences between the learners.
Theories
Behaviorism
This theory mainly entails the acquisition of new behaviors and changes through
association and interaction between response and stimuli. This theory stems from B.F. Skinner.
who argues that individuals are born with innate behaviors that affect their ability to grasp new
knowledge and concepts. Thus many theorists believe that consciousness exists independently
and its found outside the people. Thus acquiring knowledge by the behaviorism theory is through
one's experiences and interactions with the outside environment from when one was born. It also
attributes the gaining of knowledge to new behaviors acquired through changes associated with
LEARNING THEORIES
responses and stimuli (Reece and Walker, 2016, p.58). Thus learning is the acquisition of new
behaviors as well as the changes that come with it. This explains many individual differences
between learners and how they acquire knowledge. It explains why there are fast and slow
learners in schools as their ability to learn and retain knowledge is not the same. Also, many
students respond to different methods while helping them gain knowledge with others requiring
punishments, while others just need motivation through incentives to help them acquire
knowledge easier or faster.
Cognitivism
Cognitivism theory is based on the idea that people process the information they receive
rather than it being an inadequate response to stimuli. The processing of data is based on the
thought behind one's behavior. Jean Piaget is one of the theorists behind this theory recalls that
information is processed when a learner is actively involved in seeking an understanding of the
data given. After the information is received, the learner then tries to relate it with what is
already known, or the knowledge previously acquired.
Thus according to cognitivism, a learner's understanding of new information is based on
the amount of knowledge they can recall rather than their outer circumstances, which is unlike
behaviorism learning theory. It focuses more on an individual's mind rather than on one's
observable behaviors. Hence learning in this theory mainly involves reorganization of
experiences through obtainin