This document discusses the following points; 1. School of thought 2. Some proponents 3. Application to mathematics 4. Implication to teaching and learning 5. Teaching methods

1. LEARNING THEORIES

2. Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, you will be able
to understand:
The school of thought of Behaviorism
Some proponents
Classical conditioning
Application of behaviorism to
mathematics
Implication to teaching and learning
Teaching methods

3. Introduction
What is Learning?
 Learning is a relatively permanent change in
behavior that is the result of experience.
 During the first half of the twentieth century, the
school of thought known as behaviorism rose to
dominate psychology and sought to explain the
learning process.
 John Broadus Waston was considered the first
Psychologist to use the word Behaviorism

4. John Broadus Watson (1878–
1958)
• American Psychologist
• Considered first person to use term ‘Behaviorism’
• Considered the mind as being irrelevant to learning
•Commented on child rearing
This was followed in the following year by the book
Behaviorism: An Introduction to comparative Psychology.
In this book, he pushed the study of rats as a useful model for
human behavior.

5. Behaviorism
Behavioral psychology is the study of
external behavior
• Behavior is objective and observable,
where as what goes on in one’s mind
can never really be known or measured
(the mind is a “black box”)
• Behavior is the response of an
organism to stimuli

6. Behaviorism
Learning is about strengthening or weakening
connections between the stimulus and
response through reinforcements or non-
reinforcements.
Motivation is assumed to occur mainly
through external motivation (rewards and
punishments).
A reward is only effective to the degree that
the person wants it and a punishment is only
effective to the degree that the person wants
to avoid it.

7. Some Proponents of Behaviorism
 The following are some of the major figures
associated with learning and the behavioral
school of psychology.
Ivan Pavlov
Edward Thorndike
John Watson
B.F. Skinner

8. Classical Conditioning
Theory
Pavlov was studying the digestive system of dogs and
became intrigued with his observation that dogs
deprived of food began to salivate when one of his
assistants walked into the room.
He began to investigate this phenomena and
established the laws of classical conditioning.
Skinner renamed this type of learning "respondent
conditioning” since in this type of learning, one is
responding to an environmental antecedent.

9. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
 In 1904, he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in physiology for his
work on digestion, and in 1921,
he received the Hero of the
Revolution Award from Lenin
himself.
* 1849  1936
 Most famous of the Russain physiologist
 It was in 1900 that he began studying reflexes,
especially the salivary response.

10. Classical Conditioning Theory
 Classical Conditioning (Pavlov, Watson)
A natural stimulus that produces a response
(reflex action) is coupled with a conditioned
stimulus so that an association is formed.
NS ---Response
NS + CS--- Response
CS----Response
Learning is developing a new stimuli-
response association. A conditioned stimuli
comes to produce the same response as the
original, natural stimuli

11. Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning
Before Conditioning
Unconditioned
Stimulus
Unconditioned Response
Neutral Stimulus No Response

12. Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning
During Conditioning
Unconditioned
Stimulus
Neutral
Stimulus
Unconditioned
Response

13. Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning
After Conditioning
Conditioned
Stimulus
Conditioned
Response

14. Classical Conditioning
An example from a learning environment
Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response
Teacher instructs pupils to work quietly. Pupils work quietly on tasks.
Conditioned stimulus with additional
stimulus.
Unconditioned response
Teacher instructs pupils to work quietly
while putting her fingers on her lips.
Pupils work quietly on tasks.
Conditioned stimulus Conditioned response
Teacher puts her fingers on her lips. Pupils work quietly on tasks.
(From Bartlett and Burton, 2012, p.197)

15. APPLICATION TO MATHEMATICS
 Students are taught in teacher-centred lessons
or with direct instruction.
 The mathematics teacher arranges the lesson
in series of steps and therefore give feedback
immediately after students response.
 The mathematics teacher assesses the
students using quiz, test, drill and practice.
 Students are also extrinsically motivated in this
form of teaching in the mathematics
classroom.

16. APPLICATION TO
MATHEMATICS
The students are thought through the
procedural way of teaching.
The mathematics teachers provide
positive reinforcement every time the
students exhibit desired behavior.

17. Implication to Teaching
Teachers choose the materials students will
learn from and organize student practice.
Student efforts to organize learning activities
for themselves play little role.
The teacher is seen as the repository of all
knowledge because they hold the view that
the child mind is empty.
Stating clear goal of the teaching
Feedback should given immediately
Teacher needs to reinforce correct response
and discourage the wrong response.

18. Teaching methods
Lecturing method
Deductive method
Dogmatic method

19. Humanism
(Learning
Theory)M.S.

20. Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, you will be able to
understand:
 The school of thought of Humanism
 Some proponents
 Application of Humanism to mathematics
 Implication to teaching and learning
 Teaching methods

21. Humanism (Learning Theory)
They emphasize the "natural desire" of
everyone to learn. Whether this natural desire
is to learn whatever it is you are teaching,
however, is not clear.
It follows from this, they maintain, that
learners need to be empowered and to have
control over the learning process.
So the teacher relinquishes a great deal of
authority and becomes a facilitator.

22. Abraham Maslow was one of the first
psychologists devoted to the development of a
humanist approach to psychology.
One of the most significant and influential minds in
humanistic psychology was Carl Rogers.
Other Proponents:
•David Kolb
•Jack Mezirow
•Paolo Freire
Main Proponents
Maslow Rogers

23. • Teacher acts as facilitator of learning.
• Enables and encourages students
• Enables learning through technology with new
and innovative ways to teach.
• Motivates students and focuses on students in
the classroom.
• Teach general learning skills, foster group
work, and if possible, give a choice of tasks to
the students (Huitt, 2001).
Humanistic Role ofthe Teacher

24. • Learning is student centered and individualized for
each student
• The main goal for students is to become self-
actualized.
• Students are further motivated and able to learn
according to specific needs through the use of
technology.
• Students also need to take
responsibility for their own
learning and keep their goals realistic
Humanistic Role of the Student

25. Implications for teaching
Significant learning takes place when the
subject matter is relevant to the personal
interest of the student
Learning is more easily assimilated when
the threat to one self is low
Self initiated learning is the most lasting
and pervasive
Self evaluation is the best way to evaluate
students’ work

26. Examples of Teaching methods
Cooperative learning
Experimental learning
Discovery learning
Case study
Open seminars

27. Specific Applications
Treating students with equity: eg; Giving
extra attention to students with disability
in class
Teacher provides good learning
environment for all students
Unbiased teaching on the part of the
teacher
Favorable school policies

28. COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTIVISM

29. Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, you will be able to
understand:
 The school of thought of Cognitive
constructivism
 Some proponents
 Application of Cognitive constructivism to
mathematics
 Implication to teaching and learning
 Teaching methods

30. Background to cognitive constructivism
 Main proponents are Jean Piajet and William Perry
 Having analyzed the behaviorist learning theory,
other educational psychologist such as Jean Piajet
opposed the view that, knowledge is acquired on
observable behavior.
 The cognitivists paid more attention to what went on
“inside the learner’s head that is the mental process
rather than observable behavior
 To them Knowledge comprises active systems of
intentional mental representations derived from past
learning experiences.

31. Cognitive constructivist view of learning
 Knowledge is constructed through a process of active
discovery
 The role of the instructor is to serve as a facilitator
 Previous knowledge of learner must be considered in
constructing new knowledge (pretesting)
 Learners are intrinsically motivated unlike the behaviorist
approach where learners are motivated by extrinsic factors
 Because learning involves significant restructuring of existing
cognitive structures, successful learning requires a major
personal investment on the part of the learner (Perry 1999,
54).

32. Implications for teaching
 Students are to assimilate new information based on
existing knowledge. Greater importance is on strategies that
help students to actively assimilate and accommodate new
material
 Students are to investigate their own errors
 Students are to explain and justify their own solutions
 Pose and solve their own problems
 Teachers should orchestrate discussion among learners
 Learning should occur in the context in which it will be used
 Teachers should use a variety of resources to cater for
different learning.

33. Examples of teaching methods
 Oral (class)discussion
 Films
 Experimentation
 Fieldtrips
 Research projects

34. Specific application to mathematics
 Some of the applications of cognitive constructivism
teaching are:
 Allowing students to share their existing knowledge
on what the understand by sets and give examples of
sets
 Teacher asks i.e. (find the value of x from the
equation, 2x – 8 = 4) students to solve a question on
the board and explain how he arrived at the answer
 Teacher shares topics (learning theories) to students
to research on and present to the whole class.

35. this presentation was done
by
BRIGHT ASANTE BRITWUM