Transformational learning theory, Discovery learning and Gagnés learning

1. Transformational Learning Theory
JENIFER DIVYA A J

2. Jack Mezirow
 He formulated in the year 1975 at Colombia
university
 Earlier professional life as an adult educator
 Focused on fostering social action through
community development
 Devoted to developing Transformative Learning
Theory
 Self – proclaimed social Action educator

3. “The process of using a prior interpretation to construe a new or revised
interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide one future
actions”.
Mezirow,1996
Define Transformational Learning
“A deep structural shift in basic premises of thoughts, feelings and actions”.
Transformative learning centre,2004

4. What is transformative learning theory?
 Transformative learning develops autonomous thinking, and is the process of effective change in the
frame of reference.
 Works to transform individual lives by challenging previously held perspectives and limitations
 Simply put, people often develop the ability to reflect upon something that had been taken for
granted or were unaware of and make conscious decisions about it. In the transformative learning
theory, this is termed as a transformative experience.
Example: A transformative experience happens in the way an individual views life after being
diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. It can also be less dramatic like older adults who transform
into social activists after learning to use the Internet.
In simple words, learners can adjust their thinking based on new ideas

5. I. Action Learning - The process of cognitive thinking ,the
awareness of material learned and the process of learning itself
II. Experiential learning – gaining knowledge through work
performance and experience
Process of Adult Learning

6. iii. Project based learning – Furthering one’s knowledge through
investigate questioning and active exploration of existing
knowledge
iv. Self Directed learning –An intrinsic drive trigger either by
internal or external factors to further one’s knowledge.

7. IMPORTANCE OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING
 Better problem-solving applications
 Changing habitual perspectives
 Struggling with developmental and periodical transition
problems
 Job and workplace adaptation
 Social education projects

8. PRINCIPLES OF THE TRANSFORMATIVE THEORY
This theory has four general scientific laws involved:
1. Adults exhibit two kinds of learning:
o Instrumental – individuals are tasked with identifying the cause or effect certain
events or situations
o Communicative – individuals gain communicative skills and learn how to express
their wishes, feelings, and emotions
2. Learning in transformative theory involves a change in meaning structures that is
schemes and perspectives.
3. Reflection about content, processes, or premises results to change to meaning
structures.
4. Learning can involve learning new schemes, transforming perspectives, or
elaborating meaning to existing plans or programs.

9. Mezirow 7 phases of transformative learning
Disorienting dilemma
Self examination
Critical assessment
Planning of a course of
action
Acquisition of knowledge
Provisional trying of roles
Building of competence
self confidence

10. 1.A disorienting dilemma is a situation where a learner finds that what they thought or believed in the
past may not be accurate. This disorienting dilemma can be uncomfortable or challenging for
students, but is the key spark in starting a fire of transformational learning.
2. . After a disorienting dilemma, students will do a self-examination of their beliefs and
understanding. They will think about their past experiences and how they connect to this disorienting
dilemma. This can create a perspective transformation, where students understand that their
perspective may not be the only perspective.

11. 3. Critical assessment of assumptions. Students in this phase of transformational learning are able to
take a more comprehensive look at their past assumptions and review them critically. They are able to
accept that perhaps some of their past assumptions were wrong, and are thereby more open to new
information and thoughts. This creates perspective transformation as they are able to look with more
unbiased eyes at their own past.
4.Planning a course of action. After students understand how their past assumptions and beliefs may have
been wrong and have a perspective transformation, they are able to plan a course of action. They are able
to consider what kinds of learning they will now need to more fully understand a problem or situation.
They will be able to have a strategy for learning new things, seeing new perspectives, talking to new
people, and more.

12. • Acquisition of knowledge or skills to carry out new plan. Now is the time
for students to carry out their plan and get further in their transformational
learning. They may have to learn new things and consider different
perspectives in order to fully enhance their learning. This may take extensive
work and effort, but this is where the real learning is happening.
• Exploring and trying new roles. As part of transformational learning, we
need to act. In transformative learning, exploring and trying to understand
changes is key to success. It goes beyond just learning about something, but
actively working to understand and experience new things for yourself.
• Self-efficiency involves us being able to make our own decisions and have
our own beliefs. As we follow transformative learning phases it’s extremely
important to build confidence in our beliefs and understanding, and to continue
to practice this transformative cycle as we move forward.

13. PUTTING TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING THEORY INTO PRACTICE.
 Give students chances to
learn about new
perspectives
 Help students identify
and question their
assumptions.
 Create opportunities for
critical discourse

14. DISCOVERY LEARNING

15. Discovery learning refers to various instructional design models that engages students in learning
through discovery
According to Borthick & Jones (2000:181): “In discovery learning, participants learn to recognize a
problem, characterize what a solution would look like, search for relevant information, develop a
solution strategy, and execute the chosen strategy. In collaborative discovery learning, participants,
immersed in a community of practice, solve problems together.”
DEFINITIONS

16.  Jerome Bruner “Father of Discovery Learning”
 Bruner believes that student must be active they must
identify key principles for themselves rather than simply
accepting teachers explanation. This process is called
Discovery Learning

17. TEACHING METHOD
• Inquiry based process
• Learning through experience
• Inductive reasoning

18. Special construction of
curriculum
 Learner builds on past experience
 Students interact with environment
 Discover facts and relationships on own
 Students create own constructs of knowledge
through narrative

19. EXAMPLE OF DISCOVERY LEARNING

20.  Supports active engagement of the learner in the learning
process
 Fosters curiosity
 Enables the development of life long learning skills
 Personalizes the learning experience
 Highly motivating as it allows individuals the opportunity to
experiment and discover something for themselves
 Builds on learner's prior knowledge and understanding
 Develops a sense of independence and autonomy
 Make them responsible for their own mistakes and results
 Learning as most adults learn on the job and in real life
situations
 A reason to record their procedure and discoveries - such as
not repeating mistakes, a way to analyze what happened, and a
way to record a victorious discovery
 Develops problem solving and creative skills
 Finds new and interesting avenues of information and learning
- such as gravy made with too much cornstarch can become a
molding medium
Advantages

21. Disadvantages
• Sometimes huge) cognitive overload, potential to confuse the
learner if no initial framework is available, etc.
• Measurable performance (compared to hard-core instructional
designs) is worse for most learning situations.
• Creations of misconceptions ("knowing less after instruction")
• Weak students have a tendency to "fly under the radar" and
teacher's fail to detect situations needing strong remediation or
scaffolding.
• Some studies admit that strong students can benefit from weak
treatments and others conclude that there is no difference, but more
importantly they also conclude that weak students benefit strongly
from strong treatments.

23. • Born on August 21,1916
• Died April 28,2002.
• Educational Psychologist
• Best known for
“conditions of learning “
is a book
Robert Mills Gagne

24. The following four elements provide the framework for Gagne’s Conditions of
learning theory.
• Conditions of Learning
• Association Learning
• The Five Categories of Learning Outcomes
• The Nine Events of Instruction

25. CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
INTERNAL CONDITION
Capabilities that already exist in a
learner before any new learning begins
make up the internal conditions
necessary for learning. These internal
conditions are transformed during the
learning process.
EXTERNAL CONDITION
External conditions include
different stimulus’s that exist
outside the learner such as the
environment, the teacher, and the
learning situation. This means that
each new learning situation begins
from a different point of prior
learning and will consist of a
different external situation,
depending on the learner and on
the learning environment

26. ASSOSIATION LEARNING
There are three basic prototypes of learning that demonstrate the characteristics of
associative learning:
 classical conditioning
 operant conditioning
 verbal association.

27. Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is the process
where the learner associates an
already available response with a new
stimulus or signal.
It was found by Ivan pavlo

28. Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is the
process where a response in a
learner is instrumental and
thereby leads to a subsequent
reinforcing event.

29. Verbal Association
Verbal association occurs when
the learner makes verbal
responses to stimuli that are
words or pairs of words.
Chaining is a process where a
learner connects individual
associations in sequence. For
example, a learner can recite
verbal sequences consisting of
lists of words, or the alphabet
from A-Z

30. THE FIVE CATEGORIES OF LEARNING OUTCOMES
Verbal information
Intellectual skills
Cognitive strategies
Attitudes
Motor skills

31. INTELLECTUAL SKILLS
• Intellectual skills involve the use of symbols
such as numbers and language to interact
with the environment.
• Intellectual skills require an ability to carry
out actions. Often they require the
interactions with the environment through
symbols such as letters, numbers, words, or
diagrams.
• When a learner has learned an intellectual
skill, he or she will be able to demonstrate its
application to at least one particular instance
of the subject matter learned.

32. VERBAL
INFORMATION
The performance or learning outcome
achieved through verbal information is
the ability of being able to state in a
meaningful sentence what was learned.
Some examples of acquired verbal
information are the ability to define
Piaget’s stages of cognitive
development; or, stating the rules for
scoring in a tennis match.

33. COGNITIVE STRATERGIES
the way to enable students to
exercise control over the
processes involved in:
participating, observing, coding,
remembering, retrieving, and
thinking in general. In other
words, it means that the student
develops his or her own
personal way to learn think and
act.

34. Attitudes
Gagné’s Conditions of
Learning describes
attitudes as emotional
components and cognitive
components, because they
influence behaviour.
Attitudes also refer to the
bias that influences the
learner’s action compared
to something or someone
else

35. MOTOR SKILLS
Motor skills are the precise, smooth, and accurately timed
execution of movements involving the use of muscles. They
are a distinct type of learning outcome and necessary to the
understanding of the range of possible human performances.
Learning situations that involve motor skills are learning to
write, playing a musical instrument, playing sports, and
driving a car. The timing and smoothness of executing
motor skills indicates that these performances have a high
degree of internal organization.

37. 1. GAINING ATTENTION
 The first event of instruction is to gain the
attention of students so they are alert for
the reception of stimuli.
 An instructor can achieve this by
introducing a rapid stimulus change either
by gesturing or by suddenly changing the
tone or volume of their voice.
 Another way of stimulating alertness is by
visual or auditory stimuli related to the
subject matter.
 The stimulus chosen for gaining attention
will work equally well for all categories of
learning outcomes.

38. 2. Informing Learners of the
Objective
 The second event of instruction is to
inform the learner of the purpose and
expected outcomes of the learning
material.
 This will provide them with an
expectancy that will persist during the
time learning is taking place. Feedback at
the end of the lesson will provide the
learner with confirmation of learning.
 An important part of this event of
instruction is to provide learners with
motivation if learner motivation is not
apparent.
 An instructor can achieve learner
motivation by relating an interesting
career field to the learning material.

39. 3. STIMULATING RECALL OF PRIOR
LEARNING
The third event of instruction asks the instructor to
recall skills or knowledge learners have previously
learned. The best kind of recall should naturally
relate to the subject matter being learned.

40. 4. PRESENTING THE STIMULUS
The content of the stimulus should be specific to
the learning outcome.
For example, if the stimulus is verbal information,
printed prose such as a chapter in a textbook or an
audio tape will achieve the learning objective. If
the stimulus is an intellectual skill, the instructor
can display the object and/or symbols that require
a concept or rule; or, he or she can present the
problem learners need to solve.
The instructor must present the stimulus as an
initial phase of learning, so clear indication of
stimulus features such as underlining, bold print,
highlighting, pointing, or using a change in tone of
voice to emphasize major themes is helpful.

41. 5. Providing Learning Guidance
 The fifth event of instruction, providing
learning guidance requires the instructor
to make the stimulus as meaningful as
possible.
 There are several ways to achieve this,
depending upon the learning outcome
expected.
 An instructor can enhance
by using concrete examples of abstract
terms and concepts, and elaborating
by relating them to others already in
memory.

42. 6. Eliciting Performance
 The sixth instructional event eliciting performance asks a
learner to demonstrate the newly learned capability. This
may be verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive
strategy, attitude, or motor skill.
 Provide them with practice activities to activate the
learning process

43. 7. Providing Feedback
The seventh instructional event,
providing feedback, asks the
instructor to reinforce the newly
acquired learning. An instructor can
accomplish this through informative
feedback where the instructor
informs the learner of the degree of
correctness or incorrectness of the
performance. This feedback may be
verbal or written.

44. 8. Assessing Performance
The eighth instructional event, assessing performance,
consists of assessments to verify that learning has
In order to assure that learning is stable, an instructor will
require additional instances of the performance.
The instructor assesses performance through testing the
learner. The purpose of testing is to establish that the
learned capacity is stable, and to provide additional
to assist in consolidating the learned material.

45. 9. Enhancing Retention and Transfer
The ninth instructional event, enhancing
retention and transfer, refers to retaining the
learned capability over a long period of time
transferring it into new situations outside of the
learning environment. Practice ensures
especially with verbal information, intellectual
skills, and motor skills.

47. 1. Discovery learning encourage learners to ________
a. The process of finding solutions to
difficult or complex issues
b. Encouraging learners to extend what
they know and invent something new
c. Imagine and be creative
d. Learn to analyse and interpret the
acquired information

48. NEXT

49. BACK

50. 2. An example of disorienting Dilemma is-----------
a. When students are given a quiz they
are not used to
b. When there is lack of
teacher orientation
c. When students are asked to repeat
after the teacher
d. When students are given group
work

51. BACK

52. NEXT

53. 3. An important phase in transformative learning is
that, after you assess the disorienting dilemma and
explore possible options, we should
a. Go back to the usual procedure b. reintegration
c. Plan a course of action d. Implement what was learned

54. BACK

55. NEXT

56. 4. A clear advantage of transformative learning is_________
a. It can make students memorize
the poem
b. The learner can face new challenges
creatively
c. It does not need the teacher
role
d. It minimizes the use of paper

57. BACK

58. NEXT

59. 5. Below are some the events in Gagne’s 9 events of instruction
except_____________
a. Gaining attention
c. Assessing performance
b. Providing answers
d. Enhancing retention and
transfer

60. BACK

61. NEXT

62. 6. What is the third level of conditions of learning
a. Enhancing retention and
transfer
b. Gaining attention
c. Informing learners of the
objective
d. Stimulating recall

63. BACK

64. NEXT

65. 7. Asking students what their knowledge of planets
before teaching a unit about the solar system would
be an example of__________
a. Stimulate recall of prior
knowledge
b. Gain attention
c. Assess performance

66. BACK

67. NEXT

68. 8. Creating study guides and preparing students for
note taking is an example of
a. Provide feedback
b. Elicit performance
c. Provide learner guidance

69. BACK

70. NEXT

71. 9. What is the last event of Gagne’s 9 conditions of
learning
a. Present stimulus material
b. Enhance retention and transfer
c. Assess performance

72. BACK

73. NEXT

74. 10. Who is the father of “Discovery learning”
a b
c
d

75. BACK

76. Congrats you completed the Quiz