Lesson 2: Learning Theories and their Impact to EPP Teaching

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. explain and be guided by the different learning theories needed in teaching EPP.

Let’s Begin!

Are you ready to share your knowledge? Here we go…

ACTIVITY #1

Think of a teacher that’s most unforgettable to you in elementary or high school days. Are
there things that when you encounter at present (see, hear, touch, smell) make you “go back to the
past” and recall this teacher? What are these things?

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Let’s Discuss (Weeks 1-2)

Introduction:
Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge
during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior
experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed
and knowledge and skills retained.

Learning design should be based on learning theories because:

 Theories provide a basis to understand how people learn and a way to explain,
describe, analyze and predict learning. In that sense, a theory helps us make more
informed decisions around the design, development and delivery of learning.

 There are different learning theories (behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism,

connectivism, etc.). These theorists have thought deeply about learning and
contemplated and researched it extensively. Learning designers can leverage this
knowledge to think critically about learning and education.

 Learning theories offer frameworks that help understand how information is used,
how knowledge is created and how learning takes place. Learning designers can
apply these frameworks according to different learning and learner needs and make
more informed decisions about choosing the right instructional practices.

There is no one ‘best’ learning theory because:

 Each theory offers a different way to look at learning and the essential ingredients
that make learning happen. Using these theories as lenses, learning designers can
understand and describe the role of the learner, role of the
instructor/teacher/facilitator and how learning happens in different ways. Each
theory has influenced and shaped instructional practices and methods and all new
theories will continue to do so.

 Different theories provide the context of learning, underlying motivation and

methods of teaching and these have implications for designing and delivering
instruction. Also, different theories are best suited to different learning outcomes and
different audience profiles.

 Since each theory comprises of facts and assumptions, learning designers must
begin the design of training by first identifying the goal of training and then select the
right theoretical framework that can help achieve those learning outcomes.

LEARNING THEORIES
1. BEHAVIORISM - Behaviorism is a worldview that assumes a learner is essentially
passive, responding to environmental stimuli. The learner starts off as a clean slate
(i.e. tabularasa) and behavior is shaped through positive reinforcement or negative
reinforcement. Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement increase the
probability that the antecedent behavior will happen again. In contrast, punishment
(both positive and negative) decreases the likelihood that the antecedent behavior
will happen again. Positive indicates the application of a stimulus; Negative
indicates the withholding of a stimulus. Learning is therefore defined as a change in
behavior in the learner.
 The theory of behaviorism focuses on the study of observable and measurable
behavior. It emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning and
reinforcement (rewards and punishment). It does not give much attention to the mind
and the possibility of thought processes occurring in the mind. Contributions in the
development of the behaviorist theory largely came from Ivan Petrovich Pavlov,
Edward Lee Thorndike and Burrhus Frederic Skinner.

Advance Organizer
Behaviorism

Classical Conditioning Connectionism

(Pavlov) Operant Conditioning
(Thorndike)
(Skinner)

Primary Laws
Reinforcement
Law of Effect
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
Law of Exercise
Shaping of
 Ivan Pavlov, a Russian Behavior
Law ofisReadiness
physiologist, well known for his
work in classical conditioning or
stimulus substitution. Pavlov’s
most renowned experiment involved meat, a dog and a bell.
Initially, Pavlov was measuring the dog’s salivation in order to
study digestion. This is when he stumbled upon classical
conditioning.

 Pavlov’s Experiment. Before conditioning, ringing the bell

(neutral stimulus) caused no response from the dog. Placing
food (unconditioned stimulus) in front of the dog initiated
salivation (unconditional response). During conditioning, the bell
was rung a few seconds before the dog was presented with
food. After conditioning, the ringing of the bell (Conditioned
stimulus) alone produced salivation (conditioned response).
This is classical conditioning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Stage 1 – Before
conditioning
Bell No response
(Neutral stimulus)

Step 2 – During
conditioning

Bell
(Neutral stimulus
 Meat (Unconditioned Salivation (Unconditioned
stimulus) response)

Stage 3 – After
conditioning
Salivation
Bell (Conditioned
(Conditioned response)
Stimulus)

Somehow you were conditioned to associate particular objects with your teacher.
So at present, when you encounter the objects, you are also reminded of your teacher.
This is an example of classical conditioning.

Pavlov also had the following findings:

 Stimulus Generalization. Once the dog has learned to salivate at the

sound of the bell, it will salivate at other similar sounds.

 Extinction. If you stop pairing the bell with the food, salivation will
eventually cease in response to the bell.

 Spontaneous Recovery. Extinguished responses can be “recovered”

after an elapsed time, but will soon extinguish again if the dog is not
presented with food.

 Discrimination. The dog could learn to discriminate between similar bells

(stimuli) and discern which bell would result in the presentation of food
and which would not.

 Higher-Order Conditioning. Once the dog has been conditioned to

associate the bell with food, another unconditioned stimulus, such as a
light may be flashed at the same time that the bell is rung. Eventually, the
dog will salivate at the flash of the light without the sound of the bell.
Edward Lee Thorndike

Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism theory gave us

the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology. More than
a hundred years ago he wrote a textbook entitled, Educational
Psychology. He was the first one to use this term. He explained
that learning is the result if associations forming between stimuli
(S) and responses (R). Such associations or “habits” become
strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-
R pairings. The model for S-R theory was trial and error learning
in which certain responses came to be repeated more than
others because of rewards. The main principle of Connectionism
(like all behavioral theory) was that learning could be adequately
explained without considering any unobservable internal states.

Thorndike’s theory on connectionism, states that learning has taken place when a
strong connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed. He came up
with three primary laws:

 Law of Effect. The law of effect states that a connection between a stimulus and
response is strengthened when the consequence to positive (reward) and the
connection between the stimulus and the response is weakened when the
consequence is negative. Thorndike response is weakened when the
consequence is negative. Thorndike later on, revised this “law” when he found
that negative rewards (punishment) do not necessarily weaken bonds, and that
some seemingly pleasurable consequences do not necessarily motivate
performance.

 Law of Exercise. This tells us that the more an S-R (stimulus-response) bond is
practiced the stronger it will become. “Practice makes perfect” seem to be
associated with this. However, like the law of effect, the law of exercise also had
to be revised when Thorndike found that practice without feedback does not
necessarily enhance performance.

 Law of Readiness. This states that the more readiness the learner has to
respond to the stimulus, the stronger will be the bond between them. When a
person is ready to respond to a stimulus and is not made to respond, it becomes
annoying to the person. For example, if the teacher says, “Okay we will now
watch the movie (stimulus) you’ve been waiting for.” And suddenly the power
goes off. The students will feel frustrated because they were ready to respond to
the stimulus but was prevented from doing so. Likewise, if the person is not at all
ready to respond to stimuli and is asked to respond, that also becomes annoying.
For instance, the teacher calls a student to stand up and recite, and then the
teacher asks the question and expects the student to respond right away when
he is still not ready. This will be annoying to the student. That is why teachers
should remember to say the question first, and wait for a few seconds before
calling on anyone to answer.

Principles Derived from Thorndike’s Connectionism:

1. Learning requires both practice and rewards (law of effect/exercise).

2. A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same
action sequence (law of readiness).
3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
4. Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.
John Watson

John B. Watson was the first American psychologist to work with

Pavlov’s ideas. He too was initially involved in animal studies, then
later became involved in human behavior research. He considered
that humans are born with a few reflexes and the emotional
reactions of love and rage. All other behavior is learned through
stimulus-response associations through conditioning. He believed
in the power of conditioning so much that he said that if he is given
a dozen healthy infants he can make them into anything you want
them to be, basically through making stimulus- response
connections through conditioning.

Experiment on Albert

Watson applied classical conditioning in his experiment concerning Albert, a young

child and a white rat. In the beginning, Albert was not afraid of the rat; but Watson made a
sudden noise each time Albert touched the rat. Because Albert was frightened by the loud
noise, he soon became conditioned to fear and avoid the rat. Later, the child’s response
was generalized to other small animals. Now, he was also afraid of small animals. Watson
then “extinguished” or made the child “unlearn” fear by showing the rat without the loud
noise.

Surely, Watson’s research methods would be questioned today, nevertheless, his

work did clearly show the role of conditioning in the development of emotional responses to
certain stimuli. This may help us understand the fears, phobias, and prejudices that people
develop.

Burrhus Frederick Skinner

Like Pavlov, and Thorndike, Skinner believed in the stimulus-
response pattern of conditioned behavior. His theory zeroed in only on
changes in observable behavior, excluding any likelihood of any
processes taking place in the mind. Skinner’s 1948 book, Walden Two,
is about a utopian society based in operant conditioning. He also wrote,
Science and Human Behavior, (1953) in which he pointed out how the
principles of operant conditioning function in social institutions such as
government, law, religion, economics and education.

Skinner’s work differs from that of the three behaviorists before him in that he studied
operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used in operating on the environment). Thus, his
theory came to be known as Operant Conditioning.

Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in
overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events
(stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as
defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-
Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond.

Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner’s S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything

that strengthens the desired response. There is a positive reinforcer and a negative
reinforcer.
 A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that is given or added to increase the
response. An example of positive reinforcement is when a teacher promises extra time in
the play area to children who behave well during the lesson. Another is a mother who
promises a new cellphone for her son who gets good grades. Still, other examples include
verbal phrases, star stamps, and stickers.

A negative reinforce is any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a

response when it is withdrawn or removed. A negative reinforce is not a punishment, in fact
it is a reward. For instance, a teacher announces that a student who gets an average grade
of 1.5 for the two grading periods will no longer take the final examination, the negative
reinforce is “removing” the final exam, which we realize is a form of reward for working hard
and getting an average grade of 1.5.

A negative reinforce is different from a punishment because a punishment is a

consequence intended to result in reduced responses. An example would be a student who
always comes late is not allowed to join a group work that has already began (punishment)
and therefore, loses points for that activity. The punishment was done to reduce the
response of repeatedly coming to class late.

Skinner also looked into extinction or non-reinforcement: Responses that are not
reinforced are not likely to be repeated. For example, ignoring a student’s misbehavior may
extinguish that behavior.

Shaping of Behavior. An animal on a cage may take a very long time to figure out
that pressing a lever will produce food. To accomplish such behavior, successive
approximations of the behavior are rewarded until the animal learns the association
between the lever and the food reward. To begin shaping, the animal may be rewarded for
simply turning in the direction of the lever, then for moving toward the lever, for brushing
against the lever, and finally for pressing the lever.

Behavioral chaining comes about when a series of steps are needed to be learned.
The animal would master each step in sequence until the entire sequence is learned. This
can be applied to a child being taught to tie a shoelace. The child can be given
reinforcement (rewards) until the entire process of tying the shoelace is learned.

Reinforcement Schedules. Once the desired behavioral response is accomplished,

reinforcement does not have to be 100%; in fact, it can be maintained more successfully
through what Skinner referred to as partial reinforcement schedules. Partial reinforcement
schedules include interval schedules and ratio schedules.

Fixed Interval Schedules. The target response is reinforced after a fixed amount of
time has passed since the last reinforcement. Example, the bird in a cage is given food
(reinforce) every 10 minutes, regardless of how many times it presses the bar.

Variable Interval Schedules. This is similar to fixed interval schedules but the
amount of time that must pass between reinforcement varies. Example, the bird may receive
food (reinforce) different intervals, not every ten minutes.

Fixed Ratio Schedules. A fixed number of correct responses must occur before
reinforcement may recur. Example, the bird will be given food (reinforce) everytime it
presses the bar 5 times.

Variable Ratio Schedules. The number of correct repetitions of the correct response
for reinforcement varies, example, the bird is given food (reinforcer) after it presses the bar
3 times, then after 10 times, then after 4 times. So the bird will not be able to predict how
many times it needs to press the bar before it gets food again.
 Variable interval and especially, variable ratio schedules produce steadier and
more persistent rates of response because the learners cannot predict when the
reinforcement will come although they know that they will eventually succeed. An example
of this is why people continue to buy lotto tickets even when an almost negligible
percentage of people actually win. While it is true that very rarely there is a big winner, but
once in a while somebody hits the jackpot (reinforcement). People cannot predict when the
jackpot can be gotten (variable interval) so they continue to buy tickets (repetition of
response).

Implication of Operant Conditioning. These implications are given for programmed

instruction.

1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus) – answer (response) frames
which expose the student to the subject in gradual steps.

2. Require that the learner makes a response for every frame and receives immediate
feedback.

3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and
hence, a positive reinforcement.

4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers
such as verbal praise, prizes and good grades.

Principles Derived from Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is

particularly effective.

2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be

reinforced (“shaping”).

3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”)

producing secondary conditioning.

Neo Behaviorism: Tolman and Bandura

With new researchers, explanations provided by the basic principles of behaviorism

appeared not to satisfy all learning scenarios. New theories came into view which maintained
some of the behaviorist concepts but excluded others, and added new ideas which later
came to be associated with the cognitive views of learning. The neo-behaviorists, then, were
a transitional group, bridging the gap between behaviorism and cognitive theories of learning.

Advance Organizer
Neo Behaviorism
 Tolman’s Purposive Bandura Social-
Learning Theory
Behaviorism

Principles
Goal-Directedness

Modeling
Cognitive Maps

Four Conditions for

Effective Modeling
Latent Learning

Intervening Variables

Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism

Purposive behaviorism has also been referred to as Sign Learning Theory and
is often seen as the link between behaviorism and cognitive theory. Tolman’s theory
was founded on two psychological views: those of the Gestalt psychologists and those
of John Watson, the behaviorist.

Tolman believed that learning is a cognitive process. Learning involves forming

believes and obtaining knowledge about the environment and then revealing that
knowledge through purposeful and goal-directed behavior.

Tolman stated in his sign theory that an organism learns by pursuing signs to a
goal. i.e., learning is acquired through meaningful behavior. He stressed the organized
 aspect of learning: “The stimuli which are allowed in are not connected by just simple
one-to-one switches to the outgoing responses. Rather the incoming impulses are
usually worked over and elaborated in the central control room into a tentative cognitive-
like map of the environment. And it is this tentative map, indicating routes and paths and
environmental relationships, which finally determines what responses, if any, the animal
will finally make.”

Tolman’s form of behaviorism stressed the relationships between stimuli rather

than stimulus- response. Tolman said that the new stimulus (the sign) becomes
associated with already meaningful stimulus (the significate) through a series of
pairings; there is no need for reinforcement in order to establish learning.

Tolman’s Key Concepts

 Learning is always purposive and goal-directed. Tolman asserted that

learning is always purposive and goal-directed. He held the notion that an
organism acted or responded for some adaptive purpose. He believed individuals
do more than merely responded to stimuli; they act on beliefs, attitudes, changing
conditions, and they strive toward goals. Tolman saw behavior as holistic,
purposive and cognitive.

 Cognitive Maps in rats. In his most famous experiment, one group of rats was
placed at random starting locations in a maze but the food was always in the
same location. Another group of rats had the food placed in different locations
which always required exactly the same pattern of turns from their starting
location. The group that had the food in the same location performed much better
than the group, supposedly demonstrating that they had learned the location
rather than a specific sequence of turns. This is tendency to “learn location”
signified that rats somehow formed cognitive maps that help them perform well
on the maze. He also found out that organisms will select the shortest or
easiest path to achieve a goal.

Applied in human learning, since student passes by the same route going to school
every day, he acquires a cognitive map of the location of his school. So when the
transportation re-routing is done, he can still figure out what turns to make to get to school
the shortest or easiest way.

Latent Learning is a kind of learning that remains or stays with the individual until
needed. It is learning that is not outwardly manifested at once. According to Tolman it can
exist even without reinforcement. He demonstrated this in his rat experiments wherein rats
apparently “learned the maze” by forming cognitive maps of the maze, but manifested this
knowledge of the maze only when they needed to.

Applied in human learning, a two-year old always sees her dad operate the t.v.
remote control and observes how the t.v. is turned on or how channel is changed, and
volume adjusted. After sometime, the parents are surprised that on the first time that their
daughter holds the remote control, she already knows which buttons to press for what
function. Through latent learning, the child knew the skills beforehand, even though she has
never done them before.

The concept of intervening variable. Intervening variables are variables that are
not readily seen but serve as determinants of behavior. Tolman believed that learning is
mediated or is influenced by expectations, perceptions, representations, needs and other
internal or environmental variables. Example, in his experiments with rats he found out that
hunger was an intervening variable.

Reinforcement not essential for learning. Tolman concluded that reinforcement is

not essential for leaning, although it provides an incentive for performance. In his studies, he
observed that a rat was able to acquire knowledge of the way through a maze, i.e., to
develop a cognitive map, even in the absence of reinforcement.
REMEMBER:
“Entrepreneurship education aids students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to think
outside the box and nurture unconventional talents and skills.”
REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture 
https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/entrepreneurship/theories-ofentrepreneurship/31823
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/books/housing/cha09.htm
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics#:~:text=Electronics%20is%20t he%20study%20of,it
%20to%20do%20useful%20things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalworking
https://www.google.com/search?
q=personal+finance+and+family+resources&oq=personal+finance+and+family+resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance
https://www.researchgate.net/publication_Entrepreneurship_theories_and_Empirical_research_
A_Summary_Review_of_the_Literature