Learning theory

About: Learning theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 15211 publications have been published within this topic receiving 688459 citations.

Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning

Abstract: Many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learned and used. This article argues that this assumption inevitably limits the effectiveness of such practices. Drawing on recent research into cognition as it is manifest in everyday activity, the authors argue that knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used. They discuss how this view of knowledge affects our understanding of learning, and they note that conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school culture on what is learned in school. As an alternative to conventional practices, they propose cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, Brown, & Newman, in press), which honors the situated nature of knowledge. They examine two examples of mathematics instruction that exhibit certain key features of this approach to teaching.

Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning

Abstract: 1. Making Meaning: The Dynamics of Learning. 2. Meaning Perspectives: How We Understand Experience. 3. Intentional Learning: A Process of Problem Solving. 4. Making Meaning Through Reflection. 5. Distorted Assumptions: Uncovering Errors in Learning. 6. Perspective Transformation: How Learning Leads to Change. 7. Fostering Transformative Adult Learning.

Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education.

Abstract: Even a casual reading of the extensive literature on student development in higher education can create confusion and perplexity. One finds not only that the problems being studied are highly diverse but also that investigators who claim to be studying the same problem frequently do not look at the same variables or employ the same methodologies. And even when they are investigating the same variables, different investigators may use completely different terms to describe and discuss these variables. My own interest in articulating a theory of student development is partly practical—I would like to bring some order into the chaos of the literature—and partly self-protective. I and increasingly bewildered by the muddle of f indings that have emerged from my own research in student development, research that I have been engaged in for more than 20 years. The theory of student involvement that I describe in this article appeals to me for several reasons. First, it is simple: I have not needed to draw a maze consisting of dozens of boxes interconnected by two-headed arrows to explain the basic elements of the theory to others. Second, the theory can explain most of the empirical knowledge about environmental influences on student development that researchers have gained over the years. Third, it is capable of embracing principles from such widely divergent sources as psychoanalysis and classical learning theory. Finally, this theory of student involvement can be used both by researchers to guide their investigation of student development—and by college administrators and

An overview of statistical learning theory

Abstract: Statistical learning theory was introduced in the late 1960's. Until the 1990's it was a purely theoretical analysis of the problem of function estimation from a given collection of data. In the middle of the 1990's new types of learning algorithms (called support vector machines) based on the developed theory were proposed. This made statistical learning theory not only a tool for the theoretical analysis but also a tool for creating practical algorithms for estimating multidimensional functions. This article presents a very general overview of statistical learning theory including both theoretical and algorithmic aspects of the theory. The goal of this overview is to demonstrate how the abstract learning theory established conditions for generalization which are more general than those discussed in classical statistical paradigms and how the understanding of these conditions inspired new algorithmic approaches to function estimation problems.

Beginning to read : thinking and learning about print

Abstract: "Beginning to Read reconciles the debate that has divided theorists for decades over what is the "right" way to help children learn to read Drawing on a rich array of research on the nature and development of reading proficiency, Marilyn Adams shows educators that they need not remain trapped in the phonics versus teaching-formeaning dilemma and offers instructional alternatives She proposes that phonies can work together with the "whole language" approach to teaching reading and provides an integrated treatment of the knowledge and processes involved in skillful reading, the issues surrounding their acquisition, and the implications for reading instruction Broad in scope and clearly written, "Beginning to Read provides fresh insights into the relationship between thinking and learning Developing the new connectionist theory as it relates to reading and its acquisition, Adams underscores the automatic nature of print perception in skillful readers while contrasting it with the attentive thought required for conceptual learning and understanding Adams reviews the history of debate over approaches to reading instruction as well as the research on their effectiveness, She consistently integrates instructional concerns with meticulous attention to research and theory from education, developmental and cognitive psychology, and linguistics Throughout, she emphasizes the interdependence of meaning appreciation and orthographic facility in both fluent reading and its acquisition Relevant learning theory is presented along with discussion of the roles of experience, practice, direct instruction, rules, thinking and understanding Adams stresses the importance of preschool language andliteracy experiences and includes descriptions of those that will best prepare children for reading instruction Marilyn Jager Adams is a Senior Scientist at Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc She was Principal Author and Curriculum Coordinator/Editor for the five volume classroom instruction series, "Odyssey: A Curriculum for Thinking Beginning to Read was developed in conjunction with the Reading Research and Education Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Learning, Development, and Conceptual Change series