Learning Theory

Humanistic 

What is humanistic learning theory in education?

The idea of student-centered learning is an example of the humanistic learning theory in action. 

The humanistic theory in education.

This theory and approach in education takes root in humanistic psychology, with the key concepts focusing on the idea that children are good at the core and that education should focus on rational ways to teach the “whole” child. This theory states that the student is the authority on how they learn, and that all of their needs should be met in order for them to learn well. For example, a student who is hungry won’t have as much attention to give to learning. So schools offer meals to students so that need is met, and they can focus on education. The humanistic theory approach engages social skills, feelings, intellect, artistic skills, practical skills, and more as part of their education. Self-esteem, goals, and full autonomy are key learning elements in the humanistic learning theory. 

The humanistic learning theory was developed by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and James F. T. Bugental in the early 1900’s. Humanism was a response to the common educational theories at the time, which were behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Abraham Maslow is considered the father of the movement, with Carl Rogers and James F.T. Bugental adding to the psychology later down the line.

Maslow and the humanists believed that behaviorism and other psychology theories had a negative perception of learners—for example operant conditioning in behaviorism psychology suggested that students only acted in a good or bad manner because of the reward or punishment and could be trained based on that desire for a reward. Maslow and humanistic psychology suggests that students are inherently good and will make good decisions when all their needs are met. Humanistic psychology focuses on the idea that learners bring out the best in themselves, and that humans are driven by their feelings more than rewards and punishments. Maslow believed this and wrote many articles to try and demonstrate it.

The role of teacher and student in humanistic learning theory.

• Teach learning skills.
• Provide motivation for classroom tasks. 
• Provide choices to students in task/subject selection. 
• Create opportunities for group work with peers.

Best practices from humanistic theory to bring to your classroom.

• Making time to collaborate with other educators
• Co-planning lessons with other teachers
• Evaluating student needs and wants regularly
• Connecting with parents to help meet specific student needs
• Preparing to try new things with students regularly

HUMANISTIC LEARNING THEORY by Andrew Johnson

Trying to understand human beings or physical reality using only experimental research is like trying to make sense of the world by looking at it through a cardboard tube with one eye closed.

Human learning theory is concerned with personal growth and includes attention to students’ affective dimensions such self-concept, values, and emotions. However, human education isn’t an either/or situation in regards to academic learning and personal growth. One doesn’t take away from the other; rather, they both serve to enhance the other. Human education enhances learning by making personal connections to students’ lives, emotions, and experiences. Thus, students learn more and learn more deeply.

Students can learn in the traditional sense of acquiring a designated body of knowledge and a set of skills, and at the same time, they can begin to understand themselves and others and learn what it means to be a human being living on the good planet earth as they engage in the process of making personal connections to subject matter and other human beings.

[Humanistic learning theory rallies against the modern idea where…] Teaching the curriculum becomes more important than teaching the child.

On the traditional educational conveyer belt teachers are thought of as mere factory workers. They’re told what to teach, how to teach, and when to teach it.

pg 5 The Basics of Human Learning Theory

… human learning theory is concerned with personal growth and the full development of each human’s potential not on just an intellectual level, but also on an emotional, psychological, creative, social, physical, and even spiritual level (DeCarvalho, 1991; Maslow, 1971; Morris, 1978; Rogers, 1969; Patterson, 1973). The goal of education, from this point of view, is not to simply put a uniform body of knowledge in students’ heads; or to transmit “traditional”, nationalist, or religious values; or to train students to keep the economy running strongly; or to create another generation of termite-like consumers of material goods. Instead, the goal is to facilitate the development of knowledgeable human beings who know and are able to nurture themselves, other humans, and their environments; to instill a joy of learning; to promote the discovery of each student’s passions and special talents; and to teach the knowledge and skills necessary for students to be good decision makers.

When students learn naturally, they learn more, they learn joyously, and they learn more deeply. However, when students are coerced into learning through external motivation they learn less and they learn to not like learning.

As an illustrative example, let me ask you this: How do young children learn to talk?
Well for starters, they aren’t asked to work in ability groups. They don’t have to do hours of drill and practice or practice meaningless sounds before they’re allowed to talk. They’re not asked to talk about things that aren’t important to them or a part of their lives or experiences. They’re not asked to experience failure. Instead, children learn to speak because, as Norm Chomsky says, they’re naturally hard wired to learn the language (Chomsky, 1965). They also learn to speak because:

• they’re immersed in actual, real-life speaking experiences.
• they’re encouraged to talk about things that make sense and are of interest to them.
• they use language for real life purposes.
• we encourage and expect them to learn differently and at different rates.
• we respond to them instead of correct them.
• we encourage their attempts and successful approximations.
• we encourage their creativity and humor.
• language is involved in social interactions.

Quite simply put then, human learning theory would apply these same characteristics to classroom learning in K-12 learning situations (and perhaps higher education as well), to the greatest extent possible.

pg 6

The Goal and Supporting Principles of Human Education

The goal of human education is to develop fully functioning, self-actualized human beings who have the capacity to nurture themselves, others, and their environment; who are responsible world citizens able to contribute to democratic societies, and who are life-long learners.

The following supporting principles of human education can help in achieving this goal:

1. Students’ learning should be as self-directed as possible.
2. The subject matter to be learned should be relevant to the personal interests of the students.
3. The full spectrum of the human experience should be included in the educational experience.
   Human educators want to create the conditions where human beings can learn to use their knowledge as well as intellect, emotions, and intuition to solve problem, make decisions, or come to know the world.
4. Schools should produce students who want to learn and know how to learn.
   Part of our jobs is to teach students how to learn. That is, how to get the necessary information they need, how to critically analyze and evaluate that information, and how to use and apply it.
5. . Students learn best in a non-threatening environment.

Pg 8

Authentic Human Learning Experiences

The human teacher recognizes that learning is most powerful when it employs authentic human learning experiences (AHLE); those that addresses all dimensions of oneself.

1. They are open ended.
2. They are meaningful.
3. They connect with students’ lives.
4. They promote a greater understanding of self.
5. They promote a greater understanding of others.
6. . They allow students share their ideas with others
7. They recognize multiple ways to demonstrate knowing.

pg 10

Summary of Key Ideas

• According to humanistic learning theory, education should focus on human development and personal growth.
• According to humanistic learning theory, humans have a natural tendency to learn, grow, and develop fully.
• Education works best when it is aligned with humans’ natural tendencies.
• Humanistic learning theory is much from humanism or secular humanism.
• Activities related to humanistic learning, when correctly implemented, compliment and enhance all forms academic learning.

Social Learning Theory

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/guide-social-learning-theory-education2005.html

…the idea that children learn from observing others.

There are four elements to social learning theory including:

• Attention. Children can’t learn if they aren’t focused on the task. Students who see something unique or different are more likely to focus on it, helping them to learn.
• Retention. People learn by internalizing information. We can then recall that information later when we want to respond to a situation in the same way which we saw. In order to learn from what we see, we have to retain that information.
• Reproduction. We reproduce our previously learned behavior or knowledge when it’s required. Practicing our response in our head or in actions can improve the way we respond.
• Motivation. Motivation is required in order to do anything. Usually our motivation comes from seeing someone else be rewarded or punished for something they have done. This can motivate us to do or not do that same thing.

History of social learning theory.

Albert Bandura is considered the father of social learning theory. In the 1960’s he conducted a now-famous experiment called the Bobo doll experiment that led to his official writings on the social learning theory in 1977.

The Bobo doll experiment was a group of tests performed from 1961-1963. The experiments involved studying children’s behavior after they watched an adult act aggressively toward a doll-like toy with a low center of mass that rocked back after being knocked down. The most important element of the experiment was seeing how children behaved after seeing the adult get rewarded, punished, or no consequence for physically abusing the Bobo doll. These experiments helped show how children can be influenced by learning from the behavior of others. Albert Bandura’s insights focus on behavioral development of students

Lev Vygotsky is also known for his work on understanding how children learn from their peers, but his work is more focused on cognitive and language development. Lev Vygotsky focuses on the difference between what a child knows and what they want to know, the zone of proximal development. He focuses on how seeing other adults and peers helps children be able to overcome that zone of proximal development.

Social learning theory vs. social cognitive theory.

Albert Bandura is known as being the creator of both of these learning theories. Social cognitive theory is a more specific and detailed element of the social learning theory, and is connected to the cognitive theory of learning. It takes the idea that people learn from other people, and adds their personal or cognitive factors, the behavior itself, and the environment as combination factors for determining learning and behavior. 

In social cognitive theory, Bandura broadens the theory by saying that humans aren’t just shaped by their environment and inner forces, but they also shape their environment and inner force. Self-efficacy is an even more crucial area of social cognitive theory. 

Social learning theory is the more broad approach to the idea that humans and children learn from observing others.

Social Learning in the classroom

The flipped classroom model. A flipped classroom model involves changing the way students would traditionally learn. Instead of a teacher lecturing during the school day, students watch an instructional video or reading material at home. Then in class, they apply what they learned through activities or assignments that might have been homework. Teachers act as guides and coaches, helping them continue their learning.

Gamification and simulations. Gamification and simulations help teachers turn their classroom into a more interactive experience. It takes assignments and activities and put them into a game.

Peer coaching. Peer coaching is a great way to help students learn from each other. … This can work well for math learning, paper writing and editing, and more. To institute peer coaching, carefully observe students first to see who would be a good fit to make the experience a success.

Behavioral Learning Theory

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-behavioral-learning-theory2005.html

Behaviorism or the behavioral learning theory is a popular concept that focuses on how students learn. Behaviorism focuses on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment. This learning theory states that behaviors are learned from the environment, and says that innate or inherited factors have very little influence on behavior.

A common example of behaviorism is positive reinforcement. A student gets a small treat if they get 100% on their spelling test. In the future, students work hard and study for their test in order to get the reward. 

Behaviorism started as a reaction against introspective psychology in the 19th century, which relied heavily on first-person accounts. J.B. Watson and B.F. Skinner rejected introspective methods as being subjective and unquantifiable. 

Pavlov’s Dogs is a popular behaviorism experiment.

The stimulus-response sequence is a key element of understanding behaviorism. A stimulus is given, for example a bell rings, and the response is what happens next, a dog salivates or a pellet of food is given. Behavioral learning theory argues that even complex actions can be broken down into the stimulus-response. 

Behaviorism learning theory.

In the classroom, the behavioral learning theory is key in understanding how to motivate and help students. Information is transferred from teachers to learners from a response to the right stimulus. Students are a passive participant in behavioral learning—teachers are giving them the information as an element of stimulus-response. Teachers use behaviorism to show students how they should react and respond to certain stimuli. This needs to be done in a repetitive way, to regularly remind students what behavior a teacher is looking for. 

Positive reinforcement is key in the behavioral learning theory. 

Motivation plays an important role in behavioral learning. Positive and negative reinforcement can be motivators for students. 

The behavioral learning theory and the social learning theory stem from similar ideas. 

Behaviorist teaching strategies.

Teachers can implement behavioral learning strategy techniques in their classroom in many ways, including:

• Drills. Teachers may practice skills using drill patterns to help students see the repetition and reinforcement that behavioral learning theory uses.
• Question and answer. Teachers can use a question as a stimulus and answer as a response, gradually getting harder with questions to help students.
• Guided practice. Teachers can be directly involved in helping students go through problems to give them the reinforcement and behavior demonstration you want them to follow.
• Regular review. Reviews are important to behavioral learning theory. Going back over material and giving positive reinforcement will help students retain information much better.
• Positive reinforcement. Behaviorist classrooms utilize positive reinforcement regularly. This can be in the form of verbal reinforcement and praise, reward systems, added privileges, and more. 

Behaviorism criticisms.

…Behaviorism is best for certain learning outcomes, like foreign languages and math, but aren’t as effective for analytical and comprehensive learning. 

Transformative Learning Theory

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-transformative-learning-theory2007.html

Transformative learning is one theory of learning, and particularly focuses on adult education and young adult learning. Transformative learning is sometimes called transformation learning, and focuses on the idea that learners can adjust their thinking based on new information. Jack Mezirow is known as the founder of transformative learning. Jack Mezirow began this theory of transformational learning when he did studies on adult women who went back to school. Mezirow’s initial research led him to theorize that adults don’t apply their old understanding to new situations, instead they find they need to look at new perspectives in order to get a new understanding of things as they change. Mezirow theorized that students had important teaching and learning opportunities connected to their past experiences. Mezirow found that critical reflection and critical review could lead to a transformation of their understanding. Adult education and adult learning is key in this theory, as children often don’t have the same kind of transformation with their learning experiences. Mezirow found that adult learning involves taking the very things we believed and thought as a child, and letting critical reflection and teaching impact the transformation to what we should believe and understand now. Mezirow’s theory has developed into a larger idea that our world view is changed the more we learn, and that helps us grasp new concepts and ideas. 

…Put in simple terms, transformative learning is the idea that learners who are getting new information are also evaluating their past ideas and understanding, and are shifting their very worldview as they obtain new information and through critical reflection. It goes beyond simply acquiring knowledge, and dives into the way that learners find meaning in their lives and understanding. 

Experiential Learning Theory

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/experiential-learning-theory2006.html

Learning by doing. This is the basis for the experiential learning theory. Experiential learning focuses on the idea that the best ways to learn things is by actually having experiences. Those experiences then stick out in your mind and help you retain information and remember facts. 

For teachers, creating opportunities for students to have experiences based on the things they are learning about is key. Teachers can help create environments where students can learn and have experiences at the same time. 

Kolb’s experiential learning theory

David Kolb is best known for his work on the experiential learning theory or ELT. Kolb published this model in 1984, getting his influence from other great theorists including John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget. The experiential learning theory works in four stages:

• Concrete learning is when a learner gets a new experience, or interprets a past experience in a new way. 
• Reflective observation comes next, where the learner reflects on their experience personally. They use the lens of their experience and understanding to reflect on what this experience means.
• Abstract conceptualization happens as the learner forms new ideas or adjusts their thinking based on the experience and their reflection about it.
• Active experimentation is where the learner applies the new ideas to the world around them, to see if there are any modifications to be made. This process can happen over a short period of time, or over a long span of time. 

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle model.

The experiential learning cycle rests on the idea that each person has a specific type of learning tendencies, and they are thus dominant in certain stages of experiential learning.

• Diverging
• Assimilating
• Converging
• Accommodating

Constructivism Learning Theory

Constructivist classrooms focus on student questions and interests, they build on what students already know, they focus on interactive learning and are student-centered, teachers have a dialogue with students to help them construct their own knowledge, they root in negotiation, and students work primarily in groups

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-constructivism2005.html#close

Principles of constructivism:

• Knowledge is constructed.
• People learn to learn, as they learn.
• Learning is an active process.
• Learning is a social activity.
• Learning is contextual.
• Knowledge is personal.
• Learning exists in the mind. 
• Motivation is key to learning. 

Types of constructivism:

• Cognitive
• Social
• Radical

Constructivist classrooms rely on four key areas to be successful:

• Shared knowledge between teachers and students.
• Shared authority between teachers and students.
• Teachers act as a guide or facilitator.
• Learning groups consist of small numbers of students.

Disadvantages of constructivist methods.

The biggest criticism of constructivist learning is its lack of structure. Some students need highly structured and organized learning environments to thrive, and constructivist learning focuses on a more laid-back method to help students engage in their own learning.