Theories of Learning
Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate/Empty Vessel): Humans are born with no prior knowledge, few inclinations, no thoughts, and few reflexes. All are equal at birth and have the same capacity and experience differentiates us.
Hypothesis Generator: (Personal Intentions/Expectations) Humans choose their experiences and interpret those experiences in relation to their worldly view creating their own hypothesis.
Nativism: Humans are not blank slates; they have built-in constraints and capabilities; built-in neurological tendencies that makes learning things, like language, highly probable.
Constructivism: Through interaction and discovery humans invent rules, discover concepts, and construct knowledge and meaning from experience.
Novice-to-Expert: The novice and expert are compared and then a plan/strategy is devised to make the novice function more like the expert in a specific domain.
Malcolm Knowles (Andragogy): Four assumptions of adult learning: 1) Adults tend to prefer self-direction. They like to figure things out themselves. 2) Adults learn more through experience than they do sitting and listening. 3) Adults have specific learning needs generated by real life events. 4) Adults want to learn what they can immediately apply to their current situation.
Anchored Instruction: Every individual has a unique cognitive structure. Place learning in a meaningful problem-solving context (complex case study) to provide a variety of perspectives. Include all the information needed to solve the problem or case within. Keep it as close to the real world as possible. The goal is not only to solve the problem, but to also think about the thought process involved.
