Cognitivism
Cognitivism
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Knowing is a process; not, a product
BrunerPeople learn better when multimedia messages are designed in ways that are consistent with how the human mind works and with research-based principles
MayerCognotivism explains learning as a process, that begins in the learner's senses, through which information is gathered.
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These visual and auditory inputs pass to his/her working memory, where it is either processed or discarded.
Once categorized, the information moves into long-term memory, where it is stored in knowledge structures (schemas), according to how they are --and will be-- used.
When knowledge is needed, it is retrieved from long-term memory.
According to Sorden (2005), declarative knowledge is "factual knowledge that can be reported or described (...) and it becomes stronger with use". If these cognitive units are activated frequently, he explains, they can eventually become procedural knowledge, which guides how thinking occurs.
This is how knowledge can, then, be used to think (McLeod,2012) ---to make predictions and inventions, acquire and retent new behavior patterns (Bandura, 1977), and "generate new versions of the behavior that go beyond what they have seen or heard, [and that can be tailored] to suit changing circumstances," explains Bandura, A. (2005).
Meaningful learning implies a deep understanding of the material, which includes attending the presented material, retaining relevant information, organizing it into a coherent mental structure, and integrating new concepts with relevant prior knowledge so that the two become more deeply connected, in an elaboration process, Sorden (2005) and Mayer (2004) agree.
Before this can happen, though, mediational processes occur: "People process, weigh, and integrate diverse sources of information concerning their capability, [and their needs] and they regulate their choice behavior and effort expenditure accordingly," as well as the self-rewards to be obtained, Bandura (1977) explains.
However, learning not only requires these internal motivations, but also, external: learners are partially motivated or inhibited by rewards and punishments provided by society and culture. "Consequences serve as an unarticulated way of informing performers what they must do to gain beneficial outcomes and to avoid punishing ones. By observing the differential effects of their own actions, individuals discern which responses are appropriate in which settings and behave accordingly (...) Through the cognitive representation of future outcomes, individuals can generate current motivators of behavior." (Bandura, 1977)
Hence, it can be said that, according to cognitivism, knowledge can be acquired either in a passive, receptive mode, as in behaviorism, or in an active, constructive way, as constructivism argues. Anyways, "the heart of cognitivism deals with how individuals use their brains to 'think' about what they are learning." (Arshavskiy, 2018)
A MENTAL TRAFFIC JAM
The human mind is limited in the amount of information that it can selectively attend to and process (Sorden, 2005) --- so limited, that it is said our working memory (the one that holds information until it is processed and passed to long-term memory) can hold no more than nine chunks of information simultaneously.
Hence, if there is too much data flowing at once or there is not enough time to process it, the mind becomes overloaded and much of that information is lost because never makes it to the long-term memory banks, Pappas (2016) affirms.
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On the contrary, the more practiced a learner becomes at using the knowledge stored, "it is applied at an increasing [and more effortless] rate, which eventually results in more capacity being left over (cognitive load is reduced) to acquire new knowledge while the production is being used," Sorden (2005) explains.
"As learning occurs, increasingly sophisticated schemas are developed and learned procedures are transferred from controlled to automatic processing," (ibid). Hence, an subject matter expert (SME) is just someone who possesses a great quantity of available informative chunks stored in his/her long-term memory, ready to be retrieved and used.
Activities & Assessments
Activities & Assessments
"Interest in the material to be learned is the best stimulus to learning," Smith (2002) states; and lack of attention, on the contrary, makes it more difficult for a learner to grasp the essence of what’s being taught or demonstrated (Arshavskiy, 2018).
For cognitivism, the teacher is only a facilitator of the process. According to Smith (2002), to instruct someone is "to teach him to participate in the process that makes possible the establishment of knowledge." The learning occurs inside the learner's mind. Hence, a good teacher must give students the information they need, but without organizing it, so that students get to discover the relationship between bits of information and create their own schemas by thinking and making a conscious effort to learn, McLeod (2012) and Mayer (2004) suggest.
"Learners are more successful in retaining new content if they consciously think about what’s being taught, as opposed to simply memorizing what they see," Arshavskiy (2018) argues. Therefore --she continues--, curriculums must be presented in a way that learners get to discover some aspects of the content for themselves, so that they can form their own opinions about the concepts laid out by the instructor.
Since cognitivism recognizes that not all learners have the same level of cognitive abilities, nor learn the same way, with a "written-in-stone type curriculum", not every learner would progress at the same pace. For that reason, Arshavskiy (2018) recommends giving the learners the ability to configure their own personalized learning paths, letting them sequence learning content the way they feel best fits their need, skipping past certain lessons, or repeating others multiple times, as many times as needed.
"Students with prior knowledge of a subject tend to process the information at a shallower level if the material presented is not challenging, while students with no prior knowledge of the subject do better when cognitive load is kept low," Sorden (2005) affirms. Hence, it is also recommended to make the content accessible in different formats (video, audio, text, etc). Including optional content for the learners interested in exploring the subject deeper, is another good practice, as well as spacing the learning activities so that learners have time to reflect and assimilate the information (Pappas, 2016).
References12 Principles of Multimedia Learning from the University of HartfordArshavskiy, M. (2018) The Learning Theory Of Cognitive Development In eLearning In eLearning IndustryBandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavior Change In Psychological Review, Vol. 84, No. 2, 191-215Bandura, A. (2005) The evolution of Social Cognitive Theory In K. G. Smith & M.A. Hitt (Eds) Great Minds in Management. Oxford: Oxford University PressCognitive Load Theory In Mind ToolsGuyan, M (2013) 5 Ways To Reduce Cognitive Load In eLearning In eLearning IndustryMayer, R. (2004) Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction In Harvard Initiative for Learning and TeachingMcLeod, S. (2016). Bandura - social learning theory McLeod, S. (2012) Bruner Pappas, C. (2016) 7 Tips To Reduce Cognitive Overload In eLearning In eLearning IndustrySmith, M.K. (2002) Jerome S. Bruner and the process of education In the encyclopedia of informal educationSocial Constructivism in Berkeley Graduate Division's GSI Teaching & Resource CenterSorden, S. (2005) A Cognitive Approach to Instructional Design for Multimedia Learning In Informing Science Journal, Vol 8, Northern Arizona University
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