Psychology of Learning

How Do We Learn?

Theory of Learning

Learning is the key to unlocking the world around us: everyone’s key is shaped differently because different locks are on everyone’s doors.

We are all born into unique experiences and environments that we cannot choose. This is our lock. Navigating our upbringing and experiences provides us with the way we see the world- how we participate in the creation of the lock is through our growth as individuals, and our experiences that are social, independent, familial, and cultural.

Every lock has a key. These keys give us access to understandings that shape us as individuals. Some aspects of our keys are similar (as are our identities), but every person's key is unique to them. In my theory of learning, every person learns more aligned to a specific theory based on their experiences; however, this can also be their ultimate limitation to learning. This means that there are no right or wrong theories- but ones that align more closely to one individual’s way of thinking than another individuals way of thinking. This is because our locks - the way we are conditioned to view the world - are different. These differences should be celebrated and valued as they shape our collective society for the better. Then, they should be reflected upon and used to continue the learning process. The more keys we have- the more understandings we can unlock together! We will use several interview studies to look at the experiences people choose to share and align them to theories of learning to see how malleable and unique each learner really is. At the very core of who you are is how you learn. This is evident in the lives of the theorists we study and is evident in our lives and the people we are.

JOSH, 26

Joshua is a 26 year old Ph.D student at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Josh was raised in a rural area and was involved in activities like robotics, running, and band. Josh’s parents relied on natural consequences when he was a child and sought to model correct behavior and skills for him. He described that he always had great mentors growing up. Today, Josh still believes that he learns best in environments with good mentors, and has relied on this in his Ph.D program. Josh’s experiences align with the sociocultural and cognitivist theories for learning. We see how Josh’s opportunities emphasize Vygotsky’s idea of the zone of proximal development, in which the learner is being exposed and supported to learn with a more knowledgeable other so they may access more higher level skills and information (Cherry, 2023). When Josh was small, the more knowledgeable others were his parents. Today, he relies on the people in his lab at Rice to help him continue to learn and grow. Josh’s story highlights how the way he learned when he was young led him to continue to learn and identify with the cognitivist theories now. Who he grew up to be impacted how he continues to learn. Josh’s “lock” is his structured upbringing with cognitivist values: access to people who could aid him in learning, structured social learning environments (robotics, band, running), and the ability to reach into the next zone of development to access new skills and knowledge. Josh does not have kids, but his values closely model those of the ones his parents have modeled for him, which shows us how the sociocultural theory is part of the process in Josh’s cognitivist upbringing. Josh’s key to learning continues to be strategies that fall under the cognitivism/constructivism ideas.

NANCY, 51

Nancy is a 51 year old retiree with a husband, two daughters who are married, and one grandchild. Nancy became emancipated at age 13 when her dad died. She describes learning as a culmination of our experiences in authentic contexts, which is related to ideas we find in Jean Lave’s situative perspective (Putnam, 2000). Unlike Josh, Nancy did not have the same access to trustworthy mentors required to learn from a cognitivist perspective. Instead, Nancy describes authentic contexts in which she learned skills that helped her grow and advance in her career. Nancy began working in a hospital very young, where she was taught to practice phlebotomy. She did not go through a formal educational program, or have a formal mentor, but practiced the skill supervised in the authentic context of the hospital she worked in, at first only when necessary or short-staffed. Eventually, she became good enough that she was promoted and she did phlebotomy in various offices until her husband traveled for work in 2008. In the conversation I had with her, she emphasized the importance of practicing what you learn in authentic situations and that “experience is the best teacher.” In Jean Lave’s situative perspective, there is the same emphasis of authentic context for learning that Nancy described- learning while doing. Practicing skills with access to experts (other trained hospital staff) and doing the activity determines the success of the learner (Brown, 1989). This theory aligns with Nancy’s ideas. Through conversing about Nancy’s experiences, we are able to see that Nancy’s “lock” is her experiences in the hospital and her access to authentic learning opportunities. Her key is the situative perspective in which learning occurs in authentic contexts with others alongside you. We see again how Nancy learned from others (closely aligned with the sociocultural theory) however she chose who to authentically learn from and with.

CHAD, 48

Chad is a 48-year-old man who works in the dairy industry. He has had a plethora of experience as a mechanic, guitarist, engineer, and now a work-from-home corporate employee of a foreign company called TetraPak. Chad is the oldest of 3 and worked at the same dairy as his dad for most of his 20s and into his 30s. He moved out at 17 and built a house at 18. He described learning to me in very simple but effective terms: you learn from your mistakes. Chad has had several personal accidents (a fire, and an ATV accident) that have shaped his views on learning. Every action has a consequence, and the consequence helps you learn whether to repeat the action or do something else. Chad’s ideas and his upbringing closely align with what we see in behaviorist theories of operant conditioning. Skinner focused on what is observable about behavior, which is also what Chad zoned in on when describing his ideas about learning (Cherry, 2024). In his very “what you see is what you get” approach, we see that this continues to be the way Chad interacts with the world around him today. He described learning from garage accidents as simple as holding a wrench a certain way, hurting himself, and then altering his behavior to change the outcome. Chad’s lock is his continued observations of the outcomes of his own behavior, and his key is Skinner’s explanation of positive and negative reinforcement (Cherry, 2024). Negative reinforcement is when something unwanted is removed to encourage behavior; positive reinforcement/punishment is when something is added to either increase or decrease wanted or unwanted behavior. Chad’s ideas also focused on the natural consequences of actions and how they shaped his behavior. While Chad is shaped by his behavior, he also thinks deeply about the examples of others and learning from them in his life, good and bad! (social theory of more knowledgeable others who help you learn skills and are a step ahead in the learning process) and emphasizes how that has changed his life and the way he lives it. While Chad is heavily influenced in his life by these negative and positive reinforcements, he like all learners is not just one thing. For Chad, he might notice those moments of behavior and be able to reflect on them, while still gaining knowledge about his own thinking and experiences through this reflective interview. During this interview, I noticed his alignment with several theorists emphasizing that he is still learning how he learns. Learning is a process that continues as long as we live. We will continue to reflect and add more understandings, experiences, and theories to our keys as we continue to gain experiences and reflect.

CARLY, 28

Carly is a 28-year-old preschool dance coordinator and recreational therapist. In her life, she has owned and operated a dance studio, grew up dancing, and describes play as a way of learning. Carly’s experiences in life have led her to believe that learning is a social process that is shared and mirrored, similar to Albert Bandura’s ideas that behaviors are learned and copied through social interactions and observations. Carly described her ideas that learning happens through watching others. In her experiences with dance, modeling the moves and then watching yourself do them and reflecting on them is how you learn to dance. She also mentioned that her recreational therapy experience is similar, you often model behavior you hope to see with your patients- playing games, drawing pictures, and even dancing. These ways Carly teaches others to learn are the very ways she experienced learning growing up in dance: reproducing learned behaviors (Cherry, 2023). Who Carly is has impacted how she learns and even how she continues to teach others to learn. Learning is a product of how we are raised and the experiences we have in the lock and key theory. Carly’s lock is her experiences reproducing behaviors in dance, and her key is the strategies for learning that Bandura highlights in his social cognitive theory of attention, repetition, and reinforcement.

Through these 4 case studies, we can see clear examples of how personal experiences shape the keys, or theories, that might help us learn best. These case studies, while concise, show us that who we are alters how we learn and how we might view learning. These individuals might fit into these theories- and likely a few others as well- but the importance of the lock and key idea is that our experiences alter how we view our own learning. This theory assumes that all theories of learning are sound, and while all have their own shortcomings, can be related to and evidence of how these case study people learn and think about learning today. This can be the case because we all will continue to grow and learn and develop alignments to more of the theories. This will show how we grow as learners and people.

This theory of learning can be simplified even further: how we practice learning is how we often continue learning. This is experiential and generational. It also draws from self-perception of our own learning. If we perceive we are successful in our learning, it is more likely we will continue to teach our children the way we learned. We might also accommodate existing ideas of our learning. If we do not perceive that we were successful in our early learning, we likely will alter our thinking, as in the constructivism theory of learning, to teach our children in a way we would have desired to learn (Cherry, 2023). This theory is dependent on so many others that have come before it- including this social aspect of the theory being situated in how we view others and choose to grow from those relationships. We may view them as more knowledgeable… or not. This means we also choose who we learn from and with.

Overall, the way we learn is a choice that is made by the learner based on their previous learning experience and exposure to different ways of learning. It takes people who believe in all theories to create a productive society that continues to make advancements.

The lock and key theory is no one theory, but a multitude of how existing theories of learning fit into our experiences with learning. How we practice learning can be explained by these existing theories, but it cannot describe the full differences among us. It also highlights a key systemic issue in society: when we are too comfortable in how we learn, we might end up learning less. Learning is intended to stretch us, surprise us, and challenge us. As we grow and become more self-directed in our learning, it is up to us to continue to choose activities and opportunities that might challenge our natural theory alignment. We need to reflect on how and why we learn certain ways to continue the process of learning. As we become more self-directed, this is a skill that continues to grow. Becoming self-aware is part of making sure our key to the lock is as versatile as possible, helping us continue to build a growth mindset. Who knows what doors we could open when we stretch our way of learning past its natural comfort level?

Every person learns uniquely, and no one theory can fit everyone or even every case study. These examples are real multifaceted people. This is one overview of their life and their theory alignment. This is the challenge we continue to address as we study educational psychology. There is no “one size fits all” approach to learning. We must continue to listen, explore, and connect to understand and meet the needs of all learners to push them to their full learning potential through reflection and increased self-direction.

We All Learn Differently!

References

Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.
Cherry, K. (2023, July 6). How Vygotsky defined the Zone of Proximal Development. verywell mind.
Cherry, K. (2023, March 14). How observational learning affects behavior. verywell mind.
Cherry, K. (2024, July 10). What is operant conditioning and how does it work?. verywell mind.
Putnam, R. T., & Borko, H. (2000). What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teacher learning? Educational Researcher, 29(1), 4-15.

Learning in Schools

A Second Grade Classroom

https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/ (Cloke, 2023)

The public education system uses many strategies, ideas, and reinforcers to produce and support learning in schools. Due to large class sizes, diverse backgrounds and languages, and often limited resources, it is important to often dissect these theories that are ingrained in our educational system and review if they are supporting learning in the ways they intend to.

In modern schools, you will find a variety of styles of teaching, vhttps://www.growthengineering.co.uk/ (Cloke, 2023)

astly different strategies between districts for improving student learning, and a multitude of approaches to behavior management and social skill development. While the intent is often to create a space that is collaborative, engaging, and environmentally attuned to learning, by my observations in a K-5 environment the outcomes are often overwhelming for students who lack the rote skills necessary for learning. While the social perspective of learning is important to consider, when it is the sole focus of the classroom many students struggle to keep up. The social theory of learning suggests that learning should nearly always be authentic, collaborative, and communal (Cherry, 2024). Bandura sought to make education more accessible, more culturally attuned, and deeper; he sought to emphasize that learning is all around us. By honoring his work in schools, do we support all of our learner’s needs?

Today in schools you might come across “flexible” furniture. Flexible furniture seeks to make spaces more welcoming, and collaborative overall and is a great example of the social theory in action in our schools as a support for learning. The goal of flexible furniture is closely aligned with the social theories of learning- to control the environment to support collaboration, and problem-solving, and promote reflection and metacognition strategies (ie. why did you choose this spot? Is it helping you learn? How can we solve this problem together of the height of this table that moves up and down?) (Cherry, 2023). The social theory of learning centers on creating opportunities to learn in social situations from others who know more. While I agree that learning happens in social and physical contexts, and those need emphasis when it becomes our sole focus for learners, and we focus too much on the physical environment, our learning in schools suffers. Students are distracted by their environments, and the attention required for learning that is highlighted by the information processing model shows us that learning overall will suffer if attention suffers.

When context, authenticity, and emphasis on collaboration are all we value in schools, our learners do not build all the necessary skills to learn on their own. When learning is constantly controlled for authenticity- how authentic is it? Social theory relies so much on the facilitator, that it leaves out the learner. Some skills we need for learning are rote skills. This does not mean that we should not seek to create welcoming spaces that provide authentic learning experiences for our learners, but it emphasizes the need to attend to how students process information. Enter the information processing theory and model in relation to the social theory of learning. Atkinson's and Shiffron's information processing model emphasizes how what we pay attention to alters how and what we learn. What we see hear and touch (sensory memory) eventually changes how we think and learn (Cloke, 2023). These ideas are important to attend to when we consider learning that is happening in schools.

By utilizing the information processing model and emphasizing it more for learning, students learn tools that they can continue to practice collaboratively. The information processing model helps us understand how the brain learns by taking into consideration how we use our senses to construct meaning. Strategies for information processing such as rhyming, chunking, songs, connecting information to meaning, or including and reviewing prior knowledge, connect to how our brains work (Cloke, 2023). When students learn these skills and the ability to use them situationally, when we blend these two theories together and watch how they work, we see students' learning grow deeper.

In phonics instruction, by blending social theory and information processing strategies such as rhyme, chunking, songs, discussion, collaboration, etc. students are able to find ways to remember difficult literacy concepts such as how long vowels are formed or when to use a “silent e” at the end of a word. Through working together to sort words (practicing distributing knowledge which is a product of the social theory) and also coming up with chants for short vs long vowel words (an information processing technique) we get a more whole picture of learning that can happen in schools. So why are we not doing this all of the time? Both strategies are time-consuming for students and teachers, and highly dependent on student engagement.

Moving forward, we should continue to deconstruct the learning that is happening in our K-5 schools - examples from furniture to phonics - and see what kind of theories the learning is being based on and how we need to shift our thinking. Learning is complex. The intent needs to match the impact. It is my belief that we need to have a balanced representation of theories leading our learning in K-5 schools. As educators, parents, and life-long learners, we need to make sure we are attending to the environment, social interaction, and also cognitive function and processing knowledge when we consider how we want to structure learning in our schools. This requires utilizing more than one theory for learning- we need to use Bandura's social theory in conjunction with information processing knowledge from Atkinson and Shiffron. Learning is complex. The intent needs to match the impact. By utilizing multiple theories in our schools, we can seek to understand and support all learners.

References

Cloke, H. (2023, December 18). What is information processing theory?. Growth Engineering. https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/information-processing-theory/

Cherry, K. (2023, March 14). How observational learning affects behavior. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-observational-learning-2795402

Cherry, K. (2024, July 16). How does observational learning actually work?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/social-learning-theory-2795074

Learning Outside of Schools

Chicago Arboretum

Troy Historical Village School Tablet

Do you remember your first field trip? A hobby or afterschool class you took? A club you were a part of? Learning is not something we only do at school. Learning is all around us. Whether it is a new hobby, recipe, or skill, humans are constantly learning about the world around them and ways to engage with it. Learning outside of school can raise in-school success (Vadeboncoeur, 2006, P. 257). It can also teach us fundamental skills, help us feel fulfilled, and bring us closer to one another. So why are we not going outside of school to learn more often?

The average classroom goes on 2-4 field trips a year, with that number becoming lower over the years (Gustafsson, 2022). Even though research supports learning opportunities outside of school, it is becoming increasingly difficult to take these field trips due to funding, staffing shortages, and behavior/safety concerns. These experiences are crucial for our k-12 children, and even crucial for adults. Why?

Learning that happens outside of school is more motivating for students. Students who learn in afterschool programs, sports, clubs, or even take weekend trips to museums and zoos have a higher success rate than children who don’t. This becomes a problem when we realize that it will continue to impact the achievement gaps between students with families who can afford these trips and activities versus those who cannot. That is why field trips are integral to the educational experiences of all youth. It is why we should continue to fight for funding these trips that align with common core standards. If learning really does happen better outside of the classroom and inside places designed for experience- we need to continue to create these opportunities for our students. By continuing to provide field trips, aid for after school programs and activities, and volunteer opportunities for our students we will continue to chip away at the achievement gap among K-12 students.

The kind of field trips we take matter. When students are outside of school, they are likely to be motivated to learn otherwise challenging or uninteresting topics that might be harder to address in the classroom (Vadeboncoeur, 2006, P. 257). Connections within the community to organizations like zoos, museums, and volunteer organizations can help organize field trips for little to no cost. The Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan is free to attend on Mondays (even to a bus full of 4th grade students). Often these field trip opportunities can be used to extend learning even further upon returning from a field trip. Extension projects can be a way to create more authentic learning opportunities and level the playing field of experiences- drawing from a common experience that happened outside of the classroom can help all learners contribute in the classroom. What if we could draw from experiences all of our students have had with us to enhance learning? What if these projects could be authentic and connected to our communities?

Out of school learning experiences are rich and teach our students how to use the tools around them in the real world. Billboards, plaques, descriptions on exhibits, all help us learn and require us to use and develop school-related skills. Tool manipulation is a key skill that we often stray away from emphasizing in school. Tool manipulation is the ability to use the things around you to learn or solve a problem (Resnick, 1987, p.13). In the real world, using a calculator is not cheating! Field trips have students use school related skills (reading, math) while also using the tools around them to be successful.

It is my belief that learning outside of school is integral to continuing to learn as an adult. If we do not practice finding joy in the learning process, which most often happens outside of the classroom, how will we continue to be motivated to learn? Keep fighting for field trips!

References

Gustafsson-Wright, E. P., Shah, S., & Bhatt, M, J. G. (2022, March 9). Fewer field trips mean some students miss more than a day at the museum. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/fewer-field-trips-mean-some-students-miss-more-than-a-day-at-the-museum/

Resnick, L. B. (1987). Learning in school and out. Educational Researcher, 16(9), 13-20.

Vadeboncoeur, J. A. (2006). Chapter 7: Engaging young people: Learning in informal contexts. Research in Education, 30(1), 239-278.

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