The document discusses classic and contemporary views of learning. It describes four cases of different types of learning that friends have asked for advice on. It then discusses the variety of learning theories that exist with deep roots, noting that no single approach has all the answers. Some example approaches discussed include Plato's view of learning as recollection, Skinner's behaviorism which sees learning as the environment acting on the learner, and Piaget's constructivism which views learning as an adaptive function. The document also contrasts Plato and Locke's views of learning, noting they shared some assumptions but differed in other ways. It provides an overview of behaviorism and operant and classical conditioning, discussing applications in education and potential limits and ethical issues

1. Theme 2: What is learning?:
Classic & contemporary views
 Imagine the following….friends contact
you and ask you to advise them (after all
you are now becoming a teacher!) on…
 How to give up junk food and lose weight
 How to learn Spanish vocabulary
 How to write and then make a speech in
public (they have seen you do it very well)
 Understand ‘how people see’
 Four cases:
 Different people & different types of learning
 What to do?
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2. Variety of theories with deep
roots
 Many theories (‘folk’ & ‘official’)
 No one approach has all the
answers
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3. Some approaches: learning
as…
 Plato: …“recollection” V Locke: …writing on
a “blank tablet”
 Skinner (Behaviourism): …actions of the
environment on the learner
 Kohler (Gestalt): …patterns & structure of
the mind e.g. ‘Aha’
 Simon (Cognitive Science/AI/IP):…as
“computerlike” phenomenon
 Piaget (Constructivism): ….as an adaptive
function of an organism
 Vygotsky, Dewey (Social constructivism):
…as becoming a member of community of
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4. The learning paradox
& theory of recollection
 “I know Meno what you mean… you
argue a man cannot search…for
what he does not know…for he does
not know what to look for; for if he
knows, he has no need to inquire;
and if not, he cannot; for he does not
know the subject about which he is
to enquire” (Plato, 370BC/1956)
 Recollection: The Myth of Er:
Drinking on the banks of the
Forgetful River (but not too much!)
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5. The “tabula rasa” blank
slate: Feed everything in
 Let us then suppose the mind to be, as
we say, white paper [tabula rasa], void of
all characters without any ideas; how
comes it to be furnished? Whence comes
it by that vast store, which the busy and
boundless fancy of man has painted on it
with an almost endless variety? Whence
has it all the materials of reason and
knowledge? To this I answer, in one
word, from experience: in that all our
knowledge is founded, and from that it
ultimately derives itself. (Locke, 1689, An
Essay on Human Understanding)
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6. Putting the building blocks
in place (Locke’s blank slate)
Bringing out out what the learner
already ‘knows’ (Plato’s recollection)
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7. Plato & Locke shared some
ideas (mistaken assumptions)
 Learner is passive in both
 Plato: learner as spectator on reality
 Locke: an empty cabinet waiting to be
filled
 Experience is something that
happens to a learner
 Locke (YES) Plato (yes)
 BUT Locke’s atomism
 Simple ideas ----> complex ideas?
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8. Behaviourism & schooling
 “Psychology as the behaviourist
views it is a purely objective
experimental branch of natural
science. Introspection forms no
essential part of its method…The
behaviourist, in his efforts to get a
unitary scheme of animal response,
recognizes no dividing line between
man and brute” Watson,
Psychological Review, 1913
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9. Classical
conditioning
READ: pp.19-32, Seifert
& Sutton (2009)
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10. Operant conditioning
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11. Applications in education
 Behaviour modification
 ABA in regular & special
education (e.g. ASDs, EBD)
 To develop & strengthen new
behaviour; To maintain
behaviour, To stop behaviour,
To modify emotional response
 Think about: 1. Cues/triggers,
2. rewards
 Programmed instruction:
Mastery learning
 Break learning into small steps,
easy to hard & ‘shape
behaviour’ up the learning
pyramid
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12. Behaviourism & schools:
Practices, limits & ethics
 Conditioning occurs all the time - both
classical and operant
 Pay attention to cues, rewards &
unintentional reinforcement
 Objections: Limits & ethics
 Conditioning beliefs, attitudes?
 Student awareness, thinking, HOT?
 Should rely on intrinsic rewards rather than
‘punished by rewards’ (see Kohn)
 Does all learning necessitate direct reward or
punishment of the learner?
 The end of ‘free will’ (Skinner’s book Walden
Two, I.e. ABA-based Utopia)
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