4 Fundamental Principles of Learning
All throughout one’s life people are actively engaged in the process of learning new information or skills whether it be simple or complex. When learning occurs, there is usually an observable change in the behaviour or performance potential and this change is the by-product of the learners’ interaction with their surrounding world (Driscoll, 2005). The process of learning is a complex phenomenon and different learning theories try to explain the process by making a relationship between the observed change in performance and the factors or experiences which are presumed to be the underlying causes of these changes (Driscoll, 2005)
I mainly believe in interpretivism and think that knowledge is constructed by the knower. This belief is consistent with constructivist view of cognition and learning, Piage’s theory of cognitive development, and Bruner and Vygotsky’s interactional theories of cognitive development. Therefore, most of my learning principles are affected by the epistemological assumptions that underlie interpretivism. So what are the four main principles of learning?
Principles
These four principles and conditions of learning include concepts that are identified and supported by different learning theories.
Effective learning occurs when learners:
- Have well-defined goals that focus on skills/ performance rather than knowledge.
- Interact with their peers and instructors (mentors) and receive feedback
- Reflect mindfully on their learning and progress
- Have enough prior knowledge to anchor new ideas to
Principle 1: Effective learning occurs when learners have well-defined goals
This principle embodies the concept of motivation and self-regulation. The relationship between motivation and learning has been extensively investigated by many researchers. For learners to be motivated they need to have self-regulatory skills which are essential for effective learning. Students should be able to take an active and purposeful role in their own learning (Driscoll, 2005). When learners have specific and realistic goals in mind and are aware of the learning outcomes, they feel motivated to complete a task. Setting short term goals and attaining them one at a time enhance the learners’ self-efficacy and encourage them to achieve more.
Self-efficacy has a crucial influence on learning in important way: It affects what activities and in what level of difficulty students choose, how much effort they put on the activities, how persistent they are in face of challenges. Bandura (1997, cited in Driscoll, 2005) believes that having goals can motivate learners to complete the tasks at hand to a great extent and setting proximal goals—short-term goals—is more effective than setting dismal goals—long-term goals. Behaviourists also emphasise the importance of setting behavioural goals and believe that once the desirable behaviour is identified, appropriate reinforcement can be implemented to strengthen or weaken that behaviour.
The idea of setting personal learning goals is an important concept for constructivists too. They believe that students should be responsible for their own learning and should be able to set and pursue personal goals. When they lack the knowledge or skills to achieve their goals in a complex problem situation, the instructor can meddle in and hold the learners in their zone of proximal development by providing just enough guidance to help them succeed.
Principle 2: Effective learning occurs when learners interact with their peers and instructors and receive feedback
Interaction with instructors
Interacting closely with the instructor has a profound impact on the process of learning. From behaviourists’ point of view, the instructor can actively strengthen or weaken a behaviour by presenting appropriate reinforces contingent upon a response. According to meaningful learning theory, instructors should help learners to activate their prior knowledge with a variety of strategies. The concept of apprenticeship in situated cognition also supports the importance of the interaction between the learner and the instructor (master). The master engages the apprentices in the practices by making the resources of the community available to them when they are ready for the information. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development also concerns the role of adult guidance and peer collaboration in the process of cognitive development. Therefore, the instructor or the more advanced peer is a scaffold that provides the learners with the needed guidance to construct knowledge.
Interaction with peers
In Keller’s (1968, cited in Driscoll, 2005) Personalised System of Instruction (PSI), which is based on behaviourism, peers have an essential role to provide feedback to their fellow learners. Peers can be the more advanced learners or the learners who have already mastered a skill. Through this interaction the less advanced learners get the information they need and the proctors solidify their knowledge of the topic. Piaget believed that peer interactions and social negotiations help the learners to move beyond the pre-operational stage of cognitive development and egocentric thought. According to Vygotsky, for the social interaction to be effective, it is not enough that the learners work with an instructor or a more advanced peer. They should also work collaboratively with partners who have similar level of expertise to co-construct the solution to a problem and this is what he called intersubjectivity. Driscoll (2005) believes that vicarious experiences; i.e. the learners’ observation of a role model influences the learners’ self-efficacy. Moreover, social negotiation and collaboration is a critical feature in the learning setting from constructivists’ point of view.
Principle 3: Effective learning occurs when learners reflect mindfully on their learning and progress
Monitoring progress and reflecting on learning have been underlined in different learning theories. Mclellan’s (1993) approach to assessing situated learning not only provides useful information for the instructor to be able to make adjustments in the course but also encourages the learners to reflect on their learning and progress. Self-questioning is an important encoding strategy that enhances the process of linking the new information to what already exists in the memory according to Cognitive Information Processing. Students may ask themselves comprehension questions to make meaning of a given lecture or a text they read. They may also ask themselves some higher level questions which help them generate inferential thinking.
Principle 4: Effective learning occurs when learners have enough prior knowledge to anchor new ideas to
Cognitive Information Processing has addressed the link between the prior knowledge and the incoming information. What already exists in the memory can greatly enhance retrieval of the information at a later time. Ausubel also suggested that new information can be added to an existing structure through subsumption (new information is lower in the structure), subordinate learning (new information is higher in the structure), or combinatorial learning (new and old information are at the same level in the structure). Meaningful learning and schema theory emphasise the importance of prior knowledge and its impact on the learners’ interpretation, recall of information, and their problem solving ability (Driscoll, 2005). Ausubel (1978, cited in Driscoll, 2005) suggested the use of advance organisers to bridge the gap between what the learners already know and the new information. According to schema theory, learning happens when existing knowledge is modified (through the processes of accretion, tuning, and restructuring) to accommodate new information.
Reference
Driscoll, M. P., & Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction.
