The learning theories

The learning theories upon which this course is based are actualized in the Research Project. You will begin the paper by selecting one key term to research. You may select any key term from Chapters 2-13. The key terms are found at the end of each chapter. You will be required to write a paper of at least 1,000 words, but not to exceed 1,250 words, to fully explore the topic. Your project must demonstrate course-related knowledge with supporting documentation from two peer-reviewed articles, the textbook, and the Bible.

The use of proper, current APA format is required. A title page and reference page(s) must be included. The word count does not include the title or reference page(s). Submit the project as a Microsoft Word document.

Grading
Consult the accompanying rubric for how your instructor will grade this assignment. Also, any form of plagiarism, including cutting and pasting, will result in zero points for the entire assignment. All quoted materials must be properly cited in current APA format.

Textbook is Organizational Behavior by Steven Mcshane 9th edition

ANSWER

The Learning Theories

In the modern learning environment, students are exposed to a wide range of concepts that provoke their thought process and align their interests to the study topics. In many instances, tutors rely on a systemic approach to establish meaningful relations with students before introducing them to the selected study insights. However, learning theories explore a wide range of issues that include how the students perceive the shared information, their ability to internalize, and retain the knowledge before applying it when solving problems taking place in their immediate environment. Instructors look out for the different reactions from the students to determine the impact of their teaching approaches on the learners. Different learning theories influence the teaching approach used by instructors and dictate the nature of interactions in the classroom context. For this reason, learning theories enable instructors to adopt effective approaches that influence the thought process of students and their ability to embrace the shared knowledge in the classroom.

Behaviorism Learning Theory

This approach can be traced to the early 1900s when students where evaluated based on their interactions with other people in the learning environment. In this theory, student behavior is largely influenced by activities taking place in their surroundings and the perspectives of other people towards life. Importantly, instructors are expected to create an enabling environment that provokes the thought process of the students because of their ability to acquire different life aspects (Eugenio Jr & Ocampo, 2019). Under this model, learning yields a change of behavior because of the ability of students to acquire new taste due to reinforcement from the instructors and pressure from their peers to comply with their standards of life. Many of the approaches used by instructors may have a positive or negative impact on the thought process of students towards the learning process. For instance, if an instructor rewards good behavior, students will most likely fall in line to benefit from the reward system. Likewise, exercise and repetition create a certain level of consistency that compels students to manifest expected behavior traits that are recommended within the learning context.

Constructive Learning Theory

Different institutions adopt learning theories that are suitable to their student population and can enable them to accomplish desired goals and objectives. In a constructivist classroom, the instructors create an enabling environment for the learners to refer to their past experiences about the topics of interactions. Instead of imposing rules and regulations on the students, instructors consult them to ensure that the new guidelines conform to the learners’ interests to yield positive outcomes. In the conventional learning context, teachers are viewed as the source of information while the students act as receptors. However, in a constructivist classroom, teachers view learners as sense-makers who can develop and express concerns about the context of various learning approaches and their inability to yield desired outcomes (Nurkholida, 2018). Piaget’s theory of learning elaborates the constructive theory and dictate the approaches instructors can use when interacting with different student population groups. Divided by their age group, students are exposed to certain teaching aspects that influence the tactical approaches instructors can use to shape their perspectives towards the study topics. In such an environment, the teaching approach shift from a knowledge-acquisition perspective to a knowledge-construction context where student perspective is shaped to face the future.

Experiential Learning Theory

According to this learning model, experience is positioned at the core of the learning approaches because of its impact on the thought process of students. In this regard, instructors focus on understanding how student performance can be improved by altering the different methods of teaching. In the same vein, learning environments emphasize on the need to motivate students and change their perspectives towards the study process. Instead of learning being a boring activity, instructors deploy interesting strategies to create meaningful relations with students with the hope of shaping their experiences in the classroom and beyond. Some of these approaches may incorporate the use of games in the learning environment to trigger the thought process of students and encourage them to look forward for the study sessions because of their interesting aspect. Carl Rodgers is one of the key proponents of this theory and highlights the importance of exposing learners to an environment where they can play a role towards the learning process (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). It should be noted that the model advocates for facilitating the learning process, exposing students to a conducive environment, and eliminating any threats because of their adverse impact on the thought process of students.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura is known for his theory that highlights the importance of imitation, observation, and modeling in defining the behavior of individuals in their immediate environment. In this regard, the social learning theory explains the importance of acquisition in forming and maintaining knowledge from the information shared in the classroom. Importantly, the theory incorporates aspects such as attention, memory, and motivation when formulating the student’s thought process and ability to acquire different learning aspects taught in class. Bandura who is a key believer in the role of imitation and observation in shaping people’s behavior translates the concept in the learning environment and uses the insights to dictate the ability of learners to gain knowledge from the shared information (Brezina & Piquero, 2017). Notably, Bandura’s argument is supported by the ability of people to acquire knowledge in the learning environment and align their interests with the instructor’s ability to demonstrate certain aspects of learning that provoke their thought process. From this realization, Bandura’s theory indicates that successful students observe the instructor’s teaching models and utilize the insights in solving problems that emerge in their immediate environment.

Learning theories enable instructors to adopt effective approaches that influence the thought process of students and their ability to embrace the shared knowledge in the classroom. It should be noted that learning theories speculate the outcomes that can be achieved from the different teaching approaches and guides instructors through their exploration process to expose learners to a conducive learning environment that supports their interests. At any given time, instructors are concerned about the different needs of students and how they affect their cognitive ability. From this observation, different learning institutions will expose learners to a varied learning environment because of their needs that influence the outcomes of events in the classroom context. For instance, a learning environment that embraces the constructivism theory of learning is likely to acknowledge the students as sense-makers, who are knowledgeable enough to dispute certain information insights shared by the instructor. Importantly, the instructor’s view will switch from knowledge acquisition to knowledge construction that allows students to interpret information before retaining it as knowledge. For this reason, understanding the different needs of students dictates the learning model instructors can use to yield positive outcomes in the learning environment.

References

Brezina, T., & Piquero, A. R. (2017). Exploring the relationship between social and non-social reinforcement in the context of social learning theory. In Social learning theory and the explanation of crime (pp. 265-288). Taylor & Francis.

Eugenio Jr, F. C., & Ocampo, A. J. T. (2019, February). Assessing classcraft as an effective gamification app based on behaviorism learning theory. In Proceedings of the 2019 8th International Conference on Software and Computer Applications (pp. 325-329).

Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (2017). Experiential learning theory as a guide for experiential educators in higher education. Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 7-44.

Nurkholida, E. (2018). Developing authentic material of listening on higher education based on constructive learning of Jean Piaget and Vygotsky theory. OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 12(1), 59-74.