Metacognition and Embodied Learning

Experimental Approaches  to Learning

In addtition to epistemological theories, there are also some experimental approaches to learning. These approaches can be defined as systematic and scientific approach to research in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables, and controls and measures any change in other variables. The origins of behaviorist learning theories may be traced backed to the late 1800's and early 1900's with the formulation of "associationistic" principles of learning. The general goal was to derive elementary laws of learning and behavior that may then be extended to explain more complex situations. 

Ebbinghaus is considered to be the first psychologist that systematically studied learning and memory. He developed a system recognizing the fact that learning is always affected by prior knowledge and understanding. He conducted a series of tests on himself, which included memorization and forgetting of meaningless three letter words which he created himself using the standard word format of consonant-vowel-consonant. Ebbinghaus established the forgetting curve which hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. With this theory he showed that humans start losing the memory of learned knowledge over time, in a matter of days or weeks, unless the learned knowledge is consciously reviewed time and again. However it should be remembered that forgetting curve  was derived from verbal learning experiment and forgetting of other experiences can display a different pattern.

Thorndike was also 
interested in the doctrine of association, but assosiactions related to action. Thorndike worked on animal behaviour and devised a classic experiment in which he used a puzzle box to empirically test the laws of learning. With the result of his experiment he termed the law of effect which stated that behavioral responses that were most closely followed by a satisfying result were most likely to become established patterns and to occur again in response to the same stimulus. Objects or events could trigger a conditioned response. His work on learning theory lead to the development of operant conditioning within Behaviorism.

Gestalt Theory is also one of the early experimental approaches to the pyschology of learning in the early 1900s. Ebbinghaus, Thorndike and Pavlov were interested in the doctrine of association, whereas some German theorists focused on perception. Gestalt theory of learning essentially consists in problem solving by understanding the relative position of the elements in the entire perspective or situation. When a problem arises, it tends to disturb the equilibrium of the organism who seeks a balance and so the organism. Gestalt psychology was first introduced in 1912 by Max Wertheimer a German psychologist, when he published a paper on optical illusion called apparent motion. In the paper he analyzed the illusion occurring when a series of static images is perceived as movement, just like films. He noticed that two alternately blinking lights on a train appeared to be a single light moving back and forth. It was an illusion of motion and couldn’t be explained by analyzing the actual flashing of the lights. This discrepancy between the perception of motion and the sensory components led to the Gestalt theory. Consistent with the interpretivist tradition Gestalt psychologits believe that knowledge comes from more than just experience. The assumption that whole is more than just sum of its parts is the basic principle of gestalt psychology.

Gestalt principles can be used in education as they contrasted productive thinking from rote learning, which occurs without understanding. Humans, unlike animals, can learn not only through conditioning or trial and error but also through explanations through changing their cognitive structure to achieve cognitive structure of the explainer, yet this should not be turned into rote learning.

Problem-solving presents learning with understanding using gestalt principles. This learning is remembered for a long time, and can be applied to other situations. Gestaltism therefore suggests that learners should be encouraged to discover whole nature or relationships between elements of a problem, but also to exclude implicit assumptions that might be incorrect. Since human mind functions in accordance with the mentioned principles, instructional design should be based on proximity, closure, similarity and simplicity which are  Wertheimer's laws of grouping.