Erguvan Uras

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning  Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was based on Thorndike’s (1898) law of effect. It is on the matter of behavioral conditioning (not then formulated as such) which states that "Behavior that is followed by positive consequences is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated". Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence (Skinner, 1938). Skinner identified three types of responses, or operant, that can follow behavior. • Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated. • Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Re

Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development - Bruner   & Vygotsky Bruner studied the means by which human beings interact with the environment cognitively. He states that the outcome of cognitive development is thinking. Bruner agrees with Piaget regarding the description of internal representation of experience. But Bruner emphasized continuity, the importance of language and the importance of education in cognitive development more than Piaget.  According to Bruner, one's intellectual ability evolves as a result of maturation, training and experiences through a series of three sequential stages –the enactive ,iconic and symbolic. According to Bruner learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides m

Piaget's  (1936)  theory  of cognitive  development  explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive  development  as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Piaget, c oncerned with children (rather than all learners) and focused on development (rather than learning).He proposed discrete stages of development. Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas. These schemas are cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes . In addition to creating new schemas, children can adapt their existing schemas based on new experiences. Assimilation  is using an existing schema and applying it to a new situation or object. Accommodation  is changing approaches when an existing schema doesn’t work in a particular situation. Equilibration  is the driving force that moves all development

Meaningful Learning The  Meaningful Learning Theory  is attributed to David Ausubel. According to this theory, students are considered to be the center of the teaching learning process, and the teachers are the facilitators. Meaningful Learning occurs when the new information is related to prior knowledge. According to this theory learning of new knowledge relies on what is already known. That is, construction of knowledge begins with our observation and recognition of events and objects through concepts we already have. We learn by constructing a network of concepts and adding to them. Ausubel also stresses the importance of reception rather than discovery learning, and meaningful rather than rote learning. Meaning is created through some forms of representational equivalence between language and mental context. There are two processes involved: First discovery: Reception, which is employed in meaningful verbal learning. Second: Discovery, which is involved in concept f