Learning theories, intellectual skills, cognitive skills, psychomotor skills

Sahibzada Waqar Ahmad presented to DR N.B.Jumani

1. Learning Theories, Intellectual
Skills, Cognitive Skills,
Psychomotor Skills
Sahibzada Waqar Ahmad
Registration No. 132/FSS/PHDEDU/F17
Department of Education IIU Islamabad

2. Definition: Learning is…
•A change in behavior as a result of experience or practice.
•The acquisition of knowledge.
•Knowledge gained through study.
•To gain knowledge of, or skill in, something through study,
teaching, instruction or experience.
•The process of gaining knowledge.
•A process by which behavior is changed, shaped or controlled.
•The individual process of constructing understanding based
on experience from a wide range of sources.

3. What is Learning?
•Learning is a process
–Process of Learning
–Learning involves the individual
•Brain
•Body
•Learning is a product
–Products of Learning
•Learning is about ideas and concepts
•Learning is about behaviors and skills
•Learning is about attitudes and values

4. What is Theory…
Theory is…
A theory provides a general explanation for observations
made over time.
A theory explains and predicts behavior.
A theory can never be established beyond all doubt.
A theory may be modified.
Theories seldom have to be thrown out completely if
thoroughly tested but sometimes a theory may be widely
accepted for a long time and later disproved.

5. How do people learn?
•Easy answer: We don’t know for sure.
•Difficult answer: We have multiple theories
that provide glimpses of an answer from
many different perspectives. These stem from
psychologists, philosophers, sociologists,
anthropologists, evolutionary biologists,
linguists, neuroscientists…

6. Broad domains of theories

7. Why is an understanding of
learning theory important for
educators?

8. Epistemology
•Our beliefs about the nature of knowledge,
our epistemology, profoundly influence our
approach to education.

9. Psychology of Learning
•Our beliefs about how people learn, our
psychology of learning, profoundly influence
our approach to education.

10. Epistemology – Theory - Practice
• All three of these need to align
–Our beliefs about knowledge
–Our beliefs about learning
–Our strategies for practice

11. Learning theories as glasses
•What would a classroom look like as viewed
through the lens of:
–Plato (rationalist)
–Aristotle (empiricist)
–Locke (tabula rasa)
•Or from these perspectives?
–Behaviorism
–Cognitivism
–Constructivism

12. Behaviorism
•Behaviorism Definition
•focused on observable, quantifiable events
and behaviour, the effect of the outside world
on individual behaviour;
•not interested in hidden internal processes;
–A theory of human learning that only focuses on
objectively observable behaviors.
–Behavior theorists define learning as nothing
more than the acquisition of new behavior

13. Behaviorism
•Originates from the works of Ivan Pavlov’s--
classical conditioning, and
•B. F. Skinner’s--operant conditioning.
–Classical Conditioning is when an
unconditioned stimulus and response is
manipulated with a conditioned stimulus
to create a conditioned response.
–Operant Conditioning is a controlled
response with a reward/ punishment
system according to the behavior.

14. Behaviorism in the classroom
–Rewards and Punishments
–Responsibility for student learning rests
squarely with the teacher.
–Lecture-Based and Highly Structured
–“Things we call pleasant have an energizing
or
strengthening effect on our behaviour.”
(Skinner, 1972)

15. Critiques of behaviorism
• It does not account for processes taking place
in the mind that cannot be observed.
• Advocates for passive student learning in a
teacher centric environment.
•One size fits all.
•Knowledge itself is given and absolute.
•Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of
learning, since it disregards the activities of the
mind.

16. Cognitivism
•Grew in response to Behaviorism.
•Knowledge is stored cognitively as symbols.
•Learning is the process of connecting symbols
in a meaningful and memorable way.
•Studies focused on the mental processes
that facilitate symbol connection.

17. Cognitivism
•Information Processing looks at how information is retrieved and
stored.
•This theory focuses on how to store and retrieve information.
•Learning is attained through rehearsal and consistent use of the
information.
–Retention strategies such as breaking down information and
comparing the information to long term storage are great
techniques.

18. Cognitive learning theories
DISCOVERY LEARNING (BRUNER,
1961)
• Anybody can learn anything at
any age, provided it is stated in
terms they can understand.
•Powerful Concepts (Not
Isolated Facts)
•Transfer to many different
situations.
•Only possible through
Discovery Learning.
•Confront the learner with
problems and help them find
solutions. Do not
present sequenced materials.
MEANINGFUL VERBAL LEARNING
(AUSUBEL)
•Advance Organizers
•New material is presented in
a systematic way and is
connected to existing
cognitive structures in a
meaningful way.
•When learners have difficulty
with new material, go back to the
concrete anchors (Advance
Organizers).
•Provide a discovery approach and
they will learn.

19. Cognitivism in the classroom
•Inquiry-Oriented Projects
•Provide opportunities for the testing of
hypotheses.
•Curiosity is encouraged.
•Scaffolding

20. Critiques of cognitivism
•Like Behaviorism, knowledge itself is given and
absolute.
•Input – Process – Output model is mechanistic
and deterministic.
•It does not account enough for individuality.
•It has little emphasis on affective
characteristics.

21. Constructivism
•Grew out of and in response to Cognitivism and was framed
around Met cognition.
•‘Making meaning’ --- learning is a result of the child’s
exploration of and interaction with the environment;
•Knowledge is actively constructed.
•Learning is:
–A search for meaning by the learner.
–Contextualized
–An Inherently Social Activity
–Dialogic and Recursive
–The Responsibility of the Learner

22. Constructivism
•Constructivism views learning as a process in which
the learner constructs knowledge based on their past
experiences.
•The teacher only acts as a facilitator who encourages
students to explore within a given framework.
•Learners may collaborate with others to organize
their ideas and learn from each other to construct
their own knowledge.

23. CONSTRUCTIVISM IN THE CLASSROOM
•Journaling-- Teachers use journaling in the
classroom as a way for students to reflect
upon their thinking, and connect information
that they know, with what they learned.
•Experiential Activities
•Personal Focus
•Collaborative and Cooperative Learning

24. CRITIQUES OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
•Constructivism is relativistic; there are no right or
wrong answers
•Students constructing knowledge take too long to
figure it out and lose valuable learning time, leading
to lower motivation
•It is often seen as less rigorous than traditional
approaches to instruction.
•It does not fit well with traditional age grouping and
rigid terms/semesters.

25. Putting It All Together
Learning Theory Learning ProcessTechnology Support
Behaviorism
Through positive/
negative
reinforcement and
punishment
Educational software
can be used to
measure the students
assessment
Cognitivism
Rehearsing
information and then
storing it for long term
use
Flashcards and
memory games can
help retain information
taught in a lesson
Constructivism
Constructing ones
own knowledge
through past
experiences and
group collaboration
Group PowerPoint
projects allow students
to work together and
combine their
knowledge to learn

26. Intellectual skill
Cognitive Skills
Psychometric Skills

27. Intellectual Skills
•The ability to distinguish, combine,
classify, analyze, and quantify objects,
events, and symbols; the are divided into
discriminations, concrete concepts,
defined concepts, rule using, and higher-
order rule using ( Gagné, 1977 ).

28. Types of Intellectual Skills
•Knowledge and Understanding. ...
•Critical Thinking. ...
•Problem Solving. ...
•Creative Skills.

29. Knowledge and Understanding
•In Bloom's taxonomy, the most basic forms of
intellectual skills are defined as Knowledge and
comprehension
•Knowledge is defined as the ability to memorize and
reproduce information.
•Comprehension builds on knowledge and is the ability
to understand what memorized information means.
–For example, memorizing that two plus two equals four is a
use of knowledge as a skill, where as knowing two of an object
+ two of an object is four is comprehension.

30. Critical Thinking
• critical thinking -- the ability to analyze and
interpret information to assess its context and
validity.
–This can include multiple specific skills:
asking questions about information,
comparing material to known information
and drawing connections between
information and its context to analyze it -- for
instance, to check for bias.

31. Problem Solving
•problem solving involves an individuals using
intellectual skills to solve situations they are
not familiar with by analyzing the problem,
using information to come up with potential
solutions and testing solutions empirically.
•problem solving involves relating the
information of the problem to:
–multiple sets of known information and
–finding a way to creatively synthesize that
information with the problem

32. Creative Skills
•Some 21st century education psychologists have
modified Bloom's taxonomy to show creating as the
most developed intellectual skill.
•Different intellectual skills connected with creativity involve
planning:
–synthesis -- combining multiple sources of information --
and
–fluency, the ability to create quickly from limited
information.
–Originality, the skill to create distinctive solutions, and
–flexibility, the skill to alter and revise information given
changing circumstances, are important skills in the creative
process.

33. Levels of Intellectual Skills
•Discrimination—Making different responses to the
different members of particular class
•Concrete Concept—Responding in a single way to all
members of a particular class of observable events
•Rule Using—Applying a rule to a given situation or
condition by responding to a class of inputs with a
class of action
•Problem Solving—Combining lower level rules to
solve problems in a situation never encountered.

34. Cognitive Skills
•Cognitive skills are the core skills that our 
brain uses to: 
–think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay 
attention. 
•Working together, they take incoming 
information and move it into the bank of 
knowledge we use every day at school, at 
work, and in life.

35. Description of cognitive skills
•Attention/Sustained
–What it does: Enables to stay focused and on task for a sustained
period of time.
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Lots of unfinished projects,
jumping from task to task
•Attention/Selective
–What it does: Enables to stay focused and on task despite distractions
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Easily distracted
•Attention/Divided
–What it does: Enables you to remember information while doing two
things at once
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Difficulty multitasking,
frequent mistakes

36. Description of cognitive skills
•Memory/Long-Term
–What it does: Enables you to recall information stored in the 
past
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Forgetting 
names, doing poorly on tests, forgetting things you used to 
know
•Memory/Working
–What it does: Enables you to hang on to information while in 
the process of using it
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Having to read 
the directions again in the middle of a project, difficulty 
following multi-step directions, forgetting what was just said 
in a conversation

37. Description of cognitive skills
•Logic & Reasoning
–What it does: Enables you to reason, form ideas, and solve 
problems
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Frequently 
asking “What do I do next?” or saying “I don’t get this,” 
struggling with math, feeling stuck or overwhelmed
•Auditory Processing
–What it does: Enables you to analyze, blend, and segment 
sounds
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Struggling with 
learning to read, reading fluency, or reading comprehension

38. Description of cognitive skills
•Visual Processing
–What it does: Enables you to think in visual images
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Difficulties 
understanding what you’ve just read, remembering what 
you’ve read, following directions, reading maps, doing word 
math problems
•Processing Speed
–What it does: Enables you to perform tasks quickly and 
accurately
–Common problems when this skill is weak: Most tasks are 
more difficult. Taking a long time to complete tasks for 
school or work, frequently being the last one in a group to 
finish something

39. Psychomotor Skills
•Psychomotor learning is demonstrated by 
physical skills such as movement, coordination, 
manipulation, dexterity, grace, strength, speed—
actions which demonstrate the fine motor skills, such 
as use of precision instruments or tools.
• Psychomotor ability refers to a wide range of actions 
involving physical movement related to conscious 
cognitive processing. Psychomotor ability may be 
measured by accuracy or speed (reaction time).

40. Psychomotor Skills
•Psychomotor skills are skills where movement 
and thinking are combined. This includes 
things like balance and coordination. 
•Psychomotor learning is demonstrated by 
physical skills such as movement, 
coordination, manipulation, dexterity, grace, 
strength, speed; actions which demonstrate 
the fine motor skills such as use of precision 
instruments or tools.
•

41. Psychomotor Skills
•There are different categories of psychomotor skills.
The following are some of those categories.
–Discrete Skills: Skills that consist of a single 
step or a few steps and have distinct task-
determined beginnings and endings.
–Continuous Skills: Skills whose beginning and 
ending points are more subtle and are 
performer-determined.

42. Psychomotor Skills
–Closed Skills: Skills that are performed 
without active influence from the 
environment.
–Open Skills: Skills that are usd when the 
environment causes the performer to make 
continuous adjustments.
–Person and object motion: Skills that can 
be performed at rest or in motion.

43. Sources
•Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., Cocking, R. R., & Pellegrino, J. W. (Eds.). 
(1999). How people learn – Bridging research and practice. Washington, 
DC: National Academy. Free Abstract/HTML/PDF
•Harasim, L. (2017). Learning theory and online technologies. Taylor & 
Francis.
•Illeris, K. (Ed.). (2009). Contemporary theories of learning: learning 
theorists... in their own words. Routledge.
•https://classroom.synonym.com/types-intellectual-skills-8216731.html
•Chivers, Barbara. Learning Theories and Information Literacy.
•Bransford John D., Brown, Ann L., and Cocking, Rodney (eds.). How
People Learning: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Committee on 
Developments in the Science of Learning, National Research Council, 
1999.
•