Learning Theory 11/29/07

Took quiz #9 - got 80% on it.
We're going to review both chapters 10 and 11 because nobody bothered to read chapter 10.
How did the field of instructional design start - during WWII - big push to have training for the soldiers. (In the US Military in WWII) German Generals said that part of the reason they lost the war was that they had underestimated how many soldiers the US could train fast enough to get them into battle. (Focus of Instructional Design : one or more of these 3 factors : Faster, Cheaper or matter of More People) Used for the first time (instructional design elements) : films. - used for the first time in instructional settings in the US Military during WWII. Also, to a much larger extent than before, were simulators. Flight (plane) simulators, tank, ship, combat scenario simulations.

Father of ID - Robert Gagne - still today his theories are expected to be followed when you are hired to do ID

Pg 355

Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes (taxonomy - way to list something)

Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Outcomes (pg 357)

• Knowledge


• Comprehension


• Application


• Analysis
  
• Synthesis


• Evaluation

Taxonomy of Affective Outcomes (how people feel about something)

• Receiving


• Responding Valuing


• Organization


• Characterization by Value

Simpson's Taxonomy of Psycho motor Outcomes

• Perception


• Set


• Guided response


• Mechanism


• Complex Response


• Adaption


• Origination

Gagne's Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes

• Verbal Information


• Intellectual Skills


• Discrimination


• Concrete concepts


• Defined concepts


• Rules


• Higher order rules


• Cognitive Strategies


• Attitudes


• Motor skills

Very, very practical - chart on page 367
List of specific actions, conditions and teaching methods that Gagne claims are best for each type of learning outcome. This is the second part of Gagne's three part series on instructional design.

Final part : pg 373
Nine events of instruction associated with the internal learning process they support

1. Reception - gaining attention


2. Expectancy - informing learners of the objective


3. Retrieval to working memory - stimulating recall of prior learning


4. Selective perception - presenting the content


5. Semantic encoding - providing "learner guidance"


6. Responding - eliciting performance


7. Reinforcement - providing feedback


8. Retrieval and reinforcement - assessing performance


9. Retrieval and generalization - enhancing retention and transfer

Neuroscience of Learning Theories

Rather than talking about the mind and how it works, we're looking at the brain, it's physical existence, and how it works.

Basic nerve cell - neurons and dendrites (1 neuron has 30 - 40 thousand dendrite spikes)
dendrites receive information
axon - only one of them, but one axon can branch out to thousands of places - sends information

Humans : only 5% of neurons actually go out the spine - work on your sensory and motor systems. 95% of brain function deals with reflecting inside itself.
(lower mammals, rats for example, 50% of brain activity is involved in motor and sensory activity).

Bigger brains for controlling bigger bodies, follows somewhat linear progression, except human brain development is above the line