how education uses behaviorism

7/24/2019 How Education Uses Behaviorism

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How Education Uses Behaviorism ?Behaviorism was developed by B. F. Skinner and this school of

thought assumes that the learning process takes place through

conditioning.

Behaviorism techniques have used in education for a long time toencourage behavior that is desirable and to discourage behavior that is notdesirable.

So, How Education Uses Behaviorism ?? Behaviorism techniques usedin education are contracts, consequence, reinforcement, extinction andbehavior modification.

Contracts are highl effective in hel!ing children concentrate on behaviorchange. "ositive behavior should be identified and then the child and teacher

#or counselor$ should agree on the terms of the contract. % behavioral contractcan be used not onl in school but also at home and teachers and !arents canwor& together to ensure that the child fulfills the terms of the contract.

Consequences should ha!!en immediatel after a !articular behavior.Consequences can be !ositive or negative, material or smbolic, ex!ected orunex!ected, or immediate or long term. 'hen a target behavior ta&es !lace,consequences occur. "ositive reinforcement acts a stimulus to increase the!robabilit of a good behavior while negative reinforcement increases the!robabilit of that negative behavior will not ta&e !lace. Here negative

reinforcement should not be a !unishment as this will increase the !robabilitof the bad behavior occurring. (ather negative reinforcement should do awawith a consequence that the student does not li&e. )or exam!le, if studentsscore *+ !ercent or more, the do not have to ta&e the final exam.

"unishment decreases the frequenc of an unwanted behavior. n fact,!unishment is highl effective in getting rid of unwanted behaviors. )orinstance, students who fight are immediatel sent to the !rinci!al or if studentsdo not do their homewor&, the will have to sta bac& after school in thedetention room.

Extinction is the !rocess where the ex!ected res!onse to a behavior iswithheld. )or instance, when a child misbehaves, he could be made to sit inthe corner all alone and thereb is se!arated from the grou!. Here theex!ected res!onse would be scolding from the !arents but is de!rived of it.

Behaviorism Teaching Style In Education



Behaviorism teaching style in education is more common than we

would like to believe. In fact, it is used in every aspect of education. This

style of teaching believes that information passed from a teacher to astudent is basically the correct response to specific stimulus.

-herefore, the !ur!ose of education is to ensure that a student hasa!!ro!riate collection of res!onses to s!ecific stimuli and these res!onses arethen reinforced.

(einforcement of res!onses is done through re!etition, giving the studentsmall sequences of tas&s and !roviding constant flow of !ositivereinforcement. t is onl then that a student will learn effectivel. f !ositivereinforcement is not !rovided to the student, the learned res!onses willdisa!!ear as quic&l as the a!!ear.

Behavioral ex!erts believe that motivation is essential !art of behaviorismteaching stle in education. otivation induces !leasant feeling and when astudent ex!eriences !leasant feelings, he is li&el to ma&e connectionbetween a s!ecific stimulus and the res!onse that is a!!ro!riate to thatstimulus. )or instance, a student who is !raised and receives good grades forcorrect answers is more li&el to learn those answers than a student who isnot !raised and receives bad grades for the same correct answers. Similarl,students will not learn answers #or res!onses$ that the associate withnegative reinforcements.

%s mentioned earlier that re!etition is necessar to learn a!!ro!riateres!onses to s!ecific stimuli. %nd that is wh behaviorism teaching methodsuse s&ill and drill exercises to ensure that re!etition is done. %nother form ofre!etition is using question and answer exercises but here the questions get!rogressivel difficult and students are gentl guided to the correct answers./nce the students learn the answers regular reviews are done so that the donot forget them.

Theory And Definition Of BehaviorismThe theory and definition of behaviorism is very interesting.

Behaviorism is a theory of learning and it believes that all behaviors areacquired as a result of conditioning. onditioning occurs after a personinteracts with his environment.

%s !er behaviorism, behavior can be studied and anal0ed in asstematic manner that can be observed and the behaviorist does not have tota&e the internal mental state of the !erson into account.



Theories of Behaviorism

%ccording to behaviorism, there are two main t!es of conditioning andthe are as follows1

• Classical Condition1 -his technique was first demonstrated b (ussian!hsiologist, van "avlov. Classical conditioning is used in behavioraltraining in which a natural stimulus is cou!led with a res!onse. -hen, a!rior neutral stimulus is cou!led with the natural stimulus. )inall the!erson res!onds to the neutral stimulus even when the natural stimulusis not !resent.

• /!erant Conditioning1 -his conditioning is sometimes referred to asinstrumental conditioning. t is a method of learning where the !erson istaught using rewards and !unishments for a !articular behavior.-hrough this conditioning, a !erson learns to ma&e an association

between a !articular behavior and the resultant consequence.

Behaviorism has influenced man well2&nown thin&ers of our time. f ouwant to understand the theor and definition of behaviorism, it is im!ortant forou to also get to &now more about the !eo!le who discovered and advocatedbehaviorism to the world.

van "avlov, as mentioned earlier, was a (ussian !hsiologist whodiscovered classical conditioning after conducting ex!eriments with dogs.

3ohn B. 'atson, an %merican scientist, who coined the term behaviorismand he believed that !scholog is a science of observable behavior.

-he most well2&nown behavioral advocate and thin&er in the world is B.).S&inner. He was res!onsible for !utting forth the theor of o!erantconditioning.

Behaviorism In SchoolBehaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a school of

thought that came into prominence in the early part of the !"th century

because of thinkers like #ohn B. $atson and B.F. Skinner. In fact, it was$atson who coined the term behaviorism.

%ccording to behaviorism, all behaviors are learned and that is whbehaviorism in school is seen everda.



-o understand the learning abilities and characteristics of children andadolescence, behavioral !scholog a!!lies theories of develo!ment, which isoften believed to be in stages. Basicall develo!ment theories sa that a!erson dis!las changes in cognition, social roles, moral reasoning andbeliefs as he grows older. %nd man of these changes are learned based on!ast ex!eriences.

Behaviorism in school ac&nowledges that each !erson has differentcharacteristics, abilities and challenges that result from learning anddevelo!ment and these differences are a!!arent in each individual when itcomes to intelligence, creativit, cognition, motivation and the ca!acit tocommunicate and interact with those around them.

Behaviorism in school assumes that students retain the &nowledge ands&ills the learn in school and then the can a!!l this &nowledge and s&ills in

situations outside the classroom in the real world. (esearch has shown thateven when students do not use the &nowledge the acquire in school, thestill manage to retain a si0eable amount of the &nowledge for man ears andan long2term relationshi! is based on the level of master of that &nowledge.

-he fact that learning in school and colleges is learned, shows thatbehaviorism is used quite a bit in schools. -his would ex!lain all the exercisesand re!eated !ractice that students have to undergo in order to learn a!articular lesson in the classroom. n addition, teachers give !ositivereinforcements to students who !erform well and follow the classroom rules.-his sstem of reward, in turn, motivates the student further and he !erformseven better. However, when a student is alread at a high level of!erformance, constant motivation through rewards and reinforcements maactuall decrease the student4s !erformance and this is something teacherswho follow behaviorism in school should be aware of.

Functionalism is a theory of mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both theidentity theory of mind and behaviourism. Its core idea is that mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.) areconstituted solely by their functional role — that is, they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs,and behavioral outputs. Since mental states are identified by a functional role, they are said to be realized on multiplelevels; in other ords, they are able to be manifested in various systems, even perhaps computers, so long as thesystem performs the appropriate functions. !hile functionalism has its advantages, there have been severalarguments against it, claiming that it is an insufficient account of the mind.

Functionalism formed as a reaction to "itchener theory of structuralism."itchener argue that such a functionalist analysis is incomplete ithout a "horough investigation of the mentalstructure and functions, "itchener arguments formulate a coherent goal and helped functionalist due to hichpsychologist became interested in the function of mind.

"itchener as against functionalism but during describing his theory of structuralism, he e#plains in detailfunctionalism too. $efore him functionalism as loosely formulated beteen empiricism and the common%sense&entalism of the 'ayman.



Functionalism as heavily influenced by the or of !illiam ames and titchener

Functionalism*s +oots

Functionalism as rooted in arin*s theory of evolution. -volution is based on individual differences and thesurvival of adaptive features./daptation0 becomes a popular approach to measuring intelligence. Individual differences0 become a valued part ofmental research.Functionalists sought to e#plain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner, +ather thanfocusing on the elements of consciousness. Functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behaviour.Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, hich had a profound impact on education.

&ind&ind is a comple# processes lie a computer, function of memory, 1udgment, ac2uire, retain, process and organize.Functionalists ere interested in the function0, the mental abilities of adapting to an environment

!illiam ames

!illiam ames commonly considered the father of 3.S. psychology, 4ontributed to the foundation of functional

psychology in the 3S, but he did not develop his on ideas into an independent school0 of study.

5rinciple of functionalism in psychology

6 Functionalist oppose the search for the elements of consciousness as futile6 Functionalist believed that the mind has the function of helping us to adapt to the environment. "hey ant tounderstand the function of the mind, the ay it helps us to adapt6 Functionalist ants psychology to be practical, not pure science.6 "hey ant psychology to be broadened to include research on animals, children, and atypical humans6 Functionalist believed that the needs and motivations of the organism should be understood if some one ants tounderstand behaviour6 Functionalist are more interested in hat maes people different from each other than in hat maes them similar6 "hey are illing to use a ide variety of methods of study

In 789:, &ary !hiton 4alins published an article in 5sychological +evie asing for reconciliation beteen these

to schools of thoughts, she thins Structuralism and functionalism ere not so different, she argued, since both areprincipally concerned ith the conscious of self.

/daptation of organism

Functionalist approach adaptation of organism to environment is deep rooted in the 4harles arin theory of naturalselection hich e#plain the origin of species by organic evolution

4harles arin theory of mental selection7. ariation< $iological, social and mental variation among the speciesStruggle for e#istence< -very specie on the face of this planet struggle for their e#istence=. >ature selection< it is the adaptation to natural selection; to adapt to a certain environment for the survival of theself.

&a1or Functionalist "hiners

6 !illiam ames6 ohn eey 6 ?arvey 4arr6 ohn /ngell

Strengths of Functionalism

6 Functionalism Influenced behaviourism and applied psychology.



6 Functionalism influenced the educational system, especially ith regards to ohn eey*s belief that childrenshould learn at the level for hich they are mentally prepared.

ohn eey as Functionalist

6 5rogressive education< founded e#perimental -lementary school in his university for the development of education6 the duty of school to give children, not only an insight into the social importance of such activities, but also the

opportunities to practice in real life in the form of games or any other activity base tas, hich leads naturally into theproblem solving6 eey emphasized on child interest and his motivation to solve the problems6 Functionalism emphasized on individual ifferences (capacity) in mental abilities (arin theory of variation)6 Francis @alton and 1ames 4attel functional psychologist or on mental abilities and ho to measure ith mentaltests6 It starts a movement of mental testing on the school level and classifying children in different intellectual groupings

Functionalism in sociology

6 Functionalism< Functionalists see society, as being structured lie a human body ith many interrelated parts thatfunctions together to maintain a healthy hole. So as body has a heart, lungs, liver etc.... Society has -ducation, theFamily and the -conomy etc.6 "herefore, to understand the education system e must consider ho it functions to contribute to the healthymaintenance of the hole social system.

6 "he originator of the functionalist perspective, -mile urheim (7ABAC787D) argued that the main function ofeducation is the transmission of societyEs norms and values in three mains areas<

7. Social Solidarity< For e#ample, the teaching of history provides social continuity

. Social +ules< /t school, e learn to coCoperate ith strangers and to be selfCdisciplined.

=. ivision of 'abour C-ducation teaches individual sills necessary for future occupations. "his is a most importantfunction in advanced industrial society ith its comple# division of labour.

/ngell defence of functionalismG ?o, !hy and hat mental operations also called inputCoutput psychology G Functionalism is the psychology of ad1ustment of the organism to its environment (to solve the problem)G Functionalism is interested in mindCinCbody and interested in the physiological level of mental eventsG /merican empirical psychology< -mpiricism is a theory of noledge hich asserts that noledge arises from

e#perience

Strategies of Functionalism for psychological research

6 "olerant and critical and en1oy freedom< a functionalist researcher is critical in thining and tolerant in nature. ?e isready to accept any information obtained by introspection or by ob1ective observation from either source mental testor case study. he is tolerant to &ethod and 4ontent

6 Functionalist is an e#perimentalist< in today orld functionalist is an e#perimentalist. "oday functionalism isdedicated to the e#perimental method.

&elton (78B9)ashiell*s iagramof problem solving

6 (7) ?o problem arise bloc by ()6 (=) solve the problem through varied $ehaviour6 (H) proceeds on his ay to (B)6 If the process repeated again the (H) response recurs in 'ess time

"hus the learning process is the discovery of the ade2uate response to a problem situation and the fi#ation of thesatisfying situationCresponse relationship (&elton)G &otivationG Initial discovery of the ade2uate response



G Fi#ation and eliminationG "ransfer of training and retention

4apacity

6 Functionalism particularly emphasized on individual ifferences (capacity) and mental abilities of the individual

(arin theory of variation)6 eey emphasised on individual differences and established an e#perimental school for this purpose to confirm his viepoint.6 4hildren ith ifferent mental level, learn ith different pace.6 +obinson +ecognized individual differences in his la of Individual differences and composition6 &c@eoch and irion also agree ith him6 !ith increase in age increase in learning abilities due to organic maturation and second changing in psychologicalconditions (transfer and motivation)

4apacity and 4lass +oom

6 Functionalist suggest different method of teaching, because some children ill easily learn from one method andsome from other method6 Functionalist also emphasised "eaching according to the pace and capacity of the students

5ractice

6 'ong term +etain happen hen the bond is stronger beteen to elements, hich are associated ith each other.Functionalists discourage rote memorisation.6 5ractice help in the class room environment to strong this bond of association beteen elements etc

4lass +oom and practice6 Sho the picture of cat to students and repeat again and again so the students associate them ith each other,meaning full material memorise easily as illustrate in the above e#ample

&otivation

6 !oodorth emphasised on the motivation and give core importance to it in learning by using different means tomotivate the students6 +eard is a very good motive for students in class, it not only encourages the students ho get the reard but alsoencourage the fello students in the class6 Interest and /ctivity base teaching also motivate the student in learning process

3nderstanding6 Functionalist emphasis on meaningful material in learning process because meaningful material is easily learnedthan meaningless material6 3se isual aid for better understanding of learning material

"ransfer6 "he effect (use) of old learning in ne situation is called transfer of training; Insight is the e#treme case of transferof training according to &c@eoch J Irion 78B.

Forgetting

Forgetting Forgetting

&a#imum &inimum &ediumSimilarity Similarity Similarity



6 "heory of forgetting interference theory 6 /ssociation beteen to elements etc ords, ideas, situational see the above graph6 Forgetting accord according to functionalist, due to ea bond beteen to element, one cant recall the originalone, instead he remember other things hich is identical to the old one and hen the bond is stronger again beteen

these to elements, one could recall it easily.ntroduction

The latest catchword in educational circles is %constructivism, % applied both to

learning theory and to epistemology&&&both to how people learn, and to the nature of

knowledge.',! $e don(t need to succumb to each new fad, but we do need to think

about our work in relation to theories of learning and knowledge. So we need to ask)

what is constructivism, what does it have to tell us that is new and relevant, and how

do we apply it to our work* +s far as I can see, there is nothing dramatically new in

constructivism) the core ideas epressed by it have been clearly enunciated by #ohn

-ewey among others, but there is a new, widespread acceptance of this old set of

ideas. and new research in cognitive psychology to support it. I would like to give a brief eposition of ideas central to constructivism and widely accepted today by

educators. curriculum developers and cognitive psychologists, and then suggest what

they mean for museum educators.

Constructivism

$hat is meant by constructivism* The term refers to the idea that learners construct

knowledge for themselves&&&each learner individually and socially/ constructs

meaning&&&as he or she learns. 0 onstructing meaning is learning1 there is no other

kind. The dramatic consequences of this view are twofold1

'/ we have to focus on the learner in thinking about learning not on the sub2ect3lesson

to be taught/)

!/ There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to eperience

constructed/ by the learner, or community of learners.

4et me discuss the second point first because, although it appears radical on an

everyday level, it is a position which has been frequently adopted ever since people

began to ponder epistemology. If we accept constructivist theory which means we are

willing to follow in the path of -ewey, 5iaget and 6igotsky among others/, then wehave to give up 5latonic and all subsequent realistic views of epistemology. $e have

to recogni7e that there is no such thing as knowledge %out there% independent of the

knower, but only knowledge we construct for ourselves as we learn. 8 4earning is not

understanding the %true% nature of things, nor is it as 5lato suggested/ remembering

dimly perceived perfect ideas, but rather a personal and social construction of



meaning out of the bewildering array of sensations which have no order or structure

besides the eplanations and I stress the plural/ which we fabricate for them.

I(m sure that many of you have had philosophy courses which have eposed you to

these concepts, and you may accept this basic premise that there is no such entity as a

-ing an sich whether or not we can perceive it. 9et we all tend to remain closetrealists, and refute Bishop Berkeley, as Samuel #ohnson did, by kicking the stone and

feeling real pain. The more important question is, does it actually make any difference

in our everyday work whether deep down we consider knowledge to be about some

%real% world independent of us, or whether we consider knowledge to be of our own

making* The answer is yes, it does make a difference, because of the first point I

suggested above) in our profession our epistemological views dictate our pedagogic

views.

If we believe that knowledge consists of learning about the real world out there, then

we endeavor first and foremost to understand that world, organi7e it in the mostrational way possible, and, as teachers, present it to the learner. This view may still

engage us in providing the learner with activities, with hands&on learning, with

opportunities to eperiment and manipulate the ob2ects of the world, but the intention

is always to make clear to the learner the structure of the world independent of the

learner. $e help the learner understand the world. but we don(t ask him to construct

his or her own world.

The great triumph of $estern intellectual history from the :nlightenment until the

beginning of the !;th century rested on its ability to organi7e the knowledge of the

world in a rational way independent of the learner, determined by some structure ofthe sub2ect. -isciplines were developed, taonomic schemes established, and all these

categories were viewed as components of a vast mechanical machine in which the

parts could be eplained in terms of their relationship to each other, and each part

contributed to making the whole function smoothly. <owhere in this description does

the learner appear. The task of the teacher was to make clear to the learner the

working of this machine and any accommodation to the learner was only to account

for different appropriate entry points for different learners.

=owever, as I have indicated above, constructivist theory requires that we turn our

attention by '>" degrees we must turn our back on any idea of an all&encompassing

machine which describes nature and instead look towards all those wonderful,

individual living beings&&&the learners&&&each of whom creates his or her own model to

eplain nature. If we accept the constructivist position we are inevitably required to

follow a pedagogy which argues that we must provide learners with the opportunity

to) a/ interact with sensory data, and b/ construct their own world. ?



This second point is a little harder for us to swallow, and most of us constantly

vacillate between faith that our learners will indeed construct meaning which we will

find acceptable whatever we mean by that/ and our need to construct meaning for

them1 that is, to structure situations that are not free for learners to carry out their own

mental actions, but %learning% situations which channel them into our ideas about the

meaning of eperience. + common eample of the unresolved tension is our attitudetowards museum tours which eplain ehibits to the visitor. I have repeatedly asked

museum professionals if they personally en2oy guided tours, and they almost

universally tell me that they try to avoid them at all costs. 9et, at :+ meetings and

this one is no eception/ our colleagues frequently give us etensive guided tours

through galleries, insisting on presenting the epert guide(s interpretation, pace and

selection to influence the viewer(s perception and learning. It is this tension between

our desire as teachers to teach the truth, to present the world %as it really is%, and our

desire to let learners construct their own world which requires us to think seriously

about epistemology and pedagogy. @

Principles of learning

$hat are some guiding principles of constructivist thinking that we must keep in mind

when we consider our role as educators* I will outline a few ideas, all predicated on

the belief that learning consists of individuals( constructed meanings and then indicate

how they influence museum education.

'. 4earning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs

meaning out of it. The more traditional formulation of this idea involves the

terminology of the active learner -ewey(s term/ stressing that the learner needs to do

something1 that learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge which eists %out

there% but that learning involves the learner s engaging with the world. A

!. 5eople learn to learn as they learn) learning consists both of constructing meaning

and constructing systems of meaning. For eample, if we learn the chronology of

dates of a series of historical events, we are simultaneously learning the meaning of a

chronology. :ach meaning we construct makes us better able to give meaning to other

sensations which can fit a similar pattern. >

0. The crucial action of constructing meaning is mental) it happens in the mind.

5hysical actions, hands&on eperience may be necessary for learning, especially for

children, but it is not sufficient1 we need to provide activities which engage the mind

as well as the hands . -ewey called this reflective activity./

8. 4earning involves language) the language we use influences learning. ;n the

empirical level. researchers have noted that people talk to themselves as they learn.

;n a more general level. there is a collection of arguments, presented most forcefully



by 6igotsky, that language and learning are inetricably intertwined. '" This point was

clearly emphasi7ed in :laine Curain(s reference to the need to honor native language

in developing <orth +merican ehibits. The desire to have material and programs in

their own language was an important request by many members of various <ative

+merican communities.

?. 4earning is a social activity) our learning is intimately associated with our

connection with other human beings, our teachers, our peers, our family as well as

casual acquaintances, including the people before us or net to us at the ehibit. $e

are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we recogni7e this principle

rather than try to avoid it. Duch of traditional education, as -ewey pointed out, is

directed towards isolating the learner from all social interaction, and towards seeing

education as a one&on&one relationship between the learner and the ob2ective material

to be learned. In contrast, progressive education to continue to use -ewey(s

formulation/ recogni7es the social aspect of learning and uses conversation,

interaction with others, and the application of knowledge as an integral aspect of

learning.''

@. 4earning is contetual) we do not learn isolated facts and theories in some abstract

ethereal land of the mind separate from the rest of our lives) we learn in relationship to

what else we know, what we believe, our pre2udices and our fears. '! ;n reflection, it

becomes clear that this point is actually a corollary of the idea that learning is active

and social. $e cannot divorce our learning from our lives. '0

A. ;ne needs knowledge to learn) it is not possible to assimilate new knowledge

without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on. '8Themore we know, the more we can learn. Therefore any effort to teach must be

connected to the state of the learner, must provide a path into the sub2ect for the

learner based on that learner(s previous knowledge. '?

>. It takes time to learn) learning is not instantaneous. For significant learning we need

to revisit ideas, ponder them try them out, play with them and use them. This cannot

happen in the ?&'" minutes usually spent in a gallery and certainly not in the few

seconds usually spent contemplating a single museum ob2ect./ If you reflect on

anything you have learned, you soon reali7e that it is the product of repeated eposure

and thought. :ven, or especially, moments of profound insight, can be traced back to

longer periods of preparation.

. Dotivation is a key component in learning. <ot only is it the case that motivation

helps learning, it is essential for learning. This ideas of motivation as described here is

broadly conceived to include an understanding of ways in which the knowledge can

be used. Enless we know %the reasons why%, we may not be very involved in using



the knowledge that may be instilled in us. even by the most severe and direct

teaching. '@

The meaning of constructivism for museums

=aving suggested these principles, I want to reflect on what they may mean for our

specific day& to&day work both in mounting ehibits and in developing educational programs.

Points #1 and 3

Dost museum educators have accepted the idea that learners need to be active, that in

order to participate in learning we need to engage the learner in doing something, in

hands&on involvement, in participatory ehibits and programs. But the more important

point, I believe, is the idea that the actions which we develop for our audience engage

the mind as well as the hand. <ot all eperiences are educative, as -ewey pointed out

in Experience and Education. This does not mean that they necessarily have to be

comple&&&but they do need to allow the participants to think as they act. I recentlysaw a videotape of a group of children building a cardboard ramp which would serve

as an inclined plane for an eperiment they were to do. $hat the video tape showed

was a fifteen&minute period in which the children spent time measuring, constructing

and wandering around/ with little idea of what they were building or why they were

building it. It was a hands&on activity that was not likely to be educative as intended

for two reasons) a/ The children had no chance to incorporate what they were doing

into a larger picture) the focus was on completing a task, which for them must have

appeared to be 2ust one more of the senseless requirements of school. b/ There was no

opportunity to alter the task to fit the meaning&making of any individual student. They

all simply measured strips of paper !8 inches long the ES is still not on the metric

system/ and '.?% wide, everyone following the same recipe with no variation.

By way of contrast, I have watched adults look at a map of :ngland at the dock where

the Dayflower replica is berthed in 5lymouth, Dassachusetts. epeatedly, adults will

come to the map, look at it and then begin to discuss where their families come from.

I could imagine an even more elaborate ehibit at the same place which would

include a map of the world and different ways in which people have immigrated to the

ES, so that all visitors could find something to interest them./ But at least for those

who trace their roots back to :ngland, here is an interactive ehibit even if there is

little to %do% ecept point and read/ which allows each visitor to take something

personal and meaningful from it and relate to the overall museum eperience. For me,

the -iaspora Duseum in Tel +viv came alive when I had the opportunity to call up

family genealogies on the computer in the reference center. The opportunity to view

and manipulate a library of family trees covering several generations and a wide

geographical distribution, gave personal meaning to the idea of a -iaspora.



5hysical involvement is a necessary condition for learning for children, and highly

desirable for adults in many situations, but it is not sufficient. +ll hands&on activities

must also pass the test of being minds&on&&&they must provide something to think

about as well as something to touch.

Point #2The idea that we learn to learn as we learn, that we begin to understand organi7ing

principles as we use them, is not terribly radical to most of us, but I believe that there

is an important manner of formulating it that can help us, which sometimes eludes us)

$hat are we assuming about our visitors( ability to learn to organi7e knowledge/

when we present ehibits to them* $hat organi7ing schemes do we attribute to them,

that may or may not be available to them* 4et me give you an eample. -uring the

last year we have been observing visitors at the Boston Duseum of Science

interacting with a series of ehibits developed originally at the :ploratorium in San

Francisco. $e asked them what they thought of the ehibits. Some visitors did not

have the tools they needed to get the concept of the ehibit. I don(t mean that they did

not understand the concept that will be my net point/ but that they did not have the

organi7ing principles, and thus the learning tools.

For eample, there are ehibits which require visitors to turn knobs which will cause a

component of the ehibit to move or change. <ot all visitors are clear about the

relationship between the knob and what it does. The ehibit is intended to eplain a

causal relationship between two variables in nature1 one variable is altered by turning

the knob and that change then causes the other variable to respond and vary. But if the

visitor does not understand about knobs and what they do, then the message of the

ehibit cannot possibly be understood.

+ similar issue concerns chronologies and time lines, which are common devices in

history museums. -o we know that our visitors understand chronology* +re we

positive that our visitors can appreciate a time line, for eample, and can recogni7e

that the distribution of dates in linear space may be intended to approimate their

distribution in chronological time* There is considerable evidence that at least some

visitors i.e. children/ cannot follow such reasoning1 there is less evidence that any

significant number of visitors can. 'A Daybe we need to teach our visitors to

understand time lines through simple eamples before we present them with comple

charts that span thousands of years. +yala Cordon discussed this issue when she

pointed out that in order to allow children to eperience a sense of time, the 9outh

$ing at the Israel Duseum arranged ehibits so that children and parents would talk

about changes in their lifetimes.

Points #4 and 5

4earning is a social activity. To what etent do we recogni7e that people learn as they



speak and interact with each other* In evaluating an interactive ehibit at the Boston

Duseum of Science in which people could get information through a variety of

modalities&&&they could read labels, listen to tapes, smell animal smells, touch animal

mounts and manipulate interactive ehibit components&& &we noted that individual

visitors preferred different learning modes. In family groups, the conversations

became more democratic, and involved more members after all these modalities wereinstalled, as family members shared, discussed and confirmed what each had learned

while perusing his or her preferred modality.

$e need to ask what have we build into the ehibit that encourages visitors to discuss,

to share, to find out together. =as the architecture and ehibit arrangement encouraged

discussion* Some art museums have a quiet air like a church, discouraging active

debate and verbal interaction. The quiet may be appropriate for individual

contemplation of pictures, but perhaps these museums could provide other rooms,

close to the galleries, and fitted out with reproductions( reference materials or other

reminders of the paintings, which would encourage dialogue.

Point #6

This is really an elaboration of the point made previously about learning to learn as

one learns. ;ur visitors need ((hooks%&&&connections&&&in ehibits to help them

understand the messages intended. +n eperienced museum&goer or a person

knowledgeable on a given sub2ect can be enlightened easily. But what does it mean

for a naive visitor to be confronted with a whole case containing may ob2ects* ;f

what value is it to the naive visitor to be invited to push this button or read a

sophisticated label*

It is important for ehibits to provide different kinds of entry points, using various

sensory modes, different kinds of stimuli, to attract a wide range of learners. In

teaching people to read, the use of different words which have powerful connections

for individuals was dramatically described years ago by Sylvia +shton&$arner'> and

widely emulated since. :urydice etsila described a program in which children served

as young ethnographers, developing individual pro2ects of interest to them with the

%assistance% of university students.

Point #7

5erhaps no other issue in constructivism raises more questions than the concern with

finding the right level at which to engage the learner. 6igotsky spoke of the %7one of

proimal development,% 'an unfortunately cumbersome term which refers to a level

of understanding that is possible when a learner engages in a task with the help of a

more epert peer i.e. a teacher/. 5eople learn as they are stretched beyond their own

knowledge but only within a range that is within their grasp given what knowledge

and skills they bring to a task.



Point #8

Finally there is the issue of time to learn, time to reflect and time to revisit an idea.

Duseum educators have grappled with this problem and find it a particularly

challenging one, since our audiences are free to come and go, and large fractions of

them are tourists who many never return. Duseum galleries are not designed as places

to linger, despite our desire to have visitors spend more time there. I was impressed tonote in the slide Dichael assin showed yesterday that the <ational Callery at the turn

of the century had many chairs scattered around the gallery for people to sit in and

contemplate the pictures. $hat do we do for the visitors who wish to stay with a topic

longer* =ow have we organi7ed our museums to accommodate them* To what etent

have we provided additional resources in addition to items which we are eager to sell

to them in the nearby shop/ that can satisfy the interested visitors( concerns that arise

on the net day or a week after the visit*

I believe that an important issue for we, as museum educators is to tackle the problem

of increasing the time possible for visitors to interact with our ehibits and reflect on

them, revisit them in the mind if not directly/ and therefore internali7e their messages

to us.

Conclusion

The principles of constructivism, increasingly influential in the organi7ation of

classrooms and curricula in schools, can be applied to learning in museums. The

principles appeal to our modern views of learning and knowledge but conflict with

traditional museum practices. $e need to reflect on our practice in order to apply

these ideas to our work.

eferences

' I will document this paper with quotes from relevant publications. See these for

additional information on constructivism and its application in education. I have also

indicated how the views in this paper relate to a number of ether presentations at this

conference.

! %onstructivism asserts two main principles whose applications have far&reaching

consequences for the study of cognitive development and learning as well as for the

practice of teaching, psychotherapy, and interpersonal management in general. The

two principles are '/ knowledge is mot passively received but actively built up by the

eperiential world, not the discovery of ontological reality.% International

Encyclopedia of Education. %onstructivism In :ducation,% '>A.

0 The ideas I will discuss here have been touched upon by other speakers at this

conference, for eample Tomislav Sola in his general orientation1 Samuel Sas stated

that %in the modem Duseum the visitor is at the center, not the ob2ect1% Daria =orta



Baretto stressed that the meaning of an ob2ect is given to it by the viewer1 and 9aron

:7rahi discussed the sub2ectivity of the images of science.

8 :very genuine eperience has an active side which changes in some degree the

ob2ective conditions under which eperiences are had. The difference between

civili7ation and savagery to take an eample on a large scale is found in the degree inwhich previous eperiences have changed the ob2ective conditions under which

subsequent eperiences take place.% #. -ewey. Experience and Education. Gappa

-elta 5i, '0>.

%If the view is adopted that (knowledge( is the conceptual means to make sense of

eperience rather than the (representation( of something that is supposed to lie beyond

it, this shift of perspective brings with it an important corollary) the concepts and

relations in terms of which we perceive and conceive the eperiential world are

necessarily generated by ourselves. In this sense we are responsible for the world we

are eperiencing.% :. von Claserfield. %+n eposition of onstructivism) $hy somelike it radical% in . B. -avis. .+. Daher and <. <oddings, editors. Constructivist

Views of the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics.$ashington, -.. <ational

ouncil of Teachers of Dathematics, ''.

? +s a participant stated in our discussion group, %=istory is made by people) it isn(t a

collection of facts.% or as +vner Shalev stated %The role of education is not to instruct

but tutorial) an approach that allows the visitor to be a consumer.%

@ The meanings that learners construct do, in fact, concentrate on a limited number of

conclusions. This is related to the notion that learning is social, as it happens within aculture, and perhaps for other reasons as well. + discussion of why certain views

appear repeatedly is beyond the scope of this paper. That they do is evident when we

consider, for eample, the consistent +ristotelian% views in naive science

eplanations.

A %Study is effectual in the degree in which the pupil reali7es the place of the

numerical truth he is dealing with in carrying to fruition activities in which he is

concerned. This connection of an ob2ect and a topic with the promotion of an activity

having a purpose is the first and last word of a genuine theory of interest in

education.% #. -ewey. Democracy and Education. DacDillan, ''@.

> %The most important message modern research on the nature of thinking is that the

kinds of activities traditionally associated with thinking are not limited to advanced

levels of development. Instead these activities are an intimate part of even elementary

levels of reading, mathematics and other branches of learning.% 4.B.

esnick . Learning to Thin. $ashington, -..) <ational +cademy 5ress.



((The ob2ect enters into dialog with the learner only after being transformed by him

or her. In fact, it is the set of significant units organi7ed by the learner and the

relationships that he or she constructs between them that constitutes the cognitive

ob2ect that, in turn, constitutes knowledge.% + =enriques. %:periments in Teaching,%

in :. -uckworth, #. :asley, -. =awkins and + =enriques. !cience Education" #

Minds $n #pproach to the Elementary %ears. :rlbaum, '".

'" %The relationship between thought and word is not a thing but a process. a

continual movement back and forth from thought to word and from word to

thought) .... thought is not merely epressed in words1 it comes into eistence through

them.% 4.6. 6igotsky. Thought and Language. ambridge, D+. DIT 5ress, '@!.

'' %6igotsky was proposing that children(s understanding is shaped not only through

adaptive encounters with the physical world but through interactions between people

in relation to the world&&&a world not merely physical and apprehended by the senses,

but cultural, meaningful and significant, and made so primarily by language. =umanknowledge and thought are themselves therefore fundamentally cultural, deriving their

distinctive properties form the nature social activity, of language, discourse and other

cultural forms.% -. :dwards and <. Dercer. Common &nowledge" The Development

of 'nderstanding in the Classroom.4ondon) Dethuen, '>A.

'! +s Dooly Broog stated in the discussion group %$hen you say #erusalem, what is

the visitor(s concept* :ach visitor, from a different community, has a totally different

idea of what the city is.%

'0 %+ fundamental way of changing the requirements for success on a particular taskis to recontetuali7e the tet presented to, and understood by, the learner. In all sample

cases, the sub2ect is initially presented with the activity&&&the whole task&&&embedded

in, contetuali7ed as part of some larger activity. For the sub2ects themselves, the

recontetuali7ation involves familiar scripts and human intentions.% D. ole and 5.

Criffin. Contextual (actors in Education. Dadison, $I) $isconsin enter for

:ducational esearch, '>A.

'8 Daria Baretto referred to this point when she stated that %we cannot identify and

recogni7e what we don(t already know .%

'? %$e can learn most easily when we already know enough to have organi7ing

schemas in 4.B. esnick and 4.: Glopfer, editors. Towards the Thining Curriculum"

Current Cognitive )esearch. '> +S- 9earbook. +leandria, 6+) +merican

+ssociation for urriculum -evelopment, '>.



'@ %esearch... confirmed that acquiring skills and strategies, no matter how good one

became at them, would not make one into a competent reader, writer, problem solver

or thinker... The habit or disposition to use the skill and strategies, and the knowledge

of when they are applied, needed to be developed as well.% esnick and Glopfer., op

cit.

'A Increasingly we find that the limitations of timing described by 5iaget etend

longer into adulthood than 5iaget would have had us believe. esearch by Shayler and

+dey suggests that :nglish children shift from concrete to hypothetical&deductive

later than 5iaget argued1 a considerable amount of research on college students

indicates that many are still in concrete stages, and work with adults on science

concepts often indicates that they hold %childish% views on a range of topics.

'> Teacher. <ew 9ork. Simon H Schuster, '@0.

' %...the distance between the actual developmental level as determined byindependent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined by

problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.% 4.

6igotsky. Mind and !ociety. ambridge, D+) =arvard Eniversity 5ress, 'A>.

Constructivist Theory

Constructivism is the label given to a set of theories about learning which fall somewherebetween cognitive and humanistic views. If behaviourism treats the organism as a black

box, cognitive theory recognises the importance of the mind in making sense of the

material with which it is presented. Nevertheless, it still presupposes that the role of thelearner is primarily to assimilate whatever the teacher presents. Constructivism —

particularly in its "social" forms — suggests that the learner is much more actively involvedin a joint enterprise with the teacher of creating "constructing"! new meanings.

As a philosophy of learning, constructivism can be traced to the eighteenth

century and the work of the philosopher Giambattista Vico, who maintained

that humans can understand only what they have themselves constructed. A

great many philosophers and educationalists have worked with these ideas,

but the rst major contemporaries to develop a clear idea of what

constructivism consists in were Jean iaget and John !ewey, to name but a

few. art of the discussion that ensues grapples with the major tenets of their

philosophies, with a view to shedding light on constructivism and its vital

contribution to learning. As a revealing gloss on this issue, it could be said

that constructivism takes an interdisciplinary perspective, inasmuch as it

draws upon a diversity of psychological, sociological, philosophical, and



critical educational theories. "n view of this, constructivism is an overarching

theory that does not intend to demolish but to reconstruct past and present

teaching and learning theories, its concern lying in shedding light on the

learner as an important agent in the learning process, rather than in wresting

the power from the teacher.

#ithin the constructivist paradigm, the accent is on the learner rather than

the teacher. "t is the learner who interacts with his or her environment and

thus gains an understanding of its features and characteristics. $he learner

constructs his own conceptualisations and nds his own solutions to

problems, mastering autonomy and independence. According to

constructivism, learning is the result of individual mental construction,

whereby the learner learns by dint of matching new against given

information and establishing meaningful connections, rather than by

internalising mere factoids to be regurgitated later on. "n constructivist

thinking, learning is inescapably a%ected by the conte&t and the beliefs and

attitudes of the learner. 'ere, learners are given more latitude in becoming

e%ective problem solvers, identifying and evaluating problems, as well as

deciphering ways in which to transfer their learning to these problems.

"f a student is able to perform in a problem solving situation, a meaningful learningshould then occur because he has constructed an interpretation of how things work

using pree&isting structures. $his is the theory behind (onstructivism. )y creating apersonal interpretation of e&ternal ideas and e&periences, constructivism allowsstudents the ability to understand how ideas can relate to each other and pree&istingknowledge *Janet !rapikowski, personal communication+.

$he constructivist classroom presents the learner with opportunities for

autopoietic- learning *here, " deploy the meaning of rancisco Varela/s term

in a conte&t di%erent to the original one+ with a view to helping learners to

build on prior knowledge and understand how to construct new knowledge

from authentic e&perience0certainly a view in keeping with

1ogers/ experiential learning *1ogers, 2343, 2335+. (. 1ogers, one of thee&ponents of e&periential learning0the tenets of which are ine&tricably

related to, and congruent with, those of constructivism0made the distinction

between cognitive learning, which he deemed meretricious,

and experiential learning, which he considered signicant. or him, the

6ualities of e&periential learning include7



personal involvement8

learner9initiation8

evaluation by learner8 and

pervasive e%ects on learner *see the web

document7 http7::www.educationau.edu.au:archives:cp:;5f.htm

+

1ogers/ humanistic approach to learning is also conducive topersonal change and growth, and can facilitate learning, providedthat the student participates completely in the learning process andhas control over its nature and direction8 it is primarily based upon

direct confrontation with practical, social, personal or researchproblems8 and, self9evaluation is the principal method of assessingprogress or success. ibid.+

"nterestingly, contrasting this approach with the typical behaviourist

classroom, where students are merely passive receptacles- of information

from the teacher and the te&tbook, is rather revealing. #e will come to that

later on in the study. At this juncture, it is important to brie<y discuss the

theories of John !ewey, Jean iaget, and Jerome )runer that have certainly

in<uenced our stance toward the nature of learning and, concomitantly,teaching. or !ewey, knowledge emerges only from situations in which

learners have to draw them out of meaningful e&periences *see Democracy

and Education, 2324 and Experience and Education, 23=>+. urther, these

situations have to be embedded in a social conte&t, such as a classroom,

where students can take part in manipulating materials and, thus, forming a

community of learners who construct their knowledge together. ?tudents

cannot learn by means of rote memorisation8 they can only learn by

directed living,- whereby concrete activities are combined with theory. $he

obvious implication of !ewey/s theory is that students must be engaged in

meaningful activities that induce them to apply the concepts they are trying

to learn.

iaget@s constructivism is premised on his view of the psychological

development of children. #ithin his theory, the basis of learning is discovery7

http://www.educationau.edu.au/archives/cp/04f.htm





$o understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such

conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed

who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition/

*iaget, 23B=+. According to iaget, children go through stages in which they

accept ideas they may later discard as wrong. Cnderstanding, therefore, is

built up step by step through active participation and involvement. 'owever,

applying iaget/s theory is not so straightforward a task as it may sound.

*see http7::curriculum.calstatela.edu:faculty:psparks:theorists:D;2const.htm+

According to )runer, learning is a social process, whereby students construct

new concepts based on current knowledge. $he student selects information,

constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, with the aim of integrating newe&periences into his e&isting mental constructs. "t is cognitive structures that

provide meaning and organiEation to e&periences and allow learners to

transcend the boundaries of the information given. or him, learner

independence, fostered through encouraging students to discover new

principles of their own accord, lies at the heart of e%ective education.

Foreover, curriculum should be organiEed in a spiral manner so that

students can build upon what they have already learned. "n short, the

principles that permeate )runer/s theory are the following *see )runer,

23B=+7

"nstruction must be commensurate with the e&periences thatmake the student willing and able to learn *readiness+.

€ "nstruction must be structured so that it can be easilyunderstood by the student *spiral organiEation+.

"nstruction should be designed to facilitate e&trapolation *going

beyond the information given+.

"t could be argued that constructivism emphasiEes the importance of the

world knowledge, beliefs, and skills an individual brings to bear on learning.

Viewing the construction of new knowledge as a combination of prior

learning matched against new information, and readiness to learn, this

theory opens up new perspectives, leading individuals to informed choices

http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/faculty/psparks/theorists/501const.htm






about what to accept and how to t it into their e&isting schemata, as well as

what to reject. 1ecapitulating the main principles of constructivism, we could

say that it emphasises learning and not teaching, encourages learner

autonomy and personal involvement in learning, looks to learners as

incumbents of signicant roles and as agents e&ercising will and purpose,

fosters learners/ natural curiosity, and also takes account of learners/ a%ect,

in terms of their beliefs, attitudes, and motivation. "n addition, within

constructivist theory, conte&t is accorded signicance, as it renders

situations and events meaningful and relevant, and provides learners with

the opportunity to construct new knowledge from authentic e&perience. After

all,

earning is conte&tual7 we do not learn isolated facts and theories in some abstract

ethereal land of the mind separate from the rest of our lives7 we learn in relationship towhat else we know, what we believe, our prejudices and our fears. Hn re<ection, itbecomes clear that this point is actually a corollary of the idea that learning is activeand social. #e cannot divorce our learning from our lives *'ein, 2332, see

www.e&ploratorium.edu:"":resources:constructivistlearning.html+.

#hat is more, by providing opportunities for independent thinking,

constructivism allows students to take responsibility for their own

learning, by framing 6uestions and then analyEing them. 1eaching

beyond simple factual information, learners are induced to establish

connections between ideas and thus to predict, justify, and defendtheir ideas *adapted from In Search of Understanding: The Case for

Constructivist Classrooms by Jac6ueline G. )rooks and Fartin G.

)rooks, Ale&andria, VA7 Association for ?upervision and (urriculum

!evelopment, 233=+.

'aving e&patiated upon the main tenets of constructivism, let us now

content ourselves with ju&taposing constructivism with other theories,

objectivist theories that is, and, more specically, contiguity theory . )yrnes

*2334+ and Arseneau and 1odenburg *233>+ contrast objectivist andconstructivist approaches to teaching and learning.

Objectivist View Constructivist View

Inowledge e&ists outside of

individuals and can be

Inowledge has personal meaning. "t

is created by individual students.



transferred from teachers to

students.

?tudents learn what they hear

and what they read. "f a

teacher e&plains abstract

concepts well, students will

learn those concepts.

earners construct their own

knowledge by looking for meaning

and order8 they interpret what they

hear, read, and see based on their

previous learning and habits.

?tudents who do not have

appropriate backgrounds will be

unable to accurately hear- or

see- what is before them.

earning is successful when

students can repeat what wastaught.

earning is successful when

students can demonstrateconceptual understanding.

Amongst the din of shifting paradigms, a theory that used to dominate the

eld but is not well9known is contiguity theory, an e&ponent of which is .

Guthrie. $he classic e&perimental paradigm for contiguity theory is cats

learning to escape from a puEEle bo& *Guthrie K 'orton, 2354+. Guthrie used

a glass bo& which allowed him to photograph the movements of cats. $hese

photographs showed that cats learned to repeat the same movements

associated with the preceding escape from the bo&. "n this vein,

improvement comes about when irrelevant movements are unlearned or not

included in successive associations. !rawing upon behaviouristic principles,

contiguity theory sets out to show that, in order for conditioning to occur, the

organism must actively respond8 inasmuch as learning involves the

conditioning of specic behaviours, instruction boils down to presenting very

specic tasks8 e&posure to variations in stimulus patterns is necessary in

order to produce a generaliEed response8 and the last response in a stimulus9

response situation should be correct since it is this one that will beassociated *see http7::www.educationau.edu.au:archives:cp:;5b.htm+.

#ithin a positivistic tradition, so to speak, under which come the

theories of behaviourism, contiguity theory, and many others, the

learner was, and still is, seen as relatively passive, simply absorbing

information transmitted by a didactic teacher/ *ong, L;;;7 4+. "n the



universe created by these paradigms, the powerless learner is

worlds apart- from the omniscient and powerful teacher, whose

main concern is to deliver a standard curriculum and to evaluate

stable underlying di%erences between children/ *ibid.+. Against this

background, the cognitive paradigm of constructivism has beeninstrumental in shifting the locus of responsibility for learning from

the teacher to the learner, who is no longer seen as passive or

powerless. $he student is viewed as an individual who is active in

constructing new knowledge and understanding, while the teacher is

seen as a facilitator rather than a dictator- of learning. Met, despite

its democratic- nature, many contemporary philosophers and

educationalists have tried to demolish or vitiate some of its

principles. ?uch a discussion is outside the remit of this study, of

course. #e will only brie<y mention George 'ein *2332, see

www.e&ploratorium.edu:"":resources:constructivistlearning.html+,

who voices some reservations about constructivist learning.

or 'ein, constructivism, although it appears radical on an everyday level, is

a position which has been fre6uently adopted ever since people began to

ponder epistemology/ *ibid.+. According to him, if we align ourselves with

constructivist theory, which means we are willing to follow in the footsteps of

!ewey, iaget and Vygotsky, among others, then we have to run counter tolatonic views of epistemology. #e have to recogniEe that knowledge is not

out there,- independent of the knower, but knowledge is what we construct

for ourselves as we learn. )esides, we have to concede that learning is not

tantamount to understanding the true- nature of things, nor is it *as lato

suggested+ akin to remembering perfect ideas, but rather a personal and

social construction of meaning out of the bewildering array of sensations

which have no order or structure besides the e&planationsNwhich we

fabricate for them/ *ibid.+.

"t goes without saying that learners represent a rich array of

di%erent backgrounds and ways of thinking and feeling. "f the

classroom can become a neutral Eone where students can e&change

their personal views and critically evaluate those of others, each

student can build understanding based on empirical evidence. #e



have no intention of positing methods and techni6ues for creating a

constructivist classroom.- After all, classrooms are, and should be,

amenable and sensitive to a whole lot of approaches to teaching

and learning, and a slavish adherence to the letter rather than the

spirit of education is bound to prove detrimental. "t should be bornein mind that the theory of constructivism, with which we have been

concerned, is not yet another educational decree.- ike philosophy,

constructivism can lead to its own de9construction, in the sense that

it forges the very structures and associations that could possibly

demolish it. "t is a meta9theory, in that it fosters a meta9critical

awareness. A constructivist orientation to learning is uni6ue because

at its heart lies the individual learner in toto, rather than dimly

perceived apparitions- of her essence. (onstructivism is a modern

version of human anatomy, in the sense that it is based on, and

provides insights into, brain mechanisms, mental structures, and

willingness to learn.

Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those

Who Would Link Practice to Theory E!"C #i$est

In recent years, constructivism has received considerable attention in education

scholarship, practitioner preparation, and policy formation DacGinnon H Scarff&

Seatter, 'A1 ichardson, 'A1 Teets H Starnes, '@/. It has been heralded as amore natural, relevant, productive, and empowering framework for instructing both 5&

'! and teacher education students annella H eiff, '8/. This -igest identifies

ma2or forms of constructivism and considers issues and challenges that surface when

implementing constructivist approaches to preservice and inservice teacher education.

W%&T "' CO('T!)CT"V"'*+

(onstructivism is an epistemology, a learning or meaning9making

theory, that o%ers an e&planation of the nature of knowledge and

how human beings learn. "t maintains that individuals create orconstruct their own new understandings or knowledge through the

interaction of what they already know and believe and the ideas,

events, and activities with which they come in contact *(annella K

1ei%, 23358 1ichardson, 233B+. Inowledge is ac6uired through

involvement with content instead of imitation or repetition *Iroll K



a)oskey, 2334+. earning activities in constructivist settings are

characteriEed by active engagement, in6uiry, problem solving, and

collaboration with others. 1ather than a dispenser of knowledge, the

teacher is a guide, facilitator, and co9e&plorer who encourages

learners to 6uestion, challenge, and formulate their own ideas,opinions, and conclusions. O(orrectO answers and single

interpretations are de9emphasiEed.

+s an approach to teaching, constructivism may be eamined as much for what it is

<;T as for what it is. It challenges what ;ldfather, Bonds, and Bray '8/

characteri7e as the default mode in education&&an empiricist3reductionist approach to

teaching and learning. They cite Freire who considers this approach to be a %banking%

model&&the teacher fills students with deposits of information considered by the

teacher to be true knowledge, and the students store these deposits, intact, untilneeded. annella H eiff '8/ label these traditional models didactic, memory&

oriented transmission models. onstructivists generally maintain that when

information is acquired through transmission models, it is not always well integrated

with prior knowledge and is often accessed and articulated only for formal academic

occasions such as eams ichardson, 'A/. onstructivist approaches, in contrast,

are regarded as producing greater internali7ation and deeper understanding than

traditional methods.

$hile there are commonly accepted attributes of constructivism, there are also

different interpretations of it. 6adeboncoeur 'A/ identifies three significant strandswithin these interpretations&&5iagetian, sociocultural, and emancipatory

constructivism&&strands differentiated primarily by '/ the sub2ect of study, !/ views

about how cognitive forms develop, and 0/ %the liberatory power of the pedagogical

approaches derived% p. !!/. In general, two broad interpretations can be found among

contemporary educators&&psychological constructivism, most notably articulated by

5iaget, and social constructivism, associated with 6ygotsky. Two ma2or issues shape

these interpretations) '/ education for individual development versus education for

social transformation and !/ the degree of influence that social contet has on

individual cognitive development ichardson, 'A1 6adeboncoeur, 'A/.

P',C%OLO-"C&L CO('T!)CT"V"'*

sychological or iagetian constructivists generally regard the

purpose of education as educating the individual child in a fashion

that supports the child@s interests and needs8 conse6uently, the

child is the subject of study, and individual cognitive development is

the emphasis. earning is primarily an individualistic enterprise. $his



is a child9centered approach that seeks to identify, through scientic

study, the natural path of cognitive development *Vadeboncoeur,

233B+. $his approach assumes that students come to classrooms

with ideas, beliefs, and opinions that need to be altered or modied

by a teacher who facilitates this alteration by devising tasks and6uestions that create dilemmas for students. Inowledge

construction occurs as a result of working through these dilemmas.

(haracteristic instructional practices include Odiscovery learningO

and hands9on activities, such as using manipulatives8 student tasks

that challenge e&isting concepts and thinking processes8 and

6uestioning techni6ues that probe students@ beliefs and encourage

e&amination and testing of those beliefs *1ichardson, 233B+.

To a large etent, this approach assumes that development is an ingrained, natural,

biological process that is pretty much the same for all individuals, regardless of

gender, class, race, or the social or cultural contet in which learning and living take

place 6adeboncoeur, 'A/. Internal development is the focus of the teaching

environment, and the social and historical contet, as well as issues of power,

authority, and the place of formal knowledge in the learning environment are not

emphasi7ed ichardson, 'A/. It is essentially a decontetuali7ed approach to

learning and teaching. ritics of the psychological constructivist approach deprecate

its lack of attention to %the influence of the classroom culture and the broader social

contet% 6adeboncoeur, 'A/, as well as disregard for power issues, particularly

power issues related to knowledge production Dartin, '81 ichardson, 'A1

6adeboncoeur, 'A/.

'OC"&L CO('T!)CT"V"'*

?ocial or Vygotskian constructivism emphasiEes education for social

transformation and re<ects a theory of human development that

situates the individual within a sociocultural conte&t. "ndividual

development derives from social interactions within which cultural

meanings are shared by the group and eventually internaliEed by

the individual *1ichardson, 233B+. "ndividuals construct knowledge in

transaction with the environment, and in the process both the

individual and the environment are changed. $he subject of study is

the dialectical relationship between the individual and the social and

cultural milieu.



Schools are the sociocultural settings where teaching and learning take place and

where %cultural tools,% such as reading, writing, mathematics, and certain modes of

discourse are utili7ed ichardson, 'A/. This approach assumes that theory and

practice do not develop in a vacuum1 they are shaped by dominant cultural

assumptions Dartin, '81 ;(4oughlin, '?/. Both formal knowledge, the sub2ect of

instruction, and the manner of its presentation are influenced by the historical andcultural environment that generated them. To accomplish the goals of social

transformation and reconstruction, the contet of education must be deconstructed,

and the cultural assumptions, power relationships, and historical influences that

undergird it must be eposed, critiqued, and, when necessary, altered Dyers, '@/.

6ariants of social constructivism include situated constructivism, social

reconstructivism, sociocultural constructivism, sociohistorical constructivism, and

emancipatory constructivism.

CO('T!)CT"V"'T .!&*EWO!/' "( TE&C%E! E#)C&T"O(

#hile it may inform and in<uence practice, constructivism is a

theory of learning, not a theory of teaching *#ol%e K FcFullen,

2334+, and translating theory to practice is both diPcult and

imprecise *FacIinnon K ?carf9?eatter, 233B+. 'owever, education

literature documents several large9 and small9scale e%orts to do so

*!eJong K Grooms, 23348 Iaufman, 23348 1ichardson, 233B+. or

e&ample, as part of a statewide education reform initiative,

Cniversity of ouisville faculty, supported by funding from the

Ientucky !epartment of ducation, developed 22 guiding principlesand possible indicators of constructivist teaching *ischetti, !ittmer,

K Iyle, 2334+. $he venerable o&re roject devised 22 core

practices that re<ect the constructivist underpinnings of the o&re

approach to teaching and professional development, which has

evolved over a =;9year period *$eets K ?tarnes, 2334+.

onstructivist teacher education generally reflects two ma2or traditions&&the

developmental and social reconstructionist traditions anella H eiff, '8/.

5rograms influenced by the developmental tradition attempt to teach students how toteach in a constructivist, generally 5iagetian, manner. They are typically characteri7ed

by substantial direct instruction in theory and practice, often without complementary

opportunities for inquiry, discovery, or self&eamination. This approach can easily

become overly prescriptive. If this occurs, the teacher educator models an approach to

teaching that is essentially antithetical to the approach students are intended to employ

in their future classrooms ;ldfather, Bonds, H Bray, '8/.



5rograms influenced by social reconstructionist tradition attempt to help teacher

education students deconstruct their own prior knowledge and attitudes, comprehend

how these understandings evolved, eplore the effects they have on actions and

behavior, and consider alternate conceptions and premises that may be more

serviceable in teaching. ritical analysis and structured reflection on formal course

knowledge and everyday practical eperience are incorporated.

ichardson 'A/ identifies two factors that appear to affect the approach teachers

and teacher educators take in forming constructivist settings&&the etent to which the

social is acknowledged as a critical factor in learning and individual cognitive

development and the specific content, sub2ect matter, or discipline. Some sub2ects,

such as mathematics, are more %bounded% than others by rules, formulae, and

procedures. They are more likely to be regarded by teachers as producing problems

and tasks to which there are %correct% answers. Individual interpretations and

construction of ideas and concepts are less likely to be encouraged by teachers than in

sub2ects such as literature and writing.

C%&LLE(-E'

$he overarching challenge constructivism presents to teachers and

teacher educators is the formidable task of translating a learning

theory into a theory of teaching *FacIinnon K ?car%9?eatter, 233B+,

which in turn raises 6uestions about what teachers need to know

and be able to do. or teacher educators, among other tasks, this

involves balancing the need to acknowledge the di%erent discipline9

specic re6uirements of teaching with the need to model

constructivist methods in teacher education courses and

practicums. 1ichardson *233B+ also notes the limits of a perspective

on teaching that values students@ understandings at the e&pense of

OrightO answers. ?tudent knowledge becomes idiosyncratic8 =;

di%erent students may arrive at =; di%erent understandings or

interpretations of a concept, all of which are not e6ually appropriate.

"nappropriately applied, constructivist approaches may lead to the

OabandonmentO style of teaching *FacIinnon K ?car%9?eatter,233B+.

Several authors cite the importance of teacher educators( modeling constructivist

approaches that engage students in interdisciplinary eploration, collaborative activity,

and field&based opportunities for eperiential learning, reflection, and self&



eamination Gaufman, '@1 Groll H 4aBosky, '@/ if future teachers are to be

able to employ these strategies in schools.

To derive culturally relevant and socially 2ust pedagogy and practice from

constructivist epistemologies, Dartin '8/ and 6adeboncoeur 'A/ urge teacher

educators to deconstruct and scrutini7e cultural assumptions that underlie variousinterpretations of constructivism to epose how social beliefs have influenced the

development of theory and practices. $ithout such scrutiny, societal inequities and

historical forms of oppression may be perpetuated in supposedly constructivist

classrooms, and the very constraints on individual development constructivists seek to

remove or ameliorate will be reinforced.

+ final challenge faced by educators is the pitfall of regarding constructivism as the

only viable theoretical framework for teaching and learning. It is one way of thinking

about how knowledge and understanding are formed, but it is not the only way. <or

are various interpretations of constructivism necessarily incompatible with oneanother DacGinnon H Scarff&Seatter, 'A1 ;ldfather, Bonds, H Bray, '8/.

5rospective teachers should be eposed to varying perspectives and given

opportunities to develop the discretion needed to choose most appropriately and the

skills to implement their choices.

!escription

+t the turn of the century, many advances in science were occurring due to a

fundamental concept that philosophers of science refer to as %elementism%.

:lementism refers to the conception of comple phenomena in terms of basic parts orelements. This conception of science was leading to many important discoveries with

important applications in areas such as the biological sciences in the late '>""s. It was

at this time that, what most psychologists acknowledge as, the first %school of

psychology% began. In '>A $ilhelm $undt began the first psychological laboratory

in 4eip7ig, Cermany. The school of psychology that $undt began and championed all

his life is referred to as %structuralism%. For this reason, $undt is often referred to as

the father of structuralism.

Structuralism can be defined as psychology as the study of the elements of

consciousness. The idea is that conscious eperience can be broken down into basicconscious elements, much as a physical phenomenon can be viewed as consisting of

chemical structures, that can in turn be broken down into basic elements. In fact,

much of the research conducted in $undt(s laboratory consisted of cataloging these

basic conscious elements. In order to reduce a normal conscious eperience into basic

elements, structuralism relied on a method called introspection. For eample, one of

$undt(s research assistants might describe an ob2ect such as an apple in terms of the

http://web.mst.edu/~psyworld/structuralism.htm#1

http://web.mst.edu/~psyworld/structuralism.htm#1



basic perceptions it invoked e.g., %cold%, %crisp%, and %sweet%/. +n important

principal of introspection is that any given conscious eperience must be described in

it(s most basic terms, so that a researcher could not describe some eperience or ob2ect

as itself, such as describing an apple as an apple. Such a mistake is a ma2or

instrospection fau pas and is referred to as the %stimulus error%. Through

introspection eperiments, $undt began to catalog a large number of basic consciouselements, which could hypothetically be combined to describe all human eperiences.

"imitations

Enlike other schools of psychology that I will discuss in the virtual lecture and in

class, the school of Structuralism is, for the most part, completely dead in psychology.

In fact, the school pretty much died with $undt. ;ne basic reason this occurred was

that $undt(s methodology had a principal flaw that is not consistent with the main

stream views of eperimental psychologists today, and this had to do with sub2ect

agreement and reliability. Since psychology often deals with data that are difficult todescribe in concrete terms, it is very important to make sure that multiple observers

can agree independently on a phenomenon that is being eperienced. This is referred

to as reliability. In the contemporary study of sensory and perceptual phenomena,

when observers view, touch, or taste some stimulus, researchers go to great lengths to

make sure that the observers are not biased or influenced in their report of their

eperience. Further, agreement among observers in terms of what they are

eperiencing, is a prerequisite for considering the observations as valid.

Enfortunately, $undt(s observers were students trained by $undt, and, in fact, any

disagreement was resolved by $undt. Therefore, reliability or agreement among

observers in $undt(s eperiments only occurred due to bias induced by training. The

use of trained observers, such as those in $undt(s laboratory is diametrically opposed

to the current practice of using participants who know as little as possible about the

phenomenon being studied in order to decrease bias, and increase ob2ectivity. This is

one reason why general psychology students often serve as sub2ects in psychology

eperiments.

+ second criticism of structuralism, mainly leveled by behaviorists who came some

years later, was that structuralist theory dealt primarily with %nonobservable%

abstractions. Though participants could report on conscious eperiences, these

elements of consciousness themselves were thought to be unobservable theoretical

constructions. The emphasis then, was on %internal% behavior. Interestingly,

structuralism would eventually be vindicated in this internal behavior criticism, in that

the cognitive psychologists, one of the most historically recent schools of psychology,

have returned to elaborate speculation about internal, nonobservable phenomenon.

Further, the basic structuralist notion that conscious eperience can be broken down

into fundamental elements is also consistent with contemporary research in sensory



neuroscience. For eample, cells have been identified in visual portions of the brain

that respond to basic lines and shapes, and these are eventually combined in

subsequent brain areas.

osted# Nice$un.net ost %ub&ect# 'earning (heory of )estalt

'earning (heory of )estalt

*eaning and +efinition of learning

'earning means to bring changes in the behaviour of the organism. It is very difficult to give auniversally acceptable definition of learning because various theories developed by psychologistsattempt to define the term from different angles. 'earning in psychology has the status of a construct.Construct means an idea cr image that cannot be directly observed like electrons or genes but which is

inferred from the behaviour of the organism. *elvin .*arx defines learning as -'earning is a relatively enduring change in behaviour which is a function of prior behaviour usuallycalled practice!.(he definition given above emphasi/es four attributes of learning as a process 0000 the first is thatlearning is a permanent change in behaviour. It does not include change due to illness, fatigue,maturation and use of intoxicants. (he second is that learning is not directly observable but manifestsin the activities of the individual. (he third attribute of learning is that it results in some change ofenduring nature. (he fourth and the last is that learning depends on ractice and experience. ilgarddefined learning as, - a change in a sub&ect1s behaviour to a given situation brought about hisrepeated experiences in that situation, provided that the behaviour change can not be explained onthe basis of native response tendencies, maturation, or temporary states of the sub&ect e.g. fatigue,drugs, etc.!'et us illustrate learning process with the help of a concrete example. %uppose there are threechildren in a class from three different religions, one is from an orthodox indu family, second is from

*uslim family and the third one is from a %ikh family. (hey greet the teacher in three different waysone by -folding his hands other by -salam sahib and third by -sat sri akal 2ou see, why is it so3 It isthe result of their early training and experiences in home. (he early training has brought a permanentchange in their behaviour. (his type of change can be termed as learning.

(here are certain terms, which are confused with learning such as instincts, imprinting andmaturation. If we examine the behaviour of an organism we find that some behaviour of the organismis reflexive or inborn as for example we breathe, our heart pumps, our cells apparently team withactivity, our knee &erks etc. 4ll these activities take place without the benefit of learning. 4s we moveto lower animals, reflexes and instincts account more and more for their behaviour. 4n instinctaccording to 5. aber 6788 is -4 pattern of behaviour, usually complex in nature which is founduniversally among the members of a species, occurs without the need for prior learning or experience,as relatively invariant in from, and is reliably elicited or released by a particular and usually verysimple stimulus.

9inds of 'earning#

'earning has been classified in various categories as learning of motor skills such as walking, writing,swimming and typing etc. which re:uire the use of motor skills and verbal learning involving verbalexpression. 4ffective learning and cognitive learning emphasi/e the role of learning emotionalresponses and learning of facts, understanding of facts and problem solving. It is very difficult todichotomies learning into clear0cut categories because one category overlaps the other. )agne hasclassified learning into eight types in a hierarchical order as given below#

http://nicefun.net/posting.php?mode=quote&p=4437&sid=0bca7cdc32d0cf8a3dc9a48bdf99fc5d

http://nicefun.net/-vp4437.html?sid=0bca7cdc32d0cf8a3dc9a48bdf99fc5d#4437



6. %ignal learning.;. %05 learning<. Chain learning=. >erbal associate learning?. *ultiple discrimination8. 'earning of concepts@. 'earning of principles

A. roblem0solving

Bhat is )estalt3

)estalt theory focused on the mind1s perceptive. (he word -)estalt has no direct translation innglish, but refers to -a way a thing has been gestaltD i.e., placed, or put togetherD commontranslations include -form and -shape. )aetano 9ani/ca refers to it as -organi/ed structure. )estalttheorists followed the basic principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In otherwords, the whole a picture, a car! carried a different and altogether greater meaning than itsindividual components paint,canvas,brushDor tire, paint, metal, respectively!. In viewing the -whole,

a cognitive process takes place Ethe mind makes a leap from comprehenending the parts to reali/ingthe whole.4t the time that )estalt theory emerged, associative and structure schools psychology and schools of

though. ssentially, they espoused -similarity and contiguity, whereby an idea of something is followedby an idea of a similar or related thing. 4s for behaviorist theory -connections among psychologycontents are more readily and more permanently created on the basic of substantive concreterelationship than by sheer repetition and reinforcement.In contrast to this -psychological structurismthe -:ualities of form, meaning, and value interested )estalt theorists. 4ssociative theorists brokedown and analy/ed individual stimuli, or the elementary constituent parts of the mindD for )estalttheorists the grouping of these stimuli, the viewing of the -organi/ed wholes produced a differentview.

(hese factors we are called the laws of organi/ation.

Challenging the idea that - perceptual organi/ation was the product of learned relationships. )estalttheorists argued that the percepts themselves were basic to experience. $or example in an ellipse onedoes not see individual dots, but a dotted line E the dots grouped together from something more

meaningful than &ust a group of dots. In addition, )estalt theorists asserted that memory structuresinformation -based on associative connections and a -tendency for optimal organi/ation.$or example, motion pictures are &ust that# pictures in motion. (he pictures themselves are static, butwhen played at ;= frames per second, the images on screen appear to be in motion.

Bith these components of grouping and perception, )estalt theory influences thinking and problem0solving skills by -by appropriate substantive organi/ation, restructuring, and centering of the given inthe direction of the desired solution. )estalt theory introduces the idea of regrouping and

restructuring the whole problem, or idea, in order to solve it or makes sense of it.

(he founders of )estalt theory are )ermans *ax Bertheimer, Bolfgang 9ohler, and 9urt 9offka. (hesetheorists focused on different aspects of )estalt that have, throughout the ;Fth century, continued todevelop across multiple disciplines.Bertheimer applied )estalt theory to problem solving. 4ccording to Bertheimer, the parts of theproblem should not be isolated but instead should be seen a whole. (his way, the learner can obtain -anew, deeper structural view of the situation. Bertheimer developed a concept titled -ragnan/the)erman word for -precision!, which states that - when things are grasped as whole, the minimalamount of energy is exerted in thinking.



+irected by what is re:uired by the structure of a situationG. one is led to a reasonable prediction,which like the other parts of the structure, calls for verification, direct or indirect. (wo directions areinvolved# getting a whole consistent picture, and seeing what the structure of the whole re:uires forthe parts.

9offka applied )estalt theory to applied psychology and child psychology. is research with infants led

to a theory that infants -initially experience organi/ed wholes as opposed to discrete elements.9ohler1s experiments with animal learning led him to conclude that they exhibited insight, whererelations among stimuli and 5eponses were learned, rather that simple stimulus response connectionscritical to behaviorist theory. In these experiments, apes were sub&ected to different trials of having toobtain food that was &ust out of their reach. (hey learned how to construct a way to get the food,whether standing on a box to get it, making a long stick to reach it, through trial and error. 9ohlerdetermined that the apes generated an -interconnection based on the properties of the thingsthemselves and thus developed insight on how to get the food based on the tools they had availableat a given time.

(he (heory )estalt psychology is based on the observation that we often experience things that arenot a part of our simple sensations. (he original observation was Bertheimer1s, when he noted that weperceive motion where there is nothing more than a rapid se:uence of individual sensory events. (hisis what he saw in the toy stroboscope he bought at the $rankfurt train station, and what he saw in his

laboratory when he experimented with lights flashing in rapid succession like the Christmas lights thatappear to course around the tree, or the fancy neon signs in 'os >egas that seem to move!. (he effectis called the phi phenomenon, and it is actually the basic principle of motion picturesH If we see what isnot there, what is it that we are seeing3 2ou could call it an illusion, but its not an hallucination.Betheimer explained that you are seeing an effect of the whole event, not contained in the sum of theparts. Be see a coursing string of lights, even though only one light lights at a time, because thewhole event contains relationships among the individual lights that we experience as well.

$urthermore, say the )estalt psychologists, we are built to experience the structured whole as well asthe individual sensations. 4nd not only do we have the ability to do so, we have a strong tendency todo so. Be even add structure to events which do not have gestalt structural :ualities. In perception,there are many organi/ing principles called gestalt laws. (he most general version is called the law ofpragnan/. ragnan/ is )erman for pregnant, but in the sense of pregnant with meaning, rather thanpregnant with child. (his law says that we are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt

as possible. -)ood can mean many things here, such a regular, orderly, simplicity, symmetry, and soon, which then refer to specific gestalt laws.

$or example, a set of dots outlining the shape of a star is likely to be perceived as a star, not as a setof dots. Be tend to complete the figure, make it the way it -should be, finish it. 'ike we somehowmanage to see this as a ""...

)estalt is not so much concerned with what students learn as much as how they learn it. $or )estalttheorists, -9nowledge is conceived as a continuous organi/ation and rearrangement of informationaccording to needs, purposes meanings. ssentially, as the learner ingests new material, the newmaterial undergoes -assimilation andGcognitive and existential remodelingG 4s a challenge toconventional thinking, -'earning is not accumulation, but remodeling and insight. olite! ach newexperience.

%uch as a new historical text, an exposition in science, or a problem rider in geometry000 beings byseeming relatively formless and unstructured. (he learner, who does not yet know his way about thematerial, beings by sei/ing upon what appear to him to be important features or figures. e then

reformulates the experience in these new terms. (he insight gradually becomes more and morestructured until finally he reaches an understanding or a solution to the problem. (he interchangebetween learners and teachers, as well as other learners, are given value and weight. Jltimately, it isthe teacher who allows the potential for this exchange to take place.4pplying Bertheimer1s research on problem solving, )estalt theory encourages the learner to -discover the underlying nature of a topic or problem. In other words, how do the elements relate toeach other3 ow can they be restructured so that the learner gains knowledge3 In research on )estalt



theory and instructional design, *oore and $its 67<<! state that -written instructions much bevisually attractive, inviting, and easy to access, follow, and understanding0000 idea that conform to sixlaws that )estalt psychologists have developed in studies on perception.

6. 'aw of roximity#(he )estalt law of proximity states -ob&ects or shapes that are close to one another appear to formgroups. ven if the shape, si/es, and ob&ects are radically different, they will appear as a group if theyare close together. ow they are grouped is important also. (he same number of faces is in eachgraphic, but how they are grouped determines if you see rows or columns. In designing instruction, itmay be sometimes necessary to eliminate or place elsewhere elements of the instruction that do notlend themselves to the grouping taking place, to -create a stronger sense of groups and differences.

;! 'aw of Closure#

)estalt theory seeks completenessD with shapes that aren1t closed, they seem incomplete and lead the

learner to want to discover what1s missing, rather than concentrating on the given instruction. *ooreand $its draw boxes around the illustrations in their instruction, to separate it form other illustrationsand group the elements of one illustration together. Ktherwise, the user is not sure which parts belongto what illustration. (he mind must work harder to fill in the gap.

<! 'aw of %ymmetry#

)estalt theory espoused the symmetrical so that the learner is not given the impression thatsomething is out of balance, or missing or wrong. 4gain, if an ob&ect is asymmetrical, the learner willwaste time trying to find the problem instead of concentrating on the instruction. (he chunking, orgrouping, of information should follow a logical pattern.

=! 'aw of good continuation#

(his )estalt laws states that learners -tend to continue shapes beyond there ending points. (he linesidentifying switch parts on *oore and $it/1s example simply continued onto the graphic itself. (heimproved version stopped the lines before reaching the graphic and used arrowheads to identifyspecifically to which part of the graphic the label belonged*oore, $it/ 67<<!.

?! 'aw of %imilarity#

)estalt theory states that ob&ects that appear to be similar will be grouped together in the learner1smind. $or visual instruction, this can include font, si/e, and color. (he law of similarity says that we willtend to group similar items together, to see them as forming a gestalt, within a larger form. ere is asimple typographic example#KLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLLLL



LLLLLKLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLLLLLLLLLKLLLIt is &ust natural for us to see the o1s as a line within a field of x1s.4nother law is the law of proximity. (hings that are close together as seen as belonging together. $orexample...MMMMMMMMMMMMM

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM2ou are much more likely to see three lines of close0together M1s than 6= vertical collections of < M1seach. Next, there1s the law of symmetry. (ake a look at this example# O O O+espite the pressure of proximity to group the brackets nearest each other together, symmetryoverwhelms our perception and makes us see them as pairs of symmetrical brackets. 4nother law isthe law of continuity. Bhen we can see a line, for example, as continuing through another line, ratherthan stopping and starting, we will do so, as in this example, which we see as composed of two lines,

not as a combination of two angles...#

$igure0ground# is another )estalt psychology principle. It was first introduced by the +anishphenomenologist dgar 5ubin 6AA8067?6!. (he classic example is this one... asically, we seem tohave an innate tendency to pereive one aspect of an event as the figure or fore0ground and the other

as the ground or back0ground. (here is only one image here, and yet, by changing nothing but ourattitude, we can see two different things. It doesn1t even seem to be possible to see them both at thesame timeH ut the gestalt principles are by no means restricted to perception 00 that1s &ust wherethey were first noticed. (ake, for example, memory. (hat too seems to work by these laws. If you seean irregular saw0tooth figure, it is likely that your memory will straighten it out for you a bit. Kr, if youexperience something that doesn1t :uite make sense to you, you will tend to remember it as havingmeaning that may not have been there. 4 good example is dreams# Batch yourself the next time youtell someone a dream and see if you don1t notice yourself modifying the dream a little to force it tomake senseH'earning was something the )estalt psychologists were particularly interested in. Kne thing theynoticed right away is that we often learn, not the literal things in front of us, but the relations betweenthem. $or example, chickens can be made to peck at the lighter of two gray swatches. Bhen they arethen presented with another two swatches, one of which is the lighter of the two preceding swatches,and the other a swatch that is even lighter, they will peck not at the one they pecked at before, but at

the lighter oneH ven something as stupid as a chicken -understands the idea of relative lightness anddarkness.)estalt theory is well known for its concept of insight learning. eople tend to misunderstand what isbeing suggested here# (hey are not so much talking about flashes of intuition, but rather solving aproblem by means of the recognition of a gestalt or organi/ing principle.(he most famous example of insight learning involved a chimp named %ultan. e was presented withmany different practical problems most involving getting a hard0to0reach banana!. Bhen, forexample, he had been allowed to play with sticks that could be put together like a fishing pole, heappeared to consider in a very human fashion the situation of the out0of0reach banana thoughtfully 00and then rather suddenly &ump up, assemble the poles, and reach the banana.4 similar example involved a five year old girl, presented with a geometry problem way over her head#ow do you figure the area of a parallelogram3 %he considered, then excitedly asked for a pair ofscissors. %he cut off a triangle from one end, and moved it around to the other side, turning theparallelogram into a simple rectangle. Bertheimer called this productive thinking.

(he idea behind both of these examples, and much of the gestalt explanation of things, is that theworld of our experiencing is meaningfully organi/ed, to one degree or another. Bhen we learn or solve

problems, we are essentially recogni/ing meaning that is there, in the experience, for the -dis0covering.*ost of what we1ve &ust looked at has been absorbed into -mainstream psychology 00 to such adegree that many people forget to give credit to the people who discovered these principlesH (here isone more part of their theory that has had less acceptance# Isomorphism. Isomorphism suggests thatthere is some clear similarity in the gestalt patterning of stimuli and of the activity in the brain whilewe are perceiving the stimuli. (here is a -map of the experience with the same structural order as the



experience itself, albeit -constructed of very different materialsH Be are still waiting to see what anexperience -looks like in an experiencing brain. It may take a while.

estalt Learning Theory

)estalt became one of the main theories of learning. (he three main )estalt theoristsBertheimer, 9ohler, and 9offka! were all )ermans, and received their training and did

their early work in )ermany, but all three ended their careers in the J%. (he term

")estalt" was coined by )raf Christian von hrenfels. is ideas influenced the trio of

theorists.

)estalt was a holistic approach and re&ected the mechanistic perspectives of the

stimulus 0 response models. Numerous new concepts and approaches emerged from

this different philosophical perspective. (he )estalt theory proposes that learning

consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not &ust a mechanistic response to a

stimulus.

4 ")estalt" is an integrated whole system with itPs parts enmeshed. (he whole is

greater than &ust the sum of the parts.

(he "I" phenomenon described a characteristic of things wherein they have a

recogni/ability inherent in their nature. xamples include the recogni/ability of a

melody, no matter how it is arranged or what instrument plays it, or the recogni/ability

of a letter rendered in a wide variety of different fonts or type styles. Kther examples

include the apparent motion created by a rapid se:uence of stills in motion pictures,

and the se:uences of illminating elements in neon signs which give the illusion of

movement. >isual and auditory examples are numerous. (his phenomenon leads to theconclusion that elements sensed are not the only reality.

"henomenology" is the acceptance of first hand experience as it is found in human

consciousness.

)estalt 'earning (heory proposed several laws of organi/ation, which are innate ways

that human beings organi/ed perceptions. 4 gestalt factor is a condition that aids in

perceiving situations as a whole or totality. Isomorphism refers to the +octrine of

sychophysical parallelism and depicts the cerebral cortex as "mapping these gestalt

fields of stimuli.

(he $actor of Closure suggests that perception tends to complete incomplete ob&ects.

Bhen only part of an image, sound, thought or feeling is presented as a stimulus, the

brain attempts to complete it to generate the whole.

(he $actor of roximity suggests that when elements are grouped closely together, they

are percieved as wholes. (his has relevance in reading, visual arts, and music.

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/wertheimer.html

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/kohler.html

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/koffka.html

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/wertheimer.html

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/kohler.html

http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/gestalt/koffka.html



(he $actor of %imilarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in

cognition. (his has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated if

similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or

complementary sets of ideas.

(he $igure0)round ffect suggests that the eye tends to see the ob&ects, rather than

the spaces or holes between them.

(race (heory 0 (his proposes a mechanism for learning in which neruological changes

occur as connections are made in the brain. (hese changes, called traces, represent

links between thoughts, ideas, concepts, images, etc. 5petition and uni:ueness

reinforce a trace. (hus, learning is the creation of traces. (races group together to form

maps. Instructional methods relating to repetition and to making items to be learned

somehow distinctive to make learning trace formation! :uicker and more lasting.

$rom the early theorys of )estalt, there also emerged a branch of therapeutic

interventions, called )estalt (herapy. $rit/ erls went through psychoanalytic training

with 9aren orney and then with Bilhelm 5eich. e also adapted existentialist

philosophy along with Qen and (aoist views to therapeutic work, and was strongly

influenced by $reud.

how education uses behaviorism

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