Theories of Learning

Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals learn, i.e. how they acquire, organize and deploy knowledge and skills. The 20th century can be considered the century of psychology on learning and related fields of interest (such as motivation, cognition, metacognition etc.) and it is fascinating to see the various mainstreams of learning, remembered and forgotten over the 20th century and note that basic assumptions of early theories survived several paradigm shifts of psychology and epistemology. Beyond folk psychology and its naïve theories of learning, psychological learning theories can be grouped into some basic categories, such as behaviorist learning theories, connectionist learning theories, cognitive learning theories, constructivist learning theories, and social learning theories.

Defines learning and shows how the learning process is studied. Clearly written and user-friendly, Introduction to the Theories of Learning places learning in its historical perspective and provides appreciation for the figures and theories that have shaped 100 years of learning theory research. The 9th edition has been updated with the most current research in the field. With Pearson's MySearchLab with interactive eText and Experiment's Tool, this program is more user-friendly than ever.

This book provides a collection of applicable learning theories and their applications to science teaching. It presents a synthesis of historical theories while also providing practical implications for improvement of pedagogical practices aimed at advancing the field into the future.