Lesson Review

Perhaps this lesson has not been too much of a challenge with an overload of abstract ideas. Learning theory is not an easy topic.

Lesson 1 Summary - Section 2: Learning and Cognitive Processes

To summarize:

• Learning involves mastering information from many sources to increase
competence.

• Learning can be perceptual motor (acquiring a physical skill), affective
(involving emotions), or cognitive (solving problems).

• Self-concept is how we view ourselves.

• Students with positive self-concepts have confidence in their learning
ability; negative self-concepts lead to feelings of inferiority.

• Being motivated and having a positive attitude toward the learning
situation make people more effective learners.

• Maturation refers to development through growth and aging; maturation and learning work together to help people acquire skills.

• The learning curve shows much variation because people master material in different ways.

• Plateaus occur in learning when there is a standstill in learning progress.

• Transfer means that learning in one situation can be applied to another
situation.

• Transfer is positive if it improves the learning situation; it is negative if earlier learning interferes with present learning.

• To overlearn is to learn information until you know it thoroughly and
have complete mastery of it.

• Distributed practice means that learning sessions are separated by rest
periods.

• Serial learning refers to learning a series of responses in a definite sequence. The first item is easily remembered (primacy effect) and so is the last item (recency effect).

• Mnemonic devices are formulas or jingles devised to help one remember.

• Sometimes we are not aware that we have learned something until after
the fact; that is latent learning.

• Learning by insight occurs when a person suddenly puts together the right pieces of the problem.

• Trial and error learning involves attempting to solve problems by randomly testing solutions.

• An intense emotional experience has a lasting impact on our memories.

• Neurolinguistic programming gives us information about our own personal learning style.

• Visual learners gather data primarily about their surroundings through sight and store memory of these events in pictures.

• Kinesthetic/tactual learners use body movement, sensations, and emotions to collect and store data about their lives.

• Auditory learners prefer to take in information through sound and may actually replay dialogue or sounds in their heads to remember.

• Jean Piaget outlined four principle stages of concept formation.

• Stage One—Sensorimotor (birth to 18 months); acquires information through the senses, learns object constancy

• Stage Two—Preoperational (18 months to 7 years); learns more sophisticated concepts through language, notices details, understands height and length

• Stage Three—Concrete Operational (7 to 11 years); classifies objects and understands that volume, mass, and weight remain constant; that is, objects do not automatically expand or decrease in size

• Stage Four—Formal Operational (11 to 15 years); abstract concepts become more complex and refined

• Presenting a positive reinforcement strengthens the possibility of a response; removing negative reinforcement also strengthens the possibility of a response.

• Partial or intermittent reinforcement means that reinforcement is not provided for every correct response.

• Secondary reinforcement is an indirect reward.

• Punishment is less effective than reward in encouraging the learning process.

• Classical conditioning involves stimulus—reinforcement—reward.

• Operant conditioning involves stimulus—reward—reinforcement.

• Counter-conditioning means reprogramming a stimulus to a different response.

• Extinction occurs when a conditioned response has been eliminated.

• Mind mapping means presenting the details of a concept in diagram format.

• SQ3R means survey, question, read, recite, and review material.