Why Learning Is The Core Of The Education System - 1730 Words

Learning is the core of the education system and one of the most important activities needed for a child’s development. Philosophers and psychologists such as B.F Skinner (1948) have been working for many years trying to understand how learning occurs and how teaching styles can have an effect on said learning. There are many different learning theories which provide an understanding on how students absorb, process and retain information during learning. Due to the observational and experimental nature, scientific theories are considered more reliable than theories created using opinion or personal experience (Shuell, 2009). The scientific learning theories commonly used come under three main headings known as Behaviourism, Cognitivist†¦show more content†¦I also intend to reflect on how behaviourism (based on my experience on placement) relates to children in education whilst taking into consideration the role of the adult and the learning environment. The classic paper by John B. Watson â€Å"Psychology as the behaviourist views it† (1913) saw the establishment of the theory behaviourism, which in 1920 to 1950 grew to become a dominant force within psychology. Behaviourism is shaped on a number of underlying assumptions regarding behavioural analysis and methodology. Such assumptions include the belief that behaviours are measurable, trainable and changeable. Behaviourists believe that we are born a blank slate and that our behaviour is based not on free will however, the environment we live in. Based on Pavlov’s observations, Watson stated that all aspects of human psychology were easily explaining using classical conditioning. Classical conditioning has three stages, which links two stimuli in order to create a new learning response. Many behaviourists believed that through said conditioning any person, regardless of factors such as their background, are trainable (McLeod, 2008). This belief was apparent in the fol lowing quote from psychologist John. B Watson, (1930) â€Å"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specific world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one and train him to become any type of specialist†. Unlike theories