Key Figures in Cognitivism
- Key Figures in Cognitivism
- Implications of Cognitivism for Instructional Design
- Analysis of Instructional Document: Clothing Repair
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was born in 1896 and was active from the 1920’s through the 1980’s. His research focused heavily on children and how their learning and cognition develops as they grow. The main ideas of his learning theories are:
- Children are not passive learners; they are driven to explore their environment and as they relate to it, these interactions help to build their knowledge and understanding.
- He proposed four stages of cognitive development as follows:
- Sensorimotor stage – from birth until about 2 years old; babies explore their world through their senses and through movement.
- Preoperational stage – from about age 2 through 7; their perceptions of the world are focused on what they can see; they can use language and symbols to internally think about the external world.
- Concrete operational stage – from approximately 7 through 11; still need concrete materials to reason and manipulate, but can hold mental images of these things to work problems out mentally.
- Formal operational stage – from about age 12 and up; becoming able to think about abstract ideas, apply reasoning, use scientific thinking, and become aware of their own mental development.
- He proposes that the basic building block of cognition is a schema, where information is organized into a framework in our mind. As we learn and have more experiences with the environment, our existing schemata are challenged and thrown into disequilibrium. To absorb and make sense of this new information, our cognitive processes include adaptation, assimilation and accommodation.
Piaget’s theories have greatly influenced teaching, especially the education of children. The Plowden Report of 1967 in the UK used many of his ideas to reinvent how children are taught, and many of his ideas on flexibility, play in learning, and teaching to the individual level of each student are still shaping today’s classrooms.
Mcleod, S. (2024, August 5). Piaget’s theory and stages of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky lived from 1934 to 1978, and focused his work on social cognitive theory.
- He believed that children ‘s interactions with society, especially MKOs (more knowledgeable others), is a leading factor in their cognitive development.
- In his view, language has 3 forms – social speech, private speech and inner speech, showing a progression of thinking.
- He viewed knowledge as something constructed with others through collaborative learning.
- Vygotsky proposed the theory of the Zone of Proximal Development, which is the difference between what a student is capable of independently, and what they can achieve with assistance. The techniques of scaffolding, group work, and reciprocal teaching can be applied to assist students to push through the ZPD.
These ideas about group work, collaborative learning and scaffolding are seen throughout schools today, as well as the focus on how culture affects each child’s learning.
Mcleod, S. (2024). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner was an American researcher active from the late 1950’s through the 1970’s. He puts emphasis on the learner as being the agent of their learning, and that they should not be told how different ideas relate, but should figure it out for his or herself. To Bruner, language is a vital tool to develop in order to address and construct more abstract concepts. He proposed three stages of intellectual development:
- Enactive – thoughts and responses are based on physical actions
- Iconic – thoughts and information are represented in the mind by icons or images,
- Symbolic – language and symbols are the main way knowledge is stored in the mind. These symbols are arbitrary, and can be manipulated by the mind.
His 1960 writings discuss the concept of children actively creating their own knowledge, which is still seen today in schools focusing on hands-on discovery activities over simply telling students facts. He also advocated the spiral curriculum, where any subject can be taught to any age, at a level corresponding to their development. Then learners can return to the same subjects at a higher level of difficulty as their cognitive skills increase.
Mcleod, S. (2024, February 1). Jerome Bruner’s Theory Of Learning And Cognitive Development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Albert Bandura
Albert Bandura worked in the 1960’s through the 1980’s, and his social learning theory deals with how learning is achieved through internal mental processes. Observational learning is a big factor – we learn by watching models complete behaviors and analyze the outcomes of the behavior. This was demonstrated in the Bobo doll experiment, where children observed adults getting angry and hitting a doll. Many of the children imitated this behavior when they were put in a frustrating situation, showing how children imitate observed behaviors, and that same-sex adults had a greater influence on their imitation. In the 1970s, he described four meditational processes that occur in the mind that influence imitation of behavior:
- Attention – learning must begin with the learner being interested and motivated to imitate a behavior, including observation of the consequences of the behavior.
- Retention – observed behavior is stored in symbolic form; in order to imitate the behavior, it must be structured in a form that is easy to remember.
- Motor reproduction – this is based on whether or not the learner has the physical capacity to imitate the behavior.
- Motivation – observed or perceived consequences have an effect on the likelihood of the behavior being imitated. Rewards must be higher than punishment and the importance of the imitation must be stressed to encourage imitation.
As applies to education today, there is a focus on belonging, self-efficacy (or belief that you are capable), and showing role models that are similar to students (in ethnicity, gender, cultural beliefs, etc). These techniques are often used to inspire students to believe they can achieve their goals.
McLeod, S. (2024, February 1). Albert bandura’s social learning theory. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
Sprouts. “Social Learning Theory: Bandura’s Bobo Beatdown Experiments.” Www.youtube.com, 28 Apr. 2022, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHIhkM1cAv4.
Implications of Cognitivism for Instructional Design
Cognitivism focuses on the internal mental processes that occur during learning, and the ideas developed within this field have been hugely influential on modern teaching ideas, and are integral to more effective instructional design. By understanding learning as a series of internal processes (perception, executive processes, short term memory, encoding, and transfer to long-term memory), learning experiences can be tailored to the exact needs of the target audience. From cognitivism, we learned that when designing learning, we must consider:
- The learner’s current level of knowledge
- Ensuring the knowledge is chunked into manageable pieces
- The cognitive load of the learning experience – the brain can only process a certain amount of inputs at once (approximately 5-7 pieces)
- Techniques such as scaffolding, self-pacing and non-distracting design can help focus a learner’s attention on the essential knowledge presented
In my work supporting graduate students studying to be dentists and hygienists, cognitivism plays an important role in planning learning. Currently I am working on a project that involves many aspects of Cognitive Load Theory. We are making condensed video modules that dental hygiene students will watch before they attend a lecture. This incorporates pre-learning; chunking; two channel processing (there are audio and video components); Bloom’s Taxonomy (setting objectives); spiral curriculum; and the learner as an active agent – they are required to watch the video and take a quiz before class so they have a basic understanding of the material to be presented. One limitation I see with Cognitivism in dental education is that knowledge about the physical body structure and function can’t be constructed – it is based in scientific fact, although cognitivist techniques could allow groups to work together to come up with solutions to dental problems and treatments.
Michela, E. “Cognitivism.” Education Research across Multiple Paradigms, by R Kimmons, 2022, open.byu.edu/education_research. Accessed 1 Sept. 2024.
Analysis of Instructional Document: Clothing Repair
This pdf goes over the essentials of making basic repairs to your clothing. It goes over a variety of preventative and damage repairs.
This document uses chunking effectively. I was able to flip through the 10 pages to see the various topics covered, so if you are looking for just how to sew on a button, it’s easy to find that appropriate section. However, it would be improved by having a table of contents to see all of the topics at a glance.
This also effectively uses images to support learning. The illustrations clearly show the tools and processes that are explained in the text. I don’t think the text alone would be nearly as helpful in imitating these repairs.
McGraw Hill Canada. “Richard Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning | McGraw-Hill Canada.” Mheducation.ca, 16 Apr. 2019, http://www.mheducation.ca/blog/richard-mayers-cognitive-theory-of-multimedia-learning.
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