Thought Paper

Finland education system is considered one of the best (if not the best) education systems in the world. Many reasons led to this, but almost all scholars agree on one reason “Finland has great teachers”. Finnish teachers are highly trained and are required a Master’s degree. Finish curriculum is more of guidelines, rather than rigid and specific content. Depending on their knowledge and understanding of “Learning and Instructional Theories”, teachers can decide what and how to teach.

No doubt a deep understanding of “Learning and Instructional Theories” is vital for any effective learning and knowledge transfer whether it's through normal schooling system, on-job training, presentations, or any other form. This fact might be obvious for those who are coming from an educational background, but not for others, unfortunately! Luckily, after finishing this course, I do have greater appreciation to these theories, and the knowledge I gained so far helped me to fairly understand human learning theories, philosophies, mechanisms, and relevant debates.

First learning theory is the Behaviorism theory which focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Accordingly, Behaviorism defines learning by the acquisition of a new behavior based on environmental conditioning. Behaviorists ignores mental processes since they can’t quantify it, or at least not with certain validity.

A standard practice in Behaviorism techniques is to specify terminal behaviors in a precise, observable, and measurable terms. These terms can be called Instructional Objectives which describe what learners should know and be able to do at the end of instruction. Having such clear and well-defined terms, as I believe, is important and powerful, not only in learning, but in every other aspect of life. Having clear objectives and/or expectations facilitate many things and make it much easier to communicate, measure, and quantify outcomes of work, learning, projects, and the list goes on.

Many Instructional theories build on these concepts, for example, Programmed Instruction (PI) and Mastery Level (ML). Both theories took an advantage of the instructional objectives. The idea of having a small discrete segment of a lesson or instruction, logically sequenced, well-defined criteria for measuring progress and correct responses, and immediate reinforcement is important and pave the way for great achievements in learning. Adding technology to PI and ML will definitely make a positive difference.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which builds on Behaviorism concepts too, is another approach, which I find very interesting and useful not only in educational context but also in everyday life. Sometimes problem behaviors are so entrenched and counterproductive that they require intensive, systematic intervention. ABA can effectively help in such situation, for example, early behavioral interventions for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), research on the principles influencing criminal behavior, health and exercise, psychotherapy, etc.

However, one of the major deficiencies of Behaviorism in my point of view is that it lacks the magnitude to explain creativity. Creativity is one of the major means by which the human being liberates himself from the fetters not only of his conditioned responses, but also of his usual choices. B. F. Skinner inadequately explains acts such as Einstein's visions of riding on a light ray which led to the theory of relativity. None the less, Behaviorism greatest achievement is that it laid the way for other learning theories to evolve whether by partially building on it, or by criticizing it and develop new different concepts, as well as attracting the attention to learning psychology and its importance for human learning.

In the 1950s, the Cognitivism theory started to evolve. Ulric Neisser's 1967 book “Cognitive Psychology” was a landmark contribution. A key idea in cognitive psychology was that by studying and developing successful functions in artificial intelligence and computer science, it becomes possible to make testable inferences about human mental processes.

Cognitivism recognizes and valued internal mental processes. Some of the underlying assumptions are some learning processes are unique to human beings, learning can happen without an observable change in behavior, learning is an internal rather than an external change, and knowledge is organized. Accordingly, learning is defined as the relatively permanent change in mental representations or associations due to experience.

Many Instructional Theories emerged based on Cognitivism. From my perspective, the most important is Gagné’s model of instructional design which builds on the mental events when learners are presented with stimuli and focuses on the learning goals/ objectives and how to organize instructional events to achieve those goals/ objectives. Gagné proposed nine events which are: Gaining attention, Informing the learner of the objective, Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning, Presenting the stimulus material, Providing learning guidance, Eliciting the performance, Providing feedback, Assessing the performance, and Enhancing retention and transfer. Gagné model is an excellent model to design a systematic and useful learning program as it organizes lessons in a structured way as well as providing a holistic view of instruction.

Criticism followed Cognitivism as many scholars believe that cognitivism is an enhanced version of Behaviorism rather than a totally different theory. In other words, scholars believe Cognitivism took the origins of Behaviorism and built on it. Objectivism, as a shared philosophical ground for both Cognitivism and Behaviorism, might explain this criticism.

Karl Marx’s effect surpasses politics to education as Lev Vygotsky, the Russian psychologist, was deeply influenced by Marx’s ideas. Vygotsky’s work, and ideas and research of Bandura and Piaget among others formed a solid ground for what is called later Social Learning/Cognitive theory. Main principles are: learning involves a mental change and learning can happen by observing others and the consequences that result. Social theory introduced many concepts like Reciprocal causation, Modelling, Scaffolding, Zone of Proximity Developmental, etc. which enriched learning psychology and vocabulary.

Unlike Behaviorism and Cognitivism, Social theory builds on Constructivism in which learners are assumed to actively engage in a process of knowledge and meaning construction rather than acquiring knowledge. Environment, Behavior, and personal factors affect each other, and as a result affect learning. In other words, gained or constructed knowledge will differ according to these factors. That is, gained knowledge from specific instructional material will differ from a learner to another due to learning environment, personal factors and experience, and behavior towards it.

Scaffolding plays vital role in Social theory as instructors are expected to facilitate and help learners construct knowledge. Scaffolding can take place through participation in adult activities (guided participation) or apprenticeships. In both methods, an adult/senior helps, supervises, and engages learner in an authentic real-life situation with considerable amount of support and gradually removes scaffolding giving the learner more control as learning happens. Recent advances in technology may lead to greater effect with minimal effort, cost and time.

Some of the very important implications of Social theory are related to students’ self-efficacy and self-regulation. Instructors need to teach learners how to use techniques like goals setting, meaningful learning, organization, note taking, identifying the important information, summarizing, etc.

Back to the Finnish education system, here are some interesting facts that might explain the high standard. Finnish students rarely do home-work till teens, and there is only one exam called Finnish Matriculation Exam (FME) which held after the ninth class (learners are 15 – 17 years old). In other words, no tension or anxiety, and teaching is not focusing on exams but totally on knowledge gain and real learning. Students spend less time in classes, and more time in playing, practicing hobbies, and socializing which lead to less overwhelming education and encourage students to actively engage in learning. Instructors focus on authentic learning as much as possible and sometimes they tailor real-life cases to fit learning atmosphere and environment. The environment is comfortable, safe, friendly, respectful, competition-free, cooperative, unbiased and supportive. Another reason is the socialized nature of learning, as students usually learn in groups rather than individually with considerable support and help between peers.

Teachers, who are highly qualified, trained, and supported, control and lead learning in their schools. Their knowledge of learning and instructional theories helps them to decide what and how to teach as well as how to respond to specific situations. However, Social theory seems to be dominating in comparison with other learning theories as it appears from previous paragraph.

To conclude, “Behaviorism can’t die” as Chomsky stated, but it fits in a very few situations. Cognitivism is the most dominating theory as it considers cognition and internal processes, and its practicality, cost, and relative easiness of implementation compared to Social Learning theory. However, Social Learning theory, in my opinion, describes learning better than both Behaviorism and Cognitivism. Never the less, to achieve excellent levels of learning like Finnish, all theories need to be present.

References:

Applied Behavior Analysis. (2017, November 15). Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_behavior_analysis#Characteristics

Cognitive revolution. (2017, September 27). Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_revolution

Constructivism (philosophy of education). (2017, November 18). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(philosophy_of_education)

Harmsen, C. B. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2017, from http://www.abandon.nl/3creativ.htm

Khadjooi, K., Rostami, K., & Ishaq, S. (2011). How to use Gagne's model of instructional design in teaching psychomotor skills. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4017416/

Strauss, V. (2015, February 12). Teach For Finland? Why it won’t happen. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/12/teach-for-finland-why-it-wont-happen/?utm_term=.cfa33a32430e

Ormrod, J. (n.d.). Human Learning (6th ed.). Pearson.

Behaviorism

Relative perminant change in behavior

Based on Objectivism

Cognitivism

Relative change in mental representation

Gagne's events, Meaningful receprtion

Social L.

Cognitive change in social context

Vygotsky, Bandura

Bavlov, Skinner, Thorndike

PI, ML, CRI

Based on Objectivism

Piaget, Tolman

Based on Constrictivism

Collaborative learning, Apprenticeship