will use them or not. You might also wish to research critics of Dale’s Cone of learning and experience.
Teaching and learning theories, principles and models
There are many teaching and learning theories, principles and models which have been based on ideas, thoughts, experiences and research over many years. Some are quite old, but are trusted; others are fairly recent. This section will briefly explain some of these in (hopefully) an easy to understand way. They are in no particular order, and are often contradictory. For example, whether it’s a philosopher’s, a psychologist’s, a sociologist’s or a neuroscientist’s perspective. You will need to make your own mind up whether you think they will influence what you do. You might even come up with your own theory or idea to challenge existing ones. All learning should lead to a change in behaviour which demonstrates that learning has taken place. There are many more theories besides those listed here, and there are some textbooks and weblinks at the end of this chapter if you wish to research further.
Sensory theory
Laird (1985) stated that learning occurs when the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste are stimulated. Laird’s theory suggests that if multi-senses are stimulated, greater learning takes place. You could, therefore, adapt your approaches and resources to enable your learners to use as many of their senses as possible.
The use of sensory stimulation through pictures, videos, sounds, podcasts, objects, smells and other methods can provide learners with a heightened sensory learning experience. This might be more engaging and interactive than a single stimulation.
Example
Max, a curious 18 month old, was playing with a small plastic toy. He looked at it closely, then shook it to see if it made a noise. He followed this by placing it near his nose to see if it smelt. He then put it in in his mouth to see what it tasted like. He didn’t like the taste, so he didn’t put it in his mouth again. A change in behaviour therefore took place in Max, which demonstrated he had learnt something.
Types and conditions of learning
Gagne (1985) identified five types of learned capabilities, which he stated required a different type of instruction. These are:
• intellectual skills
• cognitive strategies
• verbal information
• attitude
• motor skills.
Different internal and external conditions of learning are required for each. For example, for motor skills to be learnt, there must be the opportunity for the learner to practise new skills rather than just observe them. For attitudes, the learner must be able to explore them, perhaps by discussing them.
Gagne believed all teaching and learning sessions should include a sequence of nine events. These should activate the processes needed for effective learning to take place. Each event has a corresponding cognitive process (in brackets) which Gagne stated all teachers should be aware of.
• Gaining attention (reception)
• Informing learners of the objective (expectancy)
• Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)
• Presenting the stimulus (selective perception)
• Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)
• Eliciting performance (responding)
• Providing feedback (reinforcement)
• Assessing performance (retrieval)
• Enhancing retention and transfer (generalisation)
Example
Ellie, a baking and pastry teacher, ensures all nine events take place in her sessions by:
Gaining attention – showing an example of what the learners will achieve by the end of the session, e.g. an iced wedding cake.
Identifying the objective – stating that the learners will be able to ice a wedding cake by the end of the session.
Recalling prior learning – asking the learners if they have ever iced a wedding cake before.
Presenting stimulus – explaining how they will ice the wedding cake and what they will need to use.
Guiding learning – demonstrating how to ice a wedding cake and showing a short video.
Eliciting performance – encouraging the learners to begin icing a wedding cake themselves.
Providing feedback – informing the learners how they are progressing.
Assessing performance – ensuring the learners are correctly icing the wedding cake by observing and asking questions.
Enhancing retention/transfer – summarising the learning, relating it to real-life situations and explaining what will be covered in the next session.
Behaviourism theory
Behaviourism is about people being conditioned to behave in a particular way, rather than using their own thoughts or feelings. Learning is, therefore, measured by a change in behaviour, which is modified by external influences or conditioning. There are many behaviourist theorists, the most well known being Pavlov, Watson and Skinner.
During the 1890s, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov was researching the digestive secretions of dogs in response to being fed. He noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever he entered the room, whether he was bringing them food or not. He then rang a bell each time the dogs were fed. After a while, ringing the bell led the dogs to salivate, even though they were not given any food. This became known as classical conditioning, as the dogs had been conditioned to associate food with the sound of the bell.
John Watson (1928) believed that everything from speech to emotions are patterns of a stimulus and a response. He believed behaviour could be modified through natural stimuli. He is considered the founder of behaviourism which assumed all behaviour is observable, and can be correlated with other observable events. His research showed that people can be conditioned, and learning is a direct result of this conditioning.
Burrhus Skinner (1974) believed that behaviour is a function of its consequences, i.e. learners will repeat the desired behaviour if positive reinforcement is given. The behaviour should not be repeated if negative feedback is given.
Example
Jamie was sawing a piece of wood as part of a carpentry course and hadn’t paid attention to the health and safety regulations. The saw kept slipping and he cut his hand. His teacher administered first aid and then gave him negative feedback. This, along with his experience, ensured he was more careful in future.
Giving immediate feedback, whether positive or negative,
