What are Learning Theories?

A learning theory is an explanation of the way that learners understand and retain information. They can be useful guides to developing different kinds of activities and possible better ways to present information.

For the purposes of the Certificate IV, you only need to know how to use them as tools in a toolkit so that you can adjust your teaching strategy to be most effective.

There are now many learning theories, and most university courses in education and teaching spend considerable time on them. I've deliberately omitted those that deal with brain function.

Learning theories tend to fit into three categories. Learning is about either

1. what students do (behaviorist),
2. what students think (cognitive constructivist), or
3. who students relate to (social constructivist).

In other words, teaching is about either:

• shaping behavior
• providing an environment for discovery and exploration, or
• interacting with students and guiding them to work with each other.

Explore them …

There's not much future in arguing that one theory is right and other theories are wrong. It's better to treat them as tools in a toolbox, that we can we can pull out and use when we need them.

So let's go through the toolbox: