Learning Styles and Theorists

As a result of the work of many Educational Psychologists-over many years-various explanations of learning styles have evolved. All of these studies were undertaken to determine how we as humans learn. "In its broadest sense, learning can be defined as a process of progressive change from ignorance to knowledge, from inability to competence, and from indifference to understanding....In much the same manner, instruction-or education-can be defined as the means by which we systematize the situations, conditions, tasks materials, and opportunities by which learners acquire new or different ways of thinking, feeling, and doing." Cameron Fincher,"Learning Theory and Research," in Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom, edited by Kenneth A. Feldman and Michael Paulson, Ashe Reader Series, Needham, MA: Ginn Press, 1994 Traditional learning theorists seem to mainly fall under the following headings: Behaviourist, Humanist and Cognitivist-Constructivist.
Behaviourism refers to the school of psychology founded by John B Watson 1878-1958. It is divided into two processes of learning. These are classical and operant conditioning. B.F Skinner developed these theories and even applied them to his own children. Skinner believed that by praising a child for good behaviour or actions, it encouraged them to repeat the positive behaviour. “All we need to know in order to describe and explain behaviour is this: Actions followed by good outcomes are likely to recur and actions followed by bad outcomes are less likely to recur” (BF Skinner 1953).
Operant Conditioning is a theory in which focus is given to reinforcing positive behaviour with rewards, or punishing negative behaviour with withdrawal of privileges. Skinner studied experiments Pavlov did on his dog-stimulus and response. He rang a bell and gave the dog food. He repeated this many times and observed that when the bell rang the dog knew that food was coming-an example of a positive action followed by a positive