#1 Introduction – How people learn
12/27/01
EPISODE #1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
HOW PEOPLE LEARN:
INTRODUCTION TO LEARNING THEORIES
Developed by Linda-Darling Hammond,
Kim Austin, Suzanne Orcutt, and
Jim Rosso
Stanford University School of Education 1
The Learning Classroom: Theory into Practice
A Telecourse for Teacher Education and Professional Development
1 Copyright 2001, Stanford University
#1 Introduction – How people learn p. 2
EPISODE #1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
HOW PEOPLE LEARN: INTRODUCTION TO LEARNING THEORIES
I. UNIT OVERVIEW
HISTORY OF LEARNING THEORY
I believe that (the) educational process has two sides—one psychological
and one sociological. . . Profound differences in theory are never
gratuitous or invented. They grow out of conflicting elements in a
genuine problem.
John Dewey, In Dworkin, M. (1959) Dewey on Education pp. 20, 91
PHILOSOPHY-BASED LEARNING THEORY
People have been trying to understand learning for over 2000 years. Learning
theorists have carried out a debate on how people learn that began at least as far back as
the Greek philosophers, Socrates (469 –399 B.C.), Plato (427 – 347 B.C.), and Aristotle
(384 – 322 B.C). The debates that have occurred through the ages reoccur today in a
variety of viewpoints about the purposes of education and about how to encourage
learning. To a substantial extent, the most effective strategies for learning depend on
what kind of learning is desired and toward what ends.
Plato and one of his students, Aristotle, were early entrants into the debate about
how people learn. They asked, “Is truth and knowledge to be found within us
(rationalism) or is it to be found outside of ourselves by using our senses (empiricism)?”
Plato, as a rationalist, developed the belief that knowledge and truth can be discovered by
self-reflection. Aristotle, the empiricist, used his senses to look for truth and knowledge
in the world outside of him. From his empirical base Aristotle developed a...