Fundamentals of learning. Moscow State University of Printing Arts
1. Educational activities is a process as a result of which a person acquires new or changes his existing knowledge, skills and abilities, improves and develops his abilities.
Such activity allows him to adapt to the world around him, navigate it, and more successfully and more fully satisfy his basic needs, including the needs of intellectual growth.
Education – involves the joint educational activity of a student and a teacher, characterizes the process of transferring knowledge, abilities and skills, and more broadly, life experience from teacher to student.
Training is a purposeful pedagogical process of organizing and stimulating the active educational and cognitive activity of students to master scientific knowledge, skills, and development of creative abilities, worldview and moral and aesthetic views (Kharlamov I.F. Pedagogy).
Essential features of the learning process(S.P. Baranov) |
· Training is a specially organized cognitive activity (as opposed to teaching).
· Training - acceleration of knowledge in individual development.
· Learning is the assimilation of patterns recorded in the experience of mankind.
Learning as a process includes two parts:
· teaching, during which the transfer (translation) of a system of knowledge, skills, and experience is carried out;
· doctrine as the assimilation of experience through its perception, comprehension, transformation and use.
The organization of training assumes that the teacher carries out the following components:
· setting goals for educational work;
· developing the needs of students in mastering the material being studied;
· determination of the content of the material to be mastered by students;
· organization of educational and cognitive activities for students to master
the material being studied;
· giving students’ learning activities an emotionally positive
character;
· regulation and control of students' educational activities;
· assessment of student performance results.
EXAMPLE. When they talk about teaching, they focus on what the teacher does, on his specific functions in the learning process.
Teaching – also refers to educational activities, but when using it in science, attention is drawn to the fact that it is the student’s share in the educational activities.
We are talking about educational activities undertaken by the student aimed at developing abilities, acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills!
Students carry out educational and cognitive activities, which in turn consists of the following components:
· awareness of the goals and objectives of training;
· development and deepening of the needs and motives of educational and cognitive activity;
· understanding the topic of new material and the main issues to be learned;
· perception, comprehension and memorization of educational material;
· application of knowledge in practice and subsequent repetition;
· manifestation of emotional attitude and volitional efforts in educational and cognitive activities;
· self-control and making adjustments to educational and cognitive activities;
· self-assessment of the results of one’s educational and cognitive activities.
When they want to emphasize the result of a teaching, then they use the concept – learning .
It characterizes the fact that a person acquires new psychological qualities and properties in educational activities.
Concept learning comes from the word “to learn.” And includes what an individual can actually learn as a result training and exercises .
Learning (short psychological dictionary by Konyukhov) – the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and abilities. Sometimes learning understood as the result of teaching, but differs from learning as gaining experience in activity. Contributes to the acquisition of any experience and includes unconscious understanding of the material and its consolidation.
But most importantly : Not everything related to development can be called learning. It does not include the processes and results that characterize the biological maturation of the organism. Although the processes of maturation are also associated with the acquisition of new things by the body. They depend little or little on teaching and learning.
1. At the same time, every process , called learning, is not completely independent of maturation. Learning is almost always based on a certain level of biological maturity of the organism and cannot take place without it.
EXAMPLE. It is hardly possible to teach a child to speak until the time when the organic structures necessary for this have matured: the vocal apparatus, the corresponding parts of the brain responsible for speech.
2. Learning – depends on the maturation of the organism according to the nature of the process:
it can be accelerated or inhibited according to the acceleration or deceleration of the maturation of the organism.
Maturation - a natural process of transformation of the anatomical structures and physiological processes of the body as it grows.
However, there may be feedback between these processes.
Education and learning to a certain extent influence the maturation of the body.
Types of learning
A person has several types of learning.
1. The first and simplest (unites man with all other living beings).
This is learning through the imprinting mechanism , i.e. rapid, automatic, almost instantaneous (compared to a long learning process) adaptation of the body to the specific conditions of its life.
EXAMPLE. As soon as a newborn touches the mother's breast, his innate sucking reflex is immediately triggered.
EXAMPLE. It is enough to touch the palm of a newborn, and his fingers automatically clench.
2. Conditioned reflex – the beginning of his research was laid by the works of Pavlov.
This type of learning involves the emergence of new forms of behavior as conditioned reactions to an initially neutral stimulus, which previously did not cause a specific reaction.
Thanks to conditioned reflex learning, the implementation of a more complex form of behavior than elementary innate reactions is ensured.
The third type of learning is operant learning.
With this type of learning, knowledge, skills and abilities are acquired through the so-called trial and error method.
It is as follows
EXAMPLE. The task or situation faced by the child gives rise to a complex of various reactions.
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Instinctive
Unconditional
Conditional
The child tries each of them in practice to solve the problem and automatically evaluates the result.
The reaction that leads to the best result stands out from the rest and is consolidated in experience.
This is learning by trial and error.
All these three types of learning are found in both animals and humans, but humans have higher ways of learning.
4. The fourth type of learning is vicarious (learning through direct observation of the behavior of other people, as a result of which a person immediately adopts and assimilates the observed forms of behavior)
In its method and results, it resembles imprinting, but only in the sphere of human acquisition of social skills (partially in monkeys).
5. Verbal learning . Those. a person’s acquisition of new experience through language.
Verbal learning becomes the main way of acquiring experience, starting from the moment of mastering speech and especially when studying at school.
Here, the prerequisite and basis for effective learning are the higher mental functions of a person: his consciousness, thinking and speech.
The essence of learning and its understanding in the practice of teaching. Learning theories . Types and levels of learning. Classification of various types of learning in domestic and foreign psychology. Characteristics of the cognitive and reflexive level of learning and their implementation in the pedagogical process.
Subject. The learning process and its components
Teaching as a type of activity Versatility of the definition of teaching Theories of learning and their comparative role in the organization of modern education. Components and structure of the learning process. Similarities and differences between learning as a process and other options for acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities.
Subject. Psychology of educational activities
Definition of educational activities in a broad and narrow sense. Structure, functioning and conditions for the development of learning activities and interactions between participants in the educational process at different stages of ontogenesis. Motivation for educational activities, educational task, educational operations, control, evaluation. Statistical and functional models of learning. Learning objectives and learning activities.
Psychological factors influencing the learning process.
Development of mechanisms of self-esteem, self-control and self-regulation of learning as a manifestation of the transformation of a schoolchild into a subject of his own educational activity.
Subject. Psychological and pedagogical features of the formation of educational activities
Formation of educational activities as interaction between teacher and students. The role of the teacher, his personal qualities and professionalism in the effective formation of educational activities. Forms of organization of educational activities. Requirements for the organization and implementation of educational activities. Age-related features of the formation of educational activities. Basic principles and patterns of the relationship between the processes of learning and development of the human psyche.
Subjective and objective results of learning and educational activities in general. Mechanism for monitoring and managing educational activities.
Subject. Learning motivation
The concept of educational motivation and its characteristics. Psychology of learning in elementary school, as a period of formation of educational motivation. Individual work with students to develop educational motivation. Levels of development of educational motivation in schoolchildren (A.K. Markova). Psychological skills of schoolchildren as motivators of learning. Specific techniques of cognitive activity. Ability to learn.
Topic 1. Learning, its types and essence
Topic 1. Learning its types and essence
A system of activities as a result of which a person gains experience
There are several concepts related to a person’s acquisition of life experience in the form knowledge, skills, abilities, abilities. This - teaching, teaching, learning.
The most general concept is learning. Intuitively, each of us has an idea of what learning is. They talk about learning in the case when a person began to know and (or) be able to do something that he did not know and (or) could not do before. This new knowledge, skills and abilities can be a consequence of activities aimed at acquiring them, or act as a side effect of behavior that realizes goals not related to this knowledge and skills. Learning denotes the process and result of the acquisition of individual experience by a biological system (from the simplest to man as the highest form of its organization under Earth conditions). Such familiar and widespread concepts as evolution, development, survival, adaptation, selection, improvement, have some commonality, most fully expressed in the concept learning, which resides in them either explicitly or by default. The concept of development, or evolution, is impossible without the assumption that all these processes occur due to changes in the behavior of living beings. And at present, the only scientific concept that fully embraces these changes is the concept of learning. Living things learn new behaviors that enable them to survive more effectively. Everything that exists adapts, survives, acquires new properties, and this happens according to the laws of learning. So, survival mainly depends on learning ability. In foreign psychology, the concept of “learning” is often used as an equivalent to “ teachings". In domestic psychology (at least during the Soviet period of its development) it is customary to use it in relation to animals. However, recently a number of scientists (I.A. Zimnyaya, V.N. Druzhinin, Yu.M. Orlov, etc. ) use this term in relation to a person. For a better understanding of the differences between learning, teaching and learning, we will use the classification of activities as a result of which a person gains experience (Gabay T.V., 1995; abstract All activities in which a person gains experience, can be divided into two large groups: activities in which the cognitive effect is a by-product (additional) and activities in which the cognitive effect is its direct product (see Fig. 1).
Learning involves acquiring experience in all types of activities, regardless of its nature. In addition, the acquisition of experience as a by-product, depending on the regularity, in certain types of activity can be stable, more or less constant, or random, episodic. The acquisition of experience as a stable by-product can occur in the process of spontaneous communication, V game(unless it is organized by an adult specifically for the purpose of the child learning some type of experience). In all these types of activities (play, work, communication, intentional cognition), experience can also be acquired as an accidental by-product. The second large group of activities in which a person gains experience consists of those types of activities that are consciously or unconsciously carried out for the sake of the experience itself. Let us first consider activities in which the acquisition of experience is carried out without setting a corresponding goal. Among them the following types can be distinguished: didactic games, spontaneous communication and some other activities. All of them are characterized by the fact that, although the subject of acquiring experience does not set himself the goal of mastering this experience, he naturally and consistently receives it at the end of their process. In this case, the cognitive result is the only rational justification for the expenditure of time and effort of the subject. At the same time, it really works motive shifted to the process of activity: a person communicates with others or plays because he enjoys the very process of communication or play. In addition to didactic play and spontaneous communication, the acquisition of experience as a direct product, but without a conscious goal, is also achieved in free observation, while reading fiction, watching films, plays, etc. Discovery or assimilation become one of the most significant criteria for the classification of types of cognition. In turn, assimilation also involves two options:
when the experience is given in finished form, but subject assimilation must independently prepare all or some of the conditions that ensure the assimilation process;
when he performs only the cognitive components of this activity, and the conditions for assimilation are prepared by other people.
The last option is of the greatest interest to us, since it reflects the essential features of a phenomenon that takes place in any human being and consists in the transmission from the older generation to the younger experience that society has. This type of activity is teaching.
The relationship between the concepts of "learning", "teaching" and "training"
Teaching defined as learning a person as a result of his purposeful, conscious appropriation of his transmitted (broadcast) sociocultural (socio-historical) experience and the individual experience formed on this basis. Consequently, teaching is considered as a type of learning. Education in the most common sense of this term means the purposeful, consistent transfer (broadcast) of sociocultural (socio-historical) experience to another person in specially created conditions. In psychological and pedagogical terms, learning is considered as managing the process of accumulation knowledge, the formation of cognitive structures, such as the organization and stimulation of the student’s educational and cognitive activity (http://www.pirao.ru/strukt/lab_gr/l-ps-not.html; see the laboratory of the psychological foundations of new educational technologies). In addition, the concepts of “learning” and “training” are equally applicable to both humans and animals, in contrast to the concept of “teaching”. In foreign psychology, the concept of “learning” is used as an equivalent to “teaching”. If " education" And " doctrine" denote the process of acquiring individual experience, the term "learning" describes both the process itself and its result. Scientists interpret the triad of concepts under consideration in different ways. For example, the points of view of A.K. Markova and N.F. Talyzina are as follows (see Fig. 2).
considers learning as the acquisition of individual experience, but primarily pays attention to the automated level skills;
teaching is interpreted from a generally accepted point of view - as a joint activity of teacher and student, ensuring that students acquire knowledge and master the methods of acquiring knowledge;
teaching represents how activity student's assimilation new knowledge and mastery of methods of acquiring knowledge (Markova A.K., 1990; abstract).
A.K. Markova:
N.F. Talyzina adheres to the interpretation of the concept of “learning” that existed in the Soviet period - the application of the concept in question exclusively to animals; She considers teaching only as the activity of a teacher in organizing the pedagogical process, and teaching as the activity of a student included in the educational process (Talyzina N.F., 1998; abstract) (http://www.psy.msu.ru/about/kaf /pedo.html; see Department of Pedagogy and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University). Thus, the psychological concepts of “learning”, “training”, “teaching” cover a wide range of phenomena related to the acquisition of experience, knowledge, skills, skills in the process of active interaction of the subject with the objective and social world - in behavior, activity, communication. The acquisition of experience, knowledge and skills occurs throughout the life of an individual, although this process occurs most intensively during the period of reaching maturity. Consequently, learning processes coincide in time with development, maturation, mastering the forms of group behavior of the object of training, and in a person - with socialization, mastering cultural norms and values, and personality formation. So, teaching/training/teaching - this is the process of a subject acquiring new ways of carrying out behavior and activities, their fixation and/or modification. The most general concept meaning process and the result of the acquisition of individual experience by a biological system (from the simplest to man as the highest form of its organization under Earth conditions) is " learning"The teaching of a person as a result of the purposeful, conscious appropriation by him of the socio-historical experience transmitted to him and the individual experience formed on this basis is defined as teaching.
Learning as a process and result of acquiring individual experience
Learning is the process and result of acquiring individual experience. As already emphasized above, in Russian psychology (at least during the Soviet period of its development), the concept of learning was usually used in relation to animals. Yu.M. Orlov, attaching great importance to this concept in science, emphasizes that “in psychology there is perhaps no other concept that has such great importance for understanding a person as learning. Learning is a concept denoting the process of formation of new species behavior. It occurs wherever there is behavior. At the same time, this concept is one of those that is little used by people in understanding themselves and others. I was amazed by the fact that the so-called Soviet psychology, to which I myself belong, since I was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Psychological Sciences, this psychology I managed without this concept altogether. The word "learning" was excluded from textbooks and books on psychology. Where it was impossible to do without it, the word "teaching" was replaced by " assimilation", a concept that has a completely different meaning. When we say “learning,” it is assumed that there is some ready-made behavior that is learned. Learning presupposes formation new types of behavior. In works on pedagogy, the concept of learning was only assumed, hiding behind the words “formation”, “training”, “ upbringing"(Orlov Yu.M., 1997. P. 3).
The term “learning” is used primarily in behavioral psychology. In contrast to the pedagogical concepts of training, education and upbringing, it covers a wide range of processes in the formation of individual experience (habituation, imprinting, formation of the simplest conditioned reflexes, complex motor and speech skills, sensory discrimination reactions, etc.). In psychological science, there are a number of different interpretations of learning (see Figure 3). For example, L.B. Itelson believes that “all the main changes in the child’s behavior and activity in the process of his “transformation into a person” are facts learning" (Itelson L.B., 2000. P. 203). Further, the scientist emphasizes that " learning acts as a leading factor of development, with the help of which human forms of behavior and reflection of reality are formed in the cub of the species "Homo sapiens", the process of transformation of a biological individual into a subject of human relationship to the world occurs" (Ibid. P. 203). V.D. Shadrikov in an extremely general form, learning is defined as “a systematic modification of behavior when a situation is repeated and (or) under the influence of past experience based on the formation of connections, the preservation of traces and their reorganization” (Shadrikov V.D., 1996. P. 117; abstract) (see . Khrest. 3.1). R.S. Nemov interprets this concept through the concept of teaching: “When they want to emphasize the result of teaching, they use the concept of teaching. It characterizes the fact that a person acquires new psychological qualities and properties in educational activities. Etymologically, this concept comes from the word “learn” and includes everything that an individual can actually learn as a result of training and teaching. Let us note that teaching and learning, educational activities in general, may not have a visible result in the form of learning. This is another basis for separating the concepts under discussion and their parallel use."
(Nemov R.S., 1994. P. 234; abstract).
Learning is different from learning as acquisition experience in activities guided by cognitive motives or motives and goals. Through learning, any experience can be acquired - knowledge, skills, skills(in humans) and new forms of behavior (in animals).
Like any acquisition of experience, learning includes unconscious understanding of the content of the material and its consolidation (involuntary memorization). In animals, learning is the main form of acquiring experience. Directed learning in animals exists only in rudimentary form (examination of a new situation, imitation). The ability to learn is possessed mainly by species that have advanced far in evolutionary development. If instinctive behavior is effective in an animal’s usual environment and ordinary circumstances, then, in essence, only individuals of those species in which the ability to learn and develop skills predominates to cope with new situations and unusual surroundings and form new behavioral acts. The rudiments of the possibility of learning are already found in earthworms. To a moderate extent, it manifests itself in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. This ability develops as one moves up the evolutionary ladder. The most advanced forms - chimpanzees and humans - have almost no forms of behavior that allow them to adequately adapt to the environment from the moment of birth without training. In humans, almost the only forms of behavior that he should not learn are innate ones. reflexes, making it possible to survive after birth: sucking, swallowing, sneezing, blinking reflex, etc. In humans, the role and significance of learning changes during ontogenesis. In preschool age, learning is the main way of acquiring experience, then it is relegated to the background, giving way to learning - educational activities, although it does not lose its meaning completely. The most important factor in learning is the place of the acquired material in the corresponding activity. A person learns better the material that takes the place of the goal of the activity.
Learning theories
There are many theories of learning. In each of them, one can highlight a separate aspect of the phenomenon being studied (see animation) (http://www.voppy.ru/journals_all/issues/1996/965/965030.htm; see article by L.F. Obukhova " Two paradigms in the study of child development"). According to some theories, in the process of teaching and learning there is a single learning mechanism (in both humans and animals); other theories view teaching and learning as different mechanisms.
theories behaviorism(J. Watson), where learning is interpreted as a process of random, blind association not associated with the psyche and cognition incentives and responses based on readiness, exercise, reinforcement, or temporal contiguity. Such theories contradict later established facts indicating the possibility of learning without reinforcement, without exercise, etc.;
theories where learning is considered as a process of changing the mental reflection of the conditions of activity and behavior on the principle of passively establishing new connections (associationism), restructuring the initially holistic experience in the form of samples ( Gestalt psychology) or plans ( neobehaviorism). This also largely includes the theory of J. Piaget ( Geneva school) and the theories of some representatives of the information approach and cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychologists are interested in what psychological structures are formed during learning. Many of them are trying to model the learning process in the form of computer programs (http://www.voppy.ru/journals_all/issues/1999/996/996048.htm; see the article by Friedman L.M. “Another look at the Piaget phenomenon” ).
To the first group theories include foreign psychology:
To the second group relate theories of domestic psychologists and a number of foreign authors. In humans learning And doctrine They consider it as a cognitive process of assimilation of social experience of practical and theoretical activity. In animals, learning is interpreted as a process of changing innate species experience and adapting it to specific conditions.
R.G. Averkin, having analyzed the variety of learning theories, identified general provisions with which, in his opinion, most researchers agree: 1. Learning is a gradual or abrupt change behavior. There are two types of temporal progression of the learning process. Forms of learning such as classical or operant conditioning occur gradually, while forms of learning such as imprinting or insight occur instantly.
2. Learning is a change in behavior that is not a direct consequence of the maturation of the organism, although development is always accompanied by learning. Problem learning is closely related to the problem development And maturation. Sometimes in a young organism it is difficult to distinguish the result of learning from the result of maturation, so they prefer to study learning in adults.
3. Learning is not a change in behavior due to fatigue or as a result of the use of psychoactive substances. 4. Exercise improves the learning process.
5. The species affiliation of an organism determines its learning capabilities (Psychology..., 2001).
Problems with learning theory
First of all, the problem of correlation and differentiation of the concepts “learning”/“teaching”/“training”.
Secondly, the problem of correlation and differentiation of the effects of learning and maturation/development. After all, not everything that is connected with development, can be called learning. For example, it does not include the processes and results that characterize the biological maturation organism, unfold and proceed according to biological, in particular genetic laws, although the processes of maturation are, of course, closely related to the acquisition of new things by the body and changes in existing experience. On the one hand, learning is almost always based on certain levels of biological maturity of the organism; on the other hand, training and teaching to a certain extent influence the maturation of the organism.
Thirdly, it is relevant the problem of identifying general laws and patterns of learning. After all, on their basis, more specific laws of the formation of educational skills can be considered.
And finally, of no less interest, both theoretically and appliedly, is the problem of identifying types, mechanisms and conditions for effective learning. We will dwell on this aspect in more detail.
As noted above, the concept of “learning” has only recently begun to be used in psychology as the broadest concept reflecting the process and result of a person’s acquisition of individual experience. Therefore, there are a number of relevant problems, requiring further study (see Fig. 5).
Types of learning
In psychological science, various types of learning have been studied in sufficient detail. Based on the works of L.B. Itelson developed a classification of various types of learning, presented by V.D. Shadrikov (see Fig. 6) (Shadrikov V.D., 1996; abstract).
Types of learning
All types of learning can be divided into two types: associative and intellectual. Characteristic for associative learning is the formation of connections between certain elements of reality, behavior, physiological processes or mental activity based on the contiguity of these elements (physical, mental or functional). From the time of Aristotle to the present day, the basic principle of learning is association by contiguity - formulated in a similar way. When two events repeat with a short interval (temporal contiguity), they are associated with each other in such a way that the occurrence of one recalls the other. Russian physiologist I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936) was the first to study the properties of associative learning in laboratory conditions. He discovered that although the sound of the bell initially had no effect on the dog's behavior, however, after regularly ringing at the time of feeding, after a while the dog developed a conditioned reflex: the bell itself began to cause it to salivate. Pavlov measured the degree of learning by the amount of saliva released during a call that was not accompanied by feeding. Production method conditioned reflexes is based on the use of an already existing connection between a specific form of behavior (salivation) and a certain event (the appearance of food) that causes this form of behavior. When a conditioned reflex is formed, a neutral event (bell) is included in this chain, which is associated with a “natural” event (the appearance of food) to such an extent that it performs its function. Psychologists have studied associative learning in detail using the method of so-called paired associations: verbal units (words or syllables) are learned in pairs; Subsequent presentation of one member of the pair triggers recall of the other. This type of learning occurs when mastering a foreign language: an unfamiliar word forms a pair with its equivalent in the native language, and this pair is memorized until, when a foreign word is presented, the meaning conveyed by the word in the native language is perceived. At intellectual learning the subject of reflection and assimilation are the essential connections, structures and relationships of objective reality.
Levels of learning
reflex;
cognitive.
Each type of learning can be divided into two subtypes:
When learning is expressed in the assimilation of certain incentives And reactions, it is classified as reflex; when mastering certain knowledge and certain actions, they talk about cognitive learning.
Learning occurs constantly, in a variety of situations and activities. Depending on the way in which learning is achieved, it is divided into two different levels - reflex And cognitive.
On reflex level the learning process is unconscious, auto character. In this way, the child learns, for example, to distinguish colors, the sound of speech, to walk, to reach and move objects. The reflex level of learning is also preserved in an adult, when he unintentionally remembers the distinctive features of objects and learns new types of movements. But for a person much more characteristic is the highest, cognitive level learning, which is based on the assimilation of new knowledge and new ways actions through conscious observation, experimentation, reflection and reasoning, exercise and self-control. It is the presence of a cognitive level that distinguishes human learning from animal learning. However, not only the reflexive, but also the cognitive level of learning does not turn into learning if it is controlled by any goal other than goals acquire certain knowledge and actions. As studies by a number of psychologists have shown, in some cases spontaneous, unintentional learning can be very effective. For example, a child remembers better what is related to his active activity and is necessary for its implementation than what he memorizes specifically. However, in general, the advantage is undeniably on the side of conscious, purposeful learning, since only it can provide systematized and deep knowledge.
Varieties of associative learning
In each subtype, V.D. Shadrikov distinguishes several classes of learning (see Fig. 7).
1. Associative-reflex learning divided into sensory, motor and sensorimotor.
Sensory learning consists in the assimilation of new biologically significant properties of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.
Motor learning consists of developing new biologically useful reactions when the sensory component reactions is primarily kinesthetic or proprioceptive, i.e. when sensory information arises in the very process of performing a movement.
Sensorimotor learning consists in developing new or adapting existing reactions to new conditions of perception.
2. Associative cognitive learning is divided into teaching knowledge, teaching skills and teaching actions.
When learningknowledge a person discovers new properties in objects that are important for his activity or life, and assimilates them.
Learningskills consists in the formation of a program of action that ensures the achievement of a certain goal, as well as a program for the regulation and control of these actions.
Learningactions involves the learning of knowledge and skills and corresponds to sensorimotor learning at the cognitive level.
Comparing sensory and motor models of learning, L.B. Itelson wrote: “The first (sensory model) highlights the expansion of knowledge as the driving task of learning. The second (motor model) is the expansion of activity programs as the leading task of learning. The sensory concept emphasizes the motivation of activity as a condition for learning. The motor concept is the achievement of activity goals. It follows from the sensory concept : in order for certain properties of the world to be highlighted (reflected) by the student’s psyche and consolidated in it, they must be significant for him, i.e. connected with his motor needs - in order for action programs to be formed and consolidated in the student’s psyche, they must lead. to the set goal, i.e. to realize his needs. The first states: in order for new knowledge to be acquired by the student, he must “see” (“feel”) its usefulness. The second - in order for new actions to be acquired by the student, he must “see” (“feel”). ") their success. It follows from the sensory concept: for learning to occur, it is necessary to create in the student a positive emotional attitude towards incoming information. It follows from the motor one: for learning to occur, the student must have a positive experience when performing the required actions. The sensory concept presupposes active cognitive activity of the student: analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization incoming sensory data. Motor - active practical activity of the student; searching and testing suitable actions, monitoring their results and comparing them with the goal. It is easy to see that these two concepts do not contradict each other, but simply consider different aspects of learning. At the center of the sensory concept is the consideration of reflective, and motor - regulatory activity of the psyche. The first emphasizes the informational, cognitive nature of learning, the second - its active, purposeful nature" ( Itelson L.B., 1970. P. 49-50).The above excerpt quite clearly shows the direction of the sensory and motor models of learning and quite rightly emphasizes, on the one hand, the limitations of each of them, and on the other, their mutual complementarity, since in any real process there is both sensory, so motor learning and we can only talk about their relative predominance. Associative learning does not exhaust all types of learning. It characterizes only simpler (albeit diverse) types of adaptive modification behavior.
Types of intellectual learning
More complex forms of learning refer to intellectual learning, which, like associative, can be divided into reflexive and cognitive (see Fig. 8). 1. Reflexive intellectual learning is divided into relational learning, transfer learning and sign learning.
o Essence relationship teaching consists in isolating and reflecting in the psyche the relations of elements in a situation, separating them from the absolute properties of these elements.
o Transfer learning consists of “the successful use, in relation to a new situation, of those skills and innate forms of behavior that the animal already possesses” ( Right there. P. 59). This type of learning is based on the ability to identify relationships and actions. o Sign learning associated with the development of such forms of behavior in which “the animal reacts to an object as if sign, i.e. responds not to the properties of the object itself, but to what this object signifies" (Ibid. p. 62).
In animals, intellectual learning is presented in its simplest forms; in humans, it is the main form of learning and occurs at the cognitive level.
2. Intelligent Cognitive Training is divided into teaching concepts, teaching thinking and teaching skills.
o Learningconcepts consists in the assimilation of concepts that reflect the essential relations of reality and are enshrined in words and combinations of words. Through mastery of concepts, a person assimilates the socio-historical experience of previous generations.
o Learningthinking consists in “forming in students mental actions and their systems, reflecting the basic operations with the help of which the most important relations of reality are cognized" ( Right there. P. 77). Learning to think is a prerequisite for learning concepts.
o Learningskills is to develop in students ways to regulate their actions and behavior in accordance with purpose and the situation.
The considered classification provides a fairly complete description of the main types of learning. However, the following comments are valid. Firstly, it is necessary to clarify the content of teaching thinking and define its essence as the student’s mastery of operations analysis And synthesis, aimed at reflecting being “in its connections and relationships, in its diverse mediations” (Rubinstein S.L., 1946. P. 340). Secondly, it should be noted that when intellectual In learning, we are dealing with the formation of connections, but “these are essential necessary connections based on real dependencies, and not random connections based on contiguity in a particular situation” (Essence of teaching Ibid., p. 341).
Interdisciplinary approach to teaching
From the position axiology ethics teaching is viewed as a process of value formation and self-determination, internalization of social norms, rules, and values.
From a biological point of view, learning is an adaptation process where heredity, environment, adaptation, and regulation are considered.
From the standpoint of physiology, the teaching is considered in terms of neurohumoral mechanisms, the development conditioned reflexes, patterns of higher nervous activity, analytical and synthetic activity of the brain.
From the position of psychology, teaching is considered as the activity of the subject, as an activity, as a factor mental development.
From a pedagogical position, teaching is considered in the context of the “educational system, where upbringing and training represent a system of purposeful, desirable conditions from the point of view of the needs of society, which should ensure the effective transfer of social experience."
WITH cybernetic position, learning can be considered as an information process in a learning system, characterized by control through channels of direct and feedback connections, development and change of strategies, programs and algorithms.
The problem of teaching is interdisciplinary; Accordingly, it can be viewed from different positions. I. Lingart identifies nine aspects (positions) of consideration ( Lingart I., 1970. P. 16-31) (see animation). From the position philosophy(in epistemological terms) teaching is a specific form of knowledge. In teaching, contradictions arise and are resolved between the objective and the subjective, form and content, etc.
Teaching as a type of activity
The entire diversity of human activity can be reduced to three main types - play, learning, work.
A game - a type of unproductive activity, the motive of which lies not in its results, but in the process itself.
Teaching - student activity in acquiring new knowledge and mastering methods of acquiring knowledge.
Work - this is an expedient human activity aimed at preserving, modifying, adapting the environment to meet one’s needs, and for the production of goods and services.
Teaching , which, in the sequential change of main types of activity that occurs during the life of each person, follows play and precedes work, differs significantly from play.
After all, any interaction with the world not only satisfies the needs of the individual, but also leads to a more complete and accurate reflection of the conditions of activity, which ensures the improvement of the methods of its implementation. Teaching is a necessary component of any activity and represents the process of changing it subject, determined by its subject content. This teaching differs from changes in activity caused by the physiological properties of the organism (its maturation, functional state, etc.) (see Khrest. 3.2). There are different interpretations of the concept of “teaching” (Fig. 10). Let's list some of them. For example, S.L. Rubinstein reveals the essence of the teaching this way: “The main target teachings, in relation to which his entire social organization is aligned, is to prepare for future independent labor activity; the main means is the development of the generalized results of what has been created by the previous labor of mankind; mastering the results of the past social labor, a person prepares for his own work activity. This process of learning does not occur spontaneously, not by gravity. Teaching is a side of the essentially social learning process - a two-way process of transfer and assimilation of knowledge. It is carried out under the guidance of a teacher and is aimed at developing the student’s creative capabilities" (Rubinshtein S.L., 1999. P. 495; abstract). Itelson L.B.: "This is an activity, the immediate goal of which is the very development of certain information, actions , forms of behavior. Such specific activity of the subject, aimed at learning, with learning as its goal, is called teaching" ( Itelson L.B., 2000. P. 205).The scientist continues further: the teaching “...includes:
assimilation of information about the significant properties of the world necessary for the successful organization of intellectual and practical activities,
mastering the very techniques and operations that make up this activity,
mastering the ways of using this information for the correct selection and control of these techniques and operations in accordance with the goal" (Ibid. p. 205).
3.3.3. Versatility of the definition of doctrine
Conducted by I.I. Ilyasov’s systematic, consistent analysis of the basic concepts of teaching to identify the features of its structural organization and its differences in different concepts at the same time revealed all the diversity of the very interpretation of this process, which is primarily due to differences in the general psychological approach and the author’s interpretations (Ilyasov I.I., 1986 ; abstract) (see Khrest. 3.3).
acquisition of knowledge and skills to solve various problems (Ya.A. Komensky);
assimilation of knowledge, skills and development - improvement - of general cognitive processes (I. Herbart);
acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities in certain disciplines (F.A. Disterweg);
an active thought process associated with overcoming difficulties - the emergence of a problem situation (J. Dewey); “an active process of constructing new formations from elements of sensory and mental content with the necessary participation of external movements” (V. Lai);
gaining knowledge and solving problems (K.D. Ushinsky);
the active process of the student’s internal initiative, which is the internal side of the pedagogical process (P.F. Kapterev);
restructuring of previous structures of experience, where two phases are the formation (for the first time) of new forms of activity (success) and the preservation and reproduction of emerging new forms of activity ( memory) (K. Koffka);
different types of experience acquisition (J. Piaget)
According to the study conducted by I.I. Ilyasov’s analysis of the concepts of teaching, teaching is considered as:
Basic theories of teaching in Russian psychology
In Russian psychology, there are several approaches to analyzing learning problems. One of these theoretical approaches is to consider learning as the acquisition of knowledge by students and the formation of techniques in them. mental activity(N.A. Menchinskaya, E.N. Kabanova-Meller, D.N. Bogoyavlensky, etc.). It is based on the position that schoolchildren’s assimilation of knowledge is determined by external circumstances (primarily the program and teaching methods) and at the same time is the result of the activity of the student himself (http://www.vygotsky.edu.ru/html/da .php; see international department of cultural-historical psychology of Moscow State University of Psychology and Education). The central point of learning is the assimilation of knowledge presented in the form of scientific concepts. Such assimilation does not come down to simple copying in the minds of students concepts, entered by the teacher. An externally given concept is formed to the extent that it is the result of the student’s mental activity and the mental operations he performs ( analysis, synthesis, generalizations, abstractions). In the assimilation of concepts, successive stages arise: movement from incomplete knowledge to complete knowledge. This movement, depending on the content of the concepts, can be of a different nature. In many cases it goes from the particular, specific to the general, abstract. But there is another option for assimilation: from the undifferentiated general to the particular, concrete, and through the concrete to the truly abstract. Thus, when mastering concepts about representatives of various social classes, the student initially learns only the diametrical opposition of these concepts and their main features. Concepts become meaningful in the future, as students acquire relevant specific knowledge.
The assimilation of knowledge is closely related to its application in various educational and practical situations. The application of acquired knowledge depends on the relationship between theoretical and practical, abstract and concrete thinking. They relate differently at different stages of learning, which makes it necessary to use processes interiorization And exteriorization(transition from external actions to solve mental problems to action in the mental plane and vice versa). In the process of learning, not only knowledge is acquired, but those mental operations with the help of which students obtain and apply knowledge are also improved; methods of mental activity are formed, including both mastery of operations and the emergence of motives, needs for the use of these operations as modes of activity.
The development and fairly widespread use of mental activity techniques leads to the formation of certain mental qualities in students: activity and independence, productivity, flexibility, etc. Teaching is a developing process, including a transition from elementary situations, where it is carried out on the basis of imitation of a model with minimal activity of the student himself, to higher levels based on the “self-government” of the student, who independently obtains new knowledge or applies previously acquired knowledge to solve new ones tasks. Another approach to the problems of teaching is contained in theories of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts developed by P.Ya. Galperin (Galperin P.Ya., 1985), N.F. Talyzina (Talyzina N.F., 1998) and their employees. In this theory, learning is viewed as the assimilation of certain types and methods of cognitive activity, which include a given system of knowledge and subsequently ensure their application within predetermined limits. Knowledge, abilities and skills do not exist in isolation from each other; the quality of knowledge is always determined by the content and characteristics of the activity in which they are included (http://www.voppy.ru/journals_all/issues/1995/951/951053.htm; see . article by Pavlenko V.N. “Cultural-historical development of mental processes and the theory of the gradual formation of mental actions”). The unit acquired in the process of learning cognitive activity is mental action, And task teaching management is, first of all, the task formation mental actions with certain, predetermined properties. The possibility of such management is provided by knowledge and use laws, according to which new actions are formed, conditions that affect their quality are identified and taken into account. Such laws and conditions were the subject of research by the authors of the theory of phased formation. They found that the initial form in which a new mental action with given properties can be constructed among students is its external, material (or materialized) form, when the action is carried out with real objects (or their substitutes - models, diagrams, drawings and etc.). The process of mastering an action includes the initial mastery of its external form and subsequent interiorization- a gradual transition to execution on an internal, mental level, during which the action not only turns into a mental one, but also acquires a number of new properties (generalization, abbreviation, automation, rationality, consciousness). An example of the formation of a mental action is the assimilation of counting, which is first carried out by actually rearranging objects (material form) or counting sticks (materialized form), then in terms of loud speech and ultimately - completely “in the mind” (http://www .pirao.ru/strukt/lab_gr/l-uchen.html; see laboratory of psychology of teaching PI RAO).
Summary
Learning denotes the process and result of the acquisition of individual experience by a biological system (from the simplest to man as the highest form of its organization in the conditions of the Earth).
Teaching is defined as a person’s learning as a result of his purposeful, conscious appropriation of his transmitted (broadcast) sociocultural (socio-historical) experience and individual experience formed on this basis. Consequently, teaching is considered as a type of learning.
Learning in the most common sense of this term means the purposeful, consistent transfer (broadcast) of sociocultural (socio-historical) experience to another person in specially created conditions. In psychological and pedagogical terms, learning is considered as managing the process of accumulating knowledge, forming cognitive structures, as organizing and stimulating the student’s educational and cognitive activity.
So, teaching/training/teaching is the process of a subject acquiring new ways of carrying out behavior and activities, their fixation and/or modification. The most general concept denoting the process and result of the acquisition of individual experience by a biological system (from the simplest to man as the highest form of its organization in the conditions of the Earth) is “learning”. Teaching a person as a result of his purposeful, conscious appropriation of the socio-historical experience transmitted to him and the individual experience formed on this basis is defined as teaching.
There are a number of pressing problems that require further study: the problem of the relationship and differentiation of the concepts of “learning”/“teaching”/“training”; the problem of correlation and differentiation of the effects of learning and maturation/development; the problem of identifying general laws and patterns of learning; the problem of identifying types, mechanisms and conditions for effective learning.
All types of learning can be divided into two types: associative and intellectual. Each type of learning can be divided into two subtypes: reflex; cognitive.
The problem of teaching is interdisciplinary; Accordingly, it can be viewed from different positions.
There are several concepts related to a person’s acquisition of life experience in the form of knowledge, skills, abilities, abilities. This is teaching, teaching, teaching.
There are many theories of learning. In each of them, one can highlight a separate aspect of the phenomenon being studied. According to some theories, in the processes of teaching and learning there is a single learning mechanism (in both humans and animals); other theories view teaching and learning as different mechanisms.
The entire diversity of human activity can be reduced to three main types - play, learning, work. Teaching, which, in the sequential change of main types of activity that occurs during the life of each person, follows play and precedes work, is significantly different from play.
Self-test questions
1. Compare the following concepts: “mastering”, “learning”, “teaching”, “learning activity”.
2. Name the system of activities as a result of which a person gains experience.
3. How do A.K. interpret the concepts of “learning”, “training” and “teaching”? Markova and N.F. Talyzin?
4. How does V.D.’s point of view differ? Shadrikov about learning from the point of view of L.B. Itelson?
5. How was learning interpreted in Russian psychology during the Soviet period of its development?
6. Name the main theories of learning.
7. Name the main problems of learning theory.
8. What types of learning exist in human society?
9. What is the essence of the behaviorist concept of learning?
10. Reveal the essence of the principle of reinforcement as the main way to control the learning process in the theory of operant behavior.
11. What is the essence of the associative-reflex theory of learning?
12. How do cognitive theories of learning differ from behaviorist and associative-reflex theories?
13. Name and characterize the main types of associative learning.
14. What levels of learning are usually distinguished in psychology?
15. What is the essence of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching?
16. Describe teaching as a type of human activity.
17. Name the main theories of teaching in Russian psychology.
18. What is the essence of the activity approach to the assimilation of social experience?
19. What is the essence of the theory of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts?
20. Name the main operational theories of the assimilation of social experience.
21. Expand the main provisions of the theory of the planned formation of mental actions.
Bibliography
1. Gabay T.V. Pedagogical psychology: Textbook. allowance. M., 1995
2. Gabay T.V. Educational activities
and her means. M., 1988.
3. Galperin P.Ya. Teaching methods and mental development of the child. M., 1985.
4. Ilyasov I.I. Structure of the learning process. M., 1986.
5. Itelson L.B. Lectures on general psychology: Textbook. allowance. Ml.; M., 2000.
6. Markova A.K., Matis T.A., Orlov A.B. Formation of learning motivation. M., 1990.
7. Nemov R.S. Psychology: In 2 books. Book 2. Educational psychology. M., 1994.
8. Orlov Yu.M. Learning. M., 1997.
9. Psychology: Textbook for humanitarian universities / Ed. ed. V.N. Druzhinina. St. Petersburg, 2001.
10. Rubinstein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology. St. Petersburg, 1999.
11. Talyzina N.F. Pedagogical psychology
12. Talyzina N.F. Managing the process of knowledge acquisition. M., 1975.
13. Shadrikov V.D. Psychology of human activity and abilities: Proc. allowance. M., 1996.
Seminar lesson
Plan
1. The essence of learning
2. Learning theories
3. Types and levels of learning
4. General characteristics of the teaching properties
Bibliography
1. Gabay T.V. Pedagogical psychology
2. Ilyasov I.I. Structure of the learning process. M., 1986.
3. Talyzina N.F. Pedagogical psychology: Textbook. aid for students avg. specialist. textbook establishments. M., 1998.
Practical lesson
Topic: Learning its types and essence
1. Compare the following concepts: “mastering”, “learning”, “teaching”, “learning activity”.
2. How do A.K. interpret the concepts of “learning”, “training” and “teaching”? Markova and N.F. Talyzin?
3. How does V.D.’s point of view differ? Shadrikov about learning from the point of view of L.B. Itelson?
4. How was learning interpreted in Russian psychology during the Soviet period of its development?
5. Give a written comparative description of the main theories of learning.
Bibliography
1. Gabay T.V. Pedagogical psychology: Textbook. allowance. M.: Academy, 2008.
2. Gabay T.V. Educational activities and her means. M., 1988.
Pedagogical psychology
Psycho. learning theories
Basic learning theory postulate is that almost all behavior is learned as a result of learning. For example, any psychopathology is understood as the acquisition of maladaptive behavior or as a failure in the acquisition of adaptive behavior. Learning theorists manipulate environmental parameters and observe the consequences of these manipulations in behavior. Learning theories are sometimes called S-R (stimulus-response) psychology.
Learning- (training, teaching) - the process of a subject acquiring new ways of carrying out behavior and activities, their fixation and/or modification. The change in psychological structures that occurs as a result of this process provides the opportunity for further improvement of activity.
Learning theories in psychology are based on two main principles:
- All behavior is acquired through the process of learning.
- In order to maintain scientific rigor when testing hypotheses, it is necessary to observe the principle of objectivity of data. External reasons (food reward) are chosen as variables that can be manipulated, in contrast to “internal” variables in the psychodynamic direction (instincts, defense mechanisms, self-concept), which cannot be manipulated.
TO patterns of learning relate:
- The law of readiness: the stronger the need, the more successful the learning.
- Law of Effect: behavior that leads to a beneficial action causes a decrease in need and will therefore be repeated.
- Law of Exercise: All other things being equal, repetition of a certain action makes it easier to perform the behavior and leads to faster execution and a reduced likelihood of errors.
- Law of recency: the material that is presented at the end of the series is best learned. This law contradicts the primacy effect - the tendency to better learn material that is presented at the beginning of the learning process. The contradiction is eliminated when the law “edge effect” is formulated. The U-shaped dependence of the degree of learning of a material on its place in the learning process reflects this effect and is called the “positional curve.”
- Law of Correspondence: There is a proportional relationship between the probability of a response and the probability of reinforcement.
There are three main learning theories:
- theory of classical conditioning I.P. Pavlova;
- theory of operant conditioning B.F. Skinner;
- theory of social learning by A. Bandura.
Classical conditioning theory describes reactive learning (or S-type learning, from “stimulus,” stimulus), in most cases requiring almost simultaneous exposure to a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus (ideally, exposure to the conditioned stimulus should be slightly ahead of the unconditioned stimulus).
Operant learning theory proves that behavior is influenced not only by the stimuli that affect the body before performing any action, but also by the results of the behavior themselves. Operant conditioning (or type R learning, from “reaction”) is based on the fundamental principle formulated by Skinner: behavior is formed and maintained by its consequences.
The author of the theory of social learning, Albert Bandura, proved that learning can occur not only when the body is exposed to certain stimuli, as in reactive or operant learning, but also when a person is aware and cognitively assesses external events (here it should be noted that folk wisdom has recorded the possibility such learning long before Bandura: “A smart person learns from other people’s mistakes...”).
The term learning refers to a relatively permanent change in behavioral potential as a result of practice or experience. This definition contains three key elements:
1) the change that has taken place is usually characterized by stability and duration;
2) it is not the behavior itself that undergoes a change, but the potential opportunities for its implementation (the subject can learn something that does not change his behavior for a long time or never affects him at all);
3) learning requires the acquisition of some experience (thus, it does not happen simply as a result of maturation and growth).
Building on the work of Pavlov and Thorndike, the early representatives of the “learning theory,” which dominated psychological science in the United States of America for almost the entire first half of the 20th century, directed their research toward instrumental behavior. They studied those types of it that entailed consequences. For example, the behavior of a rat moving through a maze to find a way out and get food was studied. At the same time, quantities such as the amount of time required for the rat to reach the goal during each of the repeated trials were measured. Similar to Thorndike's study, the procedure consisted of placing a rat at the beginning of the maze and then assessing its progress towards the exit. The main indicator analyzed was the number of attempts required for the rat to finally be able to complete the entire maze without making mistakes (such as ending up in dead-end corridors).
Representatives of learning theory have moved somewhat away from strict behaviorism. They used concepts such as learning, motivation, driving forces, incentives, mental inhibition, which denoted invisible behavior. According to the eminent learning theorist Clark Hull (1884–1952), these concepts are scientific insofar as they can be defined in terms of observable operations (see Hull, 1943). For example, an operational definition of the presence of hunger or “need for satiety” can be put forward based on the number of hours of food deprivation experienced by the rat before the experiment, or from the decrease in body weight of the rat relative to normal. In turn, an operational definition of learning can be given in terms of the progressive decrease from trial to trial in the amount of time it takes a rat to reach the exit from a maze (or a cat to escape from a problem box). Theorists could now ask research questions such as: “Does learning occur faster when the motivation to satisfy food needs is strengthened?” It turns out that it happens, but only up to a certain point. After this moment, the rat simply does not have the strength to go through the maze.
Learning researchers invented formulas for learning and behavior by averaging the behavior of large numbers of individual subjects and gradually deduced general “laws” of learning. One of them is the classic learning curve, which extends to many types of human behavior, which is shown. Thus, learning a skill, such as playing a musical instrument, is characterized by rapid improvement in skill in the initial stages, but then the rate of improvement slows down more and more. Let's say a child is learning to play the guitar. First, he quickly develops flexibility and obedience of the fingers, skills in plucking strings and setting chords; but if he is destined to become a virtuoso, it will require many years of practice. The learning curve is quite good at illustrating the emergence of many complex human skills, even though it was derived from observations of rats improving their maze performance over time.
Some other patterns identified by representatives of the classical learning theory also apply to human behavior. However, there is a large number of those that are not subject to such transfer. The search for learning principles universal to all animal species has largely been abandoned in favor of species-specific principles. In later chapters we will see examples of “exceptions” that characterize human behavior.
Types, conditions and mechanisms of learning
The concept of learning characterizes the fact that a person acquires new psychological qualities and properties in educational activities. Etymologically, this concept comes from the word “learn” and includes everything that an individual can actually learn as a result of training and teaching.
A person has several types of learning. The first and simplest of them unites humans with all other living beings that have a developed central nervous system. This is learning through the mechanism of imprinting, i.e. fast, automatic, almost instantaneous compared to the long process of learning to adapt the body to the specific conditions of its life using forms of behavior that are practically ready from birth. For example, it is enough for a mother duck to appear in the field of view of a newborn duckling and begin to move in a certain direction, and, standing on its own paws, the chick begins to automatically follow her everywhere. This happens, as K. Lorenz showed, even when the field of view of a newborn chick is not a mother duck, but some other moving object, for example a person. Another example: it is enough to touch the inner surface of a newborn’s palm with any hard object, and his fingers automatically clench. As soon as a newborn touches the mother's breast, his innate sucking reflex is immediately triggered. Through the described mechanism of imprinting, numerous innate instincts are formed, including motor, sensory and others. According to tradition, which has developed since the time of I.P. Pavlov, such forms of behavior are called unconditioned reflexes, although the word “instinct” is more suitable for their name. Such forms of behavior are usually genotypically programmed and are difficult to change. Nevertheless, elementary learning, at least in the form of a suitable “trigger” signal, is also necessary for the activation of instincts. In addition, it has been shown that many instinctive forms of behavior are themselves quite plastic.
The second type of learning is conditioned reflex learning. His research began with the work of I. P. Pavlov. This type of learning involves the emergence of new forms of behavior as conditioned reactions to an initially neutral stimulus, which previously did not cause a specific reaction. Stimuli that are capable of generating a conditioned reflex reaction of the body must be perceived by it. All the basic elements of the future reaction must also already be present in the body. Thanks to conditioned reflex learning, they are connected with each other into a new system that ensures the implementation of a more complex form of behavior than elementary innate reactions.
Conditioned stimuli are usually neutral from the point of view of the process and conditions for satisfying the body's needs, but the body learns to respond to them during life as a result of the systematic association of these stimuli with the satisfaction of corresponding needs. Subsequently, in this process, conditioned stimuli begin to play a signaling, or orienting, role.
Conditioned stimuli can be associated with conditioned reactions in time or space (see the concept of association). For example, a certain, habitual environment in which a baby repeatedly finds himself during feeding can, through a conditioned reflex, begin to evoke in him organic processes and movements associated with eating. A word, as a certain combination of sounds, associated with highlighting in the field of vision or holding an object in the hand, can acquire the ability to automatically evoke in a person’s mind an image of this object or movements aimed at searching for it.
The third type of learning is operant learning. With this type of learning, knowledge, skills and abilities are acquired through the so-called trial and error method. It is as follows. The task or situation faced by an individual gives rise to a complex of various reactions: instinctive, unconditional, conditional. The body consistently tries each of them in practice to solve a problem and automatically evaluates the result achieved. That one of the reactions or that random combination of them that leads to the best result, that is, ensures the optimal adaptation of the body to the situation that has arisen, stands out among the rest and is consolidated in experience. This is learning by trial and error. All the types of learning described are found in both humans and animals and represent the main ways in which various living beings acquire life experience. But man also has special, higher methods of learning, rarely or almost never found in other living beings. This is, firstly, learning through direct observation of the behavior of other people, as a result of which a person immediately adopts and assimilates the observed forms of behavior. This type of learning is called vicarious and is represented in humans in its most developed form. In terms of its mode of functioning and results, it resembles imprinting, but only in the sphere of a person’s acquisition of social skills.
Secondly, this is verbal learning, that is, a person’s acquisition of new experience through language. Thanks to him, a person has the opportunity to transfer to other people who speak speech, and to obtain the necessary abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities, describing them verbally in sufficient detail and understandably for the learner. Speaking more broadly, in this case we mean learning carried out in symbolic form through diverse sign systems, among which language acts as one of such systems. These also include symbolism used in mathematics, physics, and many other sciences, as well as graphic symbolism used in technology and art, in geography, geology and other fields of knowledge.
Vicarious learning is especially significant for a person in the early stages of ontogenesis, when, not yet mastering the symbolic function, the child acquires rich and varied human experience, learning from visual examples through observation and imitation. Symbolic, or verbal, learning becomes the main way of acquiring experience, starting from the moment of mastering speech and especially when studying at school. The assimilation of language and other systems of symbols, the acquisition of the ability to operate with them frees a person from direct sensory attachment to objects, makes his learning (training, teaching, organization of educational activities) possible in an abstract, abstract form. Here, the prerequisite and basis for effective learning are the most perfect higher mental functions of a person: his consciousness, thinking and speech.
Let us note two particular but important additional differences that exist between learning, teaching and teaching. Teaching differs from teaching, in addition to what was said above, also in that it is usually an organized process, systematically and consciously controlled, while learning can occur spontaneously. Teaching, as an aspect of educational activity related to the student’s work, can also act as an organized or unorganized process. In the first case, teaching is an aspect of learning, interpreted in the broad sense of the word, and in the second, it is the result of what is called socialization. Learning can be a by-product of any activity, while the concepts of teaching and learning are usually associated with special educational activities.
The learning process, as an activity, is realized through the following educational and intellectual mechanisms:
1. Formation of associations. This mechanism underlies the establishment of temporary connections between individual knowledge or
parts of experience.
2. Imitation. Acts as the basis for the formation of mainly skills and abilities.
3. Distinction and generalization. Associated primarily with the formation of concepts.
4. Insight (guess). It represents a person’s direct viewing of some new information, something unknown in what is already known, familiar from past experience. Insight is the cognitive basis for the development of a child's intelligence.
5. Creativity. It serves as the basis for the creation of new knowledge, subjects, skills and abilities that are not presented in the form of ready-to-learn samples through imitation.
The task of improving learning comes down to using all the described mechanisms in it. The success of learning depends on many factors, and among them psychological factors occupy an important place. These are the motivation of learning activities, the arbitrariness of cognitive processes of perception, attention, imagination, memory, thinking and speech, which we have already discussed in the course of general fundamentals of psychology, the presence of the necessary strong-willed and a number of other personality qualities in the student: perseverance, determination, responsibility, discipline, consciousness, accuracy and others. Psychological factors for the success of educational activities also include the ability to interact with people in joint activities with them, primarily with teachers and study group mates, intellectual development and the formation of educational activities as teachings. All of these factors apply not only to the student, but also to the teacher, but to the latter - in their specific refraction associated with teaching other people. An important role in the process of acquiring knowledge is the learning mindset, i.e. the teacher’s setting and the student’s acceptance of a learning task, the meaning of which for the teacher is to teach, and for the student to learn something.
All considered learning factors relate to the personality and psychological characteristics of people included in the educational process. But, besides them, there are also the means and content of teaching, the educational material that the teacher and students use. It must also meet certain requirements. The most important of them is accessibility and a sufficient level of complexity. Accessibility ensures that the student masters this material, and sufficient complexity ensures the student’s psychological development. From a psychological point of view, the optimal complexity from a psychological point of view is considered to be educational material that is at a fairly high, but still quite accessible level of difficulty. By learning from such material, children not only experience the greatest personal satisfaction with success, but also develop best intellectually.
A subjectively important point related to the student’s assessment of the degree of difficulty of the material being learned is interest in it and the connection of this material with the needs of the student, with his experience, skills and abilities. Material that is interesting, familiar, and personally relevant is typically perceived by students as less difficult than material that has the opposite characteristics.
An important factor in the success of teaching and learning is a well-thought-out system of rewarding students for success and punishment for failure in educational activities. Rewards should correspond to real success and reflect not so much the student’s abilities as the efforts he makes. Punishments should play a stimulating role, i.e., affect and activate important motives of educational activity aimed at achieving success rather than avoiding failure.
There are several concepts related to a person’s acquisition of life experience in the form of knowledge, skills, abilities, abilities. This is teaching, teaching, teaching.
The most general concept is learning. Intuitively, each of us has an idea of what learning is. They talk about learning in the case when a person began to know and (or) be able to do something that he did not know and (or) could not do before. This new knowledge, skills and abilities can be a consequence of activities aimed at acquiring them, or act as a side effect of behavior that realizes goals not related to this knowledge and skills.
Learning denotes the process and result of the acquisition of individual experience by a biological system (from the simplest to man as the highest form of its organization in the conditions of the Earth). Such familiar and widespread concepts as evolution, development, survival, adaptation, selection, improvement, have some commonality, most fully expressed in the concept of learning, which resides in them either explicitly or by default. The concept of development, or evolution, is impossible without the assumption that all these processes occur due to changes in the behavior of living beings. And at present, the only scientific concept that fully embraces these changes is the concept of learning. Living things learn new behaviors that enable them to survive more effectively. Everything that exists adapts, survives, acquires new properties, and this happens according to the laws of learning. So, survival mainly depends on learning ability.
Learning is the process and result of acquiring individual experience. As already emphasized above, in Russian psychology (at least during the Soviet period of its development), the concept of learning was usually used in relation to animals. Yu.M. Orlov, attaching great importance to this concept in science, emphasizes that “in psychology there is perhaps no other concept that is of such great importance for understanding a person as learning. Learning is a concept that denotes the process of formation of new types of behavior. It takes place wherever there is behavior At the same time, this concept is one of those that is little used by people in understanding themselves and others. I was amazed by the fact that the so-called Soviet psychology, to which I myself belong, since I was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Psychological Sciences, is this psychology in general. dispensed with this concept. The word “learning” was excluded from textbooks and books on psychology. Where it was impossible to do without it, the word “learning” was replaced by “assimilation,” a concept that has a completely different meaning when we say “assimilation.” , then it is assumed that there is a certain ready-made behavior that is learned. Learning presupposes the formation of new types of behavior. In works on pedagogy, the concept of learning was only assumed, hiding behind the words “formation”, “training”, “education”.
Learning differs from learning as the acquisition of experience in activities directed by cognitive motives or motives and goals. Through learning, any experience can be acquired - knowledge, abilities, skills (in humans) and new forms of behavior (in animals).
Like any acquisition of experience, learning includes unconscious understanding of the content of the material and its consolidation (involuntary memorization). In animals, learning is the main form of acquiring experience. Directed learning in animals exists only in rudimentary form (examination of a new situation, imitation).
The ability to learn is possessed mainly by species that have advanced far in evolutionary development. If instinctive behavior is effective in an animal’s usual environment and ordinary circumstances, then, in essence, only individuals of those species in which the ability to learn and develop skills predominates to cope with new situations and unusual surroundings and form new behavioral acts.
The life of any organism is, first of all, continuous adaptation to the conditions of a constantly changing environment. A living organism must develop modes of behavior that would help it survive in its environment, i.e. be adequate to the surrounding world. The universal law of the Universe is that the existence of living organisms comes down to the development of forms of behavior aimed at restoring some kind of balance or achieving certain goals.
There are a number of concepts related to a person’s acquisition of life experience in the form of knowledge, skills, and abilities. This: teaching, teaching, training and educational activities.
Unlike lower living organisms, standing at the beginning of the evolutionary ladder, which are characterized by reflexive and instinctive types of behavior, highly developed creatures, including humans, are dominated by acquired behavioral reactions.
The ability to learn, i.e. accumulate and store acquired experience, develops as you move up the evolutionary ladder. A person has only a few forms of behavior that he should not learn - these are innate reflexes that give him the opportunity to survive after birth (sucking, breathing, swallowing, sneezing, blinking, etc.). Further, the development of a child depends entirely on interaction with the physical and, to an even greater extent, with the social environment. It is in the process of this interaction that the accumulation of experience or learning occurs.
LEARNING is the process and result of acquiring individual experience. The term “learning” itself comes from animal psychology, into which E. Thorndike introduced it.
Any experience can be acquired through learning: in a person - knowledge, skills and abilities; animals have new forms of behavior.
Learning includes an unconscious understanding of the content of the material and its consolidation (involuntary memorization).
There are several approaches to considering learning mechanisms. Some believe that these mechanisms are similar in humans and animals, others believe that they are different. In animals, learning is the main form of acquiring experience, either gradually (in repeated acts of behavior) or immediately (imprinting). In humans, the role and significance of learning changes during ontogenesis. In preschool age, learning is the main way of acquiring experience, and then it is relegated to the background, giving way to learning and educational activities.
The most important factor in learning is the place of the acquired material in the corresponding activity: a person learns better what is the goal of his activity.
Some types of learning can already occur at the level of receptors or the spinal cord. Others require the involvement of subcortical structures or brain circuits. Some types of learning are carried out automatically and involuntarily, others require programming, which only a developed brain is capable of.
1. Reactive Behavior occurs when the body passively reacts to external factors and changes involuntarily occur in the nervous system, new memory traces are formed. This type of behavior includes: addiction, sensitization, imprinting and conditioned reflexes.
Imprinting- this is a deep attachment to the first moving object that comes into view. This mechanism was first described by Lorenz by observing the behavior of goslings. This mechanism is very important for survival. In humans, social connections are established early and are deep. The imprinting mechanism serves, as it were, as a connecting link between the innate and the acquired. Effective imprinting in the form of filial or filial, social and sex-role behavior is determined genetically, but the direction of these forms of behavior depends on the experience gained from the first minutes of life, i.e., in this sense, these forms are acquired.
Habituation, or habituation (a primitive method of learning), occurs when the body, as a result of changes, learns to ignore some constant stimulus.
Conditioned reflex learning occurs when connections are formed between a specific stimulus that causes an innate reflex and some indifferent stimulus. As a result, an indifferent stimulus begins to evoke this reflex.
2. Operant behavior(the term was introduced by behaviorists) - these are actions for the development of which it is necessary for the body to actively experiment with the environment and, thus, establish connections between various stimuli. Since living beings, and especially humans, are inherently active, when finding themselves in various situations and circumstances, the body is forced to adapt and, thus, many new modes of behavior are formed through: trial and error, the method of forming reactions and by observation.
Trial and error method. Having encountered an obstacle, the body makes attempts to overcome it and, gradually, abandons ineffective actions, finding a solution to the problem. This method was discovered by E. Thorndike, who actively studied animal behavior and learning processes. Thorndike derived patterns that help explain the effectiveness of the “trial and error” method and formulated the “law of effect”: if some action leads to the desired results, then the probability of its repetition increases, and if it leads to undesirable results, it decreases. By itself, the trial and error method is not effective and, gradually, as a person gains power over the environment, new ways of forming and transmitting experience emerge.
Reaction formation method. Skinner continued and systematized the teachings of Thorndike. Based on the idea that behavior can be shaped by selection, Skinner developed a theory of the formation of behavior through successive approximations, which forms the basis of operant conditioning.
Observation. Many forms of social activity of an individual are based on observation of other people from the immediate environment, who serve as models to follow. At the same time, not just imitation takes place, but also vicarious learning.
Imitation is a method of learning in which the body reproduces the actions of a model, not always understanding their meaning (for example, imitation is developed in young children and primates).
Vicarious learning(or social learning) occurs when an individual fully internalizes a model's behavior, including understanding the consequences of that behavior for the model (e.g., imitating celebrities). Assimilation of behavior in this way is facilitated if: the model is available for contact; the degree of complexity of her behavior is accessible; if the behavior has positive reinforcement rather than punishment.
During vicarious learning, some connections are formed in the brain, but whether they will be used depends on the participation of cognitive processes and the analysis of specific circumstances.
3. Cognitive learning is not just the establishment of some associative connections between two stimuli or a situation and the body’s response, but also an assessment of these connections, taking into account past experience and taking into account possible consequences. As a result of this process, a decision is made. This type of learning includes: latent learning, development of psychomotor skills, insight and learning by reasoning.
Latent learning. According to E. Tolman (1948), a variety of signals enter the body from the environment, some of which are fully realized, others less clearly, and others do not reach consciousness at all. All these signals are processed and converted by the brain, which creates unique maps of the environment or cognitive maps, with the help of which the body determines which reactions will be most adequate in any new situation. In this case, reinforcement comes not so much from assimilation of information, but from its use.
Education complex psychomotor skills occurs through the formation of cognitive strategies aimed at developing strict sequences of movements and programming them depending on the desired result.
There are several stages in the formation of a complex skill:
1) cognitive stage - all attention is focused on the elements that make up the action;
2) associative stage - at it there is an improvement in coordination and integration of various elements of the skill;
3) autonomous stage - at this stage there is already a high level of skill, the skill becomes automatic. Less attention is paid to the technical side, and the main place is occupied by the union of mind and feeling.
Insight (translated from Latin means illumination, a flash that illuminates consciousness) occupies an intermediate place between latent learning and creativity. During insight, certain information scattered in memory is, as it were, combined and used in a new situation (Keller, 25). In this case, the problem is solved in an original way, and the solution comes spontaneously (this is where the similarity with creativity manifests itself).
Learning by reasoning. Reasoning is a thought process. It is used when a problem cannot be solved in the usual way or there is no standard solution for it “on the fly” (for example, is it worth borrowing a large amount of money; where is the best place to have lunch; go to a lecture or to the cinema). Learning by reasoning occurs in two stages:
1) available data are reviewed and connections are established between them;
2) constructing hypotheses and testing them “in the mind” (the emerging hypotheses are related to past experience). The results of such learning are used in the future in similar and other situations.
Learning by reasoning has two forms: perceptual, associated with the perception of reality over a period of time, and this perception is accompanied by learning; and conceptual, associated with the formation of concepts (a process in which similarities between objects, living beings, situations, ideas, etc. are identified from processed perceptions, and they are combined into some abstract categories that allow one to organize experience. Here they have the place of abstraction and generalization: during abstraction, features of commonality and similarity between two phenomena or events are found, and their common feature is determined by one concept; during generalization, all new objects and phenomena that are similar to those phenomena that served to develop the given one are brought under the concept; concepts).
The main mechanisms of learning are:
Association, repetition, discrimination, generalization, insight and creativity.
The only measure of learning effectiveness can be activity. The effectiveness of learning depends on many factors related to the perceptual, motivational, affective sphere, as well as on states of consciousness. Thus, the effectiveness of this process is influenced by:
Development of cognitive processes;
Ability to interact with others;
Optimal level of difficulty and accessibility of the material;
The very situation in which learning occurs, its thoughtfulness;
Stimulating success and preventing failure;
Stress, unusual conditions (for example, alcohol intoxication);
Experience and knowledge that can both complicate and facilitate learning;
Memory, emotional and motivational activity for processing external information.
No learning can be effective if the organism has not reached a certain level of development. Development occurs through the process of maturation (musculoskeletal structures, neural structures and sensorimotor connections). The stage of maturity is different for each organ.
Of great importance in the life of the body are the so-called “ critical periods" These are periods during which the body is more sensitive to environmental influences (or rather certain stimuli from the environment), and learning during these periods is more effective than before and after them.
Habituation, sensitization and even classical conditioning are possible in the uterine fetus. In a newborn, the first minutes of life are critical for the emergence of attachment to the parent and further normal personality development. Operant forms of learning appear in the first days of life. Vicarious learning - by 2-3 years, when there is awareness of oneself. According to J. Piaget, cognitive forms of learning are formed very slowly when the nervous system matures and it becomes possible to establish connections between individual elements of the world. This happens around the age of five. Reasoning becomes possible only by the age of 12.
Not everything related to development can be called learning. For example, biological maturation proceeds according to biological, genetic laws. But learning is based on the level of biological maturity. Learning depends to a greater extent on maturation than maturation on learning, because the possibility of external influence on the genotypic conditioning of processes and structures of the body is very limited.
Learning can be considered not only as a process, but also as a result of learning, which is understood as activity guided by cognitive motives and goals. Classically in educational psychology, learning is considered as a process of educational actions undertaken by the student aimed at developing abilities, acquiring new knowledge, skills and abilities.
In turn, the learning process involves joint educational activities of students and teachers and characterizes the process of transferring knowledge, skills and abilities. Here the emphasis is on what the teacher does. Educational activities called the process as a result of which a person consciously and purposefully acquires new or improves his existing knowledge. All three concepts relate to the content of the educational process.
Teaching is one of the main forms of activity of the organism and, in its essence, it is united, but evolutionarily fragmented, and at different evolutionary stages it is qualitatively different. There are many aspects that can be distinguished in the teaching (psychological, pedagogical, social, anthropological, cybernetic, etc.).
Psychology, considering the doctrine from an evolutionary point of view, proceeds from the biological and physiological foundations of the doctrine. Psychology considers the teaching to be a general phenomenon in the life of organisms and defines it as such changes in behavior that arise on the basis of the individual’s adaptation to changing living conditions.
In relation to a person, psychology takes into account the active nature of learning: in this sense, learning is a form of activity during which an individual changes his mental properties and behavior. Not only under the influence of external conditions, but also depending on the results of one’s own actions.
During learning, various complex changes in cognitive and motivational structures occur, on the basis of which the individual’s behavior takes on a goal-oriented character and becomes organized. These systems of change are probabilistic in nature.
Learning theory, as viewed by general systems theory, combines the perspectives of behavioral psychology with the methodological approach of cognitive psychology and systems theory.
The specificity of teaching in psychology is due to the fact that it is considered primarily as the activity of the subject. At the same time, the structural and functional method is linked together with the idea of development, during which qualitative transformations occur.
Depending on the innate characteristics of the individual, in the process of learning, structures of abilities and characterological characteristics are developed, which, together with consciousness, are the highest regulatory authorities of human behavior.
The evolutionary point of view takes into account the place of learning in ontogenesis and believes that teaching is the main factor of mental development: on its basis the human personality develops. It is also indisputable that development is not a simple sum of what has been learned.
The process of learning depends on many conditions, including social ones: the influence of the group on learning, ethnic influences, issues of social conditioning of mental changes, etc.
Teaching plays a huge role in the socialization of a child, because the latter is carried out through contacts with other people and cultural products, based on the assimilation of cultural and historical experience embedded in objects, language, cognitive systems (A.N. Leontyev). Social control, in this case, is exercised through specific relationships and social feedback.
In the life of society, teaching performs the following functions:
1) transfer of social experience to subsequent generations, who develop and enrich it;
2) on the basis of learning, a person develops speech, which is used to store, process and transmit information.
Since any management cannot do without information, it follows that without teaching it is impossible to manage society and its development. The transfer of information necessary for society occurs either spontaneously - involuntary teaching, or purposefully - the educational system. New social connections also arise within this new system.
Using learning theory
The general theory of learning is primarily used in the educational process. But it has become widespread in the practice of psychotherapy. For example, in psychotherapy this is done by Knobloch (1956), Drvota (1958), Kondash (1964-1966).
Kondash is the author of discent psychotherapy, by which he means the systematic use of information, methods and laws of the psychology of teaching in its entirety in the field of psychotherapy. He developed methods using reciprocal inhibition and "positive" training methods. Unlike behavior therapy, which deals primarily with human behavior, it extends its theoretical aspects to the area of mental states, attitudes and problem solving.
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