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Running head: LEARNING THEORIES 1

Learning Theories

Institutional Affiliation

Name

LEARNING THEORIES 2

Learning Experience

There are various learning experiences that have been of great importance to me but one

that is outstanding is buying a new smartphone. Prior to buying a new smartphone, my previous

smartphone was stolen and I had to work with the house phone to communicate with others. It

limited my online activities as I could not access the internet among other necessary activities.

Finally, I was able to get a new smartphone, and it opened a new learning chapter because I had

a new brand of a smartphone as opposed to the one I had previously. I had to learn the apps. That

suit the new smartphone, the necessary security drivers and learn about the new specification of

the phone such as internal storage, internet speed, phone memory, the version of its software

screen size and charge capacity.

I have to learn about the details of the phone to know how to use it in the best way

possible, a matter that helped me to acquire addition information about the phone to enable me

use it properly. One challenge that I had was to load all the information storage in the clouds to

the phone and getting back the contacts, images and all the documents from the old phone. My

goals during the learning process is to learn how to use the phone in the best way possible and

make the most of it to improve my life. I wanted to learn how I could use the new smartphone to

get as much information as possible and at the same time enable me to have fun by accessing

entertainment sites for pure entertainment. In the process of learning experience, I have few

changes in behavior and one of them is that I became anti-social as I spent most of my time with

my smartphone to learn more about it and get fun from using it.

Due to the changes in the behaviors after buying the phone, it is prudent that there were

differences in the behavior patterns before the learning event. The first difference is that before

the learning event, I was more social and this was because I was lonelier and idle and was

LEARNING THEORIES 3

seeking solace from others the more. The other difference in behavior is that I became less

involved in other chores and in doing personal activities because I spent more time with my new

smartphone and getting the most of it. Additionally, I developed a sense of pride which then led

to a bit of arrogance as I felt that I had climbed to the next social ladder by buying a prestigious

smartphone that my age mates were coveting. Finally, I started to acre less about the welfare of

others and tended to the phone the more; ensuring that it is well charged, all apps are updates and

I gave it enough protection to prevent any form of damage.

The differences in the thought and feeling after the learning behavior is that a I felt more

knowledgeable and my ego inflated for having have to learn about the new technology. I felt like

a genius or a software guru having had to learn about the complexity of the smartphone to ensure

enable me use the new gadget to make the most of it. Besides, the change in thought is that

everyone has the ability to learn anything and that investing time helps to learn about new things

perfectly and for the benefit of oneself. I developed the thought that nothing is too complicated

for the human mind to comprehend and that it is the onus of the society to acquire new ideas and

use the same to improve their lives. My self-esteem inflated and this gave me the courage to face

any challenges that I could face in the society.

Learning Theories

Behaviorist theories is a learning theory that puts the focus on the behaviors that can be

observed objectively while discounting any activities of the mind. In this manner, behaviorist

theories posit that the learning deals with acquiring new behavior in a framework of new

conditions (Myles & Mitchell, 2014). In this manner, the behaviorist theories the gives a

systematic approach in the process of understanding the behaviors of human beings and animals.

The theory is based on the assumption that behaviors come from reflexes that result from

LEARNING THEORIES 4

responding to a stimulus in the environment or as a result of an effect of the history of the

individual among them being reinforcement and punishment. Despite the fact that behaviorists

give credence to the importance of inheritance in determining behavior, it highlights the

importance of environmental factors in determining behaviors of people (Anderson, 2016).

Cognitivist theories is a learning theory that puts the focus on the processes of learning as

opposed to a behavior that results from learning. The main focus is how the internal processes in

the brain, otherwise called the ‘black box’ affect the learning process; this means that

understanding the learning process requires opening of the ‘black box’ and understanding it. In

this way, the learner becomes the information processor while knowledge is viewed as a

symbolic mental construction (Illeris, 2018). It follows that to have a perfect understanding of

the way learning process takes place, there is a need to the know the way the ‘black box’ of the

human mind operates.

Constructivist theories is the theory that expounds on the processes that people acquire

knowledge and learn, the genesis of which is education. In this theory, there is the assumption

that the people use their experiences to acquire knowledge and meaning thereby making it not a

specific pedagogy. The interaction between experiences of people and the ideas they acquire lead

to their learning and help them to learn from the same (Anderson, 2016). There is a need to

ensure that people use their experiences well and not make mistakes that had made before and at

the same time work to improve themselves from their previous good experiences.

Explanation of the Learning Process

The summarized learning theories helps to explain the progress I made during the

learning process because the learning process helped me to acquire certain behaviors to suit my

LEARNING THEORIES 5

new level of learning. The lesson led to a reflex from the stimuli of learning a new lesson.

Secondly, the cognitivist theory helps to explain the progress I made in that I learnt to learn how

the brain works and what I could do to acquire additional knowledge about the new gadget; this

helped me to learn more about the smartphone. Finally, constructivist theories can explain my

learning progress because the previous experience I had about my previous smartphone helped to

know more about the new smartphone and improve my knowledge acquisition skills.

Case of Sam

In the case of Sam, the behaviorist theory will help him learn the game by conforming to

his new environment of players; having a team of basketball players will enable hi learn by

association. Secondly, cognitivist theories will enable him acknowledge the importance of being

mentally prepared hence make it easy to acquire crucial skills for the basketball game. Finally,

constructivist theories will enable Same use the past experience he has had with basketball,

maybe through watching to enable hi acquire the necessary basketball skills.

LEARNING THEORIES 6

References

Anderson, T. (2016). Theories for learning with emerging technologies. Emergence and

innovation in digital learning: Foundations and applications, 35-50.

Illeris, K. (Ed.). (2018). Contemporary theories of learning: learning theorists... in their own

words. Routledge.

Myles, F., & Mitchell, R. (2014). Second language learning theories. Routledge.

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