Let’s get into the history of the cognitivism learning theory. This is where the brainiacs of academia put on their thinking caps and decided to peek inside the black box of the human mind.
Are you ready for this journey of intellectual enlightenment?
Cognitivism is a learning theory focusing on how people acquire, process, and organise information. Unlike behaviourism, which emphasises observable behaviours and external stimuli, cognitivism delves into the internal mental processes that underlie learning and behaviour.
Cognitive learning theory, developed in the 1950s, believes that learning involves the active construction of knowledge and understanding by the learner. This construction occurs through processes such as attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. In other words, learners aren't just passive recipients of information; they actively engage with and make sense of new information based on their existing knowledge and mental frameworks.
The history of cognitivism in psychology is a fascinating journey marked by shifts in perspective and theoretical advancements. Cognitivism emerged as a reaction to the dominance of behaviourism in the mid-20th century. While behaviourism focused primarily on observable behaviour and external stimuli, cognitivism sought to understand the mind's inner workings.
One of the key figures in the development of cognitivism was George A. Miller, whose work on the capacity of short-term memory and information processing paved the way for a more nuanced understanding of cognitive function. The definitions and scope of cognitivism have evolved over the years. An early model of cognitivism is known as the two-story or dual memory model, which refers to the interaction between working memory and long-term memory.
Imagine your brain as a big house with two floors: The ground floor and the attic.
On the ground floor, you have a room called "working memory." This room is like your temporary storage space where you keep things you need to use immediately, like the math problem you're solving.
Now, let's go up to the attic. This is your long-term memory, where you store things for the long haul. It's like your big storage room filled with all sorts of memories, like your first day of school or your favourite song lyrics.
The two-story model of cognitivism is like understanding how these two rooms in your brain talk to each other. When you're working on something in your working memory, you might need to go to the attic (long-term memory) to find information to help you. For example, if you're trying to solve a math problem, remember a formula you learned in the past (long-term memory) and bring it down to your working memory to use it.
So, just like a house with two floors, your brain has these two memory systems – working memory for short-term stuff and long-term memory for the things you've stored away for safekeeping. And they work together like a team to help you think, learn, and remember.
However, The two-store (dual) model is now seen as simplistic and incomplete but serves as a starting point for understanding cognitive learning theories. As the field of cognitivism has expanded, more theories have been developed. While cognitivism has made invaluable contributions to psychology, it is not without its criticisms.
What could go wrong if we treat our minds as just information processors?
Overemphasis on Internal Processes: Cognitive learning theory pays a lot of attention to what’s happening inside our heads when we learn things, like memory, attention and problem-solving. However, the argument is that it forgets about things outside our heads, like how other people and our environment affect our learning. So, while it’s great at explaining how our brain works, it might miss out on how other stuff around us can also influence learning.
Simplification of Learning Processes: We can contend that the cognitive learning theory oversimplifies the complexity of learning by breaking it down into discrete cognitive processes, potentially ignoring the holistic nature of human cognition and learning. This includes the role of emotions, self-efficacy, metacognition, self-regulation, and motivations in learning, which shape learning outcomes and should be given more attention in educational contexts.
Lack of Practical Application: This theory tends to lack practical guidance for educators and practitioners on how to apply its principles effectively in real-world learning environments. It sometimes also fails to adequately account for individual differences in learning styles, preferences, and abilities. The one-fits-all approach is unsuitable for addressing learners' diverse needs in an evolving educational world.
Despite this criticism, cognitivism remains a central framework for understanding human cognition and behaviour. Its insights continue to inform research in fields like education, shaping our understanding of the mind and therefore we can find ways to implement this into curriculum development.
Cognitive learning theory offers valuable insights into how people learn by focusing on internal mental processes. It emphasises active engagement and the construction of knowledge by learners, providing a solid foundation for designing effective instructional approaches and educational tools. Supported by empirical research, cognitive learning theory informs the development of curriculum materials that increases critical thinking, personalised learning experiences, and technology integration.
How can this be applied to the curriculum?
Applying cognitive learning theory to improve the Nigerian curriculum involves designing instructional materials, teaching methods and assessment strategies that align with cognitive principles:
Promote active learning: Design curriculum materials and activities that encourage active engagement and participation by students. Incorporate problem-solving, tasks, hands-on activities, and project-based learning approaches that require students to apply their knowledge in real-world contexts.
Build on prior knowledge: Recognise and build upon students’ prior knowledge and experiences to facilitate meaningful learning. Scaffold new information onto existing cognitive structures by providing relevant examples, analogies, and connections to students' everyday lives and cultural backgrounds.
Provide cognitive challenges: Design curriculum content and tasks that provide appropriate levels of cognitive critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis of information rather than focusing solely on rote memorisation or passive learning.
Foster metacognitive skills: Teach students metacognitive strategies to monitor, regulate, and evaluate their own learning processes. Encourage reflection, goal setting and self-assessment to help students become more aware of their learning strengths and weaknesses and take ownership of their learning.
Minimise cognitive load: Cognitive load refers to the amount of information our working memory can process at a given time. For educational purposes, cognitive load theory helps us avoid overloading learners with more than they can effectively process into schemas for long-term memory storage and future recall. Minimising cognitive load means breaking complex tasks into manageable steps, providing clear explanations, and avoiding extraneous distractions that may impede students’ cognitive processing.
By incorporating these principles of cognitive learning theory into the Nigerian curriculum, educators can create more engaging, effective, and student-centred learning experiences that empower students to become active and independent learners.
From this article, and tons of research, we can conclude that our minds are not just information processors but a more complex system that is benefitted by both behaviourism and cognitivism. However, are learners architects of knowledge? find out soon in our next article on Constructivism!
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