Later in high school, I had the opportunity to attend a summer engineering camp.  Although not a traditional, formal education setting, we were “townspeople” in charge of picking a location for a future landfill.  During the camp session we visited landfills and recycling plants, looked at noise pollution and traffic patterns, proposed a landfill location, and presented/defended our location choice at a “public hearing.”  

If I really think back, look at scrap books, and interview my parents, there were countless engaging activities that allowed me to learn through experiences.  But, I can also think of all the times I was explicitly told the outcome of a solution. I was, and still am, the student who has to try the solution anyway. I’ve been known to even say “I know X is going to happen when I do Y, but I still have to see/hear/touch it.”  I’m looking for what led up to the outcome or the mechanics of the interaction that led to X. Maybe there’s something subtle that happened that could lead me to a different possible solution. As a learner, I need to have the opportunity to study everything that led to outcome X to formulate test Z that may result in a new outcome.  

          As I read countless articles on theories and theorists, I’m faced with the question, where do I fall?  What do I believe? How do my learning philosophy shape my teaching?

          Constructivist Lev Vygotsky’s (as cited by David, 2018) concept of a “more knowledgeable other” coupled with his “zone of proximal development” point to the social nature of learning.  We learn from each other. Someone who knows more than I do serves as a resource and coach and provides just enough support when a task is difficult to learn.  Too much support and I become dependent on the “more knowledgeable other” and too little support and I may give up. Jerome Bruner (as cited by David, 2018) theorized that learning requires problem solving scenarios where past experiences and knowledge are reshaped as new information is learned and new connections are established.  Someone with more experience or knowledge provides just enough support as I experiment to solve problems and try to tie what I already know to the new conclusions I have drawn. I construct my own understanding based doing, experiencing, trying, experimenting, collaborating with others, etc…  So do I claim constructivism and move on? I wouldn’t call my thinking done just yet.

          Cognitivism is all about what is happening in the brain and how information is being processed.  Jean Piaget (as cited by David, 2018) studied how children make sense of the world around them from the time they are simply accumulating the results of interactions with their environment, to classifying that knowledge in a simple manner, to abstract thought.  How did I accumulate information piece A and connect it to information piece B to know C? If I consider my brain as a computer, how is information processed, connected, categorized, stored and recalled? I might say that in my learning, as I am working to construct new knowledge, I do that in part by being able to easily recall information I already know.  In effect, I am using my cognition in the construction process.

          This leaves behaviorism (as cited by David, 2018) coupled with works by Skinner (as cited by Bates, 2014) and Pavlov (as cited by Steinissen, 2010) that suggest “operant conditioning"  are the keys to learning. If X, then Y. Every single time. Regular practice and repetition.  I look at how my children have learned multiplication. I have seen them count out 5 groups of 3 apples to determine that they have 15 apples.  I have seen them work through figuring out how much money they have if they are given a specified number of coins and bills. Then I’ve seen them figure out how many various items they can buy based on the sales prices of those items.  I have seen them manipulate tangible, real world things as they make sense of numeracy. I probably did a few similar things early in school, but the reality is I memorized times tables. My children understand the meaning of math because they work with real items to construct real understanding.  At their age, I knew math answers, but likely didn’t truly understand what those answers really meant.

          After really digging into the differences among constructivism, cognitivism, and behaviorism, I realize I am a bit of a mash-up.  The constructivist theory makes up the bulk of my personal learning philosophy, I rely on cognition to organize, store and recall information while processing the new in its rightful place in my brain storage system.  Then, there is a little sprinkling of behaviorism. The memorization. The rote repetition usually reserved for the things that aren’t necessarily “fun” but are often needed. Very basic information that helps me work through the more challenging topics more efficiently.  The facts, figures and random trivia that I just know. My childhood phone number. My husband’s SSN. The definition of an alicorn.

          So now what?  The video Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism & Learning and Instructional Theory (2010) describes “learning theories are like windows in a house” where “you can look through multiple windows into the same room and get a different viewpoint.”  These perspectives about what learning is will ultimately guide our prescriptive teaching practice as we build environments that help people learn. If we know how people learn, that will guide what educational professionals do in the classroom to help our students learn.  Dr. Bates (2014) writes “I can’t see how a discussion of learning theories can be avoided.”   A “basic understanding of the different views of learning” is required to “be in a good position to make choices, especially regarding the use of technology for teaching and learning.”  

          When I think about my own children at home, if they need to learn skills that will help them be functional adults, how I teach them these skills will depend on how I believe they will learn the skills.  My children are pretty brave in the kitchen, because I let them try things. They are free to ask “what happens if I add more liquid, if I turn up the heat, or if I combine some of the steps?” Even if I know the answer, the best thing to do is let them try (without putting them in perilous situations of course).  There’s almost always something happening during weekends in my house as a result of some recipe or cooking technique internet search. Connecting this idea to my innovation plan regarding pre-service teachers and blended learning, IPET students will have to experience blended learning to learn about blended learning.  Not only that, IPET students will also have to use blended learning to learn about blended learning.