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From a cognitivist perspective, “learning is equated with discrete changes between
states of knowledge” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). What the student does is less important
than what the student knows, and how they came to know it. Like a computer,
information is fed into the student’s mind, is processed, and learning is achieved. A
noteworthy cognitivist was Jerome Bruner (1966), who suggested that even young
children are capable of learning any material, as long as the instruction is organised
appropriately.
Video
In this video, an overview of cognitivism is provided and linked to an
educational setting.
Constructivism
Whereas the previous two approaches, behaviourism and
cognitivism, view the world as objective and discoverable,
constructivism challenges this notion. Instead, constructivists see
knowledge of the world as ‘constructed’ in that people “actively
construct or create their own subjective representation of
objective reality” (David, 2015). When new information is
Figure 11 Lev Vygotsky acquired, it is linked to prior knowledge, making ‘knowledge’
(https://et.m.wikipedia
.org/wiki/Fail:Lev_Vygo subjective. Constructivism does, however, agree with cognitivism
tsky_1896-1934.jpg)
that learning is a mental activity.
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