The Main Principles Of Learning And The Action Theory Essay

The Main Principles Of Learning And The Action Theory - Essay Example Principles of learning are derived from the following learning theories: action, cognitive-gestalt, experiential, facilitation, holistic, reinforcement, sensory stimulation learning theory. In this respect, we shall analyze them according to the theories they are most tightly interwoven with. The main principles of learning based on the action theory state that no effective learning can be presented without proper action-application experience. In most cases small 'action learning sets'** are created in order to give the learners an opportunity of applying their knowledge on practice, making mistakes and learn from them without having to deal with unwanted consequences of their decisions. Cognitive-gestalt learning is based on insights and problem-solving. However, unlike the first theory, it puts stress on the learner’s individual ways of interpreting problem situations. Experiential theory speaks of a four-stage process of learning material (concrete experience, active experimentation, abstract conceptualization, observation, and reflection). A great benefit of this theory is that despite all of the stages are being necessary, an individual can choose (consciously or subconsciously) the most suitable one to contribute more efforts to it. Besides, stages can be repeated one by one as many times as it takes to exclude all of the mistakes. Principles of learning used in a facilitation theory are based on the acknowledgment of the fact that a human being is naturally eager to learn and perfect oneself. Thus, here learning process includes polemics with a teacher in an attempt to find as many answers as possible and, what is more important, to research a topic instead of simply remembering the facts given. Such an approach is commonly used in humanitarian education.