The Four Learning Theories

Behaviorism is an approach to psychology and learning that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.

Cognitive learning is knowledge acquisition measured by what learners know, not necessarily what they do.

Constructivism learning is learning by creating meaning from experiences.

Social/Situated Learning is learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs.


By taking all four of these learning theories and combining them into a learning exercise one can benefit from the positive aspects of each of the theories. Using a class that has very repetitive elements like XHTML, one can create a kind of memory repeating exercise similar. After reviewing the different XHTML tags earlier and what order certain tags have to fall under the instructor could then use a similar method of behaviorist learning to teach the order and different tags to the class. Probably a good way of doing this would be to start off with a simple web page presented on the overhead that uses the basic elements of XHTML. Then by starting at either the front of the class going back or the back of the class going up, each student in order can naming a tag and where it falls on the web page. For example, the first student would start by saying the opening "html" tag and what it does, then the next student would repeat what the first student said and then add the opening "head" tag and what it does.

To help the students a little, the Instructor could have a list of opening and closing tags next to the web page example to use as a database but not in the order that they fall in. As the students add another tag the Instructor can put a check next to each of the tags that have been named as a visual cue that the tag had already been used. After the last student names the last tag in the page, the Instructor could then erase the databank of tags from the board and have the first student repeat the list of tags that the last person stated and go in order again repeating the same list of tags in the correct order. When the last student is finishing naming the tags in order and what each does, the Instructor can write down the list that the students named in the order that they named them in. When finished writing down the tags that the students named, the Instructor could then go to the web page and display the source to see how close the students were. The students could then have an open discussion with the Instructor as to how close they were with both their tags and their definitions. They could also take this time to reevaluate the information that they had gone over and make changes to any of the definitions that were given on the list that they acquired by going around the room.