Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective

Citation

Schunk, D. H. (2020). Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective (8th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The main text runs to about 510 pages in twelve chapters, followed by a glossary, references and author and subject indexes. According to the preface, the book has two aims: to help students learn the principles, concepts and research findings of learning theory as they relate to education, and to apply them in settings where teaching and learning occur. Its focus is cognition, from a constructivist standpoint in which learners actively seek, construct and adapt knowledge. Chapters 1–11 close with a summary and critique, reflection questions and suggestions for further reading.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study of Learning

The chapter defines learning, surveys its philosophical and early psychological precursors (structuralism and functionalism) and explains the functions of theory and how research is conducted. It then reviews ways of assessing learning, including direct observation, self-reports and educational data mining, and sets out the critical issues that recur across the book: how learning occurs, how memory functions, the role of motivation, transfer, self-regulated learning and implications for instruction.

Chapter 2: Neuroscience of Learning

The contents list covers neural organisation and brain structures, brain research methods, the neurophysiology of learning (information processing, memory networks, language learning), brain development, and motivation and emotions. It ends with instructional applications that include a section on brain myths and on brain-based educational practices. The preface presents this material as background for the cognitive and constructivist chapters.

Chapter 3: Behaviorism

The chapter covers connectionism (Thorndike), classical conditioning, contiguous conditioning and operant conditioning, including behavior change, behavior modification and a contemporary perspective. Its instructional applications are behavioral objectives, learning time, mastery learning, differentiated instruction and contingency contracts.

Chapter 4: Social Cognitive Theory

Here the framework consists of reciprocal interactions, enactive and vicarious learning, the distinction between learning and performance, and self-regulation. Further sections treat modeling processes, the influences on learning and performance, motivational processes (goals, outcome expectations, values) and self-efficacy in several domains, with applications such as worked examples and tutoring and mentoring.

Chapter 5: Information Processing Theory: Encoding and Storage

The chapter starts with early perspectives (verbal learning, Gestalt theory, two-store memory, levels of processing) and moves to the contemporary model, attention, perception, encoding (working memory) and long-term memory storage. Applications include advance organizers, conditions of learning and cognitive load.

Chapter 6: Information Processing Theory: Retrieval and Forgetting

Topics are retrieval and language comprehension, forgetting, relearning, visual memory and transfer, with its historical views and types. The applications section covers encoding-retrieval similarity, retrieval-based learning and teaching for transfer.

Chapter 7: Cognitive Learning Processes

The chapter treats skill acquisition (including novice-to-expert research), metacognition, concept learning, problem solving, critical thinking, reasoning and creativity, and cognition and technology. Its applications include worked examples, problem solving and mathematics.

Chapter 8: Constructivism

After a discussion of assumptions and perspectives, including situated cognition, the chapter presents Piaget's theory, neo-Piagetian theories, Bruner's theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, including the zone of proximal development. It then turns to private speech, socially mediated learning, constructivist learning environments, and applications such as discovery learning, inquiry teaching and discussions.

Chapter 9: Motivation

The chapter gives historical perspectives and humanistic theories, then achievement motivation (expectancy-value theory, self-worth theory), attributions, social cognitive processes, goal orientations and implicit theories, and intrinsic motivation, interest and affect. Applications are achievement motivation training, attribution change programs and goal orientations.

Chapter 10: Self-Regulated Learning

Behavioral, social cognitive, information processing and constructivist views of self-regulation are presented in turn, followed by the link with motivation (volition, values, self-schemas, help seeking). Applications cover academic studying, writing and technology.

Chapter 11: Contextual Influences

The final content chapter widens the focus to teachers, classrooms and schools, peers, families, communities and cultures. Applications include teacher–student interactions, learning styles and parental involvement.

Chapter 12: Next Steps

The concluding chapter revisits the six critical learning questions raised in Chapter 1 and summarises the conditioning, social cognitive, information processing and constructivist theories, then looks at future developments. The preface says it asks learners to develop their own perspective on learning.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3

• Learning theory and assessment: the role of theory and research in judging how learning is observed and measured.
• Brain myths: popular claims about the brain that the neuroscience chapter examines.
• Operant conditioning: behavior controlled by its consequences, with mastery learning and contingency contracts as applications.

Chapters 4–7

• Self-efficacy: beliefs about one's capability that influence motivation and learning.
• Working memory and cognitive load: limits on processing that bear on instruction.
• Metacognition and transfer: awareness of one's own thinking and the application of learning to new settings.

Chapters 8–12

• Zone of proximal development: Vygotsky's range of what a learner can do with help.
• Implicit theories and goal orientations: beliefs about ability that shape motivation.
• Self-regulated learning: the cycle by which learners plan, monitor and adjust their own learning.
• Contextual influences: teachers, peers, families, communities and cultures as parts of learning.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A theory-comparing structure. Behaviorism, social cognitive theory, information processing and constructivism each get their own chapters, and Chapters 1 and 12 return to the same six questions, so a reader can compare how each theory answers them.
• Application throughout. According to the preface, every chapter except the first and last has an instructional applications section, and each chapter opens with a vignette. The contents list shows concrete topics such as mastery learning, worked examples and cognitive load.
• Built-in critical reading. Chapters 1–11 end with a summary and critique, and the preface adds that they close with a chapter critique and reflection questions, followed by suggestions for further reading. This helps students judge each theory rather than merely describe it.
• Breadth of topics. The book places neuroscience, motivation, self-regulated learning and contextual influences alongside the classic theories. The preface also reports sections on educational data mining, metacognition and epistemic thinking, and over 200 new references.

Limitations

• A cognitive emphasis. The preface states that the focus is on cognition. Behaviorism gets one chapter, against several on cognitive and constructivist topics.
• School-centred applications. The preface notes that most applications involve K–12 settings, with some for college students; readers interested in workplace or adult learning will need additional sources.
• Length and level. At about 510 pages, with a preface assuming prior study of education or psychology, the book is more demanding than a first survey. The preface describes it as designed for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates.
• Theory over practice. The book is about explaining learning, not a handbook of classroom techniques.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the theory-comparison text in the educational psychology course. Ormrod, Anderman and Anderman's Educational Psychology: Developing Learners is a teacher-focused introduction that links development, cognition, motivation and context to classroom examples, and is a gentler first course. Willingham's Why Don't Students Like School? and Dweck's Mindset are shorter, readable works on cognitive science and motivation, and they connect to Schunk's Chapters 5–7 and 9.

The National Academies' How People Learn and How People Learn II are consensus reports synthesising research, and Piaget's The Child's Conception of the World is a primary source for the developmental thinking summarised in Chapter 8. The Handbook of Educational Psychology is a research handbook for readers ready to go beyond a textbook. Schunk is a sensible middle step between introductory texts and these research works.

How to Use This Book

The preface assumes a prior course in education or psychology, and describes the book as suitable for courses on learning and cognition, motivation, educational psychology, human development and instructional design.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapter 1, then Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 8, which present the four main theoretical families. Read Chapter 1's critical questions first and return to them after each chapter.
• Selective: Chapters 6 and 7 for memory, transfer, problem solving and metacognition; Chapters 9 and 10 for motivation and self-regulation, which often matter most to teachers.
• Background and wrap-up: Chapter 2 on neuroscience can be read early or when brain claims arise; Chapter 11 gives the context, and Chapter 12 is best written as your own answer to the six questions.

Use the reflection questions as discussion prompts, and compare the summary and critique in each chapter with another theory's account of the same issue. After each theory chapter, apply it to a lesson you have seen or taught.