SAN ISIDRO COLLEGE

City of Malaybalay

Tel. No. 088-813-5541

Website: sic.edu.ph
Webmail: [email protected]

NCM 102 N/N45 (BSN-1N2) Health Education Mr. Rolando Y. Casas

Course Code Course Title Name of Instructor

I. Learning Module 3 : COGNITIVE THEORIES OF LEARNING

II. Introduction:

What is learning?
Learning is a relatively permanent change in mental processing, emotional functioning and/or
behavior as a result of experience (Bastable, 2003). Learning is a lasting or permanent change in
behavior as a result of experience which is primarily determined or influenced by the environment
where the person is situated. It is a complex process in mental processing, development of
emotional functioning and social transactional skills which develop and evolve from birth to death.

How does learning occur?

Learning occurs as the individual interacts with his/her environment and incorporates or applies new
information or experience to what he/she already knows or has learned. Learners also have their
own way of taking in and processing information (learning styles) and the type, nature and level of
motivation also affects learning.

III. Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

● Apply related principles of physical, social, natural and health sciences and humanities in conducting
health education in various settings.

IV. Stimulating Recall

During the previous lesson, we discussed behaviorist theories of learning. This was proposed by
John B. Watson. This theory emphasizes the importance of observable behavior in the study of human
beings. Behavioral learning is based on respondent conditioning and operant conditioning procedures.
Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that
all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions.
All behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus-response association. Watson
described the purpose of psychology as:
'To predict, given the stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what the
situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction.

V. Presentation of the Topic/Learning Material

COGNITIVE THEORIES OF LEARNING

Cognition is more than knowledge acquisition. It stresses that mental process or cognition occurs
between the stimulus [S] and the response [R].

● The learner's goals are more important and the tension, disequilibrium and imbalance that they
cause which will act as their motivators.

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 ● Transfer learning occurs when learner mediates or "acts on" the information he/she gets or applies
in certain situations.
● It involves intelligence which is the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are valued in
more than one setting.
● It stresses the importance of “what goes on inside the learner" which involves the individual’s
cognitive process of perception, thinking skills, memory, and ways of processing and structuring
information (Palinscar, 1998) like:
⮚ perceiving the information;

⮚ interpreting it based on what is already known, and, finally,

⮚ reorganizing the information to come up with a new insights or understanding.

● PERSPECTIVES OF THE COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

(Bastable, 2003)

I. Gestalt - refers to the configuration or patterned organization of cognitive elements reflecting the
maxim that the "whole is greater the sum of its parts.

The gestalt perspective emphasizes the importance of perception in learning which focuses
on the configuration or organization of a pattern of stimulus.

Some principles of Gestalt which are related to healthcare:

1. Psychological organization is directed toward simplicity, equilibrium and regularity.
2. Perception is selective which means that no one can attend or pay attention to all the surrounding
stimuli at the same time.
3. What individuals pay attention to or what they ignore may be affected by factors like needs,
personal motives, past experiences and the particular structures of the stimulus or situation.
Example: A patient who is in pain or is worried about the payment of his/her hospital bills may give
very little attention to the health teachings that the nurse is giving because at the moment, that is not
his/her primary considerations.
IMPLICATIONS TO HEALTH CARE
Knowledge of this gestalt principle will help the health educator on how he/she approaches any learning
situation with an individual or group. One approach may be effective to a particular client or group. One
approach may be effective to a particular client or group but may not work with another. Because individuals
vary or differ from one another, the way they perceive, interpret and respond to the same event may be in
different ways and manner.
II. Information processing is a cognitive perspective that emphasizes the thinking process like:
a. thought
b. reasoning
c. the way information is encountered and stored
d. memory functioning
This perspective is particularly useful for assessing problems in acquiring, remembering and recalling
information.

Stages in the memory process:

1st stage: involves paying attention to the environmental stimuli: Attention is the key to learning.
Knowing this principle will help the health professionals to avoid some pitfalls or difficulties when giving
health teachings.
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Example: A mother who is experiencing intense pain from her operation will not be able to pay attention to
the nurse who is demonstrating the proper positioning for successful nipple latching. Her attention will be
focused on the pain since this is the stronger and more dominant stimulus.
2nd stage: the information is processed by the senses. The client’s preferred mode of sensory
processing which may be visual, auditory or motor manipulation must be considered by the health educator.
3rd stage: the information is transformed and incorporated or encoded briefly into short-term
memory and later may be disregarded or forgotten or stored in long-term memory by using strategies for
storage in long-term memory using strategies for storage like imagery, association, rehearsal, chunking.
4th stage: involves the action or response that the individual makes on the basis of how the information
was processed and stored.
III. Cognitive Development is a third perspective that focuses on qualitative changes in perceiving,
thinking and reasoning as individuals mature, grow and mature (Baltes et al, 1999).
Jean Piaget is the best-known cognitive developmental theorist. By watching, listening and hearing
children ask questions, Piaget found out children’s perceptions at different ages and he identified four
sequential stages of cognitive development.

PIAGET’S FOUR MAJOR PERIODS OF COGNITIVE OR INTELLECTUAL

DEVELOPMENT
1. Sensorimotor stage: Birth up to 2 years old- this is determined basically on actual perception of the
senses and the external or physical factors. Children think due to coordination of sensory input and
motor responses.
• Intelligence is non-verbal or non-symbolic because the child has not developed language yet.
• How learning takes place depends on what is experienced in the beginning which can be
learned through visual pursuits.
• This will later be known as “object permanence (what and where it is seen for the first time
will still exist even though it disappears.
• It marks the development of memory for the nursing object who is usually the mother.
2. Abstract thinking: represents reality using symbols that can be manipulated mentally.
Ex: symbolism in bible stories; use of X in algebraic expressions.
- Logical thinking is more systematic; it uses scientific methods.
3. In formal operations, “perspective thought” or relativism is formed which is a new perspective of
other people possessing varied thinking on the same stimulus or situation. There is awareness of
different views rather than on one single thought.
● It recognizes individual differences & that “No two individuals are alike”.
4. Assimilation & Accommodation – characterized by hypothesis testing… before making conclusions,
things must be tested with logical places of evidence… in search of truth.
● Being “teenagers” at this stage, they have their “own mind. Known as metacognition (self-
reflection) wherein ideas and imaginations are tried out to be aware of existing realities; also
known as internal dialogue).
● “Experience is the best teacher” where self-correction in solving problems is applied.

● Understands that “No two individuals are alike”.

VI. Activities/Exercises

I. Multiple Choice Questions:

1. What does cognition emphasize in the learning process?

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a. Stimulus
b. Knowledge acquisition
c. Response
d. Disequilibrium

2. According to cognitive theories, what is the role of the learner's goals?

a. Less important
b. Irrelevant
c. Important motivators
d. External factors

3. When does transfer learning occur?

a. When learner ignores information
b. When learner doesn't act on information
c. When learner applies information in certain situations
d. When learner forgets information

4. What does intelligence involve in cognitive theories?

a. Ability to fashion products
b. Ability to solve problems
c. Ability to memorize
d. Both a and b

5. What does Gestalt refer to in the context of cognitive learning theory?

a. Sum of its parts
b. Greater than the sum of its parts
c. Individual parts
d. Irrelevant to learning

6. What is the selective nature of perception in Gestalt?

a. Attend to all stimuli simultaneously
b. Attend to none of the stimuli
c. Attend to some stimuli, ignore others
d. Attend to stimuli sequentially

7. How does attention relate to learning, according to information processing?

a. Attention is irrelevant
b. Attention is the key to learning
c. Attention hinders learning
d. Attention occurs after learning
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8. What does the Information Processing perspective emphasize?
a. Importance of sensory processing
b. Importance of Gestalt principles
c. Importance of memory
d. Importance of external stimuli

9. In Piaget's Cognitive Development theory, what marks the development of memory?

a. Object permanence
b. Abstract thinking
c. Formal operations
d. Assimilation & Accommodation

10. What characterizes the Sensorimotor stage in cognitive development?

a. Non-verbal intelligence
b. Use of symbols
c. Logical thinking
d. Coordination of sensory input and motor responses

II. Essay

1. What does cognition emphasize in the learning process?

2. According to cognitive theories, what is the importance of the learner's goals?

3. In cognitive theories, how is intelligence defined?

4. What does Gestalt refer to in the context of cognitive learning theory?

5. Identify and describe two stages in Piaget's cognitive development theory.

6. How is abstract thinking defined in cognitive development?