Effective learning assessment is pivotal to learning as well as teaching. In the past, an assessment was carried based on psychology methods. These methods dealt with specific mental traits as well as their measurement. During the twentieth century, nonetheless, our comprehension of how learning takes place has developed tremendously. In this regard, it is no longer viewed as an individual action that relies on a person’s possession of innate and stable attributes such as intelligence. Presently, interactions between individuals and tools such as language are viewed to have a crucial role in learning. Therefore, the assessment of the outcomes of learning is now considering individual and social processes via which learning happens. In this regard, this paper aims to examine two theoretical learning models, more specifically, behaviorist and cognitive learning theories. The paper will highlight the assessment techniques each approach recommends and how these theories relate to student learning as well as classroom assessment.
Behaviorist Learning Theories
The theories were coined in the 1930s and are linked to the work of B.F. Skinner, James Watson, as well as Thorndike. These theories assert that when it comes to learning, the determining factor is mostly the learning environment. Herein, learning is seen as the conditioned response mainly to external stimuli. Punishments and rewards are reliable ways of creating or removing habits (Weegar, 2012) . For example, praise may be provided as a form of an award. Also, behaviorist theories claim that complex wholes are put together out of parts. Hence, learning can be one when there is a deconstruction of performances. Also, with this view, learning can also be done when each element is practiced and strengthened. It is vital to note that these theories lack the concept of intelligence, mind, and ego. This is because they do not feel that intelligence, mind and ego are fundamental in explaining learning. They claim that observable behavior is adequate in explaining learning. Achievement in learning according to this perspective corresponds with skills accumulation together with information memorization in a specific domain.
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The teaching implications of these theories include the role of the teacher to train individuals to respond to instructions appropriately. Basic skills are typically introduced before complex skills when it comes to planning the curriculum. Mistakes correction and positive feedback are employed to make links between response and stimulus. When it comes to the learning environment, students are taught according to the level of skills and in homogenous groups. Also, students can be taught individually according to their progress rate via a program based on skill acquisition.
Assessment implications are that progress is typically measured with timed tests. These tests contain items from growing levels in a skill hierarchy. Usually, performance is interpreted as either incorrect or correct and poor performance is solved by extra practice on the failed items, at times by deconstructing them more and returning to basic skills.
Cognitive, Constructivist Learning Theories
In these theories, learning needs learners’ active engagement. It is further determined by what takes place in an individual’s heads. These theories are typically concerned with the mind as a brain function. In this regard, they are concerned with how individuals create meaning and understand the world via organizing concepts, structures, as well as principles in the schema. Prior knowledge also influences the capacity of a student to learn new things (Doolittle, 2014) . Also, there is a focus on understanding and problem solving is regarded as the knowledge construction context. The strategies of processing such as inductive reasoning from evidence and deductive reasoning from principles are vital. Self-regulation and self-monitoring are additionally critical learning dimensions.
Essentially, the teacher’s role in these theories is to assist novices to gain expert comprehension of conceptual structures. Moreover, the teacher helps students in processing strategies to solve issues by symbolic manipulation. Because prior learning is crucial in new learning, there is the development of formative assessment as a vital element of educational practice. This is because it is fundamental to elicit the mental models of students via open-ended assignments, classroom conversation, concept-mapping, as well as thinking-aloud protocols. This is especially imperative to supply students with opportunities to apply strategies and concepts in peculiar circumstances. According to these theories, assessment and teaching focus on learning goals, more specifically, closing gaps between present comprehension and the new comprehension sought (Doolittle, 2014) . Thus, unsurprisingly, many creations of formative assessment are linked with these theories. Additionally, some experimental methods to summative assessment are based on these learning theories. For instance, educators are utilizing the applications of computer software for concept-mapping as well as problem solving as a measure of the learning of knowledge structures of students. These assessment technologies, nonetheless, are still new and formal testing again depends on behavioral methods.
How the Theories Relate to a Personal Philosophy of Student Learning and Classroom Assessment
When it comes to behavioral theories, the teacher is the focus of the interaction and presentation. Teachers work with students when they require extra assistance. The role of students is to understand instructional materials and perform in a way that demonstrates appropriate mental models (Weegar, 2012) . As such, assessments are based on individual tests and performances. Curriculum based on cognitive, constructivist learning theories actively engages students. Students are authorized to establish knowledge from their experience in the classroom. The teacher facilitates and negotiates meaning. Thus, these theories make learning to be an active process in which learners coin new concepts based on prior knowledge.
Conclusion
Behavioral learning theories, as well as cognitive, constructivist theories, provide interesting explanations of learning. In Behavioral approaches, the learning environment is fundamental when it comes to education. Learning is indeed a conditioned response. Cognitive, constructivist theories, in contrast, are concerned with the mind. Herein, prior knowledge determines the acquisition of new knowledge.
References
Doolittle, P. (2014). Complex Constructivism: A Theoretical Model of Complexity and Cognition. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , 26 (3), 485-498.
Weegar, M. (2012). A Comparison of Two Theories of Learning -- Behaviorism and Constructivism as applied to Face-to-Face and Online Learning. E-Leader Manila , 2-20. Retrieved from https://www.g-casa.com/conferences/manila/papers/Weegar.pdf
