Wednesday 15 June 2016

What are the strengths and weaknesses of cognitivism?

Cognitivism evolved in opposition to behaviorism. While behaviorist theories viewed human learning and development primarily in terms of conditioned responses to external stimuli, and treated the minds of individuals as black boxes, simply transforming inputs into outputs, cognitivism looked inside the black boxes, and was concerned with mental processes. In particular, in education, it focused on the learning process, resulting in a pedagogical orientation towards active learning.  


While this focus on student engagement and...

Cognitivism evolved in opposition to behaviorism. While behaviorist theories viewed human learning and development primarily in terms of conditioned responses to external stimuli, and treated the minds of individuals as black boxes, simply transforming inputs into outputs, cognitivism looked inside the black boxes, and was concerned with mental processes. In particular, in education, it focused on the learning process, resulting in a pedagogical orientation towards active learning.  


While this focus on student engagement and active learning has been quite positive, especially in understanding the need to adapt curricula to the abilities and interests of individual learners, cognitivism has certain limitations. First, some scholars assert that it downplays important external factors such as cultural traditions and socioeconomic circumstances that also affect learning. Other educators find that the emphasis on learning process tends to make education almost content free, and argue that teachers trained in cognitivist traditions of education of sacrifice essential expertise in subject matter.

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