Editing Learning theory (education) (section)

{{Short description|Theory that describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning}}
{{Educational research}}
'''Learning theory''' describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during [[learning]]. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a worldview, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.<ref>{{cite book | last = Illeris | first = Knud | title = The three dimensions of learning | publisher = Krieger Pub. Co | location = Malabar, Fla | year = 2004 | isbn = 9781575242583 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Ormrod | first = Jeanne | title = Human learning | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston | year = 2012|edition = 6th | isbn = 9780132595186 }}</ref>

Behaviorists look at learning as an aspect of [[Operant conditioning|conditioning]] and advocating a system of rewards and targets in education. Educators who embrace [[Cognitivism (learning theory)|cognitive theory]] believe that the definition of learning as a change in behaviour is too narrow, and study the learner rather than their environment—and in particular the complexities of human [[memory]]. Those who advocate [[constructivism (learning theory)|constructivism]] believe that a learner's ability to learn relies largely on what they already know and understand, and the acquisition of knowledge should be an individually tailored process of construction. [[Transformative learning]] theory focuses on the often-necessary change required in a learner's preconceptions and worldview. Geographical learning theory focuses on the ways that contexts and environments shape the learning process.

Outside the realm of [[educational psychology]], techniques to directly observe the functioning of the brain during the learning process, such as [[event-related potential]] and [[functional magnetic resonance imaging]], are used in [[educational neuroscience]]. The [[theory of multiple intelligences]], where learning is seen as the interaction between dozens of different functional areas in the brain each with their own individual strengths and weaknesses in any particular human learner, has also been proposed, but empirical research has found the theory to be unsupported by evidence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Willingham |first1=Daniel T. |author-link1=Daniel T. Willingham |last2=Hughes |first2=Elizabeth M. |last3=Dobolyi |first3=David G. |date=July 2015 |title=The scientific status of learning styles theories |journal=[[Teaching of Psychology (journal)|Teaching of Psychology]] |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=266–271 |doi=10.1177/0098628315589505|s2cid=146126992 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pashler |first1=Harold |last2=McDaniel |first2=Mark |author-link2=Mark A. McDaniel |last3=Rohrer |first3=Doug |last4=Bjork |first4=Robert A. |author-link4=Robert A. Bjork |date=December 2008 |title=Learning styles: concepts and evidence |journal=[[Psychological Science in the Public Interest]] |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=105–119 |doi=10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x |pmid=26162104 |s2cid=2112166 |doi-access=free }}</ref>