Editing Learning theory (education) (section)

===Classical theorists===

====Plato====
{{Main|Plato}}
[[Plato]] (428 BC–347 BC) proposed the question: "How does an individual learn something new when the topic is brand new to that person?", This question may seem trivial; however, think of a human-like a computer.  The question would then become: How does a computer take in any factual information without previous programming?  Plato answered his own question by stating that knowledge is present at birth and all information learned by a person is merely a recollection of something the soul has already learned previously,<ref name="Phillips2009">{{cite book|author1=D.C. Phillips |author2= Jonas F. Soltis|title=Perspectives on Learning |edition= 5th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVzUtECrJ2IC|year=2009 |publisher=Teachers College Press|isbn=978-0-8077-7120-4 |series=Thinking About Education }}</ref> which is called the Theory of Recollection or [[Platonic epistemology]].<ref name="plato.stanford.edu">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Silverman, Allan|title=Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|date=9 June 2003 |edition=Fall 2014|editor=Edward N. Zalta| url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/plato-metaphysics/}}</ref>  This answer could be further justified by a paradox: If a person knows something, they don't need to question it, and if a person does not know something, they don't know to question it.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu"/>  Plato says that if one did not previously know something, then they cannot learn it.  He describes learning as a passive process, where information and knowledge are ironed into the soul over time.  However, Plato's theory elicits even more questions about knowledge: If we can only learn something when we already had the knowledge impressed onto our souls, then how did our souls gain that knowledge in the first place?  Plato's theory can seem convoluted; however, his classical theory can still help us understand knowledge today.<ref name="Phillips2009" />

====Locke====
{{Main|John Locke}}
[[John Locke]] (1632–1704) offered an answer to Plato's question as well.  Locke offered the "blank slate" theory where humans are born into the world with no innate knowledge and are ready to be written on and influenced by the environment.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Brain|first1=Christine|title=Understanding Child Psychology|last2=Mukherji|first2=Penny|date=2005|publisher=Nelson Thornes|isbn=0-7487-9084-5|location=Cheltenham|pages=56–57}}</ref> The thinker maintained that knowledge and ideas originate from two sources, which are sensation and reflection. The former provides insights regarding external objects (including their properties) while the latter provides the ideas about one's mental faculties (volition and understanding).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dearden|first=R. F.|title=Theory and Practice in Education (RLE Edu K)|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-69722-4|location=Oxon|pages=71}}</ref> In the theory of [[empiricism]], these sources are direct experience and observation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sherman|first=Patrice|title=John Locke: Philosopher of the Enlightenment|date=2012|publisher=Teacher Created Materials|isbn=978-1-4333-5014-6|location=Huntington Beach, CA|pages=26}}</ref> Locke, like [[David Hume]], is considered an empiricist because he locates the source of human knowledge in the empirical world.

Locke recognized that something had to be present, however.  This something, to Locke, seemed to be "mental powers".  Locke viewed these powers as a biological ability the baby is born with, similar to how a baby knows how to biologically function when born.  So as soon as the baby enters the world, it immediately has experiences with its surroundings and all of those experiences are being transcribed to the baby's "slate".  All of the experiences then eventually culminate into complex and abstract ideas.  This theory can still help teachers understand their students' learning today.<ref name="Phillips2009" />