Essay on Traditional Learning Theories by Merriam and Bierema

As much as learning is a lifelong process that offers enables humans to acquire new concepts, ideas, and skills, the reading by Merriam has widen my knowledge regarding learning. I have gathered the notion that learning is nuancedly defined as a change in human capacity or disposition that tends to persist for a specified period and not necessarily ascribable to the whole process of growth (Merriam & Bierema, 2013, p.25). Learning is subdivided into various types of integrative, cognitive and behavioral. Consequently, the article has widened my scope of understanding about the definition of learning which is no longer a lifelong process that results in only behavior change but either cognitive, integration or behavior. Apart from the behaviorism according to Ivan Pavlov experiment, learning is a multi-faceted process that connects various changes or adoption of new cognitive and the combination of aspects. According to behaviorism, learning requires both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. For that matter, the theories concerning learning have made it possible to incorporate motivational approaches in learning institutions as a way of cognitive, behavioral and integrative developments.

Cognitive learning is an extended explanation of forms of learning apart from the humanistic and behaviorism kind of learning. Cognitive learning is a lifelong process that is concerned with an individuals mental process rather than behavior or whole person learning. The most crucial idea gathered from the reading and learning theories outlined is that the overall ability to process information and to comprehend whatever is required is firmly attached to the mental capability of the individual. Therefore, it can be concluded that learning is dependent on the level of ones IQ. Another aspect that the article has instilled in me is that learning as a process involves the input of information, memorizing the data and using the learned ideas according to the learning capabilities. I have strengthened the notion that learning as a process involves creating some meaning from experience. I have also gathered the idea that adults could better learn through the transformative learning approach and not use behaviorism or humanistic theory.

Reading Response from Richardson Writing Article

Richardson article has spurred and widened my understanding and desire for writing. I have been envisioned to know that writing is an additional form of learning that offers alternative research practice. Writing is a method of inquiry that encourages, honors reorganizing, trying and paying attention to the relevance of language. Through the article, I have been able to realize that as writing involves persistence, it, therefore, shapes the ideas that an individual has through fully-fledged attention. According to Richardson and Pierre (2008), Writing is a form of informing the world of something that one knows best. As a result, if an individual writes a colossal set of research findings and the article fails to be read, then the writer will feel as if they have written dozens of articles full of nonsensical words and concepts.

Writing is a form of evaluation of ones mind hence to some point an interpretation of a written piece needs to be done to avoid boredom. It has come to my notice that the reason why literature review of texts is usually done on lengthy documents. While some people write to educate, others write as a way of finding a particular issue. Writing is a way of recording down new ideas and concepts as a qualitative research finding. Learning is also associated with learning since it follows a particular prescribed format that is a form of evaluation. Writing enables researchers to construct ethnographies concerning an issue hence it is a learning and instructional tool (Richardson & St Pierre, 2008, p.930).

References

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Richardson, L., & St Pierre, E. (2008). A method of inquiry. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials, 3(4), 473.