Depuis plus d'un siècle, les psychologues étudient les mécanismes sous-jacents de l'apprentissage. Il existe actuellement deux théories principales qui peuvent être distinguées :les théories de la formation d'associations et les théories propositionnelles. Selon les théories propositionnelles, l'apprentissage est le produit d'inférences et de raisonnements sur des représentations propositionnelles. En revanche, selon une approche à double processus, l'apprentissage est guidé par le renforcement progressif de l'association qui pourrait être influencée par le raisonnement et interagir avec celui-ci si les participants disposent de suffisamment de temps. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de contribuer au débat opposant ces deux théories en se focalisant sur une différence centrale entre les deux cadres théoriques :la conscience. Selon les modèles doubles d'apprentissage, ce processus de mise à jour graduelle ne dépend pas nécessairement de la conscience, tout en n'excluant pas qu'il puisse éventuellement aboutir à de telles représentations conscientes. Cependant, selon les modèles propositionnels, l'apprentissage se produit grâce à la capacité de former une représentation consciente de la relation entre les stimuli.Dans la présente thèse, cinq études seront présentées pour répondre à cette question. Dans la première étude, nous nous sommes intéressés à étudier comment le comportement et la conscience changent au cours de l'apprentissage et à démontrer les dissociations entre l'apprentissage conscient et inconscient. Dans une seconde étude, nous avions l'intention de reproduire et d'étendre un paradigme de conditionnement instrumental subliminal (Pessiglione et al. 2008). Les troisième et quatrième études ont utilisé la tâche Temps de réaction sériels pour explorer deux problèmes différents. Dans la troisième étude, nous avons étudié l'accès des participants à leurs ressources cognitives en manipulant l'intervalle entre la réponse du participant et la présentation du stimulus suivant. Dans la quatrième étude, nous avons étudié la relation entre le taux de clignement des yeux, qui est un marqueur indirect de l'activité dopaminergique, et l'apprentissage des séquences. Enfin, le but de notre cinquième étude était d'examiner si les nourrissons étaient sensibles à la force des probabilités transitionnelles ou s'ils extrayaient certains morceaux du flux d’information présenté. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This research is focused on developing a generic intelligent architecture for an interactive tutoring system. A review of the literature in the areas of instructional theories, cognitive and social views of learning, intelligent tutoring systems development methodologies, and knowledge representation methods was conducted. As a result, a generic ITS development architecture (GeNisa) has been proposed, which combines the features of knowledge base systems (KBS) with object-oriented methodology. The GeNisa architecture consists of the following components: a tutorial events communication module, which encapsulates the interactive processes and other independent computations between different components; a software design toolkit; and an autonomous knowledge acquisition from a probabilistic knowledge base. A graphical application development environment includes tools to support application development, and learning environments and which use a case scenario as a basis for instruction. The generic architecture is designed to support client-side execution in a Web browser environment, and further testing will show that it can disseminate applications over the World Wide Web. Such an architecture can be adapted to different teaching styles and domains, and reusing instructional materials automatically can reduce the effort of the courseware developer (hence cost and time) in authoring new materials. GeNisa was implemented using Java scripts, and subsequently evaluated at various commercial and academic organisations. Parameters chosen for the evaluation include quality of courseware, relevancy of case scenarios, portability to other platforms, ease of use, content, user-friendliness, screen display, clarity, topic interest, and overall satisfaction with GeNisa. In general, the evaluation focused on the novel characteristics and performances of the GeNisa architecture in comparison with other ITS and the results obtained are discussed and analysed. On the basis of the experience gained during the literature research and GeNisa development and evaluation. a generic methodology for ITS development is proposed as well as the requirements for the further development of ITS tools. Finally, conclusions are drawn and areas for further research are identified.

Information Technology is an essential part of the National Curriculum in the UK, yet despite the growth of IT in schools that this has generated, there is evidence that children are not to be taken into consideration enough when designing aspects of educational software. The functionality available in education software packages tends to be made available through static icons, yet there are problems with their implementation as they can at times cause confusion for the user in terms of the functionality that they are aiming to represent. In order to make icons in educational software more effective, and to meet the needs of children, of the use of animated icons has been suggested. Animating the function of the icon aims to provide a clarification of its meaning and demonstrate its capabilities, as well as explaining to the user the method of use. However, there is little information available on how to support the design of effective animated icons. Focusing on a target age group of 11 to 12 year olds, this thesis argues that some form of support mechanism should be developed for the design of animated icons to ensure that consideration is being given to the types of object that children find useful and accessible. A set of dimensions where guidance on visual aspects of the icon may be useful are developed through analysis of relevant literature and it is highlighted that they do not provide any insight into what types of object may be helpful in designing the animated icons. This thesis then argues that animated icon design can be usefully informed by psychological theories of learning and that using such theories as a base may provide an understanding of how children identify icon functionality. The thesis introduces and critiques Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology theory, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory and Leontjev’s Activity Theory, identifying aspects of the theories which may be of relevance to the design of animated icons. By investigating the relationships between the dimensions of animated icons and the concepts from the theories of learning, insights are developed into the impact of visual factors on a child’s identification and understanding of icon functionality. The thesis goes on to report a practical study where the sample is a group of 11 to 12 year old children. The practical study consists of three phases. The first phase gathers data related to the children’s familiarity with computers and the types of software packages that they use. The second phase looks at their use and recognition of static icon functionality. The last phase involves using the findings from phases 1 and 2 to create and evaluate a set of animated icons, the development of which is based on the relationships between the concepts from theories of learning and the identified dimensions of animated icons. The analysis of the evidence from the practical study leads to a small set of design principles being proposed that are aimed to provide advice/guidance on how to design animated icons effectively for this target age group, with an emphasis on the types of object that might be used. The principles are underpinned by the concepts from the theories of learning and presented in a manner that aims to be understandable by, and accessible to, designers.

The dramatic changes precipitated in public schools by state and federal demands for high-stakes testing have put America’s principals on the endangered list. These volatile conditions bring heightened attention to the effectiveness of principal professional development and its correlation to student achievement. Though years of research have been conducted in the area of effective professional development, few school organizations implement these practices (Guskey, 1995). This study surveyed campus principals in three Texas school districts to understand their perceptions of principal professional development in their local school districts. The primary research instrument was an online survey devoted to addressing principals’ perceptions of their own professional development within the areas of needs to facilitate school improvement, delivery methods for principal professional development, and their personal professional development experiences. Details regarding principal perceptions are presented with data gathered from the online survey. The research concluded with recommendations regarding principal professional development practices for school districts working to improve principal learning. / text

Community developers are often solicited to teach essential core concepts and strategies in the field but lack the consensus among their peers on which theories constitute the fundamentals. This study examines leading community development theories, concepts and approaches to establish the essential elements for a weeklong short course. In addition to content research, leading teaching theories were also explored to establish the core methods for teaching such a course. Active learning techniques were utilized to increase student participation in the learning process while building solidarity and capacity in the class. Finally, the short course was taught to a group in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and was evaluated for knowledge and attitude change through pretests, posttests, and journal entries.

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) require students with learning disabilities in mathematics to use a range of cognitive, skills, and foundational numerical competencies to learn and understand complex standards. Students with learning disabilities in mathematics experience deficits in cognitive processes skills and foundational numerical competencies which have emerged as underlying barriers associated with mastering CCSSM. Examining the impact of high-stakes assessments on readiness for college and careers and student achievement may provide evidence that deficits in cognitive processing skills and numerical competencies can impact achievement levels. Using the cognitive theoretical frameworks of Bandura and Gagné, along with the concepts of cognitive learning, instructional interventions, and inclusion, the relationship between students' scores in the algebraic foundations (AF) intervention inclusion method and the regular algebra (RA) nonintervention inclusion method, as measured on the end of the year assessments were examined in this study. An ANCOVA design was used to test the statistical significance of the relationship between the two intervention methods and the use of cognitive and numerical competencies for the two groups and to analyze the disparity in achievement scores between the AF intervention inclusion method and RA nonintervention inclusion method. The results revealed a statistically significant relationship between cognitive processing skills and foundational numerical competencies as measured on the final exam for both methods. The intended audience include academic communities using evidence-based inventions to improve college and career readiness results, leading to positive social change.

This study is predicated on the belief that there does not now exist, nor will there ever exist, any single theory of learning that is broad enough to account for all types of learning yet specific enough to be maximally useful in practical application. Perhaps this dichotomy is the reason for the apparent gap between existing theories of learning and the practice of instructional design. As an alternative to any supposed grand theory of learning—and following the lead of prominent thinkers in the fields of clinical psychology and language teaching—this study proposes a shift toward principles. It presents a principle-based conceptual framework of learning, and recommends use of the framework as a guide for creating domain-specific theories of learning. The purpose of this study was to review theories of learning in the behavioral, cognitive, constructive, human, and social traditions to identify principles of learning local to those theories that might represent specific instances of more universal principles, fundamentally requisite to the facilitation of learning in general. Many of the ideas reviewed have resulted from, or been supported by, direct empirical evidence. Others have been suggested based on observational or practical experience of the theorist. The ideas come from different points in time, are described from a variety of perspectives, and emphasize different aspects and types of learning; yet there are a number of common themes shared among them regarding the means by which learning occurs. It is hypothesized that such themes represent universal and fundamental principles of learning. These principles were the objective of the present study. They have been sought through careful review and analysis of both theoretical and empirical literature by methods of textual research (Clingan, 2008) and constant comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). By way of textual research a methodological lens was defined to identify general themes, and by way of constant comparative analysis these themes were developed further through the analysis and classification of specific instances of those themes in the texts reviewed. Ten such principles were identified: repetition, time, step size, sequence, contrast, significance, feedback, context, engagement, and agency. These ten facilitative principles were then organized in the context of a comprehensive principles-of-learning framework, which includes the four additional principles of potential, target, change, and practice.

This study highlights and raise the question regarding how Swedish language teachers teach reading comprehension. The study presents the results of four interviews conducted with four different Swedish language teachers from the grades 7-9. Starting in previous research and current theories about reading, interaction and teaching, the subject focus on the problem from a teacher’s perspective. The study is based on a qualitative research with focus on qualitative and semi structure interviews as a choice of method. The purpose of this study is to highlight how Swedish language teachers perceive their own reading comprehension teaching and how they teach their pupils in reading comprehension. The result does not represent how teachers in general teaches pupils in reading comprehension. It shows the experience, the perception and the view of four Swedish language teachers on reading comprehension. Abilities such as analyze, read between the lines and interpret different text types are components which all of the asked teachers are highlighting as important factors to make pupils develop good reading comprehension. The four Swedish language teachers in this study also mean that the decoding ability is a big deal in this context. The Swedish language teachers reading comprehension teaching in educational environments are exemplified by discussions and dialogues in the classroom through social interaction, different kinds of aloud reading, strategies of reading between the lines, teaching of different kinds of reading strategies through model learning. / Den här studien behandlar och tar i första hand upp frågan om svensklärares läsförståelseundervisning. Studien redovisar resultatet från de intervjuer som genomfördes med fyra olika svensklärare som är verksamma på högstadiet. Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning, samt aktuella teorier om läsning, interaktion och lärande, behandlas problemområdet utifrån ett lärarperspektiv. Undersökningen utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsinriktning med kvalitativa och semistrukturerade intervjuer som metodval. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa hur svensklärare, mot grundskolans senare år, uppfattar sin läsförståelseundervisning, samt hur de undervisar elever i läsförståelse.   Resultatet är inte representativt för hur lärare undervisar elever i läsförståelse, utan redovisar istället fyra svensklärares erfarenhet, uppfattning och syn på läsförståelseundervisning. Förmågor som att analysera, läsa mellan raderna och tolka olika texttyper är komponenter som samtliga lärare framhäver som viktiga faktorer för att elever ska utveckla god läsförståelse. Svensklärarna i studien menar också att ordavkodningsförmågan spelar en stor roll i det här sammanhanget. Svensklärarnas läsundervisning i pedagogiska miljöer exemplifieras bland annat av diskussioner och samtal i klassrummet genom social interaktion, olika former av högläsning, strategier för att läsa mellan raderna, undervisning av olika typer av läsförståelsestrategier genom att modellera.

In a world that faces global warming and other major environmental challenges, it is essential that students learn about the principles of sustainability so that they can apply these principles in their future lives and careers. This is particularly so in fields such as interior architecture and design, which will impact how well humans can move toward a sustainable way of life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a participatory teaching approach for students of interior design that incorporates ecological thinking. It is particularly intended for use at universities and other places of higher education where such contexts are not currently available and, furthermore, where the teaching has been primarily of a didactic, teacher-centred form. The teaching approach was developed and tested through the involvement of students and staff at a technical institute in Kuwait – a country with severe environmental problems in which teaching at all levels has traditionally been rigidly didactic. A review was carried out of literature on learning theories, design principles, and sustainability paradigms that bore upon the research aim. Following this, a method was chosen, based on action research that involved running different types of workshops, in order to measure the impact of the teaching styles that are ideal to deliver ecological knowledge.

Since 1994, the South African education system has undergone a number of paradigm shifts culminating in the implementation of the policy of Inclusive Education as highlighted in Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The purpose of this research was to explore how foundation phase learners who experience severe intellectual barriers to learning are provided with high levels of support at special schools in the Pietermaritzburg district. A case study design was embarked upon as this allowed for an in-depth exploration of the above research question. Three special schools in the Pietermaritzburg district that cater for learners who experience severe intellectual barriers to learning were chosen for this investigation. Quantitative and qualitative research methods, consisting of questionnaires, interviews and observation were utilised. The findings reveal that educators at these schools do provide high levels of support to foundation phase learners who experience severe intellectual barriers to learning. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)