The theory of meaningful learning

Presenter:Ma. Sonia Calderon Cruz

David P. Ausubel was born in 1918

Grew up in Brooklyn, NY

Attended the University of Pennsylvania, taking the pre-medical course and majoring in Psychology

In 1973 he retired from academic life to devote full time to his psychiatric practice

In 1976 he received the Thorndike Award from the American Psychological Association for "Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education".

Introduction

-Supported the theory that pupils form & organise knowledge by themselves-Emphasized the importance of verbal learning / language-related learning which he consider to be very effective for pupils of the age 11 or 12 & above

-Pupils gradually learn to associate new knowledge with existing concepts in their mental structures

-To ensure meaningful teaching, necessary to avoid rote memorising of facts. Pupils need to manipulate ideas actively

Advance Organizer-Presents an overview of the information to be covered in detail during the exposition that follows-Can be classified : exposition or comparison type

Advance Organizer of the Exposition Type-While presenting new material-Use beginning of lesson-Presents several encompassing generalizations

where detailed contents will be added later

Advance Organizer of the Comparison Type-Useful when the knowledge to be presented is new

to pupils-Compares new material with knowledge already

known by emphasising the similarities between 2 types of material & showing the information that is to be learnt

-Ausubel’s teaching approach is deductive in nature

Step 3:The teacher presents examples

Step 4:The pupils study specific examples

ADVANCE ORGANIZER

GENERAL

SPECIFIC

Step 2:The teacher explains important terms

Step 1:The teacher presents general statement

or abstraction of lesson

Deductive Teaching Model: Advance Organizer as the basis of the lesson

Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning

Meaningful Reception

Learning Theory

A concerned with how students learn large amounts of meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations in a learning activities

Learning is based on the representational, superordinate and combinatorial processes that occur during the reception of information.

A primary process in learning is subsumption in which new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure on a non-verbatim basis (previous knowledge)

Meaningful learning results when new information is acquired by linking the new information in the learner's own cognitive structure

The processes of meaningful learning

Ausubel proposed four processes by which meaningful learning can occur :

Derivative subsumptionCorrelative subsumption Superordinate learningCombinatorial learning

Derivative subsumption • Describes the situation in which the new information pupils learn is

an instance or example of a concept that pupils have already learned

Example (Stage 1) : PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE : Let's suppose Ali

have acquired a basic concept such as "tree” – have green leave, branch, fruits

Ali learn about a kind of tree that he have never seen before “persimmon tree” - conforms to his previous understanding of “tree’’

His new knowledge of persimmon trees is attached to the concept of tree, without substantially altering that concept in any way

Correlative subsumption more "valuable" learning than that of derivative subsumption, since it enriches the higher-level concept

Example (Stage 2) :•Now, let's suppose Ali encounter a new kind of tree that has red leaves, rather

than green

• Accommodate this new information Ali have to alter or extend your concept of “tree’’ to include the possibility of red

leaves

Superordinate learning

In this case, you already knew a lot of examples of the concept, but you did not know the concept itself until it was taught to pupils.

Example (Stage 3) :• Ali was well acquainted with maples, oaks,

apple trees etc., but pupils still did not know, until they were taught that these were all examples of deciduous trees

Combinatorial learning

• It describes a process by which the new idea is derived from another idea that is comes from his previous knowledge (in a different, but related, "branch")

• Students could think of this as learning by analogy

Example (Stage 3) : •Ali learn about modification on the plants

part, Ali might relate it to previously acquired knowledge of how papyrus tree

used to produce paper

• General ideas of a subject (general statement):– Must be presented first– then progressively differentiated in terms of

detail and specificity.

• Instructional materials :– should attempt to integrate new material with

previously presented information– Using comparisons and cross-referencing of

new and old ideas.

Principles of Ausubel's Meaningful Reception Learning

Theory within a classroom setting

• Advance organizers :– Instructors should incorporate advance

organizers when teaching a new concept

• Examples :– Instructors should use a number of examples

and focus on both similarities and differences.

Principles of Ausubel's Meaningful Reception Learning

Theory within a classroom setting

The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows..