Evaluating two learning theories stonebridge access to HE

Hey all,

I'm currently studying the Access to Health course with Stonebridge and I've hit a bit of a roadblock on unit 2 assignment 4 which is to evaluate two learning theories. Has anyone completed this and able to point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Reply 1

RubyG-

9

Just finished this and managed to pass, its a lot simpler than it sounds. You pick two learning theories, I choose Bandura's social learning theory and Skinner's operant conditioning. You simply need to explain each theory to show your understanding, give positives and negatives for each, explaining what they're useful for, and finish with a conclusion. Remember to use citations and references, if you have any questions let me know!

Reply 2

fajitalarry

OP

5

Awesome thank you for replying! I stopped overthinking it and it finally clicked, just had it back and I passed! Now I've got the Unit 5 Cell Biology to contend with haha

Reply 3

Chelseysxo

2

Hey !! sorry to jump on your thread... I am also totally stuck with this unit.
any help would be appreciated !! thank you xx

Reply 4

fajitalarry

OP

5

Original post by Chelseysxo

Hey !! sorry to jump on your thread... I am also totally stuck with this unit.
any help would be appreciated !! thank you xx

hey would you like me to send you mine for you to look at? Its not perfect but it passed

Reply 5

Cody7148

2

Is there any chance you could send me yours just to have a look at how it’s laid out I know what 2 I’m going to do and what they are just still a little unsure how to put it on paper. Thanks

Reply 6

nollliee

11

Evaluate two theories: I don't know anything about your course material but I would pick two theories, explain a bit about them and how they differ as a bit of background (citing them correctly) and then evaluate them by discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses when compared to each other. If this is wrong hopefully someone can explain it better than myself.

Reply 7

Cody7148

2

Original post by nollliee

Evaluate two theories: I don't know anything about your course material but I would pick two theories, explain a bit about them and how they differ as a bit of background (citing them correctly) and then evaluate them by discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses when compared to each other. If this is wrong hopefully someone can explain it better than myself.

Im doing access to nursing xx

Reply 8

fajitalarry

OP

5

Original post by Cody7148

Is there any chance you could send me yours just to have a look at how it’s laid out I know what 2 I’m going to do and what they are just still a little unsure how to put it on paper. Thanks

Here is what I wrote, like I said its not perfect but it passed lol

For this assignment I will be evaluating two learning theories - Skinner's Behaviourist Theory and Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development.

Skinner's Behaviourist theory consists of the idea that a person's behaviour can be trained through positive and negative reinforcement or punishment. For example, Skinner placed a rat in the Skinner Box and when doing so, the rat would accidentally knock the lever causing a food pellet to drop into the cage. After a few attempts at putting the rat into the cage, it would purposely knock the lever knowing a reward, the food, would be available imminently. This shows how positive reinforcement and rewards can lead to positive behaviour. (Grace, E. 2019)

Skinner also showed that behaviour can be trained and altered through punishment or negative reinforcement. He showed this by sending an electrical current through the cage until the rat knocked the lever and switched it off. Again, after a few rounds of this the rat eventually learned that purposely knocking the lever would end the electrical current. A way of adapting this into modern society is the use of punishment in classrooms. Bad behaviour could cause a student to end up in detention, meaning they will be less likely to display that same behaviour again to ensure they avoid the punishment. (McLeod, 2018)

This theory can be applied to the positive reinforcement used in modern classrooms in order to train student's behaviour. For example, a teacher may use a reward system for homework being completed on time and this could mean that the pupils are more likely to be punctual with their work in order to receive the reward.

The second theory I am going to evaluate is Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Piaget's theory consists of the idea that cognitive development is broken down into 4 stages; Sensorimotor stage, Preoperational stage, Concrete Operational stage and the Formal Operational stage. His theory is quite different to Skinner's and one of the main reasons for that is that Piaget's theory focuses solely on the development of children, whereas Skinner's work can be applied to learners of all ages. (Cherry, K. 2020)

In the sensorimotor stage, toddlers gain knowledge through sensory experiences and gaining the knowledge of object permanence. The preoperational stage is reached roughly after the age of 2 years and when children reach this stage they are able to learn through pretend play but still struggle with understanding the view point of other people. At age 7 children reach the concrete operational stage where they begin to gain an insight into other people's views. Finally at age 12, children reach the formal operational stage where they are able to think logically and see the world around them more scientifically. Children at this age are also more likely to be able to see more than one solution to a problem. (Cherry, K. 2020)

Both of these learning theories do have their similarities as well as their differences. For example, with both theories a child will learn from experience, whether reward/punishment is involved or if it is simply through playing.

Kendra Cherry. (2020). The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development. Available: https://www.verywellmind.com/piagets-stages-of-cognitive-development-2795457#:~:text=Jean%20Piaget's%20theory%20of%20cognitive,stage%3A%20birth%20to%202%20years. Last accessed 15/07/2020.

Saul Mcleod. (2018). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Available: https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Elizabeth Grace. (2019). B.F. Skinner's Behavioural Theory. Available: http://www.kidsdevelopment.co.uk/bfskinnersbehaviouraltheory.html

Reply 9

nollliee

11

It would be handy to know a target word count. Starting with that, you will know how many words to 'spend' discussing each theory and then their comparisons. As above, the two theories are evaluated by comparing them with each other. I'm not doing your course so ignore my comments if you wish, but for my money (which means precisely nothing I grant you), I would say the above passage is a bit weakly referenced for my taste but I have an unfair advantage in that I have done a degree before. A short paragraph of conclusion may also be useful but I do know know the word count limit or what the overall objective is.

My rule of thumb whilst doing my access course was that I treated every piece of work as if studying for a degree and produced assignments to suit.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 10

stella53

5

Original post by fajitalarry

hey would you like me to send you mine for you to look at? Its not perfect but it passed

Hey can you send me yours please thanks

Reply 11

Sashaed83

1

Original post by nollliee

It would be handy to know a target word count. Starting with that, you will know how many words to 'spend' discussing each theory and then their comparisons. As above, the two theories are evaluated by comparing them with each other. I'm not doing your course so ignore my comments if you wish, but for my money (which means precisely nothing I grant you), I would say the above passage is a bit weakly referenced for my taste but I have an unfair advantage in that I have done a degree before. A short paragraph of conclusion may also be useful but I do know know the word count limit or what the overall objective is.

My rule of thumb whilst doing my access course was that I treated every piece of work as if studying for a degree and produced assignments to suit.

If it is the same HE access provider - it's 500 words.
And he also missed out a worked example for piaget.
I'm finding it difficult to do this as I actually did psychology and know most of it, so I am having to try and reference as much as possible.

Reply 12

Hollie24

9

Do you mind showing me as well? I'm a bit stuck any help would be appreciated x

Reply 13

Mickey2490

10

Original post by RubyG-

Just finished this and managed to pass, its a lot simpler than it sounds. You pick two learning theories, I choose Bandura's social learning theory and Skinner's operant conditioning. You simply need to explain each theory to show your understanding, give positives and negatives for each, explaining what they're useful for, and finish with a conclusion. Remember to use citations and references, if you have any questions let me know!

Please I need your help just give me a hint of how to write it

Reply 14

RubyG-

9

Original post by Mickey2490

Please I need your help just give me a hint of how to write it

Hiya, I tried to pm you but couldn’t, if you’re still stuck send me a pm

Reply 15

Lilfreddie

5

Would I be able to have a look at yours ? I’m completely stuck , struggling so bad and dunno if i have picked the best two to evaluate ? X

Reply 16

neavealiceee

1

Hello! Sorry to jump on this as I know it was 6 months ago, however I've just started this course. I've been struggling with this unit, I'm just starting to get my head around it. The one thing I really can't work out is how to cite / reference the learning theories. I've never done referencing before so I've watched youtube videos and things on it, but I still don't understand how to cite the learning theories as they're not quotes or anything. Can you please help me with this?

Reply 17

SS47

6

Original post by neavealiceee

Hello! Sorry to jump on this as I know it was 6 months ago, however I've just started this course. I've been struggling with this unit, I'm just starting to get my head around it. The one thing I really can't work out is how to cite / reference the learning theories. I've never done referencing before so I've watched youtube videos and things on it, but I still don't understand how to cite the learning theories as they're not quotes or anything. Can you please help me with this?

Hello - are you still in need of some assistance?

Reply 18

IreneCG

1

This unit seems to be a little tricky for many of us.
One piece of advice I feel to give you is that if you have never written anything in academic style beforehand do read through Study Unit 3 before you attempt assessment 2.4 as what is relevant (in terms of how to write academically, what language to use, how to divide it into paragraphs and why, how distribute the number of words and how to reference the work appropriately) is actually explained in the unit after this assessment. I know, I was a bit puzzled too. :smile: