The Three Metaphors of Learning

By: European Heart Association

 

Learning works in different ways, and various views on learning have emerged throughout the decades. Education and instruction methods have been patterned after these views, which are summed up into the three metaphors of learning. These three are: learning as response strengthening, learning as information acquisition, and finally, learning as knowledge instruction.

Response Strengthening

A popular approach in the 1960’s, the Response Strengthening metaphor describes learning as an experience that involves strengthening or weakening connections between information. This entails reinforcing correct responses and weakening wrong responses. This metaphor basically portrays the learner as a passive entity that receives rewards when he gets the correct answers and punishments when he gets the wrong ones. The instructor here simply dispenses rewards and punishments according to the learner’s responses. Though this may be somehow effective in some cases, it incompletely supports learning in that meaningful associations are not explained thoroughly. For example, response strengthening may be appropriate for certain types of knowledge, such as enhancing the learner’s cognitive skills. However, this method is not applicable in teaching concepts and strategies where the learner has to analyze information or apply critical thinking.

Information Acquisition

The second metaphor is Information Acquisition, a viewpoint showing the learner’s mind as an “empty vessel” into which the instructor “pours” information. This view depicts learning as simply adding information to memory, while the learner is merely a passive recipient of information. A typical example of this metaphor in action is giving out information through lectures and PowerPoint presentations where the student tries to absorb the content being presented to him. Such methods are widely seen in traditional classroom settings where learners are given lectures and accompanying books and notes. Though this viewpoint is one of the mainstays of instruction, it disregards the notion that all learning requires psychological engagement – something that may not be experienced in environments that only focus on knowledge acquisition.

 

Knowledge Construction

Finally, the viewpoint on learning as knowledge construction emerged as education experts realized that a learner is not merely a receiver of information, but is an autonomous being who constructs knowledge to organize cognitive processes during learning. This view on knowledge construction sees learning as actively selecting relevant information, creating a coherent mental representation, and relating this information into existing knowledge. In this way, the learner makes the most sense out of the information presented to him since he is able to give it a meaningful interpretation. This view was also supported by Resnick (1989) when he fittingly stated that “learning occurs not by recording information but by interpreting it.”

Aside from taking into account the learner’s ability to process information and construct relevant representations, the Knowledge Construction metaphor also sees the teacher as a participant in the learning process, acting as a guide and encouraging a shared cognitive experience. The standpoint of knowledge construction shifted the focus of learning to learner cognition, rather than curriculum development. This allows instruction to be directed toward helping the student develop learning and thinking skills rather than simply memorizing facts and recalling information.

Though these three learning metaphors each have value to instruction and learning, the focus of e-learning and other modern teaching and learning methods should be the Knowledge Construction viewpoint. This supports the goal of effective instruction, which focuses not merely on presenting information but also promotes engagement in cognitive processing and interpretation.