Learning Types: ‘explicit learning’ consists of what we commonly read, write, and talk about. Conveyed via such means as textbooks, lectures, pictures, and videos. ‘Implicit learning’ consists of things we learn through life experience, habit, games, experiential learning, and other ‘hands-on’ activities. (Jensen2, 33-34) ‘Discover learning’ or ‘guided discovery’ is learning based on insight and understanding. (Coon, 287) ‘Brain based learning’ is mainly commercial packaging of information about the brain for teachers. (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 16) (Includes) designing learning activities that require students to investigate a specific question. (Johnson, 352)
Actor’s Learning Methodology: learning principals identified by cognitive researchers that (many) actors unwittingly employ. (Noice, 1)
Theater Games: improvisational or participatory exercises designed to improve concentration, encourage creativity, and allow for intuitive response. Such exercises may be used to learn a particular skill, enhance mental, physical and verbal dexterity, and build confidence. (RichardsJVR, March 10, 2014)
Case-Based Learning: presents a case with all relevant information. The learner attempts to relate this and other cases to new cases. (Marshall, 11/3/2011) Editor’s note - often used in Law School and Business School. Case-based learning may also be considered an "instructional strategy."
Category Learning: the learning that occurs when people come to understand that certain objects or entities belong together in particular categories. (Miell, 188) Specific practices that help teachers instruct their pupils in a way that corresponds with the brain’s natural categorization mechanisms. (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 26) Editor’s note - category learning can also be an instructional strategy.
Context-Dependent Learning: a characteristic (of encoding) that responds to mood. Learn something while you are sad and you will be able to recall it better if, at retrieval, you are somehow suddenly made sad. (Medina, 114) Also referred to as ‘state-dependent learning.’
Experiential Learning: a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. (At University) a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities including internships, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and other creative and professional work experiences. Well-planned, supervised and assessed experiential learning programs can stimulate academic inquiry by promoting interdisciplinary learning, civic engagement, career development, cultural awareness, leadership, and other professional and intellectual skills. (ExLearn, About) Also referred to as ‘dynamic learning experience.'
Habituation: an elementary form of learning. The most widespread of all forms of learning. Thought to be the first learning process to emerge in human infants. Through habituation, animals, including human beings, learn to ignore stimuli that have lost novelty or meaning; habituation frees them to attend to stimuli that are rewarding or significant for survival. Short-term habituation involves a change in the strength of the “synaptic connection” between two neurons. (The Brain-Eric Kandel, 32)
Observational Learning: learning achieved by watching and imitating the actions of another or noting the consequences of those actions. (Coon, 289) Learning that takes place through … watching and processing information about the actions of others, including the consequences that occur, influences the likelihood that behavior will be imitated. Four cognitive processes interact to determine whether imitation will occur - attention, memory, motor skills, and motivation to imitate the behavior. Much human learning occurs indirectly, by watching what others do, then imitating it. (Hockenbury, 207-208)
Sensitization: an elementary form of learning. The mirror image of habituation. Instead of teaching an animal to ignore a stimulus, sensitization is a form of ‘learned fear.’ It teaches the animal to attend and respond more vigorously to almost any stimulus after having been subjected to a threatening stimulus. (Kandel, 169)
Virtual Reality Learning: learning using an “avatar” in a VR environment. (Blakeslee, 161)
Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE): a user interface that attempts to create a virtual environment for presenting information. Often used in video games. (Instructional Design, Instructional Design Terms)