What are the different ways learners are considered to active from behaviorist and cognitive perspectives?
This was an interesting question, as my initial reaction after first reading Greeno et al. a couple of weeks ago would have been to say that learners are active constructors of information from the cognitive perspective, and more passive receivers of information from the behavioral perspective. However, after further consideration, class discussion, and reading of the Putnam et al. chapter on Alternative Perspectives on Knowing Mathematics in Elementary Schools, I can answer a bit differently and hopefully with a better understanding of the shades of distinction given in the term active. Active learning has been one of the marked features of cognitivist theory in the sense that this perspective views learners as being actively involved in constructing their own knowledge. It focuses on the cognitive abilities and knowledge structures of the learner, and pays attention to how existing prior knowledge forms the basis for future learning. Given this focus on the thinking processes of the
