1.a) How are behaviourism and cognitive information processing similar to each other?
Same, same but different?”

Behaviourism postulates that cause and effect controls our behaviour not our minds: it’s about being conditioned. Much of the research insinuates that behaviourism is best suited to young learners or those who require constant guidance. Its focus is simple; learners exposed to a specific stimulus will yield a particular, desired response. The behaviourist within us is not motivated by epistemological factors: it is extrinsically motivated. Outcomes are standardized, measurable and observable with tasks requiring a low degree of processing.

Cognitive information processing utilizes methodologies that focus learner attention, support encoding, promote retrieval, provide opportunities for practice and is most successful when combined with constructive coaching. Appears to be passive learning? Actually it’s highly active learning, cognitively active. The idea that learning is entirely based on the three stages of memory: sensory, short-term and long term and how these phases retrieve, transfer it and recover information are fundamental. (Resier & Dempsey, 2007). To maximize education, learners must become more intrinsically motivated. They must learn vicariously by watching, touching, reading, listening and experiencing.

Cognitive learning extends behaviourism because it focuses on observation influencing behaviour in addition to memory and emotions. It emphasizes providing modelling and imitation opportunities, detailed feedback, more individualized and self-regulated outcomes and self-efficacy. This theory helps us to differentiate between new learning and the performance of prior learned behaviours. Wouldn’t learning be limited if we were only able to learn through conditioning?

Behaviourism involves our body: cognitivism involves our minds. Despite their different foundations, both approaches to learning involve analysis, decomposition, and simplification of tasks in order to scaffold learning and increase the efficiency of instruction. They also both “encourage learner engagement through interactive decision-making, give importance to intrinsic feedback and value meaningful learning and realistic contexts for application of knowledge and skills” (Atkins, 1993). Ultimately, good teaching and learning will employ the best strategies to meet the needs of learners.

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References
Atkins, M.J. (1993). Theories of learning and multimedia applications: An overview. Research Papers in Education, 8(2), 251-271.
Reiser, R.A. & Dempsey, J.V. (2007). Trends and issues in instructional design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Schunk, D. H. (2008). Social Cognitive Theory. In Learning Theories: An educational Perspective (pp. 77-129). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.