Chapter 5 Cognitive Learning Theories:
Ausubel’s Learning Theory
“If I had to reduce all educational psychology
just one principle,I would say this,The most
important single factor influencing learning is
what the learner already knows,Ascertain this
and teach him accordingly.”
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.1 About Ausubel:
? David P,Ausubel,1918-
? Born on 25 Oct.1918 in
Brooklyn,New York.
? 1939,Uni,of Pennsylvanian,
Ba.
? 1940,Columbia Uni.,MA
? 1943,Brandis Uni,Doctor
degree of medicine.
? 1950,Uni,of Columbia,Ph.D.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.1 About Ausubel
? 1950-68,taught in Uni,of Illinois,Toronto
? 1968,taught in Uni.of New York
? 1976,won Thorndike Prize of Educational
Psy.
? 1978,retired,honorary professor of Uni.of
New York.
? Educational Psy.:A Cognitive Perspective,
(1978)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas:an overview
? His theory is concerned with how individuals learn
meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations
in a school setting, learning is based upon the kinds of
superordinate,representational,and combinatorial
processes that occur during the reception of information,
A primary process in learning is subsumption in which
new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing
cognitive structure on a substantive,non-verbatim basis,
Cognitive structures represent the residue（ 残余，剩余物 ）
of all learning experiences; forgetting occurs because
certain details get integrated and lose their individual
identity,He was very active in the 1950s to 1970s.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Consider the following sentences:
? (1) Enso firs hmen mam snoi teha erso iakt
siae otin mes esna nrae.
? (2) Easier that nonsense information to
make then sense is learn.
? (3) Information that makes sense is easier to
learn than nonsense.
? Which one is easiest to learn and remember?
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The message in (3) has profound implications
for instruction,One of the teacher’s most
important tasks is to make information
meaningful to students,by presenting it in a
clear,organized way,by relating it to
information already in student’s minds,and
by make sure that students have truly
understood the concepts being taught and
apply them to new situations.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
＊ Rote and Meaningful Learning
rote learning,memorize something without
relating it to prior experience or memorize just
by mere repetition,(the memorization of facts
or associations),
e.g,the multiplication tables,the chemical
symbols for the elements,words in foreign
languages,etc,Much of rote learning involves
associations that are essentially arbitrary,The
chemical symbol for gold could just as well have
been Go or Gd.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? meaningful learning,attempts to create some
connection to something that they already
know,or learn with understanding,It is not
arbitrary.
? e.g.if we learn that silver is an excellent
conductor of electricity,this information relate
to our existing information about silver and
about electrical conductivity.The association
between silver and electrical conductivity is not
arbitrary,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Materials learned that have relation to
experiences or memories that are firm in
the person’s memory are more likely to be
retained,Whereas,rotely learned
materials are discrete（ 不连续的，离散的 ） and
isolated entities which have not been
related to established concepts…and may
soon be forgotten (Ausubel,1962)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Reception and Discovery Learning
? discovery learning,learning by individual or
group exploration,Real knowledge would be
obtained through it.
? Reception Learning,learning through
expository,or subsumption.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Question,Is discovery learning equal to
meaningful learning,and reception learning
rote learning?
? Ausubel’s answer is NO,Whether the method
of learning is discovery or reception does not
determine the meaningfulness of the material,
?
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? According to Ausubel,people acquire knowledge
primarily through reception rather than through
discovery.Concepts,principles,and ideas are
presented and understood,not discovered,The more
organized and focused the presentation,the more
thoroughly the individual will learn,He stresses
meaningful verbal learning,
? Ausubel is an advocate of expository teaching and
reception learning,the question remains,"Does he
have a method to make lecture a meaningful learning
experience?"
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Meaningful verbal learning,It is the
acquisition of ideas that are linked to other
ideas.
? The standards of meaningful verbal learning:
? (1) the connection between new information
and existing knowledge is substantive,non-
verbatim,e.g,Parallelogram(平行四边形） and
diamond（ 菱形）,
? (2) the connection is not arbitrary,There is
logic connection between the two,e.g,gold and
the conductivity.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ The conditions of M.L.:
? (1) there is logic meaning in the learning
materials.
? (2) there are appropriate ideas in the learner’s
cognitive structure used to subsume new
material.
? (3) learning set,The learners try to relate the
two to each other.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ The categories of M.L.
? (1) representation:the meaning of a single
symbol or word is learned.
? (2)conceptual,the learner recognizes the
features or attribute of a concept.
? (3)propositional:learners combine words
and/or symbols to form a new idea,This is
the level at which the learner makes
inference and uses reasoning,There three
forms of propositional learning:
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The first one is subordinate learning.
? Derivative subsumption,new material is an
instance or evidence of an existing idea,
(oblong---axis symmetry)
? A
? a1 a2 a3 a4 a5
? A:prior idea,a,new information.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Correlative subsumption:new material
belongs to existing idea,the existing idea is
extended,elaborated,restricted,or
modified.(right-angled triangle--- triangle)
? X
Y U V W
X,existing idea,Y,U,V,W:new material
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The second one is superordinate learning.
? A
? a1 a2 a3 a4
? A:new material,a:existing ideas
? e.g,vegetable---radish(萝卜 ）,spinach(spinage,
菠菜 ）
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The third one is combinational learning,
There is neither subordinate relation nor
superordinate relation between new
information and existing ideas.
? A B-C-D
? A:new information,
? B,C,D:existing ideas.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Learning processes:subsumption
? Subsumption is such a process in which new
material is related to relevant ideas in the existing
cognitive structures.
? Ausubel started with the notion that knowledge is
organized into hierarchical structures in which
subordinate concepts are not only related to one
another but subsumed under higher-level
superordinate concepts,Even if we gradually forget
details,we tend to remember key ideas associated
with a particular cognitive structure and to retain
the structure itself,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Learning processes:subsumption
? The structure provides scaffolding that supports
retention of the information as an organized body of
knowledge and functions as a frame within which to
interpret related new knowledge or efficiently
relearned forgotten knowledge,Even if you do not
remember Gagne's learning hierarchies,you are
likely to remember that there are many levels of
learning that need to be considered in planning
instruction.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Learning processes:subsumption
? Subsumption can be illustrated as follows:
? subsume forgetting
? a + A A’ a ’(A’+ a ’) A or A’
? A’ a ’(A’+ a ’ ) a or a ’
? subsume retrieve
? A:existing idea,a,new material
? Question:What are the processes of combinational
learning and superordinate learning?
? A + B + C +D
? A + a
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Learning outcomes,cognitive structure
? Cognitive structure refers to what one has already
known and their organizations.
? Variables of cognitive structure:
? The availability of ideas:
? The discrimination of ideas:
? The stability and clearness of ideas:
? The ideas in one’s cognitive structure act as
anchoring points which are cognitive bridges
between what one has known and new information.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ basic teaching principles:
? (1) The most general ideas of a subject should
be presented first and then progressively
differentiated in terms of detail and specificity,
? (2) Instructional materials should attempt to
integrate new material with previously
presented information through comparisons
and cross-referencing of new and old ideas,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ teaching technique,advance organizer
? Advance organizers are verbal statements at
the beginning of a lesson that preview and
structure the new material and link it to the
students’ existing schemata.
? Advance organizers act like road map.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Effective organizers are:
? (1) presented prior to learning a larger body
of information.
? (2) written in paragraph form.
? (3) written in concrete(有形的，具体的） fashion.
? (4) designed to include an example that helps
learners identify the relationship between the
ideas in the organizer and the information to
follow.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? The function of advance organizer:
? (1)direct attention to what is important in the
coming material
? (2)highlight relationships among ideas that
will be presented
? (3)remind the student of relevant information
already in memory
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? The exact form an advance organizer takes
depends on:
? (1)type of content
? (2)the age of the learner
? (3)how familiar the students are with the
learning material
? The following is an example,an example
from a lesson introducing the research
process
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
?, Research is a creative process involving time
for reflection and gestation(酝酿）, It is
iterative(反复的，迭代的） ;What you learn as you
proceed may cause you to go back and rethink
what you did earlier.”
? Another example in literature:
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Global organizer
? Drama Poetry Novel Short story Essay
? Comedy Tragedy Satire Romance
? Greek Shakespearean
? Hamlet King Lear
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ teaching technique,advance organizer
? "These organizers are introduced in advance of
learning itself,and are also presented at a higher
level of abstraction,generality,and inclusiveness; and
since the substantive content of a given organizer or
series of organizers is selected on the basis of its
suitability for explaining,integrating,and
interrelating the material they precede,this strategy
simultaneously satisfies the substantive as well as the
programming criteria for enhancing the organization
strength of cognitive structure."
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Ausubel emphasizes that advance organizers
are different from overviews and summaries
which simply emphasize key ideas and are
presented at the same level of abstraction and
generality as the rest of the material,
Organizers act as a subsuming bridge between
new learning material and existing related
ideas,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ Steps in expository lesson:
? (1)Introduction,
? drawing students into the lesson
? stating the lesson objectives(learning goals)
? overview(to provide an overview of the topic and
how major concepts are interrelated)
? (2) Presentation
? uses advance organizer and structure as reference
points
? describe content,divides it into component parts.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? describe each components in turn
? links all the parts to the starting structure
and advance organizer
? (3)comprehension monitoring(informal
assessment of student understanding)
? periodically intersperse questions,ask for
conclusions,examples,restatements in own
words
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
(4)Integration(linking new information to
prior learning and linking different parts of
the new learning to each other)
? use questions to encourage vertical
integration through linking superodinate with
subordinate concepts
? use questions to encourage horizontal
integration by describing similarities and
differences among coordinate ideas(how
different ideas relate to each other)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? (5)Review and closure
? summarize the topic
? emphasize important points
? provides a link to new learning
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ final comments on expository teaching:
? Expository teaching works better in some
situations than in others,It is most appropriate
when you want to teach about the relationships
among several concepts,Students must have
some knowledge of the actual concepts first.
? Another consideration is the age of the students,
This approach requires students to manipulate
abstract ideas,This means expository teaching is
more developmentally appropriate for students
at the fifth or sixth grade level.
Questions
1,What are the differences between Bruner’s
theory and Ausubel’s theory?Which one do
you think is better for us to understand
learning and teaching?
2,Give some examples of how to use advance
organizers in practical instruction?
Ausubel’s Learning Theory
“If I had to reduce all educational psychology
just one principle,I would say this,The most
important single factor influencing learning is
what the learner already knows,Ascertain this
and teach him accordingly.”
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.1 About Ausubel:
? David P,Ausubel,1918-
? Born on 25 Oct.1918 in
Brooklyn,New York.
? 1939,Uni,of Pennsylvanian,
Ba.
? 1940,Columbia Uni.,MA
? 1943,Brandis Uni,Doctor
degree of medicine.
? 1950,Uni,of Columbia,Ph.D.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.1 About Ausubel
? 1950-68,taught in Uni,of Illinois,Toronto
? 1968,taught in Uni.of New York
? 1976,won Thorndike Prize of Educational
Psy.
? 1978,retired,honorary professor of Uni.of
New York.
? Educational Psy.:A Cognitive Perspective,
(1978)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas:an overview
? His theory is concerned with how individuals learn
meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations
in a school setting, learning is based upon the kinds of
superordinate,representational,and combinatorial
processes that occur during the reception of information,
A primary process in learning is subsumption in which
new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing
cognitive structure on a substantive,non-verbatim basis,
Cognitive structures represent the residue（ 残余，剩余物 ）
of all learning experiences; forgetting occurs because
certain details get integrated and lose their individual
identity,He was very active in the 1950s to 1970s.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Consider the following sentences:
? (1) Enso firs hmen mam snoi teha erso iakt
siae otin mes esna nrae.
? (2) Easier that nonsense information to
make then sense is learn.
? (3) Information that makes sense is easier to
learn than nonsense.
? Which one is easiest to learn and remember?
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The message in (3) has profound implications
for instruction,One of the teacher’s most
important tasks is to make information
meaningful to students,by presenting it in a
clear,organized way,by relating it to
information already in student’s minds,and
by make sure that students have truly
understood the concepts being taught and
apply them to new situations.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
＊ Rote and Meaningful Learning
rote learning,memorize something without
relating it to prior experience or memorize just
by mere repetition,(the memorization of facts
or associations),
e.g,the multiplication tables,the chemical
symbols for the elements,words in foreign
languages,etc,Much of rote learning involves
associations that are essentially arbitrary,The
chemical symbol for gold could just as well have
been Go or Gd.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? meaningful learning,attempts to create some
connection to something that they already
know,or learn with understanding,It is not
arbitrary.
? e.g.if we learn that silver is an excellent
conductor of electricity,this information relate
to our existing information about silver and
about electrical conductivity.The association
between silver and electrical conductivity is not
arbitrary,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Materials learned that have relation to
experiences or memories that are firm in
the person’s memory are more likely to be
retained,Whereas,rotely learned
materials are discrete（ 不连续的，离散的 ） and
isolated entities which have not been
related to established concepts…and may
soon be forgotten (Ausubel,1962)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Reception and Discovery Learning
? discovery learning,learning by individual or
group exploration,Real knowledge would be
obtained through it.
? Reception Learning,learning through
expository,or subsumption.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Question,Is discovery learning equal to
meaningful learning,and reception learning
rote learning?
? Ausubel’s answer is NO,Whether the method
of learning is discovery or reception does not
determine the meaningfulness of the material,
?
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? According to Ausubel,people acquire knowledge
primarily through reception rather than through
discovery.Concepts,principles,and ideas are
presented and understood,not discovered,The more
organized and focused the presentation,the more
thoroughly the individual will learn,He stresses
meaningful verbal learning,
? Ausubel is an advocate of expository teaching and
reception learning,the question remains,"Does he
have a method to make lecture a meaningful learning
experience?"
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Meaningful verbal learning,It is the
acquisition of ideas that are linked to other
ideas.
? The standards of meaningful verbal learning:
? (1) the connection between new information
and existing knowledge is substantive,non-
verbatim,e.g,Parallelogram(平行四边形） and
diamond（ 菱形）,
? (2) the connection is not arbitrary,There is
logic connection between the two,e.g,gold and
the conductivity.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ The conditions of M.L.:
? (1) there is logic meaning in the learning
materials.
? (2) there are appropriate ideas in the learner’s
cognitive structure used to subsume new
material.
? (3) learning set,The learners try to relate the
two to each other.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ The categories of M.L.
? (1) representation:the meaning of a single
symbol or word is learned.
? (2)conceptual,the learner recognizes the
features or attribute of a concept.
? (3)propositional:learners combine words
and/or symbols to form a new idea,This is
the level at which the learner makes
inference and uses reasoning,There three
forms of propositional learning:
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The first one is subordinate learning.
? Derivative subsumption,new material is an
instance or evidence of an existing idea,
(oblong---axis symmetry)
? A
? a1 a2 a3 a4 a5
? A:prior idea,a,new information.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Correlative subsumption:new material
belongs to existing idea,the existing idea is
extended,elaborated,restricted,or
modified.(right-angled triangle--- triangle)
? X
Y U V W
X,existing idea,Y,U,V,W:new material
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The second one is superordinate learning.
? A
? a1 a2 a3 a4
? A:new material,a:existing ideas
? e.g,vegetable---radish(萝卜 ）,spinach(spinage,
菠菜 ）
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? The third one is combinational learning,
There is neither subordinate relation nor
superordinate relation between new
information and existing ideas.
? A B-C-D
? A:new information,
? B,C,D:existing ideas.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Learning processes:subsumption
? Subsumption is such a process in which new
material is related to relevant ideas in the existing
cognitive structures.
? Ausubel started with the notion that knowledge is
organized into hierarchical structures in which
subordinate concepts are not only related to one
another but subsumed under higher-level
superordinate concepts,Even if we gradually forget
details,we tend to remember key ideas associated
with a particular cognitive structure and to retain
the structure itself,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Learning processes:subsumption
? The structure provides scaffolding that supports
retention of the information as an organized body of
knowledge and functions as a frame within which to
interpret related new knowledge or efficiently
relearned forgotten knowledge,Even if you do not
remember Gagne's learning hierarchies,you are
likely to remember that there are many levels of
learning that need to be considered in planning
instruction.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? Learning processes:subsumption
? Subsumption can be illustrated as follows:
? subsume forgetting
? a + A A’ a ’(A’+ a ’) A or A’
? A’ a ’(A’+ a ’ ) a or a ’
? subsume retrieve
? A:existing idea,a,new material
? Question:What are the processes of combinational
learning and superordinate learning?
? A + B + C +D
? A + a
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.2 Main ideas,about learning
? ＊ Learning outcomes,cognitive structure
? Cognitive structure refers to what one has already
known and their organizations.
? Variables of cognitive structure:
? The availability of ideas:
? The discrimination of ideas:
? The stability and clearness of ideas:
? The ideas in one’s cognitive structure act as
anchoring points which are cognitive bridges
between what one has known and new information.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ basic teaching principles:
? (1) The most general ideas of a subject should
be presented first and then progressively
differentiated in terms of detail and specificity,
? (2) Instructional materials should attempt to
integrate new material with previously
presented information through comparisons
and cross-referencing of new and old ideas,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ teaching technique,advance organizer
? Advance organizers are verbal statements at
the beginning of a lesson that preview and
structure the new material and link it to the
students’ existing schemata.
? Advance organizers act like road map.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Effective organizers are:
? (1) presented prior to learning a larger body
of information.
? (2) written in paragraph form.
? (3) written in concrete(有形的，具体的） fashion.
? (4) designed to include an example that helps
learners identify the relationship between the
ideas in the organizer and the information to
follow.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? The function of advance organizer:
? (1)direct attention to what is important in the
coming material
? (2)highlight relationships among ideas that
will be presented
? (3)remind the student of relevant information
already in memory
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? The exact form an advance organizer takes
depends on:
? (1)type of content
? (2)the age of the learner
? (3)how familiar the students are with the
learning material
? The following is an example,an example
from a lesson introducing the research
process
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
?, Research is a creative process involving time
for reflection and gestation(酝酿）, It is
iterative(反复的，迭代的） ;What you learn as you
proceed may cause you to go back and rethink
what you did earlier.”
? Another example in literature:
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Global organizer
? Drama Poetry Novel Short story Essay
? Comedy Tragedy Satire Romance
? Greek Shakespearean
? Hamlet King Lear
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ teaching technique,advance organizer
? "These organizers are introduced in advance of
learning itself,and are also presented at a higher
level of abstraction,generality,and inclusiveness; and
since the substantive content of a given organizer or
series of organizers is selected on the basis of its
suitability for explaining,integrating,and
interrelating the material they precede,this strategy
simultaneously satisfies the substantive as well as the
programming criteria for enhancing the organization
strength of cognitive structure."
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? Ausubel emphasizes that advance organizers
are different from overviews and summaries
which simply emphasize key ideas and are
presented at the same level of abstraction and
generality as the rest of the material,
Organizers act as a subsuming bridge between
new learning material and existing related
ideas,
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ Steps in expository lesson:
? (1)Introduction,
? drawing students into the lesson
? stating the lesson objectives(learning goals)
? overview(to provide an overview of the topic and
how major concepts are interrelated)
? (2) Presentation
? uses advance organizer and structure as reference
points
? describe content,divides it into component parts.
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? describe each components in turn
? links all the parts to the starting structure
and advance organizer
? (3)comprehension monitoring(informal
assessment of student understanding)
? periodically intersperse questions,ask for
conclusions,examples,restatements in own
words
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
(4)Integration(linking new information to
prior learning and linking different parts of
the new learning to each other)
? use questions to encourage vertical
integration through linking superodinate with
subordinate concepts
? use questions to encourage horizontal
integration by describing similarities and
differences among coordinate ideas(how
different ideas relate to each other)
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? (5)Review and closure
? summarize the topic
? emphasize important points
? provides a link to new learning
Chapter 5 Ausubel’s Learning Theory
? 5.4.3 Main ideas,about instruction
? ＊ final comments on expository teaching:
? Expository teaching works better in some
situations than in others,It is most appropriate
when you want to teach about the relationships
among several concepts,Students must have
some knowledge of the actual concepts first.
? Another consideration is the age of the students,
This approach requires students to manipulate
abstract ideas,This means expository teaching is
more developmentally appropriate for students
at the fifth or sixth grade level.
Questions
1,What are the differences between Bruner’s
theory and Ausubel’s theory?Which one do
you think is better for us to understand
learning and teaching?
2,Give some examples of how to use advance
organizers in practical instruction?
