thepeculiarsblog

A cognitive learning task as indicated by the materials of instruction can be analyzed with considerable objectivity by competent judges. This suggests that a learning task can be defined, its elements analyzed and the relations among the elements made explicit. The elements which required little more than knowledge types of learning would be easier for students to learn those requiring comprehension and that the most difficult types of learning would be those involving application and analysis. The different learning tasks do not require each other and they could be learned in many different orders-and could even be learned in random order. What such an order suggests is that there are no necessary relations among the learning tasks and that in terms of cognitive, psychomotor or affective tasks, the learning of one task is not required for the learning of the other tasks in the series.
Explanation for variation in level or rate of achievement on a learning task emphasizes the history of the learner. If all students have the necessary prerequisites for a particular learning task, they would be able to learn it with less variation in level or rate of learning than if the students vary greatly in their attainment of the prerequisites. The prerequisites or cognitive entry behaviors constitute a necessary link between the learners and the accomplishment of the learning task. In other words, there is a repeated cycle of cognitive entry behaviors, learning tasks and achievement which have a long-term determinism over much of the students' school learning-unless the cycle is broken by intervention which alters the cognitive entry behaviors at strategic points in the learning.The task of providing the specific cognitive entry behaviors is much easier to do than that of providing the generalized entry behaviors. In the micro-studies it is evident that specific cognitive entry behaviors are highly alterable, especially in the initial learning tasks in a series.