University at Buffalo 3 credits Learning and Instruction
This doctoral seminar is a survey of contemporary learning theories that are broadly relevant to education. How do people think? How do people learn? and What are the good ways to facilitate their learning? These are the questions that learning theories grapple with and answers to these questions inform and guide our instruction and research. Learning theories can be difficult, confusing, contradictory, or appear to be far removed from our daily work. But we all subscribe to certain learning theory(ies) explicitly or implicitly. The goals of this course are to help develop or deepen your knowledge of learning theories and research, and construct a personal “creative synthesis” integrating this broad base of knowledge. To help develop your knowledge in this area, the class will read and discuss seminal works of well-established (e.g., Behaviorism, Constructivism, Sociocultural theories, etc.) as well as emerging learning theories (e.g., Kahneman’s Two-System theory, Constructionism, Design-Based Research, Embodied and Multimodal Learning etc.). As a group, we will explore how these perspectives allow us to see and understand specific learning/education phenomena (and obscures others). At the same time, you will have the opportunity to explore theories of personal interest–including the perspectives focused on in the course and perhaps others. The class is intended to support theory-focused dimensions of research activities (during planning, data collection, analysis & reporting)–so you are strongly encouraged to focus the activities of the course on their personal research goals. In this class, participants will: (a) collectively explore a variety of leading theoretical perspectives used in the learning sciences field, (b) develop expertise in a theoretical perspective (or two) of personal interest, and (c) leverage that expertise to develop a theory-related product (e.g., a conceptual framework for a study, an analytical/coding scheme for an empirical study).
Our subject experts help with essays, research papers, case studies, discussion posts, and capstone projects for these programs — written from scratch to your course requirements.
Program and course information is reproduced from each university's published academic catalog for informational purposes and may change. Always confirm current requirements with your university. We are an independent academic support service and are not affiliated with or endorsed by the universities listed.
Expert guides on essay writing, citation styles, study skills, and academic success.
View All Articles
Learn how to write a good research question for a paper. Narrow your topic, identify a research problem, and create a focused question with practical examples.
Learn how to choose a research topic you can actually research. Discover how to narrow broad ideas, find reliable sources, and develop a focused research question.
Learn how to cite sources in a research paper using APA, MLA, and Chicago styles, with in-text citation examples and reference-list tips.