Cognitivist

Cognitive Theory is an offshoot of traditional psychological concepts of thinking, deciding, remembering.

According to cognitive theory, activities like thinking and remembering seem like a behavior, thus providing an avenue to use behavior analysis to measure their effect on learning.

Cognitivists objected to behaviorists because they felt that behaviorists thought learning was simply a reactionary phenomenon and ignored the idea that thinking plays a role.

Paivio, Gagne, Gardner, and Bloom are just a few of the cognitivists who have contributed a great deal to the understanding of cognitive theory.

Allan Paivio (1925) proposed that presenting information in both visual and verbal form enhances recall and recognition.

Bloom believed and demonstrated through his research that all children can learn. Bloom's Taxonomy has been linked to mastery learning. Mastery Learning is defined as a model for learning in which students continue to gain information and knowledge, working through modules or teacher instruction only after they have mastered the content of the previous modules. All students can learn given the correct conditions for learning and sufficient time. The critical ingredient is changing instructional methods so students can master the content.