Innovate: A Learning Theory for 21st-Century Students
The author calls this a new learning theory combining behaviorism & cognitivism. I see a new instructional design model that combines elements from a number of different sources, but I'm not sure I see a new learning theory. The model seems very complex; how long would you have to work with this before you internalized all the separate parts of the model?
Student results were better using this model. However, the control group was tested before doing a roleplaying game and the experimental groups did the game prior to testing. This could just show that roleplaying helps students understand characters in the Aeneid. Free registration required.
With its inclusion of <a href="javascript:open_win('extra.php?id=3158',650,750,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,5,'extra');">game elements</a>, which foster attention, memory, and motivation, SCCS provides a bridge between behaviorist and cognitivist learning theories.
SCCS learning theory focuses on the formation of <a href="javascript:open_win('extra.php?id=3011',650,775,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,5,'extra');">schemata</a> in the process of learning, particularly <a href="javascript:open_win('extra.php?id=3206',600,625,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,5,'extra');">social-connectedness</a> and <a href="javascript:open_win('extra.php?id=3207',600,375,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,5,'extra');">cognitive-connectedness</a> schemata.
Students engage their social-connectedness schema in a set of behaviors that I describe as “link, lurk, and lunge”: Students <em>link</em> up with others who have the knowledge they need; they <em>lurk</em>, watching others who know how do to what they want to do; and they<em> lunge</em>, jumping in to try new things often without seeking guidance beforehand (Brown 2000).
The cognitive-connectedness schema structures a student's ability and desire to know how what they are learning connects to a larger picture.