Ebook: The Acquisition and Retention of Knowledge: A Cognitive View

In 1963 an initial attempt was made in my The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning to present a cognitive theory of meaningful as opposed to rote verbal learning. It was based on the proposition that the acquisition and retention of knowl­ edge (particularly of verbal knowledge as, for example, in school, or subject-matter learning) is the product of an active, integrative, interactional process between instructional material (subject matter) and relevant ideas in the leamer's cognitive structure to which the new ideas are relatable in particular ways. This book is a full-scale revision of my 1963 monograph, The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning, in the sense that it addresses the major aforementioned and hitherto unmet goals by providing for an expansion, clarification, differentiation, and sharper focusing of the principal psychological variables and processes involved in meaningful learning and retention, i.e., for their interrelationships and interactions leading to the generation of new meanings in the individual learner. The preparation of this new monograph was largely necessitated by the virtual collapse of the neobe­ havioristic theoretical orientation to learning during the previous forty years; and by the meteoric rise in the seventies and beyond of constructivist approaches to learning theory.

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This is a college-level textbook that provides a comprehensive and credible theory of how humans can learn and retain substantial and growing bodies of potentially meaningful, organized subject-matter knowledge on an extended, long-term basis. It identifies explicitly the cognitive conditions under which such learning and retention occurs, and indicates how they are influenced by relevant cognitive structure, frequency, mental `set' and motivational variables, and, most importantly, by the probable underlying functional cognitive processes involved.

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This is a college-level textbook that provides a comprehensive and credible theory of how humans can learn and retain substantial and growing bodies of potentially meaningful, organized subject-matter knowledge on an extended, long-term basis. It identifies explicitly the cognitive conditions under which such learning and retention occurs, and indicates how they are influenced by relevant cognitive structure, frequency, mental `set' and motivational variables, and, most importantly, by the probable underlying functional cognitive processes involved.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Preview of Assimilation Theory of Meaningful Learning and Retention....Pages 1-18
Introduction: Scope and Objectives....Pages 19-37
Preview of Basic Concepts of Meaningful Reception Learning and Retention....Pages 38-66
The Nature of Meaning and Meaningful Learning....Pages 67-100
Assimilation Theory in Meaningful Learning and Retention Processes....Pages 101-145
The Effects of Cognitive Structure Variables on the Acquisition, Retention, and Transferability of Knowledge....Pages 146-180
Practice and Motivational Factors in Meaningful Learning and Retention....Pages 181-212

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This is a college-level textbook that provides a comprehensive and credible theory of how humans can learn and retain substantial and growing bodies of potentially meaningful, organized subject-matter knowledge on an extended, long-term basis. It identifies explicitly the cognitive conditions under which such learning and retention occurs, and indicates how they are influenced by relevant cognitive structure, frequency, mental `set' and motivational variables, and, most importantly, by the probable underlying functional cognitive processes involved.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Preview of Assimilation Theory of Meaningful Learning and Retention....Pages 1-18
Introduction: Scope and Objectives....Pages 19-37
Preview of Basic Concepts of Meaningful Reception Learning and Retention....Pages 38-66
The Nature of Meaning and Meaningful Learning....Pages 67-100
Assimilation Theory in Meaningful Learning and Retention Processes....Pages 101-145
The Effects of Cognitive Structure Variables on the Acquisition, Retention, and Transferability of Knowledge....Pages 146-180
Practice and Motivational Factors in Meaningful Learning and Retention....Pages 181-212
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