The theory of meaningful learning was proposed by David Ausubel.
Meaningful learning is a theory that was developed by David Ausubel ( 1918 – 2008 ), an American psychologist who made important contributions to constructivism . According to Ausubel , significant learning arises from the establishment of a relationship between the new knowledge acquired and that which was already had, producing a reconstruction of both in the process.
This means that, when a person develops a significant learning process, they modify the knowledge they possessed through the acquisition of new information while, simultaneously, this new acquired information also produces changes in previous knowledge.
Characteristics of meaningful learning
The key to meaningful learning lies in creating links between new concepts and the previous cognitive structure. For this to be possible, prior knowledge must be solid since it will be the basis of cognitive development . If the oldest data is understood by the subject and he or she can resort to it for reinterpretation , meaningful learning can be carried out.
In addition to everything stated so far, it is necessary to know other information of interest about meaningful learning:
- Concepts , representations and propositions play an essential role in it.
- No less relevant are other keys such as progressive differentiation and transfer .
Meaningful learning involves establishing links between new concepts and the preceding cognitive structure.
The role of the teacher
For meaningful learning to be possible, the teacher must play a key role.
You have to participate very actively, promoting collaborative and critical reflection , integrative didactic knowledge, problem-solving strategies and contemplation of content analysis.
In order to achieve real and effective meaningful learning, it is considered that the teacher must commit to:
- Proceed to make the explanations using examples.
- Propose and develop activities that aim to awaken the interest of your students.
- Propose actions through which students actively participate and give them the opportunity to argue, debate, exchange positions and ideas...
- Use summaries and questions interspersed with graphics and illustrations. However, we must not forget other very useful tools such as maps, diagrams, signs or conceptual networks.
The importance of meaningful learning
It can be stated that meaningful learning requires that the person be able to apprehend the information, in the sense of "appropriating" it. Memorizing new content to repeat it is not useful for meaningful learning, because the subject only incorporates the information without processing or interpreting it. In this way, it cannot establish relationships between the new information and the data that were part of its structure.
It must be taken into account, however, that learning by repetition or memorization can be the starting point for the future development of meaningful learning: one modality does not necessarily cancel out the other.