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Top1. Introduction
The behavior theory of learning has seen the teacher as the center of the learning process, and student as a passive receiver for knowledge. It has valued the need for an external stimulus to have a reaction. The goal was to transfer knowledge from the teacher to the student. The role of the student was to memorize; while the role of the teacher was to cover content (Peters, 2000; Torre, Daley, Sebastian, & Elnicki, 2006).
This theory was followed by the cognitive theory, which gave more attention to the higher cognitive levels of Blooms Taxonomy. The cognitive theory recognized the student as an active component in the learning process, and the role of the teacher has been changed to be a facilitator. The main role of the teacher is to teach the student how to learn rather than being a pure information provider. In contrast to behaviorism, the locus of learning in the cognitivist model is on the individual learner rather than on the external environment. This theory highlighted the need for knowledge to be applied, and processed in order to facilitate its storage, and retrieval from the long-term memory (Torre, Daley, Sebastian, & Elnicki, 2006; Patel, Yoskowitz, Arocha, & Shortliffe, 2009).
The constructive theory has emerged as a modification for the cognitive theory. It highlighted the need for experience to modify and add to previous understanding therefore the learners have the chance to reflect on their assumptions. The teacher role in this theory is a facilitator, who provides opportunities to expose inconsistencies between learners’ current understandings and new experiences therefore providing the opportunity to develop new schemes. Therefore, learning is an active process that requires time for reflection on new experiences (Torre, Daley, Sebastian, & Elnicki, 2006; Kaufman, 2003).