Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 131

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015
unlearning process takes place in two ways: 1) through a process of removal of
reinforcements, and 2) through the apposition of "reciprocal behaviours" or the introduction
of a stimulus that strikes a response different from the usual response in a given situation.
The behaviorist literature suggests several ways of promoting unlearning in the
service of new and better learning. Gagne and Briggs (1975), proposed an eight-point lesson
plan--a fusion of the behaviorist and cognitivist traditions, where instructors engage
students’ prior knowledge early on before introducing new material.
Dawson et. al. (1997) summarized the concept of meditational learning. This
theory provides a distinctive pedagogy that addresses the major issues of unlearning and
relearning when individuals face change in their prior habits, skills, or concepts. Educators
are able to control and redirect proactive inhibition and thus control the unlearning process
as follows: a) they present a learning model that explains the need for meditational learning
strategies to students; b) the process uses students’ knowledge, beliefs, and ideas of a
concept; and c) differentiation of words are used in a technical manner from their common
sense usage and then explicit instruction of the concept with opportunities for students to
rehearse important aspects of it is provided. Also, a comparison of old and new concepts
from multiple perspectives and the generalization of the new concept to at least six novel
applications or problem solving situations are requested.
What is Unlearning?
To illustrate the notion of unlearning, it is necessary to rely on a shared
understanding of learning. The most common approach related to learning in terms of
content, respectively facts and concepts we know and/or knowledge in a specific domain
(e.g. finance, psychology, history). However, taking into account various types of
knowledge--not only the declarative knowledge (knowing that) but also procedural
knowledge (knowing how) that refers to ways of acting upon information in distinct
situations. Unless we are in the early stages of learning, such knowledge is often tacit. In
crisis situations newer and less stable learning will inevitably cave into older learning,
however misguided it is. Below is an example of how we cave into older learning and how
much effort is needed to conquer it.
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