GESTALT LEARNING THEORY

The initial focus on the cognitive aspects of learning is attributed to the work of the gestalt psychologists during the early 1900s. Gestalt, a German word meaning "patterns" or "configurations", is applied to how individuals perceive or organize experiences (Billings & Halstead, 2005). The Gestalt theory emerged as a criticism to behaviorism, emphasizing the cognitive processes that take place in learning and the formation of "wholes". Many new approaches to learning have emerged from Gestalt concepts including constructivist viewpoints (Cooper, 2009; Cust, 1995).