The idea “learning is changing your mind about something” is what I partly agree with. I think learning can be changing one’s mind, or adding something to one’s prior knowledge and making connections with old knowledge to new knowledge. In the example of learning to ride the backwards bike, the guy is both changing his mind about the way the turning mechanism works which is something completely different from normal bikes, and adding new knowledge to riding a bike. The preexisting knowledge include keeping balance on a bike and the control of speed and direction. So I think learning is not only about changing one’s mind but also adding something to one’s mind which include recalling the preexisting knowledge in one’s mind.

I think this example also represents the two learning theories: behaviorism and cognitivism. Behaviorism believes that learners learn through reinforcement and feedback which could be observed through the guy practicing riding the backwards bike day by day and improve through time. Cognitivism states that learners use appropriate strategies to make connections to prior understandings which is also shown through the guy’s learning to ride backwards bike when he tried to connect the turning mechanism to what he had already known about normal bikes.

I found the theory constructivism difficult to understand because it says that learners make their own interpretations based on their own experience and interactions, which to me sounds like each person’s learning results cannot be shaped or influenced by teaching or guiding. I tried to understand it by putting it into real life examples. When I learned skiing, I did not have a coach. I only observed other people doing it and tried it out, like a toddler learning to walk. Through lots of trials I learned how to ski down a snow slope and stop whenever I want. By applying this learning experience I had, I understood the theory of constructivism better and had a general idea on the three learning theories.