Behaviorism only studies externally observable behaviors, trying to explain how behavior changes are affected by the environment. Behaviorism believes in the omnipotence of education and environmental determinism. It is believed that all human behaviors are formed under the influence of the acquired environment. Watson, a famous behaviorist advocate, once said such a famous saying; Give me a dozen healthy babies and a special world that I can use to cultivate them, and I can guarantee that I will immediately choose any one and train him into any selected type of person, such as a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a big businessman, or even a beggar or a thief, regardless of his talent, inclination, skills, parents' occupation and race. In behaviorism, the essence of behavior change is the formation of stimulus-response connection, such as the connection between stimulus "4*6" and response "24"; Events (that is, consequences) after the action are regarded as reinforcement, for example, when the teacher asks the students "4 * 6 =?" The student answered 24, and the teacher said, "Good, you got it right." This is reinforcement. Reinforcement is a key concept in behaviorism learning theory, and any event that can enhance the response probability is called reinforcement. For behaviorists, the control of reinforcement means the control of behavior, and strengthening the target behavior is the key to learning. Another famous representative in the later period of behaviorism is American psychologist Skinner. He clearly pointed out that any collective's current behavior will change its future behavior. For example, if a student raises his hand in class and is praised by the teacher in public, he will raise his hand more and more actively in the future. This principle is not only applicable to animal training, but also to the shaping and correction of various human behaviors, including social behaviors. Because behaviorism can solve some practical problems, it still plays an important role in behavior correction, psychotherapy and teaching design until now.

The teaching process of behaviorism theory is as follows: first, choose to end the behavior, that is, the teaching goal, the more specific the better; Secondly, understand the starting point behavior of students, that is, what they can do at present and what they already know; Thirdly, pace division is to divide knowledge into several small steps, the size of which varies with students' ability; Fourth, put forward the tasks of small steps to students, and feedback and strengthen the students' responses to each small step until students reach their teaching goals. This teaching mode is called program teaching.

Cognitive learning theory

Cognitive learning theory pays special attention to what happens in learners' minds during learning. They regard learning as the process of information processing by the brain, and think that learning consists of information receiving, short-term storage, coding, long-term storage and extraction. Cognitive theorists are concerned with the cognitive structure or system of knowledge and the process of establishing and changing these structures. According to cognitive theory, teaching is not the "transmission" of knowledge, but the active "acquisition" of students. Cognitive theorists believe that students are active information processors-they take the initiative to make choices, pay attention and other responses; Actively organize known information to realize information learning; Actively seek relevant information to solve problems. Teachers should create good conditions for students, stimulate students' learning motivation and provide reasonable learning strategies, thus promoting students' learning.