David Ausubel facts for kids

David Paul Ausubel (born October 25, 1918 – died July 9, 2008) was an American psychologist. He made big contributions to how we learn, especially in educational psychology. His most famous idea was about "advance organizers", which he worked on since 1960.

Biography

Early Life and Education

David Ausubel was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 25, 1918. He grew up there. His uncle, Nathan Ausubel, was a Jewish historian. David and his wife, Pearl, had two children.

He went to the University of Pennsylvania and finished with honors in 1939. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. Later, he studied medicine at Middlesex University, graduating in 1943. He then worked as an intern at a hospital in New York.

After serving in the US Public Health Service, Ausubel went to Columbia University. He earned his master's (M.A.) and doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees in developmental psychology in 1950. After that, he taught at several schools of education.

Career as a Psychiatrist and Author

In 1973, Ausubel left his teaching job to work as a psychiatrist. He wrote many books and articles for psychology journals during this time. In 1976, he received the Thorndike Award. This award recognized his important contributions to education through psychology.

In 1994, when he was 75, Ausubel stopped working professionally. He spent his full time writing books. He published four books:

• Ego development and Psychopathology (1996)
• The Acquisition and Retention of Knowledge (2000)
• Theory and Problems of Adolescent Development (2002)
• Death and the Human Condition (2002)
  • In Death and the Human Condition, he wrote about the psychology of death. He shared his personal thoughts on the nature and meaning of life and death.

Death

David Paul Ausubel passed away on July 9, 2008.

Influences on Learning

Ausubel was influenced by the ideas of Jean Piaget, another famous psychologist. Piaget talked about how people build their understanding of the world. Ausubel also believed that people learn mostly by being taught directly, rather than just discovering things on their own. This means he thought understanding ideas comes from deductive reasoning, where you start with a general idea and then look at specific examples.

Ausubel strongly believed in meaningful learning. This is different from rote memorization, which is just repeating things without understanding them. He said that the most important thing for learning is what a student already knows. He believed that teachers should find out what students know and then teach them based on that. This idea led to his theory of advance organizers.

Advance Organizers

An advance organizer is information given to students before they learn new material. It helps them get ready and organize the new information in their minds. It points out what's important, shows how ideas are connected, and reminds students of what they already know.

Advance organizers make it easier to learn new, complex, or difficult material. But two things need to happen for them to work well:

• The student must understand the information in the organizer. This makes the organizer more helpful.
• The organizer must show how the main ideas and terms in the new material are related.

Types of Organizers

Ausubel described two main types of advance organizers: comparative and expository.

1. Comparative Organizers Comparative organizers help students connect new ideas with what they already know. They act like reminders, bringing relevant information to mind. They help students see how new ideas are similar to existing ones, but also how they are different.

For example, imagine a history lesson about revolutions. A comparative organizer might compare military uprisings with the big social changes of the Industrial Revolution. This helps students see both the similarities and differences between different types of "revolutions."

2. Expository Organizers Expository organizers give students new information they will need to understand upcoming material. These are often used when the new topic is completely new to the learner. They connect what the student already knows with the new, unfamiliar material. This makes the new material easier to understand.

For instance, if a math teacher is introducing the concept of a right angle, they might ask students to point out right angles they see in the classroom. This connects the new idea of a 90-degree angle to familiar objects like corners of desks or doors.

Common Questions and Answers

Some people have questioned what advance organizers are and how to create them. Ausubel explained that there isn't one single way to make an advance organizer. How you create one depends on the learning material, the student's age, and how much they already know about the topic.

Critics sometimes confuse advance organizers with simple overviews. However, Ausubel said that advance organizers are different because they are specifically designed to connect with what the student already has in their mind.

Another question was whether advance organizers are better for students who learn quickly or those who need more help. Ausubel said that advance organizers are meant to help everyone learn meaningfully. They can be adjusted for any student to help them connect what they know with what they are about to learn.

See also

In Spanish: David Ausubel para niños