The pioneer of cognitive learning theory is Gestalt School. Almost at the same time that behaviorism learning theory came into being, Gestalt School headed by Wertheimer appeared in Germany. This school thinks that learning is an epiphany. When individuals face problems, there will be cognitive imbalance, which will prompt individuals to try to solve problems in order to achieve a new balance. The solution of the problem is realized only after the overall grasp of the problem situation and the epiphany of its internal essence. In 1960s, the dominant position of behavioral psychology was replaced by cognitive psychology, and the theory of cognitive learning developed rapidly. Among them, Piaget's constructivism learning theory, Bruner's cognitive structure learning theory, Ausubel's cognitive assimilation learning theory and information processing learning theory have great influence.

On the relationship between environment and individual, cognitive learning theory holds that it is the individual who acts on the environment rather than the environment that leads to human behavior. Whether various stimuli in the environment are noticed or processed depends on people's internal psychological structure, which is a choice made by people according to their own internal psychological structure. Individuals give meaning to experience through the interaction with the environment, and organize and reorganize the experience, thus correcting or constructing their own cognitive structure. Therefore, cognitive learning theory should study the internal psychological process of individuals when dealing with environmental stimuli. For example, Piaget believes that children's wisdom and moral structure is not the result of direct internalization of environment, but the connection between environment and individual schema, which is constructed through internal coordination and creation. This is a process in which individuals interact with the environment by using their existing schema (that is, cognitive structure) and achieve dynamic balance with the environment through assimilation and adaptation. Bruner believes that students are not passive recipients of knowledge, but active information processors. On the basis of in-depth study of perception and thinking, cognition and development, he put forward the theory of discovery learning, which holds that teachers should guide students to solve problems through active exploration through guiding discovery, thus forming their own wisdom or cognitive growth; Ausubel believes that the most important factor affecting learning is students' existing cognitive structure, and he emphasizes that students' learning should be meaningful receptive learning, which is carried out through the interaction between new knowledge and related concepts in students' cognitive structure, and the result is the assimilation of old and new knowledge.

For classroom teaching, cognitive learning theory emphasizes that teachers should set up appropriate problem situations according to students' existing psychological structure, which will cause students' cognitive imbalance, stimulate students' cognitive needs, urge students to take active assimilation and adaptation activities, master general principles in the process of solving problems, incorporate new knowledge into their own cognitive structure, and make cognitive structure develop. At present, cognitive learning theory emphasizes on stimulating students to construct and develop existing knowledge in their own way. For example, the famous American educational psychologist Gates once gave the following advice to teachers: If someone asks, "Do you teach mathematics?" The most appropriate answer is: "I don't teach math, I teach students to learn math." In a word, the learning view of cognitive school has a far-reaching influence on modern education!