COURSE OBJECITVES:

By the end of this course the student should be able to;

Define growth, development and maturation.
Identify and differentiate between the various stages of
human development.
Describe the developmental characteristics of the child
during the various stages as well as their implications in
the classroom.
Identify threats to foetal development.
Define learning
 Cont. of objectives;

 Discuss some learning theories and their implications to

effective teaching.
Explain the concept ‘Motivation’ and relate it to classroom
teaching
Discuss the emotional and social development of the child.
 Definitional Issues

 PSYCHOLOGY: it is from two Greek wordspsyche (mind, soul) andlogos

(study of something, word). It became broadly defined as the systematic
and scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.
• Psychology is the scientific study of the mind (cognitive processes) and
its functions, especially those affecting behaviour in a given context.
• It embraces all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience as well
as thought.
 scientific because it follows a sequential, controlled process of acquiring
knowledge (problem identification, hypothesis, data collection, analysis, conclusion)
 Behaviour refers to observable actions or responses in both humans and
animals. Eg. include eating, speaking, laughing, running, reading, and
sleeping etc
 Definitional issues

Mental processes not directly observable, refers to a wide

range of complex mental processes, such as thinking,
imagining, studying, and dreaming etc
Goals of Psychology
Describe :to describe the different ways that organisms
behave.
Explain : to explain the causes of behaviour.
Predict: to predict how organisms will behave in certain
situations.
Control: to control an organism’s behaviour.
 Educational Psychology
 Deals with the problems, processes and products of
education.
 Studies the behaviour of learners in relation to their needs
and environment.
 The focus of educational psychology therefore is to study
individuals and their learning environments in order to
provide desirable experiences that could modify their
behaviour to enable them adjust to communal life and
contribute to its growth and preservation.
 Scope of educational Psychology
 Teachers: teachers’ role in behaviour modification
 Learners: understanding the individuality and personality of
learners.
 learning process: principles, techniques and strategies for
selecting experiences and activities appropriate/suitable for
learners specific stages
 Learning environment: creating a conducive and appropriate
milieu that would generate relevant stimuli
 Learning resources: provision of suitable learning resources
that would elicit required responses in order to bring about
expected learners outcomes
Basic concepts in Human Development

 Human Development is the scientific study of how and why

human beings change over the course of their life.
change in humans/organisms

visible/observable/physical subtle/unobservable/psychological

quantitative/ measurable qualitative/not measurable

 Basic major processes in HD: Growth, Development and

Maturation
 What is growth?

Growth refers to quantitative, biological changes. That is, increase in size,

volume, weight, height and in general terms structure of various organs
and parts of the body.
Metabolic changes results in increase in size and shape. It is influenced
by cell division and hormone production
Growth is a progressive increase in volume, weight number or other
visible and measureable attributes which takes place through metabolic
process from within.
Characteristics of growth
• Growth is indicative ie. Increase in body, size, weight etc.
• Growth is quantitative progress
• Growth is physical change
• Growth stops at certain stage
• Growth is a physical progress
 What is Development?

 Development is the orderly and sequential changes that occur with the
passage of time as an organism (human) moves from conception to death.
 Development refers to the qualitative changes in humans which includes
those processes that are biologically programmed within the organism.
There is change or transformation due to interaction with the environment.
 Products of traits, competencies, abilities can be observed and evaluated
but not measured. e.g fluency, speed, agility etc
 It is not independent of quantitative growth
Characteristics of development
• Development is qualitative in nature
• Development is a psychological change
• Development is internal in nature
• Development is a continuous orderly and progress
 What is maturation?

 It is the culmination of both physiological and psychological

changes in relevant organs that enable an organism to achieve
readiness or the ability to accomplish/ perform a developmental
task. Eg ability to walk, speak etc
 It also the unfolding of genetically prescribed/ preprogrammed
patterns of behaviour.
 The point at which an organism becomes ready to perform a
task.
 Maturational changes are not independent of environmental
events.
Changes in major domains of development
Berger (2001) proposes 3 major domain:

Socio-
Physical emotional

Cognitiv
e
 Cont…..
 Physical development: changes in physical nature and
appearance due to hormonal, genetic and nutritional
factors.
 Cognitive development: It involves changes in mental
processes such as thought, intelligence, attention, memory
etc
 Social-emotional development: changes in social skills,
emotions and temperament and relationships influenced by
significant others. Social development may be affected by
attachment during infancy and parenting styles.
 Basic Principles of Growth and Development
These are common features/characteristics that are observed
across the life course of human development.
 Growth is continuous: human beings grow all the time inspite of
the different peaks of development at different periods. It is
gradual, progressive, orderly and sequential. There are no clear
cut breaks in development. e.g neuron and cognitive devt
 Growth is asynchronous: there are intra (within) and inter
(between)varying rates of growth and development.
e.g. i. a girl may develop language acquisition faster than
mathematical concepts (intra)
ii. two girls attaining puberty at different ages.
 Cont…..
Growth is Directional: Human beings grow from the head
and downwards to the tail/toe (Cephalocaudal) and from
the heart (centre) to the other parts (Proximodistal).
 Cont…….
Growth is orthogenetic: it is characterised by differentiation and
integration.
general differentiated(specific) integration
Growth is characterized by critical (prime)periods: humans need
certain things at certain periods of their life course. e.g. devt of
emotions and bonding from birth
Growth is asynchronous: patterns of growth are the same for all
children but the rate at which children get to various levels may be
different for children with the same age and different for different
functions. This signals individual rates of growth and development
 Cont……
 Growth follows a normative sequence: growth follows a
predetermined order and sequence from the foetal stage to
adulthood, though there may be exceptions. e.g intellectual,
moral, physical etc though speed may vary
 Growth is influenced by maturational readiness: an organism
will be able to perform a task only when physiologically and
psychologically ready. e.g a child will only walk when it is ready.
 Growth is influenced by environmental factors: heredity provides
the blue print and sets limits to growth but it’s the environment
that constructs it and facilitates achievement. e.g
Socio economic background may influence language acquisition.
 Educational Implications
 Tasks involving physical activities should be assigned
considering stature and strength. provide physical activities
 Caregivers and ECEs should take note of what infants and
toddlers eat and advice parents
 Teachers should create a conducive environment for
learners
 Teachers should provide enough and relevant TLMs to
appeal to most senses
 Learning should be arranged orderly and sequentially to
proceed from the known to the unknown
 Cont…………
 Teachers should be sensitive to learners individual
differences
 Teachers should review what learners already know in
order to ascertain readiness to perform a task
 Teachers should provide experiences relevant for specific
periods of devt as early as possible
 Learners should not be rushed through tasks or devt, they
may become stunted in certain areas.
 The course of human development
 The beginning of human life starts from conception, i.e
fusion of a male sex cell (spermatozoon)and a female sex
cell (ovum).
human life sperm + ovum === zygote
 what happens to human life from fertilization to birth or
delivery may constitute prenatal stage of development:
1. germinal stage (0 -2wks)
2. Embryonic stage and (2- 8wks)
3. fetal stage (8wks-birth)
 Menstrual cycle
 The beginning of life is determined by the menstrual cycle
 Menstrual cycle: describes the occurrences in the body of a
developed female in preparation for the possibility of
pregnancy (23-35days). This is characterized by period and
ovulation.
 Follicular phase OVULATION Luteal phase
1 3/7 13/14
PERIOD
Cycle
 Prenatal stage
refers to the growth and development of the fertilized
egg (zygote) in the womb of the mother before it is born.
This period last between 270 to 280days and is
subdivided into 3 stages.
 Cont…..
 Germinal stage begins with the fusion of the gametes
(the sperm and ovum) and ends after 14 days or 2 weeks.
 After fusion it takes the zygote 3 days to travel from the
fallopian tube to the uterus.
 A week after the zygote had entered the womb it attaches
itself to the uterine wall.
Cont….
 Cont…
 At this stage the zygote is known as the blastocyst.
 Has membranes which later develop into circulatory
system, amniotic sac and placenta (chorion) etc
 The process by which it embeds itself in the uterine wall
after floating for a while is called implantation.
 When it does not happen at the right place and time, it
dies.
 Embryonic stage
 This stage begins 2 weeks after conception. The developing ball
of cell is now called an embryo. The embryonic disc
differentiates into three layers:
 Ectoderm: it is the outer layer which forms the skin, hair, nail,
teeth, sense organ, brain, spinal chord.
 Mesoderm: it is the middle layer which forms the inner layer of
the skin, muscle, bone, blood, circulatory and reproductive
systems.
 Endoderm: forms the inner layers such digestive system,
pancreas and the thymus.
 It is characterized by the growing of the head to the toe
(cephalocaudal) and the growing from the centre to the outer
part of the body(proximodistal).
Cont…..
Cont….
 Cont….
What develops
 Neural tube that forms the spinal chord
 Eyes begins to appear
 Differentiation of cells of the heart
 Appearance of genital systems
 Appearance of arm and leg buds
 Face forms and cartilage begin to change to bones
There is rapid development
 Fetal stage
 Starts from the 9th week
 Differentiation of major organs continue
 Organs grow, function and become active
 4th months is the fastest growing period
 Period for refinement and perfection of organs
 Between 24-27weeks the fetus is viable
 they move and respond to stimuli
Development by weeks
 Mechanisms of sex determination
Assignment

How does genetics determine a babies sex?

 Threat to prenatal development
 genetic threats and environmental threats
Genetic threats
 Genes are the basic units of heredity. They may be
dominant (strong) or recessive (weak). Defective genes
may have characteristics which when inherited may
negatively influence growth and development.
 Genetic threats may be chromosomal abnormalities or
genetic disordorders
 Abnormalities
 chromosomal autosomal abnormalities:
Chromosomal sex-liked disorders
Genetic autosomal abnormalities
Genetic sex-linked disorders
 Chromosomal disorders may occur as an accident in the egg
or sperm. Some happen after conception;
 numerical abnormalities: deletion & duplication
 structural abnormalities: translocation & inversion
 Chromosomal abnormalities
 Each cell in the human body has 46 chromosomes (44
autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes). The 44 determine
physical appearance and body function, whiles the other
2 determine sex.
Females (44autosomes + 2XX)
males (44autosomes +XY)
 Only the egg cells (ovum and spermatozoon) have 23
chromosomes
 Cont….
 Females (22 autosomes + 1X)
ZYGOTE (46)
 Male (22 autosomes + X or Y)
A zygote must have 46 chromosomes, but sometimes
chromosomes either multiplies or reduces resulting in
numerical abnormalities (autosomal or sex linked
disorders). It may occur during cell division and may
therefore not be hereditary.
 Abnormalities
Down’s syndrome/trisomy 21: it is a chromosomal
autosomal disorder. common congenital defect which
happens in 1 out of 1500 women below 30 years. This
reduces to 1 out of 300 women below 18yrs and above
35yrs.
 It results from an extra 21st chromosome causing
mongolism.
 Cont…
Appearance: almond shaped eyes, broad flat face, saddle
shaped nose profile, tongue sticking out, short /stubby
hands and feet.
They may experience mild to severe learning difficulties,
slow speech and motor development etc
 Chromosomal sex-linked disorders Cont…
Turner’s syndrome: genetically inherited abnormality
affecting only females. Affected persons have a single sex
chromosome (X) instead of XX. They are usually very short
with small breasts and have post menopausal problems.
May be treated with growth hormones.
 Cont…
 They have normal intelligence but may have difficulties
with mathematical and spatial concepts.
 Klinefelter’s syndrome: it is a chromosomal abnormality
that affects 1 in 500 to 1000 males. This is causes by an
addition of an extra X (XXY) or extra Y (XYY)
 Abnormal Genes (genetic autosomal)
Metabolic disorders: it is the inability of an individual to
produce necessary enzymes to break down food
substances. That is, the gene responsible for producing
enzymes is recessive and thus not strong enough.
Children with phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot produce
enzymes to breakdown foods with phenylalanine to
tyrosine an amino acid . This causes brain damage.
 Cont…..
Rhesus factor: Just as there are different major blood
groups, such as type A,B, AB and O there also is a
Rh factor . The Rh factor is a protein that can be
present on the surface of red blood cells. Most
people have the Rh factor—they are Rh positive.
Others do not have the Rh factor—they are Rh
negative. During pregnancy, an RH+ fetus may be
endangered when the mother is RH- .
 Cont….
Huntington’s chorea: it is caused by a dominant
gene on chromosome 4 which is responsible for
death of neurons in the brain. This results in jerky
and shaky uncontrollable motions(chorea) .
Abnormal body postures, and changes in
behaviour, emotion, judgment, and cognition.
People with HD also develop impaired
coordination, slurred speech, and difficulty
feeding and swallowing. HD typically begins
between ages 30 and 50.
 Cont….
Sickle cell: it is an inherited defect in the structure
of the red blood cells which use a protein called
hemoglobin to transfer oxygen to various parts of
the body. People with sickle cell have a mutation in
the gene on chromosome 11 that sends signals for
the production of hemoglobin protein (HP).
HP production may result in different shapes and
sizes of red blood cells.
 Cont…
• Normal ones are round/flexible while defective ones are
concave shaped and can therefore not go through blood
vessels smoothly. Types: AA, AS, SS, SC, SD and SO etc
 Genetic sex-linked disorder
• Colour blindness: it is a recessive sex-linked disorder
which makes it difficult to distinguish colours
because of defects on the retina. The dominant
gene for colour vision is situated on the X
chromosome. So if the gene for CB is on the X of a
male he will be colour blind. A female will not be
CB unless both XX carry defective genes.
 Cont…
 Hemophilia A and B: Its prevalent among males. It’s a
recessive sex-linked disorder carried on the X chromosome.
It a mutation involving genes that code for proteins that are
essential in the blood clotting process. Its leads to an
inability of the blood to clot easily.
 In 70% of cases of hemophilia, there is a known family
history. The gene that causes hemophilia is passed from
mother to child. A mother that carries the gene is called a
carrier. A carrier has a 50% chance of having a son with
hemophilia and a 50% chance of having a daughter who is
also a carrier. In other words, a female carrier has a 25%
chance of having a child with hemophilia
 Environmental Factors
 Drugs and alcohol
 Smoking
 Maternal diseases e.g german measles, syphillis, AIDS,
zika etc
 Maternal malnutrition
 Attempted abortion
 Accidents
 Age of mother
 Cont…
 Maternal emotional conditions
 X-ray effects
Paternal factors
Use of drugs, alcohol, age
Effects: physical, intellectual, health, emotional/
temperament
 Cont….
Assignment

Discuss the educational implications of the

human development stages and the threats to
development.
 Physical Development
Physical development occurs at all levels of
development. It is characterised by increase and
changes in size, weight, height and strength of
various parts of the body.
Infancy and toddlerhood
Early childhood
 middle childhood
adolescent
 Infancy and toddlerhood
 Infancy spans birth to 3 years. It is the shortest of all
developmental periods but characterised by rapid growth
rates which is unmatched.
 During infancy, a great deal of initial learning occurs. This
learning is provided through environmental cues, such as
a parent behaviour.
 At birth, a child's length roughly equals the distance from
an adult's elbow to the fingertips, and by age 2 that child
grows to half its adult height.
 Cont….
 The child walks, jumps and learn how to talk.
 The child learns to imitate its environment.
 The child start to learn about simple and social concepts
 The body growth is accelerated.
These are geared towards:
 Postural control ------- ability to stand upright
 Locomotive control------- ability to move around
 Manual control ------ ability to manipulate objects
Cont….
 Cont….
Cognitive devt in infancy:
Children’s physical devt plays a significant role in their
cognitive devt. The major milestones are:
 Organizational reflexes: involuntary actions of children are
organised into schemes. This helps them to understand the
environment. Sucking, kicking, crying, hitting
 Object permanence: by the end of the first year chn develop
the ability to know that things exist even when they are
removed from their field of vision.
 Cont…
 Active experimentation: chn actively explore to discover
new things.
 Language: they are able to use language by the end of
first year.
 Cont…
• Psychological development: children’s ability to move
influences their interaction and socialisation.
 Attachment bonding: describes the child’s connection
with the mother or caregiver. This provides him with
safety and security.
 Social smiles/ laughing: eye contact and gestures from
caregiver provoke smiles and laughter.
 Crying: children cry to signal varying degrees of pain and
discomfort.
 Cont…
 Social referencing: infants develop the ability to decode
and analyze the facial expressions of a significant other
in order to be able to determine what to do (looking at
others emotions before acting)
 Self awareness: children are able to develop their sense
of self and see themselves different from others. they
experience secondary emotions e.g pride, shame, guilt,
jealousy etc
 CHILDHOOD
Early childhood: Begins from 3 to 6 years.
 : there are qualitative changes in size, height and body
proportions. Children slim down and shoot up.
 Head is still relatively large but other part of the body
develop into proportional sizes resembling adult.
 At 3 boys are slightly taller and heavier than girls and
have more muscles while girls develop more fat.
 Both boys and girls grow 2 to 3inches every year and gain
4 to 6 pounds annually.
 Cont…
 There increased coordination due to devt of the brain and
nervous system.
 There increase in gross and fine motor skills .
 They begin to show preference for handedness
Middle childhood: begins from 6 to 12years
 physical growth is steady and moderate
 Grow about 1 to 3 inch yearly and gain 5 to 8 pounds.
 Girls begin a growth spurt and they remain taller and
heavier than boys till 12 or 13.
 Cont…
 Adolescent: begins from 12 to later teens or early twenties
 Transition from childhood to adulthood
 It is characterised by spurts of physical growth and change
 The maturity of primary and secondary sexual
characteristics
 Spurts may last for 2 years. Girls have their earlier (12yrs)
and boys later (14yrs)
 This followed by puberty (beginning of sexual maturity).
 Language Development
Stages of language development
Pre-verbal-linguistic stage (0-12mnths):
 devt of early communication and cognitive abilities
 Production of non speech sounds; crying, cooing, gestures
babbling
Holophrastic/ single word stage (12-18mnths):
 Production of single meaningful words representing familiar
thing
 Accumulation of words for vocabulary
 Exhibits over extension (generalisation) and under extension
(restriction) of words
 Telegraphic/ multiword(18-26mns):
 combination of words to form sentences representing a
single thought.
Emerging grammar/ acquisition of rules(2-3yrs):
 an increase in the use of words to form sentences
 There are still mistakes in the use rules
 Gradual acquisition of rules as the child grows
 Theories of language development
Behaviourist theories:
 children acquire language by interacting with the
environment and through reinforcement .
 The use of language improves through encouragement and
imitation
The Nativist theories (Chomsky)
 Humans have an innate capacity to learn language
 Humans are equipped with LADs (inbuilt mechanisms) that
facilitates language acquisition
 Cont…..
 Children acquire language effortless; at the same pace;
and across cultures
Interactionist theory
 Both biological and environment influence language
development.
 Interactions, modelling, imitation and props promote
acquisition of language
 Factors influencing language devt
 Maturation: devt of organs and innate capacities
 Language background: early exposure to variety of
languages and language codes
 Socio-economic background
 Bilingualism: the use of first and second languages in
different environments
 School experience
 Sex
 Accidents
 Level of intelligence
 Factors that promote language devt.
 Motivation
 Guidance
 Opportunity for practice
 Reading to children
 Stages of Psychosocial Development
Stage Important Outcome Primary
Basic Conflict Social Agent
Infancy Trust vs. Feeding Children develop a sense of trust when Family
(Birth to Mistrust caregivers provide reliability, care, and caregiver
18months) affection. A lack of these will lead to
mistrust
Early Autonomy Toilet Children need to develop a sense of Family
Childhood (2 vs Shame training personal control over physical skills and a caregiver
– 3yrs) and Doubt sense of independence. Success leads to
feeling of autonomy. Failure results in
shame and doubt
Preschool (3 Initiative vs Exploration Children need to begin asserting control and Family
– 5 yrs) Guilt power over the environment. Success in this caregiver &
stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children Teachers
who try to exert too much power experience
disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt
School age Industry vs School Children need to cope with new social and Teachers and
(6 – 11 yrs) Inferiority academic demands. Success leads to a Peers
Stage Important Outcome Primary
Basic Conflict Social
Agent
Adolescence Identity vs Social Teens need to develop a sense of self and Peers
(12 – 18yrs) Role Relationships personal identity. Success leads to an
Confusion ability to stay true to yourself whiles
failure leads to role confusion and a weak
sense of self
Young Intimacy vs Relationships Young adults need to form intimate loving Close
adulthood (19 Isolation relationships with other people. Success friends &
– 40yrs) leads to strong relationships whiles failure spouse
results in loneliness and isolation
Middle Generativity Work and Adults need to create or nurture things Spouse &
adulthood (40 vs parenthood that will outlast them, often by having Cultural
– 65yrs) Stagnation children or creating positive change that standards
benefits other people. Success leads to
feelings of usefulness and
accomplishment whiles failure results in
shallow involvement in the world
Maturity Ego Integrity Reflection on Older adults need to look back on life and Earlier
(65yrs to vs Despair life feel a sense of fulfilment. Success leads Social
 Concept of learning
• Learning does not have one UNIVERSAL definition
• Learning is any process that in living organisms leads to
permanent capacity change and which is not solely due to
biological maturation of ageing.
• Learning involves ongoing, active processes of inquiry,
engagement and participation in the world around us.
• Learning from the lenses of most educational psychologists, is
the relatively permanent change in behaviour due to practice
and experience.
• Learning focuses on the development/construction of
knowledge, skills and attitudes that result in behaviour change.
70
 THEORIES OF LEARNING
• Theories of learning explain how learning occurs.
• Different learning theories have different implications
• The three basic learning theories are:
– Behaviourism (Pavlov,Skinner and Thorndike)
– Cognitivism (Piaget’s stages of cognitive development)
– Constructivism (Lev Vygotsky)

71
 Behaviourist-classical/ Pavlovian and
operant conditioning
• Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable and measurable
aspects of human behaviour. Rules out mental processes
• The origins of behaviourist learning theories may be traced backed to
the early 1900's with the formulation of "associationistic" principles of
learning.
• Emphasize changes in behaviour that result from stimulus-response
associations.
• Behaviourism is a worldview that assumes a learner is essentially
passive, responding to environmental stimuli.
• The learner starts off as a clean slate ([Link] rasa )
• Learner’s behaviour is shaped through reinforcement and punishment

72
 Watson (1926)
• Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed and my own
specific world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to
take anyone at random and train him to become any type
of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant,
chief, and yes, even a beggar man and thief, regardless of
his talent, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and
race of his ancestors.
• Behaviourist theory of learning can be categorised into
• Classical conditioning – (Ivan Pavlov)
• Operant conditioning – Skinner,
• Instrumental learning – (Edward Lee Thorndike)
• Organism learns to associate one stimulus with another.
• Classical conditioning
• Unconditioned stimulus – an object that automatically
triggers a response in an organism without prior learning
from the organism ( e.g. Food, flash of light, cane)
• Unconditioned response – refers to an unlearned
response – salivating, blinking etc
• Neutral stimulus – stimulus that does not elicit an
unconditioned response
• Conditioned stimulus – an associated (neutral)
stimulus that may evoke a similar response – bell
associated with food
• Conditioned response – learned associative
response
• The pairing of the conditioned stimulus to the
unconditioned stimulus

76
 Process of classical conditioning
• Acquisition – order and timing affects speed of
response. Pairing the stimulus in the right order and time
• Extinction – conditioned response does not occur after
repeated associations without the unconditioned
stimulus
• Spontaneous recovery – impulsive action of an
organism – recovery of a learned response after
sometime
• Generalization – evoking responses from similar
stimulus – adaptive behaviour
• Discrimination – organism differentiates between
secondary and original stimulus

77
 Classroom implications
 learners should experience academic tasks in contexts
that encourage pleasant emotions
 link learning with positive emotions, especially subjects
that provoke anxiety
Teach students to generalize and discriminate
appropriately
 help students cope with classically conditioned anxiety
 classrooms should be conducive
 sequence learning
 learning should be fun
SKINNER & THORNDIKE CONDITIONING
• Skinner’s Operant conditioning – here the organism
learns to engage in certain behaviour because of the
effects of the behaviour. Responses (behaviours) are
strengthened or weakened due to consequences.
• Reinforcement/rewards and punishment determines
the repetition or recurring of a behaviour. Behaviours
are emitted rather than elicited

80
 Procedures in operant conditioning
• Shaping: New form of behaviour is propped up or
promoted by reinforcing successive approximation to the
ultimately desired behaviour.
• Extinction: it is the gradual weakening or disappearance
of a response/ behaviour in the absence of reinforcers.
 Instrumental learning
• Instrumental conditioning – same as operant
conditioning – learned behaviour is instrumental in
achieving certain results
Thorndike – cat pulling a string to reach food after a
series of trials and error – called it random trial–and –
error behaviour
• Thorndike – explained the cat learning to pull strings in
terms of his law of effect – responses are ‘stamped in’ by
rewards and ‘stamped out’ by punishments
• Skinner – proposed that pigeons could be trained to
guide missiles to their targets during World War II
• In their training pigeons could be reinforced or
rewarded with food pellets for pecking at targets
projected on the screen
 In operant conditioning an organism learns to do
something, because of its effect or consequences
 Here the behaviour (organism) manipulates the
environment. In classical conditioning the
environment manipulates the organism
 In classical conditioning, involuntary responses like
salivating are often conditioned

83
• In operant conditioning voluntary responses are usually
acquired
• In operant conditioning, organisms engage in operant
behaviours (operants) resulting in presumably desirable
consequences
• Children may learn to conform their behaviour to social
codes or rules to earn the attention of their parents and
teachers
• Other children may however learn to misbehave, since
misbehaviour also draws attention to the operant from
other people

84
• In random trial-and –error behaviour, responses that
meet with favourable consequences tend to occur
more frequently; and responses that do not meet with
favourable consequences tend to be performed less
frequently – Law of effect (Thorndike)
• Implication –it is important for teachers to reinforce
or reward students’ attempt at contributing to the
teaching learning process as frequently as possible
• This is because the more frequently a learning
situation is repeated and reinforced the better and
more permanent leaning is established – Law of
exercise (law of use)
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• Law of disuse – if a learning experience is less frequent,
the desired responses weakens and ultimately decays
over time – need for constant practice
• Implication –teachers must constantly evaluate their
lessons (questions, discussions, quizzes etc)
• Law of readiness – the organism must be mentally and
physiologically ready to perform the task. – interest,
motivation or physiological need
• Implication –teachers must ensure that the classroom
atmosphere is conducive enough to elicit the desired
responses from students – intimidation, fear mongering,
use of abusive language, pouring frustration on students
not desirable
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• B.F. Skinner –reinforcement, punishment, shaping,
extinction, discrimination and generalization
Reinforcers - increase the probability that an
operant will be repeated. Any stimulus that
increases the probability that responses preceding it
will be repeated serves as a reinforcer
 i.e. Behaviour is strengthened, increasing the
likelihood of its future occurrence
 Behaviourists stress the use of reinforcement in
establishing ass well as maintaining behaviour

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 Skinner distinguished between positive and negative
reinforcement
 Positive reinforcers –increase the probability that an
operant will occur when they are applied. Food or
approval usually serve as positive reinforcers
 Negative reinforcers –increase the probability that an
operant will occur when they are removed. E.g Removing
something that causes anger, frustration etc increase
behaviour occurrence. planning ahead so that one need
not fear that things will go wrong. Fear then acts as a
negative reinforcer, because removal of fear increases the
probability that desirable behaviour will occur.

88
 REINFORCEMENT PUNISHMENT
(Behaviour Increases) (Behaviour Decreases)
POSITIVE Positive Reinforcement Positive Punishment
(Something is added) Something is added to increase Something is added to decrease
desired behaviour undesired behaviour

Ex: Smile and compliment student Ex: ask a student to pick litters
on good performance around for failing to follow the class
rules

NEGATIVE Negative Reinforcement Negative Punishment

(Something is Something is removed to increase Something is removed to decrease
removed) desired behaviour undesired behaviour

Ex: Give a free homework pass for Ex: Make student miss their time in
turning in all assignments break for not following the class
rules
 Using punishment in classroom settings
• Time out: placing a misbehaving individual in an
environment with no reinforcers (dull, boring situation).
Release is depends on appropriate behaviour
• Response cost: withdrawal of previously earned reinforcer.
Effective when combined with reinforcement of appropriate
behaviour
• Reprimands: scolding or admonishing as punishment
should be accompanied by eye contact, firm grip or spoken
quietly in close proximity with offender
 Cont…
• Restitution or over correction: requires people to take
action that corrects misdeeds.
1. Restitutional overcorrection: individual being punished
must make things better than they were before the
misbehaviour
2. Positive-practice overcorrection: individual repeats an
action by doing it correctly and perhaps in an over
exaggerated fashion
 Guidelines for punishment
• Punishment must be punishing and deterrent enough
• Punishment should not be abusive and overly severe
• Punishment should be threatened once before it is
administered
• Behaviour to be punished should be described in clear,
concrete terms
• Punishment should be consistent and non discriminatory
• Whenever possible environment should be modified so that
misbehaviour is less likely to occur
 Cont…
• Desirable appropriate behaviours should be taught and
encouraged
• Punishment should immediately follow inappropriate
behaviour
• Punishment should be varied so it would not outlive its
usefulness
 Educational implications
• Instruction should be provided gradually or bit by bit,
from simple to complex and the subsequent one
should build on the previous one.
• Material to be learned should be arranged
systematically and in sequential steps from simple
to complex.
• Students should be encouraged to progress at their
own pace.
• Teachers should encourage learner’s participation.
• Teachers should reinforce the behaviour in their
students which they wish to be repeated.
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 Cognitive learning
• The progress in child’s
way of thinking, ability to
reason, remember, and
problem solve

• In other words- the way

we perceive the world.
 Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• The cognitivist paradigm essentially argues that the “black box” of the
cognitive domain should be opened and understood.
• The learner is viewed as an information processor (like a computer).
• Cognition – the intellectual process through which information is obtained,
transformed, stored, retrieved and otherwise used.
• Cognitivists – see the mind as the tool used in organising information in order
to perform operation or tasks – change in behaviour (learning)
• Learning emerges from an active and efficient use of cognitive ability or
capacity – results in the organism able to adapt to the environment
• to the cognitivist learning takes place when the individual interacts with the
environment and processes information that informs behaviour
• Cognitivist believe that in the process of learning, the organism (the individual
is not a passive recipient of stimulus from the environment

98
 Piaget’s cognitive development stages
Stages Approximate Major characteristics Level of thinking
age range
Sensory motor Birth - 1.6mn/2yrs • explore using senses Concrete thinking
•Increasing goal directed behaviour
• object permanence
Preoperational 1.6/2yrs – 6/7yrs • egocentrism Magical Thinking
• collective monologues
• parallel play
•Dramatic play
•Centration *animism
Concrete 6/7 yrs – 11/12 yrs • classification * seriation Logical thinking
operational • transitivity * conservation
•Class inclusion
•Decentration

Formal operational 11/12 and older • abstract thinking Abstract thinking

• scientific reasoning
• hypothesis testing
• adolescent egocentrism
 Educational Implications
Educators should
• Speak aloud so that learners can hear clearly what they are saying.
• Use variety of colourful and attractive TLMs
• Do well to gain learners’ attention and interest.
• Motivate learners by creating desirable learning environment.
• Give a piece of information at a time.
• Encourage learners to rehearse information.
• Encourage classroom activity that enhances learning
• Sequence tasks based on learners ability

101
 Constructivism
• Constructivism as a paradigm or worldview posits that learning
is an active, constructive process.
• It is a synthesis of both behaviourist and cognitivist ideals
• The learner is an information constructor.
• People actively construct or create their own subjective
representations of objective reality.
• New information is linked to prior knowledge, thus mental
representations are subjective.
• Learning is the organisation of one’s perceptual field into new
manageable categories that can lead to sudden insights

102
• emphasizes creating knowledge within a
context. Language plays a critical role
Two standpoints
• individualist constructivist: learning is a
personal internal cognitive activity. Meaning is
created by the individual depending on their
previous and current knowledge structure.
• Social constructivist: learning is constructed
through social interaction and discourse.
Knowledge is created through dialogue
 Educational Implications
• The goal of instruction is not teach information but to create
situations or learning environments that enable the students
to interpret information from their own understanding.
• The teacher should act as a facilitator, guiding and
supporting learners in the process of constructing
knowledge.
• The acquisition of knowledge should include active
construction of knowledge.
• Encourage peer teaching and cooperative learning
• Scaffold and prop up learners efforts
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 summary
BEHAVIOURIST COGNITIVIST CONSTRUCTIVIST
Knowledge is: Passive, largely Abstract symbolic A constructed entity
automatic representations in made by each
responses to the mind of individual through
external factors in individuals the learning process
the environment
Learning is: A relative A change in a Discovery and
permanent change learner’s construction of
in behaviour understanding meaning
Focus of learning is Association, Increased meaning Problem-solving
on: operant behaviour, and improved and construction of
conditioning memorisation meaning
Key learning Reinforcement and Elaboration Intrinsic motivation
concept: programmed
learning
Centred on: Teacher Learner Learner
 Transfer of Learning
• Transfer
An act of moving something or someone to
another place
• Learning
An act of gaining knowledge or skill by
experience, study, being taught, or creative
thought
 The notion was originally introduced astransfer of
practice by Edward Thorndike and Robert S. Woodworth.
 Transfer of learning
• The application of skills, knowledge, and/or attitude that were
learned in one situation to another learning situation.
• The ends of education are not achieved unless transfer of
learning occurs.

Two stand points

• Transfer into instruction: Students can transfer prior
knowledge (PK) by the practices and roles available in their
homes and neighbourhood into learning, to understand the
content of a new lesson
• Transfer out of instruction: Knowledge learnt in school will be
applied outside of school. Knowing when to use an idea
depends on knowing the context in which the idea is useful.
Transfer of learning occurs when the learner:
• recognizes common features among concepts, skills,
or principles
• links the information in memory
• sees the value of utilizing what was learned in one
situation in another
 Is transfer of learning important?
• If we did not transfer some of our
prior knowledge, then each new
learning situation would start from
scratch.
• Assumption of education: what is
taught in a course will be used in YES!
relevant situations in other courses,
in the workplace and out of school
• All new learning involves transfer
based on previous learning
 Types of Transfer of Learning
• Two main types: POSITIVE TRANSFER & NEGATIVE TRANSFER
Positive Transfer
Transfer is said to be positive when learning in one context
improves learning or performance in another context. Eg. A
student knowledge in mathematics should enable him to perform
well in physics class for the more reason that they have certain
things in common.

Negative Transfer
Negative transfer occurs when previous learning or experience
inhibits or interferes with learning or performance in a new context.
Eg. The flexible use of the wrist needed for badminton may
interfere with the firm wrist needed for tennis
 Example

Learning to drive a car helps a person to later

drive a truck
 Example

Learning mathematics prepares students to

study physics
 Negative Transfer (cont.)
Example:

A student previously learned that when the subject is

singular, you will put an ‘s’ at the end of the verb and
when it is plural, you do not put an ‘s’ at the end of the
verb. However, the subjects ‘I’ and ‘You’ do not follow the
rule. If the student have not learned the exception
properly, he will be adding an ‘s’ at the end of the verb.
Conditions and Principles of Transfer

Similarity between two learning situations

Degree of meaningfulness/relevance of learning

Length of instructional time

Variety of learning experiences

Context for learner’s experiences

Focus on principles rather than tasks

Emphasis on metacognition
Similarity between two learning situations

Principle of Transfer Implication

The more similar the Involve students in
two situations are, learning situations
the greater the and tasks that are
chances that similar as possible
learning from one to the situations
situation will be where they would
transferred to the apply the tasks.
other situation.
 Degree of meaningfulness/
relevance of learning
Principle of Transfer Implication
Meaningful learning Remember to
leads to greater provide
transfer than rote opportunities for
learning learners to link new
material to what they
learned in the past.
 Length of instructional time

Principle of Transfer Implication

The longer the time To ensure transfer,
spent in instruction, teach a few topics in
the greater the depth rather than
probability of many topics tackled
transfer in a shallow manner
 Variety of learning experiences

Principle of Transfer Implication

Exposure to many Illustrate new
and varied examples concepts and
and opportunities principles with a
for practice to variety of examples.
encourage transfer Plan activities to
practice their newly
learned skills.
Context for learner’s experiences

Principle of Transfer Implication

Transfer of learning Relate topic in one
is most likely to subject to topics in
happen when other subjects or
learners discover disciplines. Relate it
that what they also to real life
learned is applicable situations.
to various contexts.
 Focus on principles rather than
tasks
Principle of Transfer Implication
Principles transfer is Zero in on principles
easier than facts related to each topic
together with
strategies based on
those principles
 Emphasis on metacognition

Principle of Transfer Implication

Student reflection Encourage students
improves transfer of to take responsibility
learning for their own
learning, and to
reflect on what they
learned
 Characteristics of Learning as applied to
Transfer
• The necessity of initial learning (mere exposure or
memorization is not learning; learning must be understood)
• The importance of abstract and contextual knowledge
(thinking outside the box, must connect across context)
• The conception of learning as an active and dynamic
process (not a static product; instead of one shot test that
follows learning tasks, students should engage in other
assessments that extend)
• The notion that all learning is transferred (new learning
builds on previous learning – RPK)
END of SESSION …