MALAWI ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY

MODULE OF PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION

BY

ZIOLIRE NAMONDWE
November 2016.

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Table of Contents
Unit 1. Introduction to psychology of education ............................................................................ 7

1.1 Psychology ............................................................................................................................ 8

1.2 Education ............................................................................................................................... 8

Table 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 9

1.3 The difference between theory and practice ......................................................................... 9

1.4 Psychology of education ....................................................................................................... 9

1.5 Importance of psychology of education to teachers .............................................................. 9

1.6 Importance of research in psychology of education............................................................ 11

1.7 Limitations of scientific observations ................................................................................. 11

Unit 2: Theories of development .................................................................................................. 14

2.1 Human development ........................................................................................................... 15

2.2 Sources of human development .......................................................................................... 15

2.3. Aspects of development by various psychologists............................................................. 16

A. Physical development ....................................................................................................... 16

B. Social development by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) ............................................. 18

C. Personality development (Psychosocial development by Erick Erickson) ....................... 20

B. Piaget’s cognitive development ....................................................................................... 24

C. Lev Semenovich Vygotskys’ cognitive development...................................................... 29

D. Moral development by Jean Piaget’s ................................................................................ 32

E. Moral development by Lawrence Kohlberg ..................................................................... 33

F. Moral development by Carol Gillian................................................................................. 35

Unit 3: Student diversity ............................................................................................................... 38

3.1. Intelligence difference ........................................................................................................ 39

3.2 Learning Styles .................................................................................................................... 45

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 3.3 Gender difference ................................................................................................................ 47

3.4 Socioeconomic differences ............................................................................................ 53

Unit 4: Learning Theories ............................................................................................................. 54

4.1 behavioral learning theory ................................................................................................... 55

A. Contiguity theory............................................................................................................ 56

B. Classical Conditioning Theory by Ivan Pavlov.............................................................. 57

C. Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F Skinner ............................................................... 62

4.2 Social learning theory.......................................................................................................... 66

Unit 5 : motivation theory ............................................................................................................. 76

Unit 6: class management ............................................................................................................. 76

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 COURSE OUTLINE

Course introduction
Education psychology course gives an overview of how educational psychology theories and
knowledge can be effectively applied to teaching and learning in the classroom and in many
educational settings
Course descriptions
This course examines the subject content of psychology and its body of knowledge as an
instrument for understanding the learner and for using professionally sound and proven
techniques for teaching, learning, testing and learning achievement
Course learning outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Identify the elements of good teaching
• Critically discuss the major developmental and learning theories
• Relate theories into practice
• Evaluate current practices to related theories and concepts
Course outline for the study
Unit 1: Introduction to education psychology
I. Psychology
II. Educational psychology
III. The roles of research in educational psychology
Unit 2: Theories of development
I. Aspects and issues of development
II. Development theories: Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive
development, Erikson’s personal and social development, Kohlberg’s, Piaget and
Gillian moral development
Unit 3: Student diversity
I. Intelligence
II. Heredity and environment,
III. Learning styles
IV. Gender

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 V. Socioeconomic status
Unit 4: Learning theories (principles)
I. Behavioral learning theories
• Classical and operant conditioning
II. Social learning theory
• Bandura
III. Cognitive learning theories
• Information processing model
• Metacognitive skills
Unit 5: Motivation theories
I. Aspects and issues of motivation
II. Intrinsic motivation
• Humanistic theory
• Cognitive theory
• Sociocultural theory
• Social cognitive theory
III. Extrinsic motivation
• Behavioral theory
• Social cognitive
Unit 6: Classroom management
I. Approaches to classroom management
II. Techniques of class management
III. Handling problem behavior
Course lessons descriptions:
1. Each Student will be required to review the Lesson manual provided for this Course.
2. Students will do Class Presentations especially at the end of each Unit of Study
3. Quizzes and Small paper Discussions are given periodically as outlined in the Assessment
Section of this Syllabus.
4. Often, smaller activities are assigned in any given week; these activities are designed to help
you further understand the concepts or applications being taught. You are expected to complete
these activities as you progress through the related lesson materials.

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5. Unless otherwise stated in the Syllabus, lesson activities though many times graded do not
affect your final grade. However, your completion of these activities may help you do better in
other course assignments.
Prescribed Textbooks
Snowman, J, McCown, R and Biehler R. 2009. Psychology Applied to Teaching.12th edition.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Woolfolk, A.E. 2013. Educational psychology. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson
Recommended Reading
Atkinson, J.W.1994. An Introduction to Motivation. London: D. Van Nostrand.
Biehler, R.F. and Snowman, Jack.1986. Psychology Applied to Teaching. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin.
Clarizio, H.F. et al.1991. Contemporary Issues in Education Psychology. Boston: Western
Publishing.
Dworetzky, J.P..1981. Introduction to Child Development. Minnesota: Western Publishing.
Eloff, I and Ebersohn, L. 2004. Keys to Educational Psychology. Cape Town: UCT press.
Moute, C.F. 1980. Beneath the Mask. London: Holt Reinehart and Winston.
Mouly, G.J. 1985. Psychology for Teaching. Boston, U.S.A.: Allyn and Bacon.
Park, R.D. and Hetherington, E.M.2004. Child Psychology. London: McGraw-Hill.
Santrock, John W. 2004.Educational Psychology. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill
Slavin, R. E. 2003. Educational psychology: theory and practice. 7th ed. Boston:Allyn and Bacon

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 Introduction to psychology of education
1.0 Introduction
This unit introduces the concepts in psychology of education and also the importance of research
in psychology of education. A professional teacher is supposed to be well equipped with the
science and the art of teaching in order to be effective. Psychology of education provides
knowledge on how a teacher can understand his/her own psychological makeup and such
aspects/factors of a learner in order to formulate effective instructional lessons. The aspects
include:
• Physical, social, emotional and cognitive development
• Cultural, social, emotional and intellectual differences
• Learning and problem-solving processes
• self -esteem
• Motivation
• Testing and measurement,

This unit provides various definitions of psychology, education and psychology of education;
and explores importance of research in psychology of education. You might have heard the term
“psychology” and “education” in your day to day undertakings. What are they?
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you are expected to:
1. Define psychology
2. Define education
3. Define psychology of education
4. Differentiate theory and practice

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 5. Explain the importance of psychology of education
6. Describe the use of research in psychology of education
7. Criticise limitations of research in psychology of education
Key terms: You are reminded to comprehend the meaning of the following terms as you are
reading this unit:
• Psychology
• Education
• Theory
• Practice
• Psychology of education

1.1 Psychology
Several authors define psychology in various ways. Woolfork (2013) define it as a scientific
study of behavior and mental processes. It is a science of human behavior or a body of
knowledge about us. Based on these definitions psychology deals with how our minds operate.
Now that you know what psychology is, it is important to understand education.

1.2 Education
Farrant (1986) defines education as “the process of human learning by which knowledge is
imparted, faculties trained and skills developed. In addition, Castle (1979:2) describes education
as “what happens to us from the time we are born to the time we will die”. On the other hand
Peters (1996) describes education as ‘the internal transmission of what is worthwhile which may
have intrinsic and extrinsic values’. Based on these definitions, education is the knowledge we
acquire that help us to survive in life. Analyse these definitions and come up with yours.

It is important to note that psychology provides the theory while education is the practice.
Theory is “an interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain a body of data and to make
predictions about the results of future predictions” (Stanovich, 1992 cited in Woolfolk, 2009, 18).
Therefore, psychology exposes various studies of how things should be done while education is
the practice of theory.

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Table 1

1.3 The difference between theory and practice

Theory Practice
1. Provides a set of abstract, logically coherent 1. Provides a series of concrete behaviors
explanations
2. Provides reasons and principles 3. It is dynamic

3.It is descriptive 3. It is prescriptive

1.4 Psychology of education

Now that you know the definitions of psychology and education, it is important to link the two so
that you can define psychology of education. In simple form, psychology of education can be
defined as the branch of psychology that specializes in understanding how different factors affect
the classroom behavior of both teachers and students. Snowman, McCown and Biehler (2009)
define it as the study of how students learn in classrooms. In other words, psychology of
education is a scientific discipline that is concerned with understanding and improving how
students acquire a variety of capabilities through formal instruction in classroom settings.

1.5 Importance of psychology of education to teachers

1. It simplifies teaching since teaching is a complex enterprise. Teaching is not a simple and
straightforward enterprise. It requires a wide range of knowledge and skills such that in
US department of Labor, they rank it with Engineers, Architects, Computer Scientist and
Lawyers. Knowledge and skills are crucial for teachers because they have a daily
responsibility for diverse populations of students with varied and sometimes
contradictory needs. Furthermore, the nature of teaching profession is full of decision
making. Therefore, Psychology of Education offers useful ideas to help a teacher prepare
to take challenges and become an effective teacher. It further gives principles of how to
handle problems in a flexible manner. For instance, the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards in UK, 2003, proposed five standards for teachers as guiding
principles in their day-to-day undertakings. These include:
I. Teachers are committed to students and their learning
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 II. Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students
III. Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
IV. Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
V. Teachers are members of a learning communities

2. Provides research that informs teachers. Research in educational psychology offers many
useful ideas for improving classroom instruction. Realistic classroom conditions for
improving instruction includes the following:
I. Using more advanced students to tutor less advanced students
II. Giving positive reinforcements to students whose performance meets or exceeds
the teachers objectives and giving corrective feedback to students whose
performance falls short of the teachers objectives
III. Communicating to students what is expected of them and why
IV. Requiring students to respond to higher order questions
V. Providing students with cues about the nature of upcoming tasks by giving them
introductory information and telling them what constitutes satisfactory
performance
VI. Teaching students how to monitor and improve their own learning efforts and
offering them structured opportunities to practice independent learning activities
VII. Knowing the misconception that students bring to the classroom that will likely
interfere with their learning of a particular subject matter
VIII. Creating learning situations in which students are expected to organize
information in new ways and formulate problems for themselves
IX. Accepting responsibility for student outcomes rather than seeing students as
solely responsible for what they learn and how they behave
X. Showing students how to work in small. Cooperative learning groups.
3. Makes coursework easy and promotes competence. Teachers who have had professional
training are generally effective. They are able to implement knowledge and skills gained
and deliver confidently.

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Exercise one
I. Explain any three importance of studying psychology of education in Malawi?
II. Is theory important to teachers?
III. Discuss whether teaching is an art or a science?

It is important to note that psychology deals with theory while education looks at the practice. In
the next discussion the focus is on importance of research and its limitations.

1.6 Importance of research in psychology of education

1. Information reported by scientists is useful to those planning to teach. Systematic
observations lead to acceptable results than unsystematic. Unsystematic observations note
evidence that fits researcher’s expectations and ignore evidence that does not. For
example, retaining students for a second year in a given grade because of poor
achievement is usually used by teachers, policy makers and school administrators. Do
you think grade retention is good? What can be the effects to the students and the school?
2. The strength of scientific observation: Scientists make efforts to be objective and guard
against being misled by predetermined ideas, wishful thinking or selected evidence

1.7 Limitations of scientific observations

1. Research focuses on few aspects of a problem

2. Complexity of teaching and learning limits uniform outcomes

• Schools and classroom differs so is quality and quantity of personnel, teaching
methods, budget, leadership and community support
• Teachers, parents and learners value the results of complex interactions among
various variables

3. Differences of opinion result from selection and interpretation of Data

4. Accumulated knowledge leads researchers to revise original ideas

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Summary
You have learnt what psychology of education is, its importance and the use of research in
psychology of education. It is important to appreciate the use of theory in psychology for
practice to be effective. The next unit will focus on theories of development and how they can be
applied to teaching. You will therefore learn how individual develop psychosocially, cognitively
and morally.

Suggested answers for Unit 1 exercises

Exercise one
Question one:
➢ It simplifies teaching since teaching is a complex enterprise
➢ Provides research that informs teachers
➢ Makes coursework easy and promotes competence.

Question two:
➢ theory provides a set of abstract, logically coherent explanations while practice provides
a series of concrete behaviors
➢ theory provides reasons and principles while practice is dynamic
➢ theory is descriptive while practice is prescriptive

Question 3:
Teaching as an Art (born)

• Teaching as an art involves beliefs, emotions, values, and flexibility

• The qualities are within teachers
• Research provides a scientific basis for artistic teaching

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 I. Twenty four studies have found that giving teachers more instructional time and
that is giving learners more time to learn leads to higher achievement
II. Benefits of alerting students to important material
Teaching as a science (made)
• Arguments indicate that there is no science of teaching but the art has a scientific
basis. Research provides a scientific basis for teaching
• Research has found dozens of instructional practices that improve students
achievement, for instance, teachers can appreciate the importance of alerting
students to important materials through the use of objectives and pretest

Importance of classroom experience

• Is linked to a particular task and goal
• Is sufficiently detailed, concrete, and specific that other teachers can use the same
techniques with the same or highly similar material
• It combines knowledge of the task knowledge of teaching methods and knowledge
of students characteristics

Exercise two:
Question one:
The benefits include:
➢ Information reported by scientists is useful to those planning to teach.
➢ The strength of scientific observation
The limitations include:

➢ Research focuses on few aspects of a problem

➢ Complexity of teaching and learning limits uniform outcomes
➢ Differences of opinion result from selection and interpretation of Data
➢ Accumulated knowledge leads researchers to revise original ideas

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 Unit 2: Theories of development

2.0 Introduction
Having looked at the definition of psychology of education, its importance, and the use of
research in psychology of education, let us shift our attention to theories of development. You
might ask yourself how an individual and even yourself has developed in terms of
psychosocially, cognitively and morally. This unit discusses physical development, social
development by Urie Bronfenbrenner, Erick Erickson’s’ theory of psychosocial development,
Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive development, Lev Vygotsky theory of cognitive development,
Jean Piagets theory of moral development and Kohlberg and Gillian’s theory of moral
development.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
➢ State the focus of those different theories
➢ Explain the stages of development for each theory
➢ Examine criticisms of the theories
➢ Identify lessons for teachers
Key terms
➢ Development
➢ Psychosocial
➢ Cognitive
➢ Moral

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2.1 Human development
Human development is complex. Woolfolk (2013) defines development as certain changes that
occur in human beings (or animals) between conception and death. Those changes appear in
orderly and remain for a reasonably long period of time. Human development traces the way
each type of behavior changes as child matures. Development theories call for overall sequence,
continuity and interrelatedness of aspects of development (Woolfolk, 2013).

Human development is divided into the following aspects:

➢ Physical development: deals with changes in the body.
➢ Personal development: changes in an individual personality.
➢ Social development: changes in the way an individual relates with others.
➢ Cognitive development: changes in thinking, reasoning, and decision making.
➢ Moral development: changes in judgement of right and wrong

2.2 Sources of human development

Changes that occur in development are a matter of maturation and growth. Maturation is the
changes that occur naturally and spontaneously and that are to a large extent, genetically
programmed (Woolfolk, 2013). Psychologists are still debating on the impact of nature (heredity)
and nurture (environment) on development.

Nature versus nurture

You should ask yourself of which is more important in development, nature or nurture. The
nature of an individual includes the following: heredity, genes, biological processes, maturation
and others while nurture or the environmental context involves education, parenting, culture,
social policies and more. Debates have emerged to see which of these aspects has more impact
on development. What do you think? Despite differences in approaches of development,
researchers have agreed that there are general principles of development and these include:
➢ People develop at different rates
➢ Development is relatively orderly: abilities develop in a logical order
➢ Development takes place gradually: changes do not appear overnight.

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2.3. Aspects of development by various psychologists

A. Physical development
• It is a basic concern for all individuals and families.
• For early years’ children, growing up means getting bigger and stronger, and becoming
more coordinated.
• It can be a frightening, disappointing, exciting and puzzling time.
Stages of physical development
1. Young children:
• Preschool children are very active and their large muscle skills improve
• From age 2-5 muscles grow stronger, brains develop to better integrate
information about movements, their balance improves and their center of gravity
moves lower so they are able to run, jump, climb and hop
• By 2years they are able to walk. Their awkward, wide legged gait becomes
smooth and rhythmic they have perfected walking.
• 3rd year most children learn to run, throw and jump but these activities are well
controlled until age four or five.
• Fine motor skills such as tying shoes or fastening buttons which require the
coordination of small movements also improve greatly during preschool years.
• They also develop preference of their right or left hand. More boys being left
handed.
2. Elementary school years
• Physical development is fairly steady for most children.
• They become taller, leaner and stronger and are better able to master sports and
games.
• Many of the girls are likely to be as large or as larger than boys in their classes.
• Ages 11 and 14 girls are on average taller and heavier than boys of the same age.
• This discrepancy can give girls an advantage in physical activities.

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3. The adolescent years
• Puberty marks the beginning of sexual maturity.
• The earliest signs of puberty in girls are the growth of nipples and budding of
their breasts.
• Same time boys’ testes and scrotum begin to grow larger.
• On average between ages 12 and 13, girls have their first menstrual period
(menarche) and boys have their first ejaculation (spermarche).
• Boys develop facial hair over the next several years reaching their final beard
potential by age of 18 or 19 with exceptions who take longer to develop.
• Less welcome changes in puberty includes: increases in skin oiliness, skin acne
and body odor.
• Girls reach their final height by age 15 or 16 several years ahead of boys who
reaches 19. However both can continue to grow slightly until about 25 years
(Thomas and Thomas, (2008) cited in Woolfolk, 2013).
4. Early and later maturing
• Concern is for academic, social and emotional differences surrounding early and
late maturity on adolescents.
• Early maturation for girls is a disadvantage for girls, and is associated with the
following: emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders
especially in societies that define thinness as attractive (Steinberg, 2005); lower
achievement in school; drug and alcohol abuse; unplanned pregnancies; suicide
and greater risks of breast cancer in later life. Research has found a correlation
between age at Menarche and adult Body Mass Index (BMI-a measure of body
fat) on average (Harris et al., 2008).
• Late maturing girls seem to have fewer problems, but they may worry that
something is wrong with them so adult reassurance and support is important.
• Early maturation in males is associated with popularity however there are
disadvantages which include: boys tend to engage in more delinquent behavior
and there is a greater risk for depression and for drug and alcohol abuse.

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 • Late maturing boys may experience lower self- esteem because they are smaller
and less muscular than the ideal for men. However, some studies show that in
adulthood these males are more creative, tolerant and perceptive.

Challenges in physical development

• Is visible to everyone: height (tall, short), shape (thin, muscular), heavy or how
coordinated one is. In the adolescence stage one feels “on stage” as if everyone is
evaluating you.

How a teacher can deal with physical differences in a classroom

a. Address students in the way that do not call unnecessary attention to their
variations.
b. Help students obtain factual information on differences in physical
development.
c. Accept that concerns about appearance and the opposite sex will occupy
much time and energy for adolescents: allow socialization time.

B. Social development by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)

➢ He argues that social development is influenced by context and bioecological model.

A. Context
• Urie appreciates the importance of context that it is the total situation that
surrounds and interacts with an individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions to
shape development and learning.
Internal and external effects of context
• Internal context includes: hormone levels within the body. They are context for
developing organs including the brain as well as adolescents self-concepts during
puberty.

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 • External context are outside the body. They include families belonging to ethnic
group, language, religious and economic communities, neighborhoods, schools,
members of classes, teams and clubs.
• These contexts influence the development of behaviors, beliefs and knowledge by
providing resources, supports, incentives and punishments, expectations, models
and tools which all these are building blocks for learning and development.
B. Bioecological model
• Bioecological model of development recognizes that the physical and social
contexts in which an individual develops are ecosystems because they are
constantly interacting with and influencing each other.

Bioecological model encompasses the following:

• Microsystem: person’s immediate relationships and activities. Relationship is
reciprocal.
• Mesosystem: set of interactions and relationships among all the elements of the
microsystem. All relationships are reciprocal.
• Exosystem : includes all the social settings that affect the child e.g teachers
relations with the administrators and the school board.
• Macrosystem: the larger society e.g its values, laws, conventions and traditions.

Check Figure 3.1 for Urie Bronfrenner’s Model of Human Development adapted from
Woolfolk (2013, 76)
➢ Parenting styles are also important in social development.
➢ Refer to the handout page 78, and answer the following questions
I. Definition of parenting styles
II. Explain the four parenting styles

Find out why it is important for teachers to understand social development?

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C. Personality development (Psychosocial development by Erick Erickson)

This theory focuses on these three areas:

➢ Psychological growth from infancy to old age

➢ Portrays people as playing an active role in their own psychological development through
their attempts to understand, organize, and integrate their everyday experiences.
➢ Highlights the important role that cultural goals, aspirations, expectations, requirements
and opportunities play in personal growth.

Erickson theory therefore encompasses the life span (infancy to adulthood), highlights the role of
the person, and culture in development.
Basic principles of psychosocial theory of development
a. Personality is developed based on Epigenetic principle. The principle states that in fetal
development, certain organs of the body appear at certain specified times and eventually
combine to form a child, so is the individual personality which forms through interrelated
stages. Personality of an individual forms as ego progresses through interrelated stages.

b. Personality grows out of successful resolution of psychosocial crises. Crisis refers to an

extra ordinary event that threatens well-being. Erickson’s argue that personality occurs
when you feel compelled to adjust to normal guidelines and expectations that society has.
For instance, an adolescent who strongly doubts her own capabilities may have trouble
making commitments required for identity development in adulthood.

Stages of psychosocial development

Erickson believed that personality develops in stages and that whatever parents and teachers do
shapes the behavior of a child. This section will look at the eight stages of psychosocial
development and expectations of parents or teachers.

1. Trust versus mistrust (Birth to one year): The infants ought to learn to trust their world
and hence, consistency, continuity and sameness of experience in satisfying the infant’s
basic needs foster truth. In this case the child's view the world as safe and dependable.

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 Children whose care is inadequate, inconsistent, or negative will approach the world with
fear and suspicion hence mistrust the world.
2. Autonomy versus shame and doubt (2-3 years) preschool: toddlers have to be
encouraged to what they are capable of doing at their own pace and in their own way. If
parents and teachers supervise, they will develop sense of autonomy. Impatience and
shaming of young children for unacceptable behavior leads to development of a feeling
of shame and doubt.
3. Initiative versus guilt (4-5 years) pre-school to kindergarten: children have the ability
to participate in many physical activities and to use language. If they are given freedom
to explore and experiment, and if teachers and parents take time to answer their
questions, they will be encouraged. If they are restricted and made to feel that their
questions and activities are useless they will feel guilt.
4. Industry versus inferiority (6-11) elementary to middle school: The child at this stage
is developing intellectual curiosity and performance. A child’s has to be encouraged to
make and do things, helped to persevere, allowed to finish tasks , praised for trying in
order to develop sense of industry. If the children are treated as bothersome and their
efforts are unsuccessful feelings of inferiority develop.
5. Identity versus role confusion (12-18 years) middle through high school. The
adolescents develop roles and skills that will prepare them take a meaningful place in
adult society. If they succeed in integrating roles in different situations to the point of
experiencing continuity in their perception of self, identity develops. If they have no clear
conception of appropriate types of behavior that other will react to favourably then role
confusion has occurred.
6. Intimacy versus isolation (young adulthood). The young adults need to establish close
and committed intimate relationships and partnerships with other people. This requires
significant sacrifices and compromises. Failure to do so leads to sense of isolation.
7. Generativity versus stagnation (middle age): This stage is primarily concerned with
bearing and nurturing children. Erickson used the term generativity to mean having and
raising children. It also means the productive and creative efforts of parents play to teach
their younger generations. Those unwilling or unable to bear and guide children become
victims of stagnation and self-absorption.

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 8. Integrity versus despair (old Age) : Integrity means acceptance of one’s lifecycle as that
which has to be while despair expresses the feeling that time is too short for the attempt
to start another life and try out alternative roads to integrity.

The eight stages of psychosocial development guide teachers and parents to realize how
to handle individuals at various levels. Mishandling can lead to developing unacceptable
personality in a human being. As a secondary school teacher which of these stages should
you concentrate on? Care should be taken when dealing with students from 6 to 18 years
because those are crucial ages teachers meet in schools.

Criticisms of Erikson's theory

Upon appreciating Erickson’s contributions and his understanding of psychosocial development,

other researchers have criticised his theory for the following reasons:
1. Most conclusions of Erikson's research were based on personal and subjective
interpretations that have only been partially substantiated by controlled investigations of
the type that most psychologists value.
2. Erickson contends that one’s identity is achieved by actively exploring alternatives
regarding one’s career, ideological beliefs and interpersonal relationships and then
making choices. This is not in all likelihood a universal practice. In most cultures
decisions are made by adults and imposed on adolescents.
3. Erickson’s stages reflect the personality development of males more accurately than that
of females. Carol Gillian believes process and timing of identity formulation for each
gender are different. For instance, stage of industry and inferiority stage, girls are
concerned with nature of interpersonal relationships and achievement while males are
concerned with achievement. During adolescence, females work through the crisis of
identity and intimacy simultaneously while men follow the sequence of Erickson
(identity/role confusion then intimacy/isolation).

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Application of Erickson psychosocial theory of development to teaching

Despite criticisms, there are several lessons that teachers can learn and apply in their classrooms.
At every stage of psychosocial development a teacher can know how to handle a child depending
on the level the child is at. Some lessons that teachers can lean includes:
1. Be mindful that certain types of behaviors and relationships may be of special
significance at different age levels.
2. With younger children, allow plenty of opportunities for free play and experimentation to
encourage the development of autonomy, but provide guidance to reduce the possibility
that children will experience doubt. Avoid shaming children for unacceptable behaviour
3. With older preschool children, encourage activities that permit the use of initiative and
provide a sense of accomplishment.
4. During elementary and middle school years, help children experience a sense of industry
by presenting tasks that they can complete successfully.
5. At the secondary school level, keep in mind the significance of each students search for a
sense of identity. The kinds of identity that Erickson stressed are: acceptance of ones’
appearance, knowledge about where one is going, and recognition from those who count.
Teachers should recognize students as individuals, praising them for their
accomplishments and encourage social skills. A teacher can also initiate discussions about
gender roles centering on changes in attitudes regarding masculinity and femininity and
family responsibilities. Teachers may help students make decision about occupational
choices by providing them with information about intellectual capabilities, personality
traits, interests and values. What else can you do as teachers to promote sense of industry
in students?
6. Some students may show a sign of psychosocial moratorium. Psychosocial moratorium
occurs when a person is failing to make a career choice. It is a period marked by delay of
commitment, adventure and exploration, having a positive, or at least neutral, impact on
the individual and society. Teachers should encourage such individuals to focus on short
term goals while they continue to search for long-term goals.
7. Teachers have to be aware that adolescents may exhibit characteristics of different
identity status types.

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Exercise one
1. Why is it important for a teacher to study Erickson’s theory?
2. What lessons have you learnt as a teacher that you can use in your classrooms?

B. Piaget’s cognitive development

This session will dwell much on cognitive development according to Jean Piaget’s. Remember
that cognitive development deals with changes in thinking, reasoning, and decision making.
Piaget’s had interest to address the question “how does knowledge develop”. He believed that
there are influences of cognitive development which includes: maturation (unfolding of the
biological changes that are genetically programmed); activity (physical maturation comes in with
the increasing ability to act on the environment and learn from it); social transmission ((learning
from others).

Piaget’s theory focuses on two issues:

1. Intellectual development from birth to maturity.

Based on intellectual development, Piaget’s believes that human beings inherit two basic
tendencies. These tendencies help them to make sense of the world around them by gathering
and organizing information.
➢ Organization: The tendency to systematize and combine processes into coherent
general systems. This makes thinking processes efficient and powerful and allows
adaptation to the environment
➢ Adaptation: The tendency to adjust to the environment. Intellectual processes
transform experiences into a form that the body can use in dealing with new
situations. Piaget argues that adaptation is accomplished by two sub processes:

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 I. Assimilation: interpreting an experience so that it fits into an existing
scheme
II. Accommodation: changing an existing scheme to incorporate the
experience. Accommodations are made slowly and are over- repeated
experiences.

2. Seeking a balance through the process of equilibrium (a form of self-regulation that all
individuals use to bring coherence and stability to their conception of the world). Piaget’s
has used the term schemes (basic building blocks of thinking) to mean organized patterns
of behavior or thought that forms in children as they interact with their environment,
parents, teachers and age-mates. This can be behavioral for example a child likes eating
apples or cognitive like realizing that there are many different kinds of fruits. According
to Piaget, people are driven to organize schemes in order to achieve the best possible
adaptation to their environment. Piaget’s has used the terms disequilibrium to mean
perceived discrepancy between an existing scheme and something new and constructing
knowledge which means creating new ideas, or knowledge from existing information.
These terms help to clarify how the process of equilibration works. To solve a problem,
we search our memory for information that can be used to fashion a solution. The process
of creating knowledge to solve a problem and eliminate disequilibrium is called
constructivism
➢ Piaget's theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive
structures; in other words, mental maps, schemes, or networked concepts for
understanding and responding to physical experiences within his or her environment.

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Stages of cognitive development based on Piaget’s
In terms of schemes, Piaget argues that they evolve through four stages, the sequence is the same
but they vary.
1. Sensorimotor stages (infants and toddlers)
Up to the age of two, children acquire understanding primarily through sensory
impressions and motor activities. Children develop schemes primarily by exploring their
own bodies and senses. As they grow they build sizable schemes involving external
objects and situations. This occurs through the following:
I. Object permanence: between four and eight months, infants treat objects that
leave their field of vision as if they no longer exist. As object permanence
develops they, children’s intentional search behaviors become increasingly
apparent.
II. Differed imitation: from age two, children’s schemes have become more mental
in nature. The imitate behavior of others, even when the model is no longer
present and they think in terms of symbols
2. Preoperational stage (pre-school and primary grades [2-7 years])
At this stage, the child’s thinking centers on mastery of symbols (words). Piaget believes
that many symbols are derived from mental imitation and involve both visual images and
bodily sensations. For Piaget, operational means action carried out through logical
thinking, hence preoperational means pre-logical. He believes that there are also
impediments to logical thinking and these are:
I. Perceptual centration: At the age of six, the child has not yet acquired the
ability to think of more than one quality at a time and is not inclined to
contemplate alternatives.
II. Irreversibility: Children do not understand the logic behind mathematical
reversals
III. Egocentrism: The youngster find it difficult, if not impossible to take another
person’s point of view
3. Concrete operational stage (Elementary to Early middle school) (7-11 years)
At this stage, the schemes are developing that allow a greater understanding of such logical
based tasks as:

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 I. Conservation: Matter is neither created nor destroyed but simply changes shape
or form or position.
II. Class inclusion: The construction of hierarchical relationships among related
classes of items.
III. Seriation: The arrangement of items in a particular order.

4. Formal operational stage (middle school, high school and beyond) (11 years above)
At this stage, children are at the point of trial and error whereby the think of hypotheses and
testing them in their heads. Piaget’s defines formal as the ability to respond to the form of a
problem rather than its content and to form hypotheses. For example the ability to think that
one hundred kwacha equal to two pounds. The child can understand proverbs or metaphors.
Piaget’s believes adolescent egocentrism (inability to differentiate between the world as
adolescents think it should be and the world as it actually is) plays a role in adolescents.
Researchers have agreed that adolescent egocentrism explains why peer group becomes such
a potent force in high school.

Criticisms of Piaget’s theory

Several writers have criticized Piaget’s theory because of the following reasons:

1. He underestimated children’s capabilities since the tasks he used were often complex and
far removed from children’s real-life experiences. For instance, the term preoperational
stresses what is absent rather than what is present.
2. He overestimated adolescents’ capabilities like the formal thinking of adolescents.
According to Shayer (1997), only 20% of children exhibit well-developed formal
operational thinking by the end of adolescence. In this case, formal reasoning seems to be
the exception not the rule throughout adolescence.
3. There are vague explanations for cognitive growth. For instance, Piaget’s has specified
factors that are responsible for cognitive growth and yet there are a variation in terms of
children’s thinking capabilities.
4. Neglected cultural differences because the rate of development may vary from one
culture to another.

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Suggested lessons for teachers on Piaget’s cognitive development

There are several lessons that teachers can learn from piaget’s theory. What have you learnt?
Come up with your own list of lessons. Snowman etal. (2009, 44-45) have come up with the
following lessons that can be applied in various classrooms.

1. The teacher should focus on what children at each stage can do and avoid what they
cannot meaningfully understand
2. Instructional material and activities should be geared towards each students
developmental level
3. Instructional lessons and materials that introduce new concepts should be geared towards
provoking interest and curiosity.
4. Allow students to use mental and physical manipulation of information to
5. Begin lessons with concrete objectives or ideas and gradually shift explanation to a more
abstract and general level.

Exercise two

1. Why did Piaget’s categorized cognitive development in stages?

2. Can you benefit from Piaget’s theory in your teaching profession?
3. Do you agree with the criticisms of Piaget’s cognitive development?

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C. Lev Semenovich Vygotskys’ cognitive development

In the previous section, we discussed Piaget’s cognitive development and we appreciated

intellectual capabilities that develop in stages as children try to make sense of the world around
them. Further, Piaget’s postulate that children organize schemes to fit the environment. To
concur with Piaget’s, Vygotsky appreciates the impact of culture in shaping cognitive
development by determining what and how the child learns about the world. He also emphasized
on the influences of social interaction that it creates our cognitive structures and thinking
processes. For Vygotsky, development is the transformation of socially shared activities into
internalized processes (Woolfolk, 2013, 55). This section will deal with Vygotsky’s theory, its
limitations and implications to teaching.

Vygotsky’s theory focuses on:

➢ social processes and how they form learning and thinking through the following
principles:
I. Social sources of individual thinking. Higher mental processes are co-
constructed during shared activities between the child and another person. These
co-constructed processes are internalized by the child and become part of that
child’s development. For example: A child may ask why her/his dad calls his/her
grandfather dad, as the dad tries to explain the child is able to link the relationship
that exist among the three, hence, will be able to understand the relationship that
exist. Next time if a brother to his/her dad calls the same grandfather dad, the
child will now link on his own the relationship that exist among grandfather,
his/her dad, his/her uncle him/herself. Vygotsky believed that children’s’
cognitive development is fostered by interactions with people who are more
capable or advanced in thinking such as parents and teachers.

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 II. The role of cultural tools in learning and development especially the tool of
language. Vygotsky believes that cultural tools (rulers, graph papers, search
engines e.t.c) and psychological tools (signs and symbol systems such as
numbers, sign language e.t.c) play a big role in cognitive development. He
suggests symbols are passed from adult to child and from child to child through
formal and informal interaction. On psychological tools Vygotsky believes that
higher order mental processes and reasoning are mediated (accomplished through
and by help) by psychological tools. Vygotsky also appreciates language as the
most important symbol system that helps children to create their own
understanding.
III. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). According to Vygotsky ZPD is “the
area between the child’s current development level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level of development that the child could
achieve through adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”
(Woolfolk, 2013, 59). This means that the child’s competence to complete tasks
increases when there is support from more competent people. In this connection,
Vygotsky found that children have two kinds of abilities during their mental
development. They include: Child’s actual developmental level and the child’s
level of potential development. What do these two abilities mean? The first ability
refers to the kinds of tasks that children can complete without guidance, whereas
the second ability deals with the tasks that children can complete with assistance
from peers, parents or teachers. This second kind of ability takes children to high
levels of learning which Vygotsky referred to as the Zone of Proximal
Development in mental development. He also observed that children’s cognitive
growth was highly enhanced when they performed task within their ZPD because
such tasks develop the children’s problem solving skills. Vygotsky believes that
adults use verbal prompts and structuring to help a child solve a problem or
accomplish task. He has called this scaffolding which he believes support can
gradually reduce when the child takes over the guidance.

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Limitations of cognitive development by Vygotsky

As teachers we have to appreciate Vygotsky’s contribution to the teaching and learning although
there are limitations to his theory. His appreciation of the role of culture and social processes in
cognitive development has had a tremendous impact on teachers. However his ideas are
criticised because:

1. The role of culture and social processes on cognitive development has been exaggerated.
We may be born with a greater store of cognitive tools; however some basic
understandings may be part of our biological predispositions that guides our cognitive
development.
2. He did not detail the cognitive processes underlying developmental changes.
3. His theory consists of general ideas because he died before he could expand on his ideas.
4. Vygosky did not have time to detail the applications of his theories for teaching although
he was interested in instruction. Most applications have been created by others.

Suggested lessons for Vygotsky’s theory

1. Education should target higher mental functions. These can be achieved through imitative
learning (one person tries to imitate the other), instructed learning (learners internalize
the instructions of a teacher and use these instructions to self- regulate), collaborative
learning (a group of learners strive to understand each other and learning occurs in the
process).
2. Teachers to assist students on tasks that they cannot do alone
3. Create conducive environment for students to learn. Create access to powerful tools that
support thinking

Exercise three

I. Make a list of scaffolding techniques you can use in you classroom.

II. What is the difference between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s view on cognitive
development?
III. What other lesson can you learn from this theory?

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D. Moral development by Jean Piaget’s

We have looked at psychosocial and cognitive development by various psychologists.

Throughout the discussion take note that these theories provide lessons to a teacher that can
be applied in a classroom. Piaget’s had interest to analyse moral judgement of a child hence
he embarked on a study to understand how rules of a game are understood by children of
different ages. Through his studies, a teacher is also able to understand moral development of
children at different stages. This section therefore focuses on Piaget’s emphasis on moral
development, and will further discuss Kohlberg and Gillians emphasis on the same theory,
criticisms and lessons for teachers.

Piaget’s theory focuses on:

1. Interpretations of rules changes with age. Piaget’s participated in Marble game to

understand how rules work. He concludes that 4-7 year olds are interested in the rules;
they follow them, but do not understand them. To this age group rules are social
behaviors of older children and that they are absolute and cannot be tampered with.
However, 8-10 year olds regard rules as sacred and 11-12 years see rules as those that can
be adjusted and are made out of mutual agreements. Piaget’s suggest that children from
4-10 years do not question the rules and can easily break them. Those children from 11
years tend to lose interest in rules formulated by adults and take delight in formulating
their own variation of rules to fit a particular situation. Piaget’s concludes that these
children enjoy their newly discovered ability of making up rules to supplant those that are
imposed by the elders.
2. The way children of different ages use moral thinking and reasoning. Piagets used
the term moral realism which also means morality of constraint to describe moral
judgement of children up to the age of 11. He argued that young ones can say whether
something is right or wrong despite the intentions of the doer. For 11 year olds and
above, Piaget’s argues that their moral judgement is based on the intention of doing a

32
 wrong or right. Piaget’s called that moral thinking as moral relativism or morality of
cooperation. Is this observation a reality in your school or classroom?

Refer to table 2.3 on the comparison between morality of constraint and morality of
cooperation.

Exercise four
I. When dealing with discipline issues in your class which is the appropriate
approach to moral judgement?

E. Moral development by Lawrence Kohlberg

Apart from Piaget’s interest to study moral development in children, Kohlberg elaborated on
Piaget’s ideas on moral thinking. This section will deal with Kohlberg’s focus on moral
development, the limitations and contributions to teaching and learning.

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development focuses on:

1. Moral reasoning that it proceeds through fixed stages: Kohlberg supported Piaget’s
view on moral development and he made up stories involving moral dilemmas that would
more appropriate for older children. Using Kohlbergs moral dilemmas, a human being
will sometimes decide to do a wrong thing and bear the consequences as wrong as the
intention is good. Suppose your child is very sick and you do not have money to buy an
expensive and only drug that would make the child survive. Then you have tried to
negotiate with the owner but to no avail then you decide to break the drug store and steal

33
 the only drug that would make your child survive. Are your actions justifiable? Do you
think it’s wrong to do so? This is just an example of moral dilemmas in life. In analyzing
moral dilemmas, Kohlberg came up with six stages of moral reasoning. Check the hand
out page 57 table 2.4. The stages are categories based on three levels of reasoning.
2. Moral development that it can be accelerated through instruction.

Limitations of the theory

1. Critics like Martin Hofman believes that Kohlbergs observations like sequencing of
stages may provide general descriptions of how moral reasoning develops in American
society while may not be true in other cultures.
2. On the point that moral reasoning accelerates though instruction, Lockwood (1978)
contends that the effects of instruction varied considerably from one subject to another.
3. Paul Vitz (1990) criticize Kohlberg on the use of moral dilemmas that they are too far
removed from the kinds of everyday social interactions in which children and adolescents
engaged in. Paul suggests that Kohlberg could have used stories that would promote
moral values such as hard work, compassion, fairness and honesty to mention a few.
4. Kohlberg had interest in macromonal issues (broad issues like civil rights, freedom of
speech, women’s movement e.t.c) where by a moral person is one who attempts to
influence laws and regulations because of a deeply held principle. Some critics believe
that Kohlberg could have dealt with micromonal issues adequately (concern personal
interactions in everyday situations like courtesy (not interrupting a conversation),
helpfulness (giving up your seat on a crowded bus to an elderly person), and
remembering significant events of friends. In this case a moral person is one that is loyal,
dedicated and cares about particular people.
5. Other critics believe that Kohlberg emphasized on the role of reasoning in moral behavior
but says little on the nature of people who behave in moral ways.

Suggested lessons

1. Teachers to make productive use of contemporary films to illustrate moral dilemmas.

2. Teachers to select examples that befit interactions and levels of students for them to learn
better

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 3. Use locally available materials like newspaper and select a story for student to learn
moral issues like respect of elders, compassion and caring for others.

F. Moral development by Carol Gillian

To support Piaget and Kohlbergs view on moral development, Gillian argue that Kohlbergs
observations is accurate towards males that adolescent females.

The theory focuses on

Gender difference in moral development. Gillian viewed that adolescent females

have a different primary concern. They care more about remaining loyal to others
through expressions of caring, understanding and sharing of experiences. They face a
problem of how to become autonomous at the same time caring and remain
connected.

Limitations of the theory

Researchers like Thomas suggest that females are similar to males on issues of justice
and fairness in their reasoning about moral dilemmas. Gillian argues that ‘when females
are faced with their own real-life dilemmas (abortion, civil rights, environmental
pollution etc) rather than hypothetical ones, they are more likely to favour a caring-
helping-cooperation orientation than a justice-fairness-individual rights orientation’.
Females would not likely decide on doing a harmful thing rather something that would
show care or facilitate cooperation.

Suggested lessons

1. Involve students in discussing moral issues that would promote the utility of both
orientations (justice-fairness-individual rights and caring-helping-cooperation).
2. Acknowledge students diversities on matters involving right and wrong

Apart from the Piaget, Kohlberg and Gillian other scholars like Harshorne and May also had
interest to study moral thinking. Their studies addressed the questions does moral thinking lead
to moral behaviour? They established that

35
 1. Many children who were able to describe right kind of behavior in hypothetical situations
indulged in wrong behaviour in real life situations. Their behavior is based on situations
and that it varies.
2. Children who went to religious education classes or belonged to such organizations like
SCOM were just as dishonest as children who were not exposed to the kind of moral
instruction provided by such organisations. Harshorne and May believed that this occur
because emphasis is placed on memorization of values rather that real life moral
situations as they occur.

Apart from the lessons we can learn from Kohlberg and Gillian view on moral
development,there are general lessons that can emerge from the all theorist on this view. The
lessons include:

1. Teachers should reinforce positive consequences of honest acts. For instance, a ateacher
can praise a child that has found money belonging to someone and explain how relieved
that person who had lost money feels.
2. Teachers are encouraged to be effective in the delivery of instruction to prevent students
from cheating. Harshorne and May observed that cheating occurs when students perceive
their facilitators as less effective so they are afraid of disappointing parents, to avoid
academic probation or if the instructor treated a student unfairly.
3. The school has to institute moral education programmes in order to instill principles of
good character in students by doing the following:
I. Telling students what they should do or should not through slogans
II. Help students think of how to resolve moral dilemmas
III. Create clear rules of behavior in class and at a school
IV. Commitment to programmes that promote moral behavior.

This unit has covered development theories by various theorists. The idea is to help you as
teachers understand development of individuals so that you can find the best ways of dealing
with students at different stages and promote development in in all aspects of human
development. Does this unit help you as teachers to understand your own development and
behavior? If you understand yourself, you can be able to deal with learners effectively.

36
Exercise four

1. Suggest other way of promoting moral reasoning in students at your school.

2. Does Malawian culture help in promoting moral reasoning in students? Give examples

37
 Unit 3: Student diversity
3.0 Introduction
In the previous unit, we were discussing development theories to understand development of
individuals and how teachers can promote such in teaching and learning. In this unit, we are
looking at differences in students we teach and implications to a teacher. Human beings share
most of the characteristics and also differ in significant ways. Students of any age and in any
culture will differ from one another in
➢ Mental ability,
➢ Learning styles,
➢ Gender,
➢ Socio-economic background.
This unit will discuss these differences in order to appreciate diversities that exist among learners
and learn how to deal with students in various situations.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this lesson you should be able to
1. Explain differences in mental abilities of students based on different researchers
2. Determine different learning styles and know how to structure content to meet those
styles
3. Describe gender disparities in classrooms and avoid biases
4. Explain the impact of different socioeconomic backgrounds on learners
Key terms
Intelligent Quotient
Cognitive
Behavioral
Biological
Learning styles

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3.1. Intelligence difference
This section will define intelligence based on several researchers and present findings of
researches on Intellectual Quotient (IQ) (child’s level of performance as a global figure).

Definition of intelligence

According to Binet, intelligence is defined as performance of an individual on a variety of

different intellectual tasks. In this view, intelligence is perceived to be stable over time, and it
correlates with performance on other tasks and not predictions on job success, marital bliss,
happiness in life (better called school ability than IQ ]) (Snowman, McCown and Biehler (2009).

Stern and Terman use IQ as quantitative summary of a child's performance. If intelligence is

defined in this way, Binet argue that this would enhance educators to ignore troublesome
students. Intellectual tests targets: memory, reasoning and comprehension tests
According to Spearman, intelligence can infer an underlying general factor (abbreviated as g
factor) that affects performance on all intellectual tests and set of specific factor (abbreviated as s
factor) that affects performance on only specific intellectual details. Differences in the ranking
result from individual differences in specific factors. You can observe that intelligence test uses
Binets argument and Spearmans two factor theory.

Looking at Binet and Spearmans view on intelligence, critics have questioned if

I. Intelligence is equal to educational attainment. They agree that IQ predicts attainment
only in children and that it ooffers a prediction about the tested individuals degree of
academic success for the next year.
II. Intelligence is equal to occupational status. The critics believe that High IQ varies in
predicting ones job status. IQ is not sufficient for success but makes some judgments
about specific strength and weaknesses.
Origins of IQ testing
Several researchers have studied how intelligence differs in various individuals. Below are their
approaches to intelligence.

1. Francis Galton
➢ Intelligence is inherited

39
 ➢ Intellectual ability is normally distributed.

With this view, one can argue that children do not have the same potential for developing mental
abilities.

2. Alfred Binet
➢ Intelligence is a normative/relative concept that can measure memory, attention,
comprehension, discrimination and reasoning
➢ Designed first intelligence tests
➢ Introduced the idea of ‘mental age’

Limitations of intelligence tests

I.The appraisal of intelligence is limited by the fact that it cannot be measured
directly(based on brain functioning and experience)
II. The intelligence tested, is a sample of intellectual capabilities that relate to classroom
achievement better than they relate to anything else
III. Because current research demonstrates that the cognitive abilities measured by
intelligence tests can be improved with systematic instruction, intelligent test scores
should not be viewed as absolute measures of ability
IV. Because IQ tests are designed to predict academic success, anything that enhances
classroom performance, will likely have a positive effect on intelligence test
performance
3. The Stanford-Binet and the Army tests
➢ Lewis Terman modified the Binet test
➢ Stanford-Binet was developed and standardised on 1000 children. The notion of
IQ is introduced as IQ= (mental age/chronological age)x100
➢ Million American men were tested on Alpha (mostly verbal) and Beta (mostly
performance) IQ tests

40
STANFORD-BINET EXAMPLES
Figure 1

41
The Nature and Nurture of “Intelligence”
An illustration is made based on the experiment that was conducted on Maze runners rats.

Figure 2. Maze runners

The researcher interbreeds fast and slow maze-runners in figure 2. In the experiment bright
maze runners were observed in an enriched environment and they breed faster in enriched
environment than deprived environments. The Dull maze runners were observed in an enriched
environment and deprived environment. Time was allocated to compare them on maze running
tasks
Results
Maze-Bright Rats Maze-Dull Rats

Enriched environment Enriched environment rats do much better than

rats do better than impoverished environment impoverished environment rats
rats, but the difference is small

Exercise one

42
What conclusion can you generate in this experiment? Does the environment have an impact on
one’s intelligence? List your suggestions.

4. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Tests (WAIS-III)

➢ View intelligence as the global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, think
rationally and deal effectively with the environment
➢ Developed in 1939
➢ Latest versions- WAIS-III (16-89y) and WISC-III (6-16y)
➢ Uses the concept of IQ deviation in which IQ= (actual test score/expected score)x100
This view of intelligence acknowledges various factors as playing a role in influencing ones
performance and behavior. Family factors relating to intelligence includes:
➢ Parental ability and concern are associated with higher IQ scores.
➢ Interpersonally warm and democratic homes (versus harsh authoritarian homes) are
associated with higher IQ scores.
➢ Children of older mothers have higher average IQ scores.

5. Moving towards a comprehensive theory of intelligence by Sternberg and Gardner

(1999) and Gardner and Hatch (1989)
These researchers propose a comprehensive theory to intelligence which caters for the following
components:
➢ Biological factors: Inheritance
➢ Cognitive factors : use of psychological tools
➢ Motivational factors: inventing, discovering ,imagining and supposing
➢ Behavioural factors: applying knowledge to everyday situations and seeking
relevance
5.1 Sternberg
➢ Suggests that intelligence can not only be taught but also that the classroom is a
logical place to teach it.

43
 ➢ Intelligence partly as the ability to learn and to think using previously discovered
patterns and relationships to solve new problems in unfamiliar context.
➢ How well people learn to cope with the world around them (adapting to the
environment, select from the environment and shape the environment).

5.2. Gardner (1999) and Gardner and Hatch (1989)

➢ Proposed eight different intelligence dimensions based on skills found in a modern
technological society (check the handout)
➢ Reason that alternative forms of learning could tap in other dimensions of intelligence
that in the traditional classroom may go unnoticed or underutilized
➢ Some specific abilities once thought to be unalterable can be taught

Through this session teachers should acknowledge that learners differ in terms of intelligence
and are to be treated based on abilities they have.

Refer to the following case study and answer the questions that follow

Exercise two
Case study one
A certain learner used to fail from standard one but managed to get to form four through
may try. This learner even failed the MSCE examinations however; she is working as a
floor engineer at Bwaila hospital.

Questions
1. Comment on the level of intelligence of this child and what you think the
problem is
2. Compare this student with other learners in your school
3. If you were a teacher at this particular school, how would you intervene in this
situation?

44
 4. Suppose your class has a mixture of learners with different abilities, how
would you support these abilities as a teacher?

3.2 Learning Styles

In the previous session, you were able to appreciate different views on intelligence. Your
attention now should be focused on different learning styles. Learning styles refer to the manner
in which a learner responds to overall learning environment. Learning styles focuses on
perceptual dimensions, cognitive dimensions and affective dimensions. To facilitate learning, it
is important to understand these dimensions and link them with learning styles so that structuring
of the content and methods should target learner perceptual, cognitive and affective dimensions.

I. Perceptual dimensions
➢ This dimension relates to the manner in which the learner extracts information from the
environment.
➢ It includes the use of the senses: visual, hearing, touch as well as interactive learning.
➢ Research shows that most favored perceptual mode is visual, interactive and haptic.

Techniques to enhance perceptual dimension

➢ Most teaching is utilizing visual and auditory dimensions
➢ To successfully engage all students in the classroom, instructors need to provide
experiences for the different perceptual learning styles of their students
II. Cognitive dimension
➢ This dimension refers to the manner in which information is processed and
conceptualized
➢ It includes such aspects of learning as
• global versus analytical thinking,
• right brain versus left brain activity, and
• field dependent versus field independent of processing

45
 ➢ Learners process information differently
Techniques to enhance cognitive dimension
➢ Structure content into small pieces and units.
➢ Provide easy to use chart flow of course content.
➢ Provide clear objectives for each unit.
➢ Design activities that allow practice and self-reflection.
➢ Provide “expertise” in subject matter being taught.
➢ Provide alternative activities for achieving learning objectives.

III. Affective dimension

➢ This element includes the manner in which a learner arouses, directs and sustains
behavior
➢ Motivation for learning is a part of this dimension
➢ This dimension is difficult to observe, but plays an important role in learning

Techniques to enhance cognitive dimension

➢ Providing a “safe” environment for learning is an essential part of this dimension

➢ Enable learners to become acquainted with the classmates and instructor
➢ Provide personal communication with each learner before and during instruction
➢ Give learners choice concerning process and content
➢ Utilize students’ name during communication
➢ Use low-threat means of testing
Kolb has come up with different learning styles to concur with the dimensions discussed above.
These according to research can help teachers choose methods that will match with learner’s
styles and that it may help to foster learning. The styles based on Kolbs include
I. Concrete experienced learner: One who enjoys being involved in experiences and works
well when engaged in field work, laboratories and observations.
II. Reflective observation learner: Enjoys watching others and developing observation about
his/her experience. Works well with journals, logs and brainstorming.

46
III. Abstract conceptual learner: Enjoys creating theories and works well with lectures,
papers and analyzing.
IV. Active experimentation learner: Enjoys using theories to make decision and solve
problems and works well with case studies, simulations and homework.
➢ By considering different learning styles and presenting materials in ways that well appeal
to different learning styles, teachers will be more effective at unlocking the doors to
learning

3.3 Gender difference

There was a general consensus among authors reviewed that gender plays a vital role in
determining healthy lifestyle patterns. Females tended to partake in more health related
behaviors than their male counter-parts.
Is sex difference a myth or reality?
Overall there are no sex differences in IQ. Females perform better on vocabulary and spelling
tests while males obtain 3-10 point higher scores on spatial tests. In the last 50years the
difference between males and females on spatial tests declined, while the difference on verbal
tests remained
Intelligence and gender
➢ Research indicates that the two genders do not differ significantly on widely used
standardized tests of intelligence.
➢ Females tend to score higher on tasks measuring verbal ability.
➢ Males tend to score higher than females on tasks involving quantitative or mathematical
ability.

Early numerical abilities

➢ Study of differences in early ages are important since skills in these ages are fundamental
or biologically primary
➢ gender difference found: support for biological factors Infancy .Boy and girl infants do
not differ in their ability to discriminate small numerosities (discriminate 2 and 3 items or
3 and 4 items)
➢ no difference in basic understanding of the effects of addition and subtraction on quantity

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numerical skills in preschool children
➢ Include ability to count and enumerate; counting concepts (e.g., cardinality), number
concepts (e.g., greater than)
➢ 4- to 5- years: girls were slightly better than boys on a basic addition and subtraction
task.
➢ Similar studies in Korea, USA, Taiwan, Japan: no gender differences

Summary
➢ No gender differences in infants
➢ measures are probably not sensitive enough to detect potentially more subtle differences
➢ boys are not biologically primed to outperform girls in basic mathematics
➢ do not preclude secondary biological influences, i.e. biologically based skills that have
evolved for one reason but are used for another, on the gender difference in mathematical
problem solving (Benbow, 1988)

Arithmetic
On solving of arithmetic equations, such as 17+29 three perspectives are used to explain the
difference
➢ Paper-and-pencil ability and achievement tests: Favoring girls in elementary school and
junior high school years. Meta-analysis shows that the advantage is about 1/5 of a
standard deviation. cross-cultural studies show that: advantage of girls -- in solving
complex problems are largely an American phenomenon
➢ Strategy choices: there is no gender difference in the overall distribution of strategy
choices for solving simple addition or simple subtraction problems. In addition, no
gender difference in mix of strategies used to solve simple addition problems for Chinese
or American kindergarten children.
➢ Conceptual knowledge: there no gender difference in the understanding of arithmetical
concepts in elementary school through high school. Research has been conducted in
various regions like regions include United States, Africa, Korea, Taiwan, Japan,
mainland China.
Mathematical problem solving

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 ➢ Hyde et al argued that gender difference in mathematical problem solving is not evident
until adolescence, since mathematical reasoning emerges until high school.
➢ Study on elementary school children shows boys outperform girls in solving arithmetic
word problems and similar. (~1/5 of a SD)
➢ In another study, error patterns suggested girls found the translation of arithmetic word
problems into appropriate equations more difficult.
➢ Male college students consistently outperformed for solving algebraic problems (1/2 SD)
➢ male advantage was reduced when important features of the word problems were
diagrammed
➢ did not generalize to nonmathematical problem-solving tasks
➢ No other gender differences in algebraic skills
➢ a 1/2 SD advantage in geometry over female peers.

Potential Causes for Gender Differences in Mathematical Problem Solving

➢ Cognitive Style
• Male advantage in visual spatial skills; different types of psychometric tests of
spatial ability, such as: three-dimensional rotation of images; judging relative
distance and relative velocity of moving objects
• Most pronounced during adolescence but also found early in the elementary
school years
➢ Biological factors
• Individual difference on spatial tests: moderately to highly inheritable; prenatal
exposure to androgens, or male hormones: increase girls’ spatial skills with
adrenal hyperplasia.
• Biological primary skills: sensitivity to numerosity, understanding of basic
number concepts, understanding of the effects of addition and subtraction on
quantity
• Consistent finding of no gender difference on these primary skills -- gender
difference in mathematical problem solving is NOT biologically primary
• unlikely there is anything like a “male math gene”

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 • gender difference due to the reproductive strategies or the associated division of
labor.

➢ Sociocultural and Experiential Influences: parents reinforce sex-type behavior

participation in drafting, engineering.
➢ Psychological Factors: What influence the level of participation in mathematics, e.g., the
spontaneous use of spatial strategies in problem-solving situations.

Three general psychological influences

➢ Historical trends
• Magnitude of the gender difference in mathematical performance has declined
over the last several decades -- mathematical skills is responsive to social change
• 17 -year-old girls from 8 nations had higher mean mathematics achievement
scores than the mean of boys in the US -- motivated and able girls should be able
to develop the mathematical skills necessary to succeed in the mathematical and
physical sciences.

➢ perceived usefulness and competence of mathematics:

Perceived usefulness of mathematics
• not consistent for 1st grades to 4th grades
• during high school years, male students consistently perceive mathematics as being a
useful skill
• appears to be related to long-term career goals -- women were much less likely to
enter mathematics-intensive professions
• Many girls do not believe that work in these areas will be especially interesting
• appears to be related to a gender difference in the relative orientation toward people
and human relationships -- people oriented rather than object oriented
• most mathematics-intensive areas are male dominated dissuade some women from
pursuing careers in these areas
Perceived mathematical competence
• 2 factors:

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 - one’s performance in relation to peers -- better performance, higher
perceived competence
- intraindividuality: the skill that is relatively better among oneself will
be perceived more competent, disregard of the level compared with
others
- Male feel better about their mathematical competence (adolescent and
elementary school boys, US, Taiwan, Japan)

➢ classroom experiences
• More individual time in reading instruction with girls and more mathematics
instruction time with boys (Leinhardt, Seewald, & Engel, 1979)?
• Study by Perterson & Fennema, (1985) 36 4th grade classrooms were recorded
during the mathematics instruction for at least 15 days and no gender differences
in the amount of time spent and in the change of mathematical achievement
• Across-class differences: frequency engaged in cooperative or competitive
classroom
Competitive: negative impact on achievements of girls
Cooperative: negative impact on boys

Relationship between spatial skills and mathematical performance

➢ Girls with low spatial skills but good verbal skills showed a decline in mathematics
achievement as compared with girls with a high spatial skills and low verbal ability
➢ When solving word problems, if important relationships are diagrammed, errors can be
avoided -- abilities in solving word problems related to spatial abilities.
Why Males are Better
➢ Males are more likely to resort to spatial-related strategies in problem-solving solutions,
e.g., use dynamic 3-dim representations
➢ Teaching girls to use spatial-related strategies improve their performance for solving
word problems and some calculus problems

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Looking the above discussed findings of various researchers, teachers ought to be careful to
ensure their behaviors are showing biasness to a gender group. Refer to the case study to reflect
on teacher’s behaviors and how they can affect students.

Exercise three.

Case study two

A science teacher at a certain secondary school used to boast about how

science students are respected at Chancellor College and that science is not
for anyone but unique few especially males. This statement was business as
usual in every physical science class.

Questions

1. Comment on the effects of this teachers behavior on students

2. Do you think performance and reactions of students can be affected with
such behavior?
3. Compare this teachers behavior with those available in your school
4. Suggest betters ways of handling a science class or any other class.

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 3.4 Socioeconomic differences
Social class is an indicator of an individuals or a family’s relative standing in society. It is
determined by annual income, occupation, amount of education, place of residence, types of
organizations to which family members belong, manner of dress, and material possessions.

Effect of differences in social class

1. Graduation rates and achievement levels: minority students fail to complete school due to
social class factors, economic factors, school environment factors and individual factors;
minority students have lower levels of motivation, lower self- esteem and weaker
academic skills
2. Health and living conditions: low Socio Economic Status students do not receive
satisfactory health care. Greater incidence of premature births, birth defects and infant
mortality rates. Those in town live in overcrowded homes and parental supervision is
absent; crime is also a constant threat. The challenge of new peers, instructional methods
and curricula may increase their learning problems
3. Family environment: low SES students are likely to grow up in one parent families. This
depends on duration and cause of separation, the age and sex of the child, the type of
interactions the child has with the remaining parent. Two parents are likely to be more
effective because both have the potential to exert a positive influence (Levine &Levine
1996)
4. Interactions that occur between low SES parents and their children tend to lack the
characteristic of mediation( somebody more intellectually advanced than the learner
presents, explains and interprets)
As teachers determine intervention strategies in our classes to empower those from low socio-
economic background perform better in classes.

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Unit three has exposed findings from various researches to explain diversities in individuals.
Teachers therefore have a responsibility to know students differences and tailor the presentations
to meet various need.

Unit 4: Learning Theories

4.0. Introduction
In the previous session we understood that diversities exist among individuals and that a teacher
has to devise means of meeting different needs of students. This section will look at learning
theories. . Learning can be defined as “the relatively permanent change in behavior brought
about as a result of experience or practice” (Woolfolk, 2013, 246). Behaviorists recognize that
learning is an internal event. However, it is not recognized as learning until it is displayed by
through behavior. The learning theories have been categorized into three; Behavioural learning
theories, social learning theory and information processing theory. These theories are important
so that we can understand differences in acquisition of knowledge among students.

In this unit you will have to define and contrast the three types of behavioral learning theories
(contiguity, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning), giving examples of how each can
be used in the classroom. Further, you will learn Banduras’ social learning theory and
information processing theory.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the lesson you are expected to
1. Define learning theory
2. Define behavioural learning theory
3. Explain contiguity, classical and operant conditioning theory
4. Explain social learning theory
5. Describe information processing
6. Determine lessons from the theories that can be used in a classroom
Key terms
Learning theory

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Behavioural learning theory
Contiguity
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social learning
Information processing

4.1 behavioral learning theory

The term "learning theory" is often associated with the behavioral view. The focus of the
behavioral approach is on how the environment impacts on behavior. John Watson (1931) argues
that psychology would quickly lose credibility as a science if it focused on internal mental and
emotional states that could not be directly observed or accurately measured. Remember that
biological maturation or genetics is an alternative explanation for relatively permanent change.
The behavioral learning theory is represented as an S-R paradigm. The organism is treated as a
“black box.” We only know what is going on inside the box by the organism’s overt behavior.

FIGURE 3

Stimulus Organism Response

(S) (O) (R)

(O)
There are three types of behavioral learning theories: Contiguity theory, Classical or respondent
conditioning theory and Operant or instrumental conditioning theory.

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 A. Contiguity theory
Contiguity theory is based on the work of E. R. Guthrie who proposes that any stimulus and
response connected in time and/or space will tend to be associated to that (learning by
association).
Examples:
A student who studies for 3 hours preparing for a quiz and manages to score 80% for that quiz
tend to associate that passing with the 3 hours spent for preparation.

Hence, a student making a good grade on a test after trying a new study technique makes an
association between the stimulus of studying and the response of getting a good grade. Guthrie’s
contiguity theory is one foundation for the more cognitively-oriented learning theory of neural
networks.

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 B. Classical Conditioning Theory by Ivan Pavlov
Classical conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered and studied within the
behaviorist tradition (hence the name classical). The major theorist in the development of
classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist trained in biology and medicine (as was
his German contemporary, Sigmund Freud). Pavlov was studying the digestive system of dogs
and became intrigued with his observation that dogs deprived of food began to salivate when one
of his assistants walked into the room. He began to investigate this phenomenon (conditioned
reflex) and established the laws of classical conditioning. Skinner renamed this type of learning
"respondent conditioning” since in this type of learning, one is responding to an environmental
antecedent.

General model: Stimulus (S) elicits >Response (R)

Classical conditioning starts with a reflex (R): an innate, involuntary behavior. This involuntary
behavior is elicited or caused by an antecedent environmental event. For example: If air is blown
into your eye, you blink. You have no voluntary or conscious control over whether the blink
occurs or not.
The specific model for classical conditioning is:
A stimulus will naturally (without learning) elicit or bring about a reflexive
response.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) elicits > Unconditioned Response (UR)
Neutral Stimulus (NS) --- does not elicit the response of interest

This stimulus (sometimes called an orienting stimulus as it elicits an orienting response) is a

neutral stimulus since it does not elicit the Unconditioned (or reflexive) Response.

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Figure 4.

58
The Neutral/Orienting Stimulus (NS) ( one that does not elicit a certain response) is repeatedly
paired with the Unconditioned/Natural Stimulus (US) (one that does automatically elicit a certain
response)

Figure 5

The Neutral Stimulus (NS) is transformed into a Conditioned Stimulus (CS).

That is, when the CS is presented by itself, it elicits or causes the CR (which is the same
involuntary response as the UR. The name changes because it is elicited by a different stimulus.

This is written CS elicits > CR.

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Figure 6.

In the area of classroom learning, classical conditioning is seen primarily in the conditioning of
emotional behavior. Things that make us happy, sad, angry, etc. become associated with neutral
stimuli that gain our attention. For example: The school, classroom, teacher, or subject matter are
initially neutral stimuli that gain attention. Activities at school or in the classroom automatically
elicit emotional responses and these activities are associated with the neutral or orienting

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stimulus. After repeated presentations, the previously neutral stimulus will elicit the emotional
response
Example:
Child is harassed at school
Child feels bad when harassed
Child associates being harassed and school
Child begins to feel bad when she thinks of school
Teachers must help to extinguish the associated of feeling bad and thinking of school, the
connection between schools and being harassed must be broken. Once a given conditioned
stimulus is associated with a reflex, other stimuli also take on the power to elicit the response
(stimulus generalizations). The way to break the association between a conditioned stimulus and
a conditioned response is through a process called extinction

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 C. Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F Skinner

Operant conditioning is the study of the impact of consequences on behavior. With operant
conditioning we are dealing with voluntary behaviors. Skinner is regarded as the father of
Operant Conditioning, but his work was based on Thorndike’s law of effect. Skinner introduced
a new term into the Law of Effect - Reinforcement. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be
repeated (i.e. strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished
(i.e. weakened).

Skinner views learning as an association between stimuli(S) and response ®, although not
always in that order, and emphasizes R-S association as much as S-R associations. He believes
that it is the environment that causes changes in behavior. All what a person does is and can do
in future is a result of reinforcements and punishments.
• Reinforcement is something that is observed to increase the likelihood of a response’s
recurring.
• Positive reinforcements: is any stimulus that, when added to the situation, increases the
likelihood that the response will occur.
• Negative reinforcement: is any stimulus that, when removed from the situation,
increases the probability that the response will occur.
B.F. Skinner (1938) coined the term operant conditioning; it means roughly changing of
behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. Skinner identified
three types of responses or operant that can follow behavior.
• Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the
probability of a behavior being repeated

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 • Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior
being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
• Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior
being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he
placed in a 'Skinner Box' which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box.

Figure 8

➢ Skinners small box, the sides and the top of which are made of clear plastic
➢ A lever protrudes from one side, and there is a tube that empties into the food cup next to
the lever
➢ The experimenter decides which operant to condition by pressing the lever

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 ➢ The experimenter waits while the rat explores the cage. Since there not much to do in the
box the rat eventually presses the lever and a pellet of food immediately drops down the
tube into the food cup.
➢ The rat pounces on the food and conditioning has began

Sequence of events for operant condition:

1. The emitting of the free operant (the rat chancing to press the lever) followed by
2. The presentation of a reinforcing stimulus (the rat is given a pellet of food): followed by
3. An increase in the probability that the response will occur again

Suggested lessons from behavioral learning theory

➢ Associate positive, pleasant events with learning tasks
➢ Help students to risk anxiety-producing situations voluntarily and successfully
➢ Help students recognize differences and similarities among situations so they can
discriminate and generalize appropriately
➢ Use praise appropriately
• Be clear and systematic in giving praise
• Make praise appreciative not evaluative
• Set standards for praise based on individual abilities and limitations
• Attribute the students success to effort and ability so the student will gain
confidence that success is possible again
• Make praise really reinforcing
• Recognize genuine accomplishments
➢ Encourage positive behaviors
• Recognize positive behavior in ways students value
• When students are tackling new material or trying new skills, give plenty of
reinforcement
• After new behaviors are established, give reinforcement on an unpredictable
schedule to encourage persistence
• Establish a variety of reinforcers

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 ➢ Discouraging negative behavior using punishment
• Tyr to structure the situation so you can use negative reinforcement rather than
punishment
• If you do use punishment, keep it mild and brief then pair it with doing the right
thing
• Be consistent in your application of punishment
• Focus on the students actions, not the students personal qualities
• The punishment should not be worse than the crime

There are more lessons you can learn from behavioral learning theories. Suggest some lesson
that you can use in you classroom

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4.2 Social learning theory
In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviourist learning theories of
classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

Observational Learning

Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the
famous Bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961).

Individuals that are observed are called models. In society, children are surrounded by many
influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within
their peer group and teachers at school. These models provide examples of behavior to observe
and imitate, e.g. masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social etc.

Children pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behavior. At a later
time they may imitate (i.e. copy) the behavior they have observed. They may do this regardless
of whether the behavior is ‘gender appropriate’ or not, but there are a number of processes that
make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for
its sex.

Firstly, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar to
itself. Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people of the same sex.

Secondly, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with either
reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a model’s behavior and the consequences are

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rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behavior. If parent sees a little girl
consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are”, this is rewarding for the child and
makes it more likely that she will repeat the behavior. Her behavior has been reinforced (i.e.
strengthened).

Reinforcement can be external or internal and can be positive or negative. If a child wants
approval from parents or peers, this approval is an external reinforcement, but feeling happy
about being approved of is an internal reinforcement. A child will behave in a way which it
believes will earn approval because it desires approval.

Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement offered
externally does not match with an individual's needs. Reinforcement can be positive or negative,
but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a change in a person's behavior.

Thirdly, the child will also take into account of what happens to other people when deciding
whether or not to copy someone’s actions. A person learns by observing the consequences of
another person’s (i.e. models) behaviour e.g. a younger sister observing an older sister being
rewarded for a particular behaviour is more likely to repeat that behaviour herself. This is
known as vicarious reinforcement.

This relates to attachment to specific models that possess qualities seen as rewarding. Children
will have a number of models with whom they identify. These may be people in their immediate
world, such as parents or older siblings, or could be fantasy characters or people in the media.
The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have a quality which the
individual would like to possess.

Identification occurs with another person (the model) and involves taking on (or adopting)
observed behaviors, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with whom you are identifying.

Meditational Processes

Social Learning Theory is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory
(ie. behaviourism) and the cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how mental
(cognitive) factors are involved in learning.

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Unlike Skinner, Bandura (1977) believes that humans are active information processors and
think about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. Observational learning
could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work. These mental factors mediate (i.e.
intervene) in the learning process to determine whether a new response is acquired.

Therefore, individuals do not automatically observe the behaviour of a model and imitate it.
There is some thought prior to imitation and this consideration is called mediational processes.
This occurs between observing the behaviour (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response)

There are four mediational processes proposed by Bandura:

1. Attention: The extent to which we are exposed/notice the behaviour. For a behaviour to be
imitated it has to grab our attention. We observe much behaviour on a daily basis and many
of these are not noteworthy. Attention is therefore extremely important in whether a
behaviour has an influence in others imitating it.

2. Retention: How well the behaviour is remembered. The behaviour may be noticed, but is it
not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation. It is important therefore that a
memory of the behaviour is formed to be performed later by the observer.

Much of social learning is not immediate so this process is especially vital in those cases.
Even if the behaviour is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to
refer to.

3. Reproduction: This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just
demonstrated. We see much behaviour on a daily basis that we would like to be able to
imitate but that this not always possible. We are limited by our physical ability and for that
reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behaviour, we cannot.

This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not. Imagine the scenario of a
90-year-old-lady who struggles to walk watching Dancing on Ice. She may appreciate that
the skill is a desirable one, but she will not attempt to imitate it because she physically
cannot do it.

4. Motivation: The will to perform the behaviour. The rewards and punishment that follow a
behaviour will be considered by the observer. If the perceived reward outweighs the

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 perceived costs (if there are any) then the behaviour will be more likely to be imitated by
the observer. If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the
observer then they will not imitate the behaviour.

Critical Evaluation

The social learning approach takes thought processes into account and acknowledges the role that they play in
deciding if a behaviour is to be imitated or not. As such, Social Learning Theory provides a more
comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes.
However, although it can explain some quite complex behavior it cannot adequately account for
how we develop a whole range of behavior including thoughts and feelings. We have a lot of
cognitive control over our behavior and just because we have had experiences of violence does
not mean we have to reproduce such behavior.

It is for this reason that Bandura modified his theory and in 1986 renamed his Social Learning
Theory, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), as a better description of how we learn from our social
experiences.

Some criticisms of social learning theory arise from their commitment to the environment as the
chief influence on behaviour. It is limiting to describe behavior solely in terms of either nature or
nurture, and attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of human behavior. It is more
likely that behavior is due to an interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment).

Social learning theory is not a full explanation for all behaviour. This is particularly the case
when there is no apparent role model in the person’s life to imitate for a given behaviour.

The discovery of mirror neurons has lent biological support to the theory of social learning.
Although research is in its infancy the recent discovery of "mirror neurons" in primates may
constitute a neurological basis for imitation. These are neurons which fire both if the animal does
something itself, and if it observes the action being done by another.

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 4.3 Information Processing Theory

Humans process information with amazing efficiency and often perform better than highly
sophisticated machines at tasks such as problem solving and critical thinking (Halpern, 2003;
Kuhn, 1999). Yet despite the remarkable capabilities of the human mind, it was not until the 20th
century that researchers developed systematic models of memory, cognition, and thinking. The
best articulated and most heavily researched model is the information processing model (IPM),
developed in the early 1950s.

The IPM consists of three main components, sensory memory, working memory, and long-term
memory (see Figure 1). Sensory and working memory enable people to manage limited amounts
of incoming information during initial processing, whereas long-term memory serves as a
permanent repository for knowledge. In this entry, the information processing model will be used
as a metaphor for successful learning because it is well supported by research and provides a
well-articulated means for describing the main cognitive structures (i.e., memory systems) and
processes (i.e., strategies) in the learning cycle.

SENSORY MEMORY

Sensory memory processes incoming sensory information for very brief periods of time, usually
on the order of 1/2 to 3 seconds. The amount of information held at any given moment in sensory
memory is limited to five to seven discrete elements such as letters of the alphabet or pictures of
human faces. Thus, if a person viewed 10 letters simultaneously for 1 second, it is unlikely that
more than five to seven of those letters would be remembered.

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The main purpose of sensory memory is to screen incoming stimuli and process only those
stimuli that are most relevant at the present time. For example, drivers on a busy freeway in
heavy traffic are constantly bombarded with visual and auditory stimuli. To maximize efficiency
and safety, they process only information that is relevant to safe driving. Thus, they would attend
to road conditions but not buildings they pass as they drive. Similarly, they would attend to
sounds of other cars, but not to music from the radio or one passenger's casual conversation with
another.

Researchers agree that information processing in sensory memory usually occurs too quickly for
people to consciously control what they attend to. Rather, attention allocation and sensory
processing are fast and unconscious. Information that is relevant to the task at hand, and
information that is familiar and therefore subject to automatic processing, are the most likely
types of information to be processed in sensory memory and forwarded to the working memory
buffer. Information that is highly relevant may receive some degree of controlled, conscious
processing if it is crucial to a task (e.g., attending to salient information such as animals along the
road while driving at high speed). However, controlled processing in sensory memory would be
likely further to reduce the limited amount of information that can be processed at any given
moment.

WORKING MEMORY

After stimuli enter sensory memory, they are either forwarded to working memory or deleted
from the system. Working memory is a term that is used to refer to a multi-component temporary
memory system in which information is assigned meaning, linked to other information, and
essential mental operations such as inferences are performed. A number of different models of
working memory have been proposed (Shah & Miyake, 1999). However, the three-component
model developed by Baddeley (1998, 2001) is the most common, and will be discussed shortly.

Several useful terms have been developed to describe efficient cognitive processing in working
memory. One term is limited attentional resources, which refers to the highly limited nature of
information processing (Anderson, 2000; Neath, 1998). All individuals experience severe

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limitations in how much mental activity they can engage in due to limited cognitive resources
(Kane & Engle, 2002). Although humans differ with respect to available cognitive resources, all
learners experience severe limitations regardless of their skill and ability level. Often, differences
between one learner and another are not due to the amount of resources, but how efficiently
those resources are used.

Another key term is automaticity, which refers to being able to perform a task very quickly and
efficiently due to repeated practice (Stanovich, 2003). Automated activities usually require few
cognitive resources; thus, even a complex skill such as driving a car at 75 miles per hour can
seem effortless. Effective information processing in sensory memory requires a high degree of
automaticity with regard to recognition of familiar stimuli such as spoken or printed words,
faces, and sounds.

A third key term is selective processing, which refers to the act of intentionally focusing one's
limited cognitive resources on stimuli that are most relevant to the task at hand. For example,
when driving in snow, one might allocate more of one's limited cognitive resources to watching
the center line in the highway than one would allocate on a clear summer day. In contrast, on an
extremely windy day, one would pay little attention to the whereabouts of the center line but pay
special attention to any flying debris that could cause an accident. In essence, selective
processing enables learners to be optimally efficient by putting all of their cognitive eggs in one
basket. It is no coincidence that highly effective learners succeed because they identify what is
most important to learn and allocate limited attention to relevant information.

Baddeley's 2001 model of working memory consists of three components, the executive control
system, articulatory loop, and visual-spatial sketch pad. The role of the executive control system
is to select incoming information, determine how to best process that information, construct
meaning through organization and inferences, and subsequently transfer the processed
information to long-term memory or choose to delete that information from the memory system
altogether (e.g., a telephone number that is no longer needed). Most models of working memory
assume that the central executive is the place where humans “make conscious meaning” of the
information they process (Shah & Miyake, 1999). The role of the articulatory loop is to maintain
and further process verbal information. The role of the visual-spatial sketch pad is analogous to
the articulatory loop in that it maintains and further processes non-verbal and visual information.

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Information is lost quickly from working memory (i.e., 5 to 15 seconds) unless some type of
mental rehearsal occurs. Barring rehearsal (e.g., repeating a telephone number), information is
either forwarded to long-term memory or is deleted from the system.

Baddeley's model makes several critical assumptions about the processing of information in
working memory. One is that each of the three subsystems possesses its own pool of limited
cognitive resources. This means that, under normal information processing circumstances, each
subsystem performs work without taxing the other subsystems. A second assumption is that the
executive control system regulates the articulatory loop and visual-spatial sketch pad.

LONG-TERM MEMORY

Unlike sensory and working memory, long-term memory is not constrained by capacity or
duration of attention limitations. The role of long-term memory is to provide a seemingly
unlimited repository for all the facts and knowledge in memory. Most researchers believe that
long-term memory is capable of holding millions of pieces of information for very long periods
of time (Anderson, 2000). A great deal of research has gone into identifying two key aspects of
long-term memory: (a) what types of information are represented, and (b) how information is
organized. These two questions are addressed in the next section of this entry. For present
purposes, there is universal agreement that qualitatively different types of information exist in
long-term memory and that information must be organized, and therefore quickly accessible, to
be of practical use to learners.

Refer to the figure on information processing shows that working memory and long-term
memory are connected by encoding and retrievalprocesses. Encoding refers to a large number of
strategies that move information from temporary store in working memory into long-term
memory. Examples include organization, inference, and elaboration strategies, which will be
discussed later. Retrieval refers to processes that enable individuals to search memory and access
information for active processing in working memory. Both encoding and retrieval greatly
facilitate learning when information in long-term memory is organized for easy access.

A comparison of the three components of the IPM indicates that both sensory and working
memory are relatively short term in nature (see Table 1). Their main roles are to screen incoming
information, assign meaning, and relate individual units of information to other units. In contrast,

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the main role of long-term memory is to serve as a highly organized permanent storage system.
Sensory and working memory process few pieces of information within a short time frame.
Automaticity of processing and selective allocation of limited cognitive resources greatly
increases the efficiency of information processing. Long-term memory is assumed to be more or
less permanent and unlimited in terms of capacity. The main processing constraint on long-term
memory is the individual's ability to quickly encode and retrieve information using an efficient
organizational system.

The information processing model provides a conceptual model which explains the different
functions and constraints on human memory. The IPM also has had a major impact on
instructional theory and practice. Sweller and Chandler's 1994 work developed cognitive load
theory to explain how different instructional and learner constraints affect optimal information
processing. The crux of their argument is that each task imposes some degree of cognitive load,
which must be met either by available cognitive resources or learner-based strategies such as
selective attention and automaticity. Reducing cognitive load enables individuals to learn with
less overall mental effort. Cognitive load theory has been especially helpful in terms of planning
instruction and developing learning materials. Others researchers such as Mayer and Moreno
(2003) have developed frameworks to increase learning by systematically reducing cognitive
load through better design of learning materials and more strategic use of limited resources by
students.

In summary, the information processing model postulates a three-component model of

information processing. The IPM is consistent with empirical findings and provides an excellent
framework for understanding principles of effective learning, which are considered later in this
entry. Sensory and working memory are limited with respect to capacity and duration, whereas
long-term memory is more or less unlimited. Information processing efficiency is increased due
to automaticity and selectivity. Encoding and retrieval of information in long-term memory is
increased due to efficient organizational strategies.

IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION

The information processing model provides four important implications for improving learning
and instruction. The first is that memory stores are extremely limited in both sensory and
working memory. The two main strategies that effective learners use to cope with limited

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capacity are selectively focusing their attention on important information and engaging in as
much automated processing as possible. From an educational perspective, it is essential for
students to become automated at basic skills such as letter and word decoding, number
recognition, and simple procedural skills such as handwriting, multiplication, and spelling.
Automaticity makes available limited processing resources that can be used to engage in labor
intensive self-regulation (Butler & Winne, 1995; Zeidner, Boekaerts, & Pintrich, 2000;
Zimmerman, 2000) and comprehension monitoring (Schraw, 2001; Sternberg, 2001).

A second implication is that relevant prior knowledge facilitates encoding and retrieval
processes. Highly effective learners possess a great deal of organized knowledge within a
particular domain such as reading, mathematics, or science. They also possess general problem-
solving and critical-thinking scripts that enable them to perform well across different domains.
This knowledge guides information processing in sensory and working memory by providing
easy-to-access retrieval structures in memory. It also serves as the basis for the development of
expertise (Alexander, 2003; Ericsson, 2003). Thus, helping students use their prior knowledge
when learning new information promotes learning.

A third implication is that automated information processing increases cognitive efficiency by

reducing information processing demands. As discussed earlier, automaticity is an important
aspect of effective learning for two reasons. One is that being automated makes it easier
selectively to allocate limited resources to information that is most relevant to the task at hand.
Unfortunately, there is no easy road to automaticity other than sustained, regular practice. In
addition, automaticity frees limited resources that can be used for other activities such as
drawing inferences and connecting new information to existing information in memory.

A fourth implication is that learning strategies improve information processing because learners
are more efficient and process information at a deeper level (Pressley & Harris, 2006; Pressley &
McDonald-Wharton, 1997). All effective learners draw from a repertoire of learning strategies in
a flexible manner. Some of these strategies are used automatically, while some require controlled
processing and metacognitive control that place high demands on limited cognitive resources.
Good learners use a wide variety of strategies and use them in a highly automatic fashion.
However, there are three general strategies that all effective learners use in most situations.
These include organization, inferences, and elaboration (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). Organization

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refers to how information is sorted and arranged in long-term memory. Information that is
related to what one already knows is easier to encode and retrieve than isolated information. In
some cases, individuals already possess well organized knowledge with empty slots that can be
filled easily with new information. Activating existing knowledge prior to instruction, or
providing a visual diagram of how information is organized, is one of the best ways to facilitate
learning new information. Constructing inferences involves making connections between
separate concepts. Elaboration refers to increasing the meaningfulness of information by
connecting new information to ideas already known.

Unit 5 : motivation theory

1. Define motivation
2. Explain motivation theory
3. Discuss all approaches to motivation : behavioral, cognitive, humanistic and social
approaches to motivation
4. Explain the limitations of the approaches
5. List the lessons for teachers

Unit 6: class management

1. Define class management
2. Explain different leadership styles that are used in schools
3. What lessons can teachers learn to manage their classes

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Anderson, J. R. 2000. Cognitive psychology and its implication (5th ed.). New York: Worth.

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