Principles and Theories of Teaching and Learning

By : Sherwin Sean M. Amid

At the end of the Presentation the students will understand the ff:
Behavioral Theories Field and Gestalt Theories Cognitive Theories

You often learn when you dont intend to learn, and you often teach when you dont intend to teach

 But what is knowledge? It isnt the absolute truth about life and death, but the thing that help us to live and confront the challenges of day to day life. It isnt what we learn from books, which serves only to fuel futile arguments about what happened or will happened; it is the knowledge that lives in the hearts of men and women of good will
PAULO COELHO

What is Learning?

LEARNING
1. a persisting change in human performance or performance potential . . . (brought) about as a result of the learners interaction with the environment (Driscoll, 1994, pp. 8-9). the relatively permanent change in a persons knowledge or behavior due to experience (Mayer, 1982, p. 1040).
an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience (Shuell, 1986, p. 412).

2.

3.

Theory
is a contemplative and rational type of abstract or generalizing thinking, or the results of such thinking. Depending on the context, the results might for example include generalized explanations of how nature works. A theory provides an explanatory framework for some observation, and from the assumptions of the explanation follows a number of possible hypotheses that can be tested in order to provide support for, or challenge, the theory

Principle
is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed. The principles of such a system are understood by its users as the essential characteristics of the system, or reflecting system's designed purpose, and the effective operation or use of which would be impossible if any one of the principles was to be ignored

Behaviourism

Behaviorism
Behaviorism assumes that a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli.
Believes that a learner starts out with a clean slate, and behavior is shaped by positive and negative reinforcement. Reinforcement, positive or negative, increases the possibility of an event happening again.

Punishment, both positive and negative, decreases the possibility of an event happening again.

 Positive reinforcement is the application of a stimulus. Negative reinforcement is the withdrawal of a stimulus. Behaviorism is a precursor to cognitive learning.

Behavioural Theories
Primary Focus
Observable behaviour Stimulus-response connections

Major Theorists
Pavlov Thorndike Skinner Bandura

Assumptions
Learning is a result of environmental forces

Ivan Pavlov
Born: 26 September 1849 Ryazan, Russia Died: 27 February 1936 (aged 86) Leningrad, Soviet Union Nationality: Russian Known for: Classical conditioning

Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus

Unconditioned Response

Neutral Stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus

Conditioned Response

The animal in the experiment learns to associate the bell with the opportunity to eat and begins to salivate to the bell in the absence of food. It is as though the animal came to think of the bell as "mouth-watering," although behaviourists never would have used terms like think of, because thinking is not a directly observable behaviour.

Edward Thorndike
Born: August 31, 1874 Williamsburg, Massachusetts, U.S. Died: August 9, 1949 (aged 74) Montrose, New York Nationality: American Known for: Father of modern educational psychology, theory of connectionism

Cat Experiment
Hungry cat is placed inside the box. Food kept outside the box work as a motive. Cat started doing random movements for getting food. Cat squeeze through opening, claws and bites at the bars of wires, thrust its paws through any opening. Out of any one random movement latch manipulated accidently. Hungry cat came out and got its reward i.e. food. In another trial: Hungry cat placed in a puzzle box. Food kept outside the box worked as a motive. To get out of the box cat again did random movements. But cat took less time to come out from the box. Gradually reduced and took less time on each succeeding trial. Manipulate the latch as soon as it was put in the box. Gradually cat learned the art of opening door.

Theory of Connectionism
Learning is by Bond and connection

Learning is the result of associations formed between stimuli and responses

( S-R framework)

These associations are strengthened/weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings.
Trial and error learning- certain responses come to dominate others due to rewards.

The 3 Primary Laws of Connectionism

Law of Exercise

States that the strength of a connection is determined by how often the connection is used.

Law of Readiness

States that when an organism is ready to act it is reinforcing for it to do so, and annoying for it not to do so.

Law of Effect

The strengthening or weakening of a connection by its consequences.

Experiment sums up the following stages in the process of learning:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Drive: Hungry cat intensified by the sight of the food. Goal: To get food by getting out of the box. Block: The cat was confined in the box with a closed door. Random movements: The cat persistently tried to come out of the box without knowing how. Chance success: Striving and random movements the cat by chance succeeded in opening the door. Selection: Gradually cat recognized the correct way to manipulate the latch. Fixation: At last cat learned the proper way to open the door by eliminating all the incorrect responses & fixing only the right response.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Born: March 20, 1904 Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States

Died: August 18, 1990 (aged 86) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality: American Known for: Operant conditioning

Skinner: Operant Conditioning

Stimulus

Response

Reinforcement

Fundamental Concept:
Operant Conditioning this refers to using pleasant/unpleasant consequences to control the behaviour of the organism

Principles of Learning in Operant Conditioning

Principle of Consequence Principle of Reinforcement Pre mack Principle or Grandma Rule Principle Extinction

Principle of Consequence

Under this principle, behaviour changes according to its immediate consequences; pleasurable/Pleasant consequence strenghten behaviour, Unpleasant consequence weaken it

Praising words and phrases

Facial Expressions Nearness Smiling Winking Nodding Looking interested Laughing Walking among the students. Sitting in their groups. Joining the class at break. Eating with the students.

Physical Contact Touching Patting head. Shaking hand. Stroking arm.

Principle of Reinforcement

This involves any action taken following a response that increase the probability that the response will occur again

Good That's right Excellent That's clever Fine answer Good job Good thinking Great That shows a great deal of work You really pay attention I like that. Show the class you model. That's interesting Joan, you're doing so well with the microscope. That was very kind of you.

Pre mack Principle

This principle is characterized that less desire activities can be increased by linking them to more desired activities

Principle of Extinction
Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned response (hunger) would disappear.

Albert Bandura
Born: December 4, 1925 (age 87) Mundare, Alberta Nationality: American/ Canadian

Known for: social learning theory

Social Learning Theory

Under the social learning theory, an individual learns through observation and imitation of others.

Social Learning Theory

SLT

Observational Learning

Learning by Imitating

Observation learning

Vicarious Learning

Self regulated learning

Real life

symbolic

Representational

attention

retention

reproduction

motivation

Observational Learning

Vicarious learning
Is acquired from observing the consequences of others behaviour

Self Regulated
Occurs when individual observe, assess and judge their own behaviour against their own standards, and subsequently reward or punish them.

Models

Real Life
teachers parents

Symbolic
books

Representational
Films media

Gestalt and Field Theories

Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt - "essence or shape of an entity's complete form"

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is often used when explaining Gestalt theory.

Gestalt Psychology
But it is better stated that the qualities of the whole have additional qualities that that parts do not have, e.g. the four lines on the right have the additional quality of squareness that the lines on the left do not.

Gestalt Psychology
Gestaltists see objects as perceived within an environment according to all of their elements taken together as a global construct.

Max Wertheimer

Born April 15, 1880

Died Oct 12, 1943 Born in Prague, Czech Republic Psychologist Father of Gestalt psychology

Inspiration
In 1910 he bought a toy stroboscope
He saw two separate and alternating light patterns He discovered that if the spacing, ontime, and off-time were just right for these lights, his mind would perceive the dual lights as one single flashing light moving back and forth

Phi phenomenon
a perceptual illusion in which a perception of motion is produced by a succession of still images.
Lead to important questions about how perception and the brain works.

Kurt Koffka
Born March 18, 1886
Died Nov 22, 1941 Born in Berlin, Germany Psychologist Another of the founders of Gestalt psychology Learning theorist

Theories on learning

Koffka believed that most of early learning is what he referred to as, "sensorimotor learning," which is a type of learning which occurs after a consequence. For example, a child who touches a hot stove will learn not to touch it again.

Theories on learning

Koffka also believed that a lot of learning occurs by imitation, though he argued that it is not important to understand how imitation works, but rather to acknowledge that it is a natural occurrence.
According to Koffka, the highest type of learning is ideational learning, which makes use of language.

Wolfgang Khler
Born in Jan 21, 1887 Died in June 11, 1967 Born in Reval (now Tallinn), Estonia Psychologist and phenomenologist Another of the founders of Gestalt psychology

Problem solving
In 1913, Khler went to the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands for six years Khler observed the manner in which chimpanzees solve problems, such as that of retrieving bananas when positioned out of reach. He found that they stacked wooden crates to use as makeshift ladders, in order to retrieve the food.

If the bananas were placed on the ground outside of the cage, they used sticks to lengthen the reach of their arms.

Problem solving
Khler concluded that the chimps had not arrived at these methods through trial-and-error (which American psychologist Edward Thorndike had claimed to be the basis of all animal learning, through his law of effect), but rather that they had experienced an insight (also sometimes known as an aha experience), in which, having realized the answer, they then proceeded to carry it out in a way that was, in Khlers words, unwaveringly purposeful.

The bouba/kiki effect

The bouba/kiki effect

The Bouba/Kiki Effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Khler in 1929.

The bouba/kiki effect

In psychological experiments, first conducted on the island of Tenerife (in which the primary language is Spanish), Khler showed forms in the previous slides asked participants which shape was called "takete" and which was called "baluba" ("maluma" in the 1947 version). Data suggested a strong preference to pair the jagged shape with "takete" and the rounded shape with "baluba".

The bouba/kiki effect

In 2001, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard repeated Khler's experiment using the words "kiki" and "bouba" and asked American college undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India Which of these shapes is bouba and which is kiki? In both the English and the Tamil speakers, 95% to 98% selected the curvy shape as "bouba" and the jagged one as "kiki", suggesting that the human brain is somehow able to extract abstract properties from the shapes and sounds.

The bouba/kiki effect

Recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect. Ramachandran and Hubbard suggest that the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary.

The bouba/kiki effect

The rounded shape may most commonly be named "bouba" because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sound "kiki".
The sounds of a K are harder and more forceful than those of a B, as well.

The bouba/kiki effect

The presence of these "synesthesia-like mappings" suggest that this effect might be the neurological basis for sound symbolism, in which sounds are non-arbitrarily mapped to objects and events in the world.

The bouba/kiki effect

Individuals with autism do not show as strong a preference. Where average people agree with the typical result 90% of the time, individuals with autism only agree 60% of the time (Ramachandran, V.S., Oberman, L.M. Evidence for Deficits in Mirror Neuron Function, Multisensory Integration, and Sound-form Symbolism in Autism Spectrum Disorders)

Main principles of Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Principles
Emergence Reification Multistability Invariance

Prgnanz

Principle of Emergence

Objects in an images are not recognised by their component parts, but are rather perceived as a whole, all at once.

Principle of Emergence

Principle of Emergence

Principle of Emergence

The dog is not recognized by first identifying its parts (feet, ears, nose, tail, etc.), and then inferring the dog from those component parts.

Instead, the dog is perceived as a whole, all at once.

Principle of Reification

the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.

Principle of Reification

Principle of Multistability

the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experiences to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations.

Principle of Multistability

Principle of Multistability

Principle of Multistability

Principle of Multistability

Principle of Multistability

Principle of Invariance
the property of perception whereby simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation, and scale; as well as several other variations such as elastic deformations, different lighting, and different component features.

Principle of Invariance

Principle of Prgnanz
we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetric, and simple. This results in other more basic laws
Law of Closure Law of Similarity Law of Proximity Law of Continuity Law of Common Fate

Law of Closure
The mind may experience elements it does not perceive through sensation, in order to complete a regular figure (that is, to increase regularity).

Law of Similarity
The mind groups similar elements into collective entities or totalities. This similarity might depend on relationships of form, colour, size, or brightness.

Law of Proximity
Spatial or temporal proximity of elements may induce the mind to perceive a collective or totality.

Law of Symmetry
Symmetrical images are perceived collectively, even in spite of distance.

Law of Continuity
The mind continues visual, auditory, and kinetic patterns.

Law of Common Fate

Elements with the same moving direction are perceived as a collective or unit.

Kurt Lewin
Born Sept 9, 1890
Died Feb 12, 1947 Born in Mogilno, Poland

Psychologist
"founder of social psychology Worked closely with the Gestalt psychologists

Field Theory of Learning

Learning takes place when organism achieves insights

Lewin (1936) used the term life space to denote the totality of all the influences on a person at a given moment in time, both the outer environment and inner personal environment.
Field theory views learning as a social process, to learn, an organism must interact with others in the environment

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

Key Points
The cognitive theory is based on traditional psychological concepts that deal with thinking, remembering, and deciding.

Cognitive psychologists view activities such as thinking, remembering, and deciding by how they relate to behavior.
The cognitive theory asserts that thinking and remembering are more of a behavior and that the use of behavior analysis is needed to assess their effects on learning. Cognitivists objected to behaviorists beliefs that learning is simply a reactionary phenomenon.

It is commonly referred to as opening the black box in the mind.

1.2 Theories: Cognitive

Primary Focus
Mental behaviour Knowledge Intelligence Critical Thinking

Assumptions
Learning is a result of mental operations/ processing

Allan Paivio
Born: March 29, 1925 Age: 88 Place: Ontario, Canada Known for: Dual Coding Theory

Dual Coding Theory

Paivio proposed that when information is presented both visually and verbally, it enhances recall and recognition .
This theory proposes that people process information in two separate ways: 1. Processing of images 2. Processing of language There are three sub processes identified in this theory: 1. Representational
Verbal or nonverbal representations are directly influenced.

2. Referential
Verbal system is activated by nonverbal communication or vice-versa.

3. Associative
Text-based systems and graphic representations trigger mental associations.

Robert Mills Gagn

Born in Aug 21, 1916
Died in April 28, 2002 Born in in North Andover, Massachusetts

educational psychologist
best known for his Conditions of Learning

involved in applying instructional theory to the design of computer based learning.

The Gagn Assumption

different types of learning exist, and that different instructional conditions are most likely to bring about these different types of learning.

Five Categories of Learning

verbal information intellectual skills cognitive strategies motor skills

attitudes

Eight Types of Learning

1. Signal Learning - The individual learns to make a general, diffuse response to a signal. Such was the classical conditioned response of Pavlov. 2. Stimulus-Response Learning - The learner acquires a precise response to a discriminated stimulus. 3. Chaining - A chain of two or more stimulus-response connections is acquired. 4. Verbal Association - The learning of chains that are verbal. 5. Discrimination Learning - The individual learns to make different identifying responses to many different stimuli that may resemble each other in physical appearance. 6. Concept Learning - The learner acquires a capability of making a common response to a class of stimuli. 7. Rule Learning - A rule is a chain of two or more concepts.

8. Problem Solving - A kind of learning that requires the internal events usually called thinking.

Gagns Nine Events of Instruction

Nine Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention - Curiosity motivates students to learn. 2. Inform learners of objectives - These objectives should form the basis for assessment.

3. Stimulate recall of prior learning - Associating new information with prior knowledge can facilitate the learning process.
4. Present the content - This event of instruction is where the new content is actually presented to the learner. 5. Provide learning guidance - use of examples, non-examples, case studies, graphical representations, mnemonics, and analogies. 6. Elicit performance (practice) - Eliciting performance provides an opportunity for learners to confirm their correct understanding, and the repetition further increases the likelihood of retention. 7. Provide feedback - guidance and answers provided at this stage are called formative feedback. 8. Assess performance - take a final assessment.

9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job - Effective education will have a "performance" focus.

Howard Gardner

(1943 - ) Born in Scranton, PA Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Received many awards Author of over 20 books Best known for his theory of multiple intelligences

Gardner defines intelligence as:

The ability to create an effective product or offer a service A set of skills that make it possible to solve problems The potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge.

Table of Contents

Types of Intelligences:

1. Linguistic

6. Naturalist
7. Intrapersonal

2. Logical/mathematical
3. Musical rhythmic

8. Interpersonal
9. Existential

4. Bodily/kinesthetic
5. Spatial

Table of Contents

Technology and Multiple Intelligences

Computers offer students a multi-sensory smorgasbord, which engages learners by stimulating the multiple intelligences.
Jane Carlson-Pickering

Table of Contents

 These nine intelligences can be used to determine the type of instruction and technology that will work best for a student.

Verbal / Linguistic Intelligence

Word Processing Programs

Spell Checkers
Desktop Publishing Programs

Table of Contents

Logical / Mathematical
Internet Computer Software math games, logic games, etc. Spreadsheets

www.funbrain.com

Table of Contents

Visual / Spatial Intelligence

Draw and Paint Programs

Clip Art
PowerPoint Safari Montage

Table of Contents

Musical / Rhythmic Intelligence

Audio Effects Composition Software

Table of Contents

Bodily / Kinesthetic Intelligence

Video Games Virtual Reality Interactive White Boards

Table of Contents

Naturalist Intelligence
Online Encyclopedias Internet Resources

Table of Contents

Interpersonal Intelligence
Work in groups to use software or technology PowerPoint Email Use databases or spreadsheets to create school-wide surveys and graphs

Table of Contents

Intrapersonal Intelligence
Word processing program journal Math Programs create individualized programs for students

Table of Contents

Benjamin Bloom
Born on February 21, 1913 in Lansford Pennsylvania.

Died on 13 September 1999.

Known for Blooms taxonomy

3 learning Domain
Bloom defined three learning domains:
1.

Cognitive Intellectual level; organization of ideas and thoughts

2.

Affective Emotions, interests, attitude, attention, awareness

3.

Psychomotor Motor skills and physical abilities

Blooms Taxonomy
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Jerome Bruner
Born October 1, 1915 Age 94 Born in New York, New York

Education

PhD, Harvard, 1941 (Psychology) BA, Duke University, 1937 The Culture of Education, 1996 Acts of Meaning, 1991 Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, 1987 The Process of Education, 1960

Publications

cognitive psychologist and educational psychologist

Scaffolding Theory
Spiral Curriculum

Principles of J. Bruner Theory

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness).

2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).

3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given).

J. Bruner Theory
Bruner's theoretical framework is based on the theme that learning is an active process and learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon existing knowledge.
Facets of the process include selection and transformation of information, decision making, generating hypotheses, and making meaning from information and experiences.

Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization to experiences and allows the individual to "go beyond the information given".

 Bruner believed that intuitive and analytical thinking should both be encouraged and rewarded.

He believed the intuitive skills were under-emphasized and he reflected on the ability of experts in every field to make spontaneous bound.

He investigated motivation for learning. He felt that ideally, interest in the subject matter is the best stimulus for learning. Bruner did not like external competitive goals such as grades or class ranking.

Conclusion of Theory

A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge.

As far as instruction is concerned, the instructor should try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves and they should engage in an active dialog (i.e., socratic learning).

Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds upon what they have already learned.

Features of J. Bruner's theory of Instruction

1. Tendency towards learning

2. The ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner,

3. The most effective sequences in which to present material.

4.

The nature and pacing of rewards and punishments.

Cognitive Development
Like Piaget, Bruner believed in stages of instruction based on development. Enactive (birth to age 3) Iconic (age 3 to 8) Symbolic (from age 8) Each mode is dominant at different phases of development but all are present and accessible always.

Enactive

The first stage he termed "Enactive", when a person learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.

Iconic

The second stage was called "Iconic" where learning can be obtained through using models and pictures.

Spiral Curriculum
Instead of focusing for relatively long periods of time on specific narrow topics, a spiral curriculum tries to expose students to a wide varies of ideas over and over ago.

David Ausubel - Focus

Stressed the importance of active mental participation in meaningful learning tasks

Learning must be meaningful to be effective and permanent

David Ausubels Meaningful Learning Theory/Rationalistic Theory: Human behavior is abstract in nature; it cannot not be controlled or predicted Learning takes place through a meaningful process of relating new events or items to already existing cognitive concepts/propositions/items Meaningful learning is a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive structure As new material enters the cognitive structure it interacts with and is appropriately associated under higher order categories for meaningful retention

Rogers Humanistic Psychology

Perspective of a constructivist view of learning Learning takes place in a non-threatening environment, which allows a person to form a picture of reality that is congruent with reality The goal of education is the facilitation of change and learning The context for learning must be properly created Learning is not filling the student with information True knowledge is facilitated when the student is allowed to negotiate learning outcomes, to cooperate with teachers and peers in a process of discovery, to engage in critical thinking, to be empowered to achieve solutions to real problems

Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development:

Piagets theory is about cognitive development as the key to explain how individuals perceive, think, understand, and learn

Cognitive development is perceived as consisting primarily of logical and mathematical abilities

Intelligence is synonymous with thinking in that it involves mental operations

Intelligence develops as children psychologically adapt to their environment and reconcile discrepancies between current forms and previously acquired forms of understanding Meaning is construed based on previous background knowledge structures Schemata are the previously acquired knowledge structures through experience. Schemes: mental systems of knowledge categoriesunits of knowledge that children develop through the adaptation process.

OTHER PIAGETIAN CONCEPTS Active learning: by being physically and mentally engaged in learning activities, children develop knowledge and learn. Assimilation: process of fitting new information into existing schemes. Accommodation: changing or altering existing schemes or creating new ones in response to new information. Equilibrium: balance between existing schemes developed through assimilation and intake of new information through accommodation.

Piagets Constructivism And Cognitive Development

in Morrison, 2004. Early Childhood Education Today

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

PIAGETS STAGES

OF COGNITIVE
DEVELEPMENT
in Morrison, 2004. Early Childhood Education Today

Vygotskys Sociocultural Learning Theory

Learning is social; every child reaches his or her potential development, in part, through social interaction Social interaction, through language, is a pre-requisite to cognitive development; Learning awakens a variety of developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people. Once these processes are internalized (as the child approaches the zone of proximal development), they become part of the childs independent developmental achievement

Zone of Proximal Development:

in Morrison, 2004. Early Childhood Education Today

 Vygotskys concept of the zone of proximal development:

The area of development into which a child can be led in the course of interaction with a more competent partner, either adult or peer. [It] is not some clear-cut space that exists independently of joint activity itself. Rather, it is the difference between what the child can accomplish independently and what he or she can achieve in conjunction with another more competent person. The zone is thus created in the course of social interaction.

Learning awakens a variety of developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people. Once these processes are internalized (as the child reaches the zone of proximal development), they become part of the childs independent developmental achievement.

 The zone of proximal development (ZPD) represents the tasks that children cannot do independently but can do when helped by a more competent adult; it encompasses the range of tasks that are too difficult to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance. Vygotskys scaffolding is assistance of some kind that enables children to complete tasks they cannot complete independently. It is the process of providing different levels of support, guidance, or direction during the course of an activity.

 Abraham Maslows (18901970) Self-actualization Theory of Learning

Maslows self-actualization theory is based on the satisfaction of human needs. Once the basic needs are satisfied, the child can reach self-actualization, or selffulfillment--the highest human need. Recognition and approval are self-esteem needs that relate to success and accomplishment. Children who are independent and responsible, and who achieve, will have high selfesteem Self-esteem increases the possibilities of achievement. When children have a sense of satisfaction, they are enthusiastic, and are eager to learn and become involved in activities that will lead to higher levels of learning.

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Morrison, 2004. Early Childhood Education Today

 Erik Eriksons (19021994) Theory of Psychosocial Development

Eriksons theory of psychosocial development is based on the premise that cognitive and social development occur hand in hand and cannot be separated. Childrens personalities and social skills grow and develop within the context of society and in response to societys demands, expectations, values, a social institutions such as families, schools, and child care programs.

School-age children must deal with demands to learn new skills or risk a sense of incompetence they either develop an ability to do, be involved, be competent, and achieve or a feeling of inferiority, failure, and incompetence.

Atkinson- Shiffrin Model of Memory

Multi Store Model of Human Memory

In 1968 Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed a model of human memory which posited two distinct memory stores: shortterm memory, and long-term memory. Later a third memory store (actually the first in sequence) was added: sensory memory.

 Information enters the human information processing system via a variety of channels associated with the different senses.

Sensory Memory
Information not immediately attended to is held briefly in a very temporary "buffer" memory, making it possible to attend to some of it a bit later. This buffer memory is called sensory memory.

There is a sensory memory for vision, called iconic memory

One for audition (hearing), called echoic memory.

 And one for touch- haptic memory

Iconic Memory (vision) Capacity: Essentially that of the visual system Duration: About 0.3 to 1.0 seconds Processing: None additional beyond raw perceptual processing

Echoic Memory (hearing) Capacity: ???? Duration: About 3-4 seconds Processing: None additional beyond raw perceptual processing

 Haptic memory is a form of sensory memory that refers to the recollection of data acquired by touch after a stimulus has been presented. Similar to visual iconic memory, traces of haptically acquired information are short lived and prone to decay after approximately two seconds.

Short Term Memory

Information that is attended to arrives in another temporary store called short-term or working memory.

Some properties of STM:

Capacity: About 7 plus or minus 2 "chunks" of information. Duration: About 18-20 seconds (average). Processing: To hold information in STM, it is often encoded verbally, although other strategies may also be used such as visualisation. These strategies make it possible to "rehearse" the information.

 The low capacity of STM was first noted by George Miller in a famous paper entitled The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.

Miller concluded that about seven (plus or minus two) "chunks" of information could reside in STM simultaneously.

Random letters such as "GJK" would each be considered a chunk, but letters that form a recognisable larger whole, such as "CAR" would not. (In this case the word "car" is a single chunk.)

 Information is STM can be held for a duration of being 18 and 20 seconds provided there isnt interference- that is new, information interfering with the currently attended to information.

 Information in STM can be held in STM via a method called maintenance rehearsal- that is, repeating the information silently or aloud so that it is recalled immediately when needed.

 Maintenance rehearsal does NOT add meaning to the information and is unlikely to be remembered when it is no longer being repeated.

Long Term Memory

Long-term memory is the relatively permanent memory store in which you hold information even when you are no longer attending to it.

 Information held in LTM is not represented as patterns of neural activity (as in STM), but rather as changes in brain wiring -- in the "conductivity" of existing synapses, and in the formation new synapses and destruction of old ones.

 Storing information in LTM is equivalent to a computer writing information out to its hard drive, or to a tape recorder writing patterns of magnetisation onto tape to record music.

Some properties of LTM:

Capacity: Virtually unlimited Duration: Up to a lifetime Processing: Information is organized according to meaning and is associatively linked.

In contrast to maintenance rehearsal in STM, elaborative rehearsal involves the process of expanding upon new info by adding to it or linking it to what one knows, thereby making it more meaningful (for encoding and retrieval).

Self referencing/ Salience

Self-referencing, or using salience, is when we relate new info to personal experiences and our personal situation, encoding is enhanced and therefore we are more likely to remember it.