Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad

Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics

Submmitted by ISHRAT NAZ
Roll No CA565977 Semester Spring,2020

Course Education Psychology and the Management of learning( 5664 )

Address Dist and Tehsil Swabi ,Moh Karam khail ,Post Office Kala khuro.

Phone Number 0314 – 9763829

Submitted to Aneela Naz

Phone Number 03438542809 – 4431166

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

Q.1 Explain the following terms with examples:

a. Convergent and divergent modes of thinking.

Ans . Convergent Modes of thinking. Convergence is commonly defined as “the ability to use logical
and evaluative thinking to critique and narrow ideas to ones best suited for given situations, or set
criteria.”. It is focused on finding the “single, best, ‘correct’ answer to a standard problem in the shortest
time.” It emphasizes the personal characteristics of speed, accuracy, logic, and focuses on accumulating
information, recognizing the familiar, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already known. When
asked “What does an engineer do?” one company web-site stated “engineers find solutions.” They then
provided a list of problems that an engineer finds answers to. This list included:

• How can we make a glass building stand 1,776 feet tall? • How can we make a cell phone take a
picture? These are very well defined problems that can be solved through a predominantly convergent
process. Convergence is at the core of the engineering process.

Divergent Modes of thinking. Divergence can be defined by the ability to “generate many, or more
complex or complicated, ideas from one idea or from simple ideas or triggers”. It is aimed at
“‘discovering’ problems and looking for solutions by means of branching out, making unexpected
associations, applying the known in unusual ways, seeing unexpected implications”. Divergent thinking is
one of the stereotypes of creativity as a whole. In order to become “creative”, emphasis is placed on a
person developing and adopting a more divergent process and developing personal characteristics such as
openness, tolerance for ambiguity, and willingness to take risks. The additional characteristics of
curiosity, courage of ones convictions, openness, flexibility, and nonconformity are also seen as being

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fundamental to creativity. Using the same examples given above in the section on convergence, someone
using divergent thinking as the predominant model for creativity would ask:

• Who is in the building, and what are they doing. Could the same thing be done underground? • Why
does a cell phone user need a recordable image? Would they be just as happy with a recorded sound?
Divergence is at the core of the industrial design process.

b. Formal operation stage (in cognitive development).

Ans. Formal operation stage: The formal operational stage is the fourth and final stage of Jean
Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It begins at approximately age 12 and lasts into adulthood.At
this point in development, thinking becomes much more sophisticated and advanced. Kids can think
about abstract and theoretical concepts and use logic to come up with creative solutions to problems.
Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this
stage.Piaget tested formal operational thought in a few different ways. Two of the better-known tests
explored physical conceptualization and the abstraction of thought.

Conceptualizing Balance: One task involved having children of different ages balance a scale by
hooking weights on each end. To balance the scale, the children needed to understand that both the
heaviness of the weights and distance from the center played a role. Younger children around the ages of
3 and 5 were unable to complete the task because they did not understand the concept of balance. Seven-
year-olds knew that they could adjust the scale by placing weights on each end, but failed to understand
that where they put the weights was also important. By age 10, the kids considered location as well as
weight but had to arrive at the correct answer using trial-and-error.It wasn't until around age 13 that
children could use logic to form a hypothesis about where to place the weights to balance the scale and
then complete the task.

Abstraction of Ideas: In another experiment on formal operational thought, Piaget asked children to
imagine where they would want to place a third eye if they had one. Younger children said that they
would put the imagined third eye in the middle of their forehead. Older children, however, were able to
come up with a variety of creative ideas about where to place this hypothetical eye and various ways the
eye could be used.For example, an eye in the middle of one's hand would be useful for looking around
corners. An eye at the back of one's head could be helpful for seeing what is happening in the
background.

c.Learning domains (cognative ,affective and psychomotor).

Learning Domains There are three main domains of learning and all teachers should know about
them and use them to construct lessons. These domains are cognitive (thinking), affective
(emotion/feeling), and psychomotor (physical/kinesthetic). Each domain has a taxonomy
associated with it. Taxonomy is simply a word for a classification. All of the taxonomies below
are arranged so that they proceed from the simplest to more complex levels. The domains of
learning were first developed and described between 1956-1972.Bloom was involved in
describing both the cognitive and the affective domains, he appeared as first author on the

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cognitive domain. As a result this bore his name for years and was commonly known among
educators as Bloom's Taxonomy .

Cognitive domains : According to various researchers there are six levels of cognitive complexity:
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation.Which means that higher levels
subsume ability in lower levels. The higher the level, the presumably more complex mental operation is
required. Higher levels are not necessarily more desirable than lower levels, because one cannot achieve
the higher levels without an ability to use the lower levels. As one moves up into higher levels, however,
the more applicable the skills are to those needed in daily life.
Affective Domains : Like the cognitive domain, the affective domain is hierarchical with higher levels
being more complex and depending upon mastery of the lower levels. With movement to more
complexity, one becomes more involved, committed, and self-reliant. Note the parallel between external
and internal motivation. As one moves from being externally to internally motivated, one moves to higher
levels.
Pschomotor Domains: This domain is given primarily for information. Other courses within the
curriculum stress this various levels of psychomotor performance. Psychomotor behaviors are performed
actions that are neuromuscular in nature and demand certain levels of physical dexterity.
d. Discovery Learning.
Ans. Discovery Learning. Discovery Learning is an active, hands-on style of learning where the student
participates actively in the learning process rather than passively receiving knowledge as if he were an
empty vessel to be filled by the instructor. It is an approach to instruction through which students interact
with their environment by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and
controversies, or performing experiments and is supported by the theories of learning and
understanding from cognitive psychology and constructivist ideologies. Students are encouraged to think,
ask questions, hypothesize, speculate, cooperate and collaborate with others and develop confidence in
problem solving and in using what is in their own minds. A Discovery Learning classroom needs to be
full of resources, and more of them, including access to books, videos, magazines, computers, even
experts in the field. It was evident that real Discovery Learning was being taken up at the special Science
school where students had ongoing communication with each other.

Discovery learning can be used as suitable techniques of teaching English especially in the
implementation of three phase listening method. The advantage of the three-phase listening method is that
the students will acquire the experience needed to understand the listening material step by step through
the –pre, while-, and post listening process. There are several advantages in discovery learning models
like (1) this learning model has several phase, those are stimulation, problem statement, data collection,
data processing, verification, and generalization; (2) this learning model could be implemented in
accordance with the listening aspect characteristics which have 3 phases those are pre-listening, while-
listening, and post-listening; (3) this learning model is suitable with the learning approach in the
curriculum which was called scientific approach which include observing, questioning, rationalizing,
associating, and communicating.

e. Concept and principles.

Ans. Concept and principles.

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Conceptualizing is a form of categorizing .And categorizing is the means by which the objects around us
are identified, a means of reducing the complexity of the environment. Categorizing ,or conceptualizing
,also reduces the need for constant learning ;once we realize that certain things fall into a certain class, we
can understand their nature without relearning the definition of that class for every new member of the
class ,we encounter.

Concepts may be concrete or abstract. Either type, in order to be a concept, must have a set of critical or
defining attributes, the properties which make it unique which distinguish it as a class.

Abstract concepts are sometimes called defined concepts; because they are abstract, they cannot be seen
and must be learned by definition. Abstract concepts include such concepts as wide and poetry and
knowledge all of which can be defined although they cannot be seen. But the abstract thought made
possible by such concepts is characteristic of the highest level of human thought.

The learning is based on the learning concepts, because a principle is ,by definition , a statement of
relationship between concepts. A principle states a relationship between classes of events which enable us
to :

 Predict consequences
 Explain events
 Infer causes
 Control situations
 Solve problems.

Principles , make transfer of learning possible, Once a student understand a principle, he /she can apply
that principle in new situation and can use that understanding to solve problems.

Q.2 Summarize the theory of cognitive development given by Jean Piaget while focusing on four
stages of cognitive development (in human beings) and explaining them with your own examples.
Ans. Theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of
mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but
also on understanding the nature of intelligence. Piaget's stages are:

 Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

 Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as
they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the world

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around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously
held ideas to accommodate new information.

How Piaget Developed the Theory; Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a
precocious student, publishing his first scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure
to the intellectual development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and
Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test.

Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of his
own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that children's minds
were not merely smaller versions of adult minds. Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that
grows and develops through a series of stages. Older children do not just think more quickly than younger
children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between the
thinking of young children versus older children. Based on his observations, he concluded that children
were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's
discovery "so simple only a genius could have thought of it."Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive
development of children. Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive process and abilities. 2 In
Piaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses to
changes in mental operations.

The Stages :Through his observations of his children, Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual
development that included four distinct stages:

The Sensorimotor Stage

Ages: Birth to 2 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
 Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and
listening
 Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)
 They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
 They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them

During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through
sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A child's entire experience at the earliest period of this
stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses. It is during the sensor motor stage that
children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As kids interact with their environment,
they are continually making new discoveries about how the world works.The cognitive development that
occurs during this period takes place over a relatively short period of time and involves a great deal of
growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also
learn a great deal about language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage
down into a number of different sub stages. It is during the final part of the sensorimotor stage that early

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representational thought emerges.By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they
have an existence of their own outside of individual perception, children are then able to begin to attach
names and words to objects.

 The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development

The Preoperational Stage

Ages: 2 to 7 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.
 Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of
others.
 While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in
very concrete terms.

The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous stage, but it is the
emergence of language that is one of the major hallmarks of the preoperational stage of development.
Children become much more skilled at pretend play during this stage of development, yet continue to
think very concretely about the world around them. At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still
struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people.
For example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a child
the choice between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact ball while
the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Since the flat shape looks larger, the preoperational child
will likely choose that piece even though the two pieces are exactly the same size.

 Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development in Young Children

The Concrete Operational Stage

Ages: 7 to 11 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes

 During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events
 They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide
cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
 Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
 Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general
principle

While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in development, they
become much more adept at using logic. 2 The egocentrism of the previous stage begins to disappear as
kids become better at thinking about how other people might view a situation.While thinking becomes
much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can also be very rigid. Kids at this point in

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development tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.During this stage, children also
become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in the
concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not
everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

 The Concrete Operational Stage in Cognitive Development

The Formal Operational Stage

Ages: 12 and Up

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about
hypothetical problems
 Abstract thought emerges
 Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that
require theoretical and abstract reasoning
 Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information

The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and
an understanding of abstract ideas. At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential
solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around them.The ability to thinking
about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive
development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about hypothetical situations are
also critical abilities that emerge during this stage. It is important to note that Piaget did not view
children's intellectual development as a quantitative process; that is, kids do not just add more information
and knowledge to their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is
a qualitative change in how children think as they gradually process through these four stages. A child at
age 7 doesn't just have more information about the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental
change in how he thinks about the world.
Important Concepts: To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development,
it is important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget.
The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow:
Schemas

A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing.
Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piaget's view,
a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. As
experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing
schemas. For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's sole
experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have four
legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new
information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations.

Assimilation:

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The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The
process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly to fit in
with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is a case of
assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema.

Accommodation:
Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information,
a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a
result of new information or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process.

Equilibration:
Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is
achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of
cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge
(assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration
helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.
Q.3 Cognitive psychologists believe that learning is a pure mental process and may not be
necessarily observed every time. It is like information processing as when we learn we
connect it with our pervious Knowledge. How far do you agree with this idea? Provide
examples from your personal observation as a language teacher in support of your
argument.
Ans. Cognitive psychologists believe that learning is a pure mental process and may not be
necessarily observed every time. It is like information processing as when we learn we connect it with
our pervious Knowledge

How do we learn things? The answers to this age-old question have been examined and analyzed by many
scientists. There are plenty of prominent theories explaining cognitive development and helping us to

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understand the foundation of knowledge. One of the most prominent answers to the question has come
from a Swiss psychologist, Jean Piget. What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development? Let’s examine
the theory and its core concepts, before analyzing its applications and the critique the theory has received.

Who was Jean Piaget?

Jean Piaget was a psychologist, who became famous for creating his scientific theory about the
intellectual development of children. He was born in Switzerland in 1896, showing an interest towards
nature and science from an early age. When he was just 10 years old, he published a scientific paper about
albino sparrow in a naturalist magazine. Piaget gained his Ph.D. in natural history at the age of 22 at the
University of Neuchatel, after which he gained formal training in psychology.

Piaget’s interest in cognitive development of children was further increased by his nephew Gerard, and
specifically how he played around with toys in ways that seemed irrational to adults. When Piaget had his
daughter Jacqueline, he paid specific interest in her early development. These observations reinforced his
idea that children’s minds aren’t just miniature adult brains, but that development and intelligence are
gained in stages. He believed strongly that education is the greatest strengths of humankind and said

“only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual”.

Piaget was one of the first psychologists to construct a systematic understanding of cognitive
development – how do we learn? How do we gain intelligence? He contributed to a number of fields,
including children’s cognitive development but also genetic epistemology. In 1955, Piaget founded the
International Center for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva. He worked on the faculty of the University of
Geneva and as the director of the Center until his death in 1980.

The essence of Piaget’s theory

Albert Einstein once called Piaget’s discoveries of cognitive development as, “so simply only a genius
could have thought of it”. As the above shows, Piaget’s theory was born out of observations of children,
especially as they were conducting play. When he was analyzing the results of the intelligence test, he
noticed that young children provide qualitatively different answers to older children.
This suggested to him younger children are not dumber, since this would be a quantitative position – an
older child is smarter with more experience. Instead, the children simply answered differently because
they thought of things differently. Similarly, when Piaget observed his nephew Gerard playing with a
ball, he noticed something that to adults seems irrational. When the ball rolled out of sight under a sofa,
Gerard began looking at it from the spot he last saw the ball, not under the sofa. These observations
reinforced his idea that young children and older children have qualitative and quantitative differences in
thinking.
At the heart of Piaget’s theory is the idea that   children are born with a basic mental structure, which
provides the structure for future learning and knowledge.   He saw development as a progressive
reorganisation of these mental processes.   This came about due to biological maturation, as well as
environmental experience.
We are essentially constructing a world around us in which we try to align things that we already know
and what we suddenly discover. Through the process, a child develops knowledge and intelligence, which
helps him or her to reason and think independently. Instead of there being a gradual increase in the

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complexity of behavior and ideas, development is marked by qualitative differences. We simply don’t yet
have a proper alignment of things we know with things we discover. Therefore, Piaget’s theory has two
core aspects to it:
We first construct our image of the world – coming to know something.
We then go through stages of implementing the knowledge with what the world around us is telling –
discovering the discrepancies.
The below clip is a great illustration of Piaget’s theory in a nutshell:

THREE COMPONENTS OF THE THEORY

The theory is built around three core components: schemas, equilibrium, assimilation and
accommodation, and the different stages of development.

Schemas

A schema is a description of both the mental and physical actions required in understanding and knowing.
It’s a category of knowledge used in interpreting and understanding the world – the building blocks of
knowledge. Without them, you would find the world incomprehensible. The world with its things
wouldn’t mean anything.

But schemas provide you a way to organize your knowledge, creating units of objects, actions and
abstract concepts. According to Piaget’s own definition of schema, from his 1952 book The origins of
intelligence in children, they are,

“a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and
governed by a core meaning”.

You have many schemas about a variety of things. An example could be your schema about potatoes –
what do you know about them? Your knowledge might be based on your experiences; they taste good
when baked, they have an outer layer and they are grown underground. Your schema is essentially the
knowledge you have (they grow under the ground) and your experiences of the object/idea (they taste
good when baked). Therefore, a schema will change over time.Piaget thought schemas to have this ability
to change as people process more experiences. According to his theory, a child would modify, add or
change the existing schemas as new information or experiences occur. So, if the child would one day eat a
disgusting potato, he or she would add to the existing schema. Potatoes wouldn’t be just tasty, but could
have the occasional foul taste to them. Piaget’s ideas of schemas were driven by his background in
biology. He saw the schemas as mental organizations controlling behavior or adaptation to the
environment. Furthermore, as you gain maturity, the schemas become more complex. For instance, your
schema about potatoes becomes much wider; perhaps you gain more information about the different
varieties, you understand how different potatoes taste different and so on.

Piaget suggested that the schemas eventually become organized in a hierarchical order, from a general
schema to a specific schema. An infant has a schema, such as the sucking reflex. When something
touches the baby’s lips, they start sucking. On the other hand, as you grow older these schemas become
less genetic and more about our surroundings. You don’t go to a restaurant, pay the bill, eat the food, and
then order. You do it all in reverse order and this is an example of a complex schema.

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Equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation: The second fundamental concept is the compilation of
three concepts: equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation. Out of these three, assimilation and
accommodation are the two core processes people use in order to adapt to the environment – the attempt
to make sense of new information and to use it for future.

On the other hand, equilibrium is the attempt to strike a balance between the schemas in your head and
then what the environment is telling.

Assimilation

When you take in new information regarding your existing schema, you are assimilating. When you
encounter French fries and identify it as potato, you are assimilating the French fries into your pre-
existing schema. You are essentially using a pre-existing schema to deal with a new experience, situation,
object or idea. You take the French fries and assimilate them inside a schema, instead of creating a new
one. The process of assimilation is a subjective occurrence, since we are always modifying experiences
and information in a way that fits our pre-existing beliefs. A young child might have an image of a clown
and according to his or her schema, clowns have shaved heads and lots of frizzy hair on the sides. When
the child encounters a man with the haircut (even without clown costumes and the like), the child might
point to him and say “clown”.

Accommodation

Assimilation is the first attempt of understanding new information and experiences, with accommodation
adding another solution if the above is insufficient. In accommodation, you try to modify your existing
schemas and ideas, with the process giving you a new experience or knowledge and often resulting in the
birth of new schemas. For example, you might see French fries, but after biting into them realise they are
made from sweet potato. You therefore, accommodate your existing schema (not everything that looks
like French fries is potato) and add or create a new schema (you can use sweet potato to make French
fries). You are changing the existing structures or the knowledge you have to fit the environment around
you. Generally, accommodation is a result of a failure of the schema. The existing knowledge you have
simply doesn’t work in the situation you are in – the French fries just don’t taste like potato, no matter
how hard you try. Therefore, to overcome this obstacle, you change, add and modify your strategy or
schema. If you think about the example of the child and the clown, the child’s parent might explain how
the man is not a clown, but that the hairstyle was just something he has and it isn’t there for laughs. Now
the child would need to change the schema of clown to include other things (making people laugh, red
nose, funny costume) in order for it to work.

Equilibrium

Finally, you have the idea of equilibrium, which Piaget believed to be the child’s attempt to strike a
balance between the two mechanisms: assimilation and accommodation. Piaget believed it to be the
mechanism children use in order to move from one stage of thought to the other.

The process involves the child applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing the behaviour if
the knowledge is not aligned with the new knowledge (accommodation). The process is beautifully
illustrated in the below image. Cognitive development is not a steady process according to Piaget’s
theory. Instead of knowledge being something we gain at a steady rate, we tend to develop in leaps and

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bounds. Therefore, equilibrium occurs in different ways and is the key process children, specifically, use
to move beyond simply assimilating things. You could think of equilibrium as a sort of balance restoring
process.

Q.4 How would you differentiate among “fact ,concepts and principles” and their roles in cognitive
development of human beings? Provide examples from your own contexts and using your own
words.

Ans. Fact ,concepts and principles” and their roles in cognitive development of human beings

Verbal information is the cornerstone of learning ;it often serves as a necessary prerequisite for further
learning .Verbal informational consists largely of facts ,of names, labels and basic knowledge.
The student must have verbakl information names, facts,readily available in his memory at the he
undertakes the learning of new knowledge or new intellectual skills. When we talk about the learning of
facts, we mean learning information and demonstrating learning by giving it back verbally or in writing.
Learning facts,therefore ,closely parallels the basic pattern of learning are attention,acquisition
,retention,transfer,performance and feedback.
1. They learn even as babies.

Children possess and demonstrate all the main types of learning; including statistical learning, learning by
imitation, learning by analogy and causal learning; even as babies. This includes learning the relationships
between the sounds that underpin language acquisition, or the visual features that specify natural categories
or concepts such as bird, tree, car.

2. Learning in young children is socially mediated.

Families, carers, peers and teachers are all important. Consequently, the quality of the learning
environments created by families, schools and the wider culture is critical for children’s development.
Even basic perceptual learning mechanisms require social interaction to be effective. This limits the
applicability of educational approaches such as e-learning in the early years.

3. The young child’s brain has basically the same structures as the adult brain.

These structures carry out the same functions via the same mechanisms. For example, a concept in science
may depend on neurons being simultaneously active in visual, spatial, memory, deductive and
kinaestheticregions, in both brain hemispheres. Ideas such as left-brain/right-brain learning, or unisensory
‘learning styles’ (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic) are not supported by the brain science of learning.

4. Children think and reason largely in the same ways as adults.

But, they lack experience and are still developing the ability to think about their own thinking and learning
(metacognition) and to regulate their own behavior and interactions. They need diverse experiences in the
classroom to help them develop these self-reflective and self-regulatory skills.

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5. Children construct causal frameworks to make sense of their experiences.

Knowledge gained through active experience, language, pretend play and teaching are all important for the
development of children’s causal explanatory systems. The biases in children’s explanations, which reflect
a general human tendency to seek information that appears to confirm one’s theories, should be recognized
and worked with by teachers.

6. Young children learn new words at an exponential rate.

Acquiring 10+ words daily, the median vocabulary is 55 words at 16 months, 225 words at 23 months and
over 6000 words by age six.The developmental range stretches from a vocabulary of 0 words to over 500
words at age two. Children who enter school with impoverished language skills require immediate support.

7. Incremental experience is crucial for learning and knowledge construction.

The brain learns from every experienced event, but because cognitive representations are distributed across
networks of neurons, cumulative learning is crucial. There is stronger representation of what is common
across learning experiences, and there are multiple representations of experience (e.g. motor and visual
representations). This supports the value of multi-sensory approaches to teaching.

8. Differential exposure will lead to differential learning.

As an example, one of the most important determinants of reading fluency is how much text the child
actually reads, including outside the classroom.

9. Genetic differences between children influence development.

However, the fact that genes influence development makes it even more important to provide optimal early
learning environments for all children so that environmental differences and genetic differences are not
additive in their effects.

10. Pretend play and the imagination are important for cognitive development.

In the early years of education, pretend play helps children to reflect upon and regulate their own cognitive
behavior, and to reflect upon and gain a deeper understanding of the mind. Pretending is more effective
when carried out with other children and when scaffolded by adults.
Conceptualizing is a form of categorizing .And categorizing is the means by which the objects around us
are identified, a means of reducing the complexity of the environment. Categorizing ,or conceptualizing
,also reduces the need for constant learning ;once we realize that certain things fall into a certain class, we
can understand their nature without relearning the definition of that class for every new member of the
class ,we encounter.

Concepts may be concrete or abstract. Either type, in order to be a concept, must have a set of critical or
defining attributes, the properties which make it unique which distinguish it as a class.

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Abstract concepts are sometimes called defined concepts; because they are abstract, they cannot be seen
and must be learned by definition. Abstract concepts include such concepts as wide and poetry and
knowledge all of which can be defined although they cannot be seen. But the abstract thought made
possible by such concepts is characteristic of the highest level of human thought.

Learning principles are laws of learning. They provide a research-based and conceptual foundation for
how people learn. Learning principles add insight into what makes people learn most effectively. These
learning principles should consistently guide all TPS staff in their instructional and other decisions.
Evidence of these principles should be apparent in classroom instruction.

The learning is based on the learning concepts, because a principle is ,by definition , a statement of
relationship between concepts.Principles , make transfer of learning possible, Once a student understand a
principle, he /she can apply that principle in new situation and can use that understanding to solve
problems.

The classification of learning according to Robert Gagné includes five kinds of learned capabilities:
intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, verbal information, attitudes, and motor skills. The Gagné
taxonomy is perhaps the most popular of the many learning taxonomies in the field of instructional design
(Reigeluth, 1983). It's popularity can be attributed best for its ability to clearly distinguish between
abstract and concrete definitions of learning (Seels & Glasgow, 1990).

Motor Skills refers to bodily movements involving muscular activity. Examples might be: Starting a car,
shooting a target, swinging a golf club.

Attitude is an internal state which affects an indiviudal's hoice of action toward some object, person, or
event. Examples might be: Choosing to visit an art museum, writing letters in pursuit of a cause.

Verbal Information include: 1) Labels and Facts and 2) Bodies of Knowledge.

1) Labels and facts refer to naming or making a verbal response to a specific input. The response may be
naming or citing a fact or set of facts. The repsonse may be vocal or written. Examples: Naming objects,
people, or events. Recalling a person's birthday or hobbies. Stating the capitals of the United States.

2) Bodies of Knowledge refers to recalling a large body of interconnected facts. Example: paraphrasing

the menaing of textual materials or stating rules and regulations. Example: Paraphrasing the menaing of
textual materials. Stating rules and regulations.

Cognitive Strategy is an internal process by which the learner controls his/her own ways of thinking and
learning. Example: Engaging in self-testing to decide how much study is needed; knowing what sorts of
questions to ask to best define a domain of knowledge; ability to form a mental model of the problem.

Intellectual Skills include 1) Discrimination 2) Concrete concept 3) Rule using and 4) Problem solving.
These are the four levels within the intellectual skills domain that Gagné identified as his taxonomy.

Discrimination is making different responses to the different members of a particular class. Seeing the
essential differences between inputs and responding differently to each. Example: Distinguishing yellow
finches from house finches on the basis of markings; having to tell the differences between gauges on an
instrument panel.

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Concrete concept is responding in a single way to all members of a particular class of observable events.
Seeing the essential similarity among a class of objects, people, or events, which calls for a single
response. Example: Classifying music as jazz, country western, rock, etc.; saying "round upon seeing a
manhole cover, a penny, and the moon.

Rule using is applying a rule to a given situation or condition by responding to a class of inputs with a
class of actions. Relating two or more simpler concepts in the particular manner of a rule. A rule states the
relationship among concepts. Examples: It is helpful to think of rules or principles as "if-then" statements.
"If a task is a procedure, then use flowcharting to analyze the task." "If you can convert a statement into
an 'if-then' statement, then it is a rule or principle."

Problem solving is combining lower level rules to solve problems in a situation never encountered by the
person solving the problem. May involve generating new rules which receive trial and error use until the
one that solves the problem is found.

Q.5 a) What are the problem solving techniques? Explain how you would
teach problem-solving by highlighting your teaching strategies.
Definition

The term problem solving has a slightly different meaning depending on the discipline. For instance, it is
a mental process in psychology and a computerized process in computer science. There are two different
types of problems: ill-defined and well-defined; different approaches are used for each. Well-defined
problems have specific end goals and clearly expected solutions, while ill-defined problems do not. Well-
defined problems allow for more initial planning than ill-defined problems. Solving problems sometimes
involves dealing with pragmatics, the way that context contributes to meaning, and semantics, the
interpretation of the problem. The ability to understand what the end goal of the problem is, and what
rules could be applied represents the key to solving the problem. Sometimes the problem requires abstract
thinking or coming up with a creative solution. Problem solving in psychology refers to the process of
finding solutions to problems encountered in life. Solutions to these problems are usually situation or
context-specific. The process starts with problem finding and problem shaping, where the problem is
discovered and simplified. The next step is to generate possible solutions and evaluate them. Finally a
solution is selected to be implemented and verified. Problems have an end goal to be reached and how
you get there depends upon problem orientation (problem-solving coping style and skills) and systematic
analysis. Mental health professionals study the human problem solving processes using methods such
as introspection, behaviorism, simulation, computer modeling, and experiment. Social psychologists look
into the person-environment relationship aspect of the problem and independent and interdependent
problem-solving methods. Problem solving has been defined as a higher-order cognitive process
and intellectual function that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills

Problem-solving strategies

Problem-solving strategies are the steps that one would use to find the problems that are in the way to
getting to one's own goal. Some refer to this as the "problem-solving cycle”. In this cycle one will

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recognize the problem, define the problem, develop a strategy to fix the problem, organize the knowledge
of the problem cycle, figure out the resources at the user's disposal, monitor one's progress, and evaluate
the solution for accuracy. The reason it is called a cycle is that once one is completed with a problem
another will usually pop up.

Insight is the sudden solution to a long-vexing problem, a sudden recognition of a new idea, or a sudden
understanding of a complex situation, an Aha! moment. Solutions found through insight are often more
accurate than those found through step-by-step analysis. To solve more problems at a faster rate, insight is
necessary for selecting productive moves at different stages of the problem-solving cycle. This problem-
solving strategy pertains specifically to problems referred to as insight problem.

Blanchard-Fields looks at problem solving from one of two facets. The first looking at those problems
that only have one solution (like mathematical problems, or fact-based questions) which are grounded in
psychometric intelligence. The other is socioemotional in nature and have answers that change constantly
(like what's your favorite color or what you should get someone for Christmas).

The following techniques are usually called  problem-solving strategies.

Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it to the real system

Analogy: using a solution that solves an analogous problem

Brainstorming: (especially among groups of people) suggesting a large number of solutions or ideas and
combining and developing them until an optimum solution is found

Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems

Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove (or, in some
contexts, disprove) the assumption

Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively

Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal

Method of focal objects: synthesizing seemingly non-matching characteristics of different objects into
something new

Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire system

Proof: try to prove that the problem cannot be solved. The point where the proof fails will be the starting
point for solving it

Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions exist

Research: employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar problems

Root cause analysis: identifying the cause of a problem

Trial-and-error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found

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b) What is creativity and what are the attributes of creative people?

Ans.Creativity

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item
may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical
object (such as an invention, a printed literary work, or a painting).Creativity is a combined power, and
over the years individuals are able to expand internal reservoir of means as intelligence, wisdom,
imagination and all the fragments of mind which have acquired from being conscious, alive and wakeful
to the universe in an incredibly new manner.

Creativity consists of four elements. These parts include creative processes, creative individual, creative
product and creative environment. In this century, creativity has always been at the core of corporations,
schools and basically which is a key of successful life. However, creativity has always been the subject of
researchers in fields ranging from anthropology to neuroscience.Creativity allows us to stretch out minds,
do new and exciting things, and engage ourselves in a way that takes us one step closer to reaching our
full potential. So what is it exactly that makes a person creative? Are some people just born that way, or is
it a skill that you can develop much like a muscle?

Some people possess what he refers to as a creative personality. While some people certainly come by
these tendencies naturally, incorporating a few of these creative practices into your daily life might just
help you achieve your full creative potential.

10 skills he believes that creative people possess.

Creative People Are Energetic, but Focused

Creative people have a great deal of energy, both physical and mental. They can spend hours working on
a single thing that holds their attention, yet seem to remain enthusiastic all the while.This doesn't mean
that creative people are hyperactive or manic. They are imaginative and curious and spend a great deal of
time at rest, quietly thinking and reflecting on the things that hold their interest.

Creative People Are Smart, but Also Naive

Creative people tend to be smart, but research in 2013 has shown that having a very high IQ is not
necessarily correlated with higher levels of creative achievement - personality traits are important too.

In Lewis Terman's famous longitudinal study of gifted children, for example, children with high IQs kids
were shown to do better in life overall, but those with very high IQ weren't exactly creative geniuses.
Very few of those involved in the study demonstrated high levels of artistic achievement later in life.

Creative people are smart, but they are able to maintain their sense of wonder, curiosity, and ability to
look at the world with fresh eyes.

Creative People Are Playful, Yet Disciplined

When working on a project, creative people tend to exhibit determination and doggedness. They will
work for hours on something, often staying up late into the night until they are satisfied with their work.
Consider what you would think when you meet someone who is an artist.

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On the surface, it sounds exciting, romantic, and glamorous. And for many, being an artist certainly does
involve a great deal of excitement. But being a successful artist is also a lot of work, which is what many
people fail to see. A creative person, however, realizes that real creativity involves combining both the
fun and the hard work.

Creative People Are Realistic Dreamers

Creative people like to daydream and imagine the possibilities and wonders of the world. They can
immerse themselves in imagination and fantasy, yet remain grounded in reality. They are often described
as dreamers, but that doesn’t mean that they live with their heads in the clouds.Creative types, ranging
from scientists to artists to musicians, can come up with imaginative solutions to real-world issues.Great
art and great science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. The rest
of society often views these new ideas as fantasies without relevance to current reality. And they are right.
But the whole point of art and science is to go beyond what we now consider real and create a new
reality.

Creative People Are Extroverted and Introverted

Creative people, he believes, are both extroverted and introverted. Research has shown that people do
tend to be either more extroverted or introverted and that these traits are remarkably stable.Creative
people tend to exhibit characteristics of both introversion and extraversion at the same time.They are both
gregarious and reticent, sociable and quiet. Interacting with others can generate ideas and inspiration, and
retreating to a quiet place allows creative individuals to fully explore these sources of creativity.

Creative People Are Proud, Yet Modest

Highly creative people tend to be proud of their achievements and accomplishments, yet they are also
aware of their place. They have tremendous respect for others who work in their field and the influence
that those previous innovations have had on their work. They can see that their work is often remarkable
in comparison to that of others, but it is not something they focus on.

Creative People Are Not Weighed Down by Rigid Gender Roles

The creative individuals resist, to at least some degree, the often rigid gender stereotypes and roles that
society often tries to enforce. Creative girls and women tend to be more dominant than other girls, he
suggests, while creative boys and men are less aggressive and more sensitive than other males.
"A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses," he explains.
"Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the
other one, too."

Creative People Are Conservative, Yet Rebellious

Creative people are "out-of-the-box" thinkers by definition, and we often think of them as non-conformist
and even a little bit rebellious.Creativity requires being both traditional and iconoclastic. Being able to
appreciate and even embrace the past, while still seeking new and improved ways of doing things.
Creative people can be conservative in many ways, yet they know that innovation sometimes means
taking risks.

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Creative People Are Passionate, but Objective About Their Work

Creative people don't just enjoy their work — they dearly and passionately love what they do. But just
being passionate about something does not necessarily lead to great work. Creative people love their
work, but they are also objective about it and willing to be critical (and take criticism) of it. They are able
to separate themselves from their work and see areas that need work and improvement.

Creative People Are Sensitive and Open to Experience, but Happy and Joyful

The act of creating something, of coming up with new ideas and taking risks, often opens people up to
criticism and even scorn. It can be painful, even devastating, to devote years to something only to have it
rejected, ignored, or ridiculed.But being open to the creative experience is also a source of great joy. It
can bring tremendous happiness, and many creative people believe that such feelings are well worth the
trade-off for any possible pain.

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