Q.1 explain the concept nature and scope of psychology.

How does an
educational psychology help the teacher for effective teaching?
What is Educational Psychology?
Educational psychology is that branch of psychology in which the findings of psychology
are applied in the field of education. It is the scientific study of human behaviour in
educational setting.

According to Charles. E. Skinner, “Educational psychology deals with the behaviour of

human beings in educational situations”.

Thus educational psychology is a behavioural science with two main references– human
behaviour and education.

In the words of E.A. Peel, “Educational Psychology is the science of Education”.

Education by all means is an attempt to mould and shape the behaviour of the pupil. It
aims to produce desirable changes in him for the all-round development of his
personality.

The essential knowledge and skill to do this job satisfactorily is supplied by Educational
Psychology. In the words of E.A. Peel, “Educational psychology helps the teacher to
understand the development of his pupils, the range and limits of their capacities, the
processes by which they learn and their social relationships.”

In this way, the work of the Educational Psychologists resembles with that of an
Engineer, who is a technical expert. The Engineer supplies all the knowledge and skill
essential for the accomplishment of the job satisfactorily… for example, construction of
a bridge.

In the same way Educational Psychologists, who is a technical expert in the field of
Education, supplies all the information, principles and techniques essential for
understanding the behaviour of the pupil in response to educational environment and
desired modification of his behaviour to bring an all-round development of his
personality.

In this way, it is quite reasonable to call Educational Psychology as a science and

technology of Education.

Thus, Educational Psychology concerned primarily with understanding the processes of

teaching and learning that take place within formal environments and developing ways
of improving those methods. It covers important topics like learning theories; teaching
methods; motivation; cognitive, emotional, and moral development; and parent-child
relationships etc.
NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Its nature is scientific as it has been accepted that it is a Science of Education. We can
summarize the nature of Educational Psychology in the following ways:

1. Educational Psychology is a science. (Science is a branch of study concerned

with observation of facts and establishment of verifiable general laws. Science employs
certain objective methods for the collection of data. It has its objectives of
understanding, explaining, predicting and control of facts.) Like any other science,
educational psychology has also developed objective methods of collection of data. It
also aims at understanding, predicting and controlling human behaviour.
2. Educational Psychology is a natural science. An educational psychologist
conducts his investigations, gathers his data and reaches his conclusions in exactly the
same manner as physicist or the biologist.
3. Educational psychology is a social science. Like the sociologist, anthropologist,
economist or political scientist, the educational psychologist studies human beings and
their sociability.
4. Educational psychology is a positive science. Normative science like Logic or
Ethics deals with facts as they ought to be. A positive science deals with facts as they are
or as they operate. Educational psychology studies the child’s behaviour as it is, not, as it
ought to be. So it is a positive science.
5. Educational psychology is an applied science. It is the application of
psychological principles in the field of education. By applying the principles and
techniques of psychology, it tries to study the behaviour and experiences of the pupils.
As a branch of psychology it is parallel to any other applied psychology. For example,
educational psychology draws heavily facts from such areas as developmental
psychology, clinical psychology, abnormal psychology and social psychology.
6. Educational psychology is a developing or growing science. It is concerned
with new and ever new researches. As research findings accumulate, educational
psychologists get better insight into the child’s nature and behaviour.
W.A. Kelly (1941) listed the nature of Educational Psychology as follows:
i. To give a knowledge of the nature of the child
ii. To give understanding of the nature, aims and purposes of education
iii. To give understanding of the scientific methods and procedures which have been
used in arriving at the facts and principles of educational psychology
iv. To present the principles and techniques of learning and teaching
v. To give training in methods of measuring abilities and achievement in school subjects
vi. To give a knowledge of the growth and development of children
vii. To assist in the better adjustment of children and to help them to prevent
maladjustment
viii. To study the educational significance and control of emotions and
ix. To give an understanding of the principles and techniques of correct training.
Thus, educational psychology is an applied, positive, social, specific and practical
science. While general science deals with behaviour of the individuals in various
spheres, educational psychology studies the behaviour of the individual in educational
sphere only.
SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
The scope of educational psychology is ever-growing due to constantly researches in this
field. The following factors will indicate the scope of educational psychology:

1. The Learner. The subject-matter of educational psychology is knitted around the

learner. Therefore, the need of knowing the learner and the techniques of knowing him
well. The topics include – the innate abilities and capacities of the individuals,
individual differences and their measurements, the overt, covert, conscious as well as
unconscious behaviour of the learner, the characteristics of his growth and development
and each stage beginning from childhood to adulthood.
2. The Learning Experiences. Educational Psychology helps in deciding what
learning experiences are desirable, at what stage of the growth and development of the
learner, so that these experiences can be acquired with a greater ease and satisfaction.
3. Learning process: After knowing the learner and deciding what learning
experiences are to be provided, Educational Psychology moves on to the laws, principles
and theories of learning. Other items in the learning process are remembering and
forgetting, perceiving, concept formation, thinking and reasoning, problem solving,
transfer of learning, ways and means of effective learning etc.
4. Learning Situation or Environment. Here we deal with the environmental
factors and learning situations which come midway between the learner and the teacher.
Topics like classroom climate and group dynamics, techniques and aids that facilitate
learning and evaluation, techniques and practices, guidance and counselling etc. For the
smooth functioning of the teaching-learning process.
5. The Teacher: The teacher is a potent force is any scheme of teaching and learning
process. It discusses the role of the teacher. It emphasizes the need of ‘knowing
thyself’for a teacher to play his role properly in the process of education. His conflicts,
motivation. Anxiety, adjustment, level of aspiration etc. It throws light on the essential
personality traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective teaching etc so as
to inspire him for becoming a successful teacher.
Though the entire scope of Educational Psychology is included in the above mentioned
five key-factors, it may be further expanded by adding the following:

6. It studies Human Behaviour in educational situations. Psychology is the study of

behaviour, and education deals with the modification of behaviour; hence, educational
psychology pervades the whole field of education.
7. It studies the Growth and Development of the child. How a child passes through
the various stages of growth and what are the characteristics of each stage are included
in the study of educational psychology.
8. To what extent Heredity and Environment contribute towards the growth of the
individual, and how this knowledge can be made use of for bringing about the optimum
development of the child; form a salient feature of the scope of educational psychology.
9. Educational psychology deals with the Nature and Development of the
Personality of an individual. In fact, education has been defined as the all-round
development of the personality of an individual; personality development also implies a
well-adjusted personality.
10. It studies Individual Difference: Every individual differs from every other
individual. It is one of the fundamental facts of human nature which have been brought
to light by educational psychology. This one fact has revolutionalised the concept and
process of education.
11. It studies the nature Intelligence and its Measurement. This is of utmost
importance for a teacher.
12. It Provides Guidance and Counselling: Education is nothing but providing
guidance to the growing child.
We can conclude by saying that Educational Psychology is narrower in scope than
general psychology. While general psychology deals with the behaviour of the individual
in a general way, educational psychology in concerned with the behaviour of the learner
in an educational setting.

Throughout history, a number of figures have played an important role in the development of
educational psychology. Some of these well-known individuals include:

 John Locke: An English philosopher who suggested the concept of tabula rasa, or the
idea that the mind is essentially a blank slate at birth that knowledge is then developed
through experience and learning.
 William James: An American psychologist who was also known for his series of
lectures titled "Talks to Teachers on Psychology," which focused on how teachers could
help students learn.
 Alfred Binet: A French psychologist who developed the first intelligence tests.
 John Dewey: An influential American psychologist and educational reformer who wrote
extensively about progressive education and the importance of learning through doing.
 Jean Piaget: A Swiss psychologist who is best known for his highly influential theory of
cognitive development.
 B.F. Skinner: An American behaviorist who introduced the concept of operational
conditioning. His research on reinforcement and punishment continues to play an
important role in education today.

Educational psychology is a relatively young subfield that has experienced a tremendous amount
of growth in recent years. Psychology did not emerge as a separate science until the late 1800s,
so earlier interest in educational psychology was largely fueled by educational philosophers.

Many regard philosopher Johann Herbart as the "father" of educational psychology.

Herbart believed that a student's interest in a topic had a tremendous influence on the learning
outcome and believed that teachers should consider this interest along with prior knowledge
when deciding which type of instruction is most appropriate.

Later, psychologist and philosopher William James made significant contributions to the field.
His seminal 1899 text Talks to Teachers on Psychology is considered the first textbook on
educational psychology.
Around this same period, French psychologist Alfred Binet was developing his famous IQ tests.
The tests were originally designed to help the French government identify children who had
developmental delays to create special education programs.

In the United States, John Dewey had a significant influence on education.

Dewey's ideas were progressive, and he believed that schools should focus on students rather
than on subjects. He advocated active learning and believed that hands-on experience was an
important part of the learning process.

More recently, educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom developed an important taxonomy

designed to categorize, and describe different educational objectives. The three top-level
domains he described were cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning objectives.

Major Perspectives
As with other areas of psychology, researchers within educational psychology tend to take on
different perspectives when considering a problem.

 The behavioral perspective suggests that all behaviors are learned through conditioning.
Psychologists who take this perspective rely firmly on the principles of operant
conditioning to explain how learning happens. For example, teachers might give out
tokens that can be exchanged for desirable items such as candy and toys to reward good
behavior. While such methods can be useful in some cases, the behavioral approach has
been criticized for failing to account for such things as attitudes, cognitions, and intrinsic
motivations for learning.
 The developmental perspective focuses on how children acquire new skills and
knowledge as they develop. Jean Piaget's famous stages of cognitive development are one
example of an important developmental theory looking at how children grow
intellectually. By understanding how children think at different stages of development,
educational psychologists can better understand what children are capable of at each
point of their growth. This can help educators create instructional methods and materials
best aimed at certain age groups.
 The cognitive perspective has become much more widespread in recent decades, mainly
because it accounts for how things such as memories, beliefs, emotions, and motivations
contribute to the learning process. Cognitive psychology focuses on understanding how
people think, learn, remember, and process information. Educational psychologists who
take a cognitive perspective are interested in understanding how kids become motivated
to learn, how they remember the things that they learn, and how they solve problems,
among other things.
 The constructivist approach is one of the most recent learning theories that focus on
how children actively construct their knowledge of the world. Constructivism tends to
account more for the social and cultural influences that impact how children learn. This
perspective is heavily influenced by the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who
proposed ideas such as the zone of proximal development and instructional scaffolding.
While educational psychology may be a relatively young discipline, it will continue to grow as
people become more interested in understanding how people learn. APA Division 15, devoted to
the subject of educational psychology, currently lists more than 2,000 members.

q.2 discuss different stages and aspects of cognitive development. Critically analyze the role of heredity
and environment in this regard?

The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of French
psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Piaget's theory, first published in 1952, grew out
of decades of extensive observation of children, including his own, in their natural
environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments of the behaviorists. Although
Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their environment, he proposed a more
active role for them than that suggested by learning theory. He envisioned a child's
knowledge as composed of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to organize past
experiences and serve as a basis for understanding new ones.
Schemas are continually being modified by two complementary processes that Piaget
termed assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to the process of taking in
new information by incorporating it into an existing schema. In other words, people
assimilate new experiences by relating them to things they already know. On the other
hand, accommodation is what happens when the schema itself changes to
accommodate new knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development involves an
ongoing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation that he
termed equilibration.
At the center of Piaget's theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a
series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated
and abstract levels of thought. These stages always occur in the same order, and each
builds on what was learned in the previous stage. They are as follows:

 Sensorimotor stage (infancy): In this period, which has six sub-stages,

intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols.
Knowledge of the world is limited, but developing, because it is based on
physical interactions and experiences. Children acquire object permanence at
about seven months of age (memory). Physical development (mobility) allows the
child to begin developing new intellectual abilities. Some symbolic (language)
abilities are developed at the end of this stage.
 Pre-operational stage (toddlerhood and early childhood): In this period, which
has two sub stages, intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols,
language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking
is done in a non-logical, non-reversible manner. Egocentric thinking
predominates.
 Concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence): In this stage,
characterized by seven types of conservation (number, length, liquid, mass,
weight, area, and volume), intelligence is demonstrated through logical and
systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational
 thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). Egocentric thought
diminishes.
 Formal operational stage (adolescence and adulthood): In this stage, intelligence
is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts.
Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35 percent of high
school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many
people do not think formally during adulthood.

The most significant alternative to the work of Piaget has been the information-
processing approach, which uses the computer as a model to provide new insight into
how the human mind receives, stores, retrieves, and uses information. Researchers
using information-processing theory to study cognitive development in children have
focused on areas such as the gradual improvements in children's ability to take in
information and focus selectively on certain parts of it and their increasing attention
spans and capacity for memory storage. For example, researchers have found that the
superior memory skills of older children are due in part to memorization strategies, such
as repeating items in order to memorize them or dividing them into categories.

Infancy
As soon as they are born, infants begin learning to use their senses to explore the world
around them. Most newborns can focus on and follow moving objects, distinguish the
pitch and volume of sound, see all colors and distinguish their hue and brightness, and
start anticipating events, such as sucking at the sight of a nipple. By three months old,
infants can recognize faces; imitate the facial expressions of others, such as smiling
and frowning; and respond to familiar sounds.
At six months of age, babies are just beginning to understand how the world around
them works. They imitate sounds, enjoy hearing their own voice, recognize
parents, fear strangers, distinguish between animate and inanimate objects, and base
distance on the size of an object. They also realize that if they drop an object, they can
pick it up again. At four to seven months, babies can recognize their names.
By nine months, infants can imitate gestures and actions, experiment with the physical
properties of objects, understand simple words such as "no," and understand that an
object still exists even when they cannot see it. They also begin to test parental
responses to their behavior, such as throwing food on the floor. They remember the
reaction and test the parents again to see if they get the same reaction.
At 12 months of age, babies can follow a fast moving object; can speak two to fours
words, including "mama" and "papa"; imitate animal sounds; associate names with
objects; develop attachments to objects, such as a toy or blanket; and
experience separation anxiety when away from their parents. By 18 months of age,
babies are able to understand about 10–50 words; identify body parts; feel a sense of
ownership by using the word "my" with certain people or objects; and can follow
directions that involve two different tasks, such as picking up toys and putting them in a
box.
Toddlerhood
Between 18 months to three years of age, toddlers have reached the "sensorimotor"
stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development that involves rudimentary thought. For
instance, they understand the permanence of objects and people, visually follow the
displacement of objects, and begin to use instruments and tools. Toddlers start to strive
for more independence, which can present challenges to parents concerned for
their safety . They also understand discipline and what behavior is appropriate and
inappropriate, and they understand the concepts of words like "please" and "thank you."
Two-year-olds should be able to understand 100 to 150 words and start adding about
ten new words per day. Toddlers also have a better understanding of emotions, such as
love, trust, and fear. They begin to understand some of the ordinary aspects of
everyday life, such as shopping for food, telling time, and being read to.

Preschool
Preschoolers, ages three to six, should be at the "preoperational" stage of Piaget's
cognitive development theory, meaning they are using their imagery and memory skills.
They should be conditioned to learning and memorizing, and their view of the world is
normally very self-centered. Preschoolers usually have also developed their social
interaction skills, such as playing and cooperating with other children their own age. It is
normal for preschoolers to test the limits of their cognitive abilities, and they learn
negative concepts and actions, such as talking back to adults, lying , and bullying.
Other cognitive development in preschoolers are developing an increased attention
span, learning to read, and developing structured routines, such as doing household
chores.

School age
Younger school-age children, six to 12 years old, should be at the "concrete operations"
stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory, characterized by the ability to use
logical and coherent actions in thinking and solving problems. They understand the
concepts of permanence and conservation by learning that volume, weight, and
numbers may remain constant despite changes in outward appearance. These children
should be able to build on past experiences, using them to explain why some things
happen. Their attention span should increase with age, from being able to focus on a
task for about 15 minutes at age six to an hour by age nine.
Adolescents, ages 12 through 18, should be at the "formal operations" stage of Piaget's
cognitive development theory. It is characterized by an increased independence for
thinking through problems and situations. Adolescents should be able to understand
pure abstractions, such as philosophy and higher math concepts. During this age,
children should be able to learn and apply general information needed to adapt to
specific situations. They should also be able to learn specific information and skills
necessary for an occupation. A major component of the passage through adolescence
is a cognitive transition. Compared to children, adolescents think in ways that are more
advanced, more efficient, and generally more complex. This ability can be seen in five
ways.
First, during adolescence individuals become better able than children to think about
what is possible, instead of limiting their thought to what is real. Whereas children's
thinking is oriented to the here and now—that is, to things and events that they can
observe directly—adolescents are able to consider what they observe against a
backdrop of what is possible; they can think hypothetically.
Second, during the passage into adolescence, individuals become better able to think
about abstract ideas. For example, adolescents find it easier than children to
comprehend the sorts of higher-order, abstract logic inherent in puns, proverbs,
metaphors, and analogies. The adolescent's greater facility with abstract thinking also
permits the application of advanced reasoning and logical processes to social and
ideological matters. This is clearly seen in the adolescent's increased facility and
interest in thinking about interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and
morality.
Third, during adolescence individuals begin thinking more often about the process of
thinking itself, or metacognition. As a result, adolescents may display increased
introspection and self-consciousness. Although improvements in metacognitive abilities
provide important intellectual advantages, one potentially negative byproduct of these
advances is the tendency for adolescents to develop a sort of egocentrism, or intense
preoccupation with the self.
A fourth change in cognition is that thinking tends to become multidimensional, rather
than limited to a single issue. Whereas children tend to think about things one aspect at
a time, adolescents can see things through more complicated lenses. Adolescents
describe themselves and others in more differentiated and complicated terms and find it
easier to look at problems from multiple perspectives. Being able to understand that
people's personalities are not one-sided or that social situations can have different
interpretations depending on one's point of view permits the adolescent to have far
more sophisticated and complicated relationships with other people.
Finally, adolescents are more likely than children to see things as relative, rather than
absolute. Children tend to see things in absolute terms—in black and white.
Adolescents, in contrast, tend to see things as relative. They are more likely to question
others' assertions and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths. This increase in
relativism can be particularly exasperating to parents, who may feel that their
adolescent children question everything just for the sake of argument. Difficulties often
arise, for example, when adolescents begin seeing their parents' values as excessively
relative.

Common problems
Cognitive impairment is the general loss or lack of development of cognitive abilities,
particularly autism and learning disabilities. The National Institutes of Mental Health
(NIMH) describes learning disabilities as a disorder that affects people's ability to either
interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain.
These limitations can show up in many ways, such as specific difficulties with spoken
and written language, coordination, self-control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to
schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write or to do math. A child who has a
learning disability may have other conditions, such as hearing problems or serious
emotional disturbance. However, learning disabilities are not caused by these
conditions, nor are they caused by environmental influences such as cultural differences
or inappropriate instruction.

Parental concerns
As of 2004 it is widely accepted that a child's intellectual ability is determined by a
combination of heredity and environment. Thus, although a child's genetic inheritance is
unchangeable, there are definite ways that parents can enhance their child's intellectual
development through environmental factors. They can provide stimulating learning
materials and experiences from an early age, read to and talk with their children, and
help children explore the world around them. As children mature, parents can both
challenge and support the child's talents. Although a supportive environment in early
childhood provides a clear advantage for children, it is possible to make up for early
losses in cognitive development if a supportive environment is provided at some later
period, in contrast to early disruptions in physical development, which are often
irreversible.

When to call the doctor

If, by age three, a child has problems understanding simple directions or is perplexed
when asked to do something simple, the parents or primary caregiver should consult a
physician or pediatrician. The child may have a delay in cognitive development. Parents
should also consult a healthcare professional if, after age three, their child's cognitive
development appears to be significantly slower than their peers.

Q.3 Discuss the process of language development in

children. Elaborate major features and principles of
language development by B.F Skinner?
Morality is a system of beliefs about what is right and good compared to what is wrong
or bad. Moral development refers to changes in moral beliefs as a person grows older
and gains maturity. Moral beliefs are related to, but not identical with, moral behavior: it
is possible to know the right thing to do, but not actually do it. It is also not the same as
knowledge of social conventions, which are arbitrary customs needed for the smooth
operation of society. Social conventions may have a moral element, but they have a
primarily practical purpose. Conventionally, for example, motor vehicles all keep to the
same side of the street (to the right in the United States, to the left in Great Britain). The
convention allows for smooth, accident-free flow of traffic. But following the convention
also has a moral element, because an individual who chooses to drive on the wrong
side of the street can cause injuries or even death. In this sense, choosing the wrong
side of the street is wrong morally, though the choice is also unconventional.

When it comes to schooling and teaching, moral choices are not restricted to occasional
dramatic incidents, but are woven into almost every aspect of classroom life. Imagine
this simple example. Suppose that you are teaching, reading to a small group of
second-graders, and the students are taking turns reading a story out loud. Should you
give every student the same amount of time to read, even though some might benefit
from having additional time? Or should you give more time to the students who need
extra help, even if doing so bores classmates and deprives others of equal shares of
“floor time”? Which option is more fair, and which is more considerate? Simple
dilemmas like this happen every day at all grade levels simply because students are
diverse, and because class time and a teacher’s energy are finite.

Embedded in this rather ordinary example are moral themes about fairness or justice,
on the one hand, and about consideration or care on the other. It is important to keep
both themes in mind when thinking about how students develop beliefs about right or
wrong. A morality of justice is about human rights—or more specifically, about respect
for fairness, impartiality, equality, and individuals’ independence. A morality of care, on
the other hand, is about human responsibilities—more specifically, about caring for
others, showing consideration for individuals’ needs, and interdependence among
individuals. Students and teachers need both forms of morality. In the next sections
therefore we explain a major example of each type of developmental theory, beginning
with the morality of justice.

Kohlberg’s morality of justice

One of the best-known explanations of how morality of justice develops was developed
by Lawrence Kohlberg and his associates (Kohlberg, Levine, & Hewer, 1983; Power,
Higgins, & Kohlberg, 1991). Using a stage model similar to Piaget’s, Kohlberg proposed
six stages of moral development, grouped into three levels. Individuals experience the
stages universally and in sequence as they form beliefs about justice. He named the
levels simply preconventional, conventional, and (you guessed it) postconventional. The
levels and stages are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Moral stages according to Kohlberg

Moral stage Definition of what is “good”

Preconventional Level

Stage 1: Obedience and punishment Action that is rewarded and not punished

Stage 2: Market exchange Action that is agreeable to the child and child’s partner
 Table 1: Moral stages according to Kohlberg

Conventional Level

Stage 3: Peer opinion Action that wins approval from friends or peers

Stage 4: Law and order Action that conforms to the community customs or laws

Postconventional Level

Stage 5: Social contract Action that follows socially accepted ways of making decisions

Stage 6: Universal principles Action that is consistent with self-chosen, general principles

Preconventional justice: obedience and mutual advantage

The preconventional level of moral development coincides approximately with the

preschool period of life and with Piaget’s preoperational period of thinking. At this age
the child is still relatively self-centered and insensitive to the moral effects of actions on
others. The result is a somewhat short-sighted orientation to morality. Initially
(Kohlberg’s Stage 1), the child adopts an ethics of obedience and punishment—a
sort of “morality of keeping out of trouble.” The rightness and wrongness of actions is
determined by whether actions are rewarded or punished by authorities such as parents
or teachers. If helping yourself to a cookie brings affectionate smiles from adults, then
taking the cookie is considered morally “good.” If it brings scolding instead, then it is
morally “bad.” The child does not think about why an action might be praised or scolded;
in fact, says Kohlberg, he would be incapable at Stage 1 of considering the reasons
even if adults offered them.

Eventually the child learns not only to respond to positive consequences, but also learns
how to produce them by exchanging favors with others. The new ability creates Stage 2,
an ethics of market exchange. At this stage the morally “good” action is one that
favors not only the child, but another person directly involved. A “bad” action is one that
lacks this reciprocity. If trading the sandwich from your lunch for the cookies in your
friend’s lunch is mutually agreeable, then the trade is morally good; otherwise it is not.
This perspective introduces a type of fairness into the child’s thinking for the first time.
But it still ignores the larger context of actions—the effects on people not present or
directly involved. In Stage 2, for example, it would also be considered morally “good” to
pay a classmate to do another student’s homework—or even to avoid bullying or to
provide sexual favors—provided that both parties regard the arrangement as being fair.

Conventional justice: conformity to peers and society

As children move into the school years, their lives expand to include a larger number
and range of peers and (eventually) of the community as a whole. The change leads
to conventional morality, which are beliefs based on what this larger array of people
agree on—hence Kohlberg’s use of the term “conventional.” At first, in Stage 3, the
child’s reference group are immediate peers, so Stage 3 is sometimes called the ethics
of peer opinion. If peers believe, for example, that it is morally good to behave politely
with as many people as possible, then the child is likely to agree with the group and to
regard politeness as not merely an arbitrary social convention, but a moral “good.” This
approach to moral belief is a bit more stable than the approach in Stage 2, because the
child is taking into account the reactions not just of one other person, but of many. But it
can still lead astray if the group settles on beliefs that adults consider morally wrong,
like “Shop lifting for candy bars is fun and desirable.”

Eventually, as the child becomes a youth and the social world expands even more, he
or she acquires even larger numbers of peers and friends. He or she is therefore more
likely to encounter disagreements about ethical issues and beliefs. Resolving the
complexities lead to Stage 4, the ethics of law and order, in which the young person
increasingly frames moral beliefs in terms of what the majority of society believes. Now,
an action is morally good if it is legal or at least customarily approved by most people,
including people whom the youth does not know personally. This attitude leads to an
even more stable set of principles than in the previous stage, though it is still not
immune from ethical mistakes. A community or society may agree, for example, that
people of a certain race should be treated with deliberate disrespect, or that a factory
owner is entitled to dump waste water into a commonly shared lake or river. To develop
ethical principles that reliably avoid mistakes like these require further stages of moral
development.

Postconventional justice: social contract and universal principles

As a person becomes able to think abstractly (or “formally,” in Piaget’s sense), ethical
beliefs shift from acceptance of what the community does believe to the process by
which community beliefs are formed. The new focus constitutes Stage 5, the ethics of
social contract. Now an action, belief, or practice is morally good if it has been created
through fair, democratic processes that respect the rights of the people affected.
Consider, for example, the laws in some areas that require motorcyclists to wear
helmets. In what sense are the laws about this behavior ethical? Was it created by
consulting with and gaining the consent of the relevant people? Were cyclists consulted
and did they give consent? Or how about doctors or the cyclists’ families? Reasonable,
thoughtful individuals disagree about how thoroughly and fairly
these consultation processes should be. In focusing on the processes by which the law
was created, however, individuals are thinking according to Stage 5, the ethics of social
contract, regardless of the position they take about wearing helmets. In this sense,
beliefs on both sides of a debate about an issue can sometimes be morally sound even
if they contradict each other.

Paying attention to due process certainly seems like it should help to avoid mindless
conformity to conventional moral beliefs. As an ethical strategy, though, it too can
sometimes fail. The problem is that an ethics of social contract places more faith in
democratic process than the process sometimes deserves, and does not pay enough
attention to the content of what gets decided. In principle (and occasionally in practice),
a society could decide democratically to kill off every member of a racial minority, for
example, but would deciding this by due process make it ethical? The realization that
ethical means can sometimes serve unethical ends leads some individuals toward
Stage 6, the ethics of self-chosen, universal principles. At this final stage, the
morally good action is based on personally held principles that apply both to the
person’s immediate life as well as to the larger community and society. The universal
principles may include a belief in democratic due process (Stage 5 ethics), but also
other principles, such as a belief in the dignity of all human life or the sacredness of the
natural environment. At Stage 6, the universal principles will guide a person’s beliefs
even if the principles mean disagreeing occasionally with what is customary (Stage 4) or
even with what is legal (Stage 5).

Gilligan’s morality of care

As logical as they sound, Kohlberg’s stages of moral justice are not sufficient for
understanding the development of moral beliefs. To see why, suppose that you have a
student who asks for an extension of the deadline for an assignment. The justice
orientation of Kohlberg’s theory would prompt you to consider issues of whether
granting the request is fair. Would the late student be able to put more effort into the
assignment than other students? Would the extension place a difficult demand on you,
since you would have less time to mark the assignments? These are important
considerations related to the rights of students and the teacher. In addition to these,
however, are considerations having to do with the responsibilities that you and the
requesting student have for each other and for others. Does the student have a valid
personal reason (illness, death in the family, etc.) for the assignment being late? Will the
assignment lose its educational value if the student has to turn it in prematurely? These
latter questions have less to do with fairness and rights, and more to do with taking care
of and responsibility for students. They require a framework different from Kohlberg’s to
be understood fully.

One such framework has been developed by Carol Gilligan, whose ideas center on
a morality of care, or system of beliefs about human responsibilities, care, and
consideration for others. Gilligan proposed three moral positions that represent different
extents or breadth of ethical care. Unlike Kohlberg, Piaget, or Erikson, she does not
claim that the positions form a strictly developmental sequence, but only that they can
be ranked hierarchically according to their depth or subtlety. In this respect her theory is
“semi-developmental” in a way similar to Maslow’s theory of motivation (Brown &
Gilligan, 1992; Taylor, Gilligan, & Sullivan, 1995). Table 2 summarizes the three moral
positions from Gilligan’s theory

Table 2: Positions of moral development according to Gilligan

Moral position Definition of what is morally good

 Table 2: Positions of moral development according to Gilligan

Position 1: Survival orientation Action that considers one’s personal needs only

Position 2: Conventional care Action that considers others’ needs or preferences, but not one’s own

Position 3: Integrated care Action that attempts to coordinate one’s own personal needs with those of oth

Position 1: caring as survival

The most basic kind of caring is a survival orientation, in which a person is concerned
primarily with his or her own welfare. If a teenage girl with this ethical position is
wondering whether to get an abortion, for example, she will be concerned entirely with
the effects of the abortion on herself. The morally good choice will be whatever creates
the least stress for herself and that disrupts her own life the least. Responsibilities to
others (the baby, the father, or her family) play little or no part in her thinking.

As a moral position, a survival orientation is obviously not satisfactory for classrooms on

a widespread scale. If every student only looked out for himself or herself, classroom life
might become rather unpleasant! Nonetheless, there are situations in which focusing
primarily on yourself is both a sign of good mental health and relevant to teachers. For a
child who has been bullied at school or sexually abused at home, for example, it is both
healthy and morally desirable to speak out about how bullying or abuse has affected the
victim. Doing so means essentially looking out for the victim’s own needs at the
expense of others’ needs, including the bully’s or abuser’s. Speaking out, in this case,
requires a survival orientation and is healthy because the child is taking caring of
herself.

Position 2: conventional caring

A more subtle moral position is caring for others, in which a person is concerned about
others’ happiness and welfare, and about reconciling or integrating others’ needs where
they conflict with each other. In considering an abortion, for example, the teenager at
this position would think primarily about what other people prefer. Do the father, her
parents, and/or her doctor want her to keep the child? The morally good choice
becomes whatever will please others the best. This position is more demanding than
Position 1, ethically and intellectually, because it requires coordinating several persons’
needs and values. But it is often morally insufficient because it ignores one crucial
person: the self.

In classrooms, students who operate from Position 2 can be very desirable in some
ways; they can be eager to please, considerate, and good at fitting in and at working
cooperatively with others. Because these qualities are usually welcome in a busy
classroom, teachers can be tempted to reward students for developing and using them.
The problem with rewarding Position 2 ethics, however, is that doing so neglects the
student’s development—his or her own academic and personal goals or values. Sooner
or later, personal goals, values, and identity need attention and care, and educators
have a responsibility for assisting students to discover and clarify them.

Position 3: integrated caring

The most developed form of moral caring in Gilligan’s model is integrated caring, the
coordination of personal needs and values with those of others. Now the morally good
choice takes account of everyone including yourself, not everyone except yourself. In
considering an abortion, a woman at Position 3 would think not only about the
consequences for the father, the unborn child, and her family, but also about the
consequences for herself. How would bearing a child affect her own needs, values, and
plans? This perspective leads to moral beliefs that are more comprehensive, but
ironically are also more prone to dilemmas because the widest possible range of
individuals are being considered.

In classrooms, integrated caring is most likely to surface whenever teachers give

students wide, sustained freedom to make choices. If students have little flexibility about
their actions, there is little room for considering anyone’s needs or values, whether their
own or others’. If the teacher says simply: “Do the homework on page 50 and turn it in
tomorrow morning,” then the main issue becomes compliance, not moral choice. But
suppose instead that she says something like this: “Over the next two months, figure out
an inquiry project about the use of water resources in our town. Organize it any way you
want—talk to people, read widely about it, and share it with the class in a way that all of
us, including yourself, will find meaningful.” An assignment like this poses moral
challenges that are not only educational, but also moral, since it requires students to
make value judgments. Why? For one thing, students must decide what aspect of the
topic really matters to them. Such a decision is partly a matter of personal values. For
another thing, students have to consider how to make the topic meaningful or important
to others in the class. Third, because the time line for completion is relatively far in the
future, students may have to weigh personal priorities (like spending time with friends or
family) against educational priorities (working on the assignment a bit more on the
weekend). As you might suspect, some students might have trouble making good
choices when given this sort of freedom—and their teachers might therefore be cautious
about giving such an assignment. But the difficulties in making choices are part of
Gilligan’s point: integrated caring is indeed more demanding than the caring based only
on survival or on consideration of others. Not all students may be ready for it.

Q.4 write brief and comprehensive note on the following?

Mastery Learning:

It appears to be a simple task to define what we mean by the term learning. After all we have spent our
entire lives learning new things. When asked to provide a definition of learning we usually offer such
responses as:
Knowing something you didn’t know before.

Gaining knowledge and skills.

Acquiring information that you can use in new situations.

Benefiting from instruction.

Developing your intelligence.

Acquiring a different perspective on the world.

Learning as a phenomenon has always fascinated people in many different disciplines, and there are
many theories and thoughts about what learning is. Learning is relatively permanent change in mental
processing, emotional functioning, and/or behavior as a result of experience.

Learning is the process of understanding, clarifying, and applying the meaning of the knowledge
acquired. Furthermore, it can also be an exploration, discovery, refinement, and extension of the
learner’s meaning of knowledge. Overall, learning occurs when an individual’s behavior or knowledge
changes.

Learning has also been defined from the perspectives of two major bodies of learning theory to explain
how people learn: behaviorism and cognitivism.

Behaviorism – views learning as a change in observable behavior or performance resulting from external
reinforcers that stimulate change. To be considered learning, a change in performance must come about
as a result of the learner’s interaction with the environment

Cognitivism – views learning as occurring when a new experience alters some unobservable mental
processes that may or may not be manifested by a change in behavior or performance

As a learner myself, my idea of learning is that it is lifelong, and it is a dynamic process by which we
acquire new knowledge or skills and alter our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions. We human
beings, at our best, we do things for a reason or goal and strive to make meanings of our lives. People
develop a knowledge base through conditioningy the environment; or through seeking information and
thinking about the subject based on their maturation and prior knowledge.  When knowledge is
purposely put into practice it leads to behavioral  competence and, through reflection, to wisdom.It
appears to be a simple task to define what we mean by the term learning. After all we have spent our
entire lives learning new things. When asked to provide a definition of learning we usually offer such
responses as:

Knowing something you didn’t know before.

Gaining knowledge and skills.

Acquiring information that you can use in new situations.

Benefiting from instruction.

Developing your intelligence.

Acquiring a different perspective on the world.

Learning as a phenomenon has always fascinated people in many different disciplines, and there are
many theories and thoughts about what learning is. Learning is relatively permanent change in mental
processing, emotional functioning, and/or behavior as a result of experience.

Learning is the process of understanding, clarifying, and applying the meaning of the knowledge
acquired. Furthermore, it can also be an exploration, discovery, refinement, and extension of the
learner’s meaning of knowledge. Overall, learning occurs when an individual’s behavior or knowledge
changes.

Learning has also been defined from the perspectives of two major bodies of learning theory to explain
how people learn: behaviorism and cognitivism.
Behaviorism – views learning as a change in observable behavior or performance resulting from external
reinforcers that stimulate change. To be considered learning, a change in performance must come about
as a result of the learner’s interaction with the environment

Cognitivism – views learning as occurring when a new experience alters some unobservable mental
processes that may or may not be manifested by a change in behavior or performance

As a learner myself, my idea of learning is that it is lifelong, and it is a dynamic process by which we
acquire new knowledge or skills and alter our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions. We human
beings, at our best, we do things for a reason or goal and strive to make meanings of our lives. People
develop a knowledge base through conditioningy the environment; or through seeking information and
thinking about the subject based on their maturation and prior knowledge. When knowledge is
purposely put into practice it leads to behavioral competence and, through reflection, to wisdom.

A List of the Steps in the Information Processing Cycle

The information processing cycle, in the context of computers and computer processing, has four stages:
input, processing, output and storage (IPOS). However, at some levels within a computer, some
processing devices actually only use three of these stages -- input, processing and output -- without the
need to store data. Each of these stages plays an important role in the collection, analysis and
distribution actions performed by a computer system.

Input Processing

Data must enter a system before it can be processed into either stored data or information output. The
input stage of IPOS provides the means and mechanisms through which data enters the IPOS model.
Some experts believe the input process itself could be divided into as many as three stages: collection,
preparation and input. However, the general view of the input stage is that data is input into a system
using some form of an input device.

An input device is able to collect data at its source or point of measurement. The source of data entered
into the system by a human is through a keyboard, microphone or perhaps even the movement of eyes
or another body part. Other forms of input devices, such as thermometers, sensors and clocks, also
meet the general definition of input devices. The input stage of IPOS could also be referred to as the
encoding stage.

Data Processing
 Once data enters the IPOS model, it is processed into either stored data or information. The processing
agent is typically some form of software or firmware, with a specific action taken on a particular type of
data. In a portable or desktop computer, it is common for the processing agent to be active even before
the data enters. In fact, it is also common for the processing software to request data and guide its input
process.

Processing can range from relatively small and simple to very large and complex. Regardless, the sole
purpose of the processing stage is to convert the raw input data into a form that can be stored for later
use or provide information output for further processing or interpretation.

Output Process

Output processing in IPOS sends information to a display screen, a printer, a plotter, a speaker or some
other medium that human senses can interpret. However, the output stage could store the data in a
new format or transform the processed data into an input to another IPOS module as well. For most
users, output means either a display on a monitor screen or a printed document or graphic. Output can
also mean data, information or coding.

Storage Processing

The storage stage of IPOS can occur directly from or to the processing or the output stages. The storage
stage can serve as a pseudo-input or pseudo-output stage for the processing stage. The processing stage
may need to store data for later use or recall previously stored data for processing new data from the
input stage. The output stage may store processed data as information for display by another IPOS
module when needed. The storage stage does not only store data or information on a fixed storage
medium, such as a hard disk, but can also store data and information on removable media, such as a
flash drive, CD-ROM or DVD.

Q.5 Comparatively discuss the behaviorist and cognitive theories of learning. Explain the underlying
concepts and assumption with the help of relevant examples?

Associative learning, in animal behaviour, any learning process in

which a new response becomes associated with a particular stimulus.
In its broadest sense, the term has been used to describe virtually all
learning except simple habituation (q.v.). In a more restricted sense, it
has been limited to learning that occurs through classical and
instrumental conditioning (see conditioning).

4 Theories of learning
1. Classical Conditioning
2. Operant Conditioning
3. Cognitive Theory.
4. Social Learning Theory.

These are explained below:-

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a type of conditioning in which an individual responds
to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such as response.

It is the process of learning to associate a particular thing in our environment

with a prediction of what will happen next.

Classical conditioning, the association of such an event with another desired

event resulting in behavior, is one of the easiest to understand processes of
learning.

When we think of the classical conditioning, the first name that comes to our
mind is Ivan Pavlov, the Russian psychologist.

The normal stimulus for a flow of saliva is the taste of food. But often the
mouth waters at the mere sight of luscious peach, on hearing it described or
even thinking about it. Thus, one situation is substituted for another to elicit
behavior.

This is called conditioning. In the case of classical conditioning, a simple

surgical procedure allowed Pavlov to measure accurately the amount of saliva
secreted by a dog.

When Pavlov presented one dog with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a
noticeable increase in salivation. When Pavlov withheld the presentation of
meat and merely rang a bell, the dog did not salivate.

Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat and the ringing of the bell. After
repeatedly hearing the bell before getting the food, the dog began to salivate
as soon as the bell rang. After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the
sound of the bell, even if no food was offered.
In classical conditioning, learning involves a conditioned stimulus and an
unconditioned stimulus. Here, the meat was unconditioned stimulus; it
invariably caused the dog to react in a specific way.

The reaction that took place whenever the unconditioned stimulus occurred
was called the unconditioned response. Here, the bell was a conditioned
stimulus.

When the bell was paired with the meat, it eventually produced a response
when presented alone. This is a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning
The second type of conditioning is called operant conditioning.

Here, we learn that a particular behavior is usually followed by a reward or

punishment. What Pavlov did for classical conditioning, the Harvard
psychologist B.F. Skinner did for operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning argues that one’s behavior will depend on different

situations. People will repeatedly behave in a specific way from where they will
get benefits.

On the other hand, they will try to avoid a behavior from where they will get
nothing. Skinner argued that creating pleasing consequences to specific forms
of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior.

In one famous experiment displaying operant learning, the psychologist B.F.

Skinner trained rats to press a lever to get food. In this experiment, a hungry
rat placed in a box containing a lever attached to some concealed food.

At first, the rat ran around the box randomly.

In this process, it happened to press the lever, and the food dropped into the
box. The dropping of food-reinforced the response of pressing the lever.
After repeating the process of pressing the lever followed by dropping off
food many times, the rat learned to press the lever for food.

People will most likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively
reinforced for doing so. Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow
the desired response. Also, behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is
less likely to be repeated.

For example, suppose you are an employee of ‘X’ Bank limited. Your Branch
Manager has announced in a meeting that you will get a bonus if you can
bring a $100,000,000 deposit for the bank.

You worked hard and found that you have done this successfully.

But when the time comes, you find that you are given no bonus for your hard
work which increases the bank’s deposit by $100,000,000.

In the next year, if your manager again says you about the hard work.

Maybe you will be stopped because last year you did not receive anything for
it. Many activities that we will engage in during everyday life can be classified
as an operant.

Turning your key in a lock, writing a letter, saying “I Love You” to your wife,
calling parents on the telephone all of these are operant acts, operant in this
sense that we do them in anticipation of reward which acts as a reinforcer for
the commission of these behaviors.

Cognitive Theory
Cognition refers to an individual’s thoughts, knowledge of interpretations,
understandings, or ideas about himself, and his environment.

This is a process of learning through active and constructive thought

processes, such as a practice or using our memory.
One example might be that you were taught how to tell time by looking at a
clock.

Someone taught you the meaning of the big hand and little hand, and you
might have had to practice telling the time when you were first learning it.

This process of learning was entirely inside your mind and didn’t involve any
physical motions or behaviors. It was all cognitive, meaning an internal
thought process.

The theory has been used to explain mental processes as they are influenced
by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, which eventually bring about learning in
an individual.

Cognitive learning theory implies that the different processes concerning

learning can be explained by analyzing the mental processes first.

It imagines that with effective cognitive processes, learning is easier and new

information can be stored in the memory for a long time.

On the other hand, ineffective cognitive processes result in learning difficulties

that can be seen anytime during the lifetime of an individual.

Social Learning Theory

The social learning theory also called observational learning, stresses the
ability of an” individual to learn by observing what happens to other people
and just by being told about something.

One can learn things by observing models, parents, teachers, peers, motion
pictures, TV artists, bosses, and others.

Many patterns of behavior are learned by watching the behaviors of others

and observing its consequences for them. In this theory, it is said that the
influence of models is the central issue.
4 processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will
have on an individual.

These processes are:

1.Attention process

People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its
critical features.

If the learner is not attentive they would not able to learn anything. We tend
to be most influenced by attractive models, repeatedly available, which we
think is important, or we see as similar to us.

2. Retention process

A model’s influence depends on how well the individuals remember the

models’ actions after the model is no longer readily available.

Motor reproduction process

After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the model, the watching
must be converted to doing. It involves recall the model’s behaviors and
performing own actions and matching them with those of the model.

This process then demonstrates that the individual can perform the modeled
activities.

Reinforcement process
Individuals are motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if positive
incentives or rewards are provided. Behavior that is positively reinforced is
given more attention, learned better and performed more often.

At last, we can say that social learning theory is a function of consequences. It

also acknowledges the existence of observational learning and the importance
of perception in learning.

In this case, a person who wants to learn should identify the target behavior
and select the appropriate model and modeling medium. Then he/she should
create a favorable learning environment and observe the model.

Here the learners will try to remember and use practically the observed
behavior if there is a positive reinforcement is related to this behavior.