FINAL TERM – EDUC 1: without resolution, she tries to avoid all social situations.
THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS AND LEARNING
PRINCIPLE
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OF THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENTS
I. JOHN BOWLBY’S ATTACHMENT THEORY
The attachment theory argues that a strong emotional
and physical bond to one primary caregiver in our first years of
life, is critical to our development. If our bonding is strong and we
are securely attached, then we feel safe to explore the world.
People who are securely attached are said to have
greater trust, can connect to others and as a result are more
successful in life. Insecurely attached people tend to mistrust
others, lack social skills and have problems forming relationships.
There is one type of secure attachment and; there are 3 types
of insecure attachments:
SECURE ATTACHMENT:
a. An example of a child who has secure attachment:
At 6 years of age, Luka’s brain is for the most
part developed, this character strong and his world view
shaped. The new situation does not affect him much. He
knows there still is always mom, his safe-haven. He
feels securely attached. Later, he turns into a trusting
and optimistic young man. His self-image is positive.
INSECURE ATTACHMENT:
b. Anxious/Ambivalent
Ann, who is 3, has problems coping with the
new lack of attention. To Ann, her mother now acts
unpredictably. She is anxious about their relationship,
and as a result becomes clingy.
To get her mom’s attention, she has to raise
her emotional state and scream. When her mom finally
reacts with a predictable response, she herself acts
ambivalent and doesn't show her true feelings. Later in
life, others think Ann is unpredictable or moody. Her
self-image is less positive.
c. Anxious/Avoidant
2-year old Joe, spends his days with his uncle,
who loves him, but thinks that a good education means
being strict. If little Joe shows too much emotions or is
too loud, his Uncle gets angry and sometimes punitive.
This scares Joe. He learns that to avoid fear, he has to
avoid showing his feelings - also in other situations. As
an adult he continues this strategy and has problems to
enter relationships. His image of himself is rather
negative.
d. Anxious/Disorganized
Amy, who is just one year old, gets sent to a
nursery. The staff there is poorly trained, overworked
and often very stressed. Some are outright abusive. Amy
therefore becomes anxious of the very people she seeks
security from - a conflict which totally disorganizes her
ideas about love and safety. As she is experiencing fear
As an adult she thinks of herself as unworthy of love
Her self image is very negative.
Our attachment is formed in the very first years of our
lives, a time when we are too young to communicate our anxiety
and as a result can experience high levels of stress. If that happens
frequently, it is called toxic stress. Toxic, because it impairs the
development of a child's brain, and weakens the immune system.
In embryos or at a very young age, toxic stress can even switch the
expressions of genes, which can affect our health many decades
later.
Securely attached children first usually hug their mother,
then can calm down and eventually get back to playing. Insecurely
attached children can be ambivalent and avoidant. Some can't stop
crying or refuse to continue playing. The long term effects of our
attachment in the early years, are well documented. Using the
theory, researchers at Minnesota University were able to predict
already at age 3, if a child would dropout of high school with 77%
accuracy. In another study, undergraduates at Harvard were asked
to assess how close they felt to their parents. 35 years later they
were ask about their health. 91% of those who said they had a
rather broken relationship with their mother, were also diagnosed
with health issues, including coronary artery disease,
hypertension, and alcoholism.
For those that had reported a warm relationship, the
figure of poor health diagnosis was just 45%. But there is another
reason why the early years deserve special attention. They are the
starting place for subsequent behaviors. A kid that feels securely
attached at age 2, can make friends at kindergarten. Their
worldview gets reinforced with every interaction and they develop
optimism.
As a result, they make good relationships at school, then
at colleague and later at work. Highly insecurely attached children
can miss out on this opportunity.
Psychologist John Bowlby, a pioneer in attachment
theory, allegedly said, “What cannot be communicated to the
mother, cannot be communicated to the self.” In other words:
those who feel insecurely attached, might not quite understand
themselves. To get to know who they are and what they feel, they
might have to go way back in time.
II. SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT and PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
DEVELOPMENT
A. PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
Stages of Age Erogenous Description
Development Range Zone
the infant's primary
source of
interaction occurs
ORAL Birth to 1 Mouth through the mouth,
Year so the rooting and
sucking reflex is
especially
important.
This is our ego
 develops. o the ego follows the reality principle as it
success at this operates in both the conscious and
stage is dependent
unconscious mind.
1 to 3 Bowel and upon the way in
ANAL years Bladder which parents
Control approach toilet  Superego (Morality)
training. o The superego operates on the morality
the child begins to
principle and motivates us to behave in a
identify with the
same-sex parent as socially responsible and acceptable manner.
a means of o The superego is a part of the unconscious that
vicariously is the voice of conscience (doing what is right)
possessing the and the source of self-criticism.
PHALLIC 3 to 6 Genitals other parent.
Years
This is where the  ID (Instincts)
superego develops. o The id is a part of the unconscious that
contains all the urges and impulses, including
The Oedipus
complex is what is called the libido, a kind of generalized
feelings of wanting sexual energy that is used for everything from
to possess the survival instincts to appreciation of art.
mother and the o The id operates on the pleasure principle
desire to replace
the father. The
(Freud, 1920), that every unconscious wishful
term Electra impulse should be satisfied immediately,
complex has been regardless of the consequences
used to describe a
similar set of Levels of Mind
feelings
experienced by  Conscious
young girls. o People are aware in this level.
Children develop
social skills,  Preconscious / Subconscious
values, and o These are feelings, scenarios and emotions na
relationships with binabalikan ng tao in order to remind or feel
peers and adults
it again.
6 to Sexual outside of the
LATENT Puberty Feelings Are family.  Unconscious
Inactive o These are feelings, physiological needs which
The development and unconscious happened and that can be
of the ego and
reflect on your behavior.
superego
contributes to this o There will be triggers.
period of calm.
GENITAL Puberty Maturing the individual
to Death Sexual develops a strong
Interests sexual interest in COPING MECHANISMS
the opposite sex.
a. repression
- repressing the feelings; tinatago or forgetting
B. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY DEVELOPMENT the emotions
- which unpleasant thoughts or memories are
pushed from the conscious mind
 someone who does not recall abuse
in their early childhood, but still has
problems with connection,
aggression and anxiety resulting
from the unremembered trauma.

b. denial
- ignoring the reality of a situation to avoid
anxiety; not acknowledging reality or denying
the consequences of that reality
 Someone denies that they have an
alcohol or substance use disorder
because they can still function and
go to work each day.

c. projection
Provinces of Mind - form of defense in which unwanted feelings
are displaced onto another person, where they
 Ego (Reality) then appear as a threat from the external
o The one who decides, balance and the mediate world.
between the unrealistic id and the real external  a woman who has been unfaithful to
world. her husband but who accuses her
husband of cheating on her.
 d. displacement
- Transferring one's emotional burden or
emotional reaction from one entity to another
 A man who has had a bad day at the Middle Age Generativit Experiment
office, comes home and yells at his y vs. Care with and
wife and children, is displacing his (30-64 years) Stagnation develop
anger from the workplace onto his identity and
roles
family.
e. regression
- defense mechanism in which people seem to
Old Age Ego Assess and
return to an earlier developmental stage Integrity Wisdom make sense of
 an overwhelmed child may revert to (65 onward) vs. life and
bedwetting or thumb-sucking. Despair meaning of
f. sublimation contributions
- defense mechanism works by redirecting
negative feelings or impulses into positive
ones.
 someone with anger issues may
channel their aggressive urges into
sports instead of lashing out at
others physically or verbally.

III. ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES

Stages Basic Virtue Description

Conflict
Trust (or
Infancy Trust mistrust) that
Vs. Hope basic needs,
(0-1 year) Mistrust such as
nourishment
and affection,
will be met
Develop a
Early Autonomy sense of
Childhood vs. Will independence
Shame & in many tasks
(1-3 years) Doubt

Take initiative
on some
Play Age Initiative Purpose activities-may
vs. develop guilt
(3-6 years) Guilt when
unsuccessful
or boundaries
overstepped
Develop self-
confidence in
School Age Industry abilities when
vs. Competence competent or
(7-11 years) Inferiority sense of
inferiority
when not

Adolescence Identity Experiment

vs. Fidelity with and
(12-18 years) Role develop
Confusion identity and
roles

Early Intimacy Establish

Adulthood vs. Love intimacy and
Isolation relationships
(19-29 years) with others
 FINAL TERM – EDUC 1: Birth Interest, Disgust,
THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS AND LEARNING Pleasure Distress Basic
PRINCIPLE
3-7 months Surprise Sadness, Emotions
Joy Anger,
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Fear
Self-Awareness Develops
Objectives:
15-24 Embarrassment,
 Explain the importance of emotions for learners’ success months Envy Complex
in the classroom, and create an emotionally healthy Awareness of Rules & Responsibility Develops
classroom. 30-35 Greed,
months
 Recognize age-appropriate ability to regulate emotion,
and analyze how to coach your students to more
effectively regulate their emotions. I. COMPLEX SOCIAL EMOTIONS
 Understand the importance of reading others’ emotions,
and apply strategies for improving your students’ Social emotions are more complex and emerge later than
empathy. basic emotions because they require at least four cognitive
abilities in children
There is no debate between IQ and EQ; it has to be
balanced. 1. awareness that they are a separate self from their
attachment figures
Why we need to study emotional development? Because it 2. awareness that rules exist,
will help it to establish teacher and student relationship in order 3. ability to evaluate their self against those rules, and
to occupy the knowledge and learning. It develop strategies in 4. ability to judge whether they caused something children
catching students’ attention. do not believe they caused something, they are unlikely to
feel quit shame or pride about it
An emotion is a subjective reaction to an important event and
 For example, 3-year-olds may feel guilt if they snatch a
involves physiological change, readiness to act, and appraisal of
toy an infant and the infant cries, but not if the infant
the event (Gross, 2015).
cries of hunger.
a. First, the event must be important. If you do not have
strongly held values or goals in an event, then you are
unlikely to feel emotion about it. Piaget devised an interesting way to test this ability.
b. Second, emotions involve physiological changes in heart
rate, brain activity, hormone levels, and temperature- Mary was trying to help by carrying dishes. She
which are linked to outward signs of emotions, like dropped and broke eight dishes by accident. John did
flushed cheeks or sweaty hands not want to eat his peas, so he threw his dish and broke
c. Third, emotion involves readiness for action. it. Who was naughtier? Most preschoolers believe Mary
d. Fourth, emotions depend on how you appraise, or was naughtier than John because she broke more
interpret, an event. For example, Imagine Hailey is in dishes. To preschoolers. greater damage often means
your classroom. Another teacher tells you had that more guilt; they may not consider Mary's and John's
troublemaker last year. She is just plain mean! You intentions.
might feel angry toward Halley. But if the other teacher
tells you: "Thad her last year. Her father left the family,  Guilt results from morally wrong behavior over which
and the poor child is so distraught that she lashes out at you have control.
others you might feel compassion instead of anger.  Shame results from a social blunder over which you
Changes in your appraisal of an event lead to different may or may not have control.
emotions.

Charles Darwin theorized that

emotions are innate and natural. WHY DO CHILDREN HAVE EMOTIONS?
Pagkapanganak pa lang ng bata, they
 Emotions serve important functions. They help focus
are under of emotion, for instance,
your attention, motivate you, and enable you take action.
baby is crying due to hungriness.
 Positive emotions like interest and joy motivate you to
Darwin’s work a step father and continue, not change, your behavior.
identified six basic emotions that he  The social emotions help you adhere to the norms of
claims are innate to the human your social groups. Guilt motivates repairing harm to
species. others and inhabits aggression.
 Pride motivates achievement. Shame motivates
a) Interest conformity to class rules.
b) Joy/Happiness  Social emotions are helpful, but learners who experience
c) Aches too much shame are not emotionally healthy; they are
d) Anger likely to become aggressive and feel worthless. Any
e) Disgust emotion can be a problem if it is out of control, like
f) Fear Hailey’s explosive anger.

Figure 1: Emergence of Basic Complex Social Emotions EMOTIONS INFLUENCE LEARNING AND
THOUGHT
Age Positive Negative
Emotion Emotion
 Emotions focus attention (Huntsinger, 2013). Learners  Emotion regulation is the ability to control one's emotions.
pay more attention to things with emotional significance For Children with good emotion regulation can alter the
example, when learning about civil rights, students will pay rapt intensity and duration of their emotions so that goals are
attention to a debate on the emotionally charged topic of school met.
shootings and the right to bear arms However, too much emotion  Shonen dampers her distress to meet her goal of stopping the
can swamp attention and executive functions, as you'll learn rice. Mrs. Ng dampens her anger to preserve a good
below. relationship with Haley Emotion regulation does not always
involve dampening emotions, it can also involve
Emotions organize recall and memory. Learners tend to
maintaining or increasing emotions (Gross, 2015) For
remember details of emotionally strong experiences (Kensinger,
example, Roshni may need to increase anger in order to
2007). For example, they might remember disgust over dissecting
stand up to Holley's aggression.
a frog more than other lessons in the same class.
IV. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotions determine whether learners’ approach or avoid
a learning task, and how much effort, they put into learning. For Emotional
example, a learner who enjoys the topic will expand the effort intelligence the ability to use
writing a research paper. emotions to guide thinking
and to think intelligently
about emotions. Sometimes
defined more broadly to
mean emotional competence.
II. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
- It has 4
Emotions can have different effects on learning and dimensions:
thought depending on what emotion is experienced, Let’s compare
negative and positive emotions. a. Self-Awareness Aware in your own emotions
b. Self-Regulation
Positive Emotions c. Social Awareness Aware on others’ emotions
d. Social Regulation
 Positive emotions-like interest, happiness or excitement-
promote learning and creativity (Valiente, Saranson &
STRATEGIES TO REGULATE EMOTION
Elsenberg, 2012). Happy learners are more productive,
perform better on projects and tasks, and solve problems  Coping strategies are deliberate attempts to change
more creatively than learners in a negative mood thoughts or behavior when you are overwhelmed by
(Nadler, Rabi & Minda, 2010). emotion. Coping strategies can be either problem-
 Mild, positive emotions broaden thought (Fredrickson, focused or emotion focused
2001; Huntsinger, 2013). When you feel positive, you  Prohibit focused coping strategies are action-oriented
are motivated to learn, to be open to new information, to and involve trying to change the station, for example, if
generate ideas, and to participate in activities. When you you feel shame over a bad grade you decide to study.
feel interest, you are motivated to focus attentions on  Emotion-focused coping strategies involve trying to
pursuing a goal (Gable & Harmon-jones, 2008). change emotions, such as changing one's thoughts about
Negative Emotions the situation or seeking comfort from others. For
example, if you feel shame over a bad grade, you may
 Negative emotions-like anger, sadness, and anxiety-can tell yourself the grade is not that important or talk with
impair learning. Wen students feel intense or chronic friends about how the teacher is unfair.
negative emotions, the have difficulty attending to
classroom tasks.
Coping strategies commonly used by children:
 Anxiety can make learners appear less intelligence
because they are so consumed y anxious thoughts that Less Constructive More Constructive
they may not remember, learn, or make good decisions.
Thus, teaching children to regulate their emotions may 1. Do nothing 8. Avoid the situation or leave,
be as important to students’ success as helping them just walk away
developing ____ executive functions.
2. Aggress-to resolve the problem 9. Talk to friends, teachers, or
III. REGULATING ONE’S OWN EMOTIONS (e.g., grab a pencil away!) parents, or pray

3 Aggress-to release pent-up 10. Distract yourself or try not to

Shonese, a 2nd-grader, calmly gets off the school
feelings (e.g., kick the chair) think about the problem
bus and walks toward her house. When she sees her
mother waiting at the door, she bursts into tears. 4. Use alcohol or drugs to escape 11. Exercise (or low-arousal
Between sobs Shonese tells her mother that some the emotions, or eat comfort emotions like sadness)
mean kids on the bus ridiculed her name. Shonese’s foods
mother lovingly rubs her back and says, “Calm
5. Cry-to release pent-up feelings 12. Relax for high-arousal
down. The best way to handle kids like that is to emotions like anger or anxiety)
ignore them. Pretend you didn’t hear a thing. They’ll
quit eventually, because it won’t be fun.” The next 6. Cry-to elicit help from others 13. Seek help from friends,
day, when the ridicule starts again, Shonese follows teachers, or parents
her mother’s advice and ignores them. Seeing that
7. Ruminate (rehash and dwell on 14. Take constructive action to
they are not getting a reaction, the kids leave
negative thoughts) improve the situation (e.g., study
Shonese alone.
harder when anxious about a test)
 15. Reappraise - try to think
about the situation in a positive
way, or change your goal (e.g.,
it's better that I wasn't elected to
student council because I'll have
more free time now)
IV. CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS OF EMOTION
REGULATION
Talk About Emotions
 Seize opportunities to talk about emotions. Help students
label, describe, and understand the emotions they
experience. Mrs. Ng talked with Hailey about how Evan
was surprised and angry with her, and that Hailey should
feel guilt. This is especially important for some special
education students and very young children who have
trouble identifying emotions in themselves or others.
Be sensitive to Learners’ Emotion
1. Notice whether each student in emotionally positive or
negative most of the time. Well-regulated learners
should be predominantly positive, and only occasionally
negative. Chronic negativity or exaggerated moodiness
is not normal, events among 2-year-old and teenagers.
2. Notice whether each of your students has age-
appropriate emotion regulation (review the Age trends
section). Hailey does not have age-appropriate abilities,
but Shonese does.
3. Be aware of emotional disorders, especially
internalizing disorders like depression and anxiety.
Although they ae more common in girls, do not
overlook them in boys. Notify a counselor if you suspect
an emotional disorder. The sooner they detected the
better, because treatment is more successful with young
children.
4. Be aware of dissemblance, or emotions that learners
may be hiding.
Scaffold and Teach Emotion Regulation
 Infants and toddlers may need your help to regulate their
emotions when they cry intensely. How can you calm an
infant? One of the most effective methods is to carry the
infant while you walk
 How should you handle a toddler's tantrum? Remember
that tantrums are intense sadness with peaks of anger.
Do nothing (unless the child is in danger) until the peaks
of anger abate and mere sadness is left. Sad children
seek comfort. However, if you try to comfort or reason
with the child during an anger peak, you will prolong
the anger
 You can help your older students develop emotion
regulation by directly teaching coping strategies and by
responding appropriately to their emotions. Draw upon
the more constructive strategies in Table 8.1.
Reappraisal is one of the best strategies for many
situations and can be taught to children as young as 5.
Create a Positive Classroom Climate
 Express positive emotions. Students need to see adults
express a wide range of emotions, but positive emotions
more often than negative. Students may learn less from
teachers who feel depressed (McLean & Connor, 2015).
Wise teachers sometimes act happy even if they don’t
feel happy, and often their dissemblance improves their
mood
 Use effective, positive discipline. Establish secure
teacher–student relationships. Classroom climate is
affected by teacher–student relationships and how much
a teacher enjoys students. A close teacher–student
relationship protects children from negative parenting,
whereas students who have a negative relationship with
both parents and teachers (i.e., risk accumulates) are
most likely to become depressed and delinquent (Wang,
Brinkworth, & Eccles, 2013).
 Have fun in your classroom. Positive emotions strong
enough to affect thinking are remarkably easy to induce.
In research, brief interventions as simple as giving
participants an unexpected reward results in faster
learning during laboratory experiments. Applying this to
your classroom, you can induce positive emotions when
you celebrate learners achieving a goal or succeeding on
a difficult task. Occasionally, reward learners
unexpectedly for good effort.
Helping Depressed Students
1. Help learners feel more capable. Teach skills and provide
realistic goals. Striving for unrealistic goals makes
learners feel less capable.
2. Help learners reappraise situations. Challenge their
pessimistic thoughts and suggest more optimistic thoughts;
help them see the silver lining. Attribute their failure and
success to effort, not innate ability, like "You got that B
because you worked hard" rather than "because you are
smart." Learners who can explain, and control, their
successes feel less depressed.
3. Help learners find an activity to lift the depressed mood,
such as an activity at which the student is good or enjoys.
Also consider pleasant music, a funny book, or exercise.
Youth who are physically active are less likely to be
depressed or anxious (Monshouwer, ten Have, van Poppel,
Kemper, & Vollebergh, 2013)
Helping Anxious Students
1. You will also minimize anxiety when you provide a
predictable classroom and give learners as much control
over activities as possible The most important part of a
predictable classroom is a teacher who is consistent and
responsive. When teachers are responsive, rather than
critical or detached, learners are more positive and less
anxious (Hestenes, Kontos, & Bryan, 1993)
2. You can also reduce anxiety by minimizing daily hassles
at school. These are small stressors such as hearing
teachers yell at other learners, getting low grades for
trivial errors, or having to sit still for too long. Daily
hassles can also be time related, such as not having enough
time to eat lunch, get from class to class, or play at recess
Understanding Others' Emotions
 Shaunt'a (pronounced "Shawn-tae") has recently moved
to a new high school. She is quiet and has few friends.
In French class, a boy makes fun of her clothes.
Shaunt'a acts as though she doesn't hear. However,
another classmate, Dirk, knows she hears. Dirk says
that he likes Shaunt'a's clothes, which silences the other
boy. Dirk then tries to make Shaunt'a more comfortable
by talking with her about whether she is going to try out
for show choir.

When learners have empathy for another person, they may

respond in one of three ways:

1. Sympathy is feeling concern for the other's feelings.

2. Personal distress is a negative emotional reaction to
someone else's distress where learners focus on their
own feelings. While Dirk felt sympathy for Shaunt'a,
other classmates felt so uncomfortable in the situation
that they focused on their own distress and moved away
from Shaunt'a.
3. Empathic distress is feeling distressed along with
another person

Affective perspective-taking is related to two other important

concepts: emotion contagion and social referencing:

Emotion contagion occurs when the emotion of one

person causes a similar emotion in another person. For example, a
teenage girl laughed heartily over a joke that her friends thought
was lame, but they began laughing too because her mirth was
contagious. This mimicking of others' emotions is unintentional
and actually changes the emotion you feel.

Social referencing refers to reading another person's

emotional expression to decide how you should respond. For
example, a 4-year-old boy looked at his teacher's face before
approaching a dog. The teacher smiled, so the child petted the dog.
If the teacher had looked worried, the child would have backed
away. Social referencing is especially influential in ambiguous
situations, in which the child is not sure what to do or feel. Social
referencing provides children with information about a situation,
including what emotions are appropriate in that situation.
 FINAL TERM – EDUC 1:
THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT LEARNERS AND LEARNING
PRINCIPLE
DEVELOPMENT OF MOTIVATION AND SELF-
REGULATION
One of the most disturbing findings of developmental
psychologists who are interested in motivation is that with
increasing age during the schooling years, academic motivation
declines. In general, students tend to like school and academic
tasks less with each additional year in school. They value school
less, and they are less interested in school and what is studied in
school the more that they experience school (e.g., Eccles &
Midgley, 1989; Eccles et al., 1989; Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar,
2005; Wigfield, 1994; Wigfield & Eccles, 1992; Wigfield, Eccles,
Mac Iver, Reuman, & Midgley, 1991).
o Study shown that yung interest ay bumababa
habang ang taon ng pagaaral ay tumataaas
WHY DOES ACADEMIC MOTIVATION DECLINE
WITH INCREASING GRADES IN SCHOOL?
 First, children’s reactions to and thinking about reinforcements
and punishments changes with increasing age during the
elementary school years.
 Second, reinforcement contingencies change with advancing
grade level, such that competition for grades and other rewards
becomes keener and more obvious.
Self-efficacy
 Beliefs about their competence or ability to perform a
task. High self-efficacy in a subject area is important
because it motivates students to attempt tasks in the
same and related subjects in the future, and thus is a
causal factor of future academic achievement (Marsh,
1990a; Marsh & Yeung, 1997b; Schunk & Pajares,
2004; Zimmerman et al., 1992). What children and
adolescents believe they can do goes far in shaping their
academic aspirations and even their career aspirations
(Bandura, Barbaranelli, Vittorio-Caprara, & Pastorelli,
2001).
o pagbutihin pa sa for the next tasks
o have to use of the scaffold or unti-untiin
lamang ang steps para sa students, for
instance, addition before multiplication/back
to basics
MATCHING ACADEMIC TASKS TO STUDENT
COMPETENCIES
 If students attempt an easy goal, they make progress rapidly,
but they do not acquire information about their abilities to
tackle more ambitious tasks. If students attempt too difficult a
task, they experience little progress toward meeting the goal,
resulting in diminished self-efficacy and motivation to continue
with the task. Only tasks that are challenging for the learner,
but not so challenging as to prevent progress, are capable of
providing information to students that increases their sense of
self-efficacy and promote their future attempts to meet
challenging tasks. Teachers need to encourage students to select
appropriate goals, ones that are not too easy and not too hard.
 Students who seek challenge generally are more confident in
their ability to do a task, and, if they struggle, they do not get
upset but instead rebound, confident that they’ll make progress
and learn something with additional effort. Any initial
frustration might prompt deeper thinking in such students.
Those students who avoid challenge often lack confidence that
they can make progress, and, if they experience a little failure,
react negatively to it, perhaps giving up. They tend not to
expend the effort to use strategies that get below the surface of
a problem, and hence do not learn as much as those who
challenge themselves. One of the best ways to encourage the
challenge avoider to accept a challenge is to scaffold the
student’s attempt at learning
Attributions
 When students succeed or fail, they can explain their
success or failure to themselves in various ways—that
is, they can attribute their achievements to what they
believe to be causal factors. These explanations for
performances are called attribution.
 Students can explain outcomes by referring to their:
a. efforts—success was due to their hard work
and working effectively, and failure was due to
their lack of effort;
b. abilities—success was due to their high ability
and failure to their low ability;
c. task factors—success occurred because the
task was easy, but failure occurred because the
task was difficult; or
d. luck—success reflected good luck, while
failure reflected bad luck
HOW DO STUDENTS PRESERVE FEELINGS OF
ACADEMIC SELF-WORTH?
Martin Covington (1992, 2004; Covington & Roberts, 1994)
proposed that academic motivations can be broken down into motives to
try for success and motives to avoid failure. In order to understand
students’ academic behaviors and motivations, both of these motives need
to be considered. Covington identified four types of students:
a. Overstrivers: These students are highly motivated to go for
success, but they are also very highly motivated to avoid
failure. They put in a great deal of effort, often preparing
extensively—indeed, much more than is necessary to achieve
success. The anxiety produced by their many thoughts of
failure and the perceived horror of failure are so motivating that
they keep on studying and studying.
b. Success-oriented students: These students value academic
achievement, but are not particularly worried about failing.
These students work hard, but not because they are motivated
by anxiety (as are the overstrivers).
c. Failure avoiders: These students are not motivated to work
hard, for academic success means little to them. However, they
also want to preserve their sense of academic self-worth— their
feelings that they are intelligent and capable. If a failure
avoider does fail, it must be in a way that the failure cannot be
attributed to low ability. How is that managed? Don’t study!! A
failure avoider can then attribute failure to low effort
(Covington & Omelich, 1979a, 1979b). If a student is sick,
does drugs or alcohol, or stays up all night before the exam,
there’s no reason for the student to attribute the failure to lack
of ability. Of course, procrastinating, altering consciousness
with chemicals, and intentionally losing sleep are all
selfhandicapping strategies (see Urdan & Midgley, 2001), so
that the failure-avoiding student is actually increasing the
likelihood of failure but avoiding the conclusion that failure
was due to low ability.
d. Failure acceptors: These students care little about either
academic success or failure. They are the students who have
rejected the academic system. For example, recall the minority
high-school students studied by Fordham and Ogbu (1986) as
discussed in Chapter 6. Minority students who reject majority
academic values can be thought of as failure acceptors
(Covington, 1992).
CREATING COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUPS
RESEARCH
 On cooperative learning has been enlightening about how to
structure cooperative learning groups so as to maximize student
achievement. Here are some of the best teaching tips emerging
from this work.
 Be sure to use both group rewards and individual
accountability. Individual accountability helps to
eliminate freeloading and a group reward provides
incentive for the students to work together.
 As in peer tutoring, students who do the explaining often
learn the most, so it is important to structure groups so
that a high percentage of students participate (Webb,
1989).
 Make sure the students in each cooperative group
represent a range of ability, although cooperative
learning seems to work better if groups do not include
the full range of ability (Webb, 1989, 1992). For
example, place high-ability and medium-ability students
together. Similarly, place medium-ability and low-ability
students together.
 Make sure the groups are gender-balanced as well. Girls
are more likely to be interactive and have higher
achievement in cooperative learning groups if there are
equal numbers of boys and girls (Webb, 1984). If there’s
a majority of boys, girls are more likely to be ignored. If
there’s a majority of girls, proportionately more
interactions are directed at the few boys.
If at all possible, try to make the groups racially or
ethnically balanced as well.
 As much as possible, monitor group interactions. Make
sure groups stay on task and that all students have equal
opportunities for learning.
 Teach students appropriate social skills for academic
interactions, such as how it often makes sense to
compromise and that disagreements are all right so long
as students who disagree are respectful in their
disagreements. Recall the discussions in Chapter 3 about
how Piagetian-oriented theorists interested in education
consistently encourage cognitive conflict as a means of
cognitive growth. An important point here is that
engaging in such conflict can be highly motivating.
Respectful discussions involving students arguing for
their perspectives does much to promote cognitive
growth. Such discussion is often engaging.
o Cooperative learning – people or groups
accumulated to perfect or achieve the goals
o Individual learning – each of students has
different goals
o Peer tutoring – the tutee the one explains than
the tutors
This repertoire of motivational tricks can and should
include the following:
 Teachers should model interest in learning, letting students
know that they like learning and find academic activities
rewarding and generally satisfying.
 Teachers should let students know about especially
interesting aspects of upcoming content and why people
value the knowledge covered in school.
 Teachers should model thinking and problem solving as
they occur. This can be a powerful way of conveying
both how to approach tasks and that academic tasks are
engaging and meaningful.
 Classrooms should be low anxiety places. What goes on
in school should be presented as learning experiences,
rather than tests. The more classrooms are improvement-
oriented rather than competitive, the better.
 Send the message that what is occurring in school
deserves intense attention. Teachers need to stage their
presentations so that their words, tone, and manner
sends the message that “This stuff is important.” Of
course, this approach must be used selectively and be
reserved for really important material.
 Induce curiosity and suspense. This can be done, for
example, by encouraging students to make predictions
about what might be in an upcoming text or lesson,
stimulating students to want to determine whether their
prediction holds. Sometimes this can be accomplished
by demonstrating to students that their current
knowledge is inadequate. One effective mechanism is to
induce cognitive conflict, pointing out apparent
contradictions in materials, stimulating students to come
up with ways to resolve the contradictions.
 Include games as part of learning

LIST OF WHAT TEACHERS CAN DO TO

MOTIVATE STUDENT
To motivate students, classrooms should have the following
characteristics:

 They should be orderly and well managed.

 What is being taught should be worth learning.
 Content should be at an appropriate level of content, not
too easy, but not so difficult that most students will not
be able to meet task demands with reasonable effort.
 A teacher’s repertoire of motivational devices should be
extensive enough so that none must be used so
frequently that it becomes “old hat.”