Metacognition
Children learn from parents,
● Metacognition refers to an individual's ability to plan,
monitor, evaluate, and make changes to their own learning
behaviors.
● Processes of Metacognition:
○ Self-Monitoring: Observing stage, asking "what am
I doing?".
○ Self-Evaluating: Judging stage, asking "how am I
doing?".
○ Self-Regulating: Modifying stage, asking "what do I
need to change?".
● Benefits of Metacognition:
○ Higher achievement levels for students.
○ Increased ability to learn independently.
○ Improved resilience.
○ Aids disadvantaged students.
○ Cost-effectiveness.
○ Transferable knowledge.
○ Effective for all ages of students.
○ Emotional and social growth.
○ Purposes and Importance of Metacognition:
○ Optimizes learners' basic cognitive processes.
○ Enables quality control of thinking and reasoning.
● Ways to Develop Metacognitive Skills:
○ Metacognitive skills involve self-awareness, self-
regulation, and self-reflection.
● 8 Ways to Develop Metacognitive Skills:
○ Know what you don't know.
○ Set great goals.
○ Ask good questions.
○ Prepare properly.
○ Monitor performance.
○ Seek out and react to feedback.
○ Keep a diary.
● How is Metacognition Used in Learning:
○ Learners use knowledge of the task, learning
strategies, and themselves to plan, monitor, and
evaluate their learning.
○ Involves knowing strengths and weaknesses as a
learner.
○ Key component of assessment for learning and
assessment capable learners.
○ Enhances learning across subjects, promoting self-
regulation and critical thinking.
Metacognition Strategies
● Strategies to develop metacognition among learners include
self-questioning, visualization, reflection, and goal-setting.
● Specific strategies for developing metacognition among
students include teaching them how their brains are wired
for growth, practicing recognizing what they don’t
understand, reflecting on coursework, keeping learning
journals, using a “wrapper” to increase monitoring skills and
facilitating reflexive thinking.
● Metacognition strategies for studying involve using the
syllabus as a roadmap, summoning prior knowledge,
thinking aloud, asking questions, writing, organizing
thoughts, taking notes from memory, reviewing exams,
taking a timeout, testing oneself, and figuring out how one
learns.
● Teachers can facilitate metacognition through modeling and
questioning, and creating questions that prompt reflective
thinking in students. It's important to provide explicit
instruction in the way to think through a task.
● Metacognitive strategies fall into the categories of planning,
monitoring, and evaluating one’s thinking, and can
transcend multiple categories, empowering students to think
about their own thinking.
● The 14 Principles are divided into four categories: Cognitive
and Metacognitive, Motivational and Affective, Development
and Social, and Individual Difference Principles. The nature
of the learning process is a cognitive and metacognitive
principle, which states that learning occurs when
experiences are transformed, leading to improved
performance and future learning. Learning can result from
both vicarious and direct experiences.
Nature of Learning
● Learning is Universal. Every living creature learns, but man
learns the most.
● Learning is through Experience. It always involves some
kind of direct or indirect experience.
● Learning is from all Sides.
teachers, environment, nature, and media.
● Learning is Continuous. It is lifelong and involves adapting
to new situations.
● It results in Change in Behavior. Learning influences a
change in behavior based on previous behavior.
● Learning is an Adjustment. It helps individuals adjust to new
situations.
● It comes about as a result of practice. Meaningful practice
and repetition are important for effective learning.
● Learning is a relatively Permanent Change. Even in a short
time, proficiency can be improved through practice.
● Learning as Growth and Development. It is a never-ending
process of growth and development.
● Learning is not directly observable. It can only be studied
through observable behavior.
● Learning goals should be specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant, and timed.
● Importance of learning goals: Stay focused, maintain
motivation, set priorities.
● Effectively set and achieve learning goals by defining them
clearly, breaking them down into smaller steps, and using a
suitable learning strategy.
Construction of Knowledge
● Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct
knowledge rather than just passively take in information.
● Learners build their own representations and incorporate
new information into their pre-existing knowledge as they
experience and reflect upon the world.
● Successful learners can link new information with existing
knowledge in meaningful ways.
● Knowledge construction is a process by which learners
actively build their understanding through exploration,
reflection, and interaction.
● It promotes deeper learning and understanding, strengthens
understanding of material, and helps develop critical
thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills.
● Students engage in knowledge construction through
discussions, group projects, inquiry-based learning, and
reflection.
● Teachers can encourage knowledge construction by
fostering collaboration, critical thinking, hands-on learning,
and reflection.
● It helps prepare students for success in the rapidly changing
future.
The Changing Role of Technology in Education
● Technology plays a key role in promoting deeper knowledge
and understanding in education, fostering critical thinking
and collaboration.
● Virtual learning activities and projects enable students to
engage in active exploration and reflection from any location
and at any time.
● The increasing role of technology has the potential to
enhance knowledge construction and improve the learning
experience.
● Strategic thinking refers to the ability to plan for the future,
formulate strategies, and be proactive rather than reactive in
finding ways to improve and adapt to changing
environments.
● Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, involves
examining how we process information, our personal
thinking strategies, and developing techniques to engage in
critical thinking, memory retention, and communication
improvement.
● The context of learning, including environmental factors,
culture, technology, and instructional practices, influences
the effectiveness of instruction and the learning experience
for students.
Motivational Affective Influences on Learning
● Motivation describes the wants or needs that direct behavior
toward a goal and is the urge to behave in a certain way to
satisfy wishes, desires, or goals.
● Student motivation affects their desire to participate in the
learning process and influences how much is learned based
on their wants or needs.
● Emotions influence cognitive skills and can enhance or
interfere with learning based on the emotional states,
beliefs, interests, and goals of the individual.
● Intrinsic motivation occurs when students are engaged
because of internal rewards, such as a love of learning or
interest in a subject, and can be encouraged through online
learning and gamification.
 ● Motivation is a psychological force that drives behavior and
consists of a direction and intensity with which this direction
is pursued, impacting effort, persistence, and performance
in learning.
Development and Learning
● High levels of motivation increase persistence, enhance
cognitive processes, and lead to improved performance in
learners.
● Learning is most effective when the physical, intellectual,
emotional, and social domains of development are taken
into account.
● Development is a continuous process influenced by various
factors, encompassing the body, brain, abilities, and
behavior of individuals.
● Learning is most effective when developmental components,
including emotional, intellectual, and physical development,
are considered, considering the mind's growth by rewarding
learners for their efforts.
● Parental attitudes, peer interactions, and learning
experiences are examples of developmental influences,
while social factors, such as family background and
education, impact students' development.
● The physical domain involves the development of physical
changes, gross and fine motor skills, and sensory
development in children.
● Cognitive development includes memory, learning new
information, and the development of knowledge and skills in
various subjects.
● Emotional development encompasses a child's ability to
recognize and express feelings, understand and respond to
others' emotions, and develop important emotional skills.
Emotional and Social Development in Learning
● Self-efficacy is the belief that one can succeed in
accomplishing what one sets out to do, creating feelings of
self-confidence, competence, and positive emotions that a
child must have to be successful in learning tasks at home
and at school.
● Social connection is the interpersonal and interdependent
closeness between people, resulting in a sense of
belonging, trust, and appreciation for one's best qualities.
● Social interaction plays an important role in learning,
assisting learners to organize their thoughts, reflect on their
understanding, and find gaps in their reasoning.
● Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal
relations, and communication with others, and teachers
must understand and study individual distinctions of their
students.
● Social interaction is essential for education, as it helps
students learn, retain, and apply knowledge by interacting
with others and receiving and giving feedback.
● Interpersonal relationships involve social connections
between two or more people, including connections with
partners, loved ones, friends, acquaintances, and co-
workers.
● Communication is the process of exchanging information or
ideas between two or more individuals or entities, and
effective communication requires both parties to understand
the same language or code and to share a common context
or frame of reference.
● Students with strong communication skills can express their
ideas clearly and concisely, participate in class discussions,
ask questions, seek help when needed, and present
thoughts persuasively, leading to better grades and
educational outcomes.
Principles under Individual Differences
● Learners have different strategies, approaches and
capabilities for learning, influenced by prior experience and
heredity, leading to individual differences.
● Individual differences are considered personal
characteristics that distinguish learners, including gender,
age, intelligence, ability, interest, prior knowledge, learning
style, motivation, locus of control, self-efficacy, and
epistemological beliefs.
● Strategies help learners build their understanding through
experimentation, observation, and participation.
● Various strategies help learners participate, connect, and
add excitement to learning content, and students can apply
these strategies independently as they learn new material.
● The Approaches to Learning domain focuses on children's
skills and behaviors used to engage in learning.
● Educators should understand students' learning styles to
implement best practice strategies into daily activities,
curriculum, and assessments.
● Capabilities include independently organizing studies, taking
responsibility for studying, planning and organizational
abilities, problem-solving ability, creativity, analytical ability,
and critical thinking.
● Learning is most effective when differences in learners'
linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds are considered.
● Diversity encompasses race, ethnicity, class, gender,
sexuality, age, and political and religious beliefs, shifting the
focus towards enriching human learning and experience
through 'unity in diversity.'
The Learning Environment: Multicultural and Diverse
● Inclusive teaching strategies aim to support all students,
creating a safe and respectful environment where they can
freely learn and express their views.
● Linguistic diversity refers to the many ways people
communicate, including different languages and ways of
speaking, which offer new insights into history, culture, and
the brain's information processing.
● Cultural diversity enriches lives by exposing individuals to
different traditions, beliefs, and perspectives, leading to a
broader understanding and appreciation of the world.
● Exposure to different cultures in the classroom helps
students feel more comfortable and confident in interacting
with others and allows them to consider perspectives
beyond their own beliefs.
● Sociological perspective emphasizes the influence of social
backgrounds on attitudes, behaviors, and life chances,
comprising factors such as gender, race, social class,
religion, education, and family situations. These factors are
not chosen but are determined by the "accident of birth."
Educational Psychology and Developmental Theories
● Understanding students' backgrounds can help teachers
create culturally relevant lessons.
● Fostering student motivation and engagement is crucial to
effective learning environments.
● Setting high standards and assessing learning progress are
integral parts of the learning process.
● Assessment determines goals of education, affecting
decisions on grades, placement, advancement, and funding.
● Learning standards promote consistency in taught material
and support learning by monitoring progress and guiding
instruction.
● Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his theory
of cognitive development.
● Piaget's theory focuses on how children develop
intellectually throughout childhood.
● Genetic epistemology is the study of the origins of
knowledge, a term developed by Piaget himself.
● Piaget's work influenced education reform movements and
took children's thinking seriously.
● Lev Vygotsky was a main theorist whose ideas contradicted
Piaget's theories.
● Genetic epistemology studies the development of
knowledge, particularly in infants' sensory-motor skills.
● Piaget's concept of schemas includes how infants explore
and grow their knowledge through interaction with objects.
● Assimilation is applying a learned schema to a new object,
according to Piaget.
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
● Piaget developed the concept of equilibration to describe
how new information is balanced with existing knowledge.
● Equilibration involves the processes of assimilation (fitting
new information into existing mental schemas) and
accommodation (adjusting or changing a schema to fit new
information).
● Assimilation and accommodation may be driven by various
factors.
● Piaget recognized intervals of relative equilibrium among all
test subjects, influencing the foundation of child psychology.
● Age ranges for Piaget's stages of cognitive development are
approximate due to environmental and cultural differences.
● Four key features define the stages of cognitive
development, including their transformation and
incorporation of previous stages.
● The sensorimotor stage begins at birth and lasts until 18 to
24 months, focusing on physical exploration, sensory
absorption, and developing object permanence and
language skills.
● The preoperational stage occurs between ages 2 and 7,
emphasizing symbolic representation and notable
characteristics.
Cognitive Development in Children
 ● Egocentrism refers to a child's belief that others see, hear,
and feel the same things as they do, which they outgrow by
around 4 years old.
● Centration is the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a
situation at a time, exemplified by children focusing on one
aspect (e.g., length) and ignoring others (e.g., number).
● Conservation is the understanding that a quantity stays the
same despite changes in size, shape, or container, typically
not comprehended by children before the age of 5.
● Parallel play is when children play alongside others without
interacting, as they are absorbed in their own world and not
yet realizing that speech is a social tool.
● Symbolic representation involves children realizing that
words and objects are symbols for something else, often
observed between the ages of 2 and 3.
● Irreversibility is a stage in which a child can't imagine
reversing a sequence of events to their starting point.
● Animism is the tendency of children to attribute human-like
traits or characteristics to inanimate objects.
● Concrete Operational Stage occurs between the ages of 7
and 11, during which a child develops logical thinking and
problem-solving skills but can only apply these skills to
physical, "concrete" objects.
Cognitive Development Theories
● Classification: Ability to sort items by specific classes like
color, shape, or size
● Seriation: Involves arranging objects in a series or a logical
order
● Reversibility: Understanding that a process can be reversed
● Decentering: Ability to focus on more than one aspect of a
problem or situation at the same time
● Transitivity: Understanding of how things relate to each
other
● Formal Operational Stage: Occurs during teenage years into
adulthood, characterized by abstract thinking and
hypothetical problem-solving skills
● Deductive Reasoning: Ability to make a conclusion based
on information gained from a person's environment
● Hypothetical Reasoning: Ability to come up with different
hypotheses about a problem and to gather and weigh data
in order to make a final decision or judgment
● Analogical Reasoning: Ability to perceive a relationship in
one instance and then use that relationship to narrow down
possible answers
● Inductive Reasoning: Uses observations to make a
conclusion
● Deductive Reasoning: Uses facts and lessons to create a
conclusion
● Erik Erikson: German-born American psychoanalyst,
psychologist, and professor, known for Psychosocial Theory
of Development
Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory of Development
● Erikson was a neo-Freudian psychologist known for his
theory on psychosocial development and the concept of an
identity crisis
● His theory of psychosocial development is based on the
epigenetic principle and includes eight stages of
development
● The psychosocial theory of development explains changes
in self-understanding, social relationships, and one's
relationship to society from infancy through later life
● Erikson believed that personality continues to develop past
the age of five and is dependent on the resolution of
existential crises such as trust, autonomy, intimacy,
individuality, integrity, and identity
● There are eight stages of psychosocial development, each
with a psychosocial crisis that could positively or negatively
affect personality development
○ Stage 1: Trust Vs. Mistrust - infants seek stability
and consistency from their caregivers
○ Stage 2: Autonomy Vs. Shame and Doubt -
children strive for personal control and
independence
○ Stage 3: Initiative Vs. Guilt - children assert
themselves more frequently through play and social
interaction
○ Stage 4: Industry Vs. Inferiority - children compare
themselves with peers to gauge their abilities and
worth
○ Stage 5: Identity Vs. Role Confusion - adolescents
search for a sense of self and personal identity
through exploration of values, beliefs, and goals
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development
● Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist
known for his work on psychological development in children
and creating the framework known as cultural-historical
activity theory.
● Vygotsky's social development theory asserts that a child's
cognitive development and learning ability can be guided
and mediated by their social interactions.
● He believed that culture played an important role in shaping
cognitive development and stressed the importance of
language as the root of all learning.
● Vygotsky emphasized the role of the social environment in
the child’s cognitive development, claiming that infants are
born with the basic abilities for intellectual development and
that these develop throughout the first two years of life due
to direct environmental contact.
● He identified elementary mental functions as attention,
sensation, perception, and memory, which develop into
more sophisticated and effective mental processes through
interaction within the sociocultural environment.
Vygotsky's Cognitive Development Theories
● Vygotsky coined the term "tools of intellectual adaptation" to
refer to thinking and problem-solving strategies that children
learn through social interactions with knowledgeable
members of society.
● Different cultures provide children with varying tools of
intellectual adaptation, which affects cognitive functions
such as memory strategies.
● Vygotsky emphasized that cognitive development in children
is influenced by social interactions and learning from more
knowledgeable individuals.
● Social interactions involving cooperative or collaborative
dialogue, such as a parent helping a child solve a puzzle,
promote cognitive development according to Vygotsky.
● Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development are based on
the concepts of the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and
the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
● The MKO is someone with a better understanding or higher
ability level than the learner, while the ZPD is the range of
tasks a child can complete with assistance, but not
independently.
Key Concepts in Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
● Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
● Refers to the difference between what a child can achieve
independently and with guidance
● Emphasizes social interaction as crucial to learning and
reaching full potential
● Identifies the gap between actual and potential learning as
the ZPD
● Argues that collaboration with adults and other learners is
necessary to bridge this gap
● Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
● Definition of moral development as the formation of a
progressive sense of right and wrong
● Involves a movement from simple and finite definitions to
more complex distinctions
● Gradual development of an individual's concept of right or
wrong, incorporating conscious, religious values, social
attitudes, and behavior
● Kohlberg's theory of 6 stages of moral development
● Built on the work of Jean Piaget, focusing on moral
judgements
● Progression through stages theorized to be hierarchical
based on cognitive development
● Kohlberg's Moral Development Stages
● Describes a stepwise process of morality and moral
reasoning in children
● Emphasizes that parents teach their children right and
wrong moral behavior
● Kohlberg's theory includes six distinct stages through which
children mature
● Each stage involves considering different factors when
making moral decisions
Kohlberg's Levels of Moral Development
● Kohlberg grouped stages of moral reasoning into three
broad categories: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-
conventional, each associated with increasingly complex
stages of moral development
● People are suggested to move through these stages in a
fixed order, linked to cognitive development
 ● Preconventional level: children accept authority and moral
code of others, view good and bad based on rewards and
punishment, and decisions are defined in terms of what is
good for them
● Conventional level: children believe social rules and
expectations determine acceptable behavior, view social
system and relationships as desirable influences on views of
right and wrong
● Postconventional level: based on individual's understanding
of universal ethical principles, morally acceptable action
determined by response in line with these principles
● Kohlberg's theory is broken down into three primary levels,
each with two stages
○ Level 1: Preconventional Morality lasting until
around age 9, shaped by expectations of adults
and consequences of breaking rules, consists of
stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment) and stage 2
(Individualism and Exchange)
○ Level 2: Conventional Morality marked by
acceptance of social rules and moral standards
learned from role models and society, focuses on
acceptance of authority and conforming to group
norms, consists of stage 3 (Developing Good
Interpersonal Relationships) also known as "good
boy-good girl"
Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development and Bronfenbrenner's
Ecological Systems Theory
● Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development is divided into
three levels, with Level 1 being preconventional morality,
Level 2 being conventional morality, and Level 3 being
postconventional morality.
● Level 2, or conventional morality, is divided into Stage 3,
which focuses on moral development related to
interpersonal relationships, and Stage 4, which is focused
on maintaining social order.
● At Stage 3 of Level 2, individuals prioritize meeting social
expectations and roles, emphasizing conformity, being
"nice," and considering how choices influence relationships.
● Stage 4 of Level 2 focuses on ensuring that social order is
maintained, with an emphasis on following the rules, doing
one's duty, and respecting authority to maintain law and
order.
● Level 3, or postconventional morality, has two stages: Stage
5, which emphasizes the social contract and individual
rights, and Stage 6, which is based on universal ethical
principles and abstract reasoning.
● Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, developed by
Urie Bronfenbrenner, suggests that a child's development
occurs within an ecological system that includes multiple
environments or systems that interact to shape the child's
growth into adulthood.
● The key aspect of Bronfenbrenner's theory is the idea that
multiple aspects of a child's life significantly impact their
development, with closer layers having more influence on a
child's experiences.
● Bronfenbrenner proposed five ecological systems: the
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and
the chronosystem, each having varying impacts on a child's
development.
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory
● The Microsystem: This is the first level of Bronfenbrenner’s
theory and consists of things that have direct contact with
the child in their immediate environment, such as parents,
siblings, teachers, and school peers. Relationships in a
microsystem are bi-directional, meaning other people can
influence the child in their environment and change other
people’s beliefs and actions.
● The Mesosystem: This level encompasses the interactions
between the child’s microsystems, such as the interactions
between the child’s parents and teachers or between school
peers and siblings. The mesosystem is where a person’s
individual microsystems do not function independently but
are interconnected and assert influence upon one another.
● The Exosystem: This level incorporates other formal and
informal social structures, which do not themselves contain
the child but indirectly influence them as these social
structures affect one of the microsystems.
● The Macrosystem: Focuses on how cultural elements affect
a child’s development, such as socioeconomic status,
wealth, poverty, and ethnicity. The culture that individuals
are immersed within may influence their beliefs and
perceptions about events that transpire in life.
● The Chronosystem: This system consists of all the
environmental changes that influence development over the
lifetime, including major life transitions and historical events.
These can include normal life transitions, such as starting
school, and non-normative life transitions, such as parents
getting divorced or having to move to a new house.
● Diversity: It is important in today’s world because it helps us
learn from each other and understand that everyone is
unique and special in their own way. Enhances creativity
and innovation, better decision-making, encourages learning
and personal growth, improved performance, fosters
inclusivity and social cohesion, and enhances adaptability
and resilience.
Benefits and Importance of Diversity in Organizations and
Classrooms
● Diversity in organizations can help them respond to new
challenges and opportunities by having employees with a
range of skills and experiences.
● A diverse workforce is better equipped to reflect and serve
the needs of diverse populations, ensuring that products,
services, and policies are more relevant and accessible to
all.
● Diversity in organizations can contribute to economic growth
by increasing the talent pool, fostering innovation, and
promoting better decision-making.
● Promoting diversity is essential for working towards a more
just and equitable society where all individuals have equal
opportunities and are not held back by discrimination or
prejudice.
● Diversity in the classroom refers to differences in social
identities, including age, race, socioeconomic status, gender
identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability,
and nationality.
● Types of diversity in the classroom include ability, age,
gender, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status,
experiential diversity, sexual orientation, and geographic
diversity.
● Every student is unique and teachers need to understand
and promote cultural awareness, including understanding
the types of diversity such as race, ethnicity, and religion.
Factors Affecting Students' Learning
● Language
● Accommodations should be made for students who do not
speak English as their first language.
● Socioeconomic Status
● A student's socioeconomic status can affect their ability to
participate in the classroom.
● Not all children have access to a computer or reliable
internet at home.
● Sexual Orientation
● A student's sexual orientation can impact their experience in
school.
● Lessons should be inclusive and sensitive to the struggles
that students may face.
● Gender Identity
● Teachers should respect and recognize each student's
gender identity.
● Using preferred pronouns is important in interactions.
● Brett Flehinger's "collective brain" metaphor for
collaborative learning.
● Individual Differences
● Many personal characteristics can affect how a student
learns.
● Variables include physical characteristics, intelligence,
perception, gender, and learning styles.
● Definitions of individual differences according to Wintz and
Osbotne.
● Types of individual differences: inter and intra individual
differences.
● Individual differences areas: physical and motor abilities.
Mental and Emotional Differences and their Causes
● Intelligence differences: People have varying intelligence
levels and this can be measured with tests such as IQ tests.
● Achievement differences: A person's achievement depends
on intelligence as well as other factors such as study habits
and interest in the subject.
● Aptitude differences: Inborn inclinations towards tasks are
known as aptitudes, such as music or artistic aptitude.
● Special abilities differences: Special abilities are a
combination of aptitude and physical ability, and can lead to
records being set in particular fields.
● Emotional differences: Emotions of children become more
differentiated as they grow.
 ● Attitude differences: Attitude refers to the tendency to
respond to objects, people, or ideas.
● Interest differences: Interests can be inborn or acquired,
such as an interest in games or science.
● Social and cultural differences: Behavior is influenced by
social and cultural traits.
● Self-Concept differences: People have different concepts of
themselves, such as self-esteem or feelings of incapability.
● Causes of individual differences: Heredity, environment,
maturity, age, and creativity all play a role in individual
differences.
● Characteristics of Individual Differences: Individuals are
never equal and include only measurable traits of the
personality, and can affect each other.
● Effects of Individual Differences on Learning:
Socioeconomic status, thinking/learning style, and cultural
background can all impact learning.
Individual Differences in Education
● Some individuals learn better through visual stimulation,
others through auditory input, and some through hands-on
experience.
● Individual differences play a significant role in academic
success and should be taken into account when educating
students.
● The categorization of individual differences includes
inherited traits and acquired traits.
● Educators have a responsibility to plan educational activities
that cater to the diverse needs and potential of each
student.
● Teachers should develop strategies and teaching methods
that accommodate the unique attributes of their students,
such as learning style, aptitude, personality, and emotional
intelligence.
Methods for Addressing Individual Differences Among Students
● Multiple Events of Instruction: This method involves the
teacher conveying different content to each student, with all
students working on different tasks simultaneously. Slow
learners are given more guidance, but this can increase the
teacher’s responsibility significantly and is not supported by
all educationists.
● Between-Class Ability Group: This method creates groups of
students with the same caliber of learning within one class
and assigns them different tasks. Success with this method
depends on the teacher's capability to handle diverse
groups simultaneously.
● Class Grouping: This method is determined by school
administrators and involves making different class groups
based on students’ learning differences.
● Personality: Refers to an individual’s unique patterns of
thinking, feeling, and behaving and can be measured
through various assessment tools.
● Cognitive abilities: Pertains to processes involved in
learning, problem-solving, and decision-making, such as
verbal and mathematical reasoning, spatial perception,
memory, and attention.
● Physical attributes: Includes differences in characteristics
like height, weight, and physical abilities, which can impact
health outcomes and athletic performance.
● Life experiences: Refers to unique events and
circumstances that shape personality, values, beliefs, and
behaviors.
● Cultural differences: Unique values, beliefs, and practices of
different cultural groups that impact communication styles
and social norms.
Cross-Cultural Interaction and Learning Styles
● Cross-Cultural Interaction:
● Different cultures have varying interpretations of behavior,
such as eye contact
● Direct eye contact can be seen as a sign of respect or
aggression, depending on the culture
● Gender Differences:
● Biological and social differences between males and
females
● Impact cognitive abilities, personality traits, and social roles
● Males tend to score higher on spatial reasoning tasks, while
females tend to score higher on verbal abilities
● Learning Styles:
● Refers to the way individuals learn and process information
● Four key learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic
● Learning style relates to an individual's method of making
sense of new material through sight, touch, and sound
● VARK Model:
● Designed by Neil Fleming in 1987 to help students learn
more about their preferences
● VARK learning styles are visual, auditory, read/write, and
kinesthetic
● Visual Learners:
● Prefer sitting in the front of the classroom and using visual
aids
● Benefit from using sketchnotes to process and associate
meaning to content through doodling and text.
Learning Styles and Instructional Strategies
● Auditory learners focus on tone and speech rate, benefit
from videos and audio components, discussions, reading
aloud, and repeating content out loud.
● Ideas to help auditory learners include using Flipgrid and
Synth for active listening, as well as activities like retelling
stories.
● Read/write learners prefer text formats, and interact with
written information through note-taking, making lists, and
creating diagrams.
● Strategies for read/write learners include creating
presentations, using blogging tools, and creating digital or
print books.
● Kinesthetic learners learn best through hands-on
opportunities and may struggle with passive learning in a
traditional classroom.
● Important considerations for learning styles include the
understanding that preferences are not fixed, can change
over time, and that instruction should address all learning
style categories.
● Learning styles should not be used to determine a student's
abilities, and the optimal balance of instruction depends on
various factors.
Soloman-Felder Model of Learning Styles
● The Soloman-Felder model of learning styles is designed for
use with college and university students to self-test their
learning preferences.
● The model incorporates most major approaches to
understanding learning preferences.
● There are four scales in the Soloman-Felder index of
learning styles, each with two opposite preferences.
● The four scales are active, reflective, sensing, and intuitive.
● The Soloman-Felder model also includes visual, verbal,
sequential, and global learning styles.
● Each style includes specific strategies:
○ Active style: compensate for lack of discussion, find
creative ways to use material learned, talk about
material learned with others.
○ Reflective style: schedule time to reflect, write short
summaries of material, use reflective writing tasks.
○ Sensing style: make real-world connections, seek
specific examples, brainstorm real-world
connections.
○ Intuitive style: seek interpretation and theory,
discuss theories and interpretations, take care not
to miss details.
○ Visual style: seek visual representations, review
videos and animations, organize material into a
concept map, color code notes.
○ Verbal style: write summaries and outlines, convert
visuals into written descriptions, explain material to
others.
○ Sequential style: learn material in steps, organize
material in a logical order, relate new topics to
material already learned.
○ Global style: generate the big picture before
mastering details, seek general review articles, find
connections to material already learned.
● It is important to identify your learning style in order to
understand the most effective way for you to learn and
retain information.
Benefits of Different Learning Styles and Howard Gardner's Theory
of Multiple Intelligences
● Effective learning happens when you use the learning style
that suits you best
● Using your preferred learning style leads to increased
interest, engagement, and effortless learning
● Benefits of discovering your learning style include
educational, professional, and personal advantages
 ● Educational benefits include maximizing potential, better
understanding of subjects, mastering difficult areas, and
overcoming learning challenges
● Professional benefits include keeping up with industry
trends, becoming an expert, learning daily, and better
organizing oneself
● Personal benefits include easily understanding information,
enjoying learning, increasing confidence and self-respect,
and achieving personal and professional objectives
● Multiple Intelligences is a term used to describe Howard
Gardner's definition of intelligence in nine different forms
● Howard Gardner first proposed the theory of multiple
intelligences in his book "Frames of Mind" in 1983
● Gardner outlined several distinct types of intellectual
competencies and developed eight inclusion criteria for
evaluating each "candidate" intelligence
● He states that individuals may all have these intelligences,
but our profile of these intelligences may differ individually Categories of Exceptionalities
based on genetics or experience
● Gardner defines intelligence as a "biopsychological potential
to process information that can be activated in a cultural
setting to solve problems or create products that are of
value in a culture"
● Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences posits
that individuals possess various distinct types of
intelligences, rather than a single general intelligence
● The types of intelligences include linguistic, logical-
mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligences,
emphasizing a broader understanding of human capability.
The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
● Spatial intelligence: Thinking abstractly and in multiple
dimensions; potential career choices include pilot, fashion
designer, architect, surgeon, artist, and engineer.
● Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: Using the body to
demonstrate physical and athletic prowess; potential career
choices include dancer, physical therapist, athlete,
mechanic, builder, and actor.
● Musical intelligence: Sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, meter,
tone, melody, and timbre; potential career choices include
singer, musical conductor, DJ, music teacher, songwriter,
and composer.
● Linguistic intelligence: Sensitivity to the meaning of words,
order among words, and the sound, rhythms, inflections,
and meter of words; potential career choices include poet,
novelist, journalist, editor, lawyer, and English professor.
● Logical-mathematical intelligence: Analyzing problems
logically, carrying out mathematical operations, and
investigating issues scientifically; potential career choices Exceptional Learners and Education
include computer programmer, mathematician, economist,
accountant, scientist, and engineer.
● Interpersonal intelligence: Interacting effectively with others
and being sensitive to others' moods, feelings,
temperaments, and motivations; potential career choices
include team manager, negotiator, politician, publicist,
salesperson, and psychologist.
● Intrapersonal intelligence: Sensitivity to one's own feelings,
goals, and anxieties, and the capacity to plan and act in
light of one's own traits; potential career choices include
therapist, counselor, psychologist, entrepreneur,
philosopher, and theorist.
● Naturalistic intelligence: Understanding the nuances in
nature, including the distinction between plants, animals,
and other elements of nature and life; potential career
choices include geologist, farmer, botanist, biologist,
conservationist, and florist.
● The theory of multiple intelligences improves learning
outcomes and retention, allowing individuals to learn in ways
that suit them best and enhancing performance.
Multiple Intelligences and Learners with Exceptionalities
● Multiple Intelligences (MI)
● Encourages diverse learning styles and abilities among
employees
● Fosters innovation and creativity
● Builds trust and collaboration among employees
● Challenges of MI
○ Difficulty in assessing and measuring
○ Potential conflicts with organizational culture and
goals
○ Requires more time, money, and effort
○ May limit employee growth and performance
○ May cause misunderstandings or biases
● Learners with Exceptionalities
● Defined as students with special educational needs
● Types of exceptionalities include learning disabilities, ADHD,
mental retardation, and giftedness
● Disability and handicap defined as measurable impairment
or functional limitation
● Learning disability is a neurological disorder affecting
information processing and academic skills
● Individual differences and diversity in learning
● Exceptional learners include those with special needs
related to cognitive abilities, behavior, social functioning,
physical and sensory impairments, emotional disturbances,
and giftedness
● Requires understanding, patience, and special education
services to reach full potential
● Disability is a measurable impairment or limitation that
interferes with a person's ability
● The 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article XIV, Sec. 2 uses
the word "disabled" in paragraph (5) to provide adult
citizens, the disabled, and out-of-school youth with training.
● Handicap is a disadvantage that occurs as a result of a
disability or impairment, and the degree of disadvantage can
vary greatly depending on the individual and their
environment.
● Categories of Exceptionalities:
● Learning Disabilities involve difficulties in specific cognitive
processes like perception, language, memory, or
metacognition that are not due to other disabilities.
● Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is
manifested in difficulty focusing and maintaining attention as
well as recurrent hyperactive and impulsive behavior.
● Speech and Communication Disorders include difficulty in
spoken language production, comprehension, and other
speech-related difficulties that hamper classroom
performance.
● Autism is a condition manifested by impaired social
interaction and communication, repetitive behaviors, and
limited interests, often characterized by an intense need for
routine and a predictable environment.
● Mental Retardation refers to significant sub-average
intelligence and deficits in adaptive behavior, resulting in
difficulty managing activities of daily living and social
situations.
● Emotional/Conduct Disorders involve the presence of long-
term emotional states like depression and aggression that
significantly disturb learning and performance in school.
● Physical and health impairments involve long-term physical
or medical conditions such as limited energy and strength,
reduced mental alertness, and little muscle control.
● Severe and Multiple Disabilities refer to the presence of two
or more different types of disability, at times at a profound
level, requiring specialized educational programs.
● Visual Impairments are conditions involving malfunction of
the eyes or optic nerves that prevent normal vision even
with corrective lenses.
● Hearing Impairments involve a malfunction of the ear or
auditory nerves that hinders perception of sounds within the
frequency range of normal speech.
● Giftedness involves a significantly high level of cognitive
development in intellectual ability, aptitude in academic
subjects, creativity, visual or performing arts, or leadership.
● Law of Learners with Exceptionalities (RA 11560) provides
that no learner shall be denied admission based on their
disability, ensuring equitable access to quality education for
every learner with a disability.
● The root of life involves some sort of education, which does
not discriminate anyone for their abilities nor their
disabilities, but is accepting of all types of learners.
● Children with learning exceptionalities deserve better
treatment in our society and should not be neglected or
looked down upon in the classroom.
● Behaviorism is a philosophical position that focuses on
observable environment and behavior versus individual
opinions, thoughts, images, and feelings, developing
behaviors through conditioning and environmental stimuli.
Behavioral responses are shaped by reinforcement patterns.
Ivan Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
● Ivan Pavlov's early work in behavior was based on the
concept of conditioned reflex, in which an animal or human
produces a reflex response to a stimulus and, over time, is
 conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus
associated with the original stimulus.
● Pavlov's research focused on the salivation reflex in
response to the presence of food, which could be elicited
using a second stimulus, such as a specific sound, that was
presented in association with the initial food stimulus several
times.
● Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who made a major
impact in the field of psychology, specifically in Behaviorism,
through his discovery of classical conditioning and its
influence on other thinkers and the development of
behaviorism as a school of thought.
● Pavlov's discovery of classical conditioning had a
reverberating influence on psychology, leading to significant
developments and contributing to the school of thought
known as behaviorism.
● Pavlov's discovery of classical conditioning was stumbled
upon by accident while he was conducting research on the
digestion of dogs.
Classical Conditioning and Pavlov's Study
● Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral
training, where a neutral stimulus is paired with a naturally
occurring stimulus.
● In Pavlov's experiment, dogs associated the presentation of
food with the sound of a bell, then with the sight of a lab
assistant's white coat.
● The classical conditioning process develops an association
between an environmental stimulus and a naturally
occurring stimulus.
● This type of associative learning is hypothesized to be an
elemental unit for complex learning and has adaptive value.
● Classical conditioning is an ideal model system for
investigating the neurobiology of learning and memory.
● There are three stages in classical conditioning: Before
conditioning, During conditioning, and After conditioning.
○ Before conditioning, something in the environment
triggers a natural response in the subject, and a
neutral stimulus doesn't affect the subject.
○ During conditioning, the neutral stimulus becomes
associated with the positive stimulus that caused
the response during the first stage. In Pavlov's
experiment, the dogs associated the bell with food.
○ Stage 3: After conditioning, the neutral stimulus
becomes associated with the unconditioned
response, creating a new behavior known as the
conditioned response.
Pavlovian Conditioning and Terminology
● Neutral Stimulus (NS): A stimulus that originally does not
produce a specific response or reflex action, such as the
sound of a metronome before conditioning in Pavlov's
experiment.
● Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally
triggers a response without any learning, such as food
causing dogs to salivate in Pavlov's experiment.
● Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A previously neutral stimulus
that, through association with an unconditioned stimulus,
begins to trigger a conditioned response, such as the
metronome becoming associated with food in Pavlov's
experiment.
● Conditioned Response (CR): A learned response to a
conditioned stimulus that resembles the unconditioned
response but is triggered by the conditioned stimulus.
● Unconditioned Response (UR): An automatic, innate
reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that does not require
any learning, such as dogs' automatic salivation in response
to food in Pavlov's experiment.
● Pavlovian Conditioning: The process of establishing "cues"
through the predictive relationship between a neutral
stimulus and a biologically significant event, leading to
behavioral and physiological changes.
● Classical vs. Instrumental Conditioning: Classical
conditioning involves presenting stimuli, such as the
association of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned
response, while instrumental conditioning focuses on the
influence of conditioned stimuli on instrumental behavior and
the development of compulsive responding.
Classical and Operant Conditioning and B.F. Skinner's Theory
● Classical conditioning involves presenting an unconditioned
stimulus, like shock, which produces an unconditioned
response, such as leg flexion, then introducing a
conditioned stimulus that does not initially produce an
unconditioned response.
● The organism is then exposed to both stimuli in a specific
order, and the experimenter observes the development of a
conditioned response similar to the unconditioned response.
● Some theorists consider classical conditioning an important
aspect of instrumental conditioning, where an organism's
behavior determines the positive or negative stimuli it
receives.
● In instrumental conditioning, punishment training, escape
training, and avoidance training are the three main types of
instrumental situations involving aversive stimuli.
● B.F. Skinner saw classical conditioning limiting to reflexive
behaviors and developed operant conditioning to explain
how new behaviors are learned.
● Skinner's theory is based on the law of effect, which states
that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are
more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by
unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.
● Skinner built on Thorndike's law of effect to conduct
experiments in operant conditioning using animals in a
"Skinner box," where they could perform specific behaviors
to receive food rewards.
B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning Theory and Positive
Reinforcement
● B.F. Skinner developed operant conditioning to study how
behaviors are strengthened or weakened according to their
consequences.
● In operant conditioning, a rat in a Skinner box presses a
lever to receive a food reward.
● Skinner believed that behaviors are reinforced through
positive or negative consequences.
● Reinforcement can be intrinsic or extrinsic, such as primary
reinforcers (food) or secondary reinforcers (money).
● Positive reinforcement is a main component of Skinner's
theory, involving anything that reinforces a specific
response.
● Behavior analysis is key to identifying positive reinforcers
and shaping behavior in individuals and organizations.
● Skinner's theory explains cognitive development and
phenomena, describing drive with respect to reinforcement
and deprivation schedules.
● Skinner suggested 5 steps for implementing behavior
change, including setting behavioral goals and determining
ways to reinforce behavior.
Behaviorist Theory
● Positive and negative reinforcement are essential
techniques for changing behavior
● Selecting techniques to change behaviors involves defining
behaviors and finding ways to apply the reinforcement
● After applying the techniques, it's important to record the
results and evaluate their effectiveness
● Reinforcement techniques should be changed if they do not
bring results
● Punishment has many negative effects, may not create a
permanent impact, could increase undesirable behavior, and
may even serve as a reward for the offender
● John Watson was the founder of behaviorist theory,
disagreeing with the heredity-based explanations of behavior
and focusing on how overall experiences program people to
react
● Watson popularized behaviorism with his 1913 article,
"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It," emphasizing the
idea that psychology should measure behavior that can be
directly observed rather than focusing on subjective and
unscientific consciousness
● Watson's behaviorism focuses on external behavior and the
environment, setting aside the internal mental state of a
person
● John B. Watson emphasized the importance of considering
nature vs. nurture in behaviorism
John B. Watson and Behaviorism
● Watson took a radical stance on the side of the environment
in the nature versus nurture debate, rejecting instinctive and
genetic theories of human functioning, and viewing all
behavior as learned responses to environmental stimuli. He
favored Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning theory and
believed all overt behaviors could be explained in terms of
stimulus-response relationships.
● Watson believed humans are born with just three basic
emotions—fear, rage, and love, suggesting that all other
emotions develop from these three. He proposed that these
basic emotions are unlearned and are elicited by specific
stimuli.
 ● Watson's ideas were influenced by Pavlov's work, leading
him to the belief that human behavior is primarily the result
of conditioned responses. He extended Pavlov's principles
to the conditioning of human emotions, demonstrated
through his work with Little Albert.
● Watson's compelling theory of observable behaviors
measurable through the scientific method reached its peak
with the "Little Albert" experiment and the famous 'dozen
healthy infants quote'. Despite being at the center of heated
debate, Watson remains one of the most influential
psychologists of the 20th century.
● Watson famously claimed that he could shape healthy
infants into anything—doctors, lawyers, artists, beggars, or
thieves—regardless of their genetic predispositions,
applying his theory in experiments with Albert and later
when raising his own children.
● With the 'Little Albert' experiment, Watson used classical
conditioning to program a baby to fear a lab rat, extending
Pavlov's demonstration of conditioning biological responses
to instilling new behaviors not inherited genetically.
Classical Conditioning and Watson Behaviorism
● Classical Conditioning
● Little Albert
○ Neutral Stimulus (NS): The white laboratory rat
○ Unconditioned Stimulus (US): The loud, frightening Social Learning Theory and Self-Efficacy
noise
○ Unconditioned Response (UR): Albert’s fear
response to the loud noise
● Conditioning Process
○ Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The rat
○ Conditioned Response (CR): Albert’s fear of the rat
○ Stimulus Generalization
● Watson behaviorism is based on the concept of stimulus
response.
Behaviorism and Neobehaviorism
● Watson's behaviorism focuses on identifying the appropriate
stimuli for desired results.
● Human behavior develops through trial and error and
learning from the responses received from the environment.
● Watson's theory of behaviorism is based on observable and
measurable behavior, the environment's influence on
behavior, learning through conditioning, and the
predictability and control of behavior.
● Neo Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that draws its
principles from behaviorism and is concerned with
understanding internal elements.
● Neobehaviorism acknowledges both observable behaviors
and internal elements and emphasizes the interaction of the
individual and the environment.
● Tolman and Bandura were neobehaviorists who conducted
research on the behavior of animals in laboratory settings to
gain insights into the influence of the environment on
behavior.
Tolman's Purposive Behaviorism
● Tolman and Bandura held differing views on the motivation
behind behavior, with Tolman emphasizing that individuals
are motivated by what is most important to them, while
Bandura's theory posits that individuals are motivated by
achievable goals.
● In an experiment with rats and two buttons that dispensed
food, it was found that rats with access to only one button
would wait to press it, while those with two options became
frustrated with the decision.
● Tolman's theory of purposive behaviorism builds upon
traditional behaviorist approaches, emphasizing the role of
environmental needs in driving behaviors.
● Behaviors are seen as actions in relation to a goal or
purpose, guided by environmental needs and the
individual's relationship with social and physical situations.
● Key features of Tolman's sign-significance theory include
the acceptance of behaviorism as a basis and the belief that
learning is based upon signs or clues leading to a goal, not
just movement patterns.
● Tolman's theory also considers the need system, belief
value matrix, and behavior space as factors influencing
behavior.
● Learning is always seen as purposive and goal-directed,
with Tolman asserting that individuals act or respond for
some adaptive purpose, striving toward goals based on
beliefs, attitudes, and changing conditions.
Cognitive Psychology and Learning Theories
● Cognitive maps in rats demonstrate that animals can learn
the location of a goal rather than a specific sequence of
turns, suggesting the formation of cognitive maps to help
them navigate mazes.
● Organisms tend to select the shortest or easiest path to
achieve a goal, demonstrating the use of cognitive maps in
problem-solving and decision-making.
● Latent learning is a type of learning that remains with an
individual until needed, and can manifest without immediate
reinforcement. Tolman's rat experiments showed that rats
learned the maze through cognitive maps but only
demonstrated this knowledge when they needed to.
● Intervening variables are not readily seen but determine
behavior, such as internal or environmental variables like
expectations, perceptions, and needs. Hunger, for example,
can act as an intervening variable influencing behavior in
Tolman's rat experiments.
● Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not essential for
learning, although it provides an incentive for performance,
as demonstrated in his studies with rats navigating mazes
without reinforcement.
● Albert Bandura was an influential social cognitive
psychologist known for his social learning theory, self-
efficacy concept, and Bobo doll experiments.
● Bandura demonstrated in 1977 that self-efficacy affects
individuals' choices, effort, and feelings while doing
something.
● He also observed that learning happens through beliefs and
social modeling, creating social cognitive theory in 1986.
● Social learning theory, proposed by Bandura, suggests that
learning occurs through observation, imitation, and
modeling, influenced by attention, motivation, attitudes, and
emotions.
● Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not explain
all types of learning, as individuals often exhibit learning for
things with which they have no direct experience.
● Social learning theory includes processes such as attention,
motivation, reproduction, and retention that affect the
acquisition of new behaviors.
● Attention refers to the degree to which someone notices a
behavior, highlighting the importance of a behavior being
impactful and attention-worthy.
● Motivation relates to the will to demonstrate a behavior,
influenced by vicarious reinforcement based on the
consequences witnessed by others.
● Reproduction refers to someone's ability to model a
behavior that they observe, often influenced by physical
abilities, feelings of fear, or other factors.
● Retention relates to how well a person remembers a
behavior, allowing them to remember the behavior and
model it in the future.
General Principles of Social Learning Theory
● Social learning theory emphasizes that people can learn by
observing the behavior of others and the outcomes of those
behaviors.
● Learning can occur without a change in behavior, and
cognition plays a role in this type of learning.
● Over time, social learning theory has become increasingly
cognitive in interpretation.
● The theory can be seen as a bridge between behaviorist
and cognitive learning theories.
● People are often reinforced for modeling the behavior of
others in various ways.
● The consequences of the model's behavior affect the
observer's behavior vicariously, known as vicarious
reinforcement.
● Contemporary theory proposes that both reinforcement and
punishment have indirect effects on learning and influence
behavior to differing extents.
● Social learning theory incorporates cognitive as well as
behaviorist factors.
● Bandura distinguishes between learning through observation
and the actual imitation of what has been learned.
● Attention, expectations, and cognitive processing during
learning are all important factors in social learning theory.
● Bandura proposed that behavior can influence both the
environment and the person, leading to reciprocal
causation.
● Different types of models exist, such as live models and
symbolic models.
 ● Social learning theory has educational implications, with
students being able to learn by observing others and with
modeling providing an alternative to shaping for behavior
modification.
The Gestalt Psychology and Modeling New Behaviors
● Gestalt psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a
school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth
century in Austria and Germany as a rejection of basic
principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward Titchener's
elementalist and structuralist psychology.
● Gestalt psychologists emphasize that organisms perceive
entire patterns or configurations, not merely individual
components.
● Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler founded
Gestalt psychology in the early 20th century.
● Gestalt psychologists believed that breaking psychological
phenomena down into smaller parts would not lead to
understanding psychology. Instead, they believed that the
most fruitful way to view psychological phenomena is as
organized, structured wholes.
● Gestalt theories of perception are based on human nature
being inclined to understand objects as an entire structure
rather than the sum of its parts.
● Perceptual experiences, such as perceiving a melody or a
shape, are more than the sum of their sensory components.
● Instead of using shaping, which is operant conditioning,
modeling can provide a faster, more efficient means for
teaching new behavior.
● Effective modeling requires the existence of four essential
conditions: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and
motivation.
● Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors
and avoid modeling inappropriate behaviors.
● Teachers should expose students to a variety of other
models, especially to break down traditional stereotypes.
Gestalt Psychology
● Gestalt psychology was developed by early 20th-century
theorists such as Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and
Wolfgang Köhler, who saw vision of objects as all elements
taken together in a global construct.
● The gestalt, or 'whole form,' approach aimed to understand
perception and innate mental laws that determined how
objects were perceived.
● Gestalt psychology is distinct from gestalt psychotherapy
and served as a forerunner to modern cognitive psychology.
● The theory of mind examined human perception, structures,
and organizing principles in sensory impressions,
emphasizing that the brain sees things as a whole and
recognizes figures and whole forms, not just a collection of
lines and curves.
● The figure-ground relationship is a key gestalt principle in
which the visual world is segmented into a figure, the object
or person that is the focus, and a ground, the background,
impacting perception.
● The principle of continuity, another key gestalt principle,
suggests a law of continuity in interpreting sensory
information.
Gestalt Principles in Design
● Continuity: Individual elements arranged in a way that
suggests a smooth, continuous line are perceived as a
whole.
● Proximity: When visual elements are close together, they
are perceived as related.
● Similarity: Similar elements, regardless of proximity, are
visually grouped together.
● Connectedness: Connected elements are seen as more
related than unconnected ones.
● Closure: When an image contains missing parts, the brain
fills in the gaps to complete the image.
● Closure (Reification): Our brains automatically fill in gaps
between elements to see a complete image.
● Figure/Ground (Multi-stability): We see the foreground of an
image first, and we dislike uncertainty.
● Proximity (Emergence): Grouping closer elements together
separates them from farther ones.
● Similarity: Human nature leads us to group similar elements
together, such as by color, shape, or size.
Gestalt Principles in Design
● Continuity: The law of continuity suggests that the human
eye will naturally follow smooth paths when viewing lines,
regardless of how they were drawn. This principle can be
used to guide a visitor's eye in a certain direction on a
webpage, as people will naturally follow the simplest path.
Placing items in a series in a line, such as horizontal sliders
or related product listings, can draw the eye from one item
to the next.
● Closure: The principle of closure allows the brain to fill in
missing parts of a design or image to create a whole. This
principle is used in logo design, where large chunks of the
outline may be missing, but the brain fills in the missing
sections to see the whole image. Closure is also important
in UX and UI design, where showing a partial image fading
off the screen can indicate to users that there is more to be
found if they swipe left or right.
● Proximity: Proximity refers to how close elements are to one
another in a design. Strong proximity relationships can be
created by overlapping subjects or grouping objects into a
single area. In UX design, proximity is often used to group
similar things together without using hard borders, allowing
the viewer to perceive the intended organization and
structure.
Gestalt Principles in Design
● The figure/ground principle is similar to the closure principle
and distinguishes between objects in the foreground and
background of an image.
● Lighter and darker colors can influence what is viewed as
the figure and what is viewed as the ground in an image.
● Product designers utilize the figure/ground principle to
highlight a focal point, particularly when it is active or in use,
such as with pop-up windows or search bars on websites.
● The law of symmetry and order, or prägnanz, states that the
brain perceives ambiguous shapes in as simple a manner
as possible.
● The Gestalt Principle of Continuity states that we are more
likely to see continuous and smooth flowing lines rather than
broken or jagged ones, guiding audience movement in a
design.
● The principle of proximity states that things that are close
together are perceived as being related or grouped.
Gestalt Principles
● The principle of similarity states that when things appear to
be similar to each other, we group them together and tend
to think they have the same function.
● The principle of continuity states that elements arranged on
a line or curve are perceived to be more related than
elements not on the line or curve.
● The principle of closure states that when looking at a
complex arrangement of visual elements, we tend to look for
a single, recognizable pattern, and our brains fill in missing
parts to create a complete image.
● The law of similarity states that similar things tend to appear
grouped together in both visual and auditory stimuli.
● The law of Prägnanz holds that when presented with a set
of ambiguous or complex objects, our brains make them
appear as simple as possible.
● The law of proximity states that things that are close
together seem more related than things that are spaced
farther apart.
● The law of common region says that when elements are
located in the same closed region, we perceive them as
belonging to the same group.
Gestalt Principles in Visual Design
● Figure-Ground principle: People segment visuals into figure
(focus) and ground (background). Interpretations of images
vary depending on perception of figure and ground. Used in
contemporary design to convey two different messages
simultaneously.
● Principle of Proximity: Close-set objects are seen as a
group. Used in web design to convey commonality and
relatedness, such as grouping security and application icons
on a web page.
● Principle of Similarity: Mentally group objects that look alike.
Frequently used in website navigation menus to signal
different functions, such as using different colors for app-
related links versus customer journey-related links.
● Principle of Continuity: Objects arranged in continuous lines
or curves are perceived as more related than jagged or
broken lines. For example, Pinterest's home feed interface
uses unbroken vertical lines of negative space between
images to encourage vertical movement.
● Principle of Closure: Even if an image is missing parts, the
brain will fill in the blanks and perceive a complete picture.
Principles of Gestalt Theory
● The principle of proximity suggests that elements are
perceived as a group when they are close to each other.
 Groups of elements are perceived as separate clusters of
content because the elements sit close to each other, even
without clearly delineated borders.
● The principle of similarity is used to communicate
relationships, as demonstrated in a Dribbble shot where size
is used to group elements with similar characteristics
together.
● The principle of continuity states that our minds tend to
follow paths and group elements that are aligned with each
other. Lines can be used to capture and guide users
towards important elements within an interface.
● The principle of closure suggests that our minds will opt for
simplicity and fill in gaps to complete implied shapes or
images. This is illustrated through the use of loaders in user
interfaces to indicate that a product is still working in the
background.
● Learners are active and process and restructure data to
understand it, with past experiences, needs, attitudes, and
present situation affecting their perception. Teachers should
encourage students to discover relationships between
elements that make up a problem. Incongruities, gaps, or
disturbances are essential stimuli in learning.
Gestalt Theory and its Implications for Education
● Education should be based on the law of organization and
Gestalt Principles
● Inner and outer forces affect an individual's learning
process, including motivation, attitude, feelings, teacher
behavior, and classmate behavior
● Gestalt Theory in education emphasizes perceiving the
whole of the learning goal and discovering the relations
between parts and the whole
● Problem-based learning methodologies have emerged
based on Gestalt principles, allowing students to understand
the relation between contents and the overall goal of the
lesson
● Gestalt theories have implications for education, focusing
more on meaningful learning and accurate understanding of
principles over traditional structured approaches based on
memory and recall
● Gestalt theory is the leading cognitive theory of learning,
emphasizing holistic knowledge and freedom of thought
● Educators can optimize the use of concept mapping and
case study exercises to support a Gestalt perspective in
education
● Gestalt psychologists saw pupils as more than data
recording creatures, emphasizing the importance of teaching
them to come up with creative solutions autonomously
Gestalt Technique and Information Processing Theory in Education
● Gestalt principles applied in planning and presentation of
educational facilities
● Focus is on moment-to-moment sense of contact, lives of
teachers and pupils
● Encourages learning via experience and learning through
experience
● Recognizes feelings and significance attached to learning
● Knowledge defined as ongoing organization and
reorganization of data
● Learning involves remodelling or understanding rather than
accumulation
● Values interaction between professors and students as a
genuine meeting based on exchange of ideas and feelings
● Information processing theory concerned with how people
view their environment, put information into memory, and
retrieve it
● Compares mind to a computer in how it analyzes and stores
information
● Originated with George Miller and influenced by Ulric
Neisser
● Series of steps to explain how the brain acquires,
processes, and stores information
● Similar to a computer in how it processes and stores
information
● Can be used in psychology to understand thoughts and
behaviors
● Teachers can implement strategies like chunking to enhance
information processing in students
Information Processing Theory
● Break down complex information into smaller, more
manageable chunks.
● Repetition and rehearsal: Encourage students to repeat and
practice new information to strengthen memory connections.
● Mnemonic devices: Teach students mnemonic strategies,
such as acronyms, to improve recall.
● Visual aids: Use visual encoding techniques, like diagrams
and illustrations, to help students process and retain
information.
● Active learning: Engage students in activities that require
them to actively process and apply new information.
● By incorporating these strategies into their teaching,
educators can support and optimize their students'
information processing abilities. (Pail Main, 2023)
● The central components of information processing theory
● Input. This is the information that our brains receive from
environmental stimuli.
● Processing. This is what happens to the sensory information
once it's in our brain.
● Output. This is what happens when we retrieve the
information. (Erin E. Ruppm 2022)
● Information processing theory is a relatively new addition to
research.
● American psychologist George A. Miller is often regarded as
its father.
● Psychologists started using computers as a metaphor to
explain the functions of the human mind. (Growth
Engineering, 2022)
● Limitations of Information Processing Theory
● Humans have factors influencing learning that don’t impact
computers.
● Human capacity for memory is unlimited, while computers
have limited capacity in their CPU.
● Humans have immense capacity for parallel processing,
unlike computers.
● Benefit of Information Processing Theory for Organizations
● It is a useful framework for structuring corporate training.
Information Processing Theory
● Information processing theory is rooted in the study of
neuroscience and psychology and focuses on the
development of children.
● It is based on assumptions regarding attention, perception,
and short-term memory, with human information processing
resembling that of a computer.
● The theory is focused on children's brain growth and mental
development, observing how they receive, process, and
respond to information.
● It is a cognitive approach designed to understand human
learning, with perspectives emerging from the cognitive
revolution in psychology in the 1950s.
● The theory draws analogies between the processing ability
of humans and computers, with both encompassing
cognitive processes such as learning, problem-solving,
decision-making, and recalling information.
● Human cognition develops greater capacities to take in,
encode, and retrieve information over time, creating more
associations and strategies to better respond to the world.
● The theory depends on advances in mathematics and
computer science, with research in various psychological
dimensions shedding light on information processing.
● Learning is the acquisition of mental representations
involving a memory system, with multiple stages occurring
between input and output and involving attention, rehearsal,
chunking, encoding, and retrieval.
Types of Information Processing Theory
● Serial Processing Theory: Information processed one step
at a time in order received, held in short-term memory until
next piece comes in, transferred to long-term memory or
discarded if no longer relevant.
● Parallel Processing Theory: Multiple pieces processed
simultaneously, argues against limited capacity for short-
term memory.
● Hierarchical Processing Theory: Different levels of
complexity within cognitive processes, higher-level tasks
require more complex mental operations than lower-level
tasks.
● Sensory Memory: Involves information taken in through
senses, brief duration (up to 3 seconds), filtered for
relevance, sends important information to short-term
memory.
● Short-Term Memory/Working Memory: Information filtered
further, capacity limited, duration 15 to 20 seconds, can be
stored for up to 20 minutes with maintenance rehearsal,
several factors impact cognitive load capacity and amount of
information processed.
Memory and Information Processing Theories
 ● Long-Term Memory
● Capacity of long-term memory is thought to be limitless.
● Types of information encoded and organized in long-term
memory: declarative information, procedural information,
and imagery.
● Craik and Lockhart’s Level of Processing Model
● People process information with different levels of
elaboration.
● A continuum of elaboration that starts with perception,
continues through attention and labeling, and ends at
meaning.
● Information stored in long-term memory, but higher levels of
elaboration make it more likely to be retrieved.
● Parallel-Distributed Processing Model and Connectionist
Model
● Parallel-distributed processing model proposed that
information is processed by multiple parts of the memory
system at the same time.
● Connectionist model said that information is stored in
various locations throughout the brain that is connected
through a network.
● Information Processing Theory
● Based on the idea that humans actively process the
information they receive from their senses.
● Learning happens when our brains receive information,
record it, mold it and store it.
● Information is briefly stored as sensory storage, then moved
to short term or working memory, and then either forgotten
or transferred to long term memory.
● Types of memory include semantic memories, procedural
memories, and images.
● Critical for learning to occur is the transfer of information
from short term memory to long term memory.
Key Concept of Information Processing Theory
● Sensory memory is stored for a few seconds and comes
from the five senses. It is reprocessed and associated with
memories in short-term memory.
● Working memory, also known as short-term memory, refers
to temporarily holding thoughts or information to complete a
task.
● Long-term memory is formed from short-term memory and
stores lasting memories, regardless of when they occurred.
● Attention is the ability to actively process specific
information, ignoring irrelevant details.
● Metacognition is the ability to plan, monitor, evaluate, and
make changes to learning behaviors.
● Metacognition is the process of thinking about thinking and
improving how we take in and process information.
● Response time is an individual's ability to take in and
process information to make a decision and put it into
action.
● Response time is affected by Hicks Law, age, and the
presentation of stimuli in rapid succession.
Psychological Refractory Period and Implications of Information
Processing Theory for Learning and Development
● The psychological refractory period is a delay in response to
a second stimulus which comes in close succession to the
last, such as a fake movement in hockey.
● Males tend to have a faster response time than females, but
this deteriorates more rapidly in old age.
● The reaction to a stimulus is quicker if it is expected than if it
is unexpected, known as stimulus-response compatibility.
● Experience can speed up response time by using past
experiences to select the correct reaction.
● Stronger stimuli lead to faster reactions as it is easier to
focus on strong stimuli and filter out irrelevant information.
● Anticipation can lead to prepared movements before the
stimulus occurs, known as spatial anticipation.
● Implications of Information Processing Theory for Learning
and Development include:
● Sensory stimuli are the first step in building the raw
materials for memory.
● Attention must be focused on the subject matter to retain
information.
● Rehearsal is important for short-term memory processing
but rote learning alone won't secure long-term memory.
● Consolidation, or linking new data to existing information, is
crucial for long-term memory retention.
● Retrieval methods, such as mnemonics or chunking
information, can improve retention.
● Retention and retrieval can be improved when students are
physically and mentally capable, avoiding stressful learning
environments.
Memory Techniques and Learning Theories
● Mnemonics: Mnemonics are tools that help us remember
information, such as facts or large amounts of data, using
techniques like songs, rhymes, acronyms, images, phrases,
or sentences. They are particularly useful for remembering
the order of things.
● Chunking: Chunking is a method that involves grouping
individual pieces of information into larger, more familiar
groups to facilitate short-term memory and make them more
easily remembered.
● Writing Information Down: Writing things down is a proven
technique for remembering ideas, thoughts, and tasks.
Notetaking is a helpful habit that can improve memory
retention, mental clarity, and information processing.
● Memory Palace: The memory palace is a mnemonic
technique that involves mentally placing information in
specific locations within an imagined physical space, such
as a palace or building. This allows for easier recall by
mentally "walking" through the space to retrieve the stored
information.
● Bruner Constructivist Theory: Jerome Seymour Bruner, a
well-known psychologist, made significant contributions to
cognitive development, educational psychology, and
developmental psychology. He introduced the Constructivist
Theory, which emphasizes that learning is an active process
where learners construct new ideas based on their existing
knowledge. This theory posits that learners derive meaning
and form concepts from their own experiences, wherein they
reflect, create new understanding, and revise knowledge
through questioning, exploring, and assessing.
Bruner’s Constructivist Theory
● Jerome Bruner believes that learning is an active process
where learners can create new ideas or concepts using their
current or past knowledge about things, events, or
situations.
● In a constructivist classroom setting, the teacher acts more
like a facilitator, and the students are active participants in
the learning process.
● Using constructivism as a model for teaching and learning
has several benefits, including increased engagement,
improved understanding, and transferable lifelong skills.
● Jerome Bruner's research proposed three modes of
representation for cognitive development: enactive (0-1
years), iconic (1-6 years), and symbolic (after 7 years).
Jerome Bruner's Modes of Representation and Educational
Concepts
● Enactive representation (action-based) refers to knowledge
gained through direct physical interaction with the
environment.
● Iconic representation (image-based) pertains to visual
imagery and the use of mental images to organize and
understand information.
● Symbolic representation (language-based) involves the use
of abstract symbols, such as language, to represent and
communicate complex ideas.
● Spiral curriculum is a concept that involves presenting key
concepts repeatedly throughout the curriculum with
deepening layers of complexity or in different applications.
● Scaffolding is a teaching method coined by Bruner that
involves structuring activities based on students' existing
knowledge to help them reach the desired learning
outcome.
● Discovery Learning is a method of Inquiry-Based Learning
introduced by Bruner that encourages students to discover
for themselves through active exploration and problem-
solving.
Discovery Learning Model
● Discovery learning encourages learners to build on past
experiences and knowledge, use intuition, imagination, and
creativity, and actively seek new information to discover
facts and correlations.
● Learning is not just about absorbing information, but actively
seeking answers and solutions.
● The 5 Principles of Discovery Learning Model integrate
problem solving, learner management, integrating and
connecting, information analysis and interpretation, and
failure and feedback.
● Principle 1: Problem Solving - Learners are guided to seek
solutions by combining existing and newly acquired
information and simplifying knowledge.
 ● Principle 2: Learner Management - Learners are allowed to ● Good methods for structuring knowledge should simplify,
work at their own pace, alone or with others, to relieve generate new propositions, and increase the manipulation of
unnecessary stress and promote ownership of learning. information.
● Principle 3: Integrating and Connecting - Learners combine ● Instruction must consider student readiness and be
prior knowledge with new information and connect to the structured for easy grasping, facilitate extrapolation and
real world. filling in gaps, and consider socio-cultural influences and
● Principle 4: Information Analysis and Interpretation - student motivation.
Learners learn to analyze and interpret information rather ● Bruner's constructivist theory emphasizes that learning is an
than memorize facts. active process influenced by cultural and social aspects,
● Principle 5: Failure and Feedback - Learning occurs through implementation of rewards and punishments, and students'
failure and the instructor's feedback is essential for motivation to learn the material. Educational models utilizing
incomplete learning. this theory consider these influences and attempt to match
● Discovery learning has advantages such as encouraging education systems and curricula to each socio-culturally
motivation, active involvement, and creativity, adjusting to distinct group of students.
the learner’s pace, promoting autonomy and independence, Constructivist Education Models
and ensuring higher retention levels. ● Build programs and train instructors to encourage students
● However, drawbacks include the need for a solid framework, to discover principles on their own, using the knowledge
limitations in practice, the need for well-prepared instructors, they already have to embrace and internalize information
and the rejection of the idea that there are significant skills (Mos, 2003).
and knowledge all learners should need to learn. ● Traditional education models do not employ these
● Bruner (1966) states that a theory of instruction should techniques and are based on outdated educational theory.
address predisposition towards learning and the structured ● Socio-cultural diversity is an ever-growing issue for
body of knowledge. educators and educational system designers, so
Theories of Instruction and Categorization constructivist education models should be more widely used
● Predisposition to learn feature focuses on experiences, in education.
motivation, cultural influence, content matter, and personal ● The paper will first delve into Bruner’s constructivist theory
factors that drive learners toward a love of learning. and then examine traditional and constructivist educational
● Structuring knowledge involves categorizing subject matter models, listing each one’s pros and cons.
to facilitate comprehensive learning and retention. ● The paper will contrast real-life examples of constructivist
● Effective sequencing is the arrangement of material in the and traditional educational models and discuss ways to
order of increasing difficulty, using specific visuals, words, improve curricula by using constructivist models.
and symbols. ● Both Piaget and Bruner have made significant contributions
● Reinforcement involves specifying the nature and pacing of to the field of cognitive development.
rewards and punishments in the teaching-learning process, ● Similarities:
with a focus on moving from extrinsic to intrinsic forms of ○ The student learns on the basis of previous
reinforcement. adaptations.
● Bruner's emphasis on categorization in the construction of ○ The child naturally has curiosity about language.
internal cognitive maps involves categories that specify ○ Children's cognitive structures develop over time.
criterial attributes, combine attributes, assign weight to ○ Children learn by actively participating in the
properties, and set acceptance limits on attributes. learning processes.
● Categories include identity categories based on object ● The final stage of cognitive development extends to the
attributes and equivalent categories that provide rules for acquisition of symbols/signs/symbols and is given
combining categories based on emotional reactions, related prominence.
functions, or formal criteria
Jerome Bruner's Theories ● Inequalities: [information not provided]
● Apple is a member of a botanical classification group (formal
identity)
● Apple is functional as food
● Coding systems categorize sensory input and are a major
organizational variable in cognitive functioning
● Bruner's notion that people interpret the world mostly in
terms of similarities and differences is valuable in
constructing models or a worldview
● The Spiral Curriculum involves teaching complex ideas at a
simplified level first and then re-visiting at more complex
levels later on
● Students review particular concepts multiple times for
deeper understanding and cognitive growth
● Language is important for dealing with abstract concepts,
according to Bruner's sociocultural learning theory
● Scaffolding communication is a strategy for simplifying
learning tasks and aiding in conceptual development
● The use of words can aid in the development of concepts
and remove constraints of the "here and now" concept
● Bruner views infants as intelligent and problem solvers from
birth, with intellectual abilities similar to those of a mature
adult
Major Themes and Principles in Bruner's Constructivist Theory
● Learning is an active process in which learners construct
new ideas or concepts based on their current/past
knowledge.
● The learner selects and transforms information, constructs
hypotheses, and makes decisions relying on a cognitive
structure to do so.
● Cognitive structure, such as schema and mental models,
provide meaning and organization to experiences and allow
individuals to "go beyond the information given".
● Bruner's theory of instruction should address four major
aspects: predisposition towards learning, structuring
knowledge for easy grasping, effective sequences for
presenting material, and the nature and pacing of rewards
and punishments.