CHILD AND ADOLESCENT

LEARNER AND
LEARNING PRINCIPLE

Instructor: Ms. Celeste A. De Vera, LPT

 COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE FACTOR

1. Nature of Learning Process

-the learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an
international process of constructing meaning from information and experience.

2. Goals of the Learning Process

-the successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance,
can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.

3. Construction of Knowledge
-the successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in
meaningful ways.
Knowledge widens and deepens as students continue to build links between
new information and experiences and their existing knowledge base.
4. Strategic Thinking
-the successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and
reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
Successful learners use in their approach to learning reasoning, problem
solving, and concept learning.

5. Thinking about thinking

-Successful learners can reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable
learning or performances goals, select potentially appropriate learning
strategies or methods, and monitor their progress towards these goals.

6. Context of Learning
-Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture,
technology and instructional practices.
 MOTIVATIONAL AND AFFECTIVE FACTOR

7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning

-the rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals, and expectation for success or
failure can enhance or interfere with the learner’s quality of thinking and
information processing.

8. Intrinsic motivation to learn

-Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty,
relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.

9. Effects of motivation on effort

-Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The acquisition of
complex knowledge and skills demands the investment of considerable learner
energy and strategic effort, along with persistence over time.
 DEVELOPMENTAL AND SOCIAL FACTOR

10. Developmental influences on learning

-learning is most effective when differential developmental within and
across physical, intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into
account.
Individuals learn best when material is appropriate to their developmental
level and is presented in an enjoyable and interesting way.

11. Social influences on learning

-Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to
interact and to collaborate with others on instructional tasks.
 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES FACTOR

12. Individual differences in learning

-Individuals are born with and develop their own capabilities and talents.
Educators need to help students examine their learning preferences and
expand or modify them, if necessary.

13. Learning and diversity

-the same basic principles of learning, motivation, and effective instruction
apply to all learners.

14. Standards and assessment

-Assessment provides important information to both the learner and
teacher at all stages of the learning process.
 Alexander and Murphy gave a summary of the 14 principles and distilled them into five areas:

1. The knowledge base

-One’s knowledge serves as the foundation of all future learning.

2. Strategic processing and control

-Learners can develop skills to reflect and regulate their thoughts and behaviors
in order to learn more effectively.

3. Motivation and affect

-Factors such as intrinsic motivation, reasons for wanting to learn, personal goals
and enjoyment of learning tasks all have a crucial role in the learning process.
4. Development and Individual Differences
-Learning is a unique journey for each person because
each learner has his own unique combination of genetic
and environmental factors that influence him.

5. Situation or context
-Learning happens in the context of a society as well as
within an individual.
 Human Development: Meaning, Concepts
and Approaches
If you believe that children will show extensive change from birth to
adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and decline in late old age,
your approach to development is traditional. In contrast, if you believe
that even in adulthood development change takes place as it does during
childhood, your approach is termed as life-span approach.

What are the characteristics of human development from a life-span

perspective?
Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span development, gives
the following characteristics:
1. Development is lifelong. It doesn’t end in adulthood. We will continue developing in
adulthood.

2. Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is

possible throughout the life-span. No one is too old to learn. There is no such thing as “I
am too old for that…”
Aging is associated with declines in certain intellectual abilities. These declines can be
prevented or reduced. In one research study, the reasoning abilities of older adults were
improved through through retraining (Willies & Schose, 1994 cited by Santrock J., 2005)

3. Development consists of biological, cognitive, and socio-dimensions.

Biological process involve changes in the individual’s physical nature. The brains of
children will develop. They will gain height and weight. They will experience hormonal
changes when they reach the period of puberty, and cardiovascular decline as they
approach late adulthood. All these show the common biological process in development.
• Development is relatively orderly. Children will learn to sit, crawl then walk before they can run.
The muscular control of the trunk and the arms comes earlier as compared to the hands and
fingers. This is the proximodistal pattern. During infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at
the top – the head – with physical growth in size, weight, and future differentiation gradually
working its way down from the top to bottom ( for example, neck, shoulder, middle trunk and so
on). This is the cephalo-caudal pattern. These development patterns are common.
•
•Development takes place gradually. Children won’t develop into pimply teenagers overnight.
It takes years before they become one. In fact, that’s the way of nature. The bud does not
blossom suddenly. While some changes occurs in a flash of insight, more often it takes weeks,
months, or years for a person to undergo changes that result in the display of development
characteristics.
•
•Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.
Children develop from mere sounds to a word becoming two words. The two words becoming a
sentence. They would move on to memorizing their first prayer, singing Bayang Magiliw in every
flag ceremony to imagining what it would be like to be a teacher or a pilot, playing chess and
solving a complex Math problem. All these reflect to role cognitive processes in development.
 •Socio-emotional processes include changes in the individual’s relationships with
oter people, changes in emotions, and changes in emotions, and changes in personality.
The babies will respond with a sweet smile when affectionately touched and will frown
when displeased and even showed temper tantrum when they could not get or do what
they wanted. From aggressive children, they may develop into a fine lady and a
gentleman or otherwise, depending on a myriad of factors. They may fall in love and get
inspired for life or may end up betrayed, deserted and desperate afterwards. All these
reflect the role of socio-emotional processes in development.
•
•These biological, cognitive and socio-emotional processes are inextricably
intertwined. While these processes are studied separately, the effect of one process or
factor on a person’s development is not isolated from the other processes. If the child is
undernourished and troubled by the thought of father and mother about to separate,
they could not concentrate on their studies and consequently would fail and repeat. As
a consequence, they may lose face and drop out of school, revert to illiteracy, become
unskilled, unemployed and so on and so forth. See how a biological process, affects the
cognitive process which in turn, affects the socioemotional process.
4. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a
changing world. Individuals respond to and act on contexts. These
contexts include the individual’s biological make up, physical
environment, cognitive processes, and historical, social and cultural
contexts. The child’s biological make up, social and cultural contexts may
vary and therefore make them develop differently from each other.

5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation.

Growth, maintenance and regulation are three (3) goals of human
development. The goals of individuals vary among developmental
stages. For instance, as individuals reach middle and late adulthood,
concern with growth gets into the back stage while maintenance and
regulation take center stage.