Introduction of Students

Foundation of Education
EDMGT 600
Pacific Intercontinental College
• The course Foundations of Education provides understanding of
fundamental, psychological, anthropological, sociological data and
principles applied to education.
• This deals with the philosophy, history, development of education
theory and practice as they relate to the national goals and ideals of
education.
• This combines the Foundations of Education offered in the
undergraduate courses.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• A. Psychological Foundations
• 1. Discuss the different principles and theories of growth and development
and their implications to educational practice.
• 2. Explain the learning process from different theoretical perspectives.
• 3. Explain the different models of teaching and the roles of the teacher under
each.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• B. Sociological Foundations
• 1. Describe how stratification in society began.
• 2. Relate the function of the family to nation building.
• 3. Explain the role of the school, church and other social institutions in
socialization and societal change.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• C. Anthropological Foundations
• 1. Show a comprehensive view of the beginning of the Filipinos as people.
• 2. Appreciate one’s cultural heritage and participate actively in preserving,
conserving, and transmitting it to the next generation.
• 3. Discuss the importance of language in the development and transmission
of culture.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• D. Historical Foundations
• 1. Discuss the historical development of education from ancient to modern
times.
• 2. Appreciate the aims and contributions of the different periods
• 3. Discuss the implementation of the different movements as they influenced
the shaping of Philippine education
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• E. Philosophical Foundations
• 1. Familiarize with the different philosophical outlooks that have influenced
educational theory and practice
• 2. Gain ideas from philosophy that may develop insights that may develop
insights into the solution of educational problems; and
• 3. Appreciate the aspirations of the Filipinos especially in education.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS
• F. Legal Foundations
• 1. Discuss the historical influence on Philippine education.
• 2. Explain the legal bases of Philippine education
• 3. Trace the organizational set up of the Philippine education.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND
GRADING
Final Examination 30%
Midterm Examination 20%
Prelim Examination 20%
Reflective journals 20%
Attendance/Discussion 10%
Total 100%
Reflective Journal
The reflective journal allows you to record your thoughts and feelings
about the changes or transformations that happened in your thinking
and life in general upon taking up this course. Specifically, you will
record here how the course has affected your way of thinking about
issues presently confronting our educational system and how the
course affects your personal growth. I would also like to read in your
journal your opinions about the course and modules (Were the
objectives met? Did you find the lessons interesting?). Your journal
should be 3-5 single-spaced pages long.
Examinations
These will cover all the modules we will be taking up in class. Anticipate
objective and essay questions in your exams, which will be a sit down,
close book/notes type of exam/time-bound online exam. Remember,
you are not going to pass the exam without reviewing all our lessons.
INTRODUCTION
• Education is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. It is not only a
preparation for life but it is life itself. This is so because throughout man’s life, he
learns many things, may it be formally or informally. The components in the educative
process are the learner, the teaching-learning process, the teacher and the policy
maker. The most important of these is the learner who occupies the center stage in
the educational system. Foundation is a base upon which any structure or system
stands. A strong foundation makes the structure or a system firmly established and
strong enough to be able to serve its purpose. This course Foundations of Education
covers the six foundations of education: psychological, sociological, anthropological,
historical, philosophical and legal bases. This tackles the Foundations 1 and 11 offered
in the undergraduate courses separately. Psychology is the study of human behavior,
of how person acts and reacts under different situations, consciously or unconsciously,
mentally, physiologically, physically, overtly, or covertly.
INTRODUCTION
• It is the study of man’s reactions to life’s simulation.
• Sociology deals with study of human beings living in groups, of how people act and interact under different
social situations, and how they relate themselves to one social situation, and how they relate themselves
to one another. Terms that indicate group actions are used here such as cooperate, team work, sociable,
conflict, etc.
• Anthropology is the study of civilizations and cultures of people: their origins, customs, traditions, beliefs,
mores, folkways, and practices. This also includes languages, forms of writings, tools and weapons,
buildings and other physical structures.
• History is the study of past events that makes us understand the present situation, and to enable us to
predict future events.
• Philosophy is a systematized truth or principles that serve as guide for conduct or thinking. Philosophy is a
fixed idea or principle arrived at after a very rigid scrutiny or study of the state of things, situations, or
events.
• Legality refers to the conformity to the laws passed by the State to establish and guide the conduct of an
educational system. The Constitution is the most important legal document that establishes and guides in
understanding the educational system of any country. It contains the philosophy of education of any
country.
Module I Psychological Foundations of
Education
• 1. What is learning? Why it is important to a teacher to have a clear
understanding of the learning process?
• 2. What are the three distinct types of learning? What does each type
of learning involve?
• 3. What is learning theory? Why it is important for you as a would-be
teacher to understand the different learning theories?
• 4. How does each of the different theories of learning view the
learning process? What is, for you, the significance of each theory to
teaching?
Reflective Journal #1
From among the theories of development, what theory do you think
best fit the Filipino learners of today?
Module 1-The Psychological Foundations of
Education
• It is said that education depends on psychology because the kind and
amount of education that the learner acquires is conditioned by the
psychological traits such as general mental abilities, aptitudes,
temperaments, interests, effort making capacity, physical condition
etc, hence the principles of education are basically based on
psychology
The Learner
• Teaching and learning are psychological processes. The teacher is in a
better position to select and use methods and techniques that will
promote effective learning. There are three components of the
educative process which have been the concern of both psychologists
and teachers. These are the learner, the learning process, and the
learning situation. This module discusses the principles of growth and
development, the learners stages of development and the different
theories of development.
Understanding Growth and Development
• The terms growth and development have been continually used in most readings in
psychology. many times, these terms are used interchangeably; although in certain
respects both terms, though parallel, imply different definitions.
• Growth essentially refers to quantitative changes in an individual as he progresses in
chronological age. It may refer to increases in size, height, or weight.
• Development, on the other hand, refers to the progressive series of change of an orderly
and coherent type leading to the individual’s maturation. This definition implies that for
development to be progressive, there is a direction in the manner in which changes occur.
Development is also coherent, essentially because the sequence of changes that occur are
related to each other and do not occur haphazardly or abruptly.
• From these definitions, one can see that although both growth and development imply
contrasting types of changes in the individual, both are, nonetheless, related and
complementary processes.
The Importance of Studying the Stages of
Development
• In many instances, people meet children of varying ages and wonder why each of them displays
different characteristics. The focus of the study of development precisely points to these
observations.
• A teacher, who expects to meet the needs of his /her learners, must be aware of the various
developmental differences among his/her learners.
• The knowledge of the pattern of human development will certainly help a teacher to know what
to expect of children, and at what approximate ages certain patterns of behavior may appear or
are expected to appear.
• Planning for instruction should also be based on certain developmental principles, which to a
great extent, determine what types of learning and amount of learning are appropriate for
different age groups.
• In other cases, knowledge of developmental patterns will allow teachers to identify learners with
developmental lags or delays 12 so as to provide guidance and intervention as early as possible.
• Thus, teachers must learn to recognize the significance of this knowledge to their teaching
success, as well as to the learning process.
Factors in Growth and Development
• Two general factors influence human development; namely, 1) maturation or natural growth resulting from heredity;
and 2) environmental influences in and through which the growing takes place. These two factors are so thoroughly
interrelated that it is impossible to isolate their specific influences.
• Every individual is born with definite potentialities of development passed on to him by his parents through heredity.
These heredity potentialities for many kinds of behavior patterns continue to develop for months or even years. This
process by which heredity exerts its influence long after birth is called maturation. Studies have shown that a number of
physiological structures are essentially mature and ready to function at birth or even earlier. Others, however, such as
certain nervous, muscular and glandular structures are not ready to function until after months or even years later.
Certain types of behavior which are made possible by these structures cannot be developed unless these structures are
sufficiently mature. No amount of instruction and practice, for example can make a six-month old child walk or talk
because the nueral and muscular structures involved are not yet ready for such activities.
• Although an individual inherits trait potentialities from his parents, the direction that these characteristics follow during
the process of growth and development 13 depends upon the individual’s environment. Behavior traits develop only
after interaction with environmental influences.
• Modes of behavior at a given time in the life of an individual are not determined by heredity or environment working
alone. Instead, they are the product of the interaction between his inherited tendencies and potentialities and those
environmental influences by which he is stimulated. For example, while the ability to vocalize and the capacity for
learning to make intelligible sounds are inherited, the language a child speaks is the result of the language he is exposed
to during the growth process.
• A child is not born with skills, emotional controls, or attitudes. It is only when his inherited adaptable nervous muscular
systems are given the proper stimulation at a time when they are maturationally ready that such traits are learned and
developed. It is at this point where education plays an important role in the development of an individual.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GROWTH AND
DEVELOPMENT
• From numerous studies conducted on growth and development,
developmental psychologists have established some basic principles of
developmental change that occur over the life cycle. These basic principles
are outlined below and explained in succeeding paragraphs.
• 1. Development follows an orderly sequence which is predictable.
• 2. The rate of development is unique to each individual.
• 3. Development involves change.
• 4. Early development is more critical than later development.
• 5. Development is the product of maturation and learning.
• 6. There are individual differences in development.
• 7. There are social expectations for every developmental period which are often
referred to as developmental tasks.
1. Development follows an orderly sequence
which is predictable.
• The first basic principle relates to the orderly sequence of developmental change. The developmental process,
guided by the interaction of maturation and learning, follows a predictable pattern. It is a continuous process
that proceeds according to a definite direction and uniform pattern throughout the life cycle.
• Although physical growth attain its maturational level and stops as a process, developmental change continues
as long as life continues. As individual continuously adapts to changing physical and mental abilities age
increases. Such developmental changes which occur throughout the life cycle follow a sequential pattern
which is predictable. The stages which an individual goes through from birth to death are always of the same
order from infancy to old age. They have never occurred in reverse.
• This predictable sequence is also observable in the phylogenetic skills – those skills which are universally of the
human race. Thus, regardless of the culture, all babies proceed from supported sitting to unsupported sitting
to creeping, crawling and, finally walking. Similarly, babies produce unrecognizable sounds to babbling before
producing understandable speech.
• The two predictable directions during the pre-natal and infancy periods illustrate the uniform pattern of
physical development. These directions are cephalocaudal and proximodistal. In the cephalocaudal trend,
development proceeds in the head-to-foot direction in the body. Changes in motor performance and function,
for instance, take place first in the head region and 15 last in the foot region. In the proximodistal trend, parts
of the body nearest to the center are the earliest to develop. Infants, for instance, are able to use to their arms
before they acquire hand skills while their finger skills follow the development of hand skills.
2. The rate of development is unique to each
individual
• The second basic principle relates to the rate of development changes as unique to each
individual. Although developmental changes follow a predictable pattern, the rate at which
changes may occur may be different from one individual to another. Such differences in rate
of change are determined by the interaction of heredity and environmental factors. As an
example, some children will change faster than others in almost all areas of development
while some will be much slower than others. Or, some children will have faster rates of
development in the physical and social aspects while at the same time be slower in the
mental aspect of development.
• This second principle stresses the fact that it is futile to try accelerate an individual’s
development if he is not ready to develop or experience a change. This means; for instance,
that any new ability will emerge only if the essential physical or mental foundations are
already existing. Training can produce results only if the individual has reached the level of
maturation necessary for an activity. Such readiness for an activity is determined by his rate
of development.
3. Development involves change
• This principle implies that the human being is always evolving based
on theories by developmental psychologists. As stated earlier,
children undergo physical, emotional, and mental changes.
4. Early development is more critical than
later development.
• The studies of Freud, Erikson, and Piaget on early patterns of behavior
led to the conclusion that early development is very important. It is at
this stage of development where individuals develop the foundations
for social relatedness, emotional well-being, and personal
adjustments. It has been widely accepted that the first two years of
life, often called the “formative years”, greatly dictate the course of an
individual’s growth and development. This principle is also the
rationale behind early childhood education.
5. Development is the product of maturation
and learning.
• As discussed previously, development is an outcome of both
maturation and environmental influences. Although people are
genetically endowed with certain characteristics, learning allows
individuals to develop these innate potentialities. Through exercise
and effort, people can act on their environments and develop their
competencies. In most cases, individuals learn through imitation and
observation of other role models.
6. There are individual differences in
development.
• Although children follow a predictable pattern of development, a
step-by-step progression, all children do not reach these
developmental stages all at the same time or all at the same age.
These differences in development are often ascribed to both genetic
and environmental influences, where each individual is either born or
exposed to varying factors.
• For instance, physical development depends largely on inherited
characteristics, such that children will grow in height differently form
each other. Similarly, intellectual growth is contingent upon one’s
educational exposure or family environment.
7. There are social expectations for every developmental
period which are often referred to as developmental tasks.

• This principle clearly states that at any point in the individual’s

development, each one is expected to fulfill certain social
expectations. As will be seen in a later discussion, these social
expectations vary from one stage to the next.
THE LEARNER’S STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
• There are eight stages of development usually ascribed to the life span of human
beings. These stages which are based on chronological age are listed below.
Corresponding to each stage are characteristics often achieved by individuals
within each specified age group.
• Since school learners who are the main concern of teachers in the elementary and
secondary schools are in stage 2,3,4, and 5, the discussion in this section will only
focus on the significant changes during these stages. Mention will also be made of
the social expectations for each stage.
• These social expectations which Robert Havighurst, a well-known developmental
psychologist, labeled as “developmental tasks”, are skills and patterns of behavior
every cultural group expects its member to master or acquire at various ages
during the life span. These tasks are physical, cultural, and psychological in nature.
THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
• In the study of human development and behavior, developmental
psychologists have come up with a variety of theories. These theories which
have served as tools in teaching their ideas and concepts have helped them
in understanding the organization and course of human development.
• To gain further insight into the behavioral changes at various stages of
development, four theories of development which have influenced
contemporary 25 concepts about the nature of individual development are
presented in this section.
• These are Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, Erik Erikson’s
psychosocial development theory, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development and Laurence Kohlberg’s Theory of moral development.
Freud’s Theory of Psychoanalysis
Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory Of
Development
Erikson's Eight Stages of Human Development
• Stage 1: Infancy -- Age 0 to 1 to other accounts birth to 12-18 months
• Stage 2: Toddler -- Age 1 to 2 to other accounts 12-18 months to 3 years
• Stage 3: Early Childhood -- Age 2 to 6 to other accounts 3 to 6 years
• Stage 4: Elementary and Middle School Years -- Age 6 to 12 to other accounts 6
years to puberty
• Stage 5: Adolescence -- Age 12 to 18 to other accounts puberty to young adulthood
• Stage 6: Young Adulthood -- Age 19 to 40
• Stage 7: Middle Adulthood -- Age 40 to 65
• Stage 8: Late Adulthood -- Age 65 to death
PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Assumptions that are Involved in this theory
• 1. Development is an unfolding of the growth process or maturation.
A child’s development is essentially the accumulation of the learning
acquired from experiences within the environment.
• 2. Development is brought about by experiences with the
environment.
• 3. Development is the result of explicit and implicit teaching of the
child by other people.
• 4. Development is brought about by the process of equilibration
where the child’s beliefs become organized into a system.
Analyzing Piaget’s Theory in the Primary
Classroom
• Preoperational
• 1. Use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible.
• 2. Make instructions relatively short, using actions as well as words.
• 3. Do not expect the students to be consistently; to see the world from someone
else’s point of view.
• 4. Be sensitive to the possibility that students may have different meanings for
the same word or different words for the same meaning. Students may also
expect everyone to understand words they have invented.
• 5. Give children a great deal of hands-on practice with the skills that serve as
building blocks for more complex skills like reading comprehension.
• 6. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a foundation for concept
learning and language.
Analyzing Piaget’s Theory in the Primary
Classroom
• Concrete Operational
• 1. Continue to use concrete props and visual aids, especially when dealing
with sophisticated material.
• 2. Give students the opportunity to manipulate and test objects.
• 3. Make sure presentations and readings are brief and are well organized.
• 4. Use familiar examples to explain more complex ideas.
• 5. Give opportunities to classify and group objects and ideas on increasingly
complex levels.
• 6. Present problems that require logical and analytical thinking.
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
THE LEARNING PROCESS
The Nature of Learning
There are almost as many definitions of learning of learning as there
are authorities on the subject. However such definitions may be
summarized into one more direct and comprehensive definition as the
following: Learning is the acquisition, through maturation and
experience, of new and more knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will
enable the learner to make better and more adequate reactions,
responses, and adjustments to new situations and conditions.
THE LEARNING PROCESS
Types of Learning
The types, kinds, or outcomes of learning are the following:
1. Cognitive learning. This is the acquisition of knowledge, facts and information, principles,
ideas, concepts, understanding, reasoning, etc. There are two types of cognitive learning
these are:
a) Associative learning This is establishing the relationship between words or ideas and their meanings,
between words or ideas and the things they refer to, between principles and the situations and
conditions they are applied to, etc. This involves an accurate understanding of the relationships of
things /or situations. Facts and materials learned are systematically organized and integrated with
previous learning experiences by establishing meaningful relationships between the two. For instance,
in a learning session, a green mango is 57 associated with the green color, sour taste, an oblong shape
and texture characteristics of the fruit. So when the learner sees one in the future he knows it is a green
mango. This is especially true in mathematics. A new lesson, to be fully understood, must be linked to a
previous lesson.
b) Problem-solving learning Problem-solving is the process of overcoming difficulties that hinder the
attainment of a goal by using knowledge and skills gained from associative learning and other types of
learning. In this type of learning, reflective, analytical, and constructive thinking are very much needed.
This type of learning is used in all subjects. When the problem has several aspects to be tackled, the
class may be divided into several groups, each group tackling one aspect of the problem. Generally,
cognitive learning is verbal and ideational learning.
THE LEARNING PROCESS
Types of Learning
The types, kinds, or outcomes of learning are the following:
2. Attitudinal or affective learning. This type of learning is the formation of good and acceptable attitudes,
judgments, appreciation, and values. It is the acquisition or development of sound moral and spiritual values
such as honesty, integrity, punctuality, piety, etc. There are two types of appreciative learning. These are:
a). Aesthetic learning 58 The appreciation of what is good and abhorrence of what is bad. Appreciation of
the good includes noble traits of people, good music and other expressions of art.
b). Intellectual learning This may be developed by reading good and classical literary pieces, the Bible (for
Christians) and the Koran (for Muslims), and other similar activities.
3. Psychomotor learning. The involves the use of the muscles in bodily movement. The reflexes are especially
important because the activities are usually responsive to certain stimuli. There are two types of psychomotor
learning and these are:
a) Bodily movement coordination The harmonious functioning of the different parts of the body in order to
attain the desired performance of the activity. This is true in dancing, physical education, sports and games such
as running, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and the like. Precision and accuracy result to muscular coordination.
b) Manipulative dexterity The skillful of the hands and feet. precision and accuracy are necessary in both
basic and complicated activities such as writing, typing, stenotyping, handling and operating gadgets and
machines such as carpentry tools, laboratory equipment, car and the like.
THE TEST OF LEARNING
• When has a person learned? The following are the criteria or test of learning.
• 1. Greater speed. One who has learned how to write, writes faster than one who has
not.
• 2. Greater precision and accuracy. One who has learned a dance can execute the steps
with greater precision and accuracy than one who has not.
• 3. Reduced effort. One who has already learned to write exerts effort in writing than
one who is just learning how to write.
• 4. Less expense, hence more savings. One who has learned how to type does not need
to hire a typist to type. He cuts down on expenses.
• 5. Greater knowledge, information, and ideas. One who has gone to school to learn
has greater knowledge, information, and ideas of the things around him than one who
has not.
THE TEST OF LEARNING
• When has a person learned? The following are the criteria or test of learning.
• 6. Greater understanding. One who has studied has a better understanding of the
things communicated to him than one who has not.
• 7. Greater facility of communication. One who has gone to school has learned the
mechanics of the language and so he has a greater facility in communicating his ideas
than one who has not.
• 8. More logical reasoning. One who has learned how to reason out can make more
logical reasoning than one who has not.
• 9. Greater innovativeness and creativity. An educated person has more innovative and
creative ideas than one who is not.
• 10.Greater chance of employment. One who has acquired skills has more chances of
employment than the one who has not.
OTHER KINDS OF LEARNING
• Learning may be classified into
• (1) direct learning (Learning to ride a bicycle is direct learning. )
• (2) indirect learning. (Reading books, newspapers, magazines, and other
publications, listening to the radio, and viewing movies and television shows
to gain information is indirect learning).
OTHER KINDS OF LEARNING
• Burnham classifies learning as
• (1) congenital (Reflex action such as the sudden withdrawal of the foot as it
steps on a live charcoal is congenital learning)
• (2) temporary (Forgetting portions of a poem or lines in a play is an example
of temporary learning.)
• (3) permanent (Knowledge used in a lifetime such as basic mathematical
operation, language, values, etc. is permanent learning.)
• Other kinds of learning are
• (1) sensory learning such as Braille reading used by the blind,
• (2) motor learning as in typing and writing,
• (3) verbal learning such as solving a mathematical problem or memorizing a principle,
• (4) ideational learning such as writing a story or novel, and
• (5) attitudinal learning as in learning values.
End of Day 1
Day 2
BASIC THEORIES OF LEARNING
• CONNECTIOVISM THEORY
"Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure“
The learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology:
Learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli and responses. Such associations or
"habits" become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The
paradigm for SR theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses come to dominate
others due to rewards. The hallmark of connectionism (like all behavioral theory) was that learning
could be adequately explained without refering to any unobservable internal states. Thorndike's
theory consists of three primary laws: 1.law of effect - responses to a situation which are followed by
a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation,
2.law of readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will
result in annoyance if blocked, and 3.law of exercise - connections become strengthened with practice
and weakened when practice is discontinued. A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that
reduce the likelihood of achieving a rewarding state (i.e., punishments, failures) would decrease in
strength.
Principles
• 1. Learning requires both practice and rewards (laws of effect
/exercise)
• 2. A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong
to the same action sequence (law of readiness).
• 3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered
situations.
• 4. Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.
BASIC THEORIES OF LEARNING
• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING THEORY
"Science demands from a man all his life. If you had two lives that would not be
enough for you. Be passionate in your work and in your searching.“
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov [Evän´ pEtrô´vich päv´luf] was born on September 14, 1849
at Ryazan, Russia, where his father, Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, was a village priest.
He was educated first at the church school in Ryazan and then at the theological
seminary there. Inspired by the progressive ideas which D. I. Pisarev, the most
eminent of the Russian literary critics of the 1860's and I. M. Sechenov, the
father of Russian physiology, were spreading, Pavlov abandoned his religious
career and decided to devote his life to science. In 1870 he enrolled in the
physics and mathematics faculty to take the course in natural science.
Overview of the Theory
In classical conditioning (first demonstrated in 1927 by the Russian physiologist Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov) the critical association occurs when one environmental event
predicts the occurrence of another. From his early work on the physiology of
digestion, Pavlov knew that dogs (his usual experimental subjects) would salivate
not just on taking food into the mouth, but in response to a range of other events—
for instance, at the approach of the laboratory attendant who supplied the food.
The ability of such events to evoke this reflex depended, Pavlov suspected, on the
animal's having experienced them prior to feeding.
BASIC THEORIES OF LEARNING
• OPERANT CONDITIONING THEORY
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904, in the small
Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna. His father was a lawyer, and his
mother a strong and intelligent housewife. His upbringing was old-
fashioned and hardworking. Burrhus was an active, out-going boy who
loved the outdoors and building things, and actually enjoyed school. His
life was not without its tragedies, however. In particular, his brother
died at the age of 16 of a cerebral aneurysm.
BASIC THEORIES OF LEARNING
• SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Albert Bandura was born on December 4, 1925, in Mundare, a hamlet
in northern Alberta, Canada, about 50 miles east of Edmonton. He was
the youngest child and only boy among six children in a family of
Eastern European descent. His parents had each emigrated to Canada
when they were adolescents—his father from Krakow, Poland, and his
mother from Ukraine. They had no formal education but placed a high
value on educational attainment. For example, his father taught himself
to read three languages: Polish, Russian, and German.
Example
• The most common (and pervasive) examples of social learning
situations are television commercials. Commercials suggest that
drinking a certain beverage or using a particular hair shampoo will
make us popular and win the admiration of attractive people.
Depending upon the component processes involved (such as
attention or motivation), we may model the behavior shown in the
commercial and buy the product being advertised.
Principles
• 1. The highest level of observational learning is achieved by first
organizing and rehearsing the modeled behavior symbolically and
then enacting it overtly. Coding modeled behavior into words, labels
or images results in better retention than simply observing.
• 2. Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if it results
in outcomes they value.
BASIC THEORIES OF LEARNING
• GESTALTISTS
• THEORY CONFIGURATION/ GESTALT THEORY / FIELD THEORY

Max Wertheimer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in April 15, 1880, the son
of a school teacher. As a student, young Wertheimer’s interests were far
ranging. He studied law for a while, then switched to philosophy, and finally
begun to study psychology. After attending a number of schools and
universities, Wertheimer received his Ph.D. degree at Wurtzburg in 1904. For
the next six years he continued his work in psychology at Prague, Vienna, and
Berlin
• GESTALTISTS
• Wolgang Kohler
Kohler was a German- American psychologist born in Revel, Estonia in
January 21, 1887. He grew up in Germany and was educated at the
universities of Tubingen, Bonn, and Berlin. After he obtained his Ph.D.
from the University of Berlin in 1909 he went to the University of
Frankfurt and associated himself with Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka
in the investigation of apparent movement that led to the founding of
the Gestalt school of psychology.
• GESTALTISTS
• Kurt Koffka
Kurt Koffka was a German psychologist who was born in Berlin in March 18,
1886. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin in 1908, and then went
to the University of Frankfurt where he met the other Gestalt founders in 1910.
Along with Kohler he served as a subject in experiments on perception
conducted by Wertheimer. Their findings led Koffka, Wertheimer, and Kohler to
stress the holistic approach the psychological phenomena cannot be
interpreted 92 as combinations of elements: parts derive their meaning from
the whole, and people perceive complex entities rather than their elements
The Gestalt theory
• The Gestalt theory of learning stresses wholes, that is, the whole field or the situation in its entire setting and the
whole person of the learner. Learning is a process involving both the whole being of the child and the total
situation. It is usually defined as the organization and reorganization of behavior which arises from the dynamic
interaction of a maturing organism and its environment, involving the activities of differentiation and integration,
that is, the recognition of significant relationships and similarities and likewise of significant differences between
and among experiences and the understanding of the situation or problem in all its relations. Learning involves a
process of forming proper gestalts.
• The original German term gestalt is very difficult to translate satisfactorily. The terms whole, pattern, form are used
ordinarily to connote the idea implied in gestalt. The term signifies that actually there is no particular stimulus or
object to which a response may be directly attached, but that each situation or object has its own setting and
thereby possesses certain relationships within a meaningful whole. The individual reacts to this meaningful whole,
for a stimulus when removed from its setting may become something 93 quite different from what it was in that
setting.
• Consequently, the individuals do not react merely to the stimulus itself but rather to the stimulus in relation to its
background and setting. Thus the situation or object in relation to its setting, “a figure embodied in a ground,” is
considered to be the gestalt or pattern of configuration.
• The Gestaltists were mainly concerned with perception that’s why they developed different perceptual principles.
All these principles were consistent with one overriding principle, that is the Law of Pragnantz. This law said that we
tend to see things in their most simple, harmonious, and concise form. We respond to the world so as to make it
maximally meaningful under existing conditions. We simplify, organize, then harmonize our experiences.
• This was the Gestaltists guiding principle for studying perception, learning, and memory.
Gestalt Laws/ Principles of Perception
Gestalt Laws/ Principles of Perception
2. Law of Closure – this law states that incomplete figures tend to be
seen as complete.
Gestalt Laws/ Principles of Perception
Law of Proximity – this law holds that things close together are grouped
together in perception.
Example: Lines drawn close together seem to be grouped as in this
figure.
Three Classes of Perceptual Phenomena
Three Classes of Perceptual Phenomena
Three Classes of Perceptual Phenomena
Key Concepts:
Gestalt – a German word that may be defined as pattern, whole, form, or
configuration.
Gestalt Psychology – a school of thought that was developed in the early 20th
century by Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka.
Max Wertheimer – spearhead of the Gestalt theory and the experiments regarding
the phi-phenomenon.
Wolfgang Kohler – one of the pioneer of Gestalt psychology who performed Gestalt
psychology’s most famous animal studies.
Kurt Koffka – one of the founder of Gestalt psychology who was best known for his
systematic application of the Gestalt principles to a wide range of questions.
Perception – the realm of experiences which are not merely “imagined,”
“represented,” or “thought of.” e.g. desk, candy flavor, traffic noise, etc.,
Pragnantz – is a German word for essence
Law of Pragnantz – a law which is concerned with perception. This law stated that
all possible organizations that could be perceived through visual stimulus, the one
that is most likely to occur is the one that possesses the best, simplest, and most
stable form;(we tend to see things in their most simple, harmonious, and concise
form)
Law of Continuity – phenomena tend to be perceived as continuos.
Law of Closure – the tendency of perception to fill in gaps or to complete in
perception what is physically incomplete.
Law of Similarity – things that are similar in size, shape, color brightness, etc., will
be “perceived as belonging together.”
Law of Proximity – things that are closer together will be perceived as “belonging”
together.
Phi-phenomenon – the experience of motion emerged from the combination of the
elemental stimuli.
Stroboscope – a device for exposing a series of related visual stimuli rapidly. Under
such conditions the stimuli give rise to an illusion of continuous movement.
Stroboscopic Illusion – the apparent motion of two stimuli which are
presented in close succession. e.g. motion picture
Figure and Ground Effects – the tendency to perceived figures from our
experience to have some shape, while the ground tends to be without form
covering the figure behind continuously.
Perceptual Groupings – the tendency to perceived different stimuli as having
the same pattern dependent on nearness, similarity and configuration.
Light Constancy – objects retain their degree of color or brightness
regardless of illumination. e.g. White paper remains white whether viewed
in dim light or intense illumination.
Color Constancy – the tendency to see the color of an object as stable.
Shape Constancy – the tendency of the shape of an object to retain their
visual shape whether viewed from an angle or head on e.g. a window is
perceived as rectangular although as it opens or shuts, the actual shape
changes from rectangular to trapezoidal.
Size Constancy – it is illustrated in the way we perceive a distant person or
object as being of the same or usual size regardless of distance.
Location Constancy – the tendency to see an object retaining its position in
space when we move about.
Perceptual Illusion – an impression from experience which does not
correctly represent the objective situation outside the observer.
Insight Learning – means grasping or understanding of the situation or
object or materials in such a way that significant relations are apparent. It is
the form of gestalt or pattern in which the relevant factors fall into place
with respect to the whole. It involve total organization and implies a mental
integration by which a situation or problem is understood in all its relations.
How Learning Takes Place
Bruner’s Theory of Instruction: “Instrumental
Conceptualism”
Jerome Seymour Bruner
• An American psychologist and educator who has done pioneering
work in the filed of cognition. Bruner was born into a German-Jewish
family in New York on October 1, 1915; his father, a watch
manufacturer, died when Bruner was only 12. His family a successful
upper-middle class fully expected young Bruner to become a lawyer.
Bruner, however, had other ideas. He graduated from Duke University
in 1937 and immediately entered Duke’s graduate school in
psychology. The following year he transferred to Harvard, where he
received his Ph.D. degree in psychology in 1941.
Bruner’s First Principle: MOTIVATION
• Bruner’s first principle specifies the conditions that predispose an
individual toward learning. What are the critical variables, especially
during the preschool years, that help motivate and enable the child to
learn? Implicit in Bruner’s principles is the belief that almost all children
have a built-in “will to learn”. However, Bruner has not discarded the
notion of reinforcement. He believes that reinforcement, or external
reward, may be important for initiating certain actions or for making
sure they are repeated. He insists, however, that it is only through
intrinsic motivation that the will to learn is sustained. Bruner is far
more concerned with intrinsic motivation than with what he believes to
be the more transitory effects of external motivation.
Bruner’s Second Principle: STRUCTURE
• Bruner’s second principle states that any given subject area, any body
of knowledge, can be organized in some optimal fashion so that it can
be transmitted to and understood by almost any student. If
appropriately structured, “any idea or problem or body of knowledge
can be presented in a form simple enough so that any particular
learner can understand it in a recognizable form”. This is not to say
that all of the nuances of Einstein’s theory of relativity can be fully
mastered by a six-year-old child. It does mean, however, that if
properly structured, Einstein’s general position could be understood
by the child, and that under questioning the child could convey to a
physicist a recognizable account of the theory.
Bruner’s Third Principle: SEQUENCE
• The extent to which student finds it difficult to master a given subject
depends largely on the sequence in which the material is presented.
Teaching involves leading the learner through a certain sequence of
the various aspects of the subject. Since Bruner believes that
intellectual development is innately sequential, moving from enactive,
through iconic, to symbolic representation, he feels that it is highly
probable that this is also the best sequence for any subject to take.
Thus the teacher should begin teaching any new subject with
wordless messages, speaking mainly to the learner’s muscular
responses. Then the student should be encouraged to explore the use
of diagrams and various pictorial representations.
Bruner’s Fourth Principle:
REINFORCEMENT
• Learning requires reinforcement. In order to achieve mastery of a
problem, we must receive feedback as to how we are doing. The timing of
the reinforcement is crucial to success in learning. The results must be
learned at the very time a student is evaluating his or her own
performance. If the results are known too soon, the learner will become
confused and his or her explorations will be stifled. If it comes too late, the
learner may have gone two or three choice-points beyond the point where
it would have been helpful, and may by this time have incorporated false
information. The teacher’s role is, thus, indeed sensitive. If the learner has
gone on to incorporate false information, this must now be unlearned in
order for the learner to get back on the right track.
KEY CONCEPTS:
• Jerome Seymour Bruner – father of cognitive psychology and proponent of structure first and facts second in education. Cognition – comes from
the Latin word cognoscere which means to know. Cognitive Theories – place emphasis upon the concept that learning is a process of discovering
and understanding relationships, and organizing and finding significance in the sensory experiences aroused by the external situation. Acquisition –
is the process of obtaining new information that can either replace or refine something previously known. Transformation – is the manipulation of
information to fit new situations. 115 Evaluation – is checking whether or not the learned material has been manipulated appropriately. Learning
Theory – describes what happens after the fact. Theory of Instruction – prescribes in advance how a given subject can be best taught. Bruner’s First
Principle – specifies the conditions that predispose an individual toward learning. Motivation – the practical art of applying incentives and arousing
interests for the purpose of causing a pupil or student to perform in a desired way. Extrinsic Motivation – the application of incentives that are
external to a given activity to make work pleasant and to facilitate performance e.g. praises rewards, etc., Intrinsic Motivation – determination of
behavior that is resident within an activity and that sustains it as with autonomous acts and interests (curiosity, drive to achieve competence, and
reciprocity). curiosity – the desire to know or learn about something. drive to achieve competence – an energy or initiative to process certain skill,
knowledge, experience, etc., which is needed for the individual to excel in his chosen field. reciprocity – a need to work with others cooperatively.
Bruner’s Second Principle – here it was told that any given subject area if structured appropriately could be understood by almost any student.
Structure – the manner which the elements or parts of a certain subject or discipline is organized base on the degree of importance and difficulty.
116 Mode of presentation – refers to the technique and method whereby information is communicated. Enactive Representation – the stage where
children define words in terms of the actions associated with them. Iconic Representation – at this level subjects become conceivable without
having to be acted out. Symbolic Representation – at this stage children can translate experience into language. Economy of Presentation – the
shorter the subject could be summarize, the fewer the facts, the greater is the economy. Power of Presentation – a powerful presentation is a
simple presentation, one that is easily understood by the learner. Bruner’s Third Principle – indicates that teaching should begin with the enactive
representation going to iconic and then symbolic. Sequence – the order of representation of the elements of a subject. Bruner’s Fourth Principle –
discussed that for the student to be able to gain mastery of the subject, reinforcement should be given at the right time. Reinforcement – the
strengthening of a response by adding an increment of habit strength.
How Learning Takes Place:
• In this theory Bruner indicates that learning is an active social process
in which students construct new ideas or concepts based on current
knowledge. The student selects information, originates hypotheses,
and makes decision in the process of integrating experiences into
their existing mental constructs. Just like Gestaltists, Bruner also
believed that the student needs to understand the whole structure or
patterns of the subject for them to be able to achieve true
understanding of the whole principle of the subject being learned or
studied.
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