Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Theories
and
Perspectives
Prepared by:
Ann Haizel U. Sazon
MAED- Filipino
Submitted to:
Dr. Claudia Odette J. Ayala
examine the whole to discover what its natural parts are, and not proceed from smaller
elements into wholes.
2. Constructivism: Knowledge is constructed; the Learner is an Active Creator
Jerome Bruner 1915 (Constructivism)
Constructivism is a meta-concept. It is not just another way of knowing, but a
way of thinking about knowing. It is a theory of communication and suggests that each
listener or reader will potentially use the content and process of the communication in
different ways. There are numerous constructivist perspectives, and the common thread
that unites them is that learning is an active process, unique to the individual, and
consists of constructing conceptual relationships and meaning from information and
experiences already in the learner's repertoire.
Jean Piaget 1896 - 1990 (Genetic Epistemology)
Piaget stressed that the development of knowledge representation and
manipulation is not genetically programmed into the brain. He viewed children as young
scientists who are driven to understand their world, and to change their understanding
in the face of mistaken predictions about the world. Changes in knowledge structures
drive changes in fundamental cognitive capabilities. The seemingly natural progression
of cognitive capabilities emerge in an orderly way because certain ways of thinking must
be mastered, and for the foundation for subsequent ones. The later ones cannot
emerge until the early ones have been mastered.
Age
Features
Birth to 2
years
2 to 5
years
Representational thought
Can make mental transformations on
ideas/images
Unstructured flow of thought
Egocentric thinking *
Cannot solve conservational problems **
Difficulty with transitive relationships ***
5 to 11
years
Sensorimotor stage
Beyond
age 18
and deal with new situations. The instrument consists of twelve questions in which the
subject selects one of four possible responses. The four columns in the instrument
relate to the four stages Kolb identified as a cycle of learning: Concrete Experience
(CE), Reflective Observation (RO), Abstract Conceptualization (AC), and Active
Experimentation (AE). He paired AE and RO as polar opposites (doing vs. watching),
and CE and AC as polar opposites (feeling vs. thinking).
John Flavell (Metacognition)
Flavell (1971) used the term metamemory in regard to an individual's ability to
manage and monitor the input, storage, search and retrieval of the contents of his own
memory. Flavell invited the academic community to come forth with additional
metamemory research, and this theme of metacognitive research has continued more
than thirty years later. He implied with his statements that metacognition is intentional,
conscious, foresighted, purposeful, and directed at accomplishing a goal or outcome.
These implications have all been carefully scrutinized in subsequent research, and in
some cases have been the subjects of controversy among researchers in
metacognition. For example, Reder & Schunn (1996) and Kentridge and Heywood
(2000) argue that metacognitive processes need not operate in a person's conscious
awareness.
Sigmund Freud 1856-1939 (Psychoanalytic Theory of Learning)
Freud is best known for his contributions in the field of therapy. His approach
was dynamic and clinical rather than experimental. He was one of the earliest
Westerners to recognize and work with unconscious processes. Psychoanalysis was an
educational process in which unconscious conflicts are consciously confronted.
Cognition was important in Freud's work, and insight into one's unconscious processes
is vital in regulating one's own behavior. Frued postulated a system of developmental
psychology like Piaget did. His theory included the concept of dynamic tension between
cognitive elements, as Lewin did.
Maslow rejected behaviorist views and Freud's theories on the basis of their
reductionistic approaches. He felt Freud's view of human nature was negative, and he
valued goodness, nobility and reason. Also, Freud concentrated on the mentally ill, and
Maslow was interested in healthy human psychology.
Carl Rogers 1902-1987 (Experiential Learning)
Rogers was discouraged by the emphasis on cognitivism in education. He
believed this was responsible for the loss of excitement and enthusiasm for learning.
Rogers' point of view emphasized the inclusion of feelings and emotions in education.
He believed that education and therapy shared similar goals of personal change and
information, start out by not being able to do the task. Then they can do it with the
assistance of an adult or older child mentor, and finally they can do it without
assistance. The ZPD is the stage where they can do it assisted, but not alone. Thus the
teacher often serves to guide a child or group of children as they encounter different
learning challenges.
Albert Bandura 1925 (Observational Learning)
Bandura's early work in the 1960's represents one of the bridges
from behaviorismto cognitive models for learning. Observational learning is the process
of learning by observing a model and then duplicating a skill, process, strategy, or task
that is demonstrated by the model. This occurs without overt instructional activity, and
the model may not even know he/she is serving as an instrument of learning for the
observer. According to Bandura, this type of learning is an information processing
activity.
Factors that influence observational learning:
1. Attention - the learner must have his/her senses directed at the model
2. Retention, coding, and storing the patterns so they can be retrieved. This may include
vivid imagery an verbal descriptions.
3. Motor reproduction - kinesthetic and neuromuscular patterns are practiced with
successive iterations until the model's behavior is approximated by the observer.
4. Reinforcement and incentives- propel the learner to attention, practice and retention.
6. Instructional Theories
Lee Joseph Cronbach 1916 - 2001 (Aptitude Treatment Interaction)
Cronbach was Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University.
This theory proposed that learning is optimized when instructional methods are exactly
matched to the aptitudes and styles of the learner. It is based on the notion of different
intelligences (see also Gardner, Sternberg, and Guilford).
Components of experimental work included task variables, situation variables,
aptitudes of learners, and instructional treatments. Research indicated that high ability
students do better with low levels of structure in the learning environment, and that low
ability students do better with highly structured environments. Affect was also observed
to influence learning, and research suggested that students with anxiety or high need to
conform do better in structured environments, and students who are relaxed and
independent prefer low structure.
K.P. Cross CAL (Characteristics of Adult Learners)
Cross was influenced by theoretical frameworks of adult learning such as
andragogy and experiential learning. Cross identified two classes of variables that
represent differences between children and adult learners. These were personal
characteristics and situational characteristics. Personal characteristics include physical,
psychological, social, and cultural aspects of the learner. These are all areas of growth
as an individual develops from child to adult. Situational characteristics include part-time
References
Bandura, A. Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through the
imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575582
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Moore, A. (2000). Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy, Curriculum and Culture. TJ
International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwell
Tan, S. O & Parsons R. D (2011). Educational Psychology. Nelson Education, Ltd.p 234251
Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology retrieved from: http://www.lifecirclesinc.com/Learningtheories/learningmap.html