Psychological Foundation of Learning and

Development


PGDT 412

by: Fentahun E.(M.A)

fentahunpsych@gmail.com
0920773086
UNIT ONE
1. BASIC CONCEPTS OF
PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING
What do you think about :
 psychology
 Learning
 Education
 Educational psychology?
 Psychology is scientific study of behaviour and mental

process of human and animal .

 Educational psychology is an application psychological

theories and principles in the areas of education

 branch of Psychology which deals with teaching

and learning” (Skinner)

 the systematic study of the educational

development of a child (Stephen)

 Peel- “Educational Psychology is the science of

Education.”
 branches of applied psychology concerned with the
application of the principles, techniques and other
resource of psychology to the solution of the problems
confronting the teacher attempting to direct the growth of
children toward defined objectives
 concerned with an understanding of:
 The child, development, needs and potentialities.
 The learning situation that affect learning.
 The learning processes, its nature and the ways to make it
effective.
 the central theme of Educational Psychology is Psychology
of learning
 Psychology of Learning
 Theoretical science that covers the various
psychological theories which relate with learning
 concerned with such problems as:
 How do children acquire skills?
 When is learning more effective?
 What are the factors that help the learning Process?
 How do we measure the amount of learning?
 Are there any economic methods of memorizing?
 Why do we forget?
 Can memory be improved?
 Psychology helps the teacher to get answers to these
questions.
 It tells us that learning becomes more effective if factors like
motivation and interest are taken into consideration by
every teacher.
 helped the teacher in modifying his/her approach to the
teaching learning process.
 used in formulation curriculum for different stage. Attempts
are made to provide subjects and activities in the curriculum
which are in conformity with the needs of the students, their
developmental characteristics, learning patterns and also
needs of the society
 1.2 Scope of Educational Psychology

1. The Learner
 It familiarizes us with need of knowing the leaves and
deals with the techniques of knowing him well.
 topics studied included
 the innate abilities and capabilities of the individual
differences and their measurements,
 the overt, convert, conscious as well as unconscious
behavior of the learner,
 the characteristics of his growth and development at
each stage beginning from childhood to adulthood.
2. The Learning Process

it deals with the nature of learning and

how it takes place and contains the topics
such as laws, principles and theories of
learning, remembering and forgetting,
perceiving, concept formation, thinking,
reasoning process, problem solving,
transfer of training, ways and means of
effective learning etc
3. Learning Situation

 It also deals with the environment factors and

learning situation which come midway between the

learner and the teacher.

 Topics like classroom climate and group

dynamics techniques and aids which facilitate

learning, evaluation techniques, and

practices, guidance and counseling etc. which

help in the smooth functioning of the teaching

learning process.
4. . Teaching Situation

 It suggests the techniques of teaching.

 It also helps in deciding what learning situation

should be provided by teacher to learner

according to his mental and physical age, his

previous knowledge and interest level, by

describing the learner’s characteristics, what

teaching aids are appropriate for the

particular subject.
5. Evaluation of Learning Performance

 Main objective of education is all round development of the

learner.
 It includes cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspects of

personality.
 It suggests various tool and techniques for assessment and

evaluation such as performance test, oral test and written

test.
 It does not stop at measurement only, after the testing

results of the test analyzed the causes for poor performance,

etc… helped by guidance and counseling, the experienced

6. The Teacher
 Educational Psychology emphasizes the need
of knowing the self for a teacher to play his
role properly in the process of education.
 It throws light on the essential personality
traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics
of effective teaching etc., so as to inspire, help
teacher handle the stress, conflict and anxiety
by giving insight in their own personality.
What is the difference between
learning and education?
1. Education is the process of imparting knowledge,
values, skills and attitudes, which can be beneficial to
an individual. On the contrary, learning is the process
of adopting knowledge, values and skills.
2. Learning is the basic instinct possessed by all
individuals. On the other hand, education is acquired
by individuals.
3. Learning is said to be an on going process.
Education is something that one gets at some point in
their life.
4. Learning is an informal process, and education is a
formal process.
5. Learning is knowledge gained through experience,
and education is knowledge gained through teaching.
6. Education is something that an individual gets from
an outside source. On the other hand, learning is
something that evolves in the inner self.
 UNIT TWO
Developmental needs of the learners and
implications for practice
2. The Concept of Development
Growth refers to quantitative changes
in body proportions, size, which include
physical changes in height, weight, size,
internal organs, etc.
old features like baby fat, hair and
teeth, etc., disappear and new features
like facial hair are acquired. the second
set of teeth, primary and secondary sex
characteristics, etc., appear.
 The rate of growth differs from one part of the body to the

other.

 Maturation: is readiness for a given activity. E.g, if a

girl is ready for marriage, you may say she is matured for

marriage.

 qualitative changes resulting due to heredity.

 pubertal changes such as menstruation, sexual desire,

ovulation, etc will occur for all people at some age

regardless of what happens in the environment.

 Its onset may be delayed or hastened because of

 Learning: is a relatively permanent change in

behavior or actions brought by some environmental or

external event.

 all changes in behavior are not results of learning

 For instance temporary changes in behavior as a result

of fatigue, illness and hunger are not examples of

learning.

 For instance, if you come to fear a rat or to dislike one

of your teachers, this behavior results from your past

experience and is examples of learning.

 Development, refers to qualitative changes taking

place simultaneously with quantitative changes of

growth.

 a progressive series of orderly, coherent changes.

 The term progressive signifies that changes are

directional, that they lead forward rather than

backward.

 Orderly and coherent suggest that a definite

relationship between the changes taking place and

those that precede or will follow them.

 2.2 Aspects of Human
Development
 Physical Development: involves the body’s
physical makeup, including the brain, nervous
system, muscles, and senses, and the need for food,
drink, and sleep.
 Cognitive Development: involves the ways that
growth and change in intellectual capabilities and
influence a person’s behavior.
 It emphasizes intellectual abilities, including
learning, memory, problem solving, and intelligence
 Socio-Emotional Development: It involves
changes in the individual’s relationships
with other people, changes in emotions and
changes in personality (personality is a
person’s unique and relatively consistent way
of feeling, reacting and behaving).
 A child initially interacts with the care giver,
usually the mother. Through time however, the
child starts to interact with the elders, then
with peers, then teachers, and finally with
different members of the community. Such
change in an individual in terms of scope of
people with whom he/she interacts and
complexity of relationship with other people is
called Socio-emotional development.
 Social development refers to the long-term changes in
relationships and interactions involving self, peers, and family.
 It includes both positive changes, such as how friendships
develop, and negative changes, such as aggression or
bullying.
 The social developments that are the most obviously relevant
to classroom life fall into three main areas:
(1) changes in self-concept and in relationships among students
and teachers,
(2) changes in basic needs or personal motives,
(3) changes in sense of rights and responsibilities.
each of these areas has a broad, well-known theory (and
theorist) that provides a framework for thinking about how the
area relates to teaching. For development of self-concept and
relationships, it is the theory of Erik Erikson;
for development of personal motives, it is the theory of
Abraham Maslow;
for development of ethical knowledge and beliefs, it is the work
of Lawrence Kohlberg and his critic, Carol Gilligan.
2.3. Controversies in Human Development

Nature versus Nurture Controversy:

Nature refers to an organism’s biological
inheritance, while nurture refers to its
environmental experiences. The nature-
nurture controversy thus involves the debate
about whether development is primarily
governed by nature or nurture
 Continuity versus Discontinuity:
development involves gradual, cumulative
change (continuity) or distinct stages
(discontinuity). Thus, the question of Continuity
versus Discontinuity controversy is whether
these developmental changes appear as a
result of slow but steady progressions or as a
result of abrupt changes and stages.
 Proponents of the continuity view say that
development is a continuous process that is gradual
and cumulative. For example, a child learns to
crawl, and then to stand and then to walk. … For
example, children go from only being able to think in
very literal terms to being able to think abstractly
The discontinuity view sees
development as more abrupt-a
succession of changes that produce
different behaviours in different age-
specific life periods called stages.
for example at birth and puberty. …
Many physical and biological systems
are capable of changing in an abrupt,
discontinuous way.
Currently, developmental psychologists
agree that development is neither
extremely continuous nor extremely
discontinuous. At some stages,
 Stability versus Change: the degree to which
early traits and characteristics persist through
life or change.
 Many developmentalists who emphasize stability
in development argue that stability is the result
of heredity and possibly early experience in life.
 Developmentalists who emphasize change take
the more optimistic view that later experiences
can produce change. The potential for change
exists throughout the life-span.
2.4. Principles of Development
Development follows a pattern or a
sequence (an orderly sequence):
a. Cephalocaudal principle:
Development tends to proceed from
the head downward.
According to this principle, the child
first gains control of the head, then the
arms, then the legs.
• By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start
to gain leg control and may be able to
crawl, stand, or walk.
b. Proximodistal principle:
Development also proceeds from the
center of the body outward according
Accordingly, the spinal cord develops
before other parts of the body.
The child’s arms develop before the
hands, and the hands and feet
develop before the fingers and toes.
Fingers and toes are the last to
develop
c. Locomotion: locomotion develops in a
sequence in all infants of different cultures of
the world.
The sequence is creeping, crawling, standing
and walking.
The time may vary in the development of
locomotion but every infant passes through
these stages.
ii. Development proceeds from general to specific
responses:

It moves from a generalized to

localized behavior. The newborn infant
moves its whole body at one time
instead of moving only one part of it.
It makes random kicking with its legs
before it can coordinate the leg
muscles well enough to crawl or to
walk.
iii. Development is a continuous
process:
Development does not occur in spurts.
Growth continues from the moments
of conception until the individual
reaches maturity.
It takes place at slow regular pace
rather than by ‘leaps and bounds’.
Although development is a continuous
process, yet the pace of growth is not
even, during infancy and early years,
growth moves fast and later it slow
down.
iv. Different aspects of development develop
at different rates
 Neither all parts of the body grow at the same rate
nor do all aspects of mental growth proceed
equally. They reach maturity at different times.
v. Most traits are correlated in development:
 Generally, it is seen that the child whose
intellectual development is above average is so in
health size, sociability and special aptitudes.
vi. Growth is complex:
 All of its aspects are closely interrelated.
 The child’s mental development is intimately
related to his physical growth and its needs.
vii. Growth is a product of the interaction of
the organism and environment:
 Among the environmental factors one can
mention nutrition, climate the conditions in the
home, the type of social organization in which
individual moves and lives.
viii. There are wide individual differences
in growth:
 Individual differences in growth are caused by
differences in heredity and environment.
x. Development is both quantitative and
qualitative:
 These two aspects are inseparable. The child
not only grows in ‘size’; he grows up or
matures in structure and function too.
xi. Development is predictable:
 It is possible for us to predict at an early age
the range within which the mature
development of the child is likely to fall.
However, mental development cannot be
predicted with the same degree of accuracy.
2.6 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Age Stage of Description of Each Stages
Groups Development
Birth to Infancy rapid growth and development.
2 There are changes in body proportions as
well as intellectual growth.
2 to 6 Early childhood preschool period.
It is also called the pre-gang age.
the child seeks gain control over his
environment.
starts to learn to make social adjustment.
6 to 12 Late the primary school age. child expected to
childhood acquire the fundamentals of knowledge that are
considered essential for successful adjustment
to adult life. He/ She is also expected to learn
certain essential skills.

12 to 18 Adolescenc period of physiological change. sexually

e mature. intensified personal interaction with
peers of the same and opposite sex.

18 to 40 Young The responsible to important decisions like

adulthood choosing a career, a life partner, etc. Young
adulthood begins with setting goals and
40 to 60 Middle the individual starts feeling sense of
adulthood uprooting and dissatisfaction during the
forties. A physical decline in the form of
wrinkles, thickening waistlines, graying and
thinning hair start appearing. The changes
are often termed middle life transition,
middle age revolt, mid-career crisis or
middle-age slump. These terms point, the
loss of youth and the coming of old age. In
women, hormonal changes of menopause
(ending of menstruation) generate anxiety
and depression.
Over Late Aging is a process, which causes loss of
60 adulthood vitality.
Aged adults are more concerned about their
health and death. Their visit to doctors is
more frequent. Retirement has the worst
impact on aged adults. They gradually lose
their sense of meaningfulness in life.
Some develop interests in social service and
spend their time in financial planning,
reading, travelling, visiting religious places
and enjoying nature.
 UNIT THREE

Developmental Characteristics

Developmental Characteristics of

Adolescence (Age 12- 18 Years)

Adolescence is a developmental
period that marks the end of childhood
and the beginning of adulthood;
it is a transitional period of
considerable biological, cognitive,
social, and personality changes.
 1. Physical Development
Pubertal changes (Primary and
Secondary Sex Characteristics)
The primary sex characteristics are the
organs necessary for reproduction.
In the female, the sex organs are the
ovaries, uterus and the vagina; in the
male, the testes, prostate gland, penis,
and seminal vesicles.
During puberty, these organs enlarge
and mature. In boys, the first sign of
puberty is the growth of the testes and
scrotum.
 The secondary sexual characteristics are
physiological signs of sexual maturation that
do not directly involve the sex organs:
 for example, the breasts of females and the
broad shoulders of males. changes in the
voice and skin texture, muscular development,
and the growth of pubic, facial, and body hair.
 The first signs of puberty in girls are usually
the growing of the breasts and the growth of
pubic hair.
 Some adolescent boys, much to their distress,
experience temporary breast enlargement and
this is normal and may last about 18 months
The voice deepens, the skin becomes
coarser and oiler. Acne is more common
in boys and seems related to increased
amounts of testosterone.
Pubic hair, which is at first straight and
silky and eventually becomes coarse,
dark, and curly, appears in different
patterns in males and females.
Some people may move through
puberty very quickly and others more
slowly. Girls on average, begin to show
pubertal changes at 8 to 10 years of
age.
Variations and Effects of Physical Changes
 Several studies in the past two decades confirm
that adolescents’ early or late maturation has
important consequences for them in their
relationships with both adults and their peers.
 Feedback system they get from peers may be
different. Early matured get positive late
matured get negative feedback which influence
self concept.
 early maturing boys perceived themselves
more positively and had more successful peer
relations than did their late –maturing
counterparts. The findings for early maturing
girls were similar but not as strong as boys
early maturation increases girls’
vulnerability to a number of problems
like smoking, drink, be depressed, have
an eating disorder, request earlier
independence from parents, and have
older friends; and their bodies are likely
to elicit responses from males that lead
to earlier dating and earlier sexual
experiences.
Some other researchers have also found
that the early maturing girls had
lower educational and occupational
attainment in adulthood.
Body Image
 Body image refers to one’s concept of one’s
physical appearance. It is not surprising that the
dramatic physical changes of adolescence have
psychological implications.
 In addition to feelings about wet dreams or the
onset of menstruation; many young people
have strong reactions to changes in physical
appearance and to early and late maturation.
 Boys want to be tall, broad-shouldered, and
athletic; and girls want to be pretty, slim but
shapely, with nice hair and skin.
 Teenagers of both sexes worry about their
weight, their complexion, and their facial
features.
 b. Cognitive Development
According to Piaget, adolescents enter the
highest level of cognitive development-
formal operations
when they develop the capacity for abstract
thought occurs around age 12, gives them a
new way to manipulate (operate on)
information.
They can imagine possibilities, test
hypotheses, and form theories.
 Adolescents begin to understand abstract
propositions and try to reason logically about them.
 This kind of logical problem solving is referred to as
hypothetical deductive reasoning. .
This is a type of reasoning in which
adolescents have the cognitive ability
to develop hypotheses, or best
guesses, about ways to solve problems,
such as an algebraic equation.
Then they systematically deduce, or
conclude which is the best path to
follow in solving the equation
Adolescent Egocentrism
Difficulty differentiating one’s own thoughts
and feelings from those of other people.
The young child’s egocentrism is rooted in
ignorance that different people have
different perspectives, but the adolescent’s
reflects an enhanced ability to reflect about
one’s own and others’ thoughts.
Piaget said that adolescents produce their
own characteristic form of egocentrism in
terms of two dimensions of thinking (1) the
personal fable and (2) the imaginary
audience
Adolescents tend to view the world as a
stage in which they are the principal actors
and the entire world is an audience.
According to Elkind, this characteristics
account for the fact that teenagers tend to
be extremely self-conscious and self-
preoccupied:
the preoperational child is egocentric in the
sense that he is unable to take another
person’s point of view. The adolescent on
the other hand, takes the other person’s
point of view to an extreme degree. As a
result, adolescents tend to view themselves
as somehow unique and even heroic
 personal fable dimension, adolescents’ sense of
personal uniqueness makes them feel that no one
can understand how they really feel. For example, an
adolescent girl thinks that her mother possibly
cannot sense the hurt she feels because her
boyfriend has broken up with her.
 Imaginary audience refers to the heightened self-
consciousness of adolescents that is reflected in
their belief that others are interested in them as they
themselves are.
 involves attention getting behavior –the attempt to
be noticed, visible and “on stage”.
 adolescent’s belief that everyone in the local
environment is primarily concerned with the
appearance and behavior of the adolescent.
 Mistaken indication that others always watching and
evaluating them.
 Immature Aspects of Adolescent Thought
 Finding fault with authority figures:
adolescents now realize that the adults that they
once worshiped fall far short of their ideals, and
they feel compelled to say so-loudly and often.
 Argumentativeness: adolescents often become
argumentative as they practice their new abilities
to explore the nuances of the problem and to
build a case for their viewpoint.
 Indecisiveness: because they are now more
aware of how many choices life offers, many
teenagers have trouble making up their minds
even about such simple things as whether to go
to the mall with a friend or to the library to work
on a school assignment.
Apparent hypocrisy: young
adolescents do not often recognize the
difference between expressing an ideal
and living up to it.
Self-consciousness: adolescents
often assume that everyone else is
thinking about the same thing they are
thinking about: themselves.
Assumption of invulnerability: bad
things may not affect them
c. Social Development
Increased peer group influence
 Adolescents spend most of their time with
outside the home and with members of
the peer group, so peers have a greater
influence on the attitudes, speeches,
interests, appearance, and behaviour of
adolescents. Being recognized as a popular
member of a peer group is an important
adolescent need.
 The adolescents often get into argument
with their parents and elders since they want to
break away from their control. As adolescence
progress, peer group influences begin to wane.
 Changes in social behaviour
 Attraction towards members of the opposite sex
is prominent characteristic.
 New social groupings
 The gangs of the childhood gradually break and
the interest in the organised groups controlled
by the adults also wanes. They like to be a part
of the group control of the group controlled by
them
 New values in selection of friends
 Adolescents want as friends those whose
interests and values are similar to theirs,who
understand them and make them feel secure
and in whom they can confide problems and
discuss matters they feel
 D. Development of Identity
Sense of who they are, where they
are heading, and where they fit into
society.
What kind of career do I want?
What religious, moral, and political
values should I adopt?
Who am I as a man or a woman, and
as a sexual being?
Just where do I fi t into society?
 Erikson used the term identity crisis to capture
the sense of confusion, and even anxiety, that
adolescents may feel as they think about who
they are today and try to decide “What kind of
self can (or should) I become?
 the fifth stage in Erickson’s psychosocial
development.
 identity diffusion a lack of ability to commit
oneself, to an occupational or ideological position
and to assume a recognizable station in life.
 Another danger is that adolescents might fashion
a negative identity a degraded self-image and
social role or the formation of deviant identity-
a life style at odds with, or at least not supported
by the values and expectations of the society.
James E. Marcia examined the development
and validation and ego identity by
interviewing college students to find out how
they felt about future occupations, religious
ideology, and worldview.
based on the presence or absence of crisis
and commitment.
Crisis is a period of identity development
during which the adolescent is choosing
among meaningful alternative;
 commitment is a part of identity
development in which adolescents show a
personal investment in what they are going
to do
 Identity diffusion (no crisis, no commitment)
E.g “I haven’t really thought much about religion, and I
guess I don’t know exactly what I believe.”
 Identity foreclosure (no crisis, commitment
E.g “My parents are Baptists and so I’m a Baptist; it’s just

the way I grew up.”

 Identity moratorium: (crisis, no commitment): this
is a period of delay during which adolescents can
experiment with or try on various roles, ideologies and
commitments
 e.g. Example: “I’m evaluating my beliefs and hope that I
will be able to decide what’s right for me. I like many of
the answers provided by my Catholic upbringing, but I’m
skeptical about some teachings as well. I have been
looking into Unitarianism to see if it might help me
answer my questions.”
Identity achievement (crisis, commitment):
 Example: “After a lot of soul-searching about my
religion and other religions too, I finally know what
I believe and what I don’t.”
E. Emotional Development
 Emotion is a feeling or affect that involves
physiological arousal and, behavioral expression.
Emotion is closely related to self-esteem. Negative
emotions such as sadness are associated with low
self-esteem while positive emotions such as joy
are linked to high self-esteem.
 Adolescence has long been described as a time of
emotional turmoil. Young adolescents can be on
top of the world one moment and down in the
dumps the next.
 Unit Four

Theories of cognitive development

The Theory of Jean Piaget (Piaget’s

Cognitive developmental theory

Cognition refers to thinking and
memory processes, and cognitive
development refers to long-term
changes in these processes
Piaget created and studied an
account of how children and youth
gradually become able to think
logically and scientifically.
Piaget maintains that children are
active participants in their own
cognitive development.
They actively construct their
understanding of the world and go
 learning proceeded by the interplay of
assimilation (adjusting new experiences to fit
prior concepts) and accommodation (adjusting
concepts to fit new experiences).
 After observing children closely, Piaget proposed
that cognition developed through distinct stages
from birth through the end of adolescence. By
stages he meant a sequence of thinking
patterns with four key features:
1. They always happen in the same order.
2. No stage is ever skipped.
3. Each stage is a significant transformation of
the stage before it.
4. Each later stage incorporated the earlier stages
into itself.
 The process of cognitive development.
• According to Piaget, children’s cognitive
development begins with a few basic schemas.
• A Schema is a concept or framework that exists
in an individual’s mind to identify, organize and
interpret information.
• Piaget stated that two psychological
mechanisms,
• Adaptation. All organisms adapt to the
environments in which they must survive, often
by means of very complex mechanisms
• Assimilation. Assimilation is the process by
which new objects, events, experiences, or
information are incorporated into existing
schemas
Ex. A child may call a stranger Dadi, for
him all adults are Dadi
Accommodation. Accommodation is
the process by which existing schemas
are modified and new schemas are
created to incorporate new objects,
events, experiences, or information.
 It refers to the process of changing in
mental structures to handle a new
experience
E.g will understand the concept Dadi is
applied only to his father, so the child
accommodates, meaning he modifies
Organization. Organization is Piaget’s
concept of grouping isolated behaviors into a
higher-order, more smoothly functioning
cognitive system; the grouping or arranging
of items into categories.
Equilibration. Equilibration is a
mechanism that Piaget Proposed to
explain how children shift from one
stage of thought to the next. The shift
occurs as children experience cognitive
conflict or disequilibrium in trying to
understand the world. Eventually, they
resolve the conflict and reach a
balance or, equilibrium, of thought.
 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Stage 1: The Sensorimotor stage (Birth – 2years).
• The infants gain an understanding of the world
through their senses and their motor activities
(actions or body movements)
• the intelligence is action rather than of thought,
and it is confined to objects that are present and
events that are directly perceived.
• The child learns to respond to and manipulate
objects, and to use them in goal-directed
activity.
• At birth, infants are incapable of

thought, and they are unable to

differentiate themselves from others or

from the environment.

• Living in a world of the here and now,

they are aware that objects exist only

when the objects actually can be seen.

•
The major achievement of the
sensorimotor period is the
development of object permanence,
which is the realization that objects
(including people) continue to exist
even when they are out of sight. This
concept develops gradually and is
complete when the child is able to
mentally represent objects in their
absence
Stage 2: The Preoperational stage
(2-7 Years
 a period of rapid development in language. Children
become increasingly able to represent objects and
events mentally with words and images
 Now their thinking is no longer restricted to objects
and events that are directly perceived and present in
the environment.
 Evidence of representational thought is the child’s
ability to imitate the behavior of a person who is no
longer present.
 Other evidence is the Child’s ability to engage in
imaginary play using one object to stand for another,
Although children’s thinking is more
advanced than at the previous stage, it
is still quit restricted.
Thinking is dominated by perception,
and the children at this stage exhibit
egocentrism in thought (the inability
to distinguish between one’s own
perspective and someone else’s
perspective).
They believe that everyone sees what
they see, thinks as they think, and
feels as they feel
 Animistic thinking, believing that inanimate
objects which have certain characteristics of
living things are alive and have feelings and
intentions as well.
 Conservation :not aware that a given quantity
of matter ( a given number, mass, area, weight,
or volume of matter) remains the same even if it
is rearranged or changed in its appearance, as
long as nothing has been added or taken away.
 Centration is the tendency to focus on only
one dimension of a stimulus and ignore the
other dimensions. For example, in the above
conservation experiment, children focused on
the tallness of the glass and failed to notice that
it was also thinner.
 Irreversibility is the inability to mentally return
transformed events to its original condition.
Passing the test suggests the child is at the
concrete operational stage of thinking.
Stage 3: The concrete operational Stage (7 –
11 Years)
• thinking is less egocentric, and they come to
realize that other people have thoughts and
feelings that may be different from their own
• attend to two or more dimensions of a stimulus at
the same time.
• can also understand the concept of reversibility
( the realization, during the concrete operations
stage, that any change occurring in shape, position,
or order of matter can be returned mentally to its
original state), which is crucial in problem solving.
 Seriation (a concrete operation that involves ordering
stimuli along some quantitative dimension, such as
length, height, weight, age…)
 Basically children achieve conservation by using
three arguments:
 Identity argument: the child might say, “You haven’t
added any or taken any way, so it has to be the same.
 The argument of compensation: They may say
“This glass is taller here, but the other one is wider
here, so they are still the same. The changes cancel
each other out.
 The Argument of inversion: The child might say
“They are still the same because you can pour this one
back to what it was before.
 Children are able to apply logical operations only to
concrete problems; they cannot apply logical
operations to verbal, abstract, or hypothetical problems
Stage 4: Formal operational stage (11
& beyond).
 Adolescents can apply reversibility and conservation to
abstract, idealistic, verbal, or hypothetical situations and
to problems in the past, present, or future

Piaget’s theory has the following implications of

teaching learning process.
 Take a constructivist approach: children learn best when
they are active and seek solutions for themselves.
 Facilitate rather than direct learning: Effective teachers
design situations that allow students to learn by doing.
Consider the child’s knowledge and
level of thinking: Use ongoing
assessment
Individually constructed meanings
cannot be measured by standardized
tests.
Turn the classroom into a setting of
exploration and discovery: The
teachers should emphasize on
students’ active and self learning
Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Cognitive
Theory
Vygotsky was a Marxist who believed that
one can only understand human
beings in the context of the social-
historical environment.
Vygotsky tried to create a theory that
allowed for the interplay between the two
lines of development: the “natural line”
that emerges from within and the “social-
historical line” that influences the child
from without.
 At the age of 38, his life was cut short by
tuberculosis
Like Piaget, Vygotsky also believed that
children actively construct their
knowledge.
However, Vygotsky gave social interaction
and culture far more important roles in
cognitive development than Piaget did.
child’s development as inseparable from
Social and cultural activities.
 He believed that the development of
memory, attention, and reasoning
involves learning to use the inventions of
society, such as language, Mathematical
systems, and memory strategies.
 Vygotskys believed that children’s social
interaction with more skilled adults and peers is
indispensable in advancing cognitive development.
 The Zone of Proximal Development. the
distance between the actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem solving and
the level of potential development as determined
through problem solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers.
 the range of tasks too difficult for children to master
alone but which can be learn with the guidance and
assistance of adults or more skilled children.
 lower limit of the ZPD is the level of problem solving
reached by the child working independently.
 The upper limit is the level of additional
responsibility the child can accept with the
assistance of an able instructor.
Scaffolding. changing the levels of
support over the course of a teaching
session in which a more-skilled
individual (teacher or more advanced
peer of the child) adjusts the amount of
guidance to fit the child’s current
performance level.
When the task the student is learning is
new, the more skilled person may use
direct instruction.
As the student’s competence increases,
less guidance is given.
 Language and Thought.
 children use speech not only for social
communication but also to help them solve tasks.
 He believed that young children use language to
plan, guide, and monitor their behavior.
 This use of language for self-regulation is called
private speech.
 For Piaget private speech is egocentric and
immature, but for Vygotsky it is an
important tool of thought during the early
childhood years.
 He emphasized that all mental functions have
external or social origin.
 Children must use language to communicate with
others before they can focus inward on their own
thoughts.
 Children also must communicate externally and use
language for a long period of time before they can make
the transition from external to internal speech.
 This transition period occurs between 3 and 7 years of
age and involves talking to oneself.
 After a while, the self-talk becomes second nature to
children, and they can act without Verbalizing.
 When this occurs, children have internalized their
egocentric speech in the form of inner speech, which
becomes their thoughts (Here Vygotsky said that
language and thought initially develop independently of
each other and then merge).
 Vygotsky believed that children who use a lot of private
speech are more socially competent than those who
don’t.
 For Vygotsky, when young children talk to themselves,
they are using language to govern their behavior and
guide themselves.
 Educational Implications of Vygotsky’s
Theory
◦ Use the zone of proximal development: Teaching
should begin toward the zone’s upper limit, where the
student is able to reach the goal only through close
collaboration with the instructor.
◦ Use scaffolding: Use scaffolding to help students move
to a higher level of skill and knowledge. Offer just
enough assistance when students need help with self-
initiated learning activities.
◦ Use more-skilled peers as teachers
◦ Encourage collaborative learning and recognize
that learning involves a community of learners.
◦ Consider the cultural context of learning: An
important function of education is to guide children in
learning the skills that are important in the culture in
which they live.
◦ Monitor and encourage children’s use of private
Using Scaffolding to teach skills
 Apply the principle of scaffolding to help a child
acquire a particular skill.
 Select a skill the child can potentially acquire with
some instruction and practice.
 Begin by providing direct guidance and
instruction, and gradually taper off the amount of
direct support as the child achieves mastery.
 Afterward, review what you learned.
 Did you provide clear direction at a level the child
could understand?
 Did you gradually withdraw support to allow the
child to master the skill increasingly on his or her
own?
 How might you do things differently in the future?
 4.3. Theory of Moral Development:
 Morality is our judgment or our sense of what is
right or wrong, goodness or badness, or
correctness or wrongness for a certain set of
behaviors.
 Moral development involves age related
thoughts, behaviors and feelings regarding
about rules, principles and values that guide
what people should do.
 The individual’s ability to judge certain action or
reaction as right or wrong in a dilemma situation
depends on his/her explaining or reasoning
ability which is directly related to cognitive
development
 Morality has three dimensions: Cognition,
emotion and behavior.
 Cognition: refers to thinking or reasoning about
what to do.
 It describes how children think or reason about
rules, values, and principles for good or bad
behavior.
 Emotion: refers to the feelings about what to do
or what is done.
 it refers to how children feel about the moral
matters.
 Behavior: refers to what is actually done or how
children actually behave in moral circumstances.
 Thus, these moral thoughts, feelings and
behaviors develop across the lifespan
4.3.1. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
 Kohlberg developed his theory by interviewing
both children and adolescents by presenting them
with a series of moral dilemmas; such as Heinz’s
dilemma
 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.
According to Kohlberg, our moral development
passes through three levels and six stages. These
levels and stages of moral development by
Kohlberg are explained as follows.
 Level I. The pre-conventional
 moral reasoning is governed by the standards of
others rather than an individual’s own
internalized standards of right and wrong
Stage 1.Punishment and Obedience
Orientation.
morality is often tied to punishment.
 The physical consequences of an
action determine its goodness or
badness.
“Right” is whatever avoids
punishment.
Stage 2. Instrumental relativist
Orientation.
 “right” is whatever is rewarded, benefits the
individual, or results in a favor being returned.
 it satisfies your personal needs, immediate
interest, it is right.
 They assume that everyone has to look out for
him or herself and is obliged only to those who
help him or her.
 The philosophy is one of returning favors “if
you scratch my back I will scratch yours.”
Level II. The Conventional Level
• individual has internalized the standards
of others and judges right and wrong in
terms of those standards.
Stage 3.Interpersonal concordance
Orientation.
reason for doing right is the need to be a
good person. They value the intentions
and feelings of others.
A good behavior is that which pleases or
helps others and is approved by them.
called the “good boy- “good girl”
orientation.
Stage 4. Authority Maintain
Orientation.
orientation is toward “authority, fixed
rules, and the maintenance of the
social order.
Right behavior consists of doing one’s
duty, showing respect for authority,
and maintaining the given social order
for its own sake.”
Level III. The Post conventional
Level
Requires the ability to think at Piaget’s
level of formal operations.
 people do not simple internalize the
standards of others.
Instead, they weigh moral alternatives
realizing that at times the law may
conflict with basic human rights.
Stage5.Social-contract legalistic Orientation.
 right actions tend to be defined in terms of
general individual rights and standards that have
been critically examined and agreed on by the
whole society.
 They believe that laws and duties should be
based on promoting the greatest good for the
greatest number.
 The law is for the people, not on the people.
 It is possible to change the law in terms of
rational considerations of social utility.
 At stage 5 the person believes that laws are
formulated to protect both society and the
individual and should be changed if they fail to do
so.
 Stage 6.Universal Ethical Principles
Orientation.
 At this stage, the person defines right or
wrong in accordance with self-chosen ethical
principles that appeal to logical
comprehensiveness, universality and
consistency. Ethical decisions are made
based on universal ethical principles, which
emphasize respect for human life , justice,
equality, and dignity for all people. People
who reason morally at stage 6 believe that
they must follow their conscience even if it
results in a violation of the law. Principle of
justice guide us toward decisions based on
an equal respect for all.
In actual practice, Kohlberg said, we
can reach just decisions by 1ooking at
a situation through one another’s eyes.

Theoretically, stage 6 has clearer and

broader conceptions of universal
principles. But, the interview did not
draw out this broader understanding.
So, Kohlberg dropped stage 6 from his
manual, calling it a “theoretical stage’
and scoring all post-conventional
responses at stage
Educational Implications of Kohlberg’s
Theory
 The following are some of the ways that enables
teachers to help their students to develop moral
reasoning ability:
 Teachers should understand that students’
perspectives on moral issues will vary depending
on their age group, and then treat accordingly.
 Encourage students to examine all sides of
moral issues to develop an understanding of the
many ways in which actions can be interpreted.
 Help students develop some consistency
between how they judge other’s actions and how
they might act themselves.
Foster concern for the need of others and
of oneself by creating an atmosphere that
provides opportunities for cooperative
interaction, and promote sensitivity for
the perspectives and feelings of others.
Turn the classroom into a setting of
exploration and discovery. The teachers
should emphasize students’ own
exploration and discovery.
During teaching, provide challenging
activities that require the students’ mind
to analyze and evaluate the situation
from different angles.
exercise
A tax-collector threatens the tax-payer
with a very high rate. That is, the tax-
payer was asked to pay more than he
could. But the tax-payer could not
afford to pay what the tax-collector
claimed. So, the taxpayer and tax-
collector made agreement to reduce
the rate where by the tax-collector got
personal gifts from the tax-payer, so
that they had nothing to lose on that
score. Were the tax-payer and tax-
collector right in doing that? Why?
 Unit five
5. Personality development

Definition of Personality
A sum total of the unique characteristics
of an individual that differentiates him or
herself from others and is persistent over
time and situations.
an integration/organization of behaviors;
represents the identity of an individual and
it is your psychological name.
Temperament- an individual’s behavioral
style and characteristic way of responding
and it is the foundation of personality.
 Increased capacities and interactions with the environment,

temperament evolves or becomes elaborated across childhood

to adolescence into a set of personality traits

 Changing personality is difficult because:

 The personality type established during childhood maintained

with a few modification at adolescence and the remaining life.

The change is more of quantitative than qualitative.

 Molding/detail features of the personality is mostly not within

the individual but the environment; so to change the

personality the adolescent should leave that familiar

environment.
 Conditions Influencing the Adolescents’ Self-concept
 Age of maturing: Early matures, who are treated as near
adults develop favorable self-concepts and thus makes good
adjustments. Late matures, who are treated like children,
feel misunderstood and a victim and thus are predisposed to
maladjusted behaviors.
 Appearance: Being different in appearance makes the
adolescent feel inferior. Any physical defect is a source of
embarrassment which leads to feelings of inferiority. Physical
attractiveness, by contrast, leads to favorable judgments
about personality characteristics and this aids social
acceptance.
Sex appropriateness: Sex appropriate
appearance, interests and behavior help
adolescents achieve favorable self-concept.
Sex inappropriateness makes them self-
conscious and this influences their behavior
unfavorably
Names and nicknames: Adolescents are
sensitive and embarrassed if members of the
peer group judge their names unfavorably or if
they have nicknames that imply ridicule.
 Family relationships: An adolescent who has a very
close relationship with a family member will identify
with this person and want to develop a similar
personality pattern. If this person is of the same sex,
the adolescent will be helped to develop a sex-
appropriate self-concept.
 Peers: Pears influence the adolescent’s personality
pattern in two ways. First, the self-concepts of
adolescents are reflections of what they believe their
peers’ concepts of them are and, second, they come
under peer pressures to develop personality traits
approved by the group.
Creativity:

Adolescents who have been encouraged to be

creative in their play and academic work as
children develop a feeling of individuality and
identity that has a favorable effect on their
elf-concepts.
By contrast, adolescents who have been
forced to conform to an approved pattern
since earliest childhood lack a feeling of
identity and of individuality.
 Levels of aspiration:
 If adolescents have unrealistically high levels of
aspiration, they will experience failure. This will
lead to feelings of inadequacy and to defensive
reactions in which they blame others for their
failures.
 Adolescents who are realistic about their
abilities will experience more successes than
failures. This will lead to greater self-confidence
and self-satisfaction, both of which contribute to
better self-concepts.
5.2Theories of Personality Development

Issues of difference between

psychologists on pty
1. what qualities are important in
personality
description,
2. how they develop and
3. what determines them
Theories try to answer why people
differ in their personality and how
personality develops.
Psychosexual Theories of Pty Development

developed by Sigmund Freud

personality is the result of the mental
functioning of an individual.
Basic Concepts of Freud’s Theory
1. Levels of Consciousness (or Mind)
A. conscious mind:Represents those
mental experiences that we are fully
aware of at a given moment.
• For instance, what are you doing just at
this moment? Reading, learning, or
whatever you are doing will be your
responses.
B. Subconscious (preconscious)
mind:
experience which we are not immediately
aware but that can easily be brought to
awareness.

it consists of feeling and memories that we are

unaware of at the moment but can become
aware of with effort.

It consists of experiences which are sometimes

conscious or known and sometimes not known
A. unconscious mind:
 totally unaware, largest, darkest and inaccessible part
of our mind which consists of threatening and painful
thoughts, wishes and feelings.
 According to Freud the forgotten memories are put in
the unconscious mind.
 It is the primary source of the powerful sexual and
aggressive energies [instincts] which are the major
motivators of our behavior.
 Freud argued that the unconscious was the repository
of our primary and most primitive motives.
 This repository, however is not simply a passive
container, but with biologically derived energy (libido)
constantly seeking release.
 If an appropriate occasion for such release occurs,
energy may be expended; the pressure is temporarily
reduced, and the reduction is felt as reinforcement .
2. Structure of Personality
 They are theoretical constructs; they do not physically
exist within the brain.
 They are functions, rather than, structures of personality
 They are understood in terms of actions.

A. Id (primitive, pleasure seeking impulse).

 It is the primary reservoir of psychic energy [libido] which
is the dynamic source of all motivations
 Present at birth
 unconscious; it has no contact with reality.
 Operates on the “pleasure principle” (I want it, and I want
it now), in which the goal is the immediate reduction of
tension and the maximization of satisfaction. It does not
tolerate delays in need satisfaction.
 Our “dark side” or animalistic nature, Selfish
 It is the biological aspect of our personality
B. The Ego [Rational self]
 Develops when children start experiencing the
demands and constraints of reality [the rules and
regulation of society]
 it is representative of the external world.
 Created to facilitate satisfaction of id desires
realistically.
 Serves as a mediator between the id, reality and
superego.
 Operates according to the reality principle.
 This principle postpones the discharge of energy
until an appropriate situation or object in the real
world appears. Hence, it is called the “executive
branches of personality” because it uses reasoning
to make decisions. It is the psychological aspect of
our personality
 the id and the ego have no morality.
C. The Superegos (Internalized values of
society)
 The final personality structure to develop.
 It expects the child to be non-selfish, social and
morally perfect. So it works on perfection principle.
 Represents the values of parents and society [it is
the moral branches of personality].
 It strives for ideal rather than the real.
 It is governed by morality principle. Therefore, it
judges whether something is right or wrong.
 It is the social or cultural aspect of our personal
It has two parts;

The conscience- prevents us from

doing something which is morally bad.

 The ego- ideal-motivates us to do

what is morally good.

 Example

A six-year-old child Bereket spots his favorite

candy in a supermarket.

 The id shouts - "I want it now! Take it!"

 The super ego - "Thou shall not steal."

 The ego - "I could ask my father Girma to buy it

for

 me, but he might say no."

3. The Development of Personality
 the first five years of life were crucial in
determining personality
 personality develops through stages. as
psychosexual stages of personality development.
because they are concerned with the psychological
manifestation of the sexual [pleasure] drive.
 At each stage, we experience pleasure in one part
of the body more than others.
 our adult personality is determined by the way we
resolve conflicts between these early sources of
pleasure- namely the mouth, the anus and the
genitals- collectively known as erogenous zones.
 When these conflicts are not resolved, the person
may be fixated at a particular stage of
development.
 Fixation occurs when the person remains locked in
an earlier developmental stage because needs are
under or over gratified.
1. The oral stage [Birth- 18 months]
 The erogenous zone is the mouth
 Freud sucking pleasure in its own right.
 Infants get pleasure by stimulating the mouth area.
Chewing, sucking and biting are the chief sources of
pleasure.
 The major developmental task is weaning from
nipple or bottle
 Oral fixations may result such habits as thumb
sucking, fingernail biting, chewing, smoking,
drinking, etc…
2. The Anal stage[18 months- 3 years]
 The erogenous zone is the anus
 Pleasure mainly come from activities such as
holding in or letting go the faces and urine and
playing with one’s own dirt
 The major developmental task is toilet training
 The main conflict lies on toilet training with the id
dominated child.
 The child wants immediate pleasure from anal
activities; whereas the parents want to control
the child to seat neat and clean and they insist “
do as we say”
 Anal fixations may result in extreme orderliness,
cleanliness, conformist, pedantic or
disorderliness, messiness, extravagant, etc…
C. The phallic stage [3- 5 years]
The erogenous zone is genitals (immature
sex organs)
Children get pleasure through
manipulation, touching of their genitals (sex
organs). Young children at this stage feel a
sexual desire for the opposite sex parent
Both sexes give high value on the penis
Boys engage in distance competing
urination
It is the most crucial stage of personality
development during which the Oedipus
complex and Electra complex appear.
 Oedipus complex: is derived from the Greek
legend in which the king Oedipus kills his father
and marries his mother.
 It refers to the young child’s unconscious
and intense wishes to have and enjoy the
affection of his mother by eliminating his
father.
 So this tendency of the boy between 3_5 years
to want to fully possess his mother and get rid
of his father is called Oedipus complex.
 However, the child realizes father is stronger,
and fears a revenge for all his fantasies and
wishes. His fear focus on his most valued object,
his penis. So he suffers from castration
anxiety.
 Electra complex:
 young child’s intense sexual desire to have and enjoy with her father.
 The girl loves her father and want to marry him by get rid of her
mother.
 The girl also suffers from penis envy.
 She blames her mother for her apparent loss of penis/ penis envy- the
counter part of castration anxiety/
 Gradually, due to fear of castration anxiety [the boy] and loss of her
mother’s love [the girl] the children resolve these dangerous
tendencies by repressing all of their wishes into the unconscious and
by identifying themselves with the same- sex parent.
 fixations at this stage may result: vanity, recklessness; the boy worries
about the size of his penis, he may be attracted to or get a girl friend or
a wife who resembles his mother or may marry an old woman above
his age.
4. The Latency Period [ 5- 11 years]
There is no new erogenous zone (the
structure of personality is already
formed).
Sexual instincts will go underground or
become latent or hidden by keeping
down firmly in the unconscious.
Mostly engage in similar sex play.
The child’s interest shifts to school
work and other social activities. Hence,
children’s repress all sexual interests
and develop social and academic skills.
5. The Genital Stage [from puberty onwards]
 The active sources of pleasure is the opposite sex
 There is mature genitals and mature sexual intimacy
 Libido is again focused in genital area but now is
directed toward heterosexual rather than autoerotic
[masturbatory] pleasure.
 Adolescents get pleasure from sexual intercourse
with the opposite sex.
 Successful resolution of the conflicts leads to the
development of “normal” life, and genuine
heterosexual relationships. Freud said that from
puberty onwards the individual’s great task is freeing
him/herself from parents. Successful development at
earlier stages leads to marriage, mature sexuality,
birth and rearing of children.
2.Psychosocial Theories of Pty Development
Erikson develop theory of social development
that relies on stages through series of
psychosocial crises (turning points in a
person’s relationships and feelings about
himself or herself)
Each crisis consists of a dilemma or choice that
carries both advantages and risks, but in which
one choice or alternative is normally
considered more desirable or “healthy”.
How one crisis is resolved affects how later
crises are resolved.
The resolution also helps to create an
individual’s developing personality.
Erik Erikson: Eight psychosocial crises of
development
1. Trust and mistrust(Birth to 1 year): from the day
they are born, infants face a crisis
• They are happiest if they can eat, sleep, and excrete
according to their own physiological schedules,
regardless of whether their schedules are
convenient for the caregiver (often the mother).
• It is as if the baby asks, “If I demand food (or sleep
or a clean diaper) now, will my mother actually be
able to help me meet this need?”
• Hopefully, between the two of them, mother and
child resolve this choice in favor of the baby's trust:
the mother proves herself at least “good enough” in
her attentiveness, and the baby risks trusting
mother's motivation and skill at care giving.
2. Autonomy and shame(1-3)
 Development of control over bodily functions
and activities
the child’s lack of experience in these activities,
however, self-care is risky at first—the toddler may feed
(or toilet or dress) clumsily and ineffectively.
The child’s caregiver, for her part, risks overprotecting
the child and criticizing his early efforts unnecessarily
and thus causing the child to feel shame for even trying.
Hopefully, as with the earlier crisis of trust, the new
crisis gets resolved in favor of autonomy through the
combined efforts of the child to exercise autonomy and
of the caregiver to support the child’s efforts
Initiative Age 3- Testing limits of self-
and guilt 6 assertion and
purposefulness

Industry Age 6- Development of sense of

and 12 mastery and competence
inferiority

Identity Age Development of identity and

and role 12-18 acknowledge of identity by
confusion others

Intimacy Age Formation of intimate

and 18-35 relationships and
isolation commitments
Generativity and stagnation(Age
35-60)
Development of creative or productive
activities that contribute to future
generations

Integrity and despair(Age 60+)

Acceptance of personal life history and
forgiveness of self and others
 Unit seven
Concept of learning
7.1.1 Definitions of Learning
 The process by which a relatively lasting
change in potential behavior occurs because of
practice or experience.
 Learning is also a process of acquiring
modifications in existing knowledge, skills,
habits, or tendencies through experience,
practice, or exercise.
 attributes of learning...
 The first is that learning is permanent change
in behavior.
 It does not include change due to illness,
fatigue, maturation and use of intoxicant.
The learning is not directly observable but
manifests in the activities of the individual.
Learning depends on practice and
experience

Yoakum & Simpson have stated the

following general characteristics of learning:

Learning is growth, adjustment, organization

of experience, purposeful, both individual

and social, product of the environment.

Factors affecting learning

 Factors associated with the learners

 maturation, heredity, physical and home
conditions, interest, attention and perception as
well as attitude, learning activities, organization
effect, level of processing and interference effect.
 Factors related to the teacher
 the organization and presentation of learning
materials, guidance and testing.
  Factors related to the subject

matter

Some of the factors that are associated

with the subject matter of learning are

transfer and serial position effect

THEORIES OF LEARNING
BEHAVIORIST LEARNING THEORIES

Focuses on changes in
individuals’ observable behaviors,
changes in what people say or do
1.PAVLOV-CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 Respondent conditioning
 Focuses on involuntary responses to particular sights,
sounds, or other sensations
 Pavlov trained his dogs to salivate when they heard a
bell ring
 classical conditioning components
 Unconditioned Stimulus : anything, which can
evoke a response without prior learning or
conditioning.
 For example, when a dog eats some food it causes his
mouth to salivate. Therefore the food is an
unconditioned stimulus, because it causes a reflex
response (salivation) automatically and without the
dog having to learn how to salivate. It causes an
automatic reflex response
• Unconditioned means “unlearned” or “naturally
occurring.”
Unconditioned response (UCR): A
response that is natural and needs no
training (e.g., salivation at the smell of
food).
 Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral
stimulus that has been paired with an
unconditioned stimulus to bring about a
response formerly caused only by the
unconditioned stimulus.
 Conditioned response (CR): A response
that, after conditioning, follows a previously
neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation at the ringing
of a bell)
positive changes in students’ attitudes
and feelings attitudes like a love for
learning, for example, and feelings like
self-confidence. It turns out that
respondent conditioning describes
these kinds of changes relatively well
Before Conditioning:
(UCS) Seeing Teacher Smile → Student Smiles (UR)
(UCS) Seeing Classroom → No response (UR)
During Conditioning:
Seeing Teaching Smile + Seeing Classroom →
Student Smiles
After Conditioning:
 principles of classical conditioning,
 Extinction: the disappearance of a link
between the conditioned stimulus and the
conditioned response.
 In other words, it refers to the disappearance of
conditioned response over time when the
conditioned stimulus is no longer presented
 Generalization the tendency for similar stimuli
to elicit a conditioned response.
 The child being conditioned to your smile, for
example, might learn to associate your smile
not only with being present in your classroom,
but also to being present in other, similar
Discrimination : the tendency to stop
making a generalized response to a stimulus that
is similar to the original conditioned stimulus
because the similar stimulus is never paired with
the unconditioned stimulus.
 Example, the dog salivates only in
response to the dinner bell instead of
the doorbell or the telephone bell.
Spontaneous recovery – the reappearance of a
learned response after extinction has occurred.
Higher order conditioning: when a
neutral stimulus can cause the
conditioned response sense if it had
been associated with the conditioned
stimulus.
 Types of classical conditioning
Forward conditioning: Learning is fastest in
forward conditioning.
the onset of the conditioned stimulus (CS)
precedes the onset of the unconditioned
stimulus (US). Two common forms of forward
conditioning are delay and trace conditioning.
Delay conditioning: In delay conditioning,
the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented
and is overlapped by the presentation of the
unconditioned stimulus (US).
For example the bell is rung untilthe food is
brought to the dogs
Trace conditioning: the conditioned
stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned
stimulus (US) do not overlap.
Instead, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is
presented; a period is allowed to elapse
during which no stimuli are presented, and
then the unconditioned stimulus (US) is
presented.
The stimulus-free period is called the trace
interval. It may also be called the
conditioning interval
For instance the bell comes on then goes
off for a fixed amount of time before the
meat was delivered. Traffic light car stop
Simultaneous conditioning: the
conditioned stimulus (CS) and
unconditioned stimulus (US) are
presented and terminated at the same
time.
For instance the bell andthe food are
brought at the same time
Backward conditioning: conditional
stimulus (CS) immediately follows an
unconditional stimulus (US).
Ucs presented before cs.
Implications of Pavlov’s Theory to Classroom
Situations

student needs to be able to respond to

a particular stimulus (information)
before s/he can be associated with a
new one
Teachers should know how to motivate
their students to learn
Most of the emotional responses can
be learned through classical
conditioning
Generalization explains the transfer of
E.L Thorndike- trial & error theory

 According to Thorndike, all learning takes place

because of formation of bond or connection
between stimulus and response
 He further says that learning takes place through
a process of approximation and correction.
 A person makes a number of trials, some
responses do not give satisfaction to the individual
but he goes on making further trials until he gets
satisfactory responses.
 Thorndike's connectionism is typically referred
to as a behaviorist theory, it differs from
classical conditioning in two major ways.
 First,Thorndike was interested in mental
processes, and he designed his first
experiments to address the thought processes
of animals.
 Second, instead of reflex or involuntary
reactions, Thorndike researched voluntary or
self-directed behaviors
 Laws of Learning
1. Law of Readiness
 refers to the fact that learning takes place only
when the learner is prepared to learn.
 mental preparation for action.
 Learning failures are the result of forcing the
learner to learn when he is not ready to learn
something.
 No amount of efforts can make the child learn if
the child is not ready to learn.
 The dictum that ‘you can lead a horse to the
pond but you can’t make it drink water unless it
feels thirsty’ goes very well with this law.

In other words, if the child is ready to learn,
he/she learns more quickly, effectively and
with greater satisfaction than if s/he is not
ready to learn.
first, if there is a preference to act and
people want to do it, they will be satisfied.
In consequence, they will do not act other
behavior, and it will result unsatisfied.
Second, if there is inclination to act, but
people do want to do that, they will replace
with other action to lack of their unsatisfied.
third if there is no tendency to act, but
people are forced to do that, it will result
unsatisfied.
Educational Implications of Law of
Readiness:
The law draws the attention of teacher
to the motivation of the child.
The teacher must consider the psycho-
biological readiness of the students to
ensure successful learning experiences.
 Curriculum / Learning experiences
should be according to the mental level
of maturity of the child.
If this is not so, there will be poor
comprehension and readiness may
evaporate.
 2. Law of Exercise
 learning becomes efficient through practice or
exercise.
 The dictum ‘Practice makes a man perfect’ goes
very well with this law.
 repetition of the experience increases the chances of a
correct response. However, repetition does not enhance
learning
 unless a satisfying state of affairs follows the response
 This law is further split into two parts —
 The law of use means that a connection
between a stimulus and response is strengthened
by its occurrence, its exercise or its use.
 the use of any response strengthens it, and
makes it more prompt, easy and certain.
 the law of disuse, said that when a
modifiable connection is not made between a
stimulus and a response over a length of time,
the strength of that connection is decreased.
 Law of Use; that is connections between
condition and action can be strong if there is
an exercise. Second is The Law of Disue; that
is connections between condition and action
can be weak if the exercise is stopped
Educational Implications
 law of effect is happened to someone's who gives
punishment or reward . However, in education the
thing that can give the reward will be more effective
than a punishment.
Exercise occupies an important place in learning.
Teacher must repeat, give sufficient drill in some
subjects like mathematics, drawing, music or
vocabulary for fixing material in the minds of the
students.
Thorndike later revised this law of exercise and
accordingly it is accepted that practice does bring
improvement in learning but it in itself is not
sufficient.
Always practice must be followed by some reward or
satisfaction to the learner. The learner must be
motivated to learn
  Law of Effect
 state that when a connection between stimulus and
response is accompanied by satisfying state, its strength
is increased.
 On the other hand, when a connection is accompanied by
an annoying state of affairs, its strength is reduced or
weakened.
 The saying ‘nothing succeeds like success’ goes very well
with this law.
 In other words, the responses that produce satisfaction or
comfort for the learner are strengthened and responses
that produce annoyance or discomfort for the learner are
weakened.
 Thorndike revised this law in 1930 and according to this
revision, he stated that reward strengthened the response
but punishment did not always weaken the response.
 Then he placed more emphasis on the reward aspect than
on the punishment aspect of Law of Effect.
Educational Implications
This law signifies the use of reinforcement
or feedback in learning.
This implies that learning trials must be
associated with satisfying consequences.
 The teacher can use rewards to
strengthen certain responses and
punishment to weaken others.
However, the use of reward is more
desirable than the use of punishment in
school learning.
The teacher for motivating the students for
learning situations can exploit the use of
reward.
B.F Skinner- Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning (sometimes referred s
instrumental conditioning) is a method of
learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior.
Through operant conditioning, an association
is made between a behavior and a
consequence for that behavior
Skinner believed that internal thoughts and
motivations could not be used to explain
behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should
look only at the external, observable causes
of human behavior. Skinner used the term
operant to refer to any "active behavior that
Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant
Conditioning, but his work was based on
Thorndike’s law of effect. Skinner introduced
a new term into the Law of Effect -
Reinforcement. Behavior that is reinforced
tends to be repeated (i.e. strengthened);
behavior that is not reinforced tends to die
out-or be extinguished (i.e. weakened).
Skinner identified three types of
responses or operant that can follow
behavior.
Neutral operants: Responses from the
environment that neither increase nor
decrease the probability of a behavior being
repeated.
1. Positive reinforces are favorable events or outcomes that are
presented after the behavior. a response or behavior is
strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise or a
direct reward.
2. Negative reinforces involve the removal of an unfavorable
events or outcomes after the display of a behavior. In these
situations, a response is strengthened by the removal of something
considered unpleasant.
 In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behavior increases.

• Punishment is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome

that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows. Punishment
weakens behavior. There are two kinds of punishment:
1. Positive punishment sometimes referred to as punishment by
application, involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or
outcome in order to weaken the response it follows.
2. Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal,
occurs when a favorable event or outcome is removed after a
behavior occurs. In both of these cases of punishment, the
behavior decreases.
 There are two types of reinforcement schedule. These
are: Continuous reinforcement - reinforcement is
given every time the animal gives the desired response.
 Intermittent reinforcement - reinforcement is given
only part of the times the animal gives the desired
response.
 Partial or intermittent reinforcement schedule can be
classified in to two. These are:
 Ratio reinforcement - a pre-determined proportion of
responses will be reinforced.
Fixed ratio reinforcement - reinforcement is given on
a regular ratio, such as every fifth time the desired
behavior is produced.
Variable (random) ratio reinforcement-
reinforcement is given for a predetermined proportion of
responses, but randomly instead of on a fixed schedule.
 ◦ Interval reinforcement- reinforcement is
given after a predetermined period of time.
◦ Fixed interval reinforcement -
reinforcement is given on a regular
schedule, such as every five minutes.
◦ Variable interval reinforcement -
reinforcement is given after random
amounts of time have passed.
In animal studies, Skinner found that
continuous reinforcement in the early
stages of training seems to increase
the rate of learning. Later, intermittent
reinforcement keeps the response
going longer and slows extinction.
 Contribution of the theory of Operant
Conditioning for the Classroom Instruction
 Operant conditioning can help us solving problems
that we might face in our daily life by focusing on
the formation of habits, breaking bad-habits, etc.
 Accordingly, operant conditioning is applied for
developing motivation to the learners in classroom
condition, reinforcers such as praise, grades, etc.
should be used. This means desired behaviors are
encouraged by reinforcement while undesired
behaviors are punished.
 Thought it may be impossible to reinforce all
desirable behavior, when we decide that a certain
behavior is critical, reinforce immediately i.e. do
not let time elapse. Thus, teachers should be alert
to timing of reinforcement.
Exercise: identify schedule of
reinforcement
1. Piecework is the practice of varying the
worker's pay according to how much the
worker does.
2. In agricultural harvesting, fruit pickers are
usually paid by the box, and so they pick fast
in order to get more money. On some
construction projects, workers are paid
according to how many loads of bricks are
laid, or how many houses are framed. In the
clothing industry, some workers are paid by
how many pieces of clothing are sewn.
3. gambling ,commission sale
4. Imagine that you write a novel, then
send it to a book publisher. It is rejected
by the first publisher, so you send it to
another, and it is rejected there too.
Finally, you try a third publisher, and
this time it is accepted for publication.
You receive a royalty contract, a large
monetary advance, and invitations from
talk shows
5. Daily wage ,monthly salary
6. Fishing, beggar, Getting through on
the phone
Social cognitive approaches to
learning
 Albert Bandura is the main architect of social
cognitive theory.
 states that social and cognitive factors, as well
as behavior, play important roles in learning.
 Cognitive factors might involve the student’s
expectations for success;
 social factors might include students’
observing their parents’ achievement behavior
 He says that when students learn, they can
cognitively represent or transform their
experiences.
Bandura developed a reciprocal
determinism model that consists of three
main factors: behavior, person/cognitive,
and environment
In Bandura’s learning model,
person/cognitive factors play important
roles.
The person/cognitive factor that Bandura
has emphasized the most in recent years
is self-efficacy,
the belief that one can master a
situation and produce positive outcomes.
An individual's belief in his or her
capacity to execute behaviours
necessary to produce specific
performance attainments
Self-efficacy reflects confidence in the
ability to exert control over one's own
motivation, behaviour, and social
environment
For example, a student who has low
self-efficacy might not even try to study
for a test because he doesn’t believe it
will do him any good
A more permanent impression is made on
students not by telling them what to do, but by
setting an example for them.
 Teachers should be models as much as possible
since their behavior can be a powerful
motivating force for student behavior.
 Observation of a model can produce significant
changes in your students’ behavior. Among
these are the following:
(a) an observer may acquire new responses;
(b) observing models may strengthen or weaken
existing responses;
(c) observing models may cue the appearance of
apparently forgotten responses.
There are four major sources of
information available to students
1. Performance accomplishments.
Bandura states that we acquire
personal and effective information
from what we do.
Students learn from first‑hand
experiences how successful they are in
mastering classroom challenges.
. Vicarious experience. This is
Bandura’s expression for watching
“similar others” perform.
If others can perform a task
successfully, students usually feel more
optimistic when they begin.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.
Verbal persuasion. Here Bandura means
that students can be led, through persuasion,
into believing that they can overcome any
difficulties and improve their performance.
If you, as the instructor, are respected and
admired by students, then your suggestions
become a potent influence on your students’
behavior.
 Emotional arousal. stressful situations
constitute a source of personal information.
 If students see themselves as incompetent
and fearful in certain situations and with
certain subjects, then the possibility of that
fearful behavior appearing is improved
Observational learning is learning that
involves acquiring skills, strategies, and
beliefs by observing others.
Processes in Observational Learning
Bandura (1986) describes four key processes
Attention. Before students can produce a
model’s actions, they must attend to what the
model is doing or saying
Retention. To reproduce a model’s actions,
students must code the information and keep
it in memory so that they retrieve it.
Production: to reproduce the model’s
behavior
Motivation
MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING
Motivation is an internal state that arouses us
to action, pushes us in particular directions,
and keeps us engaged in certain activities.
Motivation appears to affect learning and
performance in at least four ways:
◦ Motivation increases an individual’s energy and
activity level
◦ Motivation directs an individual toward certain
goals
◦ Motivation promotes initiation of certain activities
and persistence in those activities.
◦ Motivation affects the learning strategies and
cognitive processes an individual employ (Dweck&
 Types of Motivation

Intrinsic Motivation: Is an internal

force or motive within the individual
which propels him/her into emitting
certain behavior
Extrinsic Motivation: Is the external
or environmental factor, which sets the
individual’s behavior into motion. The
incentive/reinforcer drives an
individual’s behavior towards a goal.
Theories of Motivation

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy and its Application in

the Classroom
a deficit in any one need category will affect
student performance.
Hungry students, for example, usually are not
scholars; their hunger overwhelms all other
concerns.
Similarly, fearful students (for whatever reason)
may find it difficult to concentrate on their studies.
Those students who feel rejected and isolated may
refuse to participate fully in your class activities.
Students and all of us need to feel that we are
worthy of respect, both from ourselves and others,
a respect that is based on actual achievement.
Bruner and Discovery of Learning in
the Classroom
any attempt to improve education
inevitably begins with the motives for
learning
the goal of discovery learning is to have
students use their information in solving
problems in many different circumstances
individuals behave according to their
perceptions of their environment. i.e
students see meaning in knowledge,
skills, and attitudes when they
themselves discover it.
Bruner believed that the most effective
way to develop a coding system is to
discover it rather than being told by the
teacher.
The concept of discovery learning
implies that students construct their own
knowledge for themselves (also known
as a constructivist approach
Bruner noted that knowledge of results
(feedback, reinforcement) is valuable if
it comes when learners compare their
results with what they attempt to
achieve
Classroom Implications of Theory of Motivation

Itis important for the teacher to know

the basic needs of his/her students
When the teacher praises his/her
students for doing well in their study or
assignment, they will be urging to
sustain that effort.
 Transfer of learning
 The ability of the individual to apply the previous
experience on the new related experience
When picking up a new language (like German)
after one has already learned English, similar
words will be learned most easily.
New stimulus (German) Old response (English)
Mann Man
 types of transfer of learning
 Positive Transfer: This is a situation whereby a
previously learnt fact or information aids in the
understanding of a new task. Aside from aiding the
learners in their subsequent learning, it also helps
the learners to learn better and effectively the new
task.
Negative Transfer: This is a type of
learning in which prior experience
imparts negatively on the new one. In
this case, the understanding of past
skills inhibits the mastering of new
ones. For example, if a student wrongly
connects information, it can lead to
negative transfer
Zero Transfer: This type of learning
reveals no link between the previously
learnt task and the recent one. The
evidence of zero transfer is hardly seen,
it reveals no clear positive or negative
Theories of Transfer of Learning
A. Theory of Mental Faculties:
The basic tenet of the theory is that human
mind is sub-divided into different powers of
faculties like memory, judgment, reasoning or
thinking.
each of these faculties is reinforced and
developed by actors and continuous
memorization of poetry/poem and similar
works.
This theory believes that exercises and regular
practice will strengthen the mental faculties.
well-trained and disciplined mind is the
ingredient needed for understanding of
new information.
B. Theory of Identical Elements:
it is possible for an individual to transfer the
prior skills and knowledge to recent ones
because both experiences are identical
(share things in common).
a successful or effective learning will happen
if there are connections or interrelatedness
between the old and the new experiences.
For example, it is expected that a student
who has learnt about anatomical parts of
human being in a Biology lesson, should be
able to do well when he/she is asked to
name anatomical parts of a goat during
Agriculture lesson.
C. Theory of Generalization:
The assumption of the theory is that
general principles aid transfer of
learning better than segregated facts.
This theory believes in Gestalt, an
assertion which views learning from a
whole or complete form rather than in
isolated form.
For example, the theory of
generalization indicates that a learnt
experience should be useful in other
day-to –day related activities.
Classroom Implications of Transfer
of Learning
The teacher should know that transfer of
learning will not take place when both the old
and new are unrelated.
The teacher should provide the
opportunity for his/her students to
practice a subject-matter being
discussed along with him/her.
For a transfer of learning to take place,
the teacher should always emphasize
the relationship that exists between one
subject matter and another
 Memory in learning
Memory is the special ability of our
mind to store when we learn
something to recollect & reproduce it
after some time.
Memory is the complex process
involving learning, retention, recall &
recognition.
The experiences which we undergo,
leaves traces in our minds in the form
of ‘Schemas’.
The length of our retention depends on
 Processes of memory
Memory process is the mental activities we perform to
put information into memory, to keep it and to make use
of it latter.
1. Encoding - It is the process by which information is
initially recorded in a form usable to memory.
It is also the initial perception and registration of
information
2. Storage –Storage is the persistence of information in
memory.
 holding of information for some period of time.
 The process of putting coded information into memory
3. Retrieval - getting information that is in storage into a
form that can be used.
 Recovery of stored information
 Types of Memory
1. Episodic Memory
It deals with episodes or events that
happen in your life or take place in
your presence.
For example, can you remember a
particularly happy birthday and the
presents you received? Or can you
remember the emotions you felt when
you moved house? These memories
are stored as episodic memory.
2. Semantic Memory
It deals with more generalized
knowledge or memory.
Semantics has to do with the meanings
of words or things.
You know that the height of Mount
Everest is 8854 meters, even though it
is doubtful that you have been there.
The fact that 8854 meters is nearly 9
kilometers also means something. You
can remember how to spell
‘psychology’, and you know something
of what the word means.
3. Procedural Memory
procedural memory, sometimes known as
skill memory.
This involves knowledge of how you do
something.
You have both learnt and remembered
these skills in lots of ways.
These memories tend to last a long time.
Your tennis may get quite rusty if you have
not played for some years, but the minute
you pick up a racquet again you will
remember how to hit the ball.
Riding your bicycle is another example of
procedural memory
stages of memory
Sensory Memory/sensory registor
 the entry way to memory
 acts as a holding bin, retaining information until
we can select items for attention from the
stream of stimuli bombarding our senses.
 It gives us a brief time to decide whether
information is extraneous or important large-
capacity storage
 Duration less than 1 second visual sensory
memory), to as long as 2 seconds or more (in
the case of auditory sensory memory
 iconic memory (visual sensory memory) and
 echoic memory (auditory sensory memory).
The type of data is raw, unprocessed
 4.3.2. short term /working memory
 set of processes that we use to hold and
rehearse information that occupies our
current awareness.
 duration of short-term memory is very brief
not more than 30 seconds.
 Storage capacity of working memory is
small: around 7 plus or minus 2 items. Zip
codes, phone numbers,
 We can use chunking to increase
capacity of STM. Chunking is the
organization of items into familiar or
manageable units or chunks.
 There are two types of rehearsal. These are:
maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal.
 Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating the
information in your mind. This type of rehearsal
is useful for retaining something you plan to use
and then forget, like a phone number.
 Elaborative rehearsal involves association the
information; such as trying to remember with
something that we already knows, or with
information from long-term memory
long term memory
Long-term memory (LTM) - is a memory
system used for the relatively permanent
storage of meaningful information.
The capacity of LTM seems to have no
practical limits..
 Forgetting

refer to the apparent loss of information

already encoded and stored in the long-term
memory.
Psychologists have proposed mechanisms to
account for forgetting:
 1. The Decay Theory
The decay theory holds that memory traces or
engram fade with time if they are not
accessed now and then
passage of time causes for
information loss.
 2. Interference theory
Interferencetheory holds that forgetting occurs
because similar items of information interfere
with one another in either storage or retrieval.
The information may get into memory, but it
becomes confused with other information.
Proactive interference - memory retrieval
problem that occurs when older information
prevents or interferes with the retrieval of
newer information.
Retroactive interference - memory retrieval
problem that occurs when newer information
prevents or interferes with the retrieval of
older information.
3. Emotions: Rise in emotions like fear or anger or love
lead to forget the learned experiences e.g. a student
afraid of a teacher may forget what has been learnt.
4. Change of stimulus conditions: we may have
learnt in a specific environment, but we forget in the
changed environment e.g. we can say the speech well
at home but in front of the audience, we are unable to
speak.
5. Poor Health: this prevents us from remembering
learnt material
6. Defective mental state, fatigue, lack of
interest or willingness all lead to forgetting
Motivated Forgetting
Sigmund Freud maintained that people forget
because they block from consciousness those
memories that are too threatening or painful to
live with, and he called this self-protective
process Repression.
Cue Dependent Forgetting
Often when we need to remember, we rely on
retrieval cues, items of information that can
help us find the specific information we‘re
looking for.
When we lack retrieval cues, we may
feel as if we have lost the call number for an entry
in the mind‘s library.
In long-term memory, this type of memory
failure may be the most common type of all.
Factors which helps to minimizing Forgetting or
Factors which help to improve Memory
1. Rate of Learning: It’s a fallacy that rapid learning is
associated with rapid forgetting ‘easy come easy do’.
But the reverse is actually true, in rapid learning
forgetting is slow & when learning is slow forgetting
is rapid.
Thus a slow learner would eventually lose interest in
the subject thus forget the material rather quickly than
a quick learner.
2. Over learning: forgetting is said to be taking place as
soon as we stop learning.
So we must recall immediately after we have learnt &
it must continue after intervals.
Learning must be carried beyond the point where
recall is just barely possible. Over learning, beyond the
point of complete mastery, strengthens the
impressions in the brain.
3. Periodic review: Reviews at frequent intervals
prevent the decay of the learnt data or
information.
4. Kind of Material: easy, simple, meaningful and
logically related materials are easy to retain &
forgotten less rapidly.
 Meaningless materials are forgotten quickly.
 Thus associations make material meaningful &
quick to remember.
5. Intention to Learn: firm determination or strong
will to learn is required to achieve success.
 Same material given to sets of students wherein
one is willing & other is not willing; in such cases
we see that retention was greater in those
students who had a determination to learn.
6. Proper Methods of Learning:
economical method must be chosen
depending on the material to be learnt,
so we chose spaced versus mass or
whole versus part learning.
7. Self-recitation: After reading a lesson a
few times, the student must try to review
the whole thing without the help of a
book.
This method may also be termed as
attempted recall and it makes a more
economical use of one’s study time. It
also helps towards permanent retention.
How can we improve the way we learn?
◦ A will to learn: Learning is better achieved when
there is a drive to learn. Thus without intention
learning is not achieved much.
◦ Use multiple sensory learning: Things are
better remembered when presented through more
than one sense e.g. heard & written on the
blackboard help better retention than only hearing
something
◦ Rehearse and Recite: Rehearsal & recitation are
useful in memorizing thus self-evaluation is
possible and learning can be modified accordingly.
◦ Space your learning: Spacing what we learn or
distributed learning helps better retention learning
as things learnt in small parts is retained longer.
◦ Follow the principle of association: Associating
what we are learning with what we already know
helps in remembering. E.g. A for apple, Z for zebra
etc.
◦ Use Correlation: Topics must not be taught or
learnt in water tight compartments thus correlate
with experiences & related subjects to make
learning interesting.
◦ Grouping & rhythm e.g. multiplication tables and
poems are easy to learn because of grouping &
rhythm. Use of Mnemonics also aids learning.
◦ Whole to Part to whole: Before intensive study, go
through the whole matter, understand it, break it to
parts & then study it whole following the whole to
part to whole method.
◦ Take breaks: Periods of change, rest & sleep helps
remove fatigue & monotony thus fresh mind stores
meaningful experiences for longer time.
◦ Over learn: Over learning helps retention. Review
and revise very often.
◦ Avoid interference of subject similarity:
Interference causes forgetting so similar situations,
subjects, etc. must be spaced out. Complete the
work, do sufficient drill work & then begin the next
learning situation.
◦ Good Environment: Better learning environment
makes learning interesting & vivid by using teaching
aids, adopting new methods and techniques.