Unit 4: Learner-Centered Psychological Principles

A. Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

1. Nature of the Learning Process Learning is an active and gradual process where students build
knowledge over time. It is most effective when learners are engaged and involved in their own
learning.
2. Goals of the Learning Process The main goal of learning is to help students understand and
apply knowledge in real-life situations, rather than simply memorizing information.
3. Construction of Knowledge Learners construct knowledge by connecting new ideas to what
they already know, forming their own understanding through experiences and interactions.
4. Strategic Thinking Learning involves using specific strategies to solve problems, organize
information, and enhance understanding. Strategic thinking helps learners improve their ability to
achieve their goals.
5. Thinking About Thinking (Metacognition) Metacognition involves reflecting on how one
learns. It helps learners assess their own strategies and make necessary adjustments to improve
their learning process.
6. Context of Learning The context, including the environment, culture, and experiences, plays a
significant role in how learners acquire and retain knowledge.

B. Motivational and Affective Factors

7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning
What and how much is learned in influence by the learners' motivation. Motivation to learn,
in turn, is influenced by the individuals' emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of
thinking.
• The rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals, and expectations for success or failure
can enhance or interfere with the learner's quality of thinking and information processing.
• Students' beliefs about themselves as learners and the nature of learning have a marked
influence on motivation. Motivational and emotional factors also influence both the quality
of thinking and information processing as well as an individual's motivation to learn.
 • Positive emotions, such as curiosity, generally enhance motivation and facilitate learning
and performance. Mild anxiety can also enhance learning and performance by focusing the
learner's attention on a particular task. However, intense negative emotions (e.g., anxiety,
panic, rage, insecurity) and related thoughts (e.g. worrying about competence, ruminating
about failure, fearing punishment, ridicule, or stigmatizing labels) generally detract from
motivation, interfere with learning, and contribute to low performance.
8. Intrinsic motivation to learn
The learner's creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to
motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty,
relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
• Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major indicators of the
learners' intrinsic motivation to learn, which 1s in large part a function of meeting basic
needs to be competent and to exercise personal control.
• Intrinsic motivation is facilitated on tasks that learners perceive as interesting and
personally relevant and meaningful, appropriate in complexity and difficulty to the learners
abilities, and on which they believe they can succeed.
• Intrinsic motivation is also facilitated on tasks that are comparable to real-world situations
and meet needs for choice and control
• Educators can encourage and support learners' natural curiosity and motivation to learn by
attending to individual differences in learners perceptions of optimal novelty and difficulty,
relevance and personal choice and control.
9. Effects of motivation on effort
Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided
practice. Without learners' motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely
without coercion.
• Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The acquisition of complex
knowledge and skills demands the investment of considerable learner energy and strategic
effort, along with persistence over time.
• Educators need to be concerned with facilitating motivation by strategies that enhance
learner effort and commitment to learning and to achieving high standards of
comprehension and understanding.
• Effective strategies include purposeful learning activities, guided by practices that enhance
positive emotions and intrinsic motivation to learn, and methods that increase learners
perceptions that a task is interesting and personally relevant.
C. Developmental and Social Factors
10. Developmental Influences on learning as individuals develop, here are different opportunities
and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential development within and
across physical, intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account.
Individuals learn best when material is appropriate to their developmental level and is presented
in an enjoyable and interesting way.
• Individual development varies across intellectual, social, emotional, and physical domains,
achievement in different instructional domains may also vary.
• Overemphasis on one type of developmental readiness - such as reading readiness - may
prelude learners from demonstrating that they are capable in other areas of performance.
• The cognitive, emotional, and social development of individual learners, and how they
interpret life experiences are affected by prior schooling, home, culture and community
factors.
• Early and continuing parental involvement in schooling, and the quality of language
interactions and two-way communications between adults and children can influence these
developmental areas.
• Awareness and understanding of developmental differences among children with and
without emotional, physical, or intellectual disabilities, can facilitate the creation of
optimal learning contexts.
• Intellectual, social, emotional and physical domains
• Macro Skills
• Prior or past experiences
• Early and continuing parental
• Awareness and understanding of development differences among children.

11. Social Influence

Influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others.
Learning with Others Positive Relationships
Collaborative Learning Overcoming Challenges
Diverse Environments Safe and Encouraging Spaces
Gaining Perspectives
D. Individual Differences in Learning
Every student learns in their own unique way, and understanding these differences is
important for teaching effectively. The idea behind learner-centered principles is to focus on the
needs and abilities of each student to help them learn better.
1. Different Learning Styles Some students learn better by seeing pictures or videos,
others by listening, and some by doing hands-on activities.
2. Strengths and Skills Students have different levels of knowledge and skills. Some are
good at solving problems, while others might be creative or practical thinkers.
3. Motivation and Background Knowledge Students are motivated by different things.
Some enjoy learning because they are curious, while others work hard for rewards like good grades
or praise. Students also come with different experiences or knowledge.
4. Culture and Background Where students come from and their culture influence how
they learn. For example, some students may prefer group activities, while others may like working
on their own.
5. Feelings and Confidence Students learn best when they feel confident and supported.
Stress, fear, or low self-esteem can make learning harder.

Conclusion: By understanding that every student is different, teachers can help everyone learn in
a way that works best for them. This makes learning more enjoyable and gives every student a fair
chance to succeed.