Psychological Foundations

of Education

6th topic

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 Focusing Questions

1. In what ways do psychological foundations enable curriculum workers

(teachers, supervisors, and curriculum developers) to perform their
educational responsibilities?
2. How would you compare the three major theoretical schools of learning?
3. How has the view of multiple intelligences influenced the field of
curriculum? How might this concept of intelligence influence the field in the
future?
4. How does constructivism incorporate the most recent views of learning?
5. How should the concept of learning styles influence the thinking of those
responsible for curriculum development and delivery?
6. How should an educator use the information about various types of
thinking?
7. How would you define humanistic learning in schools?
8. In what ways can addressing emotional intelligence be justified in the
curriculum?

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 What is Psychology?
Psychology is the scientific study of mental functions and behavior including:
perception, cognition, behavior, emotion, personality, and interpersonal relationships.

The major theories of learning have been classified into three groups:

1. Behaviorist theories:
• Focuses on stimulus response and reinforcers;
• Studies conditioning, modifying, or shaping behavior through reinforcement and
rewards

2. Cognitive theories:
• Focuses information processing in relation to the total environment
• Studies developmental stages, understanding, multiple forms of intelligence, problem
solving, critical thinking, and creativity.

3. Phenomenological and Humanistic theories:

• Focuses on the whole child, their social, psychological, and cognitive development.
• Studies focus on human needs, attitudes, feelings and self-awareness.

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 Do the major theories agree?
Psychology theories provide insight into understanding
the teaching and learning process:
• What is learning?
• Why do learners respond as they do to teachers efforts?
• What impact does the school and culture have on students
learning?

Psychology theories provide principles and direction for

curriculum developer:
• How should curriculum be organized to enhance learning?
• What is the optimal level of student participation in learning the
curriculums various contents?

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 Behaviorism

Key Players:
1.Thorndike – Connectionism
2.Pavlov (and Watson) – Classical Conditioning
3.Skinner – Operant Conditioning
4.Bandura – Observable Learning and Modeling
5.Gagné – Hierarchical Learning

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 Edward Thorndike
(1874 – 1949)
Father of modern educational psychology &
founder of behavioral psychology
• Started his research with animals using
stimulus-response (classic conditioning) and
developed the idea of Connectionism.
• 1928-Thordike conducted his first major study
with adults.
Connectionism
• Defined learning as a connection or
association of an increasing number of habits.
(More complicated associations means higher
levels of understanding.) "Photo of Edward Thorndike."
[Online image] 1 February 2009.
<http://http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mb

• Three Laws of Learning

radley/psyography/thorndike.html>

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 Three Laws of Learning
1. Law of Readiness
• Often misinterpreted as educational readiness
• Deals with attitudes and focus. “Why should I do this?”
• If nervous system is ready, conduction is satisfying and lack of
conduction is annoying.

2. Law of Exercise
• Strength of connections is proportional to frequency, duration,
and intensity of its occurrence.
• Justifies drill, repetition and review.
• Seen today in behavior modification and basic skill instruction.

3. Law of Effect
• Responses that cause satisfaction strengthen connections and
discomfort weakens connections.
• Justifies use of rewards and punishments, especially Skinner’s
operant model.

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 Thorndike’s Influence
• Thorndike and other followers believed that
rote memorization does not necessarily
strengthen connections.
• There has to be some sort of meaning associated with it
in order to be transferred to other situations.

• Thorndike broke the traditional thinking

about hierarchy of subject matter.
• One subject was no more important to meaningful
learning than another.
• Until then, math and science were seen as more
important to teaching structure.

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 Ivan Pavlov
(1849 – 1936)
• Pavlov was the first to demonstrate
Classical Conditioning.
• He is best known for his experiment with
salivating dogs.
• Classical Conditioning
• Eliciting an unconditioned response by
using previously neutral stimuli.
• Unconditioned stimuli create reflexes that
are not “learned,” but are instinctual.
• Neutral and unconditioned stimuli are "Pavlov's Drooling Dogs." [Online
introduced at the same time. Unconditioned image] 1 February 2009.
<http://http://nobelprize.org/educ
stimuli are gradually removed, and the ational_games/medicine/pavlov/re
admore.html>
neutral stimuli elicit the same reflex.

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 Pavlov’s Dogs
• Pavlov’s experiment with salivating dogs best
demonstrated the principle of Classical Conditioning.

• Dogs were trained to salivate at the sound of a bell.

• Dogs naturally salivated with food. (Unconditioned response)
• A bell (neutral stimuli) was rung every time the dogs were fed
over a period of time creating the association/connection of the
bell with food.
• After time, the dogs salivated at the sound of the bell alone.

• Pavlov’s Dogs Game

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 James Watson
• Watson took Pavlov’s findings to another level.

• Emphasized that learning was observable or

measurable, not cognitive.

• Believed the key to learning was in conditioning a

child from an early age based on Pavlov’s methods.

• Nurture vs. Nature

• Watson’s theories strengthened the argument for the influence
of experiences as opposed to genetics.

vs.

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 B. F. Skinner
(1904 – 1990)
• B.F. Skinner was one of the most
influential American psychologists.
• He began his research with rats at
Harvard and pigeons during WWII.
• His work led to the development of the
Theory of Operant Conditioning.
• The idea that behavior is determined or
influenced by its consequence.
• Respondent vs. Operant behavior Joyce Dopkeen-New York Times.
"B.F. Skinner." [Online image] 1
• Respondent behavior is the elicited February 2009.
<http://http://media-
response tied to a definite stimulus. 2.web.britannica.com/eb-
media/92/110192-004-
AC182B61.jpg>.
• Operant behavior is the emitted response
seemingly unrelated to any specific stimuli.

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 Operant Conditioning
• Types of reinforcers (stimuli)
• Primary – stimuli fulfilling basic human drives such as food and water.
• Secondary – personally important, such as approval of friends or
teachers, winning money, awards, or recognition.
• Secondary reinforcers can become primary. Due to the wide range of
secondary reinforcers, Skinner referred to them as generalized.

• Operant behavior will “extinguish” without reinforcement.

• Positive reinforcer – presenting a reinforcing stimulus.
• Negative reinforcement – removing/withdrawing a stimulus or
reinforcer but it is not punishment.
• Punishment – presenting harmful stimuli (rejected by Skinner because
he felt it interfered with learning)
• “Reinforcers always strengthen behavior.” “Punishment is used to
suppress behavior.”
(B.F. Skinner, “A Brief Survey of Operant Behavior” www.bfskinner.org)

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 Operant Conditioning
• Desired operant behaviors must be reinforced in a timely
manner. Delay of reinforcement hinders performance.

• By selecting which behavior to reinforce, we can direct

the learning process in the classroom.

• Learners can acquire new operants.

• As behavior is shaped, new and more complex concepts can be
introduced and desired behavior again reinforced.

“Education is what survives

when what has been
learned has been forgotten”
B.F. Skinner

"Skinner Box." [Online image] 1 February 2009.

<http://http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonde
r.co.uk/skinner%20box.jpg>.

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 Albert Bandura
• Bandura contributed to the understanding of learning
through observation and modeling.
• He showed that aggressive behavior can be learned from
watching adults fighting, violent cartoons or even violent
video games. Passive behavior can also be learned from
watching adults with subdued
• Repeated demonstration and modeling is used by coaches
in various sports, military endeavors, and is also used in
the classroom setting to model and practice desired
behaviors.

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 Robert Gagné
(1916 – 2002)
• Gagné’s Hierarchy of Learning notes the
transition from behaviorism to cognitive
psychology.
• The Hierarchy of Learning is an
arrangement of 8 behaviors ranging from
simple to complex.
• The first 5 behaviors are Behaviorist, the next 2
are both behaviorist and cognitive and the last
(highest form) is cognitive. "Photo of Robert Gagne."
[Online image] 1 February 2009.
• The hierarchy suggests a “bottom-up” approach <http://http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Ar
ticles/gagnesevents/index.htm>.
to learning where general principles/concepts
must be learned before advanced learning can
take place.

• He also describes 5 observable and

measurable learning outcomes

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Gagné’s Hierarchy of Learning
Behavioral
1. Signal Learning:
Classical Conditioning - Response to a signal

Behavioral
2. Stimulus-Response:
Operant Conditioning – Response to given stimulus

3. Motor Chains: Behavioral

Linking two or more stimulus response connections to

form a more complex skill

Behavioral
4. Verbal Association:
Linking two or more words or ideas

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 Gagné’s Hierarchy of Learning (Cont.)
Behavioral
5. Multiple Discriminations:
Responding in different ways to different items in a set

Behavioral - Cognitive
6. Concepts:
reacting to stimuli in an abstract way

Behavioral - Cognitive
7. Rules:
Chaining two or more stimulus situations or concepts

8. Problem Solving Cognitive – higher order

Combining known rules/principles into new situations

to solve a problem

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 Robert Gagné (Cont.)
• Five Learning Outcomes (observable and measurable)
1. Intellectual Skills
• “knowing how” to organize and use verbal and mathematical symbols,
concepts and rules to solve a problem.
2. Information
• “knowing what” – knowledge and facts
3. Cognitive Strategies
• “learning strategies” needed to process information
4. Motor skills
• Ability to coordinate movements
5. Attitudes.
• Feelings and emotions developed from positive and negative experiences.

• Mental operations needed for each outcome differ.

• Gagné’s Instructional Events lead into cognitive psychology.

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Cognitive Psychology

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 Background
Replaced behaviorism as dominant philosophy in
1960’s
1. Criticisms of Behaviorism:
Did not explain:
• language learning
• why people respond differently to the same stimulus
• reinforcement can reduce motivation
*Have you observed this effect?

2. Popularity of newly discovered theories of Piaget

and Vygotsky in the 50’s and 60’s

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 Beginning Mental Model

Schools of Thought

Cognitive
Behaviorism
Psychology

Skinner, Pavlov Piaget, Vygotsky

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 Working Mental Model
Bandura- bridge/transition

learning is social by observation, modeling, imitation

Environment Behavior

Spectrum
Behaviorism Cognitive Psychology
Pavlov Skinner Bandura Vygotsky Piaget

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 Basic Characteristics

• Focus on how individuals

process information

• Emphasis on memory
(storage, retrieval, types)

Chunking can aide

working memory,
which is limited

Successful learners
transfer information to
long term memory -
“infinite” in capacity
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/r/mrs331/cognitivism.htm

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 Behaviorism vs. Cognitive
Attribute Behaviorism Cognitive
Theory

Behaviors The end in Evidence

themselves- the pointing to brain
only observable activity- learning
truth

Activation of Irrelevant Essential

Prior
Knowledge

Teachers role Provide stimulus Prepare

environment

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 Maria Montessori
(1870 - 1952)
Rationale for including her:

• Authors do not place her with

progressive child- centered approaches-
lack of “free play” vs. freedom within
structure

• Opposed behaviorist focus on only

“doing” but focused also on looking and
listening

• Focus on how sensory stimulation from

the environment shapes thinking

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 Montessori’s Legacy
What she did:
• Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome- taught “difficult”
children to read at a normal level
• 1906 asked to start a progressive school for slum children of
Italy- Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House)

Why she was important:

•Pioneer of child advocacy- for

exceptional children, low SES children

*Discuss Tyler & Taba’s Traditional vs.

Progressive study (1920- 30%HS)

*Modern Irony- expense of

Montessori school
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 Jean Piaget
1896 - 1980
• Swiss psychologist (Pestalozzi)
• America noticed in the 50’s and 60’s
• Text reminds us that his theories are not fact,
and should be taken as “suggestive”
• Influenced: Tyler, Taba, Bruner, Kohlburg
•Tyler- various assessment
and MANY MORE!!!
•Taba-Too many facts, not enough
connections

•Bruner-stages like Piaget, but are

revisited to develop in complexity

•Kohlburg- moral stages

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 Piaget- Cognitive development stages
Formal
*How would you describe operations
abstract reasoning? begins
@ 11-15
abstract thinker
Concrete operations
(ages 7 to 11)
begins to think abstractly,
needs physical, concrete examples

Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 4)

Needs concrete interactions (no abstract)
use of symbols (pictures, words) to communicate

Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 years old)

learning by movement and sensory exploration

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 Piaget
• Like Gagne , stages described as hierarchal
• Learning involves:
• assimilation (filing info
in an existing schema)
• accommodation (changing
schemata to fit new info)
Schema theory explains:
• importance of accessing prior knowledge
• why cognitive dissonance strategies work

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 Lev Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
• Russian psychologist
• The West published in 1962
• theory of sociocultural development
• Culture requires skilled tool use (language, art,
counting systems)
• The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): distance
between a student’s performance with help and
performance independently.
• learning occurred in this zone

*Q-Is the idea of scaffolding one of building on existing

knowledge or providing assistance in the ZPD?

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 Piaget vs. Vygotsky
Piaget Vygotsky

Emphasis Discrete Modeling and

hierarchal stages guided learning
of the individual
Which comes development social learning
first: social
learning
(chicken) or
development
(egg)?
* Discuss examples: Toilet
learning, attention span

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 Constructivism
• Some include this as a separate theory,
other include it inside of cognitive theories

What is learning?
• Individual must construct own knowledge- make
meaning
• Learner must reshape words- mimicking is not
enough.
• Learners must make knowledge personally
relevant

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 Constructivism
• How does learning take place?
• New information is linked to prior knowledge, so mental
representations are subjective for each learner
• Learning is optimal when there is awareness of the process-
metacognition

“A common misunderstanding regarding constructivism is that

instructors should never tell students anything directly but, instead,
should always allow them to construct knowledge for themselves.
This is actually confusing a theory of pedagogy (teaching) with a
theory of knowing. Constructivism assumes that all knowledge is
constructed from the learner’s previous knowledge, regardless of how
one is taught. Thus, even listening to a lecture involves active
attempts to construct new knowledge.”

Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2009, January). Constructivism at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved January 24th, 2009 from
http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html

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