THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

OEP 101: Educational Psychology

Dr. Vincent I. Lema

Department of Psychology and Special Education

ADVANCE COPY
Content
Title Page
Introduction 3
Lecture One Introduction to Psychology 8
Lecture Two Educational Psychology and Teaching 17
Lecture Three Research in Educational Psychology 25
Lecture Four Development of the Child 33
Lecture Five Learning Theories and Learning 58
Lecture Six Motivation and Learning 76
Lecture Seven Cognitive processes in Learning:
Memory Formation and Retrieval 92
Lecture Eight Thinking Skills and Problem Solving 105
Lecture Nine Individual Variation and Needs 119
Lecture Ten Exceptional Learners 133
Lecture Eleven Assessment of Learning 148
Lecture Twelve Managing Classroom Processes 169
References 190

Introduction
This is one of significant courses of students aspiring to become professional teachers. The
Educational Psychology course of the Open University of Tanzania aims at explaining the various
aspects of students as individuals or as a group in respect of their learning processes. These aspects
include cognitive, physical and psychosocial development of students, their differences, theories of
learning and their influences on different perspectives of learning and consequently classroom
teaching processes.

Objectives of the Course

At the end of the course the student should able to:
 Recognize types of learning and in their applications;
 Interpret and analyse research studies;
 Identify the various characteristics of students in secondary schools;
 Give guidance to students on learning;
 List and identify characteristics of a competent teacher;
 Demonstrate skills of measuring and evaluating teaching/learning processes.

Learning Outcomes
After taking this course you will be able to:
 Meet the prerequisite of OUT degrees in Education;
 Describe the meaning of Educational Psychology and its relationship with General
Psychology and other branches of psychology;
 Give constructive critiques on Educational Psychology studies and articles;
 Explain how students‟ behaviors change in respect of their physical, cognitive and
psychosocial development;
 Define learning and describe the key principles in different theories that explain learning;
 Describe the cognitive process in relation to memory formation and retrieval, thinking
skills and problem solving;
 Define motivation and explain its role in learning;
  Identify differences among students and describe how to accommodate these variations in
our education system for effective student learning;
 Facilitate effective student learning through appropriate classroom management skills;
 Construct and administer learning assessment instruments;
 Give consultations to students on effective learning strategies;
 Give consultations to other teachers on effective teaching strategies.

Course overview and expectations

Lecture One is an Introduction to Psychology which gives the definition of psychology, narrates
history of psychology briefly and describes main components of the subject matter. You are
expected to read General Psychology textbooks and use the material as a building block to
embarking on using scientific approach in studying behaviour. Lecture Two focuses on general
overview of Educational Psychology subject matter and its scope. Main actors in the establishment
of Educational Psychology as an independent specialization within Psychology are identified, the
description of its objectives is provided, and the key principles and theories that guide teaching are
described. In Lecture Three we will have a summary of how Research in Educational Psychology
is carried out, the main tools of collecting data, data analysis and the means of interpreting
research results.

Lecture Four looks at the influences of Development of the Child in terms of how their behaviour
and reasoning changes overtime and how these changes effect on students‟ learning and classroom
teaching. In Lecture Five the focus is on Learning Theories and Learning by demonstrating the
basic principles of different psychological perspectives of learning and knowledge construction. It
further gives explanations of how the perspectives can be used in the classroom. Lecture Six
defines human motivation, its basic components and identifies its role in learning.

Lecture Seven describes the cognitive processes in learning, specifically focusing on memory
formation and retrieval as basis for knowledge acquisition from the environment and its
significance on classroom learning. Knowledge gained in lecture seven is used in Lecture Eight to
explain human thinking skills and problem solving strategies applied in addressing challenges
related to classroom learning and application of knowledge in students‟ daily encounters.
Lecture Nine describes individual variation and needs in terms of students‟ variations in
intelligence, learning skills and personality; and how these factors influence students learning in
school. In Lecture Ten we look at exceptional learners i.e. students with disabilities and the gifted
ones since they have special needs that need to be addressed for them to learn effectively in our
school system.

Lecture Eleven explains assessment of learning by describing characteristics of good standardized

and self-made teacher assessment techniques and tools. Lastly, Lecture Twelve describes
managing classroom processes by demonstrating strategies for creating classroom atmosphere that
is conducive for effective learning, and explains how to effectively deal with misbehaviour in the
classroom.

Characteristics of effective teacher

From the beginning it is wise to have the characteristics of an effective teacher so that as you go
through this study material you will be creating a profile of what is expected of you as a teacher.
Teaching involves shaping students‟ behaviour while learning and their future lives. So, you will
have a direct great influence on the lives of the children you will be teaching and the state of the
whole nation. Your personality as a whole is significant in the teaching profession.

There are so many components of personality that form an effective teacher. Below are some of
the traits of successful teacher as described by Beth Lewis (retrieved 2011, About.com Guide):

1. Successful teachers hold high expectations from their students and they don’t accept
anything less.

2. They think creatively. The best teachers think outside the box, outside the classroom, and
outside the norm.
3. Top teachers are versatile and sensitive. The best teachers live outside of their own needs and
remain sensitive to the needs of others, including students, parents, colleagues, and the community.

4. They are curious, confident, and evolving. The best teachers renew their energy by learning
new ideas from younger teachers, and they aren't threatened by new ways of doing things in
school.

5. They are imperfectly human. The most effective educators bring their entire selves to the job.
They celebrate student successes, show compassion for struggling parents, tell stories from their
own lives, laugh at their mistakes, share their unique quirks, and aren't afraid to be imperfectly
human in front of their students.

6. Successful teachers emphasize the fun in learning and in life. The teachers I admire most
create lighthearted fun out of serious learning. They aren't afraid to be silly because they can snap
the students back into attention at will - with just a stern look or a change in tone of voice.

Assessment
The assessment of the course is as required by the regulations of the Open University of Tanzania.

Study skills
This study material is used as a tool of studying Educational Psychology through distance learning
mode. Its material in the field of Educational psychology is very limited in scope and depth, thus
you are required to search for more information and recommendation from different sources. To
grasp the material you also need to implement the study skills as directed to you in form of
symbols in each lecture. Bear in mind that assessment will strongly be based on the knowledge that
you have comprehensively followed the study instructions in this manual.

In the study material you will encounter a number of symbols that guide you to means of
comprehending the material. Please do not ignore them.
Meaning of symbols

This symbol appears with each list of objectives. At the

beginning of each lecture there is a set of objectives,
which tell you what you should be able to do once you
have completed the lecture.

This symbol tells you that you should take note.

Throughout the unit, when you are asked to remember
something important, you will see this symbol. It is also
meant to emphasize an idea or a concept. You should
write the point down.

This symbol tells you that this is an activity. An activity

helps you to find out if you have understood what you
? have just read in the lecture. An activity may ask you
relate what you have read real life situation, or lead you
to think about what is coming in the next paragraph.

This symbol tells you that the text you read is a summary
of a section, lecture or any portion of the unit.

Some activities may take the form of self-tests. Self-tests

are practice exercise which enable you to test how well
you have understood the content of a section. Make sure
you try the entire question in each self-test. Be honest
with yourself so that you can find out what you know
 and what you don‟t know. The answers may be found at
the end of the unit or through reading the text.

This is the symbol which you will find beside a list of

books for further reading. You should try to obtain and
read as many books as possible in the suggested list of
essential and recommended reading.

LECTURE ONE
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the world of psychology. This course is on Educational Psychology. However,
knowledge on General Psychology is a prerequisite of understanding the specialized field of
Educational Psychology. As you know general psychology is a course of its own. This lecture is
just going to give a broad view of the field of psychology so that you can embark on Educational
Psychology more comfortably.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

 i. Define psychology;
ii. Describe the main objectives of psychology;
iii. Narrate a brief history of psychology;
iv. Describe the main branches of psychology.

1.2 DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY

In short, the subject matter of psychology is behaviour and mental processes. But there are other
many fields including political science, religion, astrology, witchcraft, fortune telling, literature,
economics, law and sociology (just to mention a few) that deal with human behaviours.
Psychology is different from these other fields since it uses scientific approaches in studying
behaviour and mental processes. So, psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental
processes.

Scientific approach is based on empirical evidence that is obtained objectively and can be verified.
Also there is use of measurements. Psychology tries to use scientific approach in understanding the
nature behaviour and the functioning of mental processes. Explanations of behaviour based on
scientific approach are more credible than those based on mere speculations. Some of questions
related to education addressed by psychology include how do children learn? Why do student
differ in performance? What are best approaches of controlling classroom? How can we reduce
aggressive behaviours in our schools? Other disciplines like medicine, business, health, industries
and vocations have questions that are also addressed by psychology.

All human activities have some relations to the field of psychology.

The above questions imply behaviour is a very broad concept. Some behaviours are manifested
externally and can be observed directly e.g. walking, singing, writing, and climbing a tree.
However, some of behaviors are internal and can only be inferred e.g. thinking, being happy and
hating an object. As you will soon see in the definition the concept “study” is also very broad as it
includes describing, understanding, and predicting behaviour.

1.3 MAIN AREAS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Human behaviour is very broad with many components that are affected by many variables. So as
to manage to understand the content of psychology, it is divided broadly into four main areas,
namely physical, cognitive, emotions and the environment.

Physical aspect is the body of the individual i.e. muscles, skeleton, glands and sensory systems.
This implies that biological processes have influence on our behaviour e.g. hunger makes us to
look for food and eat (behaviour); females can bear children while males cannot, and writing
involves coordination of eyes and muscles in the arm.

The area of cognitive in psychology focuses on mental activities that include memory, thinking,
problem solving and language. (You know that brain is part of the physical body, thus there is a
connection between body and cognitive processes). Cognitive component is responsible for the
understanding of us and the environment, which results in capabilities and behaviours that we use
to manipulate environment for development.

Emotions are the feelings that we have as our reaction to an object or event. These feelings can
either be pleasant or unpleasant. Pleasant feelings include being happy, falling in love, laughing;
and unpleasant feelings include being angry, sad, fear and happiness. Emotions make us human
(different from machines and innate objects), and colour our lives (happy in a ceremony and sad
when we lose a loved one) and affect our behaviour (in form of reacting and acting on our
emotions). There is a direct connection between emotions and the brain, and between emotions and
the physical body.

The environment (physical environment) has effect on our behaviour in that it provides us with the
necessities to survive (air, food and water), it limits or enhances our behaviours and potentials
(think of learning environment). People around us (social environment) have direct influence on us
for they take care of the young ones (who cannot look for food or fend off negative elements in the
environment, babies cannot survive without the support of the caregivers); on the language we
acquire and in shaping our behaviours through socialization processes.

These major areas of studying psychology are interrelated and do not act in isolation of the others.
For example, the environment affects us (emotionally, mentally, physiologically, socially and
behaviour wise) and we also have some influence on the environment be it physical or social.
When we see food we like we salivate, decide to approach the vendor, buy the food, and then
enjoy while eating it. Such an act is simple and yet complex as it affects the life of the vendor,
food processing, production of food and impact on the environment. These areas also indicate that
psychology is also related to other disciplines such as biology, sociology, economics, education,
environmental science, anthropology, medicine and geography. However, you must be aware of
the boundaries between psychology and the other fields.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY

This subtopic is an elaboration of the term „study‟ in the definition of psychology. There are four
objectives of studying psychology, namely to describe behaviour, understand behaviour, predict
behaviour and to control behaviour.
 Describe: the first objective of psychology is to describe how behaviour occurs.
 Understand: the second objective is to determine the causes of behaviour.
 Predict: after describing and understand the causes of behavior we are able to predict how
one will behave under certain conditions.
 Control: the forth objective of psychology is to influence the behaviour of individuals.

As a teacher you like to know what Bahati is doing and how is doing it (describe); then know why
is s/he acting like that (cause); will s/he do the same in the future (predict)?; and finally what can
be done to maintain/eliminate the behaviour (control).

Use the above sequence of psychology objectives to explain about a behavior of a

 person you know.

1.5 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Issues relating to human behaviour have been of concern to human beings since the beginning of
history. For a long time people have tried to address the mind –body problem, and yet they have
not come up with a complete satisfactory answer. Matters relating to behaviour have been a subject
matter in theology and philosophy (refer to the books of religion and writings of philosophers such
as Plato and Socrates).

Psychology as an independent field started in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt established a laboratory
(read scientific approach) at Leipzig to study the structure of the mind (a subject matter of
psychology). He wanted to find the basic elements of thinking, consciousness and other mental
functions. Before then most of these issues related to behaviour had been based on speculation. So,
the psychology is acknowledged to have been started in that year because of the use of scientific
method to describe a psychological phenomenon.

Now we let us look at different perspectives that underpin the history of psychology. These
theoretical perspectives indicate the way psychologists have explained the subject matter of
psychology over the time. The perspectives have been influenced by the way people explain their
experiences based on the realities of that period. So, each perspective has been influenced by the
previous perspectives and they in turn influence the future perspectives. Each perspective has
contributed in psychology and consequently better understanding of human development.
However, it is worth noting that no single perspective in psychology can explain all aspects of
human behaviour. In this lecture we are only briefly mentioning some of these perspectives. Their
impact on education will be discussed later in more details in the relevant lectures.

1.5.1. Structuralism
The first school of thought in psychology is called structuralism. Wilhelm Wundt (1932-1920) was
trying to find the basic elements that form conscious sensations, feelings and images. He was
influenced by the advances in physical sciences of time (the identification of atoms in physics and
cells in biology). His main method of obtaining these elements was called introspection i.e. self
observation. He trained his assistants to report verbally what they were sensing when presented
with an object. For example, an assistant will hold a banana and report what he experienced in
term of his sensation. The main limitation of introspection was lack of objectively in that results
could not be independently verified. The trained persons on introspection frequently gave
conflicting sensations on the same object leading to misunderstandings among themselves.

1.5.2 Functionalism
This school of thought was formed in USA by William James who was influenced by Charles
Darwin‟s concept of natural selection i.e. survival for the fittest. He believed that psychology
should investigate the functions or purposes of consciousness and not the structure of
consciousness as advocated by Wundt. The interest was on how peoples‟ behaviour functions to
adopt the demands of the real world around them. Based on this perspective John Dewey
developed the first school of psychology and the best ways of meeting educational needs of
children.

1.5.3 Psychodynamic
The major force under this perspective was a physician called Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). He
was born in Vienna and later on moved to USA. His theory is based on the observations he made
when treating people with psychological disorders. He relied on interpretations he made on the
meanings of the dreams, fears and thoughts of his clients. He postulated that there is interplay
between mental processes and behaviour, thus the concept psychodynamics. He asserted that most
of our actions are controlled by our minds as result of the way we unconsciously think, feel and
wish. Thus, the unconsciousness component of us has more influence on us than the consciousness
component. Sometimes there is a conflict between the motives of our feelings, thoughts and wishes
leading into a conflict within us. He believed that these conflicts have no physical basis but have a
strong impact on the way we live. The main contribution of this perspective is the
acknowledgment of the importance of childhood experiences on the quality of life in later years;
and the role of psychology in treating people with psychological problems through therapy.

Search the following psychoanalysis concepts in psychology textbooks: id, super ego
? and ego.

1.5.4. Behaviourism
This school of thought originated in the USA and was a modification of functionalism. The
behaviorists believe that one cannot objectively observe and verify processes that take place in the
mind of a person. They rejected introspection and other methods used in psychoanalysis as not
being truly scientific. Instead they proposed that psychology should only focus on observable
behavior and the environmental conditions that have influence on how human beings behave. The
methods of research in psychology should be the same as those used in other sciences. B.F.
Skinner (1904 –1990) is the best known behaviorist who observed that behaviour of an organism can
be controlled by the manipulation of the environment. Behaviorists insist that behaviour is
controlled by its consequences. If behaviour is followed by reinforcement then it will be repeated
under the same conditions. However, if it is followed by punishment the likelihood of it
reoccurring under the same conditions decreases. Behaviourism was the major force in psychology
between 1950 and 1970 and was adapted in approaches of learning and teaching. The main
limitation of behaviorism was that it ignored mental processes which are also very important in
influencing behaviour.

1.5.5 Cognitive Perspective

Gestalt
Gestalt is a German word meaning “whole” or “pattern”. This perspective was postulated by three
Germans who had immigrated to USA. For them human behaviour cannot solely be explained by
behaviour alone or reduced into single elements as explained by the behaviorists. They were also
against the notion that humans are passive to the environment. They believed that humans are
rather active in gaining experiences from the environment. Gestalt psychologists put more
emphasis on mental processes i.e. how we organize sensory information into meaningful state
through perception, memory and thinking. Based on a number of experiments they proposed that
brain automatically organizes sensory information into meaningful wholes.

Gestalt perspective can be considered as one of the foundation of cognitive perspective. Currently,
more psychologists hold the cognitive perspective rather than the behavioral perspective.
Cognitive psychologists hold that psychology should also include memory systems that have
influence on how sensory information is received, processed, stored and retrieved or forgotten.
Also they believe that traits related to mental functions such as emotions, memories, motivation
and beliefs have effects on our behaviours and learning. It is safe to say that this perspective has
been influenced by the development of computers.

Gestalt portend that “The whole is different from the sum of parts.

Cognitive perspective
This perspective has evolved from structuralism and believes that most of human behaviour is
rooted in the mind. They focus on people‟s understanding of the world i.e. how they think,
understand and think about the world around them.

1.6 BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY

As the psychology has being growing it has created many areas of specialization within the field.
There are several branches of psychology. However in this lecture we are only going to focus on a
few that are closely related to education.

1.6.1. Developmental Psychology studies the changes that occur as humans grow and develop. It
describes how human body changes and how we adapt in these changes. For example, at
which level of development do children recognize themselves, what is the sequence
 involved in walking and what do adolescence do in response to the physiological changes
(puberty) occurring at this stage? Also developmental psychology describes cognitive and
psychosocial changes of individual. It looks on aspects in the environment that have effect
on the individual as s/he grows. Do children become aggressive or westernized because of
watching television?
1.6.2. Social Psychology looks at the interaction of the individual and the society i.e. how
individual‟s behaviour is affected by social factors. Topics under this area include
socialization process, prejudice, peer pressure, mob justice and the way people view
themselves and others.
1.6.3. Cognitive Psychology. “Cognition” stems from the Latin word meaning "to know".
Cognitive psychology investigates aspects of human cognition i.e. all our mental abilities
and processes including perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, reasoning, and
understanding. It studies how people acquire and apply knowledge or information. It is
closely related to other cognitive science and it is influenced by artificial intelligence,
computer science, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, biology, physics, and
neuroscience.
1.6.4. School Psychology is a branch that applies principles of psychology to the diagnosis and
treatment of children's and adolescents' behavioural and learning problems. School
psychologists carry out psychological and psycho educational assessment; counseling; and
consultation; and also in the ethical, legal and administrative codes in the teaching
profession.
1.6.5. Experimental Psychology is interested in using controlled experiments to study
psychological processes. It looks at the human mental processes and behaviour using
scientific method, research, experimentation and statistics.
1.6.6. Counseling Psychology focuses on providing psychological therapy to individuals
experiencing normal emotional, social, vocational, educational and developmental
problems. Counseling psychologists are trained to have a variety of counseling skills.
1.6.7. Clinical psychology is devoted to understanding and finding treatment to people
experiencing serious emotional, mental and behaviour disorders such as depression, anxiety
disorders and psychotic disorders. Clinical psychologists specialize in a few areas of the
disorders and work in clinical setting.

Make a list of the above branches, then observe students in a school and relate your
observations to each of these branches.
?

In this lecture we have defined psychology and identified the main objectives of
studying psychology. We also looked briefly at the history of psychology by focusing
on different perspective since psychology became an independent discipline in 1879
when scientific approach was used on try to understand a psychological issue. The
last part was on some of branches in psychology related to the field of education.

Any textbook of General Psychology.

Based on several books make a list of the primary topics in psychology and then

? relate each to specific component of learning/teaching process.

In your words elaborate the summary then go through the lecture to verify your

? accuracy.
 LECTURE TWO
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHING (DEFINITION AND HISTORY)

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous lecture we had a brief overview of the subject matter of psychology. The last part
was on different branches of psychology. One branch not purposively mentioned is Educational
Psychology. This whole course is on this branch and I know you are ready and looking forward to
engaging yourself in this area of specialization not only for the sake of passing your exams (which
is very nice) but also for developing skills that you will apply as an effective teacher.

You can teach without taking Educational Psychology. However, to be an effective

teacher and to enjoy teaching you must take this course very seriously.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Define Educational Psychology.
ii. Narrate a brief history of Educational Psychology.
iii. State the main objectives of Educational Psychology.
2.2 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?
In the previous lecture we saw that psychology is a scientific study of behaviour and mental
processes with several branches. Educational psychology is the branch that focuses on
development of effective teaching techniques and assessing learners‟ aptitudes and progress in
learning process. It uses psychological knowledge to understand learning and teaching in
educational. It incorporates and applies knowledge gained from other areas of psychology e.g.
theories of human development are used by educational psychology to know how students develop
and learn; and to understand the characteristics of learners at various stages; cognitive psychology
when referring to reasoning and problem solving; school psychology in determining students‟
abilities and the best ways and conditions necessary for individuals to realize their full potential.
Knowledge from disciplines outside psychology contributes to educational psychology e.g.
findings in neurosciences help us to understand how the brain works in relation to learning. Also
research findings in educational psychology contribute to wide field of psychology and education
in general e.g. in creating educational policies and developing curriculum based on characteristics
of the learners.

Through this course you will find that the main factors on human learning settings are among the
topics of educational psychology. These aspects include instructional design and application,
curriculum development, special education, classroom management, use of technology in teaching
and assessment of learners and their performance.

Go through the school curriculum and make a list of items that are directly related
to Educational Psychology.
?

2.3 OBJECTIVES (FUNCTIONS) OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

In the previous lecture the first two objectives of psychology are to describe and understand
behaviour. So, in educational psychology we want to describe and understand the nature and
principles of learning. What is involved in the learning process? How do we learning at different
stages of development? Which are the factors that enhance/hinder learning? Educational
psychology aims at answering these kinds of questions by research.

Based on the knowledge gained above, educational psychology aims at designing strategies for
guiding learners in learning. Students possess learning abilities and skills. Educational psychology
guides students to use their existing skills more effectively and/or develop new skills.

Among the major responsibilities of a teacher is teaching. Some people have a notion that teaching
is easy. The opposite is true; teaching is a very complex exercise. As expected, educational
psychology provides teachers with methods and specific skills of teaching. These methods and
skills are based on the outcomes of research findings and facilitate learning. Students do, and can
learn alone. However, to meet the state educational goals learners need teachers with effective
teaching skills.

Every learner in the classroom is unique. So, there are individual variations among learner in one
single classroom, including learners being in different developmental stages (cognitively,
physically, socially and emotionally), with different abilities, temperaments and learning skills. To
master these variations educational psychology provides the teacher with the skills to identify
individual learner processes and traits. An effective teacher creates a learning environment in the
classroom that caters for the individual variation so that each learner is motivated to realize his/her
full potentials.

The environment has great effect on learning process. Teachers can use the environment to
enhance learning. Educational psychology trains teachers to identify and control these external
factors. The external factors include the immediate environment and conditions, teaching materials
available, research findings and new teaching skills; and technological advances.

You might be interested to become educational psychologist. To be one you need to have a
graduate degree in educational psychology (it has many courses). Educational psychologist work
as consultants, teach at universities and conduct research on cognitive, social processes of human
development, learning and education. So, this course does not make one to be an educational
psychologist but it motivates you to strive to be one.

I believe that if you meet the requirements of Educational Psychology, develop the teaching skills
and apply them in learning settings you will be motivated to be an effective teacher who tackles
teaching challenges with confidence and great satisfaction. And who is an effective teacher?
Several books on educational psychology (Elliot et al. 2000; Santrock, 2004) point out that for one
to be an effective teacher s/he must master the following concepts and perceptions (all included in
this course):

2.3.1. Subject matter knowledge:

This refers to having a conceptual understanding of the subject you teach. You must work hard not
only to acquire the knowledge of your subject, but also to be able to organize this knowledge and
be in position to include knowledge from related disciplines. Just knowing the facts is not enough.
Too little knowledge leads to teacher‟s lack of confidence in the classroom. Remember that you
don‟t have to teach all what you know since you may cause harm to the class! Material presented
in the class should relate to the students‟ abilities and the syllabus.

2.3.2 Knowledge of students.

You must know your students. It‟s very difficult to deal with individuals whom you don‟t know.
As you spend time with them learn about them as a group, and as well as each student as a unique
being. They bring different background to class. Know about their physical, cognitive and
psychosocial development. You will come into contact with exceptional students needing special
attention and approach in teaching.

2.3.3 Learning process.

This is specifically a significant component in the field of educational psychology. Knowing your
students includes having knowledge on how they learn i.e. skills and strategies students use to get
new knowledge. Understanding this component is an asset in designing your teaching strategies as
they have to be compatible with learning processes of the respective students.

2.3.4 Instructional strategies.

Instructional strategies are more than just imparting knowledge to students on the false assumption
that they are passive in the classroom. Most effective instructional strategies lead students to
develop skills of being reflective, thinking critically and in exploring their environment.
Instructional strategies, therefore, should make each student learn efficiently. You have to set
appropriate goals for teaching your students and organize a plan for achieving them.

2.3.5 Motivational skills.

Even with the best instructional strategies some of the times students will face obstacles in their
learning processes. Learning is natural phenomenon but in school it can be discouraged or
undermined by several elements (both within and/or external to the student). To be an effective
teacher you must deploy conditions that will lead to students developing self motivation i.e. eager
to learn and staying on the task for personal satisfaction rather than pleasing others.

There is no point of having policy of compulsory education or attending school if a

student is not interested in learning.

2.3.6 Classroom management skills.

A classroom environment is composed of many individuals and factors that have a bearing on the
teaching/learning process. One of the most important responsibilities of a teacher is to create and
maintain an environment in the classroom that is conducive to learning i.e. keeping students
engaged on the intended task. You will need to have strategies of organizing your students for
effective learning and have in place a mechanism of preventing problems. Chaos or lack of
organisation is detrimental to optimal learning.

2.3.7 Assessment strategies.

A teacher needs to know if his/her students are successful or not in their learning. This can be
realized if the teacher is able to develop or obtain appropriate instruments, make accurate
assessments and interpretations of the measurements. Assessment enables one to determine the
performance and needs of the students leading to making correct decisions and actions that will
improve the performance of each student.

2.3.8 Technological skills.

This is an era of information technology and for one to function effectively s/he needs to be
competent in technological skills. These skills will assist you to access knowledge and integrate
technology in your teaching strategies. Also you will be in a position to make students use
technology in their learning.

List the above concepts, then observe teachers in one the schools teaching and from
? the observations identify components that relate to each of the concepts.

HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

In the previous lecture we had a brief history of psychology. In this part we look specifically at the
history of educational psychology. H. Ebbinghaus, a Germany, in 1885 was the first person to do a
scientific study on memory which is related to learning process. However, educational psychology
as an independent field started just before the beginning of 20th century in America. Here we are
going to have an overview of important actors in the development of the field since later on in the
course we will discuss their approaches deeply.

William James (1842-1910) published a book and gave lectures on the application of psychology
in educating children. For research, he emphasized the use of direct observation in the real
classroom learning/teaching conditions rather than in laboratories.
John Dewey (1859-1952) was a major figure on practical application of psychology. He shaped the
field of psychology by establishing the first educational psychology laboratory in USA. His major
contribution was the view that a child is an active learner rather than the then held belief that
children are passive learners. Also he emphasized that the role of the teacher should be to train
students on how to think and adapt to the conditions outside the classroom. He was influential in
making all children get competent education regardless of their gender, socio-economic
background or ethnicity.

Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949) emphasized the use of scientific approach in educational

psychology. He initiated the use of assessment and measurements in learning. B.F. Skinner built
on the ideas of Thorndike. However, he insisted that the subject matter of psychology should not
include mental processes but should only focus on the observable behaviours. This is termed as
behavioral perspective. Skinner‟s approach determined the best conditions for learning to take
place. The teacher uses a rewarding system that improves student behavior or performance. He
developed the concept of programmed learning in which a learner is reinforced in each step that
leads to the intended goal.

Benjamin Bloom (1956) created the taxonomy of cognitive skills that indicated the goals of
educators on learners. The cognitive skills he identified are and in the following order starting
from the lowest level to the highest: remembering, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis
and evaluation.

In the 1980s the educational psychologists focused on the cognitive aspects of human learning
advocated by Dewey and James but ignored by Skinner and fellow behaviorists. They researched
on and applied the concepts of cognitive psychology including memory, thinking, reasoning and
perception on the premise that they are significant on how information is received and processed.
Currently educational psychology includes out of school aspects that have influence on learners
e.g. the role of culture in education. Also it is focusing on theories of self-regulating learning and
metacognition i.e. cognition about cognition or knowing about knowing.

2.5 CONTRIBUTIONS OF OTHER FIELDS AND THEORIES

When discussing about general psychology we noted a number of contributions from other
disciplines to the field. Likewise, developments in other branches of psychology have influence on
Educational Psychology and vice versa. A good example is that developments in Educational
Psychology are being used in the area of Special Education. Findings in Information,
Communication and Technology (ICT) are shedding knowledge on how human brains process
information. Also advancements in ICT are being incorporated in conducting studies in
Educational Psychology and as a tool in learning/teaching processes in our classrooms.

SUMMARY
This has been a brief description of Educational Psychology and its history as an
independent profession in the field of Psychology. Most importantly, the lecture
identified the list of the main concepts in Educational Psychology that you have to
develop to become a competent teacher.

NOTE
The content in this lecture is very significant in forming the correct concepts and
perceptions of Educational Psychology.

ACTIVITY
Take a piece of paper and list down what you expect to gain from this course of
Educational Psychology. Put the paper in safekeeping and revisit it at the end of this

? course.

REFERENCES
 Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA

EXERCISE

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to

? verify your accurateness.

LECTURE THREE
RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION
We saw in the previous lectures that psychology is field based on scientific approaches. So, it is
expected that before we go into further in the sphere of Educational Psychology we look at
methods used to determine its content and thereafter, application in the learning/teaching
processes.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Explain the importance of research;
ii. Define descriptive research;
iii. Describe and identify single-case study;
iv. Describe correlation study;
v. Describe and identify the components of laboratory
experiments;
vi. Describe and identify randomized field experiments;
vii. Describe action research.

3.2 WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH?

Scientific research is based not on the phenomenon being investigated but by the way the
investigation is carried out. Scientific approach is objective, systematic and verifiable. It is
objective since it is based on the observable and/or on measurable aspects. Educational
psychologists do not accept resolutions that might be biased, based on personal beliefs, opinions,
speculation or experience alone. Verifiability is founded on the premise that someone else can
crosscheck the findings by repeating the same research. Thus, scientific approach is based on
empirical evidence.

Scientific approach is systematic since it has laid down procedures of carrying out an investigation.
The main stages of conducting a research in Educational Psychology are:

3.2.1 Conceptualizing the problem

The first thing is to identify a problem that is researchable i.e. research problem. A problem is any
issue that can be answered by doing a research. Some of the things we may like to study cannot be
explained through scientific approach. Scientific methods cannot be applied in finding the
existence of God, or God‟s relationship with student‟s academic performance. Research problem
can be a result of personal experiences in one‟s professional field (e.g. teaching/learning
experiences in school settings) or developed from the findings of other researches (normally
research findings raise new questions that need to be answered through scientific methods). A
research problem may be finding why most students from area „A‟ are dropping out of school and
performance of most of those remaining in school is low. When formulating the research problem
one has to draw from theories and other materials related to phenomenon under investigation. This
knowledge gained shows what is going on the area of research and also is used to formulate the
hypothesis. Hypothesis is a statement indicating the relationship of the variables of the research
and indicating the expected results of the study. Hypothesis of the above research problem my be
“Students of parents with secondary education in area “A” are more likely to complete schools
than students whose parents have only primary school education”. Variables are the elements in
the hypothesis. In the above hypothesis the variables are “parents with secondary education”,
“parents with primary school education” and “completing school”. So, the main activity in this
stage is to identify and clarify the research problem.

3.2.2 Data Collection

This stage involves determining instruments and mechanisms of obtain information needed in
solving the research problem. In this step, information gathered is used to test the hypothesis. The
hypothesis is not determined as correct or incorrect, but if it is rejected or accepted on the data
obtained. There are several ways of collecting data that are to be discussed in the following
section.

3.2.3 Conclusions
The raw data collected is processed through statistical procedures so that results can be analyzed
and interpretations made. Statistical analysis determines if the results happened by chance or are
the results of conditions created or that observed by the researcher. The results are used to make
conclusions that indicate the application of findings in respective situations.
 Identify five issues in the field of education that you can use to develop a research

? problem.

3.3 MAJOR RESEARCH METHODS

In this part we look at the major basic methods used to collect data. As mentioned above the
information gained here is used to test the hypothesis. The method used in a study is determined by
the nature of research i.e. the problem being investigated.

There are two major types of research methodology in Educational Psychology, namely
quantitative methods and qualitative methods. In quantitative approaches measurements and test
scores are used. Variables in the research are quantified and statistical methods are applied for the
interpretation of the data.

In educational settings qualitative approaches are used to study theoretical variables that can only
be inferred and are difficult to quantify. This method can be used to describe events, processes,
motivation, attitudes and personal experiences. For example, a participant might be directed to
narrate his feelings under specific conditions and then his/her explanation is recorded and
analyzed.

Below is a description some of methods used to collect research data:

3.3.1 Descriptive Study.

This type of qualitative study determines the current status of the behavior in the research problem.
The main aim is to understand and describe the way things are. So, the researcher is collecting data
to test hypothesis. Descriptive study is used to get the attitudes, opinions, and the occurrences of
behaviour among students.

One mean of collecting data in descriptive study is through observation. Natural observation is
systematic observation and recording data (thus scientific) in a natural setting while the researcher
is detached from the activities of the group under study. This can either be observing students and
teachers in the classroom, cafeteria or in the playing field. In Participant observation the
researcher (Observer) is actively engaged in the activities of the group of the study. So the
observer is both part of the group and is also involved in recording the data.

Another method in descriptive is Survey research, it involves selecting a number of people

(sample) to collect data that represents the views, opinions, attitudes and/or beliefs of a population.
Data can be collected by asking questions through questionnaires and/or conducting interviews.
Due to technological advancements these instruments can be administered either by face-to-face or
through e-mail and/or phones.

3.3.2 Single Case Study

This study is based on investigating one single individual or specific event. It used when an
opportunity avails itself for a study that could not otherwise be done due to ethical or practical
reasons. We cannot inject students with addictive drugs to study their levels of aggressions against
others. However we can observe the levels of aggression of students who are discovered to be drug
addicts. The findings of case study can help us to come up with some understanding of a
phenomenon. However, since the results cannot be analyzed statistically, their interpretations
cannot be generalized to other people.

3.3.3 Correlational study

This study determines the relationship between two or more variables that are associated. It
indicates whether there is relationship or not. Statistical approach is used to determine the strength
of the relationship and if it is either positive or negative. The score of relationship lies between the
coefficient of -1 (negative) and +1 (positive). A score close to 0 means there is no relationship
between the variables. There is no relationship between the height of student and his/her test score.
A score close to -1 implies a negative relationship i.e. if one variable increases the other one
decreases and vice versa. A good example is the relationship between test score and number of
wrong answers. If the number of wrong answers increases the test score decrease, when the
number of wrong answers decreases the test score increase. A score close to +1 means a positive
relationship i.e. if one variable increases the other variable also increases. When the number of
correct answers increase also the test score increases.

The strength of the relationship can be used to make predictions. However, finding that there is a
relationship between the variables does not mean there is cause-effect relationship i.e. one cannot
say either of the variables is the cause of the relationship. The number of correct or incorrect test
answers is not the cause of academic performance of a student but rather due to other factors such
as mental ability, study skills or level of difficulty of the test.

3.3.4 Experimental Research

Educational psychologists use experimental research to determine cause-effect relationship
between variables i.e. to find out if a certain variable is the cause of behaviour or condition.
Experimental research is conducted in a laboratory or controlled environment whereby conditions
or factors thought to cause/influence the respective behaviour are carefully manipulated. The factor
that is manipulated is called the independent variable while the behavior being observed or
measured is called the dependent variable. So independent variable is the factor considered to be
influential, cause or has effect on the dependent variable. If the dependent variable changes due to
manipulation of the independent variable then we say there might be cause-effect relationship
between the two variables i.e. independent variable has an influence on the dependent variable.

In many experimental researches two groups of individuals are used i.e. experimental group and
control group. At the beginning of the research both groups are equal in all aspects. Random
sampling is used to form these groups. This technique gives each individual of the study an equal
chance to be selected in either group and eliminates the biases that the researcher may have.
Experimental group is the one manipulated while the control group is treated the same way as the
experimental group with the exception of the manipulated factor. The factor manipulated in the
experimental group is the independent variable while the behavioural outcomes of the two groups
are the dependent variable.

3.3.5 Cross-sectional Research and Longitudinal Research

These are studies that are time span researches i.e. research based on charges related to period of
time. We might be interested to know the characteristics of students at different stages of
development.

There are two main approaches used in time span researches. In cross-sectional research groups of
children based on their age are selected and then the research focuses on the problem area of
interest. The aim is to compare the characteristics of the respective age groups.

In longitudinal research the same group of individuals is investigated over a period of time that is
normally over a year, some last many years e.g. from birth to death. One observes the changes that
take place among the group members during the duration of the study.

3.3.6 Action Research

This is a research carried by a teacher or several teachers, rather than psychologist or research
experts, with the aim of solving a specific problem in the classroom or school. The findings are
used to remedy and improve teaching/learning processes.

In Action Research a teacher uses research procedures to gain skills that help them to deal with
problems or situation that hinder effective learning in their classrooms. So, the teacher has to know
how to formulate question that accurately reflects the problem/situation, to define the terms in the
question, collect data and use analysis processes that yield findings that are valid and reliable.
From the findings the teacher makes strategies for instructional improvement or for addressing the
adverse situation. The implications are that as an effective teacher you are not only going to teach
but also be a researcher in the classroom all the time. In action research you may follow the same
procedures used in the other types of researches to avoid personal biases but have reliable results
that lead to effective line of action.

As an example, a teacher may observe that a certain student in the class is always causing
commotion and that s/he is supported by some other students despite being warned several times.
Firstly, the teacher formulates a question “What makes Bahati to make commotion? The teacher
needs to define commotion. Next, the teacher engages in data collection. The teacher records when
and how many times s/he makes commotion and through interview deduce why s/he makes
commotions. Also s/he may record when and how many times the other students support him/her.
Then next follows the data analysis. The findings from the analysis may reveal that Bahati and
his/her colleagues are not motivated learn the teacher‟s subject. Based on the findings the teachers
makes an action plan on how to make students motivated to learn his/her subject.

Each method of collecting data has its advantages and limitations.

For each of the methods of collecting data mentioned above identify its advantages
and limitations.
?

3.4 Ethics in Research

When conducting a research study (even action research) there are several ethical issues you have
to bear in mind. If these are ignored the processes and the findings of the research might cause
harm to participants; be rejected and/or legal actions taken against the researcher.
 The first precaution is to maintain the wellbeing of the participants. Make sure the
research does not lead to harm of the participants physically, mentally or emotionally.
 Just gain consent from the participants and permission from responsible authorities
before embarking on collecting data. If the participants are too young to make decision
then you are required to seek consent from their parents or teachers.
 In case animals are used in the study make sure they are treated humanely.

Find out about regulations of conducting research in your institution and country.
 Read a number of educational research reports identify if it is either a qualitative or
quantitative study. Also identify the methods of collecting data of the respective
? research.
In this lecture we described objectives of research in the field of educational
psychology. Also we looked at the main components of a research and methods you
used to collect data. You were required to identify strengths and limitations of each
method of collecting data. Please do the activity as it may prove handy one day!
Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill
Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 1

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
? verify your accurateness.

LECTURE FOUR
DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD
4.1 INTRODUCTION
In this lecture we look at students as they grow and develop in relation to learning. Remember that
you need to have knowledge of your students so as to be an effective teacher. How can you teach
students whom you don‟t know? Child development knowledge equips you with the understanding
of your students who are at different stages of development so that you can appropriately teach
them. Also, you may stay with the same students for a long period of time in which some
developmental changes will definitely be occurring. You need to notice these changes and respond
to them accordingly.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

 i. Identify hereditary and environmental factors which underlie learning ability;
ii. Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous theories of development;
iii. Describe the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development of students;
iv. Identify the diversity in the classroom.

4.2 MAIN CONCEPTS

Let‟s start by describing the concepts “grow” and “development” as used in psychology. Both
concepts are based on the fact that during life span individuals are progressing from one stage to a
higher stage. This process and stages are characterized by changes. Grow is used when the changes
are quantitative, i.e. an increase or decrease in numbers. A good example is height and weight of
students. In normal circumstances children‟s height and weight increases (read grow) as they
progress in years. We expect two years old to be shorter and lighter at this age relative to when
they will be in primary school.

Development is used for qualitative changes. These are not directly observable but infer some
changes within the individual have taken place. A good example is language development. At birth
children cannot talk however around two years they begin to speak. Language spoken at the age of
two is qualitatively inferior relative to the language used at four or at ten. The changes manifested
in language don‟t mean that the brain has changed but rather some reorganization has taken place
that account for the differences between the stages.

In this lecture we look at the development of the students in three main areas i.e. physical,
cognitive and psychosocial. These areas develop simultaneously and are, as mentioned before,
interrelated. As you have noticed on the development of students there is quite a variation in rate
of development. In a group of students of the same age and in the same class and all still growing
you find some of them are taller while others are shorter for their age, some heavy and others not
so heavy, some have language that is well advanced for their age while for others their language is
below that of the normal age group. Also, there are developmental variations within the individual
himself/herself. Some may grow fast in terms of weight but more slowly in height. The implication
is that students of the same age are similar in some aspects and different in others.
The periods of child development are classified by psychologists into four periods. Notice that, as
mentioned above, there is variation on the onset and end of the periods. These periods are:
 Infancy: starts from birth to 18 to 24 months. It is characterized by total dependence on the
caregivers at the beginning. During this period a child begins to develop sensorimotor
coordination, walking, language, thinking and learning.
 Early childhood: starts at the end of infancy and extends to 5 or 6 years. Sometimes this is
called preschool period. The child is more self-sufficient and has developed some skills
related to improved sensorimotor coordination.
 Middle to Late childhood: extends from 6 to 11 years. Most of children in this stage are in
primary schools (elementary schools). They have developed self-control and acquire
primary skills of learning i.e. reading, writing and math.
 Adolescence: begins around 11 years and extends to between 18. This is a transitional
period from childhood to adulthood that is characterized by rapid body changes that
includes the development of sexual organs functions. Also individuals in this stage seek
self independence. Most complete primary school at this stage, and most of secondary
school students are in this period.

4.3 ROLE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF

STUDENT
In development there is a constant interaction between nature and environment or nurture. The
nature component involves the biological processes that start at conception i.e. genetic inheritance
formed by the combination of genes of the sperm and those in the ova. The conception processes
has a major role in determining the rate of growth of the body in terms of weight and height; and
the development of brain, motor skills and body changes caused by hormones. Also, there are
some human potential that are genetically programmed, including the learning processes, language
development, and motor coordination.

The environment includes physical and social surroundings. Physical environment is essential for
the survival the individual, his/her development in general and learning process. Some studies have
indicated that children who had severe kwashiorkor experienced learning difficulties later in
schools (Galler, et. al. 1987), and those exposed to lead later on in life experience physiological
problems (Patrick, 2006). In physically stimulating environments children were found to be more
developed language wise than those in less stimulating environment (UNESCO, 1987). Social
environment in form of child‟s relationship with other people has great influence on the socio-
emotional processes of the child i.e. emotional and personality changes of the child.

So, we see that some of the potentials are determined by heredity; and the influence of
environment on heredity either enhances or deters student‟s learning process.

As a teacher, you are part of the environment and your aim is to enhance learning and
the full development of the students‟ abilities, and you need to avoid being source of
deterring learning potential of the students.

4.4 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT DURING CHILDHOOD

We all know that the brain is the major organ of cognitive processes. The brain is divided into
different parts that are involved in different aspects of cognition and learning. Here we only
identify some of the major parts. Before that, bear in mind that we don‟t fully understand how the
brain functions and there are debates going on about the biological bases of learning.

The brain has two halves, called cerebral hemispheres, which are connected by corpus callosum.
The two spheres appear to be identical but there are some differences in their functions. Cerebral
lateralization is the specialization of the functions of each sphere of the brain. The right
hemisphere controls the left side of the body while the left hemisphere controls the right side of the
body. So if you are right handed you are left lateralized, if left handed you are right lateralized. For
most people speech is localized in the left hemisphere. Nonverbal processes such as spatial
perception, visual activities, and emotions are predominantly localized in the right hemisphere.
However, studies show that the brain is more complicated than that since both atmospheres to
some degree are involved in all activities. Complex functions such as logic and creativity involve
both spheres of the brain.

The brain has four lobes. Frontal lobe has functions for motor activities and thinking; temporal
lobe has functions for hearing; parietal lobe has functions for body sensations; and occipital has
functions for vision.

The development of the brain is not fully understood. Neurons, (nerve cells) grow by increasing in
size and in number. A process known as myelination, whereby the neurons are covered by an
insulating material, increases the size of the brain and the speed at which messages travel through
the nervous system (Santrock, 2004). Myelination in the areas related to focus and attention is not
complete until the end of late childhood, explaining why students below this stage have problem
remaining focused on one task for a long time.

In describing cognitive development we will use the theory proposed by Jean Piaget (1896-1980),
a Swiss psychologist. Originally he was trained in the field of biology and philosophy. While
working with the results of IQ tests of children he noticed that young children‟s answers were
qualitatively different from those given by older children. He believed that children are actively
constructing their world as they respond to what they see, touch, or test. For him the way we
human respond to the environment is not learned but an inherit method of intellectual functioning
i.e. a function that is there since birth.

Piaget‟s theory of cognitive development has four major stages. They are major since in each stage
there are sub-stages. However, before looking at them let us define some key concepts of the
theory:
 Schema is a concept or an organized pattern of thoughts or behaviour that form one
organized unit. Riding a bicycle is a scheme (behaviour); picture of a dog or a dog is a
scheme; and teaching is a scheme (a complex one). Schemes help us to organize and make
sense of our world.
  Adaptation is a psychological mechanism used by children to use and adapt schemas in a
new experience. This mechanism has two processes, namely assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation occurs when a child incorporates new knowledge into
existing knowledge i.e. taking in new objects, events, and concepts into the existing
schemas. Accommodation occurs when we are changed by what enters into our mental
structures. So, through assimilation we transform the environment to fit into preexisting
cognitive structures while accommodation changes our cognitive structures in order to
accept something new from the environment.
 Equilibration. Encountering a situation that does fit into our mental structure creates
disequilibrium i.e. a conflict in trying to understand the new situation. The process of
resolving the conflict through assimilation and accommodation is known as equilibration.
 Organization is when we bring together isolated behaviours or ideas into a single more
complex behaviour or concept. This leads to have smooth functioning cognitive system.

The above processes are fundamental on how children understand their world and adapt it in their
mental structures. With this knowledge we now look closely at the four stages of cognitive
development. These stages are in a specific sequence, each indicating children as having a distinct
way of thinking. The differences between the stages are qualitative in nature rather than being
quantitative i.e. differences are not based on “what” or number of ideas a child has but on “how” a
child thinks. So, in the sequence of cognitive development in the following stage the thinking
process is more complex and accurate than in the previous stage. These stages are called
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations.

All children follow the same sequence but at a different rate.

4.4.1 The sensorimotor stage

This extends from birth to 2 years. The term sensorimotor imply that during this stage the child
explores his world by use of sensory experiences such as seeing, hearing and touching. It is by
coordinating these experiences that the child develops the first schemas and it is the basis of the
beginning of cognitive development.

At the beginning of this stage the child‟s responses are through reflex actions i.e. unlearned, innate
reflexes such as sucking anything that touches the mouth or grasping any object that touches the
palm of the hand. Through these reflex actions the child becomes aware of sensations caused by
these actions and uses them to adapt to the world. At this sub-stage, known as primary circular
reaction, most of the deliberately repeated actions involve only the body e.g. sucking (sucking
involves fingers and mouth). Later on, the reactions involve object outside the child
himself/herself (secondary circular reaction) e.g. holding an object (use of hand and the object).
Then they coordinate several actions to achieve something. Between 12 and 18 months a child
starts to experiment with things e.g. deliberately dropping things to see what will happen (Tertiary
circular reaction).

So, it is during this stage that the child forms the first schemas through assimilation and
accommodation in adapting to his/her world. It is the beginning of the organization process.
Development of language (associating sounds with objects or events) is another important aspect
in this stage. Also, they develop the sense of object permanence i.e. objects continue to exist even
when out of sight. Before then children do not look for objects that are removed or obstructed out
of visual field, cannot be seen, heard or touched. The sense of object permanence is very
significant since the child‟s world becomes organized and predictable. Furthermore, in this stage
the child becomes aware that s/he can be the cause of an action. Also, due to development of
mobility the child is able to explore objects that are far and consequently new mental abilities.

In this stage they learn to walk, meaning they gain the ability to access the environment around
them. Before walking they had to depend on others to bring items to them, now they can move
around to the object and explore their surroundings. So in sensorimotor stage children learn
through use of senses, actively exploring their environment.
 Touch the palm of child less than 12 months old and observe his/her reactions.
?

4.4.2 Preoperational stage

The stage extends from 2 to 7 years. According to Piaget operations are actions that we perform
mentally including knowing an object, thinking and manipulating ideas. A good example is when
we compare things mentally to discover their similarities and differences. So, in preoperational
stage the child is not yet able to manipulate things mentally although s/he has started to use
language. In this stage a child‟s mental functioning is mainly characterized with the use of
symbols.

The child gains the mental ability to represent an object that is absent, a demonstration of thinking.
The use of language expands rapidly; they engage in pretending plays whereby an object (let‟s say
a piece of wood) may represent a house, car or person. In the play they assume that the innate
objects are alive and conscious, referred to as animism.

Another characteristic of this stage is egocentrism. This is inability to know and recognize that
other people see objects from their point of view and instead they think that the other person is
seeing the object as s/he is seeing it from his/her position. A child sitting in front of the room
looking at object in the middle of the room thinks that a person looking at the same object from the
back of the room has the same view of the object as himself/herself (the child‟s view). Ever heard
of a child saying that the moon is following him/her? Because of this characteristic child at this age
may need company of other children but normally each engage in his/her own play and
monologue.

Do not waste your energy forcing a child in this age to see things from your point of
 view

Centration refers to child‟s tendency of concentrating and focusing on only one aspect of an object
and disregarding the other aspects although they are important features of the object. Give a child
in this stage a collection of similar objects but with different colours and shapes and tell her/him to
put them in groups. Most likely s/he will form groups by focusing only on the colours of objects
and ignore their shapes. Children in preoperational stage also lack conservation i.e. the ability to
realize that properties of an object remain the same although its shape might change. For adults a
volume of liquid remains the same even when put into a container of different shape or size. Due
to lack of conservation a child thinks that water poured into a narrow container is more than when
it was in broad container. This is caused by irreversibility i.e. the child being unable to reverse
mentally the procedures or his/her thinking.

So we have seen that in preoperational stage children learn by experiencing real objects in their
surroundings. They use symbols and images in constructing knowledge about their world. Children
are egocentric and cannot understand other people‟s point of view.

4.4.3. Concrete Operations stage

This stage extends from 7 to 11 years. In this stage children overcome the limitations of the
preoperational stage by using reasoning that involves concrete operations i.e. they can deal with
real concrete situations but are unable to deal with abstract situations. The child now has
established conservation since s/he can reverse mental actions and take into account several
aspects of the object or event instead of focusing only on one aspect. Egocentric thinking
diminishes too. A child in this stage makes addition by counting real things, mostly fingers. The
problem comes when the sum is more than ten and they are wearing shoes! I think you have seen
children of this age carrying small sticks, or bottle tops in a string to school for making
calculations.
One of the characteristics of this stage is classification i.e. to sort out things from a big group and
put them in sets or categories based on their similarities. Also, they have the ability to know that
an object can be classified into different groups, e.g. one woman at the same time can be a
daughter, mother, sister, wife and grandmother.

In this stage a child can arrange things according to their relative sizes e.g. from shortest to the
tallest or from the smallest to the largest or vice versa. Given ten sticks of different heights they are
now able to arrange from the shortest to the tallest. This is seriation, an ability lacking in the
preoperational stage where children cannot compare more than two objects at the same time. Due
to seriation they can reason about relationships and come up with logical conclusions (transitivity).
They can conclude that object “C” is taller than object “A” upon realization that “B” is taller than
“A”, and “C” is taller than “B”.

Spend some time in lower classrooms in a primary school i.e. standard one and two.
? Make observations of the characteristics of children in preoperational stage.

4.4.4 Formal Operations Stage

This is the fourth and last stage in Piaget‟s cognitive theory. It starts at about 11 and 12 years
(during adolescence). In the previous stage a child is only able to conduct concrete operations by
using real objects. However, in this stage the adolescent demonstrates the ability to think in
abstract, idealistic and logical ways. They solve problems presented to them verbally and they can
express themselves without relying on concrete objects.

One of their characteristics is that they can differentiate the real from the possible, and can think
about the future. They have developed hypothetical-deductive reasoning whereby they think
abstractly in a systematic manner that involves developing hypothesis and means of testing them.
In their plans they gather all possible information and study possible combinations of solving the
problem.
4.5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY TO TEACHERS
 We have to acknowledge Piaget‟s contribution to developmental psychology, especially on
cognitive development. His theory demonstrates that pupils are actively involved in their
learning. This is proven so by the concept adaptation, organization, assimilation,
accommodation and equilibration among others.
 Piaget‟s theory implies that children are mentally qualitatively different from adults and
among themselves, depending on their cognitive stage of development. They are always
adapting to their world, and the environment is also affecting their mental structures. The
role of the teacher is to understand the mental functioning of students and create an
environment that facilitates assimilation and accommodation.
 We need to recognize and understand that children‟s answers are not „wrong‟ or “weird”
but statements indicating the state of their mental functions. Just imaging your reactions to
students‟ answers before being introduced to Piaget‟s theory!
 Much of Piaget‟s theory is based on observation he made on his own three children. We
can observe the mental functions of our own children and students by knowing the
important things to look for. Children‟s drawings, symbolic plays and answers should tell
you something about cognitive level of development and the appropriate tasks to be given
to respective ages. Don‟t take the children‟s responses casually but rather have critical
analysis on them.
 The curriculum and learning tasks for the children should be based on the cognitive
developmental stages of the students. Teaching should make the students move on to the
next stage gradually. According to Huitt (1997) in teaching preoperational pupils, teachers
have to use concrete properties, and visual aids to illustrate lessons; instructions should be
short of using combination of words and actions; give them physical practice with facts and
skills and encouraging them to manipulate objects that can change in shape while
maintaining a constant mass. For those in concrete operations the above suggestions should
be continued, but for children at a higher levels teachers, should include activities requiring
students to deal with more than two variables at once, and also giving them opportunities to
classify and group objects and ideas on increasingly complex level; and present them with
 problems which require logic, analytical thinking to solve. For those beginning to use
formal operations give them an opportunity to explore many hypothetical questions and
always encouraging them to explain how they solve problems.

4.6 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language is significant in the learning process. It is used in storing information in the memory;
communicating between learners and teacher and among learners; and also in demonstrating that
learning has taken place in form of writing, reading and speaking. In short, language is paramount
in teaching and learning processes. Language changes in an individual‟s development have to be
taken into account when dealing with students. Development of language makes it possible for a
child to interact with the people around him/her.

Just what is language? Language is more than verbal communication. All languages have three
main properties, namely semantic, displacement, and productivity. Semantic means the words
represent an object or event, displacement means the words represent objects that are not present
in space and time; productivity implies that language has limited vocabulary but can make an
infinite combination of words to present ideas.

In developing language one also needs to eventually adhere to the following rules:
 Phonology is the system of using sounds to make words. It determines the way sounds are
combined in a sequence that has a specific meaning.
 Syntax refers the way words are combined to make meaningful phrases. In the statement
“the lion ate the zebra” you know who ate who or who was eaten by whom. Rearrangement
of these words makes the statement to have a different meaning or sometimes meaningless.
Have you ever heard of a zebra that ate a lion!
 Pragmatics involves the use of language in a socially correct way i.e. knowing how to
participate in conversation using proper language that takes into consideration the social
context prevailing.
Language development stages
Language development involves acquiring the ability to listen and speak. Before we look on the
stages let‟s discuss a little about environment and language development. Noam Chomsky (1957)
stated that humans are biologically programmed to learn language since all children in all parts of
the world, and although living in different environments, develop in more or less in the same rate
and the sequence or steps involved are the same. He believes language is very complex that
children do not just copy from their parents. It is difficult or impossible to teach children to speak;
they start to speak at a given stage of development. Does this mean that environment has no role
on child‟s language development? The answer is definitely no. Firstly, the language one develops
is that of the care givers (internalizing speech they hear). The quality of language spoken reflects
that of people around the child. The vocabulary of children at the age of three who have been
living in poverty stricken conditions is much lower than that of middle income families (Farkas,
2001). So, language development is a result of inheritance; and environment has a great influence
on the variation of the quality of children‟s language.

Piaget believed that language development is based on the existing cognitive structure of the child
and differs qualitatively in each of the four cognitive stages of development. In the previous
section we saw that language starts to develop in the later part of sensorimotor stage, indicating the
ability to connect sounds and objects; and representation of world in language form. In the
preoperational stage children use egocentric speech i.e. communication is from their point of view,
they can have a monologue and speak to anyone. In the concrete operations stage it is the
beginning of the verbal understanding related to concrete conditions. In the formal operations level
the adolescent‟s language is free from concrete situations and has an ability to express abstract
issues.

Newborn babies use crying and fussing as means of communication i.e. conveying the message
that s/has a need that needs to be attended. Between 3 months and 6 months babbling develops
when the child makes sounds that resemble speech. By age of 12 months they produce sound
patterns that indicate the child has started to associate certain sounds and objects. Between 12 and
18 months first words are spoken referring to specific objects or event. Normally the first words
are nouns that may refer to many objects and actions related, for example the word “mama” in one
situation means presence of mother, in another “mother come”, and while in another setting it
means “where is mother?”

By the end of two years the child‟s vocabulary increase to more than 200 words and uses two-word
combinations, a sign of acquiring morphology rules. In the beginning of third year they use plural,
past tense and some prepositions. The use of rules is not yet perfect since they apply some rules
incorrectly, e.g. by overgeneralization when they say “mama” instead of “lady”. Also in the third
year they can talk about things that are not around in terms of time and space (displacement). Now
they can talk about things that happened before or that are expected in the near future.

Language develops rapidly between 3 years and 11 years. By the age of 6 a child has a vocabulary
of more than 10,000 words. In this period they develop ability to ask questions beginning with
“yes/no” questions.

Loh (2010) has suggested some of the simple ways and methods that help to facilitate language
development in children:
 Reading nursery rhymes helps the child to listen and later understand the flow of language.
 Sing simple songs while using body as a tool of conversation.
 Name different objects and patterns and describe their colours, size, format and shapes.
 Create an environment that has activities which promote communication and language
skills. Ask open ended questions. Use plays to learn series of language skills, both verbal
and nonverbal. Children should be given opportunity to talk about their day
activities/special occasions and describe the actions there are doing.

How many languages can a child learn at the same time? Why do Swahili speak
 Kiswahili and the English speak English?

?
4.7 PSYCHOSOCIAL (SOCIO-EMOTIONAL) DEVELOPMENT
We have looked at the cognitive and language development of students. Now we turn our focus to
psychosocial development. Student‟s learning in school is under the influence of people around
and his/her own emotions. Also, student‟s behaviour is to some degree guided by moral aspects.

The process of internalizing societal values and behaviour acceptable in the individual‟s societal
setting is called socialization. The main agents of the socialization process are parents, siblings,
peers, teachers and the media. To explain the relationship between the student and the agents we
will use Urie Bronfenbrenner‟s theory; and for describing social development we use Erickson‟s
psychosocial theory.

4.7.1 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner‟s (1917-2005) ecological theory is based on the social forces that have
influence on the children‟s life development. Bronfenbrenner acknowledges the existence of five
environmental systems that explain the child‟s interrelation with close people and that with the
wide social environment. This theory is used to study human beings and their environments. We
could ask ourselves a question maybe “Why do students in a certain location perform so badly in
the National Examinations.
Illustration of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

The systems he proposed are:

i. Microsystems include the immediate
environments and the social settings that the child spends most of his/her time. For most
children these settings are their families, neighborhood, schools and childcare centres. It is
in this system the child has many social interactions. In the family the student is influenced
by parents and siblings; in school s/he is influenced by teachers and other students and in
the neighborhood influenced by peers. (Parenting styles and peer influence to be discussed
in later part of this lecture). The child is not only influenced by the settings but s/he is also
an active force in constructing these settings. Recently this theory has been called “Bio-
Ecological Systems Theory” because one‟s biology is considered part of the Microsystems.
ii. Mesosystem refers to the linkage
between the Microsystems. The students make connections between their experiences at
home and the experiences in school; and this to some degree have influence on learning. If
the school gives value and success to hard work and the family has the same expectations
then we can expect a student to perform quite well; but if the teachers and the family do not
value education then we expect the student not to perform well. A child can take church or
mosque experiences to school/home or vice versa.

iii. Exosystem is based on experience of

settings the student is not directly involved with but have some influence on him/her. There
is no direct link between the student and parent‟s work. However, the parent‟s work may
have effect on the experiences of the student, e.g. salary used for fees and other school
materials. For example there is no direct connection between teachers‟ salaries and
students‟ academic performance. In Tanzania there was a time when councils did not pay
teachers on time. Some of the teachers were demoralized or spent days chasing their
salaries and this had influence on the learning process of students. If someone donates
textbooks to a school this may lead to acquisition of more learning materials and hence
better student‟s performance. In both cases the students is not directly involved but s/he
may be affected by the decisions and actions of others.

iv. Macrosystem refers to the broad

culture of the society. Culture includes gender roles, socioeconomic structure, teachers and
students‟ lives, attitudes, ideologies, sports, ethnicity, values and customs. Some societies
do not value sending girls to schools while others deliberately encourage and expect girls to
excel in school. Children from poor families, who are not sure of the next meal, may be
affected by this condition and we will not be surprised if they cannot concentrate on their
learning.

v. Chronosystem is the existing social

and historical conditions of the student. Do you know that many students today in Tanzania
have access to computers while15 years ago there were very few computers in the country?
 The same can be said of television. In addition many secondary school students do not have
to walk for many kilometers to school every day now a day. Before 1980 nobody had ever
heard of HIV /AIDS. All these developments have a bearing on students learning
experiences.

Based on Chronosystem describe the conditions of students in International

secondary schools and those in Ward secondary schools in Tanzania.
?
Bronfenbrenner‟s ecological theory has shown us that social settings have major influence on the
development of the students. It tells us that we should look on different social settings when
determining or want to improve students‟ performance. For example, when considering students‟
performance we have not only to rely on classroom or school conditions but rather we have to
think about and involve the significant others. What‟s the point of a teacher giving homework
when the parents do not value it; or at home parents will not give the student a chance to do
homework?

4.7.2 Erikson’s stages of development

Erik H. Erikson (1902-1994) psychosocial development theory articulates eight stages that human
passes in forming one‟s personality (Erikson, 1950). The theory describes the role of social
environment on the emotional development. In each stage an individual faces challenges and
conflicts that need to be resolved. If these inner and external conflicts are resolved positively a
healthy personality emerges. However, if these conflicts are not successfully resolved they create
crisis that may lead to maladjustment behaviours in the future. This theory helps to acknowledge
that crises manifested in life may have their roots in the earlier stages of development. Also, it can
be applied to guide teachers on the best practices of rearing students for a healthy emotional and
cognitive wellbeing.
The stages of psychosocial development
There are eight stages; however we are only focusing on the first four stages which correspond to
the ages of students in most schools.
i. Trust versus Mistrust (Infants, birth to one year)
This is the first stage and focuses on how the basic needs are met by parents. In the first year of
life all basic needs (food, water and security) are met with the help of parents, and without this
help none will survive. In this stage attachment is established i.e. the emotional bond between
child and parents (especially mother). Children are actively reacting to the social environment
by a process called reciprocal interactions whereby they react in a particular manner. When
you smile at them they normally respond by smiling back and if you are angry to them they
respond accordingly. If parents create a regularly warm, caring and secure environment the
child will develop sense of security and also trust his/her world. If the parents are neglectful or
abusive when meeting the child‟s needs or ignore them, the child will learn to mistrust the
world believing that it is undependable, unreliable, and unpredictable; and a dangerous place
(Wikipedia, retrieved 2010).

ii. Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3years).

In this stage children gain muscular coordination and mobility leading to ability to physically
explore their surroundings. Also, in many cultures children are required to gain self control
through toilet training. If the parents encourage and create safe environment for exploring the
environment, and encourage self-sufficient behaviours in such things as dressing, eating and
washing themselves, the child develops sense of autonomy and confidence that s/he can deal
with many things by himself/herself. On the other hand if parents are very restrictive
(excessive control) or ridicule a child when trying to exercise self-control s/he develops feeling
of being shameful and doubting his/her abilities to control himself/herself and in solving
problems. In this stage the main conflict to the child is whether s/he can do things for
him/herself or s/he must always rely on others.

iii. Initiative versus Guilt (Preschool, 4 to 6 years).

 In this stage the child learns a lot about the world. They are more curious, have mastered some
principles about the world, can count and language skills have advanced a great deal. They try
doing new things and sometimes engage in dangerous behaviour. So, they want to plan, initiate
and engage in purposive actions that if carried out end in child‟s satisfaction. If the child is
encouraged to initiate doing things it develops sense of initiative. If the child is frustrated and
fails to reach the expected goal s/he feels guilty which may lead to the development of
unacceptable behaviours. The main focus is trying to find out if they are good or bad in regard
to the outcome of their actions. The answer to this conflict brings positive or negative emotions
to the child

iv. Industry versus Inferiority (Childhood, 7 to 12 years)

Most of children in this stage are in primary/elementary schools. They gain a lot of new
experiences in the new school environment e.g. in interacting with many more children and
teachers with different experiences. According to Allen and Marotz (2003) children in this
stage have a logical understanding of the concepts of time and space, they gain better
understanding of cause and effect relationship, are eager to learn and accomplish complex
skills such as mastering knowledge and engaging in intellectual skills. Due to spending more
time in school, the school environment and activities are used to prove one‟s competence. If
they are successful they feel being industrious, but if they fail constantly they develop a sense
of being inferior. In this stage a child wants to find out if s/he is successful or worthless.

v. Identity and Role confusion (Adolescence, 13 to 19 years)

Many of the secondary students are in this stage. They also develop sexual identity and are
much more concerned on how they appear before others. This is a transition period of moving
from childhood into adulthood. A student wants to identify his/her roles in the future as an
adult in relation to the many roles and chances available, which initially may lead to confusion.
In this stage they are figuring out who they are (identity) and where they are going in respect to
their future (pondering roles). If they resolve this conflict they develop self identity. If they
don‟t then they may remain confused about themselves and their future roles as adults.
 Based on some aspects of your personality do you agree or disagree with Erikson‟s
psychosocial development theory. Explain your point of view.
?

Based on Eriksson‟s theory Santrock (2004) proposes the following teaching strategies:
 Encouraging initiative in young children. Educational programmes should foster a great
deal of freedom to students to explore their world and in choosing some of the activities
they engage in.
 Promote industry in primary school children. The teacher should capture the students‟
abilities and eagerness to learn by creating a climate that promotes self learning based on
intrinsic motivation. The students should have a feeling that they can accomplish tasks.
 Stimulate identity exploration in adolescence. Teachers should recognize that adolescents
are faced with multidimensional related challenges. Students in this stage should be
encouraged to think independently and should be given freedom to explore different
alternatives available to them. The teacher should also be informed on the availability of
counseling services that can guide students in choosing their careers.

4.8 PARENTING STYLES AND PEERS

Bronfenbrenner‟s Ecological Theory and Erikson‟s psychosocial development theory highlight the
significance of parents‟ and significant others influence on the development of individual‟s
personality. Remember parents, siblings and peers are part of the microsystem.

Children spend most of their early years with families i.e. parents and siblings. Live experiences in
families vary widely. Causes of variation include parenting styles, four of them are described
below (Baumrind, 1971). Parenting style is a psychological term referring to strategies that parents
use in child rearing. Rearing children include amount of time and effort invested on the child.
Styles used evolve over time influencing child‟s personality development.

i. Authoritarian parenting.
In this style parents tell their children exactly what to do. Parents have high expectations of
conformity and compliance to rules they establish, but are less responsive to their children‟s needs.
They are restrictive and use punishment (without reasoning the problem with the child) to enforce
children in the household to follow regulations and directions. Children from such families tend to
have less social competence since they have not been given chance to make their own choices
(ERIC Digests, Retrieved 2010).
i.i Authoritative parenting
This refers to parents who allow their children to operate independently but within some limits on
their actions. They provide the rules and guidance without overbearing the children. The parents
are supportive and verbal communication is used to reason out in making decisions, even when
using punishment (Santrock, 2007). Children reared in such an environment tend to have high self
esteem, are self reliant, socially competent, happy and successful (Van Wagner, 2010).

i.i.i Neglectful parenting

These are parents who neglect their children by not getting involved in their children‟s lives. They
do not care where their children are or what they are doing. They disregard the children, only
focusing on their personal interests. Children raised by such parents tend to exhibit same behaviors
as that of their neglectful parents, lack self-control and motivation to achieve, and are less
competent than their peers (Van Wagner, 2010).

i.v. Indulgent parenting

These are parents who are highly involved in the lives of their children by giving them too much
freedom i.e. very few restrictions if any. They allow children to do whatever they wish, including
responding to all the needs and wishes of the children. In short, the parents want to please their
children at all times. Children from such families grow up developing less self control on their
behaviours since they have not learnt to control their behaviours (Santrock, 2007).

Identify a number of families in your community and determine parenting style in

each of the family. How about starting with your own family?
?

Children want to be in a group of other children. Peers are children of the same age who interact in
same area. Even in the playground children of the same age play together. They play a major role
on the psychosocial development of the child. They interact in the neighborhood and school
through play and classroom activities and consequently share their attitudes and interests.
Although most of their conditions are similar, each has different characteristics and backgrounds
which influence their relationships and interactions. Peers are source of information and a yard
stick of making comparisons among themselves.

Peer relationship can lead to a positive or negative development. A child is under pressure to
conform to the norms of the peer group so as to be accepted, and is always in fear of being rejected
by his/her mates. Positive peer pressure may energize a child to engage in healthy behaviours
while negative peer pressure may lead to engaging in risky behaviours. Some students are
introduced to using drugs (Jenkins, 1996) or participating in unacceptable behaviours such as
bullying weak peers or younger children. On the other hands peer pressure can contribute to
individual‟s learning in school (Johnson, 2000) through study groups and/or encouragement when
facing challenges. I think you know peers who help mates from exacerbating bad situation, and
others who make bad situation even worse.

In any human group each member has a status accorded to him/her by other members. The way a
child is held among peers indicates his/her status. There are four types of peer status:
 Popular children are mostly liked by their peers and normally get nominated as leaders.
 Neglected children are liked by their peers but are unlikely to be nominated as leaders.
  Rejected children are disliked by peers and are unlikely to be nominated as leaders.
 Controversial children are likely to be both seen as a best friend but also as being disliked.

Make a reflection on peer groups you have belonged to when you were young. In each
? group which status were you accorded? Be sincere please!

Santrock (2004) suggests that teachers use the following strategies to improve children‟s social
skills:
 Help rejected students learn to listen to peers and hear what they say instead of trying to
dominate them.
 Help neglected children attract attention from others in positive ways and hold their
attention.
 Provide children low in social skills with knowledge about how to improve these skills.

Read books on appropriate peer relations, make discussions with your fellow students
? and also device supporting activities and games.

Unnamed source (Retrieved 2010) also suggests that parents (I think this applies to the teachers
too) can encourage healthy and positive relationships among peers and showing support by:
 Having a positive relationship with your children‟s/students‟ and their peers.
 Being genuinely interested in your children‟s/students‟ peer activities. This will allow the
teacher to know your children/students and misbehaviour when it occurs.
 Encouraging independent thought and expressions among peers.

4.9 DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

Self is the knowledge one has about himself/herself. Close your eyes and see the picture of
yourself in your imagination. That‟s part of yourself concept. W. Purkey (1988, retrieved 2010)
stated that self-concept refers to the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic systems of
learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his/her personal
existence. So to begin with, self-concept is a cognitive construct that is related to what one thinks
about himself/herself and the perceptions formed. This knowledge is acquired through the use of
the five senses.

Self-concept is multi-dimensional as it includes a number of things such as perception of one‟s

physical appearance, academic capabilities, skills, gender identity and roles, ethnic and religious
identify. Physical perception aspects refer to one‟s looks, height, sex and kind of clothes worn.
Academic self-concepts refer to the level of one‟s performance in school and ability to learn. One
can at the same time have a positive self-concept in some aspect of personality and negative on
others e.g. feeling that one is good in academics but poor in athletics.

Self-concept is dynamic. It is not innate but rather learned; at birth we do not know about
ourselves or have a picture of ourselves. As the child develops cognitively it learns about itself as a
separate entity in the environment and in this process develops self-concept. Self-concept is shaped
through personal reflections on perceived experiences, especially with significant others (Purkey,
1988). Children acquire sense of self at around 18 months. As they develop cognitively they
understand themselves better and by the age of six years they include abstract ideas when
describing about themselves, e.g. being happy or angry.

Self-concept is relatively permanent i.e. long period of time held perceptions that are resistant to
change. This aspect gives consistency to individual‟s personality; otherwise s/he will lack
consistency. Although self-concept is resistant to change, one can learn and modify his/her self-
concept over a period of time (Franken, 1994). The changes are a result of self-reflection based on
his/her interaction with the environment.

An individual can have ideas on his/her future self-concepts, termed “possible selves”. A student
in secondary school can see himself/herself in the future as being a tall handsome/beautiful
married person holding a high position in an institution and having all the best gadgets of the day.
Also the possible selves can be of what one is afraid of being in the future e.g. being drug addict or
failing in life. These possible selves have effect on the current and future behaviour of the
individual. Franken (1994) believes that the self concept is the basis for motivated behaviour that
leads to rise of possible behaviours that in turn create motivation for behaviour.

The evaluative and emotional aspect of self-concept is self-esteem. It is how a person views
himself/herself. A person with high self-esteem regards himself/herself positively and has
confidence. The one with low self-esteem rates himself/herself very low, looks down upon
himself/herself. Periods of low esteem come and go, and their duration varies. However, if the
period persists for a long time it may lead to low achievement, depression and delinquency (Harter,
1999). There is a relationship between self-concept and school achievement (Marsh, 1992;
Hamachek, 1994). However it is not yet clear if self-concept produces school achievement or it is
the school achievement that produces aspects of self-concept.

Contact some adolescents individually and enquire the perception they have on
?possible selves. Don‟t forget to ponder about your possible self!

Based on research findings Santrock (2004) gave the following suggestions to teachers on helping
students improve their self-esteem:
 Identifying the causes of low esteem and the areas of competence important to the self.
 Provide emotional support and social approval.
 Help students to achieve.
 Develop student‟s coping skills.

Springs (2008) suggested the following on improving student self-concept through student
achievement:
 Stimulating motivation by recognizing student accomplishments daily. Show interest in
their academic progress.
 Teacher should involve parents to participate in cultivating student motivation. Parents
should know the importance of instilling positive belief on their children.
 Help students set high goals that relate to motivation and help them to move from
dependency to independence and self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the year help them to
set academic goals and steps necessary to achieve them.

In this lecture we looked at different aspects that have influence on child development
namely role of inheritance, environment, parenting styles, and peer relationships.
Also, mentioned are different areas of development including cognitive, language,
physical and psychosocial. Lastly there are activities that will help you to
conceptualize the content better.
Observe some children of the different ages in your neighborhood and relate their
development to the components of development in relation to the theories used in
? describing child development.
References
Baumrind, Di. (1971).Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental
Psychology Monographs, 4(1, pt 2) 1-103.

ERIC DIGEST. The Role of parents in the Development of peer group Competence.
Eric Digests. http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/parents.htm. Retrieved 2010

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning. McGraw-
Hill Higher Education, New York, USA.

Franken, R. (1994). Human Motivation (3rd Ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole
Publishing Co.

Hamachek, D. (1994). Self-concept and school achievement: Interaction dynamics

and a tool for assessing the self-concept component. Journal of Counseling and
Development,73(4), 419-425.

Harter, S. (1999). The Construction of Self. New York: Guilford.

Hunt, E. (1995). The Role of Intelligence in Modern Society. The American

Scientist.
 Johnson, Kirk A. (2000). The Peer Effect on Academic Achievement among Public
Elementary School Students. Center for Data Analysis Report No. 00-06

Loh, A. (2010). The importance of Learning Language Skills: Part II. Brainy-
Child.com, A Division of Lion Heart Consulting.

Marsh, H. (1992). The Content Specificity of Relations between Academic self-

concept and Achievement: An Extension of the Marsch/Shavelson Model. ERIC
NO ED349315

Ormrod, J. E. (1999). Human learning (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Purkey, W. (1988). An overview of self-concept theory for counselors. ERIC

Clearing House on Counseling and Personnel Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan (An
ERIC/CAPS Digest: ED304630)

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA

Santrock, John W. (2007). A Topical Approach to life-span Development (3rdd

Edition). McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA

Van Wagner, Kendra (2010). Parenting Styles: the Four Styles of Parenting.
About.com Guide. Retrieved in 2010.

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to verify
? your accurateness.
 LECTURE FIVE
LEARNING THEORIES AND TEACHING

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Up to now we have not yet defined “learning”. All of us have been involved in learning since we
were very young. So, although we have some experience on learning, yet it is a difficult concept to
define because the process is not visible. Normally you see (suspect is the right word) a student
learning not the learning process itself. Even within ourselves we do not sense or feel the process
of learning taking place. It is not like swallowing or sensing the outside temperature! Several
psychologists have given different theories/ perspectives on learning and consequently their
implications on instructional design strategies. These theories provide us with framework to
describe learning and suggestions on how to approach teaching (Wikipedia, retrieved Feb. 2010).

OBJECTIVES
 At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
i. Describe Behavioral Theories of Learning;
ii. Explain the Piaget‟s theory;
iii. Describe the Vygotsky theory;
iv. Compare and contrast the different theories of intelligence.

5.2 WHAT IS A THEORY?

According to Dorin, Demmin and Gabel (1990) theories provide general observations on a
phenomenon made over time but the information gained so far has not yet being established
beyond doubt. They are propositions based on logical reasoning describing a construct or process
that is not easily measurable. For a theory to be recognized, lies a collective assumptions of the
existence of the phenomenon; and that it (the theory) has the best explanation of phenomenon and
the respective people are working on it to eventually prove that it is true. Having different theories
in one construct imply different people have different perspectives on the respective construct.

In the field of psychology, Education Psychology included, some theories dominate and impact the
field and related fields for a certain period of time and then they lose their dominance to other
theories seen as more plausible. So, as more information is obtained on these learning theories
they will be modified and in rare cases thrown out. In this lecture we will only focus on a few
theories.

Do not blame me if you find other theories or perspectives describing learning. Also,
do not be surprised that by the time you read this lecture some of theories mentioned
here may have lost their dominance as a result of new theories. Please be conversant
in all of them and apply each appropriately.

5.3 BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES

Several psychologists are associated with the behavioral approaches; among them are Edward
Thorndike, Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, Tolman and B. F. Skinner. The main focus of behaviourism
is that behaviour is learnt through conditioning. Behaviorists believe that learning is expressed by
change in overt behavior; the environment changes behavior; and that the formation of a bond of
things or events depends on the time interval between them.

Conditioning simply means learning demonstrated by observable actions/responses.

Behavioral approaches are two types of the simplest forms of associative learning i.e. learning that
occurs as result of an organism linking two or more items. Our experiences tell us that there are
things or events that occur in a certain succession. Examples include salivating when we see or get
smell of food we like or studying hard leads to a high score in a test, setting of the sun means time
for bed is approaching. These associations make our world predicable as well as
who/what/how/when aspects of behaviours. I think without these associations our world will be in
a chaotic mess.

Behaviorism defines learning as permanent changes of behaviour as a result of experience. The

definition implies there must be a change in observable behaviour to definitely prove that learning
has taken place. Lack of change in behaviour implies learning has not occurred. You know when
you spell a word correctly then you have learned the spelling of that word. On the other hand if
you fail to spell that word correctly it means that learning has not taken place. Also the definition
indicates that in learning the changes in behaviour are a result of interacting with the environment
i.e. behaviour changes are based by forming association of items. Behaviour changes resulting
from fatigue, physical development (maturation) or sickness cannot be related to learning. So, not
all behavioural changes are caused by learning.

Forms of associative learning to be discussed here are classical conditioning and instrumental
conditioning. However it is important to have a glance at Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) who
proposed a theory termed response association theory, also expressed as S→R i.e. the connection
between stimulus and response. The theory states when an organism detects a certain stimulus it
gives a specific response based on previous encounters.

This approach of learning had three laws:

 Law of exercise. It states that the connection between a stimulus and response is
strengthened depending on how frequently they (stimulus and response) are used together.
It implies that if one is continually exercising (read practicing or repeating) the chances of
response following the stimulus are high; however lack of exercise decreases the chance of
responding when a stimulus appears.
 Law of effect. This one states that the strengthening or weakening of the connection
between stimulus and response are the results of the consequences of the response. A
response that is followed by a reward or positive satisfaction increases the connection
between the stimulus and response, on the other hand if the response is followed by
punishment or something aversive the connection between stimulus and response is
undermined. Normally we respond to conditions that bring satisfaction and ignore those
conditions that bring pain.
 Law of readiness. It states that the basis of individual‟s response depends on the extent of
his/her preparedness to act. When someone is ready to perform an acts to do so is
satisfying. When someone is ready to perform an act, not to do so is annoying. When
someone is not ready to perform an act and s/he is forced to do so, it is annoying.
Interference with goal directed behavior causes frustration. Also, causing someone to do
something s/he does not want to do is also frustrating. If a student wants to learn and s/he
gets the chance to learn s/he will get some satisfaction in the act of learning. Preventing
him/her from learning will lead to frustration. If a student does not want to learn and the
teacher does not appear in the class it is satisfying, and if on the contrary the teacher
appears and the student is forced to engage in learning s/he will get annoyed.

Based on your own experiences identify responses that you give as examples of the
? above laws.
5.3.1 Classical conditioning
Classical learning is also known as Pavlovian conditioning. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), a Russian
psychologist was the first person to describe this type of learning based on a number of
experimental studies he conducted on dogs. In these experiments he paired a sound of metronome
(bell) with presentation of food powder. The sound was presented just before supplying or
providing food powder to the dog‟s tongue. After repeating this sequence a number of times he
observed that the dog salivated when the sound of metronome presented alone in the absence of
food powder. The dog had established an association between sound of metronome and food
provision. That is, learning (conditioned) to salivate on just hearing the sound of metronome. In
this case learning had taken place. The dogs did not salivate on hearing the metronome before the
experiment.

This theory is called “Classical” conditioning because of its significance in

psychology.

Pavlov developed terminologies specific to the components of these observations, namely:

 Unconditioned stimulus (US). A stimulus in the environment that biologically makes an
organism to give a specific response. In the above experiments the sight of food naturally
leads an organism (including us humans) to salivate. US is a natural stimulus that is not a
result of learning.
 Conditional stimulus (CS). This is a neutral stimulus that naturally does not produce a
response but after being paired several times with the US produces a response. The
metronome was a neutral stimulus at the beginning that did not make the dogs to salivate
upon hearing it. However the sound eventually, after being paired with food powder several
times, could alone make the dog to salivate. So, CS is a neutral stimulus that after
 conditioning (learning) makes an organism to make a response. Some of us can just
salivate when someone mentions (CS) food we learned to like.
 Unconditional response (UCR). This is an unlearned response produced by UCS. The dog
naturally salivated when food powder was placed on the tongue. We normally salivate
when we taste something delicious. UCR can be counted as reflex action.
 Conditional response (CR). This is a response that is elicited by CS alone. Before pairing
CS and UCS there was no response, but after pairing an organism makes a response on CS
in the absence of UCS. So, UCR and CR are same responses (in the Pavlov‟s experiment
salivating), the difference is that UCR is produced by UCS while CR is produced by CS.

Based on your own experiences, identify 5 UCS; 5 CS and 5 CR/UCR that you
know. Remember unconditional implies natural/unlearned and conditional implies
? learned/acquired.

Characteristics of classical conditioning

For conditioning to occur during the pairing the CS must be several times applied just before the
UCS. It is very difficult (next to impossible) for conditioning to occur if the CS is applied before
UCS. Also if the interval between the CS and UCS is long the organism cannot make the
connection between CS and UCR.

Sequencing classical conditioning based on Pavlov‟s experiment:

1. UCS ―――――――→ UCR
Food Powder
Salivating
2. NS (Neutral ) ―――――――→ No
Response
 Metronome Not
Salivating
3. NS + UCS ―――――――→ UCR
Metronome+ Food Powder Salivating this has to be repeated several times.
4. CS ―――――――→ CR
Metronome Salivating

Based on real life examples of classical conditioning, use the above steps to
illustrate the sequence that led to conditioning.
?
Based on the experiments Pavlov also made the following observations on classical conditioning:
 Extinction: if one stops pairing the CS and UCS, the CR will cease in response to CS. The
dogs stopped to salivate if the bell was presented alone several times in absence of placing
food powder on the dogs tongue.
 Stimulus generalization. CR can occur in presence of stimuli that are similar to the UCS.
The dogs salivated when they had sounds similar to the metronome.
 Stimulus discrimination: an organism can learn to discriminate between the CS and other
stimuli similar to the CS i.e. give CR only to one specific CS. This occurs after
recognizing that only one specific neutral stimulus is accompanied with reward. The dogs
learned to respond only to the metronome and not to other similar sounds.
 Spontaneous recovery (relearning): the extinguished CR can reappear latter if CS is again
paired with the UCS. The time taken to establish the connection during spontaneous
recovery is much shorter than the initial one to establish the conditioning. Also after
spontaneous recovery it takes a shorter time to extinguish CR if the CS is presented alone
in absence of UCS.
 Higher-Order conditioning: once an organism has learned to associate CS and UCS,
another neutral stimulus can be presented at the same with the CS. Eventually the new
stimulus becomes CS that can elicit CR response in absence of the original CS. Pavlov
 paired the sound of metronome and a flash of light. Later on, he observed that the dog
salivated at the flash of light in the absence of the sound of metronome and food powder.

Although Pavlov did the observations on dogs it also true that classical conditioning explains some
of human behaviours. There are several things that we are conditioned to approach or avoid based
on appearing of certain CS (Domjan, 2003). Some of commercials (especially those of foods and
perfumes) make us to produce responses that are pleasant. In one of the most infamous classical
conditioning experiments Watson and Raynor (1920) conditioned a child named Albert to fear
white rats. Before the experiment little Albert was not afraid of the rat. In the experiment a white
rat was paired with a loud sound (threatening to Albert). After several pairing Albert was afraid of
the white rat, he cried on the sight of it. Even 30 days after stopping the experiment Albert cried
whenever he saw a rat and the fear had been generalized to things covered with fur.

Experiments like the one on poor Albert have adverse effects on the individual. Thus,
they are unacceptable and unethical.

The above experiment implies that students in school can acquire fear/liking to neutral things or
events in the classroom or school. The way we teachers respond to students‟ answers or react to
their actions can unintentionally induce fear that can negatively affect learning processes and
consequently academic performance. If the teacher is frequently too harsh to student‟s answers,
that student may be conditioned to fear the teacher and/or his/her subject. Also conditioning can
account for test anxiety (fear of tests and examination) among students. I think you may know
students who miss some classes due to their fear of a teacher or skip school all together because of
fear of failing exams.

Just as students learn to fear neutral things they can also learn not fear the same things through
extinction process. Remember extinction is stopping giving a response to CS. One can learn not to
fear teachers or other objects in school. If the teacher stops being harsh to students‟ responses and
alternatively have positive approach the students will learn anew to have sense of security when
with the teacher or learning the subject. Also it is important to remember that spontaneous
recovery will take place if the teacher resort to his/her previous reactions to students.

Classical conditioning is mostly associated with responses related to reflex actions and
is best for explaining emotions associated neutral objects or events.

5.3.2 Operant conditioning (Instrument conditioning)

The approach of operant conditioning was developed by B.F. Skinner (1904 -1990). He postulated
that psychology should deal with observable behaviour that can be measured (Good and Brophy,
1990) and ignore the processes taking place in the mind i.e. mental processes. In Pavlov‟s
experiment the dog had to wait for someone to introduce the UCS or CS for it to give a response.
In operant conditioning (sometimes called Instrumental conditioning) the organism „operates‟ on
the environment based on the consequences of its actions i.e. deliberately initiating and operating
in a process of responses. The individual and the consequences are instrumental in his/her
behaviour.

Skinner used a special box (called “Skinner Box”) to study the behaviours of some animals
(mostly rats) to demonstrate his theory. (Please read about these experiments in other sources).
Based in these experiments Skinner established the following basic aspects of operant
conditioning:

The sequence of operant conditioning can be illustrated in the following chart:

Stimulus ―――――――→ Response ――――――→ Reinforcement
(Teacher asking a question) student raising hand student being selected to answer
A stimulus indicates when to give a response. In the above illustration students raise hands after
the teacher has asked a question. They raise hands as a response expecting to be selected to
answer. Reinforcement is being selected to answer. Bus approaching is stimulus for us to wave
hand (response) and the bus stops and we board (reinforcement). A stimulus indicates
where/when/how to give a response that will be reinforced. So, a response given before the
stimulus cannot get reinforcement, and for reinforcement to be effective it must be received after
giving a response and not before.

Actions that lead to positive consequences are repeated and those that bring negative consequences
are avoided. Remember that repeating or avoiding are both responses. Positive Reinforcement is a
pleasant or rewarding consequence that follows a response and as result makes it likely for
response to be repeated in future when under the same circumstances. A student will always study
more for a course s/he does well. Negative Reinforcement is consequence that makes a person
escape or avoid painful situation. These responses are likely to be repeated since they remove
unpleasant conditions. A person will repeat taking pills that relief (avoid) headache when s/he gets
a headache in the future.

Reinforcement (either categorized as positive or negative) is any consequence that

increases the probability of response being repeated in the future.

Make a list of ten positive reinforcements and ten positive reinforcements available
? to teachers for using on students in a classroom.

Reponses that do not get reinforcement eventually become extinct. Extinction means an organism
stopping giving a response in presence of stimulus after learning that it will not be reinforced. A
student will stop raising a hand to a teacher whom s/he knows will not select him/her to answer
questions. As teachers we should stop giving reinforcement to students‟ misbehaviour so that these
behaviors become extinct.
Just as in classical conditioning there is stimulus generalization and discrimination in operant
conditioning. Sometimes we give a response to a stimulus that is similar to the one that usually
leads to reinforcement. Waiving to a bus expecting it to stop only to realize after it has passed, that
it is a private bus and not a public one (stimulus generalization). After a while we can differentiate
between public and private buses. So, for a private bus we do not wave, if it is a public bus
(stimulus discrimination) we wave knowing that our response will get reinforcement.

In some occasions it takes time and through trial and error to make an association between
stimulus, response and reinforcement i.e. to establish new behaviour through a process known as
behavioural shaping. Behavioural shaping involves giving reinforcement to responses that lead to
the final required response, and ignoring the other responses, until the individual learns the
association between the stimulus and the desired response. If you are training a child to write you
only give reinforcement to steps (inform of responses) that lead to holding the pen correctly and
making the correct shapes of letters. The child is required to master each step (responses) until the
whole sequence is mastered. The role of the teacher/parent is to give reinforcement to appropriate
responses in each step.

Behavioural shaping is a process that begins with stimulus generalization or trial and
error and then through stimulus discrimination the ultimate response is elicited.

Primary and secondary reinforcers

Reinforcers are objects, events or actions that increase the individual‟s possibility of repeating a
specific behaviour in the future. An object having powers of a reinforcer depends on the person or
organism being reinforced. Money is an effective reinforcer to humans but worth nothing to a dog
and even to a small child. Aspirin is reinforcer to a person with headache but not to a starving one.
As a teacher you must identify things or objects that are effective as reinforcers to students and
sometimes to a specific student.
There are two types of reinforcers, namely primary and secondary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers
are natural things that meet our basic needs such as food, water and shelter. Other things that are
paired with primary reinforcers and eventually get their own reinforcing powers are known as
secondary reinforcers. Money is good example of secondary reinforcers. Many of the reinforcers
in schools are secondary reinforcers. When a secondary reinforcer acquires the properties of a
primary reinforcer it is known as a generalized reinforcer. When we just work to get money just
for the sake of getting rich then money is a generalized reinforcer.
Money is a secondary reinforcer when used to meet our needs; it becomes a
secondary reinforcer when work to get satisfaction in accumulating more of it!

Schedules of reinforcement
From our own experiences we know that not all of our responses are given reinforcement
immediately. Some responses are reinforced immediately while others are not reinforced
immediately i.e. the reinforcement is provided latter. In most cases when we pay cash to the
shopkeeper we get the object we want. However, sometimes we have to go to several shops before
we find the desired object at the right price. Schedules of reinforcement refer to a system that
indicates which response get reinforcement and which will not get reinforcement. In continuous
reinforcement every response is followed by reinforcement. Every time a student gives a correct
answer in the classroom the teacher nods in recognition. In the long run this schedule is not very
effective since some people and organisms stop responding to enjoy the reinforcements that have
been accumulated.

Continuous reinforcement is very effective in establishing new behavioural responses. Once the
intended behavioural response has been established we can now move on to partial reinforcement
schedules i.e. not all responses get reinforcement, but rather just some of them. Partial
reinforcement schedules have been known to be more effective in maintaining an established
response than the continuous reinforcement. Partial reinforcement schedules can be in various
patterns. Here we are going to discuss interval schedules and ratio schedules.
In the interval schedules presentation of reinforcement is based on time factor. In fixed interval
schedules a response is reinforced after a fixed amount of time has elapsed since the last
reinforcement. The time period between reinforcements is constantly the same. An employer can
decided to give reinforcement to his worker after five days of work i.e. paying the worker at the
end of every fifth day. In classroom situation a teacher may be giving a test on the last Monday of
each month (I know you like doing tests!). In variable interval schedules the amount of time that
elapses between the reinforcement varies. The individual (organism) knows that s/he will be given
reinforcement but does not know when. The employer may pay his worker after five days this
time, next payment after seven days and the following payment after four days. A teacher may
decide to give a quiz after five days, then after six days and the next one after three days. Note that
an individual has to give responses to get reinforcement within the respective period of time. The
main limitation of fixed interval is that some people stay idle and only give response just before
the time the reinforcement is expected.

I hope you are not one of the people who only perform their duties close to pay day!

In the ratio schedules presentation of reinforcement is based on number of correct responses one
has to make to get reinforcement. In fixed ratio schedules one is reinforced after making a fixed
number of correct responses since the last reinforcement. An employer can decided to give
reinforcement after his worker has produced a specific number of items e.g. paying the worker
after baking 100 loaves of bread. In classroom environment a teacher only marks student‟s maths
exercise after the student has completed five sums. A variable ratio schedule implies one gets
reinforcement after a set average number of correct responses. These set vary in the number of
correct responses. The first set might be after five responses, the second set after four responses
and the following after six responses. A worker may get reinforcement after baking 100 loaves,
then after baking 200 loaves and then after just baking 75 loaves. In classroom situation a teacher
may mark student‟s work after completing 5 sums, next lesson after 3 sums and the following
lesson after 7 sums.
The effects of type of schedule of reinforcement used differ. Fixed ratio is more effective when
establishing a new behaviour. (Remember that continuous reinforcement is one type of fixed
schedule reinforcement). It is also easily susceptible to extinction. The best schedule for
maintaining behaviour is variable ratio. The individual does not stop giving responses since s/he is
always expecting to get reinforcement after the next response!

For each of the five schedules of reinforcements described above, describe them by
? citing five real life examples for each schedule.

Premark’s principle
I am sure you are aware of this principle although it may sound new to you. This principle was
described by David Premark. Actions that are more desirable to the individual can be used as
reinforcers for less desirable actions. Desirable actions are those done by individual more often and
much longer in terms of time relative to the less desirable ones i.e. desirable actions have high
frequency activity. In life every person has actions that s/he likes more and other actions s/he likes
less. Many children (and adults too) like to watch television and dislike homework (or washing
pots). Premark‟s principle says that watching television can be used as a reinforcer for doing
homework or washing pots. A child is required to complete homework or washing pots before
being allowed to watch television. In schools sometimes students have to complete their class work
before being allowed out to play. (Do you remember your mother telling you to first finish taking
porridge before being allowed to go out to play with others?).

As a teacher it is advisable to identify desirable actions of your students and then make a
reinforcement hierarchy i.e. listing actions of the student with the most desirable action at the top
and ending the least desirable action at the bottom. To obtain the list you can tell students to write
what they like or you can observe them during their spare time. A less desirable action cannot be
used as reinforcer to more desirable actions. Washing pots cannot be used as a reinforcer to doing
homework.

Make a list of activities in the classroom that students like most and those that they
like less. Based on Premark‟s principle describe how you will use the activities for
? effective learning.

Contributions of operant conditioning to education will be discussed in various parts of this course.

5.3.3 Social learning theory

Remember that in behavioural approach learning is largely caused by one‟s environment and that
there must be a behavioural change. Albert Bandura postulated the social learning theory that
opposed the behavioral approach. He believed behavioural perspective was too simplistic to
encompass all that is involved in learning processes. His theory emphasizes the significance of
other people on our learning. We learn by observing other people and the outcome of their
behaviours. If we see a person crying because of being stung by a bug it is enough to learn that a
bug can sting and we should be careful with it. We do not need to be stung personally to learn this.
In school sometimes, punishment (or reward) is applied before other students so that they avoid
actions that led to the punishment (maintaining the rewarding behaviour). We also learn by
imitating other people. Just observe how small children imitate our actions and also develop many
skills by imitating adults. Later they use imitated skills to deal with the demands of the
environment. Also, we learn from other people through modeling i.e. other people‟s behaviour
serves as a guide to us when we are learning that behaviour. We expect children to observe us
writing so that they can perform the same. I think modeling is easier than shaping, for the teacher
and students alike. Learning through symbolic modeling i.e. learning by watching other people on
the television or from reading or listen to stories involving people (is this not one of the main
functions of literature?).
In behavioural approach learning is associated by a permanent behavioural change. Learning by
observation means that sometimes we learn through observation alone without a change in
behaviour occurring.

As a teacher, make sure that you are a model for positive aspects of students‟
development. Plan your actions well for easy imitation by students.

Social learning theory identifies the following factors for effective modeling:
 Attention: the person has to pay attention to the modeling when making observations.
There are several factors that have influence on the amount of attention paid to the model
by a student.
 Retention: one has to retain what s/he has observed (in the memory) and later retrieve it
(remembering) in form of responses. It is important to rehearse our observations for
effective learning.
 Reproduction: based on what is in the memory one must have the ability to reproduce the
behaviour that was demonstrated by the model. Reproduction can be in form of motor
activities (physical activities) or symbolic (images). Sometimes children are unable to
reproduce actions of the model due to level of their physical development.
 Motivation: the individual must have a reason to imitate the model and for demonstrating
what s/he has observed. Getting reinforcement (both positive and negative), and external
factors (promised reward) or internal factors (just pleasing oneself) can be motivating
factors for learning and making a response.

The above factors and social learning theory in general indicate that the environment (especially
the social context) and the cognitive processes are both critical in learning. (Remember that
behaviorists insisted on only focusing on observable behaviours and ignoring mental processes).
The models and some of the motivation are part of the environment while attention, retention and
motivation are part of the cognitive processes. So, social learning theory is seen as the bridge
between behavioral learning theories and cognitive learning theories.
 Observe children in different setting for a number of days and determine by listing
? behaviours that they have developed through imitation and symbolic modeling.

5.4 COGNITIVE THEORIES OF LEARNING

As you have already noticed not all learning can be explained by behavioural approaches. Now let
us have a look on cognitive learning theory. Several psychologists identify cognitive processes as
critical component in understanding human behaviour. All cognitive theories look beyond overt
behaviour and rather focus on brain and mental processes in explaining learning. Other common
features in these theories include making inferences on observable mental processes, believing
individuals are actively (rather than being passive) involved in learning process, and learning
involves relating new information to previously learned information (Ormrod, 1999). Here we are
just going to mention a few of the theories.

Edward Tolman (Tolman and Honzik, 1930) proposed latent learning in which an organism learns
about its environment without reinforcement or a change in behaviour. We develop cognitive map
(mental representation of spatial locations and direction) of our environment and only demonstrate
this knowledge when reinforcement is available. When in a new surroundings you observe the
area and learn about the layout of objects without expecting any reinforcement. Later on the
information acquired can be used to give a response that leads to reinforcement.

5.4.1 Gestalts psychologists

Psychologists in of this perspective were against behaviourism by emphasizing that mental
processes are important in explaining learning. Among the basic ideas of this theory is that we
perceive things in whole and not in segments (stimulus and single responses) and the perception
formed can be different from the reality. Past experiences predispose people on how they organize
information in particular way and in relation to their environment (Ormrod, 1999). So in
explaining learning we must include the overall experiences of the individual. Gestalt psychology
has been instrumental on our understanding of thinking, problem solving and perception.

5.4.2 Cognitive constructivism

Constructivists hold that a learner is actively constructing and inventing his/her own knowledge
from his/her past experiences. Rather than just receive and absorb what s/he gets from others
(teachers included) a learner modifies his/her understanding in relation to the new information
leading him/her internalizing concepts, rules and principles that are later applied in future
encounters.
The main ideas of cognitive constructivism have been summarized as follows (Elliot et. al 2000):
 We only know subjective reality and not the object reality since the knowledge we have is
based on our own subjective experiences.
 Knowledge is subjective because each one of us has his/her own unique experiences.
 The knowledge of two people are said to be “taken-as-shared” to the extent that their
constructions seem to function in the same way in given situation. Since every one
constructs his/her own knowledge, the knowledge shared cannot be exactly the same.
 Knowledge is constructed through the process of adapting to events and ideas one
experiences. This idea is very much related to Piaget‟s concept of disequilibrium in which
people tend to be motivated to solve mental problems they encounter.
 The construction of knowledge is significantly influenced by the symbols and materials one
uses or has ready access to. Both the physical and social environment provides us with
experiences that we use to construct knowledge. The language (or languages) that we speak
is based on the society we live in and attitudes that we form are mostly influenced by our
culture.
 “Readiness to learn” means that an individual is ready to learn when his/her existing
cognitive constructions are capable of incorporating new information.

5.4.3 Piaget’s theory of learning

We mentioned Piaget‟s theory earlier in this course. This theory belongs to Cognitive
constructivism theories. Remember that learning is determined by mental structures and how the
new information is incorporated into the existing knowledge. Since childhood people are not
passive respondents of the environment (as in classical conditioning) but rather they actively
process new information as they develop and interact with their environment (both social and
physical). When we experience disequilibrium we are motivated to make sense of our
surroundings through mental operations of accommodation and assimilation.

Please revisit the section on cognitive development to remind yourself that mental
? processes are qualitatively distinct in each level of development.

Later on in this course we will discuss the implications of the above theories on teachers and their
applications in teaching/learning processes. However, according to Ormrod (1999) cognitive
theories have the following implications on education:
 Cognitive processes influence learning.
 Learning difficulties often indicate ineffective cognitive processes, especially for children
with learning disabilities.
 As children grow they become capable of increasingly more sophisticated thought.
 People organize things they learn.
 New information is most easily acquired when people can associate it with things they have
already learned.
 People control their own learning.
There are other cognitive theories and concepts that you are compelled to know about. These
include Cordon‟s cognitive style typology; meaningful learning as described by David Ausubel;
and constructivist theory of Jerome Bruner.
In this lecture we had a glance on several theories of learning and their implications
on the teaching processes. Each of the theories has limitations on describing the
learning processes and their applications in the classroom. However the limitations
have not been identified in the lecture.
From different sources identify the limitations of each of the theories. Remember
 one day this activity might prove handy; ignore it at your own peril!

?
Domjan, M. (2003). The principles of learning and behaviour (5the). Belmont, CA:
Thomson-Wadsworth

Dorin, H., Demmin, P. and Gabel, D. (1990). Three Basic Learning Theories.
www.meadowfields.ednet.ns.ca/sutherland.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA.

Good, T. L. & Brophy, J.E. (1990). Educational Psychology: A realistic approach.

(4th Ed.) White Plains, N.Y: Longman

Ormrod, J. E. (1999). Human learning (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-
Hall.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA

Watson, J.B. and Reynar, R (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of

Experimental Psychology, 3, 1-14

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
? verify your accurateness.
 LECTURE SIX
MOTIVATION AND LEARNING

6.1 INTRODUCTION
We normally ask such questions as: Why did s/he do such a horrible thing? What was his/her
motive? Bahati looks so gloomy, what should we do to make him/her cheerful? What as teachers
do we need to do to keep students engaged in their studies, especially mathematics and science
subjects? Motivation may relate to addressing the above challenges. Motivation is one of the most
significant constructs in the field of psychology and is a component in most theories of
psychology. Also, motivation is the key to all learning and the atmosphere relating to school. Some
of the problems in the class or school are result of motivation. Some of these problems include
truancy, disobedience in the classroom and poor interaction in the learning process. As a teacher it
is important you learn as much as possible about this significant component of learning processes.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
i. Define motivation as it applies to education;
ii. Describe Maslow's human needs view of
motivation;
iii. Describe attribution theory;
iv. Explain expectancy theory and achievement
motivation in school;
v. Explain methods that lead to high level of
motivation to students.

6.2 DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION

The focus in lecture is on human motivation. Most psychologists see motivation as a process or a
factor that initiates, energizes, directs and sustains behaviour towards a certain goal. This
definition implies that motivation is involved in all stages of our actions i.e. it can cause us to start
engaging in certain behaviors (learning a new language), increases level of activity and/or being
persistent in the activity (working hard when learning the language), and directs us toward a
certain goal (we get satisfied when we speak the language fluently). Therefore, there is a close
relationship between motivation and learning.

According to Ormrod, (2003) motivation in education has the following effects on student
learning:
 Directing students‟ behaviour towards a specific goal;
 Increases effort and energy; increase imitation of, and persistence in activities; and enhance
cognitive processing;
 Determines consequences to be reinforced;
 Improve performance.

Before moving on let us clear some misconceptions about motivation. One of them is that one can
directly motivate someone else to do something. This is not accurate. What we can do is only
create conditions that make someone to be motivated do something. Later on, based on this
condition the person will develop motivation towards that behavior. No amount of a pay increase
can directly make an incompetent and lazy teacher improve students‟ academic performance by
his/her teaching. Also we hear people saying that students lack motivation to learn a certain course
when they avoid it (e.g. science subjects). If they lack motivation to learn science subjects it
means they are indifferent to science subjects. However, in this case of the students deliberately
avoiding science subjects it means they are rather motivated not to learn science subjects. Also
punishment cannot be used to make people motivated. Beating students who dislike mathematics
will not make them like or be motivated to learn mathematics. Recall that based on classical
conditioning principles the student will also be conditioned to hate the subject and/or the teacher
and this can be generalized to other subjects/teachers.

I will be very disappointed if you are motivated not to continue with this course.
Personally I am motivated to make you develop skills to motivate your students to
study the subjects you teach.
6.3 CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO MOTIVATION
Incentive approach is based on the behavioural perspective that was described in the previous
lecture. The main emphasis is on reinforcement principles and reinforcers as key in describing
motivation. Incentives include all external rewards (tangible or intangible) presented after response
so as to cause behaviour to reoccur in the future. The incentive conditions a person to feel happy.
The main limitation of incentive approach is that the motivation is not internalized and it can easily
suffer extinction. Also some people might feel that they are manipulated by those with reinforcers.

Incentives are external forces in form of stimuli that pulls an organism towards a
goal.

Instinct approach believe that humans and other organisms have inborn tendencies that lead to
engaging in behaviours that are essential for survival. Sex urge is considered as an instinct for
maintaining the existence of the organism. This approach does not account for motivations to
engage in voluntary behaviours and psychologists have been unable to come up with one definition
of instinct and the scope of instincts.

Drive-reduction theory was, among others, proposed by Clark Hull. The theory points out that
when a person lacks a biological requirement a drive is produced that needs to be satisfied. The
basis of this approach is homeostasis, a process which strives to maintain a stable, balanced
internal state of the body. When there is a deficiency in the body i.e. a need. A need leads to
purposive activities (drive) aimed at the goal of removing the deficiency. Need of water in the
body creates thirst drive that activates behaviour of drinking water, lack of food produce hunger
drive that is reduced by taking food. Other drives include sex and sleepiness. The main limitation
of this approach is that it does provide explanations on responses that do not originate from
biological needs.
 Drives are internal forces that push an organism to act.

Arousal approaches go beyond drive reduction by postulating that human beings want to maintain
certain level of stimulation and activity. If the level is too low (feeling bored) we increase it by
seeking stimulation and if it is too high we decrease it. As you know some people go to extreme to
get stimulation e.g. engaging in dangerous activities.

Cognitive approaches emphasises that thoughts, expectations and our perception of our
surroundings underlie our behaviours. Sometimes we engage in certain behaviour because we
expect that the behaviour will lead us towards a pleasant goal. So our expectations have
motivational forces. Cognitive approaches distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is related to doing something due to individual‟s internal satisfaction i.e.
engaging in behaviour not because of any tangible benefits but rather for personal enjoyment, or
s/he thinks it is important or significant to one‟s self. Extrinsic motivation is associated with doing
behaviour in order to gain tangible things or in pleasing others. Common extrinsic motivation
things include money, grades, avoiding of punishment and getting applause from the audience.
Thus intrinsic motivation originates internally from the person while external motivation is caused
by external factors. One has to know that people differ in what is intrinsic motivation or extrinsic
motivation i.e. what is intrinsic motivation to me might not be a motivation factor to you at all or it
can be extrinsic motivation to another person. Many psychologists acknowledge that intrinsic
motivation, rather than extrinsic motivation, is more effective in making an individual work harder
and persevere on the task that is goal oriented. In some studies provision of extrinsic motivation
adversely affect ones intrinsic motivation. Later in this culture we will look at conditions that
facilitate intrinsic motivation.

The main limitation of cognitive perspective of motivation lies in that it is very

 difficult to make students experience cognitive disequilibrium that is enough to
sustaining motivation to learn.

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy is one of the most famous theories of motivation. Abraham Maslow
(1908 – 1970) believes that human beings have needs and desires that have influence on
behaviour. He identified these motivational needs, classified and arranged them in a hierarchy,
from the very basic to complex ones. The basic ones must be minimally satisfied before being
motivated to meet the upper ones. He arranged and illustrated the hierarchy in a pyramid with the
most basic ones at the bottom level and the more sophisticated ones as one moves up. At the
bottom there are physiological needs which are basic and primary for the survival of the individual
namely water, food, sleep and sex (for survival of specie). As you can see these are needs found in
every individual. When these needs are satisfied the person then moves on to safety needs i.e.
people needing to live in places (including classrooms, school and home) where they feel secure
and safe to conduct their activities. Next come the love and belongingness needs level whereby an
individual wants to be in group of other people, getting affection and feeling that s/he is loved by
them. One likes to be part of a family, peers and avoid being lonely. Above this level is esteem
need whereby a person seeks to develop sense of self-worth by feeling that other people value our
competencies and have a favorable judgment on our achievements. We feel quite good when
others praise us. The last level in the hierarchy is referred to as need for self-actualization. As
indicated in the pyramid very few people reach this level where one feels s/he has realised his/her
full potentials.
The main limitation of this approach is that it takes for granted that all human beings have same
needs arranged in the same order. In some situation security matters more than food, and for others
sex is not at all important to some individuals.

Observe members in your community and identify their level of motivation to work
in relation to the Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs.
?
6.4 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO LEARN
Many complex factors have influence on students‟ motivation to learn. Below are some of these
influences that affect students we teach and consequently the direction and intensity of their
learning. We say „Some‟ since we cannot identify all of the factors relate to motivation.
6.4.1 Student Attributions to Success and Failure
In describing this influence we look at Bernard Weiner‟s attribution theory. People, including
students, are always motivated to figure out the reasons and causes of their behaviours and
successes or failures they experience in life. An individual gives logical explanations to causes
perceived by the person to describe the outcomes of his/her behaviour. These explanations are
called attributions. These attributions are based on an attempt to use individual‟s past experiences
to describe possible causes and consequences of events. Student always try to find out the basis of
their academic performance i.e. the causes of the grade they get in different courses. The causal
attributions we make have influence on how we engage in our future behaviours. Clarification on
attributions is provided below.

Wiener (1990) stated that people (including students) attribute success/failure to one the following
attributes:
i. Abili
ty
Some students attribute success/failure to their ability or lack of it. Normally a student who fails
consistently feels s/he lacks mental ability to be successful in the task; while another student who
is frequently successful may believe that s/he is endowed with the ability to undertake the
respective task. Those who perceive lacking ability develop sense of incompetence that
consequently undermines motivation to learn. A student who believes that s/he does not have
ability to understand science subjects will not even try to study these subjects. Why? Because
ability is perceived as being stable and unlikely to change, so future failure is seen as more likely
than future success. On the other hand if s/he feels she has ability for arts subjects s/he will be
motivated in future to study arts subjects.
ii. Effort
There are students who believe their grades are positively correlated to amount of effort they put
on studying i.e. success depends on how hard they try. If they pass they attribute success to
studying hard and when they fail they attribute failure to lack of studying hard enough. Those who
are successful are motivated to work even harder in future which in turn increases more success.
Why? Because effort is internal to the individual and is seen as unstable factor that is under his/her
control. This belief motivates a student to study hard since success increases effort, and effort
increases success.

iii. Luck
When a student is unable to see a direct relationship between behaviour and attainments s/he
attributes this to luck. Students who believe they should have scored low grade but pass the subject
they attribute this to luck rather than ability or effort. Such students will not be motivated to work
hard on that subject since they know they have very little control over luck. Success in task is
perceived as if playing lottery where once you buy the ticket there is nothing you can do win, you
only wait for fate.

iv. Task difficult

In case many students are successful in obtaining high grade some students say (perceive) the test
was easy, if many fail they say (perceive) because the test was difficult. Students with such
perceptions may not be motivated to learn the subject since task difficulty is external to him/her so
not under his/her control.

The above attributes are mostly based on Western culture. I know some students in our culture
who attribute their behaviour outcomes to God, superstition and personal beliefs or rituals. All
these attributes are external to the individual. People perform rituals that they belief lead to
positive outcomes and avoid objects/events suspected to have negative aspects.

In summary Weiner (1992) points out that luck and task difficulty are both external attributes to
the student. Ability and effort are both internal attributes. Ability is seen as being stable i.e. it will
remain the same and not change in the future. Effort is perceived as being unstable and under the
control of the individual. When a student ascribes success/failure to ability s/he will expect to
succeed/fail in the future.
Students who attribute ability and effort to outcome of behavior have internal locus of control,
while those who attribute performance to luck and task difficulty have external locus of control.
Thus, what one attributes as cause of outcome of behaviour has motivational impact on his/her
future undertakings. Students with internal locus of control are internally motivated and belief
performance is in their hands. Those with external locus of control believe external forces
determine their fate and have little they can do. I think you know people who believe that the
government has to meet all their demands and blame failure on other people.

In many instances when people (students included) attribute internal forces in case of success and
attribute external forces for failures. I have experience of many of my students who perform poorly
blaming me or the test for being too difficult but when they perform well attribute success to their
abilities and effort.

What do you attribute to your success and how about your failures? What do many
students in your school attribute to their success/failures?
?
Attributions to consequences are beliefs that may not be the real causes of
performance, so the theory may explain why some students who seem able
sometimes perform poorly.

6.4.2 Expectancy
We are aware that one specific incentive has different values to different people. For one student a
“C” grade in History is enough while for another a “B” grade in History is not good enough since
they want an “A”. Expectancy-value theory explains this phenomenon by stating that student‟s
goal directed behaviour is determined by two factors i.e. expectancy and incentive value. Our
expectations tell us that our specific behaviour will make us reach a certain goal. Also we have the
value attached to that goal namely, incentive value. If a student has high expectations and values
are also high s/he will be motivated to study hard. Why? Because s/he believes studying hard will
lead to a high grade. On the other hand if expectations are low and the value attached is low the
motivation to study that subject will also be low. Sometimes students who aspire to be lawyers
attach high value to Art subjects and low value to Science subjects, so they are more motivated to
learn Arts subjects and have low motivation to learn Science subjects although they could have
gotten a higher grade in these subjects too.

6.4.3 Teacher expectations

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in 1968 introduced a publication titled “Pygmalion in the
Classroom” which had a great impact on how teacher‟s perceptions of students are significant in
students‟ academic performance. Based on their studies they concluded that students labeled as
potential achievers to teachers showed significant increase in their IQ scores relative to students
not labeled so. In actual fact before the study the students were determined to be of the same IQ.
So, the difference between the groups was attributed to teachers‟ expectations i.e. teachers‟
expectation had influenced the students‟ gaining in intelligence. The implication of this publication
included the notion that of „self-fulfilling prophecy‟ whereby teachers communicate their beliefs on
how students are expected to behave. When they communicate that a student will behave
intelligently that specific student behaves intelligently; whereas when they communicate low
expectations to a student that student will perform poorly. Quite often we see teachers asking more
questions, giving more time and praises to students they perceive as being intelligent; and on the
other hand spending very little time and effort on students they perceive as failures (sometimes
teachers ignore these students completely). So, teachers‟ expectations affect the way they treat
students which in turn serves as an aspect of motivating students to learn or not to learn. It is
fortunate that once teachers are aware of their expectations they can change for the good of all
students.

It is not the expectations of teachers that have direct influence on students‟

performance but rather the teacher‟s expectations influence the way they treat
students during instruction.

6.4.4 Emotions
Emotions are feelings that we experience as we interact with environment or on ourselves. These
feelings are either pleasant or unpleasant. Among the feelings we experience include anger,
happiness, sadness, fear and envy. Emotions have physiological and cognitive elements that
influence our behaviours. The way we undertake same tasks depends on the emotions we are
experience at that time. We may run very fast when we sense danger and walk slowly when we
feel safe. The main functions of emotions are: preparing for action; shaping our future behaviour;
and act as mechanism to regulate social interactions. As you can see the first two functions are
closely related to functions of motivation i.e. initiating and sustaining actions. The link between
emotions and motivation is strong, we are happy when our motives are satisfied and feel
threatened or angry when our motives are frustrated (Lazarus, 1991).

The aim of this section is to see how emotions influence motivation, so we will not elaborate the
functions of emotions. Also we will not list all the emotions that we experience but only focus on
some that seem to influence student motivation to learn.

Anxiety (high feeling of fear) is one of emotions that affect motivation. Students experience
different levels of anxiety while learning in school. They worry about their academic performance
(Will I pass the test?), and the challenges they face in school (I am late to class! Will I be
punished? I don‟t have time to complete all my homework!). Other sources of anxiety can be
significant others‟ expectations and demands on the student.

Levels of anxiety and the task difficulty have influence on student‟s performance. Students
experiencing high levels of anxiety for a long time have problem concentrating on their studies.
Some students perform poorly in tests because of test anxiety i.e. intense fear of preparing for and
taking tests. According to Sarason (1980) the main characteristics of test anxiety include
perceiving test conditions as being difficult and threatening; one seeing himself/herself as being
inadequate in doing tests; focusing on adverse consequences of test, anticipating failure and loss of
regard from others. This undermines their academic performance and consequently motivation to
learn. However, it is important to note that boredom also undermines motivation. So, a certain
level of emotions is required to be motivated to learn. Too high or too low undermines motivation.
6.4.5 Classroom atmosphere and motivation
Classroom atmosphere include the social interactions and physical setting of the room where
school learning takes place. If the students feel relaxed, encouraged to learn even when they fail or
face challenges, and perceive the main emphasis of instruction is on individual improvement then
the student feels motivated to learn. If the focus in the classroom is too much competition and only
few students get rewarded in the expense of others then most students will be motivated not to
learn. Competition is not all bad since it can be practiced between groups, thus more students
experiencing winning feelings and rewards widely distributed. Also remember that rewards are
extrinsic motivation that can undermine intrinsic motivation which has more value in maintain
learning.

Classroom is mostly composed of peers who affect individual motivation. Students judge
themselves (academically and socially) by making comparisons with their peers. According to
Harter (1990) students with positive comparisons have high self-esteem and those with negative
comparisons have low self-esteem. Students accepted by others do better in school and have high
level of motivation to achieve in school (Wentzel, 1996). I think we are aware of students‟ study
groups that encourage (motivate) their members to study hard. So, peers in the classroom have
some influence on motivation to learn.
Later in this course we will look at how classroom management techniques influence student
expectations.

6.4.6 Need for achievement

Need for achievement refers to the desire/motive to perform at the highest standards of excellence.
This motive is one form of intrinsic motivation and it is acquired in the process of development.
Students with it have high motivation for success and are thrilled when they succeed. They focus
on mastery goals and performance-approach goals (Elliot and Church, 1997). This means they are
more interested in having deeper meaning of things they are learning and be competent in skills
rather than competing or comparing with others. Students with high need achievement work hard
to succeed as they see themselves as responsible for the outcomes; are ready to take some risk of
not succeeding when there is an opportunity to receive performance feedback (Koestner, and
McClelland, 1990). They also know how to weight the task facing them and selecting the level
that they know it is challenging (not too easy or too difficult) but achievable. Students with low
levels of need of achievement select tasks that are either too easy or too difficult. Easy tasks since
they are assured of success and difficult tasks so that when they fail they blame that the task is so
difficult it is impossible to succeed.

6.4.7 Self-efficacy
Albert Bandura introduced this concept which refers to one‟s ability to cope with the situation and
produce desired outcomes. Self-efficacy is related to intrinsic motivation. Student with high self-
efficacy believe that s/he has the ability to accomplish the task/challenge facing him/her. The one
with low self-efficacy believe that s/he cannot undertake the task/challenge ahead. Relate this
concept to inner voice that says “Yes I can learn and pass this subject” (high-efficacy) or “I cannot
understand this subject” (low-efficacy). So a student with high-efficacy is motivated to learn while
the one with low-efficacy is motivated not to learn. Self-efficacy also influence on deciding which
tasks to address and which ones to avoid.

Self-efficacy is a result of one‟s past experiences and also a product of observational learning i.e.
performance of others may influence our beliefs on our ability to perform that task. Also what
teachers communicate to students influence their self-efficacy. Students who fail consistently and
perceive themselves lacking control of their own behavior develop what is called learned-
helplessness. They have learned that there is nothing they can do to improve their performance, so
they are motivated not to learn.

List the characteristics of students with need of achievement and those of low
self-efficacy. Identify students in your community with need of achievement and
? those of low self-efficacy.

6.5 Strategies for improving student motivation to learn

Among your students some are naturally eager to learn i.e. already motivated to learn. Your task
with these students is to maintain their level of motivation. Effective teaching includes teacher‟s
ability to maintain interest of students who join his/her class (Ericksen, 1978). If a teacher is not
careful or ignore these students he may undermine their motivation. Unfortunately there are
students in the classroom that are motivated not to learn. It is your role to create conditions that
will lead to such students developing motivation to learn.

Above we have only mentioned a few factors that influence student motivation to learn. Remember
there are other factors, including unsatisfied basic needs (hunger can definitely affect motivation);
gender, family and culture influences that have effect on motivation. Please, as a teacher you are
required to identify as many factors as possible, especially those relevant to your students. One can
categorise the factors as some being internal to the individual and others as being caused by
external influences (teachers included).

Some factors facilitate motivation to learn while others undermine motivation to

learn.

As a teacher you know that motivation is significant in learning processes. Being aware that there
are different perspectives of describing motivation is important for a teacher. However, what is
more important is the realization that the teacher has great positive influence on students‟
motivation to learn. Strategies mentioned below are not exhaustive. Application of each depends
on the teacher, student and existing learning conditions.

6.5.1 Classroom atmosphere

 Manage the classroom effectively. Remember you are the principle factor in determining
classroom atmosphere. Much of your actions influence students‟ motivation. It is very
possible for a teacher to be the main agent of creating students‟ motivation to learn.
  Make sure the classroom is physically and psychologically safe. Students should feel
having sense of security based on the behaviours of all students. Too much use of
punishment creates anxiety among students.
 Create an atmosphere that is open and positive. All students should feel free to interact in
classroom learning.
 Avoid making comparisons between students. Students should acknowledge and value their
differences and accord respect to all. Encourage spirit of cooperation among students by
creating study groups.
 Make classroom experiences as positive as possible. Even when students make mistakes
when learning they should be encouraged to continue participating in the learning
processes in the classroom. Never ridicule students who make mistakes.
 Make your lesson interesting to students. A boring subject (content or teaching methods)
creates motivation no to learn.

6.5.2 Teacher expectations

Based on a number of findings (among them Brophy, 1983; Marshall and Weinstein; 1984; and
Patriarca and Kragt, 1986) the following have been recommended in regard to teacher
expectations:
 Avoid unreliable sources of information about students‟ learning potentials. People
(including fellow teachers, parents and influential people) have their own biases that they
communicate to you. Also be aware of people‟s social stereotypes.
 Concentrate on extending warmth, friendliness and encouragement to all students. All
should be given generous amounts of wait-time to formulate their answers and to
participate in class activities. This opportunity will improve quality of their responses.
 Monitor student progress closely so as to keep expectations of the individual current.
 In giving students feedback, focus on giving useful information, not just evaluation of
success or failure. Stress continuous progress relative to their previous level of performance
rather than comparing the student with other students. A student should not be protected
from failure or making mistakes but rather stimulated to achieve as much as s/he can.
  Examine your expectations and develop habit of having positive (high) expectations of
your students, even those you are sure have low ability.

6.5.3 Helping student develop motivation to learn

In our teaching we will encounter students who are motivated not to learn or are indifferent to our
instructions. It is your responsibility to have the students motivated to learn your subject. Be aware
that if they are not motivated you are wasting your time and undermining the objectives of having
schools. Below are some suggestions on how to develop student motivation to learn. Note that you
must look for other recommendations and also devise your own.

Remember that in learning intrinsic motivation is more effective and persevering than extrinsic
motivation (extrinsic motivation wears soon when the external element is withdrawn). It is
impossible to avoid using extrinsic motivation completely (grades, prizes, certificates and medals)
in our schools and community. However, you personally can do something. Always aim at
students developing intrinsic motivation. To start with, minimize giving extrinsic motivation by
making an effort to arouse and sustaining interest in your subject (studies have shown that extrinsic
motivation undermines intrinsic motivation). Young students increase their intrinsic motivation
when they contextualize material and feel the material is significant to them (Cordova and Lepper,
1995). So, avoid presenting material in abstract form.

Biehler and Snowman (1982) make the following suggestions:

 Make studying active, investigative and as useful as possible. It is unfortunate that a
teacher can make an interesting subject a boring one. Be the opposite. Make all learning
experiences (including difficult parts) interesting and you personally all the time be
enthusiastic about your lesson. In your teaching convey confidence, enjoyment of the
content and teaching. If you find teaching your own subject boring think how the students
will perceive it.
 Take into account individuals differences in ability, background, and attitudes toward
school and specific subjects. Levels of motivation varies among students (some have low
self-efficacy while others high self-efficacy, others have already developed learned-
 helplessness); incentives that apply in one culture may or may not be effective to your
students; one student may have positive attitude towards you as a person while having
negative attitudes towards the subject.
 Make sure that student‟s needs have being satisfied.
 Direct learning experiences towards feelings of success in an effort to encourage a realistic
level of aspiration, an orientation toward achievement, and positive self-concept.

To improve students‟ self-efficacy teach students specific learning strategies; guide students in
setting goals that are realistic and challenging; provide support from other teachers, parents and
peers; and make sure students are not too anxious (Santrock, 2004).

In this lecture we have defined motivation and described different perspectives of

motivation. Also the internal and external factors that have influence, both
negative and positive, were identified. The last part was on strategies of improving
students‟ motivation to learn.

Make a summary of the teacher activities that may improve students‟ motivation.
The content in this lecture is not enough you need to consult other resources.
?
Biehler, R. & Snowman, J. (1982). Psychology Applied to Teaching (4Ed.).
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

Brophy, J. E. (1983). Research on Self-fulfillment Prophecy and Teacher

Expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 631-661.

Cordova, D. & Lepper, M. (1995). Intrinsic Motivation and the Process of

Learning: Beneficial Effects of Contextualization, Personalization, and Choice.

Elliot, A. J. & Church, M. A. (1997). A hierarchy model for approach and

avoidance achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 72, 218-232.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA.
 Ericksen, S. C. "The Lecture." Memo to the Faculty, no. 60. Ann Arbor: Center for
Research on Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan, 1978.

Harter, S. (1999). The Construction of Self. New York: Guilford.

Koestner, R. & McClelland, D.C. (1990). Perspectives on competence

motivation. In L.A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality theory and research,
New York: Guilford Press.

Marshall, H.H. & Weinstein, R.S. (1984). Classroom Factors Affecting Students‟
Self-Evaluations: An Interaction Model. Review of Educational Research, 54,
301-325.

Lazarus, R. (1991). Progress on a cognitive–motivational-relational theory of

emotions. American Psychologist, 46, 819-834

Ormrod, J. E. (2003). Educational Psychology Developing Learners (4th Ed.)

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hal

Patriarca, L.A. & Kragt, D.M. (1986). Teacher Expectations and Student
Achievement: The Ghost of Christmas Future. Curriculum Review, 25, 48-50.

Sarason, I. (1980). Introduction to the study of test anxiety. In I.G. Sarason (Ed.)
Test anxiety: Theory, research, and applications, 1-36. Hillside; N.J. LEA

Weiner, B. (1990). History of Motivational Research in Education. Journal of

Educational Psychology, 82 (4), 616-622.

Weiner, B. (1992). Human motivation: Metaphors, theories, and research.

Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Wentzel, K. R. (1996). Social goals and social relationships as motivators of

school adjustments. In J. Juvonen & K.R. Wentzel (Eds.), Social Motivation.
New York: Cambridge University Press.

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
verify your accurateness.
?
 LECTURE SEVEN
COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN LEARNING: MEMORY FORMATION AND RETRIEVAL

7.1 INTRODUCTION
In this lecture we look at a very important human component used in learning. In learning one
must receive information from the environment and have mechanism of retaining it. We are talking
about memory and learning. Learning involves storing information in the memory; memory is
involved in learning. The two are related. Academic performance or competence can only be
demonstrated when the retained information or potential is retrieved by the individual. Thinking
and the addressing of challenges we face depend on the content we posses. Our lives depend on
memory.

Your performance in this course and the fate as a graduate teacher is significantly
dependent on your memory. I am sure that your performance in this course will
improve as a result of this lecture.

OBJECTIVES
 At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
vi.Define and describe sensory register, short-term (working memory) and long-term
memory and explain their roles as far a memory is concerned
ii. Describe information processing and identify factors that affect
the retaining and forgetting of information.
iii. D
istinguish between episodic, semantic and procedural memory.
iv. Define "cognitive teaching" and identify strategies teachers can
use to make learning relevant to students' prior experience.

7.2 MEMORY
Memory is that ability we have of encoding, retaining information around us and the experiences
we encounter over a period of time and then retrieving that information from our memories. So the
first part of memory is on how we store knowledge in the memory (input). There are structures and
processes involved in storing information in the memory. Memory structures are part of the
functions of the brain. Each structure has its own characteristics in term of its capacity and
duration of the stored information. As you can see memory is mostly about sense organs, brain and
mental functions. So the structures are not physical chambers in the brain but processes involved in
forming memory. The main structures are sensory registers (SR), short-term memory (STM) and
long-term memory (LTM).

Most of the information we have in the memory has emanated from the environment. It is received
through the sensory organs i.e. eyes (vision), ears (audio), skin (warmth, cold, pressure, pain and
touch), nose (smell) and tongue (taste). The information from the stimuli has to be encoded i.e.
stimulus is converted into the form that can be stored in the brain. Sometimes we encode meaning
and imagery. During discussions we process the verbal information and encode its meaning. As an
example think of some Swahili sayings. Encoding imagery involves the forming of mental
pictures. It is not rare to have in the memory pictures of past events that cannot be easily described
in words (for those who love football remember the scoring of a special goal). In classroom
teaching the teacher uses pictures to aid students to learn a specific object or event. Echoic memory
stores audio sensations like tone of a nice piece of music or voice of your beloved teacher. Iconic
memory deals with visual sensations from the environment. Episodic memory concerns events in
relation to time and location of that event, for example remember the day you graduated or the day
somebody in your family wedded. Semantic memory has a record of facts and concepts we have
formed overtime. Tulving (2002) postulates that, semantic information is based on the content of
episodic memory. Procedural memory is involved in learning the sequence of motor skills, for
example the sequence of writing letters or riding a bicycle).

The most crucial factor in the acquisition part of the memory is attention, i.e. the ability to focus
on one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention known as sensory gating
enables us to focus on the information entering through one sensory organ while putting a damper
on the other sense organs. Selective attention helps us to focus only on one aspect of information
among many that are being sensed by one specific organ. In the classroom the student is
bombarded by a number of stimuli at any one moment. S/he can ignore all or pay attention to one
stimulus, likely on the teacher‟s instructions that will then be processed for storing. In classroom
learning we use sensory gating when we only use our ears to listen to the teacher while blocking
information from entering in the other senses. We use selective attention to attend only to the voice
of the teacher while ignoring all other sounds around.

Without attention we will be overwhelmed by all the information bombarding our

senses at the same time. Attention explains why students in a school near a busy
street hear and follow their teachers teaching! They have learned to pay attention
to their teachers, ignoring the sounds of cars passing.

We only store information that we pay attention to. The messages we ignore or we are not aware of
cannot enter the memory and thus cannot be processed. Encoding process can either be automatic
or effortful. In automatic processing we unconsciously process the information. You processed
much of what happened on your graduation day or when you got a very dreadful experience (e.g.
an accident) without even deciding to do so. Sometimes it is very difficult not to process some of
the stimuli. In effortful processing we deliberately make a conscious effort to store some
information or messages. You remember that you were reciting multiplication tables several times
(some of us for days) when you were in primary school. What we have to bear in mind is that
effortful processing is necessary and effective, and students should be encouraged to practise it.

Sensory registers (SR) is the first structure of the memory that holds raw information from the
environment for about one to three seconds, just long enough to decide whether to process it or
not. Sensory registers have a capacity of storing very few items. Normally we receive more
information than we can process. As mentioned above, due to sensory characteristics a student has
to recognize and pay attention to the incoming information for further processing. Recognition
involves determining the information as important and needing to be stored in the memory.
Information not processed decays and fades away from the memory. The information we pay
attention to is selected for processing to short-term memory.

Short-term memory has a limited capacity of holding between five and nine chunks of information
(Miller, 1956). A chunk is information grouped in a meaningful way that can be stored in the
memory. It is difficult to hold 0123876954 in STM. However it becomes easier if you chunk it into
0123-876-954. So instead of memorizing nine numbers (items) now you have four chunks, thus
increasing the storing capacity. Think of chunking in relation to money in circulation and a wallet.
It is impossible to put one million shillings of one hundred shilling coins in a wallet but it is quite
easy if the same amount is put in the wallet in ten thousand shilling notes. So, to have more
information in the memory the student and you should practice chunking.

STM is also limited in duration. Without rehearsal information can last for only about 20 seconds.
I think you have experienced someone telling you his/her name only to find out you cannot
remember it shortly afterwards! This is a result of engaging in conversation before processing the
name into the next stage. To store new knowledge you need to rehearse i.e. repeat the name
several times until it is established in the memory. So the amount of time spent on learning new
material has an influence on forming memories. Processing in STM determines what information
has to go onto LTM and the rest is forgotten through decay.

Short-term memory is also known as a working-memory because we consciously process raw

information from the sensory registers and we give it a meaning. What you are currently thinking
about is taking place in the STM. It is in STM that we form connections between different
sensations that we receive from one object. We form association between a picture of a radio
(vision) and the sound from the radio (audio). It is involved in many cognitive functions such as
problem-solving and planning. It coordinates the information to pay attention to or needed when
reasoning or making decision. STM also helps us to do two different tasks at the same time as long
they do not involve the same sense organ. You can speak and see at the same time for example I
can see a teacher speaking and watching his/her class at the same time. However, it is not possible
to watch two events at the same time or taste two things at the same time.

Long-term memory is vast and more durable than the STM. Once information has been processed
into LTM it is catalogued like new books in the library for future retrieval when needed. LTM
capacity is unlimited. In normal circumstances once information enters the LTM it can remain
there forever. I think you can still recall the taste of food you liked when you were a child, or
names of your primary school friends.

LTM is significant in our lives since it holds all that we have learned and experienced. Information
in LTM includes emotions, opinions, attitude and expectations that influence our behaviour. Just
think of relearning about everything each day due to lack of memory!
LTM connects previous experiences and new information, thus making us able to adapt to new
challenges. Due to LTM students are able to accommodate new learning to the previous
knowledge. We always prepare our lessons fully aware that all that is in a topic cannot be covered
in one lesson, so we know that the content of the new lesson will be connected to the information
of the previous lesson.

Normally the Introduction of a lesson is geared towards helping students connect

 the information of the previous lesson with that they are about to learn in the
current lesson.

There are several models of how the memory functions. Remember that memory is a construct and
thus the models are abstract representations. The model below was made by Atkinson and Shiffrin
(1968).

Attention Transfer
Sensory memory--------------→ short-term memory------------------→long-term memory
Rehearsal Retrieval

The above model is not very definitive since the memory system is obviously more complex with
more process involved in storing and retrieving information.

7.3 Retrieval
The memory system is not only on storing information but also on the mechanism of retrieving the
information in the memory when it is needed. When conscious we are constantly in the process of
retrieving information, messages and skills in the memory. Think of any situation when you will
not need the use your memory. Retrieval is a process just like encoding i.e. processing input and
processing output. This process involves sorting out and transferring information from LTM to
STM for use. Sometimes it is so instant that it seems like automatic for example recalling your
name or that of your country. Other times we deliberately search for the information in the
memory and it may require a lot of effort and time to retrieve it. We all know that there are
occasions when we are able to retrieve the information (remember) and in other occasions we are
unable to retrieve it even when we are sure that it is in the memory (forget). This becomes really
bad when attempting an examination or introducing someone we know. Think of your memory as
a big box containing many things that you have put yourself there. Remembering is like sorting out
and finding a specific object in the box; while forgetting is searching for an object in the box
without success.

You cannot forget/remember something you have never stored in your memory. In the
same token do not expect students to forget/remember something they have never
learned. Forgetting/remembering happens after learning!

Let us first focus on remembering. There are several ways of getting information out of the
memory. Recall occurs when we retrieve information learned earlier in the absence of clear clues.
A good example is when you retrieve names, not faces, of your secondary school classmates or the
content of a History course. Also in answering most essays test and fill in the blank questions, we
use recall. Recognition refers to the ability to compare the incoming information with the one
already in the memory. If the two match then you have recognised that you have seen/heard them
before. Normally recognition is easier than recall. Quite often you people say I remember this guy
but I can‟t retrieve his/her name. Police depend on recognition when the offended person identifies
the culprit in a lineup. This is easier than describing the person to the police i.e. recall the person.
Recognition is used when selecting possible correct answers in the multiple choice tests or
matching items. Relearning is a form of retrieving information that seemed to have been forgotten.
We spend less amount of time on learning the same information compared to time used when we
learned it for the first time. One bit of information retrieves other related information.

I expect you to spend less time when making revision of this course material relative
to when you learned it first. Expect the same from your students.

Now let us see why we forget i.e. unable to retrieve information in the memory. A student cannot
forget something s/he has not learned. Forgetting involves information in the memory but due to
some reasons it is inaccessible to the individual. We learn a lot in the course but we forget some of
the information when doing tests and consequently get a lower score. After the examination we
retrieve the information (when it is not helpful), thus proving that we have more information in our
LTM than we can retrieve. Most of the forgetting happens just after actively stopping the learning
of the respective material (Elliot et al, 2000).

As noted earlier most of the information entering SM and some in STM is forgotten since it fades
away due to lack of attention. This is a natural phenomenon that takes place even in LTM in the
form of decay whereby we forget unused information in the memory. Note that you may forget
information you encoded a long time back but at the same token remember information encoded at
the same time that has been used regularly. Now this is between you and me. “There are tests
which I scored very highly when I was in college, but if given the same test today I will perform
miserably!” Why is this so? It is because I have never revisited the material since last preparing for
the test. So, information encoded in the LTM long time ago and not constantly used will naturally
decay.

Sometimes we forget because of interference when learning. A number of studies have shown that
new learning interferes with previous learning i.e. new learning impairs the retrieval of the
material of the other learning. In proactive interference prior learning inhibits the retrieval of new
information while in retroactive interference new knowledge inhibits the retrieval of the previous
knowledge. This usually occurs when the materials in both situations are somewhat similar. If one
is given list “A” to memorize and then immediately given list “B” to memorize, the chances of
memory interference increase. Learning of list “A” will make one to forget some items in list “B”
i.e. proactive interference. Learning of list “B” will lead to forgetting some items in list “A” i.e.
retroactive interference. Forgetting would have been minimal if one had not followed the other or
the interval between the two learnings had been greater.

According to psychoanalysis perspective we use repression to block painful information from

being retrieved. The aim is to avoid anxiety caused by the information in the memory and also to
defend self-concept. In case you have done something that is very embarrassing every time you
remember it you become very uncomfortable and you deliberately try to get this information out of
the STM and return it to the LTM. So, we can say that sometimes we are motivated to forget!
 Your reaction to students‟ responses can be so embarrassing to them that repression
is the only option for the respective student!

I think you can recall about extinction whereby the response is forgotten due to the lack of
reinforcement. This type of forgetting depends on schedules of reinforcement used on maintaining
the response. You also are aware that spontaneous recovery is similar to relearning.

Position of the material in a list has some influence on memory based on phenomenon known as
the serial position effect. If you read items in a list you are more likely to remember items at the
beginning and at the end of the list, and more likely to forget items in the middle of the list. I think
you have heard young pupils learning to count saying the numbers at the beginning for example
one, two, three and then jumping the middle numbers to say the last ones, nine, ten.

One‟s state of emotion during the retrieving process may lead to forgetting. In an examination
situation, if a student is preoccupied with fear of failure s/he will not be able to concentrate on
retrieving the information in the memory. Also, if the student has developed learned helplessness
s/he will not be motivated to retrieve information since failure is expected.

Students are unable to focus on retrieving knowledge in the memory due to their fear
of the teacher or the stick s/he is holding and ready to be used in case of a wrong
answer. You can evidently see some students shaking with fear.

We normally pay less attention to information deemed to be of no significance or meaningless to

us. Information gained in such a situation will not be rehearsed and consequently will fade away.
A student expecting to be a lawyer in the future will not pay much attention to physics or
chemistry.

Note that in this lecture we cannot exhaust the list of all factors that lead to forgetting. Each
student has some unique reason(s) for not retrieving knowledge in the memory.
7.4 Improving Memory
Now let‟s turn to how you can improve your memory and that of your students. Remember that all
of us have memory and use it every time. Also, one cannot increase the capacity of memory in
each structure. However, we have previously noted that the LTM cannot be filled with knowledge.
We also know that we can develop skills and strategies of efficiently storing and retrieving
information in our memories. Furthermore, as teachers we can facilitate students to improve their
memories.

I know that you want to get a very high score in your coming examination. Kendra Cherry
(retrieved 2011) has, based on cognitive psychology literature, suggested the following ways to
improve memory; enhance recall and increase the retention of information:
i. Focus your attention on the materials to be learned. Attention is the key to processing
information in SM to STM and then to LTM. Avoid any situation that distracts attention.
ii. Avoid cramming by establishing regular study sessions. Cramming is a method used to
store information in LTM intensively in a short period of time. Space your sessions; do not
wait until a few days before the examination date to memorize the content of the subject.
iii. Structure and organize the information you are studying. You can make your memory as a
well organized library or it can be a mess of lots of books. In an organized library it is quite
easy to locate a book. But it is difficult to find a book in a room where books have not been
arranged in good order. Organize information in the memory by grouping similar terms and
concepts together.
iv. Utilize mnemonic devices together.
v. Elaborate and rehearse the information you are studying. Remember rehearsing is
important in encoding information in the LTM. Elaborate rehearsing involves reading
several times for details of the concept from different sources.
 vi. Relate information to things you already know. Take time to think about the relationship of
the new information and what is in your memory and then make connection of the two. The
key word here is deliberately making (thinking) the connections.
vii. Visualize concepts to improve memory and recall. Pay close attention to diagrams, charts
and photographs in your textbooks. If they are not available try to construct your own when
making personal notes. In some cases you can highlight some parts to draw attention to
their importance or in organize the material into related groups.
viii. Teach another person new concepts. Most of us want to gain more information from other
persons. However, in improving memory it is better to teach another person the knowledge
you have just encoded. This approach involves practicing recalling the information and
thus it enhancing your understanding of the new material. If you can teach another person
definitely you can easily retrieve the material in the future.
ix. Pay extra attention to difficult information. Yes, there are relatively easy parts and difficult
parts in the material you study. It is also true that the position of information has some
effect on retrieving information in the memory; remember serial position effect. Spend
more time and energy by rehearsing and memorizing difficult parts.
x. Vary your study routine. One way of improving recall is to occasionally change your
normal routine in terms of time of study, location and duration. You can review your study
at different time of the study e.g. if you are accustomed to study in the evening try to make
review in the morning.

Put the above suggestions into practice. There is a difference between knowing about something
and the actual skills involved. Also in addition be relaxed when studying and retrieving from the
memory. Anxiety and stress block access to memory; develop techniques for relaxation. Above all
look for more information from other sources on how to improve your memory. How about
learning metamemory i.e. knowledge on your storage and retrieval process. It will help you know
about your abilities and the approaches you use to retrieve information from the memory.

Identify and develop cues that will help you to retrieve materials learned.
 ?

As a teacher you should help your students to enhance their memories. What is the point of
teaching if the material presented is forgotten by your students? Bear in mind that all students can
be trained to improve their memories. The word “improve” implies that students use their
memories at all times, what you do is to make them use it more effectively and efficiently.
Remember that encoding, retention and retrieval processes are equally significant in student‟s
academic performance. Studying should all be about deliberately processing memory into LTM
and retrieving it when needed.

Below are some recommendations for enhancing a student‟s memory from different sources:
i. Help students to develop intrinsic motivation towards your lesson. Remember that there are
two ways of processing memory i.e. automatic processing and effortful processing.
Intrinsic motivation is both significant in these two processes. From the beginning the
student will be relaxed and motivated to process the subject material.
ii. Students should learn to focus on the material being presented. You already know that
attention is critical in processing information to the LTM. Where there is no attention,
there is no memory. Sometimes it is not easy to focus on the material being presented since
there are many variables that distract attention i.e. paying attention to other things rather
than the material presented! As a teacher you can be of help by making your lessons
interesting and not boring, meaningless or too difficult to the students.
iii. Help students to be relaxed when encoding and retrieving information. Stress and anxiety
are among the factors that adversely affect attention. As a teacher make learning in your
class stress free and help students to develop techniques of dealing with anxiety. You can
get these techniques in the Guidance and Counseling Course.
iv. Students should minimize the effects of interference. Remember about proactive and
retroactive interferences. A student should avoid learning material that is similar but
different in close succession. Such materials should be studied at different times or the
 interval between the studying of the subject should be long. This will reduce interference
by giving time for the old material to solidify and increasing chances of easily encoding the
new material.
v. Help students to make the material meaningful to themselves. Once a student realizes that
the material is significant to his/her life s/he will strive to understand it, thus relating it to
his/her life and consequently retrieving it relatively easily.
vi. Students should be encouraged to take some time to relate the new information with
material already in their memory. This will lead to the good organization of the material in
the memory easy to retrieve. The essence here is that enough time is required for a student
to deliberately connect the new knowledge with the previous one.
vii. Encourage students to use as many senses as possible when encoding the material.
Material stored in different forms is not easily forgotten. Also they should be encouraged to
develop elaboration strategies whereby a student personally adds more information on
what s/he is learning. Remember that elaboration cannot be done by anybody else besides
the respective student.
viii. Urge your students to use imagery. Encourage students to form their own pictures of the
material being presented. For example, in learning geography encourage them to form
pictures of location or activity; in history give them a chance to form pictures of the
sequence and settings of the event. Imagery can be used in all the subjects and concepts.
ix. Encourage your students to verbally describe concepts they have been learning. In study
groups each student should be encouraged to teach. The student should be made aware that
s/he is teaching others for improving his/her memory processes. In short, it is one way of
making a student active in his/her own learning. Cajoling incorrect descriptions or the use
of punishment should not be entertained when a student is teaching.
x. Encourage your students to over-learn material. Students should know that learning once
or twice is not enough to solidify material in the LTM. Remember that we earlier said that
most of the forgetting takes place just after learning the material for the first time.
Rehearsing the material many times until one can reproduce it perfectly several times is
necessary for easy retrieval. To minimize fading and decaying regular revision of the
material should strongly be emphasized.
 xi. Encourage students to develop their own cues and mnemonics. Cues used when encoding
are very important in retrieving learned material. Cues developed should be those that can
easily be present when retrieving the material. Sometimes one is forced to form mnemonics
when memorizing related material. It may take time but it is worth doing it. Chunking
should be encouraged since it increases memory capacity and makes it easier to retrieve a
large amount of information. Developing cues, mnemonics and chunking make a student
active rather than passive in his/her learning.
xii. Students should practise retrieving information. Retrieving involves some deliberate effort
to search material in the LTM and transfer it to the STM, the working memory. A student
should be encouraged to construct questions and then practise answering them. This
practice will make student realize whether s/he has learned and has the ability to retrieve it.
Regular class tests should be used by students as a mechanism for learning to retrieve
material and as well as a tool to determine academic performance.
xiii. From Santrock (2004) we advise teachers to: be aware of individual differences in student‟s
attention skills. As we will see latter there are some exceptional children with problems on
paying attention. I think you are aware of students who are always restless. You need to
devise means of helping them to focus on learning tasks so that they can encode
information and skills.
xiv. Motivate students to remember material by understanding rather than by rotely
memorizing it. Memorization is good in rehearsing material for STM but not efficient in
retrieving information in the LTM.

In this lecture we looked at different structures of memory. Information needs to be

encoded to store in the memory. There are factors that either enhance or impede the
processing of storing and retrieving information in the memory. The lecture also
identified strategies for improving your memory and helping student to enhance
their memories.
Miller, G.A. (1956). The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits
in Our Capacity for Processing Information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.

Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain. Annual Review of

 Psychology 53: 1-25.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 7.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology, (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA
Chapter 8

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
verify your accurateness.
?

LECTURE EIGHT
THINKING SKILLS AND PROBLEM SOLVING
8.1 INTRODUCTION
You are thinking what you will be learning about thinking. You are asking yourself, “How do I
think? What can I do to improve my thinking?” Also you want to know how your students think
and what you can do to develop and improve their thinking skills. That we can ask these questions
is an indication of having a unique ability that is only found among humans. In our daily
experiences we encounter novel situations that pose as problems that need to be solved. We use
thinking ability to solve these problems. Solving problems is core to human development. Think of
any other creature with the ability of thinking that can do things that humans do.

OBJECTIVES
You need to know these processes which will at the end of this lecture enable you to:
i. Define and describe thinking, reasoning, critical thinking and decision
making.
ii. Identify characteristics of creativity
iii. Outline obstacles and key strategies for problem solving.
iv. Illustrate how to teach problem solving and critical thinking.

Thinking and problem solving are very much a component in the learning/teaching
process in the class.

8.2 THINKING AND REASONING

To most psychologists thinking is the ability to manipulate and transform mental representations.
By this definition we see that thinking is a cognitive process that involves information in the
memory. Mental representations are in various forms including:
 Mental images. These are visual images in the mind representing objects or events. When
asked about your worst teacher you “see” his/her image and sometimes his/her actions.
“See” is in quotation marks because you do not need eyes to access and/or retrieve the
images in the memory. What we have in the brain are encoded visual sensations. Students
 use mental images when drawing maps or performing science experiments. When planning
a study tour you use visual images in making some of the decisions.
 Concepts are basic units of semantic memory organized in categories that share common
characteristics. The units can be in the form of objects, events or people. Concepts enable
us to organize complex information into a simpler form; classify new objects into existing
concepts; and to adapt behaviours to new different situations.

We manipulate these representations to analyse our experiences, to think critically and creatively,
to solve problems and to fantasize. Thinking encompasses concrete aspects like kicking the ball or
abstract ideas like defining democracy; it involves reflecting on the past experiences and the future
ones (how did I perform in the last psychology test and what will the final examination be like).

It is not that easy to use taste and smell sensations in thinking!

From different sources determine the difference between thinking and fantasizing.
?

8.2.1 Reasoning
Reasoning is a logical thinking of processing information with the aim of reaching a conclusion.
Reasoning helps us to make decisions, acquire new knowledge and solve problems. Logic i.e. the
science or method of reasoning enables us to develop solutions to the problems we face without
having to rely on trial and error method which is time consuming and inefficient in complex
situations. If one wants to build a house one will first reason on the type of house one wants to
build, what materials to use and where the house will be built before building it. In solving a
mathematical problem a student has to have stages of solving the problem before starting to write.
Just imaging making decisions without first forming possible solutions to the problem! Sometimes
it will be very dangerous and time consuming too.
Most of the reasoning in reaching a decision is done by two approaches namely deductive
reasoning and inductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning we reason from general or universal
principles to a conclusion regarding a specific case. The general principles are assumed to be
universally true based on human experiences; and then they are used to determine their
implications on a specific situation. In solving mathematics deductive reasoning is the one mostly
applied. The best example is the proposition that if X then Y i.e. if x occurs then it implies y. If all
females are human beings and Bahati is a female, therefore Bahati is a human being. Thick clouds
are followed by rain, and water makes dry clothes wet. I can see dark clouds, so it is going to rain
soon and I have to collect my clothes hung outside into the house.

In inductive reasoning one starts with several specific facts and from them one develops a general
principle. Induction is used to develop theories and laws in the scientific fields. Remember that B.
F. Skinner made several observations in the “Skinner Box” to come up with the operant
conditioning learning theory; and Sir. Isaac Newton‟s law of gravity is based on observation that
all objects fall to the ground. Both these scientist made specific conclusions based on a number of
observations.

In our daily life we use both inductive and deductive reasoning to make decisions and solve
problems. Which one is best for reaching a conclusion depends on the situations. However, it is
worth noting that results based on deductive reasoning are more accurate than those based on
inductive reasoning. That is the reason why in psychology most of conclusions based on
observations are taken with caution when making generalizations. One is liable to find one specific
situation that does not fit the conclusion.

I have heard many teachers encouraging students to respond by saying “think hard”. The
implication is that teachers also want their students to use thinking skills when learning; they
should not just transfer information into the LTM. Now let us look at the strategies used in
thinking. Remember that students and you use these skills in our daily encounters. The aim is to be
aware of them with the intention of improving them.
The Bloom Taxonomy
“Taxonomy” as used by Benjamin Bloom et al. (1956) refers to a classification system in a
hierarchy. The aim of taxonomy is to provide educational objectives as related to the level of
thinking involved. The objectives are in three main sections, namely cognitive domain (cognitive
functions); affective domain (emotional response); and psychomotor domains (motor activity that
may require coordination of different parts of the body). Education objectives as expressed in the
curriculum include the three domains e.g. students developing thinking skills (cognitive),
participating in sports (motor) and love of their country and cultural values (affective domain).

In this part we focus on cognitive domain and we will focus on the other domains latter in the
course. Cognitive domain is divided into six major classes, starting with the simplest form of
thinking and progressing to relatively more complex ones.

Biehler and Snowman (1982) described the classes as follows:

i. Knowledge of specifics. In this level the students process information for recalling
purposes. I believe you still remember the definition of recall. Thinking is expressed in:
Definition of terms (symbols and terms one needs to know) and of specific facts (facts like
names and important dates). Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics (e.g.
rules used to solve a specific problem, knowledge of a sequence); knowledge of
classifications and categories (e.g. different types of an object); knowledge of criteria
(factors needed to make a judgment); and knowledge of methodology namely ways of
solving a problem.
ii. Comprehension. This class includes the ability to make translation namely to communicate
in another form rather than the way it was received e.g. describing a situation in one‟s own
words; interpretation (ability to reorganize an idea) and extrapolation (to go beyond the
given data). The main focus in this level is the ability to remember information.
 iii. Application. The ability to apply principles in actual situation or to solve problems for
example boiling water to avoid infectious diseases; using mathematical principles in
making a sketch of a house.
iv. Analysis. The ability to break down complex ideas into simpler parts, to see how they are
related or organized (discussing Arusha Declaration, Universal Human Rights).
v. Synthesis. The ability to rearrange the parts of ideas or objects into a new whole.
Sometimes existing ideas are combined to form a new idea like using parts of Arusha
Declaration and Human Rights to make a New Constitution.
vi. Evaluation. Ability to make a correct judgment or decision based on internal evidence or
external criteria (make a review of an article, detect contradiction in a speech by a
politician).

The above illustration indicate that information received can be processed at different levels; and
mastering of skills of the lower levels is a prerequisite for gaining thinking skills of the upper
levels of thinking. Based on discussions with teachers I have noted the confusion between
application and knowledge of methodology. These two are quite different. Most people in Tanzania
know what to do to avoid cholera. If asked what needs to be done to avoid getting cholera they will
answer “by boiling and drinking boiled water” (knowledge of methodology). The answer does not
constitute application of knowledge since some of these same people will not boil their drinking
water and as a result will get cholera. Application in this situation involves the actual boiling of
drinking water.

Observe people in your community and reflect on their actions and determine where
? to place them in the taxonomy above.

8.2.2 Critical thinking

Critical thinking includes thinking reflectively, and productively, and evaluating the evidence
(Santrock, 2004). In critical thinking one does not accept a proposed idea or make a judgment
without first deliberately doubting the proposition by thinking about the context and methods used
to reach it (i.e. preposition). Critical thinking occurs when one decides what to believe in, what
course of action to take, reflection on deciding what is credible or not, and evaluating between
what is false (or irrelevant) or based on true premises. So, according to Scriven and Paul (1996)
critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.
Critical thinking by students is characterized by questioning the information received, even from
the teacher. However, in many learning/teaching experiences in our schools, such as in setting and
marking of examinations; teachers‟ mental setup of not accepting alternative responses to their
questions and punishing incorrect responses (sometimes the responses are correct but labeled
incorrect by teachers); and curriculum demands, students are forced to give only one acceptable
response. Many textbooks in our schools, especially those geared at preparing students for national
examination have no component of engaging the reader into reflective thinking. This leads to
students being encouraged to memorize instead of being taught to develop critical thinking.

Critical thinking is crucial in instruction i.e. in teaching and learning. Without

critical thinking a teacher is less effective in teaching.

8.2.3 Developing students’ critical thinking

Teaching critical thinking skills should be a component in students‟ learning processes since they
will use them in making personal decisions in their lives and in addressing challenges facing the
society. The teacher is the most appropriate person to make students develop critical thinking.
Santrock (2004) in citing Perkins and Tishman (1997) suggested that teachers should include the
following skills in their teaching in order to develop critical thinking among students:
i. Open-mindedness. Encourage students to avoid narrow thinking by searching for different
opinions.
ii. Intellectual curiosity. This refers to tasks that require cognitive processes. Students should
be encouraged to wonder, probe, question, and inquire. This involves students deliberately
thinking about different aspects of the lesson and examining facts rather than just being
passive. There is nothing wrong with students discovering inconsistencies in the material
being presented and recognizing unstated assumptions.
iii. Planning and strategy. In some lessons involve students in developing plans, setting goals,
finding directions and in seeking solutions. They have to recognize problems/challenges, be
in the position to address them by gathering relevant information and organizing it to draw
conclusions and make generalizations.
iv. Intellectual carefulness. There is a tendency of students to leave the checking of their class
work on teachers. They believe they lack the ability to evaluate their work and think it is
only the teacher who can make the correct decisions on their performance. This state of
mind can be rectified by teachers encouraging students to check for inaccuracies and errors
in their intellectual work e.g. essays and responses. One has to evaluate conclusions and
generalizations that one has reached against relevant criteria and standards.

Furthermore Adsit, Ed. (1997) based on special issue of Teaching of Psychology 1995 Volume 22
on critical thinking identified the following strategies of teaching critical thinking:
i. Stressing the use of ongoing classroom assessment techniques. To give students tasks that
will facilitate and monitor students‟ critical thinking.
ii. Cooperative learning strategies. Put students in learning groups to foster critical thinking
when students actively participate in learning. In groups students develop the ability to
communicate effectively with others in discussing and finding solutions to complex
problems (Some teachers give a group of students a joint project). Students also get
feedback from group mates.
 iii. Case study/Discussion Method. Provide students with cases without conclusions for
discussion. This will allow students to form their own conclusions.
iv. Using Questions. Teachers should require students to construct questions on the lesson. In
groups students should ask questions to each other.

Identify and describe strategies that you will use to help students construct
questions that promote critical thinking.
?

8.3 PROBLEM SOLVING

One of the functions of thinking is to solve problems and address challenges that we encounter.
Encountering problems is part of human life. Some of the problems are quite simple while others
are very complex. Note that we all, teachers and students included, solve some of the problems
correctly but sometimes we fail. The point is that in this section you are only being made aware of
the processes involved in problem solving with the belief that we can develop and improve
strategies of solving problems. Problem solving means finding the best way or strategy for
reaching a goal; for example finding a cure for AIDS, raising people‟s awareness of the effects of
corruption or teaching students the best strategies of solving a problem. Problem solving is the
crucial component of humans‟ development.

Life without problems/challenges has never existed and never will. Life without
challenges is very boring!

As we saw above, sometimes we systematically use deductive or inductive reasoning in solving

some of the problems. Most psychologists believe that the following steps are engaged in problem
solving:
 i. Finding and defining the problem. Before one can embark on problem solving one must
recognize the problem. A student (or a teacher) who always comes to school late and does
not recognize this as a problem will not even start thinking about addressing it. After
recognition follows the understanding of the problem by defining it. Sometimes teachers
and students can recognize the problem but fail to understand it. To solve the problem
correctly one needs to understand the nature and the specific facts of the problem including
its causes. According to Feldman (1999) there are three kinds of problems, namely
arrangement problems requiring group of elements reorganized or rearranged to meet a
certain criteria; problems of inducing structure whereby one is needed to identify
relationships among existing elements with the goal of establishing new relationships; and
transformation problems which consist of changing the original state into the new goal
state. Only after understanding the problem then one can move on to the next stage.
ii. Problem presentation. This stage refers to the way we represent the problem to ourselves
by making it meaningful to ourselves. Problem solving is a personal internal process and
working for the solution depends on problem presentation. Presentation and organizing the
problem depends on the nature of the problem, some are complex while others are simple.
Also presentation can be in the form of various ways. One analyses the problem learning
about it, tries to see it in different perspectives, and goes beyond the surface of it. In some
cases one might use different sources for correct presentation. Students seek clarification
on the questions from the teacher.
iii. Formulating possible solutions. In this stage one generates possible solutions to the
problem. One thinks of as many solutions as possible. Creativity plays a great role
formulating solutions. In other incidences one has to consider similar previous problems
and recall how they were solved i.e. what is required is retrieving the solution from the
LTM. Algorithms are strategies based on using established formulas and instructions as
means of solutions. Automatically they generate correct solutions when used properly.
Trial and error is one of the possible solutions but as said earlier it is inefficient.
Subgoaling involve dividing the problem into intermediate stages, with the aim of solving
the stages sequentially until the final goal is achieved i.e. the solution to a problem. The
main determining factor here is appropriately identifying the stages in correct sequence
 since stages can, in some cases, be stumbling block in problem solving. In rare case an
insight can be a possible solution. Insight refers to a sudden awareness of the solution to a
problem. However insight depends on the previous experience with the elements involved
in the problem (Feldman, 1999). In rational thinking problem solving method one sets the
ideal situations; identifies current situation; makes a comparison of ideal situations and
current situation to identify the problem situation; breaks down the problem to its causes;
conceives the solution alternatives to the causes; and lastly before implementation evaluate
and choose the reasonable solution alternatives (Shibata, 1998).
iv. Evaluation of the solutions. This stage involves two steps. The first is to ensure that all
important factors are in the plan and each has the essence of the problem. It also evaluates
all the possible solutions by considering all the advantages and disadvantages of each
solution before the implementation of the plan. Sometimes modification is required. The
final step is to make evaluation if the strategies used were effective in achieving the goal.
Feedback from others or consequences of the solution form part of mechanism of
evaluation. A wrong answer implies that the strategies used are incorrect, and a right
answer implies that the strategies used are the appropriate ones.

Identify one problem you are currently facing and indicate at which stage you are, in
solving it.
?

8.3.1 Stumbling blocks to solving problems

It is common that although we have the ability of solving problems we do not come up with the
appropriate solutions. Now let us see some of the factors that hinder us from solving problems. It is
important to know about them so that we can avoid them and help our students to do the same too.

Santrock, (2004) based on studies identified the following obstacles:

 i. Lack of motivation. Even if one has the ability and strategies to solve problems one must
be motivated to use the strategies to solve problems. I have heard teachers telling their
students, “I know you can do this sum but you are intentionally not attempting it because
you are lazy or not interested!”
ii. Fixation. Sometimes we make wrong Problem presentation, ending up fixated at using a
particular strategy that previously worked in a problem that looks similar. This is the result
of not looking at the problem afresh to form appropriate problem presentation. Mental set is
a type of fixation whereby the individual fails to solve the problem because of having the
same view that worked in the past. In functional fixedness we are unable to solve a problem
because we view things in their normal use. The world and situations change and thus one
has to change his/her mind set to solve problems.
iii. Inadequate emotional control. Emotional aspects are essential in problem solving. Too
much anxiety can prevent one from concentrating on solving the problem. Remember test
anxiety undermines performance.

Feldman (1999) mentions the following factors in regard to inhibiting reasoning:

i. Distraction by irrelevant information. In problem solving it is essential to distinguish
between relevant and irrelevant information in the problem. Very often irrelevant
information leads one astray from reaching the solution.
ii. Belief bias. This is similar to fixation but different in that we abandon logical rules and
base strategy on our own personal beliefs. This happens when we start with a wrong
premise. Can you believe that some individuals kill people with albinism with the
expectation of solving business related problems? This strategy is based on a very wrong
premise.

8.4 CREATIVITY
Creativity is more than critical thinking. In many school problem situations students and their
teachers do focus on a logical way, including critical thinking, of coming to one specific expected
solution. However, in problem solving some individuals come up with creative solutions. What is
creativity? According to Harris (1998) creativity is the ability to imaging or to invent something
new, to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas. So, creativity
is more than just coming up with the correct solution in a logical format as in normal problem
solving methods; it has to show originality. Harris further notes that creativity is an attitude to
accept change, a flexibility of outlook and the habit of enjoying good work and looking for ways to
improve it; and that creativity is a process of working hard and continually improving ideas and
solutions by making alterations and refinement to the results.

It is very difficult to establish causes of creativity!

Creativity is found in all cultures, professions and in our daily encounters. There are several
theories that try to explain why some people are creative while others are not. Below are some of
the factors/characteristics that are associated with creativity (derived from a number of sources):
i. Divergent thinking. This is the ability to generate new possibilities, solutions and
inventions that are appropriate and correct as opposed to convergent thinking where one
comes up with a solution that is based on known knowledge (Guilford, 1967). So, a
creative student will come up with several answers whereas for the same question other
students will all have one similar answer.
ii. Positive attitude. According to Harris (1998) creative people are curious to know things
just for the sake of knowing. They also, constructively challenge existing
ideas/assumptions and beliefs that most problems can be solved. They persevere on solving
problems since they believe that there is no quick answer to a problem. Mistakes are
welcomed and failure is taken as an opportunity that something needs to be done. In short,
creative people have the sense that they can do it.
iii. Willingness to take risk. Creative people are willing to risk in the venture that may bring
high payoffs (Sternberg and Lubart, 1996). They believe that in the long run other people
will find their ideas and inventions valuable. They have the ability to suspend judgment
 when new ideas come rather than condemning the results outright looking for what is good
in outcomes that may seem bad.

8.4.1 Fostering students’ creativity

Although in the above paragraphs we said it is difficult to determine the causes of creativity, it is
quite possible to teach your students to be more creative than they really are. We say “more
creative” since students have elements of creativity that they utilize in their normal encounters
outside the classroom setting. Based on different sources the following are strategies for fostering
creativity among students:
i. Encourage students to think divergently. Students do not have to follow the same sequence
in problem solving but rather be encouraged to think in other ways and generate as many
appropriate solutions as possible.

Nickerson (1998) proposes that the teacher should create conditions that are:
i. Building basic skills. Basic learning skills are essential for critical thinking and more so for
creativity. These skills are fundamental in creativity since lacking them leads to deficiency
in learning processes in classroom setting.
ii. Stimulating and reward curiosity and exploration. Students have natural curiosity that
needs to be nurtured by giving work that stimulates generations of new ideas as opposed to
questions that require only specific answers.
iii. Building intrinsic motivation. Students should enjoy looking for answers for quenching
their curiosity rather than on getting external rewards. Learning need not be based on
being watched by the teacher.
iv. Promoting supportable beliefs about creativity. Teachers should avoid over controlling
students based on dictating what is expected of them or ridiculing their responses.
Criticizing students‟ work diminishes creativity. Students need to be flexible in responding
to challenges.
v. Encouraging confidence and a willingness to take risks. Students should have the sense of
“I can do it” and be willing to attempt without fear of failure or punishment. Incorrect
answers are used to preserve until one is successful.
vi. Teaching techniques and strategies for facilitating creative performance. Teachers have to
create conditions that lead students to develop self-mechanisms that sustain creativity.
This includes redefining problems or considering the opposite of how they understand
things.

Make a list of strategies you can use to make yourself more creative.

?
This lecture focused on the thinking processes, critical thinking, stages used in
problem solving and creativity. Also we looked at factors that may hinder thinking and
interfere with reasoning and problem solving. The last part was on the means a teacher
can use to foster critical thinking and creativity among his/her students.
Adsit, K. Ed. (1997). What is Critical Thinking? Grayson H. Walker Teaching
Resource Center. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Biehler, R. & Snowman, J. (1982). Psychology Applied to Teaching (4Ed.). Houghton

Mifflin Company, Boston.

Bloom, B. (Ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook 1: Cognitive

Domain. New York; McKay.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F. (2000).
Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning. McGraw-Hill
Higher Education, New York, USA.

Feldman, R.S. (1999). Understanding Psychology (5th Ed.) McGraw-Hill College Inc.
Guilford, J. P. (1967). The Structure of the Intellect. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Harris, R. (1998). Introduction to Creative Thinking. VirtualSalt Home.

www.virtualsalt.com

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology, (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA

Scriven, M. & Paul, R. (1996). Defining critical thinking: A draft statement for the
National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking.
Http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/univlibrary/library.nelk
 Shibata, H. (1998).Problem Solving: Definition, terminology, and patterns. Copy
rights H. Shibata.

Sternberg R. J. & Lubart, T. I. (1996). Investing in Creativity. American Psychologists,

51, 677-688.

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to verify
? your accurateness.

LECTURE NINE
INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS AND NEEDS

9.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous lectures there is an assumption that all students are similar. Students in one class
may appear similar but we all know that there are variations in some of their aspects. Even
children of the same age differ in terms of their height, weight and mental ability. Many students
will be of average height, weight and mental abilities, but a few of them will be in the extremes of
the normal. In this lectures we focus on students‟ variations on some of the factors that have an
influence on learning in school namely intelligence, learning skills and personality.

One individual can be of average weight but be shorter/taller than his/her age mates.
 Observe students of the same age and then describe the variations among them that are
obvious to you.
?

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Describe variations in intelligence;
ii. Identify and compare learning and thinking skills;
i. Describe variations in personality and temperament;
ii. Explain what at-risk students are and describe the prevention programs that
serve students at-risk and;
iii. Summarize the effectiveness of various individualized instruction programs.

9.2 VARIATIONS IN INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is one of the most difficult terms to define since we know that it is there but we cannot
touch it. It is safe to say that psychologists know that intelligence is a function of the brain.
Beyond that even very intelligent psychologists cannot have one acceptable description of
intelligence. It is an abstract concept that is not directly observable and it is too broad to have one
definition that encompasses all of its aspects and be accepted by all. Intelligence is associated with,
but definitely not restricted to, problem solving skills, learning, and the ability to adapt to new
experiences.

Psychologists have been debating if intelligence is a single general ability applicable in different
situations or a variety of abilities of which each applies in a specific situation. So, there are
different approaches in discussing the nature of intelligence. In psychometric approach
intelligence is seen as a general factor (Described by Charles Spearman, 1863-1945) and specific
abilities such as verbal, analytical and spatial reasoning. Currently this approach is known as
cognitive process as it focuses on thought processes relating to mental functions. The general
intelligence enables us to operate in different situations either by using a single specific ability or
in a combination of several specific abilities. These abilities are not of the same measure i.e. one
ability may stand out more than the others. An individual may have greater verbal ability relative
to spatial ability. This perspective can be demonstrated by the performance of students in a
classroom. Some students have an overall high/poor performance in all subjects however the
performance is not the same in all subjects. In some subjects s/he has a higher/lower grade relative
to other courses. Thus a student performance in a subject depends on his/her general intelligence
and specific abilities as related to that subject.

On the other extreme of describing intelligence Howard Gardner advocates that we have multiple
intelligences that are independent of each other rather than one single intelligence (Gardner, 1993).
Among the aptitudes he identified are verbal, mathematical, those for music, spatially analyzing
the visual world and for mastering movement skills. Sternberg (1994) postulated the Triarchic
Theory which hypothesize intelligence as comprised of three separate but interrelated abilities,
namely analytical ability for solving familiar problems based on analyzing, evaluating, judging,
making comparison and contrasting the elements of the problem, creative ability for solving new
problems by creating, inventing, discovering, and imaging the elements of the problem and
practical ability of applying, utilizing, implementing, and activating what we know in solving
problem we encounter in our everyday contexts. People are not always equally endowed in all the
abilities but intelligent people effectively exploit the abilities they have by capitalizing on the
stronger abilities and knowing how to compensate for the weak ones. Hunt (1995) says human
intellectual competence is divided into three dimensions, namely fluid intelligence i.e. the ability
to develop techniques for solving problems that are new or unusual to the solver; crystallized
intelligence i.e. the ability to use previously acquired methods in solving current problems); and
visual-spatial reasoning, specialized ability to use visual images and visual relationships in
problem solving. The central point in all these perspectives of intelligence is that it is very much
involved in solving problems.

We are going to live with different perspectives of intelligence for a long time.
However, these perspectives have no impact on the significance of intelligence on
human activities.

9.2.1 Intelligence tests

Many countries have individual intelligence tests that identify individuals‟ level of intelligence. In
the school setting these tests are used to predict ability to learn a specific skill. Also the results are
used in making decisions about a student placement in the context of special education. Here we
are going to mention a few. Stanford-Benet is a test developed by Alfred Benet in France and
latter on revised at Stanford University in USA. Benet compared the level of mental development
of an individual child relative to other children in the same developmental stage. If the score was
above that of the majority in the same stage then one is more intelligent. If the score is lower than
the majority then s/he is less intelligent and if his/her score was more or less equal to that of the
majority then s/he was classified as of average intelligence. In the current Stanford-Benet test the
scores of all people together reflect the normal distribution i.e. the majority of the scores are in the
middle range while few scores are in the extremes. Another popular test is The Wechsler Scales
developed by David Wechsler in USA. There are three versions, namely Wechsler Preschool and
Primary Scale of Intelligence for children 4-6.5 years of age; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
children for children 6-16 years and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale for adults above 16.

The worthiness of intelligence tests depends on the user. The score can be used to place the student
in the most appropriate conditions for his/her effective learning. However, in the hands of a wrong
person it can lead to undermining the student‟s academic performance and at worse be used to
abuse the individual. Only experts should be allowed to interpret the results and make
recommendations on the action to take.

There is a controversy among educationists on whether intelligence tests are useful or

not.

There are controversial issues in regard to intelligence test. One of them is the nature-nurture
issue. On one side some say nature i.e. biological inheritance has more influence on the
development of intelligence than that of nurture, i.e. environmental experiences. They believe that
intelligence is determined by genetic factors and the environment has little influence. Those on the
other side claim that environmental experiences rather than inheritance have greater influence on
the development of intelligence. Both heredity and environment contribute to intelligence and both
interact in various ways. Currently most psychologists believe that nurture has more influence on
the development of intelligence than those on the nature proclaim. Another issue is the influence of
culture and ethnicity on the students‟ performance on intelligence tests. This is a controversy in
countries with students of different ethnicity in their school systems such as USA. This issue is
also to some degree related to the nature-nurture controversy. When debating this issue one has to
take into consideration that intelligence tests are geared towards students in western countries, and
mostly to children raised in the middle class and living in urban areas. What we believe is that
genetic factors and environmental factors have influence on intelligence development and as such
teachers have some role to play in enhancing students‟ intelligence development since they are part
of the environment.

Up to now the tests developed in western countries are not appropriate for children in
the African context.

As implied by the different perspectives of intelligence and the intelligence tests there are
variations in the level of intelligence among students and in other aspects related to intelligence.
Also in our normal encounters we observe that some of the human behaviours and responses
indicate variations in intelligence. This can be inferred from behaviours of humans in different
locations and of different cultures. Among them, solutions are related to problem solving and
creativity. Thus, we believe that there are students who are more intelligent or bright students
while others are less intelligent or dull. In our school system we have in one extreme students who
are mentally retarded and in the other extreme the gifted ones who will be discussed in the
following lecture. Most students in primary schools are in between these two extremes. However,
due to screening done when selecting students who proceed to secondary schools we can safely
state that students at this level are those average or above average.
Also in one individual student we observe varying levels in abilities related to intelligence. A
student can be performing better in verbal tasks and less so in numerical tasks or the other way
round. The above imply that a teacher, in planning and teaching, has to put into considerations the
variations among students in the class as well as ability variations in individual student‟s
intelligence.

Do you really need an IQ test to know your level of intelligence? How will you feel
if you discovered that your IQ is lower/higher than you expected.
?
9.3 VARIATIONS IN LEARNING AND THINKING STYLES
In the above section we saw that intelligence is a significant component in learning and thinking.
We are aware that there are several ways of learning and one poses a number of these techniques.
Teachers know that students differ in the way they learn school material. Learning and thinking
styles refer to the mechanisms/skills of utilizing one‟s intelligence i.e. a student‟s preferred way of
learning. Knowing these various styles of learning will help you to be aware of the different
learning ways of which individual students in the class approach your teaching. So, you should
expect wide variations of learning styles in your class and also be in the position to know the
reasons as to why students give different responses to the same learning requirement.
Consequently your teaching and perception of your students will take into consideration the
various styles of learning.

As mentioned earlier some of the students use divergent thinking while others use convergent
thinking in problem solving. Kagan (1964) found that some students are impulsive i.e. quick in
giving the first answer that comes into their mind) while others are reflective i.e. take time to
respond as a result of evaluating alternative answers so before deciding the correct answer.
According to Santrock (2004) impulsive students tend to do well in remembering structured
information; reading comprehension and text instructions; and in problem solving and decision
making. Reflective students are better in setting their own learning goals and in concentrating on
relevant information, and have high standard of performance. Jerome Kagan also identified
analytical styles i.e. tending to focus on details and thematic styles i.e. view the pattern as whole.
Other styles identified include deep style i.e. try to understanding the meaning of the material by
actively constructing and giving meaning to what they want to remember and surface style i.e.
passive learners and only interested to know what needs to be learned (Marton et. al. 1984).
Students who approach learning in deep style have intrinsic motivation while those using surface
style are extrinsically motivated. Categorizing a student into a certain style does not imply s/he
uses that style in all situations. A student may use deep style in one subject and surface style in
another subject.

Always intend to help your students in their learning to be reflective, and use deep
style.

Make a reflection on how you approach learning and determine in which of the above
category you mostly fit.
?

9.4 VARIATIONS IN PERSONALITY AND TEMPERAMENT

According to Zastrow and Krist-Asman (2004) personality is the complex cluster of mental,
emotional, and behavioural characteristics that distinguishes a person as an individual.
Personality has enduring characteristics that make each of us a unique person. It is a result of the
person‟s experiences as s/he develops taking into account many internal and external factors. It is
has dimensions. However psychologists have identified and grouped these dimensions of
personality into the “big five” factors of personality (Santrock, 2004). These broad identified
personality dimensions are:
i. Openness. Whether one is imaginative or practical; interested in variety or routine;
independent or conforming; and shallow or original.
ii. Conscientiousness. Whether one is organized or disorganized; careful or careless;
irresponsible or efficient; and disciplined or impulsive.
iii. Extraversion. Whether one is sociable or retiring; fun-loving or somber; quiet or talkative;
and affective or reserved.
 iv. Agreeableness. Whether one is softhearted or ruthless; trusting or suspicious; quarrelsome
or affectionate; and helpful or uncooperative.
v. Neuroticism (emotional stability). Whether one is calm or anxious; secure or insecure; and
self-satisfied or self-pitying.

In your class you will have students of the above personality traits. In classroom learning
interactions these types will be manifested by students, e.g. in the same conditions some students
will be anxious while others will be calm; some will be trusting while others will be suspicious.
Bear in mind that an individual does not portray the same traits in all conditions. S/he might be
anxious in one condition and calm in a different condition. Santrock, (2004) says that the best way
to characterize a student‟s personality is in terms of his/her traits and situation involved. As a
teacher you need to know the personalities of your students so that you understand their reactions,
avoid creating conditions that lead to negative aspects of students‟ personality, and be in position
to encourage the reactions or help the student to cope with the prevailing conditions.

Personality encompasses all aspects of the individual and has wide variations among
your students. It is impossible to have two students of exactly the same personality in
one classroom. Handle each as a unique human being.

Temperament is a person‟s characteristic way of approaching and reacting to people and

situations, is the how they manifest behaviour and not what people do, but how they go about
doing it (Papalia et. al., 2001). It is believed people exhibit temperaments just after birth.

Based on the longitudinal study on temperament Thomas, Birch and Chess (1968) categorised
individual into three groups, namely:
i. Easy children. These are children with a generally happy temperament, regular biological
rhythms, and readiness to accept new experiences. Most of the time they are cheerful,
calm, eat and sleep at regular times. In school setting they are in positive mood, adapt
quickly to new experiences, routines and rules; and accept frustrations with little fuss.
 ii. Difficult children. These are children with irritable temperament, irregular biological
rhythms, and intense emotional responses. They cry most of time for no apparent reasons,
have difficulties to sleep, harder to please and see new people and experiences as
threatening. In school setting they are slow to adapt to new routines and rules; and react to
frustrations with bad temper and such puts them at risk for problem.
iii. Slow-to-warm-children. These are children whose temperament is generally mild but who
are hesitant about accepting new experiences. Compared to easy children they take longer
time to adapt to new people and experiences. In school setting they respond slowly to new
situations and display low intensity of mood.

Temperament seems to be relatively stable through one‟s development. As a teacher you will have
a class of students with these types of temperaments. Remember that not all students fit exactly in
these three groups. Also the characteristics of one student do not apply in all situations and at all
times. A student can exhibit easy child characteristics in one situation and easy-to-warm
characteristics in another condition. So, it is very challenging dealing to students in relation to their
various temperaments. It is important for a teacher to be aware of the temperament of each student
in the class.

Santrock (2004) in citing several sources advance the following teaching strategies in regard to
students‟ temperaments:
i. Show attention to and respect for individuality. Sensitivity is highly needed in detecting
the temperament of individual student and the overall temperament of the class. Being
insensitive to some students may lead to chaos and misunderstandings in the class
consequently affecting learning of all students including the easy children.
ii. Consider the structure of the students‟ environment. Difficult children have problems in a
crowded class or in frustrating situations.
iii. Be aware of problems that can emerge by labeling a child as “difficult”. Some teachers
focus too much on students they believe are difficult and sometimes by actually telling
them they are difficult and expecting trouble from them. This may lead to student
believing that s/he is difficult and act in the expected manner.
9.5 At-risk students
Who are at-risk students? For some Tanzanians this might be a new term. Up to now we have
observed that there are quite a number of factors, both internal and external to the students that
lead to student‟s poor performance. The next lecture focuses on exceptional students needing
special education. However, there are students who do not fall into this category of needing
special education since they do not have any disability but are in danger of underperforming
academically or have a high probability of dropping out of school. Donnelly (1987) points out that,
at-risk students are students who are not experiencing success in school and are a potential
dropout. Also it includes students who are in danger of failing to complete their education with
adequate levels of academic skills (Slavin and Madden, 1989). Students in this group come from
low socioeconomic families, of parents with low level of education, broken families, and orphans.
It is now common to see street children in our cities, hear about child labour, students engaging in
petty business or prostitution to supplement family income. Most of these students are supposed to
be in school learning but their school attendance is very low and concentration as well as
participation on school learning is minimal leading to poor performance. In many circumstances
they lag behind their fellow students in academic progress and low expectations from teachers and
society undermines their self-esteem and expectations. In short, experiences in school for them
bring negative feelings.

It is a difficult to identify students at-risk, and one should exercise caution. The following are some
of the characteristics of students at-risk from different sources:
i. Avoid labeling these students and be aware that some of them may be getting inadequate
diet, lack access to medical services and have limited exposure to matters related to
education. It is inappropriate to condemn these students due to their existing conditions
based on how we approach them in the teaching processes.
ii. Low grades. Low scores are indicators that a student is experiencing problems. This can be
in the form of having low scores at the beginning of the year or scores declining as
academic year progresses. They are low achievers who exhibit low self-esteem (Donnelly,
1987). A conversation with the students may indicate the source(s) of the low performance.
 The reasons are numerous and some can be complex. However, if left unaddressed it may
lead to more problems and putting the student at risk of not participating in learning
activities.
iii. Lack of participation in school activities. Students at-risk tend not to participate in school
activities and have minimal identification with the school (Donnelly, 1987).
iv. Lateness or absenteeism. If a student is always late or s/he is not attending class regularly
it is an indication of a problem. Have a conversation with the student to find out the reasons
for missing classes.
v. Disciplinary problems. They may exhibit impulsive behaviour and have problematic
relationship with peers (Donnelly, 1987).
vi. Drug addiction and pregnancies. These are definite indicators of students at-risk.
vii. Family problems. If there are problems in the family of the student they may affect his/her
attendance and performance.
viii. Disruptive behaviour. If a student is being too disruptive in the class it is the opportune
time to seek the causes of this behaviour. One has to be careful with these students since
they can also adversely affect other students.
ix. Disadvantaged students with low aspirations. These are students from groups in the society
that are considered as disadvantaged i.e. students whose society does not expose them to
education offered in the country‟s educational system. Disadvantaged students include
those raised in nomadic tribes; girls in societies that consider educating women as against
their traditions or is a wastage of resources; students in low economic-status communities
that do not offer basic needs to their children; and children whose parents have low
expectations on their children. In some countries there are communities that deliberately
discourage girls from participating in school learning. If you detect a child from such
background with low aspirations in education coupled with the expectations of not being a
professional then this is a student at-risk (Biehler and Snowman, 1982).

The above characteristics are not exhaustive. Some of the students may be at-risk but not
manifesting any of the above characteristics. As a teacher you are challenged to know all your
students individually. This is a daunting task since some of the classes are overcrowded with
students and the learning resources are limited.

In your community identify students at-risk and establish the causes that lead them
to this situation. Identify programmes that address educational needs of children at-
?risk in your country.

In addressing students at-risk you are advised to do the following:

i. Be alert. Training on identifying symptoms of students at-risk is needed. Your numerous
encounters with students put you in a position to be the first one in the community to
recognize students at-risk. Brushing off some of the characteristics can lead to more
problems. It is common knowledge that some teachers are quick in punishing students who
fall out of school regulations because they are not aware of the concept of students at-risk.
ii. Identify students at-risk as early as possible. Early detection facilitates early intervention
and so lowering the risks of not participating in learning activities.
iii. Continually monitor progress of your students. Situations that may lead to being at-risk
arise during student life in school. The author is aware of students losing parents and
sudden family problems like parents‟ divorces or becoming unemployed that affect
students‟ life and consequently putting them at-risk.
iv. Have a positive attitude towards students at-risk. Avoid making students at-risk feeling
alienated from you and other teachers. As a teacher create an atmosphere that make
students at-risk feel at ease with you. Make them believe that you have high expectations
on them controlling their destiny or coping with the problem while actively participating in
school activities. The student at-risk should be encouraged to participate in school
activities.
v. Involve school administrators. A school should act as a unit in addressing problems facing
a student at-risk. You should also work in consultation with school counselors.
vi. Involve parents/guardians. Parents and the community have a bearing on a student life that
may lead him/her being at-risk. They are also involved on the education of the student and
 have the right to be involved on such important matters and solutions relating to school
learning because some school learning like homework take place at home. With parents
and other members in the society you can control situations that lead to students being at-
risk and also create conditions that facilitate effectively learning to students in the
community.
vii. Prevention programmes. Identify programmes that are effective in helping at-risk students.
Donnelly (1987) suggest that you look for programmes that are involved in broad range of
special services to help at-risk students; programmes that are intensive and provide students
personal contact with a qualified, caring staff, and woks in collaboration with
administrators, parents, teachers, and supporting staff to provide at-risk students a climate
in which they are able to become successful.

9.6 INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION

Due to variations of learners sometimes it is possible to have instruction based on unique
characteristics of the student. Individualized instruction is a method of instruction in which the
content, instructional material, instructional media, and pace of learning are based on the abilities
and interests of each learner (Wikipedia, retrieved June 2011). After analyzing several other
definitions Salser (2001) defined it as a method of managing the instructional process without
requiring live lectures from teachers. Thus individualized instruction is based on an individual‟s
unique learning style and instruction tailored to fit a student‟s educational needs. With the
advancement in computers and information technology the potential for individualized instruction
has increased tremendously. Computer-Assisted Instruction uses the computer and the prevailing
electronic environment to improve the design and delivery of individualized instruction.

The curriculum for individualized programme has to take into account the following aspects:
i. Pace. This is the amount of time given to a student to learn the content. Time to be spent
on learning the material can either be controlled by the teacher in one extreme or by the
student in the other extreme. Most of the students in Open and Distance learning have
great control of the pace of learning.
ii. Method. This refers to the structure of instruction and how it should be managed. The
method selected depends on how learning takes place. There are several theories and
approaches of learning and the teachers have to choose the principles and theories that are
appropriate to individual learners‟ characteristics.
iii. Content. This is the material to be learned. The materials can be uniform to all students;
however, high-achieving students can define their own objectives and pursue learning
depending on their own interests.

Go through the school curricula of your country and identify the means suggested for
identifying student variations and recommendations on how to handle a class with
? these variations.

This lecture looked variations among students in the same classroom; variations in
intelligence, variations in learning and thinking styles,variations in personality and
temperament. Suggestions on how to accommodate students with various
differences were advanced.

Biehler, R. & Snowman, J. (1982). Psychology Applied to Teaching (4Ed.).

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

Donnelly, M. (1987). At-Risk Students. ERIC Digest Series Number 21. ERIC
Clearinghouse on Educational Management Eugene OR.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 4

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple Intelligences: the Theory in Practice. New York:

Basic Books.

Hunt, E. (1995). The Role of Intelligence in Modern Society. The American

Scientist.

Kagan, J. (1964). Impulsive and reflective children. In J.D. Krumbtz (Ed). Learning
and the Educational Processes. Chicago: Rand McNally.

Marton, F., Hounsell, D. & Entwistle, N. (1984). The Experience of Learning.

 Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

Papalia, D., Olds, S. W. & Feldman, R. D. (2001). Human Development (8th Ed).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, USA

Salser, M. (2001). What is Individualized Instruction? Education Research

Associates, Inc. Portland, Oregon.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology, (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 4

Sternberg, R. (1994). In Search of Human Mind. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Zastrow, C. & Krist-Asman, K. (2004). Understanding Human Behaviour and

Social Environment. Thomson Brooks/Cole

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
verify your accurateness.
?
 LECTURE TEN
EXCEPTIONAL LEARNERS

10.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous lecture we looked at individual variations among students considered to be normal.
The teacher can address these variations in normal class and within his/her repertoire. This lecture
focuses on exceptional learners. In any society there are children who cannot function properly in
normal conditions as normal children do.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Explain what is meant by exceptional students.
ii. distinguish the terms handicap and disability,
iii. List the characteristics of students with learning disabilities.
iv. Describe the teacher's role in dealing with students with disabilities
v. List the characteristics of gifted and talented children.
vi. Critically evaluate the concept and practice of inclusion.

10.2 DEFINITION OF EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS

Exceptional students include learners with disabilities and those classified as gifted and talented.
The next question is what a disability is and why gifted and talented students are classified as
exceptional students. Disability is defined as limitation on individual functioning that restricts the
individual‟s ability. Currently it is acknowledged to say students with disabilities rather than
disabled students. This acknowledgement is based on the fact that the second one is on specific
conditions rather than implying the individual is disabled to function in any condition.
Another term confused with disability is handicap which is impediment imposed on a person with
disability. In many public areas in Tanzania the toilets are built without considering the conditions
of persons with physical disability, so these toilets are a handicap to such people. It is not proper to
address people with disabilities as handicap. It is expected that the society will minimize or
eliminate conditions that make people with disabilities be handicapped.

Before categorising a student as having a disability, one has to assess the functioning ability of the
respective student before determine it as less than normal. The main functioning areas assessed are
social, emotional, physical, learning and communication. Also it is crucial to identify handicapping
conditions that adversely prevent a student with disability to function at the same as other normal
students. A normal teacher can observe without any special aid some of the characteristics of a
student with disability. However, only a specialist can determine the level of the disability and
provide recommendations on plan of action to help the student.

It is imperative to know that one same condition of disability is characterized at different levels of
severity. Each level has corresponding effect on the respective student and as such requiring
specific educational needs. Lamping students with similar disability in the same category and
treating them the same may lead to more complications instead of assistance.

There are number of disabilities each with its own characteristics, each being caused by a number
of factors. Here we discuss some of them briefly starting with the sensory disorders i.e. related to
seeing and hearing:

10.2.1 Blindness and Visual Impairments

These are students who are legally blind (can‟t see at all) and those with mild vision problem that
has not yet being corrected or still have vision problems even with correction. Characteristics of
visual impairments including holding books very close to eyes, difficulty in reading small prints,
rubbing eyes frequently, red or inflamed eyes, watery eyes, headaches and complaints related to
vision.
As a teacher you refer such students to eye specialists for diagnosis purposes and also for
corrective measures; and most will be helped. For students with low vision sitting in front of the
class can be of help. A student determined as blind cannot access materials needing vision and can
be referred to schools which can cater for his/her condition. Also students with good vision can
read to the students with visual impairments.

Determine how children with visual impairment in your community are assisted to
? access education.

10.2.2 Deaf and Hearing Impairments

Deaf students cannot process information through hearing even with aid of amplifying devices.
Hearing impairment is less severe than deafness but yet it adversely affects student performance
related to hearing. These students find it very difficult (impossible for the deaf) to hear
conversations in the class. Also children with this condition may also have speech disorders. (I
believe you know that one first hears the word then imitates to pronounce it or use it in thinking
process). In class they have difficulty following oral presentations and directions, turn head and
lean towards the speaker, use speech sounds poorly, not responding when called from behind, and
complaints about earaches, ear infections or have ear discharge (Ysseldyke and Algozzine, 1995).

Once you suspect a student has hearing impairment, seek professional help to determine the
problem and advice on corrective measures. Santrock (2004) points some of the teaching strategies
for students with hearing impairment, namely:
i. Be patient.
ii. Speak normally, not too fast or too slow.
iii. Speak distinctively rather than shouting.
iv. Reduce distractions and background noise.
v. Face the student when talking to him/her since they need to read your lips and gestures.
10.2.3 Physical impairments
Physical impairments refer to conditions of the central nervous system and other body systems that
adversely affect student‟s participation in academic activities. They include a number of disorders.
Orthopedic impairments have conditions that impede movement and control of muscle and skeletal
movements. Students with cerebral palsy lack control of muscular coordination, shaking and have
unclear speech. Epilepsy disorder is characterized by frequent sensorimotor and movement attacks.
The frequency and duration of epilepsy attack varies among students affected.

Some of physical impairments require special services such as wheelchairs for movements. As a
teacher you should arrange the class to improve movement. Also you have to be in position to
influence the construction of structures that are friendly to students with physical impairments.

List down strategies you will use to make changes in schools in your community that
? will make it friendlier to students with physical impairments.

10.2.4 Speech and/or Language Disorders

Remember that in learning a student has to communicate his/her ideas to teachers and others. In
language learning course one must develop the oral aspect of the language. So speech and
language disorders refer to disabilities related to communication functions of speech and language.
They include stuttering, problems in articulation and voice. Also they refer to receptive disorders
whereby a student lacks the ability to process incoming audio messages. On the other hand there
are students with expressive disorder i.e. inability to use language to express one self. Expressive
disorders can be inform of articulation disorder (problem in pronouncing sounds); voice disorders
(producing speech that is too high-pitched, too low-pitched, hoarse, or harsh); and fluency
disorders (stuttering). All these conditions will experience difficulties in communication.

Santrock (2004) suggests the following strategies for working with students with receptive or oral
expressive language disorders:
  Use multisensory approach to learning rather than an oral approach alone. Always
supplement oral information with written materials and directives.
 Monitor the speed with which you present information. Slow down and go back to check
with the student for understanding.
 Give them much time to respond, as much as ten to fifteen seconds.
 Provide concrete, specific examples of abstract concepts.

For an oral expressive disorder he suggests:

 Giving the student plenty of time to respond.
 Recognize that the student has trouble responding orally. So consider asking the student to
do written work rather than oral report.
 Provide choices or give the student initial sound in word-finding problems.
 Let the student know ahead of time what question might be asked so that s/he can have
enough time to prepare an answer.

It may take time to recognize students with speech impairments in classroom setting
since some may not speak at all.

10.2.5 Behaviour disorders

Behaviour disorders are also known as conduct disorders. This is a broad category referring to
students with persistent behavioural difficulties that adversely affect their education. These
problems include aggression by being physically abusive of others and destroying their properties,
difficult in maintaining relationships with teachers and peers, tendency to have anxiety associated
with school problems, depression and inappropriate behaviour in normal situations. Furthermore
they show lack of feeling guilty and tend to blame other students for the troubles they create. Since
students with this disorder display these behaviours consistently they cause great disruption to
teachers and other students in the class.
Schreiner (2008) identified the following effective strategies for students with emotional and
behavioural disorders. I have included Watson (2011) suggestions that concur with Schreiner‟s.:
 Help students to overcome their emotional problems to achieve academic success. They
have to learn and develop skills to control their mood and to think before they act. Seek
from the student about his/her strengths, weaknesses and goals. Involve the student in
setting academic and personal goals; provide opportunities for the student to use self-
control/self monitoring; and teach self talk to relieve stress and anxiety (Watson, 2011).
 Acknowledge the problem. Take the student aside and discuss his/her disability and allow
him/her to explain how s/he if affected by it. This will make the student feel s/he is valued
by the teacher and that you have recognized the problem. Also, develop consistent
behaviour expectations and set limits and boundaries (Watson, 2011).
 Create a silent signal. Work out means of silently communicating with the student so that
you do not have to call him/her in front of others. Avoid confrontations and power
struggles; and establish cues as reminders for inappropriate behaviour (Watson, 2011).
 Reward frequently. To avoid making these students angry easily when corrected reward
them instead of punishing whenever possible. In developing his/her self-esteem you reward
more than you punish. Also give frequent feedback and acknowledge and reinforce
acceptable behavior so that they see their efforts are appreciated (Watson, 2011).

Watson, (2011) also has the following strategies:

 Develop consistent behaviour expectations. In setting your expectation you should
acknowledge that students with behavioral disorders cannot change for success
immediately, so work on gradual overall improvement. Be patient, sensitive, a good
listener and consistent in treating your student.
 Communicate with parents and others teachers so that strategies are consistent at home
and school. The disruptive behaviour displayed in your class is also displayed at home and
in other classes.
 Apply established consequences immediately, fairly and consistently. The student should
know what is expected of him/her.
 Remain calm and aware of body language when addressing the student.
 There is a difference between normal adolescent behaviour and conduct disorder.

Determine if there are students with conduct disorders in schools in your

?community. What help is available to remedy their conditions.

10.2.6 Mental retardation

This is generalized disorder associated with impaired cognitive functioning. Students with this
disorder show low level of intelligence (IQ score of less than 70). As expected, with this level of
intelligence they have difficulties in learning in school settings and are unlikely to be selected for
secondary school education. Also included in this group are students with deficit in adaptive
behaviours that are indicative of problem with mental functioning. They cannot conduct things that
normal students take for granted i.e. they have difficulty in such simple things like dressing,
feeding and self control.

Mental retardation is classified into four categories, namely:

vi. Mild mental retardation. IQ range of 55-70.
vii. Moderate retardation. IQ range of 40-55
viii. Severe. IQ range of 25-39
ix. Profound mental retardation. IQ below 25.

Students with mild mental retardation can be expected to develop basic academic skills in ordinary
schools. However they have problems in regard to attention and cognitive processes related to
organization, classification and strategies, memory, transfer to new tasks and are vulnerable to
distractibility (Elliot, 2000). Those in the other categories require professional help.
Santrock (2004) identified the following strategies of interacting with students with mental
retardation:
 Always keep in mind the child‟s level of mental functioning. Their performance in
academic matters is below that of normal students in the class.
 Individualize your instruction to meet the student‟s needs.
 Give concrete examples of concepts. Teaching should be clear and simple.
 Give these students opportunities to practice what they have learned.
 Be sensitive to the student‟s self-esteem.
 Have positive expectations for the student‟s learning.
 Put into consideration student‟s other needs, and help him/her in improving self-
maintenance and social skills.
 Involve parents as equal partners in student‟s education.
 Also avoid placing them in situation where they can be frustrated.

10.2.6 Multiple impairments

Refer to a condition whereby one has a combination of several disabilities that adversely affect
learning process. There students who are dumb because of being deaf; others are mentally retarded
and blind. If you have students with multiple impairments seek advice from a specialist.

Find out if there are specialists for determining multiple impairments in your area.
?

10.2.7 Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities (LD) are among those concepts that are very difficult to come up with one
definition that applies to all conditions associated with it. Visser (2000) gave five different
definitions of LD and Elliot at al. (2000) points out that there are more than eleven definitions.
While mental retardation is related to cognitive functions while learning disabilities are associated
with disorders in which a student has a difficulty in learning in a normal manner. According to
Lerner (2003) a student with LD does not have mental retardation, behavior disorders or other
major disabilities but still the student has difficulty with processing skills such as memory, visual
perception, auditory perception, or thinking; and a result has trouble achieving in at least one
subject such as reading, math‟s or writing.

Visser (2000) identified among others the following definition as used by United State office of
Education “the term „specific learning disability‟ means a disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which
may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical
calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal
brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who
have learning disabilities which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps, or
mental retardation, or emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantage. This definition implies that LD includes several disorders associated with learning
but the factors that lead to them (LD) are still unknown. So, students with LD will have difficulties
in learning and they will not learn as quickly as students not affected by LD.
From the responsible people in your country get the operating definition of learning
disability. How are the students with learning disabilities identified?
?
Characteristics of students with learning disabilities as cited by Elliot et al. (2000) include:
 Discrepancy. In definition of LD students with mental retardation are excluded. This
implies that students with LD have normal or above normal levels of IQ. To be categorised
as having LD there must be a difference between what a student is able to do and what
actually s/he is doing. There is discrepancy between ability and level of performance.
 Deficit. This is indicated by LD student being unable to develop academic skills that other
students have. Some of the skills LD can perform include listening, reading and doing
arithmetic.
  Focus. The student‟s problem is centered on one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in processing in using or understanding language.
 Exclusions. LD is not direct result of poor vision or hearing, disadvantaged, or cognitive
disabilities, but these students still cannot learn. Once the cause of the problem is
determined the student cannot be categorised as having LD.

Teachers may use the following strategies that are considered successful for teaching students with
learning disabilities:
 When preparing lesson put into consideration the needs of a student with LD. S/he will
need more time to complete assignments and other tasks.
 Break learning into small steps. Make modifications when teaching to encourage self-
confidence and success.
 They benefit more when learning is to real life situations.
 When introducing new concept, first discuss what they know related to the concept and
then introduce it.
 Supply regular feedback.

10.2.8 Gifted and talented children

Students in this category are quite different from students with disabilities we have described in the
above part of the lecture. This is a broad term used in education. Students who are gifted and
talented have IQ that is above 130 and demonstrate or have potential abilities that give evidence
of high performance capabilities in specific areas (Santrock, 2004). These are students who have
evidence of high performance capability in areas of intellectual, creative and artistic or in specific
academic areas. Some of characteristics of gifted/talented include:
Cited by Santrock (2004)
 Precocity. Gifted students who are precocious (intelligent) in situations that demand use of
their gift or talent. They are so far ahead of their age mates and others in the class in terms
 of understanding, mastering and completing school work since they possess good
memorization, advanced comprehension and processes information in complex ways.
 Marching to their own drummer. They learn in qualitatively different way from other
students. They are creative by being independent thinkers; and exhibit original thinking in
oral and written expressions; creates/invents and formulate abstracts. They learn rapidly
without much assistance from teachers and parents.
 A passion to master. Gifted students are intensely enthusiastic in understanding the
domains they have high ability. They widely read in special areas of interest. They are
often perfectionist and highly motivated with high expectations for self and do not need to
be pushed to in learning.

Why do students who are gifted/talent need special attention in school?

Although students who are gifted have an advantage over their classmates, in normal classroom
setting this can be very challenging to themselves and to teachers too. To beginning with the
above characteristics of gifted do not fit into lesson preparations geared towards normal students
since they comprehend school material quite rapidly. So they spend less time than peers and this
can lead to problems to themselves and to the rest of class. According to Peterson and Medaris
(2006) gifted students find it difficult to fit in with schoolmates; and pressures from others can
have a significant negative impact on their emotional development. In short normal class setup is
not conducive for gifted students learning capabilities.

Teachers with students who are gifted/talent are advised to use the following strategies in teaching:
 Enrichment. Since they take less time to cover school material modify assignments
provided to regular class by giving them extra work at an advanced level.
 Self-pacing methods. Use flexible practices that allow students to advance at their own
pace.
 Acceleration. After covering normal curriculum in shorter time schools these students can
advance into higher-level class.
 Full-time separate classes or schools. Gifted students can be educated in special schools or
separate classes where available.
 Hold a discussion with teachers in your area and find out their views on gifted
? students and what strategies they use to accommodate such students in their
classrooms.

10.3 SPECIAL EDUCATION

Some of students with disabilities need special education services since they face challenges with
learning in normal classroom settings. As we have seen above some have communication
challenges, others have behavioural disorders, physical disorders, mental retardation or learning
disabilities. In order for a student with disability to get the same education as normal student s/he
might need individualized teaching procedures, equipment and materials adapted to his/her
respective needs, rearranging learning setting for easier access, and if need be, be placed in special
environment. Special education refers to education of students with disabilities that addresses
their special needs and taking into account each student‟s individual differences and needs.

To be categorised for special education the first thing done is the diagnosis of the disability to
determine the student‟s weakness and strengths in learning. Students needing special education
have different needs, even if they have the same type of disability the level of the disability varies
among them. After diagnosis the teacher makes intervention by modifying his/her teaching
processes and assesses the response of the respective student. If the response is not effective there
might be a need to refer the student for special education. Special programme identified for the
student should be tailored to address the needs of the individual student and also taking into
account his/her strengths. According to Goodman (1990) special education should be
individualized so that it addresses the unique combinations of needs in a given student.

Students with disabilities have different and varying levels of disabilities and each
have special needs.
There are different approaches and institutions offering special education to students with special
needs, especially in developed countries. Each approach has it merits and limitations and none is
perfect. In deciding which approach is appropriate for a student with special need on has to
consider the nature of the disability. Some disabilities, such as conduct disorder can necessitate the
respective student to be excluded from class. You have to identify institutions available in your
country and learn more about special education in course offered by the Faculty of Education.
Here we identify some of the approaches:
 Mainstreaming. In this approach, part of the day students with special needs are educated
in regular classes with non-disabled student and in other time segregated in separate special
classes for students with special needs.
 Inclusion. Students with disabilities and with a need of special education spend most of
their time in a normal school with students who do not have special education needs. Such
schools make modifications to cater for the needs of special education and also have
resource rooms with specialized equipment for more intensive instruction secessions.
Schools practicing inclusive approach need to have regular teachers trained in planning,
and offering support to students with special needs. Inclusive approach taking into
consideration the needs of normal students by sometimes segregating students with need of
special education e.g. special room for students with hearing disability to minimize
disruption.

Elliot et al. (2000) suggests the following guidelines for including students with special
needs in regular classes:

 Students should be capable of doing some work at grade level.

 Students should be capable of doing some work without requiring special materials
or adaptive equipment.
 Students should be capable of staying on task without requiring as much attention
and help as a student in a special school.
 Students should be capable of fitting into routine of the regular class.
 Students should be able to function socially in the regular class and profit from the
appropriate behaviour of classmates.
  The physical setting of the classroom should not interfere with the student‟
functioning.
 The school should be possible to workout scheduling to accommodate the students‟
various classes and schedules.
 The classroom teacher should have adequate support to serve the needs of all
children placed in the classroom.

Instructional strategies for students with special needs in inclusive setting can be classified
as either being accommodation or modification. An accommodation approach refers to
providing the same material to all students in the class but changing the delivery mode so
that students with disabilities can access the material (Pepper, 2007). This can be in form of
providing texts with large prints or using recording devices for students with visual
impairments, listening to audio tapes, or student with physical disabilities sitting in front of
the class for easy movement. In modification the material is changed to make it simpler
depending on the mastery level the student is expected to reach; sometimes the school can
make modification on the way the student is assessed e.g. during test one might read the
questions to visually impaired students (Busuttil-Reynaud and Winkley, 2007). Modification
may also include skipping some of the text, giving simplified or shorter assignments,
providing extra aids and/or providing extra time to complete learning task. In some
circumstances the school might provide both modification and accommodation to some
students.

 Exclusion. This refer to students with special needs but are excluded from school and as
such do not receive any instruction. In some communities in Africa there are parents with
children with disabilities but do not want to enroll them in any school. Also some of these
students are in hospitals/institutions for children with emotional disabilities or some of
them are far away from schools with facilities special education.
 Special schools. A special school is officially designated to cater for students with specific
needs that are so severe they cannot be offered in other institutions. These schools provide
individualized education that addresses specific needs of the students. The teachers in these
schools are specifically trained to be professionals in teaching students with severe
disabilities.

Identify services near your location that are available for students with special needs
?
In this lecture we defined several disabilities related to learning and giftedness. Also,
we looked at characteristics of each disability and recommendations for assisting
students with disabilities. Above all, there are activities that will make you familiar
with cases of disabilities in your community and services available.
Busuttil-Reynaud, Gavin and John Winkley.
[www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/eAssess-Glossary-Extended-v1-01.pdf e-
Assessment Glossary (Extended)]. UK: Joint Information Systems Committee and
Ofqual's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. (Report).

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F. (2000).
Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning. McGraw-Hill
Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 5

Lerner, J. (2003). Learning Disabilities: Theories, diagnosis, and teaching Practices.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Goodman, Libby (1990). Time and learning in the special education classroom.
Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.

Pepper, David (25 September 2007) Assessment for disabled students: an international
comparison. UK: Ofqual's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Regulation & Standards
Division. (Report).

Peterson, J. S. & Medaris, K. (2006). “Study: Gifted Children especially vulnerable

to effects of bullying”. Purdue University.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology, (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 6
 Schreiner, E. (2010). Effective Teaching Strategies for Students with Emotional and
Behavioural Disorders. eHow, Trails.com and RedEnvelop.

Visser, R. (2000). Definitions of Learning Disabilities. Texas Center for the

Advancement of Literacy and learning.

Watson, S. (2011). Best practices for Behavior Disorders in the Classroom. About.com
Guide.

Ysseldyke, J.F. and Algozzine, B. (1995). Special Education: A practical approach

for Teachers (3rd Ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to
verify your accurateness.
?

LECTURE ELEVEN
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
11.1 INTRODUCTION
To be effective a teacher has to make decisions that will facilitate effective student learning. The
decisions depend on a number of factors; some have already been discussed in the previous
lectures e.g. age, mental ability, and appropriate teaching strategies based on the condition of
individual student in the class. In this lecture we take an overview on assessment of learning in the
classroom context. Details of concepts described here are available in detail in Test and
Measurements Course.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Describe the components of instructional
 objectives;
ii. Perform a task analysis on a complex skill of your
choice;
iii. Identify and apply the six levels of Bloom's
taxonomy;
iv. Explain the functions of evaluations;
v. Develop a table of specifications for test
construction;
vi. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of
true/false, multiple-choice, completion, matching, essay and problem-solving
test items.

Assessment is part and parcel of instruction.

11.2 EVALUATION
Educational evaluation is an evaluation process of characterizing and appraising some aspects of
an educational process (Wikipedia, 2011). The aim is to determine the worth of or to find the value
or amount of the component of education. The amount or value is often expressed in time on a
numerical order. Data collected demonstrates effectiveness to the stakeholders; provide a measure
of performance for marketing purposes, and for educators to undertake continuous review and
enhance learning. So, evaluation in education encompasses different aspects of determining if the
goals and objectives of the curriculum have been realised. The information obtained indicates
success and failures that form the bases of improving the curriculum.

11.3 WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?

It is not that easy to differentiate evaluation and assessment. Sometimes these two terms are used
interchangeably. However, for most educationists evaluation is broader than assessment since it is
used to make judgment on the merit of something. Assessment is part of evaluation. Assessment
in education is the process of gathering information about a student‟s abilities or behaviour for the
purposes of making decisions on the student (Elliot, et al. 2000). The definition has three main
points i.e. assessment is not one off act but rather a process of gathering information about the
student. As a teacher you have to know the student well before you determine your plan of action.
Wrong information or personal biases can have detrimental effect on student‟s performance and
undermine effective teaching e.g. labeling a student as mentally retarded while s/he is a student at-
risk. The second point is, assessment in school setting mainly focuses on student‟s abilities and
behaviour as related to education matters and learning. The third point, assessment has an
objective of making decision on the student. We do not assess just for sake of assessing. Some of
the feedback may validate the strategies that are successful and identify those needing to be
improved. Teachers use the information gathered (feedback) to make decisions that have positive
effect on the student and the society.

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching process. Before preparing instruction for your class
you need to know your students in terms of their abilities, background and previous academic
performance i.e. pre-instruction assessment. My tutor used to tell us that before preparing a lesson,
as teachers, we need to have answers for the following questions: Who am I going to teach? What
material am I going to present? How am I going to present the material? After having the
information on these questions the teacher can embark on preparing a lesson. Results based on
assessments of the student and the learning materials determine the instruction part of teaching.

A teacher is continuously making assessment during instruction i.e. formative assessment. The aim
is to assess activities of the ongoing teaching so as to improve the processes of teaching and
learning. Formative assessment is generally not graded. Assessment during instruction is done
through observing students‟ faces and reactions when they are listening; listening to students‟
answers and questions or lack of questions/answers. Information gathered during teaching
indicates the progress of students in understanding the material and if need be make some
modification to facilitate learning. It is ineffective to wait till the end to make assessment.

After the instruction is completed a teacher has to determine the performance of the students in
regard to the objective of the lesson i.e. summative assessment. These are activities to find out the
level of performance of students against the objectives of the curriculum. Normally this assessment
is done at the middle of the term/semester; and/or at the end of semester; and/or at the end of
academic year. Summative assessments are generally graded. Thus an effective teacher is
constantly making assessment in all processes of teaching. Assessment is used to set learning
goals, as strategy for reaching the goals and as mechanism for determining if the goals have been
achieved. A teacher lacking assessment skills or not using assessment in the teaching processes
cannot be called a teacher.

Assessments have other functions more than just for making decisions. Assessments are used as
diagnosis tools for determining students with learning problems. Parents and other stake holders
use results of assessment to know the performance of students and consequently use it in regard to
their specific needs e.g. selecting students for the next level in the academic ladder or for
recommending them for specific professions. Also, assessments make students active in learning
by engaging in answering questions, and as a mechanism for motivating students to learn (both
extrinsically and intrinsically). Some students study because they know the significance of
assessment in determining their future life, while others just want to have good performance based
on assessment. However, assessment can cause anxiety among students and undermining their
performance.

It is important for students to develop positive attitudes towards assessment of learning.

What is the difference between assessment and measurements?

Measurement refers to expressing the students‟ ability or performance in quantitative form by
assigning it numbers. Test score is one form of measurements. However, not all performances can
be quantified and it is important to acknowledge the limitations of measurements. Motivation to
learn cannot be quantified and a student who scores very low in Kiswahili test does not imply that
s/he can‟t communicate in Kiswahili.
11.4 INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
A teacher needs to plan on his/her classroom teaching. Planning involves many aspects of making
preparations for instruction and activities during teaching. A teacher without a plan is likely to
waste students‟ abilities, and time, and worse, undermines the objectives of establishing school
system. According to Santrock (2004) instructional planning involves developing a systematic,
organized strategy for planning lessons. A lesson plan includes aspects of what needs to be done;
sequence of events during learning; and time needed to cover the material. A lesson plan prepares
the teacher mentally by having a mental picture of the lesson in the context of class learning,
minimizes missing important aspects of the lesson and going to the class with confidence.

An effective teacher has a mechanism of determining clearly what s/he is going to accomplish in
the class. Also, it is important for a student from the very beginning to know what s/he is going to
achieve at the end of period or course. The teacher has to formulate clear objectives that precisely
describe what students will accomplish at the end of instruction. Clear objectives make the teacher
focused and students know what is expected of them. Objectives in education are goals which
focus on students‟ observable behaviours that are a result of instruction/learning. Objectives focus
on the performance that is expected of the student.

In preparing objectives, Mager (1962) a proponent of behavioural learning theory suggested that
the teacher has to use procedures, content and methods that are appropriate to the set objectives.
The statement of the objective describes what the students will be able to do when they complete a
unit; methods and motivation to acquire information/or skills intended; and the mechanism of
determining if students have acquired the intended information/or skills. So, the statement
indicates the behaviour to be acquired by the student through learning, conditions of acquiring it
and the performance criteria i.e. level of performance acceptable to demonstrate that student has
learned.

Educational objectives include expected learner outcomes (ELOs). Normally, ELOs are
established by official institutions and are intended to facilitate communication between the school
and parents; and between school and responsible organs of the education system of the society.
Learning outcomes are derived from needs assessments that indicate the gap that exists between
the students‟ existing conditions and the desired state. ELOs consist of objectives that can
empirically assess students‟ level of performance in cognitive and behavioural aspects of the
curriculum i.e. knowledge, skills and/or attitudes a student has to demonstrate as a result of
instruction. ELOs have the following three specific characteristics: the specific actions of the
learners must be observed; the actions must be measured; and the specific actions must be done by
the student. So, in making preparations the learners outcomes make the teacher to focus on the
student„s behaviour that is going to change; serve as guidelines for content, instruction, and
evaluation; to be specific on what should be learned; and to convey to learners exactly what is to
be accomplished. To achieve the above, ELOs statements have to avoid unclear verbs (know,
become aware of, appreciate, learn, understand, become familiar with, like) and rather use active
verbs that clearly indicate what the student will do (state, show, explain, define, describe, predict,
recognize and criticize).

Go though the school curriculum and analyse the objectives and ELOs.

?
11.5 TASK ANALYSIS
In the above section we have seen that establishing objectives of instruction is imperative for
effective teaching. Once an objective has been established the next natural step is to determine the
procedure to achieve it. Normally educational objectives are broad and cannot be achieved by a
single task. The teaching procedure includes a number of several tasks to be undertaken to reach
the ultimate goal. Task analysis involves breaking down a complex task into smaller tasks or
subtasks. A sub-task can further be broken down into actions. The sub-tasks have relationships and
must be connected as they lead to the general objective. The relationship can be in form of:
 Method, whereby the plan is a combination of a number of steps in a specific sequence. In
learning to write a student has to follow certain steps of holding and forming letters.
  Iteration, the sequence of the task is repeated until a certain level of performance is
achieved.
 Selection, there are some tasks that require some inputs in form of making selection among
several choices. The student has to make correct choice to realize the objective of the task.

According to Jonassen, Tessmer and Hannum (1999) instructional designers perform a task
analysis in order to:
viii. Determine the instructional goals and objectives.
ix. Define and describe in detail the tasks and the subtasks that the student will perform.
x. Specify the knowledge type (declarative, structural, and procedural knowledge) that
characterizes the task.
xi. Select learning outcomes that are appropriate for instructional development.
xii. Prioritize and sequence tasks.
xiii. Determine instructional activities and strategies that foster learning.
xiv. Select appropriate media and learning environment.
xv. Construct performance assessments and evaluations.

Method of task analysis to be used depends on the characteristics of the students and the context to
be presented (Jonassen, et al. 1999). They identified five kinds of task analysis:
 Performance analysis.
 Learning analysis.
 Cognitive task analysis.
 Content or subject matter analysis.
 Activity analysis.

Thus, in instructional preparation the teacher indicates these sub-tasks and their respective
objectives. Citing several sources Santrock (2004) points out that in making analysis a teacher can
proceed in the following steps:
 Determine what skills or concepts the student needs to have to learn the task.
 List any materials that will be required in order to perform the tasks.
  List all the components of the task in order in which they must be performed.

11.6 APPLICATION OF BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

We have already discussed the Bloom‟s taxonomy in the lecture on thinking and problem solving.
In this lecture we look on how to apply the taxonomies in assessment of instruction. However,
before proceeding we have to be aware that Bloom‟s taxonomy does not only refer to cognitive
processes but also include affective and psychomotor components of learning i.e. there are three
domains, namely cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Affective domain refers to objectives
related to emotions while psychomotor domain refers to objectives related to motor activities. In
developing objectives the teacher points out the strategies in terms of instruction and assessment to
be used to cover the expectations of the lesson/course. Some objectives may cover some of the
domains but it is not easy to have an objective/topic that includes all the levels in the respective
domain. It is imperative to cover lower levels before proceeding to more complex levels.

The Cognitive domain

There are six levels in the taxonomy. As one moves up the hierarchy the upper levels require the
student to use more complex mental skills. Below are the levels and objective of assessing the
student‟s performance starting from the basic to more complex ones:
i. Knowledge level
This is the lowest level in which the objective is to determine if a student has acquired
specific information in the lesson. Knowledge can be in form of specifics, knowledge of
ways and means of dealing with specifics, and knowledge of the universals and
abstractions in a field. The assessment is on the ability of the student to remember
information. The questions that are commonly used in assessing include words like tell,
list, label, give definition, name, recall, state, write, record and outline.
ii. Comprehension level
This level is achieved after mastering the previous level by giving meaning to the
information. Instead of just recalling, the student processes the gained knowledge in terms
of interpreting the facts to show degree of understanding. Comprehension includes
translation, interpretation, and extrapolation. The student can give explanation in his/her
 own words. Questions for assessment in this level use describe, contrast, discuss,
formulate, interpret, summarize, classify, rewrite, measure and predict.

iii. Application
Application implies a student using knowledge and principles gained in concrete situations
that s/he encounters in real life e.g. solving problems. A student may boil drinking water to
avoid water borne diseases. The term “application” is often interpreted inaccurately. For
example asking, “Demonstrate how you will apply the Bloom‟s taxonomy as a teacher.” If
you narrate what has been described in this course you are only recalling information
(knowledge level) rather than application of knowledge. Application in this regard,
involves having a lesson plan based on the taxonomy and mechanism of assessing the
objectives. Words of assessment used for this level include apply, solve, demonstrate,
change, compute, manipulate, use, employ, modify, predict, produce, relate, assess,
operate, verify and illustrate.
iv. Analysis
A student goes beyond application by breaking down the knowledge into parts, seeing its
patterns and relating the information into new information. Question related to analysis use
words like analyze, explain, investigate, evaluate, break down, differentiate, diagnose,
categorize, question and infer.
v. Synthesis
With synthesis student uses gained information to form new knowledge, putting parts
together into a whole, create new theories and make predictions. In this level the student
creates something new that did not exist before integration. Synthesis questions include
words like invent, imagine, create, organize, plan, formulate, account for, alter, argue,
derive, revise, suggest, prepare, design, propose, relate, arrange, modify, construct and
compose.
vi. Evaluation.
This is the highest level of Bloom‟s hierarchy. In evaluation a student is required to assess
previously learned knowledge against a designated standard and make a sound conclusion
 or judgment. Questions use words like judge, select, debate, discriminate, invent, appraise,
value, question, determine, assess, evaluate, conclude, criticize, contrast and recommend.

Some of the words used in the level of synthesis also apply to activities giving
evidence of creativity. In the list of activities of creativity add originate, begin,
initiate, devise, generate and engender.

11.6.2 The affective domain

Affective domain includes the manner in which students deal with things emotionally, such as
feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivation and attitudes (Krathwohl et al. 1973). The
affective domain is significant in teaching since students‟ attitudes towards learning and the
subject, and motivation to learn have a bearing in their academic performance (think of the poor
performance of students who have negative attitudes towards mathematics and science subjects
and as a result have rejected these subjects completely). Teachers‟ teaching methods, nonverbal
communications, and management styles should encourage student‟s interest in their respective
subjects.

This domain has the following five steps starting from the very basic (as described by Krathwohl
et al, 1964) showing the intensity of feelings and attitudes:
i. Receiving
This objective refers to a student willingly attending stimuli. The student becomes aware of
attitudes and a value determined in the instruction, and selectively and actively attends
specific experiences. Examples of learning objects include: to differentiate to accept, to
listen for, and to respond to.
ii. Responding
 The student willingly becomes committed to actively engage in doing something specific.
Examples include: to comply to, to follow, to commend, to volunteer, to spend leisure time
in, and acclaim.
iii. Valuing
Valuing infers expressing a belief or attitude about worthiness of something or event. A
student willingly expresses and is perceived by others as being committed to be identified
with a value of certain ideas, materials or phenomena. Examples include: to increase
measure of proficiency, to relinquish, to subsidize, to support, and to debate.

iv. Organizing
It means organizing two or more values into an internalized system by conceptualizing the
new values in the existing ones. Examples include: to discuss, to theorize, to formulate, to
balance and to examine.
v. Value characterization
This occurs when a value becomes a way of life of the student e.g. a student increasingly
values the history course as part of his/her professional development in law. Examples
include: to revise, to require, being rated high in value, to avoid, resisting, to manage, and
to resolve.

16.6.3 The Psychomotor Domain

This domain includes physical movements, and use of the motor skills (Simpson, 1972). The
developments of these skills depend on practice and are assessed in terms of speed, duration,
precision, distance, procedures or techniques in execution (accessed from www.nwlink.com 2007).
Examples of courses in our schools demanding psychomotor activities include handwriting,
reading, fine art, manipulating equipment in science laboratories; and of course athletics and
sports.

Below are the major six steps of (listed from the simplest behavior to the most complex)
psychomotor domain as described by Santrock (2004):
 i. Reflex movements
Responding to stimuli by movements that are involuntary i.e. actions not under the control
of the individual. They include blinking the eyes.
ii. Basic fundamentals
Students make basic voluntary movements that are directed towards a particular object.
Examples include switching a switch correctly or holding an object appropriately. The key
here is student being capable of correctly making movements on things considered basic in
normal life.
iii. Perceptual abilities
Students are capable of using sensory cues to guide motor activity. They may use seeing,
touching or/and touching to guide their skills e.g. properly adjusting a science equipment as
a result of directions from the teacher; or in domestic science course a student adjusting
heat of the cooker based on the smell of the food being prepared. The sensory stimulation is
used as a cue to act. Words used in this level include a student: chooses, describes, detects,
differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, isolates, relates, and selects.
iv. Physical abilities
Students develop general skills in endurance, strength, flexibility, and agility. An example
includes enduring in an activity that is physically demanding such as running.
v. Skilled movements
Students perform complex physical skills with degree of proficiency. The overt response of
the student indicates skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement
patterns. The initial stages of learning may include imitation and by following instructions
leading to habitual movements performed with some confidence and proficiency.
Performance is achieved by practice. Examples of this level include effectively making a
sketch.
vi. Non-discussive behaviours
Students communicate feelings and emotions through body actions. Student may use body
movements in dancing or drama to express certain emotions.
Words used to make assessment of psychomotor skills include perform, execute, operate and
manipulate.

11.7 TESTS
There are assessment instruments for the objectives in the three domains in the Bloom‟s taxonomy.
In this lecture we will solely focus on tests related to cognitive domain.

I know by reaching this level in the academic ladder you must have done many tests/exams (in this
section I will use the term “test” in referring to either test or/and examination). Tests are part and
parcel of students‟ life and that of teachers too. As a teacher you will be involved with tests in
various situations. In one situation you may have to decide which test is appropriate for your
students; in another you construct tests of subjects you teach; prepare students for tests, in another
situation invigilate students doing tests; mark and score tests; evaluate the test results; and use test
results as a teaching tool or for making predictions or for grading students. So, it is imperative for
you to be conversant with all aspects of tests in your role as a teacher.
In many normal school-learning settings test is one form of assessment intended to measure
learners‟ knowledge and skills, referred to as achievement tests. However there are tests for other
students‟ components related to their capabilities to learn that will not be discussed here, including
aptitude, attitudinal tests; and physical fitness tests. Although these tests are important they are not
widely available or used in our educational system.

Tests are administered in various ways and situations in our education system including orally, in
written form; in confined areas or in the field, on computers, in a closed book test (not allowed to
bring any books in the examination room) or open book test (e.g. literature or law tests; or allow
use of calculators), at the beginning of the course or/and during the course or/and at the end of the
course.

Some tests are administered informally by parents or teachers while others are administered
formally by a recognized authority in an education system. Most of the tests in schools are formal
and are administered by teachers and they (tests) result in a learner getting a test score or a grade
(Thissen & Wainer, 2001). The scores and grades can either be interpreted on basis of individual
student or a population of students. They can be evaluated to norm (comparing the score of the
student in relation to the scores of other students). They can also be evaluated to a criterion
(determine if the score of a specific student has or has not reached a specific level of performance).
Norm-referenced tests evaluate performance relative to norm (average) while criterion tests
evaluate performance relative to pre-determined standard. An English language test results ranking
students in the order of the score is an example of a norm referenced test, however if the student‟s
score is based on level of mastery in the language then it‟s a criterion referenced test.

Based on tests used in your country determine which ones are norm referenced tests,
? are criterion referenced tests.

The tests used in education have to meet the following criteria:

11.7.1. Validity.
Messick (1989) defines validity as integrated evaluative judgment of the degree to which empirical
evidence and theoretical rationales support the adequacy and appropriateness of inferences actions
based on test scores. This implies that there has to be relationship between the measurements and
the characteristic/variable being measured. A characteristic in education can be in form of skills
and abilities as related to performance e.g. student‟s academic performance. So, validity in test
means the test measures what it is supposed to test (characteristic) and the measurements derived
from the test relate to the respective characteristic so that accurate and appropriate inferences can
be made. If the test is supposed to measure mastery of language then it must have the qualities of
measuring the mastery of the respective language and the score should reflect the level of mastery.
There are three types of validity, namely content validity, criterion validity; and concurrent
validity. Content validity refers to the degree of instructional content in the test. Test has content
validity when it encompasses all aspects of the material intended to be learned by a student. The
test lacks content validity if it covers only a portion of the content as indicated in the curriculum.
Criterion validity implies the extent in which the test measurements can predict the student‟s
performance as set by another external standard. This validity is used in predicting student future
level of performance in a specified condition. Concurrent validity refers to viability of the test in
relation to other tests available at that specific time and in the prevailing conditions. A good
example is that the tests prepared at school should be of the same quality with that of the national
examination for it to have concurrent validity. If a student gets a high score in the school test while
his/her score is very low in the national examination then the school test lacks concurrent validity.

11.7.2. Reliability
This term refers to the consistency of the measurements of the test i.e. if the same results are
obtained repeatedly whenever the test is retaken. A student‟s score on the trait should be similar if
the student had to repeat the same test under similar conditions. If a test is meant to measure
language proficiency, then each time the test is administered to measure language proficiency the
results should more or less be the same.

Although it is difficult to determine reliability precisely, there are several different ways of
estimating the reliability of the test: test-retest reliability estimates the variation in the test by the
same person taking it at different times but under same conditions. It is assumed that there will be
no variation in results over a period of time if the test is reliable. Test-retest is normally applied on
traits that are consistent over a period of time. If the test-retest is applied on achievement test there
is high chance that the performance on the second sitting will be higher. In Alternate-forms
reliability two similar tests (but not identical) in context and level of difficult are constructed and
then are administered to the same group of students at two different occasions. If the tests are
reliable the individual‟s scores from the two tests should be same. In split-half reliability is
determined by having two sets of questions of same content in the same test and then
administering it to the same group of students. The questions of the two sets can be randomly
divided in the test; or grouped in odd-numbered questions for the first set and even-numbered
questions for the second set.

Reliability does not imply validity.

The tests can either be standardized tests or non-standardized tests. According to Santrock (2004) a
standardized test has uniform procedures for administration and scoring. He also points out that
standardized tests have the following functions:
 Provide information on student‟s progress. They indicate areas where the student is
proficient in or weak at; and determine if one can graduate or not. Graduation leads to
getting a certificate that is recognized nationally.
 Provide evidence for placement of students in specific programmes. Based on individual
results some students are selected to take science or arts courses. Also some high learning
institutions use the results to select (based on passing and the credit obtained) and place
students in respective programmes (based on subjects passed and credit obtained in these
subjects). For example, pass in physics, biology and chemistry lead to studying degree in
medicine; pass in History, English and Kiswahili to studying degree in law or journalism.
 Provide information for planning and improving instructions. Results are used by the
nation as a mechanism for determining quality of education in its institutions and where
necessary make changes on the way material is presented.
 Help administrators to evaluate programmes.
 Contribute to accountability. Schools are judged by the overall results and performance of
their respective students. Schools that have poor results are required to improve and the
school administrators may be penalized.
In some circumstances standardized tests have legal basis that apply in specific country(ies) and
recognized by several institutions (in respective country or/and other countries). A good example
is the examinations of The National Examinations‟ Council of Tanzania administered at several
levels of Tanzanian education system. As you are aware these kinds of tests are widely used
(whole of Tanzania), meant for students at the same educational level; have the same level of
difficulty and in same format; administered at the same time (at a particular day and hour) and in
pre-described conditions. Depending on the examination body the test can be administered by the
class instructor or by another authorized person. The results can be used to compare the
performance of the student with others covered by the examination body. In many countries the
standardized tests are used to manage quality of education and institutions.

In some countries like Tanzania it is compulsory for all students at a given level to take the
recognized standardized test (there are no options for these tests!). Normally the results are crucial
in student‟s life. Results determine who graduates and/or whether one to progress or not to
progress to the next level in the academic ladder. The significance of these tests can be measured
in terms of the amount of national and parental resources devoted to preparing students for the
tests; anxious moments waiting for the tests to commence; reactions of the way they are
administered; another anxious moments waiting for the results; and finally the individual and
public reactions when the results are released.

It is unfortunate that standardized tests cause anxiety; results condemning others to

developing low-self esteem and putting others into low social-economic status; and
some students taking very dramatic adverse decisions. (While I was preparing this
chapter I read on the newspapers about a student who committed suicide because she
failed one of the National Examinations).
With fellow teachers prepare a session teaching students that failing a test does not
imply that they are failures, or that failing any test is the end of the world. There is life
 after failing a test.

11.8 TEACHER DEVELOPED TESTS

In planning a test the teacher is required to be guided by the curriculum from which the course
objectives are operationalised. On constructing a test the teacher has to make sure that it is valid in
respect of the respective subject i.e. a language test should assess elements of language, and
science test should assess elements of science. The teacher should also construct a test with high
degree of reliability to have the results that are usable for decision making.

A course has objectives that are achieved through a number of topics which are further divided
into several lessons, each having its own specific objectives. In realizing the objectives of the
course there is classroom teaching, use of textbooks, references materials, practical work and other
relevant learning activities. All these approaches of teaching/learning form part of learning at
different levels of the Bloom‟s cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.

The process of developing a test varies based on the objectives and significance of the test, type of
questions to be used, time needed to develop the test, time allocated for students to do the test,
duration of the test, time needed to derive the scores and released to the stakeholders, class size
and students‟ proficiency in test taking.

11.9 TYPES OF TESTS

Non-standardized tests, compared to the standardized tests, are more frequently used by teachers.
As one way of assessing students‟ learning, teachers construct tests that are administered at
different times of the academic year. In Tanzania some schools have a policy of having tests at the
end of month for all subjects. So, teachers spend a lot of time on matters relating to test i.e.
constructing tests, preparing students for the tests, invigilating, marking the questions and grading
the scores and finally giving feedback to the students; other stakeholders and to the teacher
himself/herself.

There are several formats used to develop tests and each has its merits and limitations. The
developer decides which format to use depending on the objectives of the assessment. One test
may contain different formats. Below are some of the widely used formats of tests in most schools:
i. Multiple choice questions. In this format a student is given a number of set answers for
each question in form of statement and s/he has to choose which answer/group of answers
is correct. The statement can be a direct question, an incomplete statement, and/or in some
circumstances a student has to choose “One-Best-Answer” since some or all of the set of
statements is correct. The incorrect statements are known as distracters. Multiple choice
questions require little time to answer; are easy to score and grade; provide great coverage
of the material; allows a wide range of difficulty; and can be used to detect student‟s
problem with certain concepts or areas of the course. In providing feedback the student
learns from the teacher‟s description why some of the answers are wrong and why one is
correct. On the limitation side multiple questions are difficulty to develop if one has to use
meaningful distracters; a student does not have an opportunity to demonstrate his/her level
of understanding beyond the answer that is provided; sometimes the student may guess the
correct answer (hiding student‟s lack of understanding); and this format does not test
student‟s feelings towards learning and the course.
ii. True/False questions. A question statement with binary choice is presented to a student i.e.
s/he has to indicate if the statement is true or false. A student is required to identify if the
statements, opinions, facts or definitions of concepts are correct or not correct. This type of
question can cover a wide area of material but it has the same weaknesses as multiple
choice questions and more seriously, it is susceptible to guesswork and it is restricted to the
lowest levels of taxonomy of objectives of the cognitive domain. It is quite possible for a
student passing the test by just guessing the answers.
iii. Matching item questions. In matching item questions a student is provided with pairs of
terms/characteristics that are required to be associated. It has the same advantages as the
above type of questions and furthermore they can easily be written on the chalkboard and a
 student just records the answer on sheet of paper. Its main disadvantages include
restricting itself to the lowest levels of taxonomy of objectives of the cognitive domain.
iv. Fill-in-the-blank questions/short-answer questions. A student is provided with a question
that requires a brief answer in form of a name, phrase, word or symbol. These type of
questions are easy to develop, is more demanding cognitively than matching item questions
and true/false questions, and guessing is highly minimized. Main limitations include getting
unexpected but plausible answers.
v. Essay questions. This type of question requires a student to write an answer in form of an
essay to meet certain requirements. The questions are easy to construct, demand skills of
high levels of taxonomy objectives in the cognitive domain, require demonstration of
writing skills (transferable skill which are needed in many professions and occupations),
and it is very difficult to guess the correct answer. Limitations include being time
consuming and tedious in marking and grading, getting poorly written answers since a
student does not have enough time to make corrections, subjectivity of the marker can
influence marking and grading (a teacher may give substantially different scores and grades
to different students with similar answers or to the same answer if remarked at a different
occasion), also student‟s handwriting and spelling can influence score/grade, and it is
limited to cover only a portion of the course and may not assess all the objectives of the
course.
vi. Mathematical questions. Most questions in mathematics do not fall in the types of
questions mentioned above; although they were times multiple choice questions were used
in Tanzanian primary school level examinations. Math‟s questions require a student to
solve it and score is given based on correctness of the answer and steps used to solve the
problem.

Have a discussion with teachers in your area and find out which type of questions do
they mostly use in the tests they construct. Also enquire the reasons for their choice
? of questions.
Table of Specifications for test
Table of Specifications is a blue print for guiding teachers in constructing achievement tests to
ensure course content validity. Also, Notar et al. (2004) point out that in order to measure students‟
learning across a wide range of content and reading; and assessing students‟ achievement at the
higher learning levels of comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation a teacher
should make use of Table of Specifications. The table identifies which areas of the course content
are covered in relation to the different domains.

The above authors in citing other sources they further suggest that the table should be developed
before the test is constructed with the following major elements:
 Balance among the goals selected for test.
 Balance among the levels of learning.
 The test format.
 The total number of items.
 The number of test items for each goal and level of learning.

Basic specifications of the table include:

 Heading. Table heading containing information needed to construct the test.
 Course title. It is required to be exactly as stated in school official documents and in the
time table.
 Subject matter. It shows what will be taught and tested. It provides the limit of subject
matter that will be covered in relation to the stated objectives. This helps in guiding the
test and focusing on the topics.
 Learning objectives of every lesson. It is possible to list all learning of objects of all
lessons of the course. Each objective should be operationalised. Also should indicate the
level of domain expected for each objective.
 Relative weight of each area. This is based on time devoted on teaching each concept and
types of materials to be learned. Normally all concepts and materials are important
however they differ in their levels of importance and this also taken into consideration in
 developing the table. Also indicate weight of mental activity relative to different levels of
the cognitive domain. The weight can be expressed in terms of the percentage (%). If the
topic has not been taught it should obvious have 0% i.e. no questions relating to this
specific topic.
 Types of tests to be developed. As mentioned above there are several types of tests. A test
can solely have short answers or essay or combination of short answers and essays. One
should indicate if the instrument is based on one type of test or different types of tests
(number of questions of each type of test e.g. 30% matching items, 30% multiple choice
and 40% essay).
 Time allowed and available for testing. This depends on the purpose of the test. A test
designed to assess comprehension should not have too many aspects of application while
the one assessing application should have many items assessing application. Sometimes
the student is given ample time to respond while in some occasions the aim of the test is to
determine the speed at which a student can perform a task.

From different sources, including experienced teachers, prepare a strategy for

preparing students for standardized tests/examination of your country.
?

This lecture dwelled on assessment of instructions. We looked at different concepts

in the area and identified different tests and their characteristics. Also we engaged in
activities suggested in the lecture.

Elliot, Stephen N., Kractochwill, Thomas R., Cook, Joan L. & Travers, John F.
(2000). Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning. McGraw-
Hill Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 11 & 12

Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S. & Masia, B.B. (1973). Taxonomy of educational
Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goal Handbook II: Affective Domain.
New York: David McKay Co. Inc.

Mager, R. (1962). Preparing instructional objective. Palo Alto, Cal. Fearon.

 Messick, S. M. (1989). Validity. In R.N. Linn (Ed.), Educational measurement (3rd
Ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Notar, C. E., Zuelke, D. N., Wilson, J.D., & Yunker, B. D. (2004). The Table of
Specifications: Insuring accountability in teacher made tests. Journal of
Instructional Psychology, June, 2004.

Santrock, John W. (2004). Educational Psychology, (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill

Higher Education, New York, USA. Chapter 15 & 16.

Simpson, E.J. (1972). The classification of Educational Objectives in the

Psychomotor Domain. Washington, D.C: Grypton House.

Thissen, D. & Wainer, H. (2001). Test Scoring. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

LECTURE TWELVE
MANAGING CLASSROOM PROCESSES
12.1 INTRODUCTION
Classroom management is integral part of teaching. Learning success/failure depends on the
classroom atmosphere as dictated by the conduct of students of various abilities and the teacher‟s
management skills. All your teaching skills and strategies will only be effective if you manage
your class well.

OBJECTIVES

So, at the end of this lecture you should be able to:

i. Explain the need to manage classroom effectively;
ii. Explain the causes of misbehavior in the classroom and ways to stop it;
iii. Summarize guidelines for establishing class rules;
iv. Describe effective teacher behaviours;
v. Describe strategies of dealing with problem behaviours.

Classroom management encompasses all aspects of Educational Psychology.

12.2 ISSUES ON CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

As we have already observed there are a number of factors that influence learning. Some are
directly connected to the individual students while others are external to the students. Some of
them are inherently external to the teaching skills of the teacher but do greatly facilitate/hinder the
teaching/learning processes. All these factors are present in the class and the teacher has to take
them into account while teaching i.e. managing the class for effective learning. Elliot et al. (2000)
define classroom management as the use of rules and procedures to maintain order so that
learning may result. In acknowledging the possibility of having classroom not conducive to
learning the teacher uses rules and procedures to facilitate learning.

Our experiences in years of living in the classroom setting we are aware of some chaotic situations
where learning is hardly possible; students fighting among themselves; occurrences of bullying;
shouting in arguments; ridiculing others; and even some students arguing with the teacher to the
extent of refusing orders from the respective teacher. The same class in a different day or occasion
may have atmosphere that is peaceful and serious learning taking place in a friendly manner.
Santrock (2004) has Walter Doyle (1986) description of the characteristics that reflect the
complexity of classroom environment:
 Classrooms are multidimensional. Classrooms are setting of both cognitive and social
activities. The students are simultaneously demanded to understand the content while
interact with others in a given schedule. Students have to learn an appropriate way of
functioning in this situation. The teacher has to be in position to monitor all what is going
on in the classroom and at the same time facilitate learning of academic and social skills.
 Activities occur simultaneously. Many activities occur at the same time. Some students
may be concentrating on learning while another group of students are having their own
discussion, one student is looking outside the classroom, others are seeking permission to
enter and a big number looking indifferently to the instruction and whatever is happening
in class. One can never be sure about the number of activities that can take place in a
classroom at the same time.
 Things happen quickly. Events often occur rapidly in classrooms and frequently require an
immediate response. Two students can start a fight out of nowhere and the teacher has to
stop teaching immediately and fast deal with the ensuing condition; a student can just get
sick when a moment a go s/he looked fine and the teacher has to take appropriate response;
or a student grabbing another student‟s book without concert.
 Events are often unpredictable. The school activities are supposed to be planned from the
beginning of the year and teachers always plan for their classes beforehand. However, the
above identified occurrences not only happen quickly but they were also unpredictable.
Also the teacher can be pressured to change what had been planned by school management.
Sometimes with all well preparations a teacher cannot anticipate what will happen in the
next moment.
 There is little privacy. Whatever actions occur in the classroom they happen in clear view
of most students. The students observe what the teacher is doing in terms of interacting
with students and his/her reactions to the events taking place. This situation may make a
teacher uncomfortable in the classroom. Teacher‟s actions and emotional state form
students‟ perceptions on the teacher and have some influence on the classroom
teaching/learning process.
  Classrooms have history. Classroom life is daily influenced by what happened in the
classroom on the previous days (or a year if a cohort and with the same teacher). Students
have memories and remember how the teacher treats/mistreats students, and his/her
emotional reactions to different occurrences. They also remember what/how they
(individual student) and fellow students reacted on teacher‟s actions. In short a classroom
has got its own personality. It is imperative for a teacher to be aware what s/he does today
will have a bearing on classroom atmosphere in the future.

Have a reflection on your previous classrooms and identify aspects of above

? complexes. Try to cite a real life example of the each.

Adding on the above complexities it is important to observe some characteristics that are specific
to the situation in schools in our country. Some of them include:
 Overcrowded Classrooms. Some classrooms in our country have up to a hundred students.
It is very demanding to manage all of them and at the same time effectively give
instructions. According to Doswell (2007) overcrowded classrooms tend to exhaust the
energy of the teachers and also prevent optimum learning since they do not give students
time for exploration, discourse and creativity. Without extra aide normally learning
activities are not in orderly form. Also Zorigian (2009) points out that as class sizes grow
and the demands on teachers increase, many teachers feel there is little they can do to
control misbehaviour in the classroom.
 Lack of basic facilities. Some classrooms lack desks and as a result the teacher is not in
position to observe the whole classroom and his/her movement is restricted to just in front
of the class. The students lacking desks find it very difficult to engage in writing activities
related to learning. Just imaging students taking notes on their laps! Things are more
complicated during assessment sessions.
  In some areas there is lack of adequate physical structures for classroom. Some of the
rooms are exposed to outside elements such as leaking of the rain and wind/cold due to
lack of windows.
 Welfare of students. Some of the students in the classroom lack adequate basic needs such
as coming to school hungry and low prospects of getting nutritious meal. Classroom
atmosphere in the afternoon may be affected in schools that do not provide lunch to
students.

Based on the above observations what is the situation in schools in your area?
Discuss with respective teachers how these conditions affect their teaching and
?classroom management.

12.3 CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The objective of classroom management is to have an environment that is conducive for learning.
According to Everton (retrieved 2011) classroom management includes teacher actions to create,
implement, and maintaining a learning environment within the classroom. She further points out
that everything a teacher does has implications for classroom management including creating the
setting, decorating the room, arranging the chairs, speaking to students and handling their
responses, putting routine in place, developing rules, and communicating those rules to the
students. This implies the teacher is the significant factor in classroom management in several
interwoven aspects. Teachers have to know how to create safe (intellectually, emotionally, and
physically) and productive learning environments i.e. classroom environment where all students
can learn.

The classroom learning environment does not come into existence naturally but it has to be created
by the teacher. We say to create since this environment in the classroom is a result of teacher‟s
style of management. You are aware that learning environment of the classroom differs in relation
to the respective teachers of that classroom. With one teacher the classroom is always harmonious
while with another teacher the same classroom is in state of chaos with little learning taking place.
There are several teacher management styles and each of the systems indicating to the students
about teacher‟s beliefs on content and learning processes. Students‟ perception of the teacher‟s
style of management have influence on the way they approach learning, the content being
delivered and some aspects of their personalities in the future.

The management styles are identified in terms degree of control and level of involvement.
Baumrind (1971) and Phelan (2005) describe these management styles as follows:
 The authoritative style. Characterized by behavioural principles, high expectations of
appropriate behaviour, clear statements about why certain behaviours are acceptable and
others not acceptable. It is a relatively hard style to establish and maintain. Students under
the teacher with this style know s/he is positive, kind, supportive, and they know when s/he
serious. They trust him/her and the classroom atmosphere has more time for academics.
This style helps to produce students who are socially competent and responsible.
 The authoritarian style. It tends to be characterized by numerous behavioural regulations.
The teacher is seen as rather punitive and restrictive; and students have neither a say in the
management, nor are they seen to need explanations from the teacher. Teachers using this
style normally jump on any behaviour that is not acceptable by shouting to get attention,
acting angrily, seem to be shocked when a student does not follow directives and rarely do
they support students or use reinforcement. So, this style gets students compliance
immediately because of fear. In the long run it produces students who are ineffective at
social interactions, and somewhat ineffective.
 The permissive style. It is characterized by lack of involvement, the environment is non-
punitive, and there are few demands on students, and there is a lot of freedom. Teachers
using this style hope to be liked by their students by being supportive without setting limits
on the students. They ignore disruptive behaviour or handle it with weak reprimands. In
this environment the classroom becomes out of control and constructive learning hardly
occurs. This style produce students that are immature, show poor self-restraint, and exhibit
poor leadership skills.
 The indulgent style. Under this style there are no demands of any sort on students. Here the
teacher cares more about the student‟s emotional well-being than his/her behaviours. The
 students are actively supported in their efforts to seek their own ends at any reasonable
means. The teacher is detached from the ongoing learning activities by doing something
else e.g. instead of supervising students working on assignment in groups s/he might be
marking or engaging on something else outside the classroom. Such teachers miss
important signs from students indicating having academic or behavioural problems. This
style produces students like those under the permissive style.
 Balanced style. As described in kabbalawww.kabbalah.com/Free-Teacher (retrieved 2011)
the balanced classroom management style combines the authoritative and indulgent
management styles. The teacher sets the rules and conduct an orderly classroom but also
keep the classroom student-centered by allowing the students freedom to give their views
and thoughts creatively through group discussions. Students under this style grow to
behave like teachers using this style of management.

Based on the above styles we see that in one extreme some teachers takes complete control of the
classroom by guiding all student activities in the classroom. Students have very little room on
creating the learning environment in the classroom. In other extreme some teachers have very little
control of the classroom and seem to be not responsible for the learning environment. In the
middle of the two extremes we have teachers who encourage and teach students assume
responsibility of their behaviour and consequently the learning environment in the classroom. Of
the above styles of classroom management the authoritative style is more significant in creating
constructive learning environment where students feel safe and the teachers feels empowered by
the positive development of his/her students.

List all of your previous teachers and determine the management style of each
?

12.3.1 Instruction as part of classroom management

Instruction is part and parcel of creating learning environment in the classroom. Instruction has
two components, namely teaching (what the teacher does) and learning (what the students do)
(Marshall, 2003). A teacher cannot only focus on delivering the material in absence of managing
the classroom. Research in 1980s has demonstrated that management and instructions are not
separate, but are inextricably interwoven and complex (Everton, Retrieved 2011). The goal of the
teacher should not only facilitate learning to the students but rather use classroom management to
facilitate student growth in self-control and acceptance of responsibility in management (Savage &
Savage, 2010).

Some aspects of teaching (the content and the way it is delivered) have a direct impact on the
learning environment in the classroom. The teacher has to make the content in the curriculum
relevant, interesting, meaningful, and/or enjoyable. Presenting a lesson in an interesting way is a
mechanism of managing the classroom since it keeps the students in the learning process and they
have little room for engaging in the other irrelevant activities. We have already discussed on how
to make pupils be motivated to learn. In managing student academic work an effective teacher-led
instruction is free of ambiguous and vague terms; unclear sequencing; interruptions; and students
must be held accountable for their work (Kizlik, 2010). In citing several sources Santrock (2004),
for increasing academic learning time the teacher should:
 Maintain activity flow of the instruction and avoid unnecessary interruptions.
 Minimize transition time i.e. the time used to move from one learning activity to the next
one. If the transition between activities is too long this provides for an opportunity for
students to engage in disruptive behaviour. The teacher has to maintain flow of instruction
by develop skills of moving students smoothly from one activity to another, both physically
and cognitively.
 Engage students in a variety of challenging activities.
 Hold students accountable for their work and use of class time.
 Make sure the learning has a purpose.
Having seen the importance of teacher in creating learning environment now we discuss
specifically on other things that the teacher has to take into account in creating and maintaining
learning environment.

12.3.2 Physical environment of the classroom

The way the classroom is set up is a crucial component in management and conveys the learning
environment in the classroom. In a good physical environment the students have the sense of
security i.e. feeling safe in a secure place for learning. The structure has to shield students from
adverse external elements (such as sun, rain, and cold) and yet be comfortable in terms of chairs,
temperature, ventilation and lightings.

In citing several sources Santrock (2004) suggest teachers to use the following steps in making a
classroom arrangement:
i. Consider what activities students will be engaged in.
ii. Draw up a floor plan before you actually move the desks and chairs.
iii. Involve students in planning the classroom layout.
iv. Try out the arrangement and be flexible in redesigning.

Whatever arrangement you plan to use, according to Kizlik (2010) one should consider the
following aspects:
 Permit the teacher to observe all the students at all the times and to monitor work and
behaviour.
 Frequently used area of the room and traffic lanes should be unobstructed and easily
accessible.
 Students should be able to see the teacher and presentation without undue turning and
movement.
 Commonly used classroom materials, e.g. books and student reference materials should be
readily available.
“While good room arrangement is not a guarantee of good behaviour, poor planning in this area
can create conditions that lead to problems” (Kizlik, 2010). Many classrooms in our country have
all the desks arranged in rows facing in front and the teacher (all students facing the teacher and
the chalkboard). In developed countries this referred to as the “traditional classroom setup” or
“standard classroom arrangement”. This arrangement implies that the teacher and the lesson are
centre of learning processes. This setup is appropriate if the lesson is being presented in a lecture
mode. Although the teacher has access to any part of the room the students are limited to
communicate among themselves. In this setup the teacher arrange walk ways for easy movements
(for the teacher and students too) but the desks should not be too far apart. In the front the teacher
and his/her table should be out of way and not blocking students‟ view of the chalkboard or
materials; and/or interfering with learning activities taking place at the front of the classroom.

The teacher can rearrange the traditional setup to enhance instruction depending on the size of the
room, number of students in the classroom, availability and types of desks in the classroom. In face
to face style students sit facing each other; for cooperative learning use off-set style whereby three
or four students sit around arranged tables together (in form of a circle or squire) forming a
learning group; and for collaborative learning use seminar style where a large number of students
sit in desks arranged in U-shape, squire or circle.

12.3.3 Setting classroom rules and procedures

Classroom is like any society as it needs rules and procedures to function properly. Classroom
devoid of rules becomes chaotic. So, in classroom management the teacher has to establish and
enforce rules and procedures to have an effective learning environment. Rules focus on expected
standards of behaviour while procedures indicate the expected routine of specific activities in the
classroom. The objectives of rules and procedures are for classroom as a group to function
smoothly with the aim of achieving something. Rules and procedures pre-describe how, where,
who and when one is expected to function in the classroom. Very rarely do rules change but
procedures can and do change. To appreciate their significance in determine learning atmosphere
just imaging a school/classroom without rules and procedures where anything goes at anytime.
Some of the rules relate to explicit behaviours such as fighting, making noise and running in the
classroom as unacceptable. Other rules relate to implicit behaviours like when is one allowed to go
out or what to do when feeling uneasy. So, in managing the classroom the rules and procedures
have to be clearly defined through discussion with students. Rules on addressing implicit
behaviours should have specific procedures to be followed by all. In many circumstances student
first has to raise hands to draw teacher‟s attention.

The processing of establishing the rules and procedures start on the first day of the academic year.
They are planned to last for the whole year. It is advisable whenever possible to involve students in
establishing the rules and procedures of the classroom. Students sometimes do not understand the
functions of having classroom rules and subsequently do not respect them, especially adolescents
(DesSpain, 1996). In discussing the rules the students are in position to think about the need for
rules in the classroom and consequently in their lives. It has been observed that where students
were involved in establishing rules they come up with similar as those intended by the teacher; and
in some circumstances they suggest tougher ones relative to the teacher‟s rules. Students are more
likely to have success when they understand the rules and have a supportive teacher who leads by
example (Savage and Savage, 2010). In the same vein the consequences of breaking the rules and
procedures should be stated clearly to the students. In the discussion the students and the teacher
can make a list of consequences for breaking any of the rules.

When establishing the rules and procedures consideration should be on cognitive space necessary
for a learning environment (Everton, Retrieved 2011). They should facilitate learning rather than
undermining creativity and motivation to learn. The rules and procedures have to be appropriate
for the level of students‟ development. Rules for young children cannot be appropriate for high
school students‟ learning environment, and the vice versa. Also the rules and procedures have to
revolve around the learning activities of students in the classroom.

In addressing this concern Elliot et al. (2000) based on several sources suggest the following steps
in formulating meaningful rules for classroom activities:
 i. Define the class activity. Specific activities require specific rules e.g. rules
for laboratory have to be different from those for theatre class.
ii. Determine the social behaviours necessary for activities.
iii. Determine which activities need lists of rules.
iv. Make a list of rules for the selected activities.
v. Be sure to formulate a set of general activity rules.

List down and exhaust all classroom learning activities

Santrock (2004) in citing Weinstein (1997) advance the following teaching strategies for
establishing classroom rules and procedures:
i. Rules and procedures should be reasonable and necessary. There must be
good reasons for having the rule. Avoid making unnecessary rules and the class should
have few rules so that students remember them.
ii. Rules and procedures should be clear and comprehensible. They have to be
stated clearly and be specific on what they mean.
iii. Rules and procedures should be consistent with instructional and learning
goals. Effective rules are those that teach students acceptable behaviours. In preventing
disruptive behaviour is to include course and behaviour norms and expectations for
students and instructors in the syllabi (McKinney, retrieved 2011).
iv. Classroom rules and procedures should be consistent with school rules.
v. Zorigian (2009) adds that the rules should be stated in positive terms i.e.
students should know what the teacher wants them to do, not what s/he doesn‟t them to
do.

12.4 MAINTAINING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Although setting classroom rules at the beginning of school is significant it is not enough for
instruction. A teacher is responsible for maintaining a learning environment throughout the year
for the curriculum objectives to be realised. S/he has to be aware that students as a group or as
individuals sometimes go against established rules that undermining learning environment due to
developmental factors and the prevailing emotional state.

The first aspect in maintaining classroom learning environment is through instruction. In this
aspect Everton (Retrieved 2011) based on some observations (especially those of Kounin, 1970)
cited the following strategies teachers use for eliciting high levels of students‟ work involvement
and minimizing student misbehavior:
 With-it-ness. The teacher has to communicate awareness of student behaviour i.e. students
consciously knowing that the teacher is aware of whatever they are doing. The teacher is
required at all times to monitor students responses and actions; furthermore be in position
to anticipate areas that the students will have problems and have a plan on how to address
them if need be. This is the most effective strategy for preventing misbehavior. Remember
prevention is better than cure in classroom behaviour management. “Students know that
teachers who „have eyes in their back of the head‟ are surely much more effective at
maintaining order because they pre-empt problems by being right there in potential trouble
spots before the trouble has a chance to start” (unknown author, Copyright 2009-2011
classroom-management-success.org). This is normally accompanied by verbal comment
that does not interfere with flow of instruction. Kizlik (2010) adds that you have monitor
students carefully and frequently so that misbehavior is detected early before it involves
many students or becomes a serious disruption.
 Overlapping. The teacher has to be capable of doing two things at a time. A number of
things can happen in the classroom at the same moment e.g. some students concentrating
on the instruction while a group is having a discussion. The teacher has to stop group
making discussion and return to instruction with minimum interruption to flow of
instruction.
 Smoothness and momentum. This refers to moving in and out of activities smoothly, with
appropriately paced and sequenced instruction.
  Group alerting. This refers to keeping attentive in a whole-group focus. Students in the
classroom have a sense that they are learning as a group rather than just as single
individuals.
 Attending students‟ needs. In monitoring students a teacher has to actively detect students‟
individual behavioral and learning needs. During instruction student‟s behaviour and
expressions may imply a student is uncomfortable, confused and/or mentally somewhere
else. The teacher has to have an eye on such students and make an appropriate decisions
and actions.
 Planned activities. Learning activities should be paced to make sure that students have
enough in relation to their level of attention span and interests. Instruction should include a
variety of activities and the way they are to be conducted.

12.4.1 Causes of misbehaviour in classrooms

With all planning and engaging students in creating learning environment; and close monitoring by
the teacher some sort of misbehaviour is highly likely to occur during instructions. In discussing
primary causes of behaviour one educationist pointed out that all behaviour has purpose i.e. a well-
behaved student behaves well for a reason, likewise misbehaving student acts have a
purpose(Copyright 2010 The Incredible Art Department, retrieved 2011). So, before looking on
how to control misbehaviour let us look at some of causes of misbehaviour:
 Attention. Some students feel that the only way they can get attention and noticed is
through misbehaving. These are students who constantly talk in the class or make noise to
draw attention. There are positive ways of getting attention but misbehaving students draw
attention by making other students and teacher annoyed.
 Power. Student in need for power argue a lot and refuse to follow rules. For them following
rules is taken as sign of weakness and admitting defeat. They feel more power will be an
answer to their problems. When as a teacher you feel threatened by act of a student then
know power seeking is behind the misbehaviour.
 Revenge. In case of failure they want to regain power, attention and personal satisfaction by
being mean or violent against their fellow students or the teacher. Sometimes revenge is
expressed by writing in prohibited places, through vandalism or/and beating other students.
  Self-confidence. Students who lack confidence believe that they do not have the ability to
function in the classroom and as thus expect to fail. However, you find that they have self-
confidence in activities not connected to instruction. Such students escape participating in
classroom learning by engaging in play or other disruptive acts. Teachers feel angry about
this type of student since the teachers are aware that the student is capable of participating
in learning but decide to opt out. Such students are very frustrating when encouraged to
learn.
 Feeling inadequate. Students who feel are bad, act bad. They rarely try new things but
rather engage in bragging, boasting or fighting. They believe they are unpopular and cruel
and as a result mistreat other students.
 Boredom. Linsin (2009) pointed out that boredom is one of the leading causes of
misbehavior in the classroom. Some teachers present material in very small pace and in
monotonous tone that can make a student to sleep. Boredom makes a student to engage in
acts of misbehaviour like playing silly games and chatting with other bored students.
 Student‟s personal problems. A student experiencing personal problems may engage in
misbehaviour. For example, a student may come from a family with internal conflicts or
problems that cause frustrations to the student; who in turn releases it by acts of
misbehaviour. Also, peer pressure can make a student misbehave in the classroom as the
mean of being accepted in the group.
Based on your experiences as a student list other causes of misbehaviour in the
classroom. Also use aspects of the previous material in this lecture to identify other
? causes not mentioned above.

12.4.2 Controlling classroom

The teacher is the leader in the classroom, and leadership means taking control of the situation. To
be successful in classroom the teacher must be in control. It is impossible to manage your
classroom if you are not in control. Control refers to being responsible and having the power of
taking charge of all activities in the classroom. Classroom control is part and parcel of what
teacher‟s responsibility when with students in any setting.
 If one cannot control his/her class s/he does not fit to be a teacher

As implied in the previous parts of this lecture teaching style determines how the teacher controls
the classroom. According to Savage and Savage (2010) in the long run it is better if a teacher
empowers students and enables them to learn and gain self-control and develop their own
characters, since both the teacher and students gain. So, effective classroom management begins
with teaching students how to control themselves. Also you have already realized the significance
of establishing classroom rules and procedures classroom management. Most of your control will
relate to them. Now we look at other significant components related to classroom control.

Effective teacher‟s behaviour is very significant in classroom control

Teacher‟s behaviour is a concept that is very broad and also complex to describe. Here we only
explain it in segments for easy understanding and also as means of teachers developing aspects of
behaviors and characteristics that are effective in classroom control. The list of effective
behaviours identified here is not exhaustive in any measure. However, you should bear in mind
that anything you do (or you do not do) and how you are perceived as a teacher by your students
has a bearing on how you control the classroom and consequently the learning environment (either
positively or negatively). Also be aware that effective behaviour can be developed by the
individual teacher as s/he progresses in his/her professional development.

As a teacher practice skills that will minimize misbehaviour.

There are several things a teacher can do to establish positive environment before entering the
classroom. The first is the teacher believing that s/he has the capability to have a complete
effective classroom control. One must have self-confidence in handling students and eventualities
in the classroom. Also s/he must have more proactive approach to classroom management by
establishing clear rules, expectations, and consequences to make improvements in academics and
increased instructional time (Zorigian, 2009). We have already discussed rules and procedures;
now let us look at teacher‟s expectations and other aspects as related to teachers and classroom
control.

Teacher‟s expectations should be clear to all students in the classroom. They need to know from
the first encounter the behaviour that you as their teacher expect of them. McKinney (2011)
strongly suggests discussing the norms and expectations on the first day; telling students you
expect them to act appropriately. The students should fully be aware that the teacher expects them
to be accountable for their academic performance and actions in the classroom. Have a system in
place to reinforce expectations since it is unwise to believe that just having rules and expectation is
enough to control all students. So, clear teacher expectations from the beginning are preventive
and eliminate (or minimize) future possible problems.

Elliot et al. points out that as a teacher you should not cause any problems yourself by:
i. Being fair to all students. Avoid being unfair by treating all students equally. Show that
you respect all your students since those feeling they are not liked are more likely to cause
you problems. Treat each with respect that you want accorded to you as a person. Avoid
controlling the classroom on some preconceived view of certain students.
ii. Being consistent. React to the similar situation in a similar manner. Adhere to the
established classroom procedures and regulations. To be effective in classroom
management it takes time. You need to be consistent in using appropriate approaches when
you start your profession as a teacher from the first day with the classroom. Every day
work based on the prescribed schedule and before the entering the class know exactly what
you are going to do at all moments.
iii. Avoiding being boring. You must be conversant with subject matter of your lesson and be
in position to deliver it in an interesting way.
iv. Controlling your temper. Do not perceive all students actions as directed to you. However,
some of the students‟ unacceptable actions may be directed to you personally and you have
to respond in a controlled manner. Savage and Savage (2010) says a teacher has to remain
 calm and speak to students in a respective way; not to act in anger or wrath, but deal with
issue that occur in the classroom with as much care and concern as possible.

Santrock (2004) in controlling the classroom effectively he suggests that:

 The teacher should develop positive relationship with students. The students have to
sincerely believe that you genuinely care about them as individuals. So show caring
attitude.
 Be a good communicator. This involves developing speaking skills (clarity in speaking,
being assertive, and avoiding to criticize, name calling, threatening and moralizing);
listening skills (active listening by paying careful attention to the student when speaking
and giving feedback in a competent manner); and nonverbal skills (facial expressions and
eye communication, touch, observing personal space appropriate use of silence).

Savage and Savage (2010) add that:

 Discourage misbehaviour, encourage desired behaviour. Only giving attention to acts of
misbehaviour make students realize that attention is gained by such acts. Dave Scott (2008)
observed that in many classrooms students who conform receive little or no recognition for
their efforts, while students who challenge the rules and expectations receive endless
sanctions and when they manage to control their behaviour and conform they also receive a
lot of praises and rewards. Recognizing desired behaviour when it occurs motivates a
student to engage in that specific behaviour.
 Create an environment where students care about and respect one another.
 Exhibit management qualities. The teacher has to lead by example by being a warm
demander; being a decision maker; holding high standards and be success-oriented; and
creating a predictable.
Carolyn Everton (Retrieved 2011) recommends that:
 Create motivational climate. A teacher has to create a climate that encourages students to
do their best. S/he has to be excited by students‟ work; demonstrate that their work has
value and worthwhile to their expectations and interests; and that effort, time, energy and
creativity used by students in their work holds value at all times. Remember that you can
 have a well organized classroom with no occurrence of misbehaviour and yet little learning
taking place. The students need to be motivated to engage in and complete the task at hand
for effective learning. In motivating students a teacher need to identify what motivates each
student.

Using punishment and rewards as means of controlling classroom.

A teacher cannot avoid using punishment and rewards in controlling classroom since
misbehaviours are to occur frequently. Punishment in this context is taken as aversive stimuli to
the student. You need to determine which types of punishment are allowed in your country. In this
part it is taken in the context of controlling the students‟ behaviours in the classroom. Praise can be
stimuli that are pleasant to the students or as reinforcement based on operant conditioning
perspectives. Below are some suggestions on using punishment and praises in classroom
management:
 Scott (2008) points out the need to maintain the right balance. One way of managing
behaviour is to punish for the unacceptable behaviours and reward the desired ones. In
many occasions teachers readily and consistently use punishment whenever misbehavior
occurs. Teachers must maintain an effective balance by being especially vigilant about
continuing to reward those students who are consistently well behaved. In addressing
balance, rewards and punishment have to be hierarchal and distributed fairly and
constantly.
 For Effective praise. Kizlik (2010) suggests the following guidelines. The praise:
 Is delivered contingently upon student performance of desirable behaviours or
genuine accomplishment.
 Specifies the praiseworthy aspects of the student‟s accomplishments
 Is expressed sincerely, showing spontaneity, variety and other non-verbal signs of
credibility.
 Is given for genuine effort, progress. Or accomplishment which are judged
according to standards appropriate to the individual.
 Provides information to students about their competence or the value of their
accomplishments.
  Attributes student success to effort and ability, implying that similar success can be
expected in the future.
 Encourages students to appreciate their accomplishments for the effort they expend
and their personal gratification.

 In regard to punishment the he points out that:

 Frequent use of punishment is associated with poor classroom management and
should be avoided.
 When used the punishment should be related logically to the misbehaviour.
 Milder punishments are often as effective as more intense forms and do not arouse
as much negative emotion.

12.5 MANAGING INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

As we have already seen in classroom management prevention is always better than cure.
However, since students are human beings and they vary so much some misbehavior will occur at
times. I read somewhere that an effective teacher plans for the best environment but is always
prepared for the worst. So, in this section we look at what to do in controlling the classroom
learning atmosphere when misbehavior occurs.

Kizlik (2010) points out that most inappropriate behaviour that is not seriously disruptive can be
managed by relative simple procedures that prevent escalation. Most of the minor problems you to
deal with daily involve talking without order, making noise, mentally wandering and/or out-of-seat
behaviour. However, you have to remember that some of the minor misbehaviors are caused by
teachers themselves by boring the students or having the transition between activities being too
long. The control procedures for minor issues include:
 Act to stop the appropriate behaviour so as not to interrupt the instruction activity. Also
handling it promptly keeps it from continuing and spreading to others.
 Moving closer to the student misbehaving, making an eye contact and giving a nonverbal
signal to stop the disruptive behaviour.
 Calling a student‟s name or giving a short verbal instruction to stop behaviour.
In minor issues always try not to interfere with the flow of instruction. However, some of the
misbehaviours are quite serious needing a stronger intervention. The first thing to do is to stop
continuing with instruction whenever classroom rules are being broken until you have the attention
of the students misbehaving. In citing Everton et al (2003) Santrock (2004) suggests the following
moderate interventions:
 Withhold a privilege or desired activity.
 Isolate or remove the students misbehaving.
 Impose a penalty or detention.

In dealing with students who are really disruptive McKinney (2010) suggests to do the following:
i. Walk over to the talkative students and conduct class standing next to them whenever
possible.
ii. Stop whatever you are doing and wait as long as it takes for the students to quiet down
while you look at the disruptive students. Then begin again.
iii. Note who the disruptive students are and speak to them after class or ask them to your
office hours.
iv. Discuss the disruptive behaviour in private outside of class with some of the non-disruptive
students.
v. Sometimes break the students into groups for some work. Call on these and other students
to come forward and lead the discussion.
vi. Consider changing the structure of the whole class.
vii. Spend some time in class discussing the whole situation openly and honestly with all
students. They should know that their disruptive behavior does not fit your criteria for
participation in learning and that they are being unfair to other students.
viii. Talk to your colleagues on how to
handle the situation
For students involved in very serious offences like aggression and bullying use the school
guidelines.
 Behaviour modification
 Making students to cooperate
 Collaboration with parents

We looked at classroom management in different aspects namely complexities of

classroom, instruction and management; steps involved in establishing classrooms
and procedures; maintaining and controlling classroom; causes of misbehaviour and
strategies of dealing with them.

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?

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