Facilitating Learning/

Child & Adolescent

Development
1. Analyze the cognitive, metacognitive,
motivational and socio-cultural factors that affect
learning. (5%)
2. Apply theories of learning & development to the
teaching-learning process.(8%)
3. Draw educational implications of research
findings related to child & adolescent learning &
development along with the biological, linguistic,
cognitive, social & psychological dimensions.(5%)
4. Organize a learning environment that is
responsive to the learner’s needs and that
promotes fairness among learners of various
cultures, family background and gender.(2%)
LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

• Cognitive & Metacognitive

• Motivational & Affective
• Developmental & Social
• Individual Differences
Cognitive/Metacognitive Factors
1. Nature of the Learning Process
The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an
intentional process of constructing meaning from information & experience.
2. Goals of the Learning Process
Learners can create meaningful and coherent representations of knowledge.
3. Construction of Knowledge
Learners can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways
4. Strategic Thinking
Learners can create & use a repertoire of thinking & reasoning strat. To
achieve complex learning goals
5. Thinking About Thinking
Higher order strategies for selecting & monitoring mental operations facilitate
creative & critical thinking.
6. Context of Learning
Learning is influenced by environmental factors (culture, technology,
instructional practices)
Motivational & Affective Factors
7. Motivational & Emotional Influences on Learning
Learning is influenced by the learner’s motivation (Motivation
is influenced by emotion, beliefs, interests, goals and habits of
thinking)
8. Intrinsic Motivation to Learn
Motivation to learn depends on the learner’s creativity, higher
order thinking, and natural curiosity.
9. Effects of Motivation on Effort
Extended effort & guided practice are needed to acquire
complex knowledge & skills
“ Without learner’s motivation to learn, the willingness to
exert this effort is unlikely without coercion”
Developmental and Social Factors

10. Developmental Influences on Learning

Learning is effective when differential
development within & across physical,
intellectual, emotional and social domains is
taken into account.
11. Social Influences on Learning
Learning is influenced by social interactions,
interpersonal relations & communication with
others.
Individual Differences Factors
12. Individual Differences in Learning
Learners have different strategies, approaches, and
capabilities for learning that are a function of prior
experience & heredity
13. Learning & Diversity
Learning is most effective when differences in learner’s
linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into
account
14. Standards and Assessment
Setting appropriately high & challenging standards &
assessing the learner are integral parts of the learning
process
 BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS

1. Schema-cognitive structures
2. Assimilation-the process of fitting a new
experience into an existing or previously
created cognitive structure or schema
3. Accommodation-the process of creating a
new schema
4. Equilibrium-is achieving proper balance
between assimilation and accommodation
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1.)Sensorimotor Stage
 Object Permanence-the ability to know that an
object exists even when out of sight

2.)Pre-operational Stage
 Symbolic Function-the ability to represent objects
& events
 Egocentrism-the tendency of the child to only see
his point of view & to assume that everyone also
has his same point of view
Centration- the tendency of the child to only
focus to one aspect of a thing or event or
exclude other aspects
Reversibility-children on this stage have the
inability to reverse their thinking
Animism-the tendency of children to attribute
human like traits or characteristics to
inanimate objects
Transductive reasoning-neither inductive nor
deductive
3.) Concrete Operational Stage
 Decentering-the ability of the child to
perceive the different features of objects &
situations
Reversibility-the child can follow that certain
operations can be done in reverse
Conservation-the ability to know that certain
properties of objects like number, mass,
volume or area do not change even if there is
change in appearance.
Seriation-the ability to order or arrange things
based on a certain dimension
4.) Formal Operational Stage
Hypothetical Reasoning- the ability to come
up with different hypothesis about a problem
and to gather and weigh data in order to make
a final decision of judgment
Analogical reasoning- the ability to perceive
relationship in one instance and then use that
relationship to narrow down possible answers
in another similar situation or problem
Deductive Reasoning- the ability to think
logically by applying a general rule to a
particular instance or situation
THE EIGHT PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
(Erik Erikson)

1. Infancy (0-18 mos.)

 Trust vs. Mistrust
Maladapatation-overly trusting/gullible
Malignancy-withdrawal characterized by
depression, paranoia, psychosis
Virtue- hope
2. Early Childhood (18 mos.-3 or 4 yrs.)
 Autonomy vs. Shame
Maladaptation- impulsiveness, shameless willfulness
Malignancy-compulsiveness
Virtue-will power/determination

3.Early Childhood (3 or 4-5 or 6 yrs.)

 Initiative vs. Guilt
Maladaptation-ruthlessness (sociopathy)
Malignancy- inhibition
Virtue-sense of purpose
4. Late Childhood (6-12 yrs.)
 Industry vs. Inferiority
Maladaptation-narrow virtuosity
Malignancy-inirtia (inferiority complex)
Virtue-competency
5) Adolescence (Puberty-18 or 20 yrs.)
 Identity vs. Role Confusion
Maladaptation- fanaticism
Malignancy- repudiation
Virtue- fidelity/loyalty
6.)Young Adulthood (18-30 yrs.)
 Intimacy vs. Isolation
Maladaptation – promiscuity (intimate too freely)
Malignancy- exclusion
Virtue- love

7.) Middle Adulthood ( mid 20s-late 50s)

 Generativity vs. Stagnation
Maladaptation- overextention
Malignancy- rejectivity/midlife crisis
Virtue- caring

8.) Late Adulthood (old age or 60s)

 Integrity vs. Despair
Maladaptation- presumption
Malignancy- disdain
Virtue- wisdom
 Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Sigmund Freud developed a theory on how our
sexuality starts from a very young age and
develops through various fixations. If these
stages are not psychologically completed and
released, we can be trapped by them and they
may lead to various defense mechanisms to
avoid the anxiety produced from the conflict
in and leaving of the stage.
Age Name Pleasure Source Conflict
0-2 Oral Mouth: sucking,biting, Weaning
swallowing away from
mother's
breast
2-4 Anal Anus: defecating or Toilet
retaining faeces training
4-5 Phallic Genitals Oedipus
(boys),
Electra (girls)
6 to Latency Sexual urges sublimated into
puberty sports and hobbies. Same-sex
friends also help avoid sexual
feelings.
Puberty Genital Physical sexual changes Social rules
onward reawaken repressed needs.
Direct sexual feelings towards
others lead to sexual
gratification.
Fixation
Strong conflict can fixate people at early stages.

Oral Fixation
Oral fixation has two possible outcomes.
• The Oral receptive personality is preoccupied with eating/drinking and
reduces tension through oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking,
biting nails. They are generally passive, needy and sensitive to rejection.
They will easily 'swallow' other people's ideas.
• The Oral aggressive personality is hostile and verbally abusive to others,
using mouth-based aggression.

Anal Fixation
Anal fixation, which may be caused by too much punishment during toilet
training, has two possible outcomes.
• The Anal retentive personality is stingy, with a compulsive seeking of order
and tidiness. The person is generally stubborn and perfectionist.
• The Anal expulsive personality is an opposite of the Anal retentive
personality, and has a lack of self control, being generally messy and
careless.
Phallic Fixation
• At the age of 5 or 6, near the end of the phallic stage, boys
experience the Oedipus Complex while girls experience the
Electra conflict, which is a process through which they learn
to identify with the same gender parent by acting as much
like that parent as possible.
• Boys suffer a castration anxiety, where the son believes his
father knows about his desire for his mother and hence
fears his father will castrate him. He thus represses his
desire and defensively identifies with his father.
• Girls suffer a penis envy, where the daughter is initially
attached to her mother, but then a shift of attachment
occurs when she realizes she lacks a penis. She desires her
father whom she sees as a means to obtain a penis
substitute (a child). She then represses her desire for her
father and incorporates the values of her mother and
accepts her inherent 'inferiority' in society.
Sigmund Freud described several components which have been very
influential in understanding personality.

Three levels of awareness

Freud identified three different parts of the mind, based on our level of
awareness.

• Conscious mind
The conscious mind is where we are paying attention at the moment. It
includes only our current thinking processes and objects of attention, and
hence constitutes a very large part of our current awareness.

• Preconscious mind
The preconscious includes those things of which we are aware, but where
we are not paying attention. We can choose to pay attention to these and
deliberately bring them into the conscious mind.
We can control our awareness to a certain extent, from focusing in very
closely on one conscious act to a wider awareness that seeks to expand
consciousness to include as much of preconscious information as possible
Subconscious mind
• At the subconscious level, the process and content are
out of direct reach of the conscious mind. The
subconscious thus thinks and acts independently.
• One of Freud's key findings was that much behavior is
driven directly from the subconscious mind. This has
the alarming consequence that we are largely unable
to control our behavior, and in particular that which we
would sometimes prefer to avoid.
• More recent research has shown that the subconscious
mind is probably even more in charge of our actions
than even Freud had realized.
Three Components of Personality
Individual’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are the result of the interaction
of the id, the superego, and the ego. This creates conflict, which creates
anxiety, which leads to Defense Mechanism

Id
• The Id contains our primitive drives and operates largely according to the
pleasure principle, whereby its two main goals are the seeking of pleasure
and the avoidance of pain.
• It has no real perception of reality and seeks to satisfy its needs through
what Freud called the primary processes that dominate the existence of
infants, including hunger and self-protection.
• The energy for the Id's actions come from libido, which is the energy
storehouse.
The id has 2 major instincts:
• Eros: the life instinct that motivates people to focus on pleasure-seeking
tendencies (e.g., sexual urges).
• Thanatos: the death instinct that motivates people to use aggressive urges
to destroy.
Ego
Unlike the Id, the Ego is aware of reality and hence operates
via the reality principle, whereby it recognizes what is real
and understands that behaviors have consequences. This
includes the effects of social rules that are necessary in
order to live and socialize with other people. It uses
secondary processes (perception, recognition, judgment
and memory) that are developed during childhood.
• The dilemma of the Ego is that it has to somehow balance
the demands of the Id and Super ego with the constraints
of reality.
• The Ego controls higher mental processes such as reasoning
and problem-solving, which it uses to solve the Id-Super
ego dilemma, creatively finding ways to safely satisfy the
Id's basic urges within the constraints of the Super ego.
 Stages of Moral Development
by Lawrence Kohlberg (1971)

I. Pre-conventional Level
At this level, the child is responsive to cultural
rules and labels of good and bad, right or
wrong, but he interprets the labels in terms of
either the physical or hedonistic
consequences of action (punishment, reward,
exchange of favors) or the physical power of
those who enunciate the rules and labels. The
level is divided into the following three stages:
• Stage 0: Egocentric judgement.
The child makes judgements of good on the basis of
what he likes and wants or what helps him, and bad on
the basis of what he does not like or what hurts him.
He has no concept of rules or of obligations to obey or
conform independent of his wish.

• Stage 1: The punishment and obedience orientation.

The physical consequences of action determine its
goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning
or value of these consequences. Avoidance of
punishment and unquestioning deference to power are
values in their own right, not in terms of respect for an
underlying moral order supported by punishment and
authority .
• Stage 2: The instrumental relativist orientation.
Right action consists of what instrumentally satisfies
one's own needs and occasionally the needs of
others. Human relations are viewed in terms such as
those of the market place. Elements of fairness,
reciprocity, and equal sharing are present, but they
are always interpreted in a physical, pragmatic way.
Reciprocity is a matter of "you scratch my back and
I'll scratch your", not loyalty, gratitude, or justice.
II. Conventional Level

At this level, the individual perceives the

maintenance of the expectations of his family,
group, or nation as valuable in its own right,
regardless of immediate and obvious
consequences. The attitude is not only one of
conformity to personal expectations and social
order, but of loyalty to it, of actively maintaining,
supporting, and justifying the order and
identifying with the persons or group involved in
it. The level consists of the following two stages:
• Stage 3: The interpersonal concordance or "good boy-
nice girl" orientation.
Good behavior is what pleases or helps others and is
approved by them. There is much conformity to
stereotypical images of what is majority or "natural"
behavior. Behavior is frequently judged by intention --
"he means well" becomes important for the first time.
One earns approval by being "nice".

• Stage 4: The "law and order" orientation.

The individual is oriented toward authority, fixed rules,
and the maintenance of the social order. Right
behavior consists in doing one's duty, showing respect
for authority, and maintaining the given social order for
its own sake.
III. Post-Conventional, Autonomous, or
Principled Level.

The individual makes a clear effort to define

moral values and principles that have validity
and application apart from the authority of
the groups of persons holding them and apart
from the individual's own identification with
the group. The level has the two following
stages:
Stage 5: The social contract legalistic orientation (generally
with utilitarian overtones).
Right action tends to be defined in terms of general
individual rights and standards that have been critically
examined and agreed upon by the whole society. There is a
clear awareness of the relativism of personal values and
opinions and a corresponding emphasis upon procedural
rules for reaching consensus. Aside from what is
constitutionally and democratically agreed upon, right
action is a matter of personal values and opinions. The
result is an emphasis upon the "legal point of view", but
with an additional emphasis upon the possibility of
changing the law in terms of rational considerations of
social utility (rather than freezing it in terms of stage 4 "law
and order"). Outside the legal realm, free agreement, and
contract, is the binding element of obligation. The "official"
morality of the American government and Constitution is at
this stage.
Stage 6: The universal ethical-principle orientation.
Right is defined by the decision of conscience in
accord with self-chosen ethical principles that
appeal to logical comprehensiveness, universality,
and consistency. These principles are abstract and
ethical (the Golden Rule, the categorical
imperative); they are not concrete moral rules
like the Ten Commandments. At heart, these are
universal principles of justice, of the reciprocity
and equality of the human rights, and of respect
for the dignity of human beings as individual
persons.
One of the most influential critiques of the Kohlberg
theory is to be found in Carol Gilligan’s In a
Different Voice (1982). Gilligan argues that
Kohlberg’s rule-oriented conception of morality
has an orientation toward justice, which she
associates with stereotypically male thinking,
whereas women and girls are perhaps more likely
to approach moral dilemmas with a "care"
orientation. One important issue in moral theory
that the Kohlberg-Gilligan debate raises is that of
the role and importance of moral feelings in the
moral life.