This document discusses behavioral and cognitive approaches to psychology and their implications for education. It describes key theorists in each approach, including Thorndike, Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, and Gagne for behaviorism, and Montessori, Piaget, and Vygotsky for cognitivism. Behaviorism focuses on observable stimulus-response relationships and conditioning techniques, while cognitivism emphasizes internal mental processes like memory, perception, and stages of cognitive development. Both approaches aim to understand learning and inform curriculum design but differ in their views of the learner and role of environment.
Influencing policy (training slides from Fast Track Impact)
Psychological foundation of curriculum
1.
2.
3. The scientific study of mental
functions and behavior including:
Perception
Cognition
Behavior
Emotion
Personality
Interpersonal relationships
4. Basis of understanding – John Dewey
Modes of thinking – Jerome Bruner
“Unifying elements of the learning
process. It forms the basis for the
methods, materials, and activity of
learning… serves… for many curriculum
decision
How we think and how we learn
9. Father of modern educational
psychology & founder of behavioral
psychology
CONNECTIONISM
Laws of Learning
› Law of Readiness
› Law of Exercise
› Law of Effect
10. Thorndike’s Influence
Thorndike and other followers believed
that rote memorization does not
necessarily strengthen connections
Thorndike broke the traditional thinking
about hierarchy of subject matter
11. Pavlov was the first to demonstrate
Classical Conditioning.
He is best known for his experiment with
salivating dogs.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Pavlov’s experiment with salivating dogs
best demonstrated the principle of Classical
Conditioning.
12. Watson took Pavlov’s findings to another
level.
Emphasized that learning was observable
or measurable, not cognitive.
Believed the key to learning was in
conditioning a child from an early age
based on Pavlov’s methods.
Nurture vs. Nature
13. One of the most influential American
psychologists
He began his research with rats at
Harvard and pigeons during WWII.
Respondent vs. Operant behavior
Operant Conditioning
14. Types of reinforcers
Operant behavior will “extinguish” without
reinforcement
By selecting which behavior to reinforce,
we can direct the learning process in the
classroom
Learners can acquire new operants
“Education is what survives when what has
been learned has been forgotten”
15. Contributed to the understanding
of learning through observation
and modeling
16. Gagné’s Hierarchy of Learning notes the
transition from behaviorism to cognitive
psychology
Mental operations needed for each outcome
differ
Gagne’s Instructional Events lead into
cognitive Psychology
Five Learning Outcomes (observable and
measurable)
The Hierarchy of Learning
18. Curriculum should be organized so students
experience success in master the subject
matter.
Behaviorist are very prescriptive and
diagnostic in their approach.
Rely on step-by-step structured methods for
learning.
Behaviorism in curriculum includes careful
analyzing and sequencing of the learners’
needs and behaviours.
19.
20. Focus on how individuals
process information
Emphasis on memory
(storage, retrieval, types)
Learner is the key player
22. Authors do not place her with
progressive child- centered approaches-
lack of “free play” vs. freedom within
structure
Opposed behaviorist focus on only
“doing” but focused also on looking and
listening
Focus on how sensory stimulation from
the environment shapes thinking
23. Swiss psychologist (Pestalozzi)
America noticed in the 50’s and 60’s
Text reminds us that his theories
are not fact, and should be taken as
“suggestive”
Like Gagne , stages described as
hierarchal
Schema theory
Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Stage
24. Formal
operations
begins
@ 11-15
abstract thinker
Concrete operations
(ages 7 to 11)
begins to think abstractly,
needs physical, concrete
examples
Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 4)
Needs concrete interactions (no abstract)
use of symbols (pictures, words) to
communicate
Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 years old)
learning by movement and sensory exploration
25. Russian psychologist
The West published in 1962
theory of socio-cultural
development
Culture requires skilled tool use
(language, art, counting systems)
The Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD)
26. Cognitive approach constitutes a logical
method for organizing and interpreting
learning
Rooted in the tradition of subject matter
Educators been trained in cognitive
approaches
Schools are the place for cognitive learning.
Students should not afraid to ask, not afraid of
being wrong, not afraid of not please teacher,
and not afraid of taking risk and playing with
ideas.