Educational Psychology: Learning Theories and Strategies

Posted on Sep 13, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Exceptional Students and Mainstreaming

Education for All Disabled Children Act (1975)

By the middle of the 20th century, the educational needs of exceptional students began to be recognized. Mainstreaming is the process of placing students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The Education for All Disabled Children Act of 1975 mandated Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), where teachers and parents work together as equal partners to develop and implement educational plans. These plans encourage parental involvement and focus on achieving specific learning objectives.

Inclusion

Inclusion goes beyond mainstreaming and advocates for the education of all students, including those with disabilities, in chronologically age-appropriate general education classrooms.

Cognitive Theories of Intelligence

Guilford’s Structure of Intellect

J.P. Guilford proposed a three-dimensional model of intelligence, encompassing:

  1. Content (what is being processed)
  2. Operations (how information is processed)
  3. Products (the results of processing)

Guilford identified five different operations: cognition, memory, divergent production, convergent production, and evaluation.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

Robert Sternberg’s theory suggests three types of intelligence:

  1. Componential (analytical)
  2. Contextual (practical)
  3. Experiential (creative)

Jensen’s Levels of Learning

Arthur Jensen proposed two levels of learning:

  1. Level 1: Involves rote learning and short-term memory.
  2. Level 2: Includes short-term transformation or manipulation of information to solve problems.

Gifted and Talented Education

Feldhusen’s Guidelines

John Feldhusen presented three guidelines for gifted and talented education:

  1. Identification
  2. Acceleration
  3. Grouping

Underachievement

Characteristics of Underachievers

Underachieving students may exhibit the following characteristics:

  • Belligerence towards classmates and others
  • Extreme defensiveness
  • Fear of failure
  • Resentment of criticism
  • Habitual procrastination
  • Frequent absences
  • Inattentiveness
  • Rebelliousness
  • Negative self-perception of abilities

Motivation and Learning

Weiner’s Attribution Theory

Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory explains how individuals interpret the causes of their successes and failures. It includes three dimensions:

  1. Locus of Control: Internal (attributing success or failure to one’s own ability and effort) or external (attributing it to luck or task difficulty). Students with a high external locus of control may develop learned helplessness, believing they cannot avoid failure and therefore stop trying.
  2. Stability: Causes can be stable (invariant and fixed) or unstable (changing in different situations).
  3. Controllability: The extent to which individuals perceive they can control the factors influencing their outcomes.

Dweck’s Social Cognitive Theory

Carol Dweck’s theory focuses on individuals’ beliefs about their intelligence. It highlights the impact of motivation and failure on task performance. Dweck proposes two contrasting views of intelligence:

  • Entity Theory: Intelligence is fixed. Individuals with this view adopt performance goals, aiming to gain positive judgments when successful and avoid negative judgments when unsuccessful. This can lead to decreased motivation in the face of challenges.
  • Incremental Theory: Intelligence is malleable. Individuals with this view adopt learning goals, focusing on increasing their competence regardless of outcomes. This fosters a growth mindset and sustained motivation.

Dweck’s theory emphasizes the interplay between beliefs about intelligence, goal orientation, and self-confidence in shaping learning and achievement.

Memory and Learning

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

LTM has a vast capacity and can store information for extended periods. It involves elaborative rehearsal, connecting new information with existing knowledge. Interference theory suggests that forgetting occurs when new or old information disrupts the retrieval of target information.

Short-Term Memory (STM) and Working Memory

STM has a limited capacity (around 7 chunks of information) and duration. Limitations in STM can impact children’s cognitive development. Working memory is the active processing component of memory, where mental tasks are performed.

Humanistic Psychology and Motivation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposes that individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs, ranging from basic physiological needs to self-actualization. The first four levels are deficiency needs (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem), while the top three are being needs (cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization).

Goal Structures and Motivation

Three Systems of Goal Structures

  1. Ability-Evaluative (Competitive): Students are motivated by outperforming others.
  2. Task Mastery (Individualistic): Students are motivated by personal improvement and skill development.
  3. Moral Responsibility (Cooperative): Students are motivated by contributing to the group’s success and helping others learn.

Brophy’s Strategies for Enhancing Motivation

Jere Brophy identified four strategies for enhancing student motivation:

  1. Establish clear learning goals and expectations.
  2. Provide opportunities for success and recognition.
  3. Create a supportive and engaging learning environment.
  4. Foster intrinsic motivation by connecting learning to students’ interests and values.

Behavioral Learning Principles

Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect states that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by unsatisfying consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Reinforcement and Punishment

  • Pairing: Combining primary reinforcers (e.g., food) with secondary reinforcers (e.g., praise) to increase the value of the secondary reinforcer.
  • Interval Schedule: Reinforcement is based on the passage of time (e.g., fixed interval, variable interval).
  • Ratio Schedule: Reinforcement is based on the number of responses (e.g., fixed ratio, variable ratio).

Shaping, Fading, and Chaining

  • Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior.
  • Fading: Gradually removing prompts or supports as the learner becomes more independent.
  • Chaining: Teaching a complex behavior by breaking it down into smaller steps and reinforcing each step in sequence.

Discovery Learning

Guided Discovery

The teacher provides step-by-step guidance and support as students solve problems and discover new concepts.

Open Discovery

Students engage in problem-solving with minimal teacher guidance, encouraging them to develop their own learning strategies.

Metacognition

Flavell’s Categories of Metacognitive Knowledge

John Flavell identified three categories of metacognitive knowledge:

  1. Personal Knowledge: Beliefs about one’s own cognitive abilities and limitations.
  2. Task Knowledge: Understanding the demands of different tasks and the strategies that are effective for each.
  3. Strategy Knowledge: Knowing how to select and apply appropriate learning strategies.

Information Processing

Coding, Decay Theory, and Rehearsal

  • Coding: Integrating new information in working memory with existing knowledge in long-term memory.
  • Decay Theory: Memories fade over time if not actively used or rehearsed.
  • Rehearsal: Repeating information to maintain it in working memory or transfer it to long-term memory.

Metamemory and Awareness

  • Metamemory: Awareness of one’s own memory processes and capabilities.
  • Awareness: The ability to perceive and understand information without conscious effort or explicit knowledge.

Memory Strategies

Mnemonics

  • Acronyms: Using the first letter of each word to create a memorable abbreviation (e.g., ROY G. BIV for the colors of the rainbow).
  • Acrostics: Forming a sentence where the first letter of each word represents a concept to be remembered.
  • Link Method: Using imagery to connect items in a list.
  • Loci Method: Associating items with specific locations in a familiar place.
  • Keyword Method: Using a familiar word that sounds like the target word and creating an image that links the keyword and the meaning of the target word.

Schemata

Schemata are mental frameworks that organize related information and influence how we interpret and remember new information.

Interference Theory

Retroactive Interference

Newly learned information interferes with the recall of previously learned information, especially if the information is similar.

Proactive Interference

Previously learned information interferes with the learning of new information.

Examples

  • Remembering details of World War II might be harder after learning about World War I (retroactive interference).
  • Learning a new language might be challenging if you’ve already learned a similar language (proactive interference).