COLLEGE
OF
SOUTHEASTERN
EUROPE
PSY 2022
“Psychology Applied to
Teaching”
Instuctor: Ms. D.
Boutsinis
Title:
Cognitive Theories and
Learning
in Children
FOTIOS BASAGIANNIS
St.# xxxxx
Introduction
The main goal of this research paper is to present,
analyse, critisize and finally creatively synthesize three important trends or
variations of contemporary epistemological theory, using as a compass in this
quest their possible practical implementation in the context of teaching young
children.
The theories presented are: Piaget’s “Genetic
Epistemology” and it’s extension to the
cognitive development of children, Gagne’s Theory of Instruction, and finally an assortment of views and theoritical
aspects that rather fall under the newly formed research area of “Cognitive
Information Processing Theory”.
The Reader of this paper will notice that although these
theories start from relatively different premises or methodological
backgrounds, they finally reach practical conclusions that are in accord. Of
course, through each one, different aspects of human mental capabilities and
functions are uncovered and described but this is a fact that can only enhance
the satisfaction felt by their successful synthesis.
The paper is divided into five (5) main parts:
1.
Piaget’s
Theory.
2.
Gagne’s
Theory.
3.
Cognitive
Theory.
4.
Application
of Learning Theories in Class.
5.
Case
Study
The forth part centers in the practical value of each
theory, and illustrates the points presented by means of specific strategies
and examples. The fifth part is a complete and relatively specific case study
that combines all the conclusions reached in previous parts of the paper into a
coherent and comprehensive instruction guide which pertains to a specific group
of students.
Jean Piaget’s
Biography (1896-1980)
Piaget was born at
Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1896. He is considered one of the most influential
developmental theorists of the twentieth century, though psychology was not his
primary interest. His early research was on the behavior of mollusks, and by
the age of 21 he had published some 25 papers on the subject. He received a
Ph.D. in biology from the University of Neuchatel in 1918 at the age of 22 and
had completed all the requirements short of a dissertation for another Ph.D. in
Philosophy. His early studies of the behavior of simple organisms gave rise to
interests in comparing external behavior with the principles of cognitive
organization and in the nature of intelligence. These interests crystallized
while he worked in the laboratory of Alfred Binet, who, along with Theodore
Simon, designed and standardized the first formal intelligence test.
Piaget was
primarily interested in genetic epistemology, the study of the origin and
development of human knowledge. In his approach, he sought to unify biology
with principles of logic. Based on his work in Binet’s laboratory, Piaget
decided to begin his study of genetic epistemology by observing and talking
with children, noting how they developed concepts and language, interacted with
objects and developed the semiotic[1]
function. This “brief detour” into the study of cognitive development lasted
some 50 years; it was not until 1970 that he published his book entitled
“Genetic Epistemology”.
During his
lifetime, Piaget taught and conducted research at several universities in
Switzerland and France. From 1955 until his death in 1980, he directed the
International Center of Genetic Epistemology in Geneva, and scholars throughout
the world referred to Piaget and his colleagues as “the Geneva group”. At his
death, Piaget had produced more than 300 papers, book chapters and
introductions as well as some thirty books on cognitive development, the
largest collection of theory and observation on the topic to have come from a
single individual.
While Piaget’s
research methods and interpretations have been criticized, the basic thrust of
his arguments about cognitive development are widely accepted. His observation that concepts once thought
to be “a priori”, simple and unitary (such as time, causality, and object
permanence) were none of these, but actually require long periods of
development through a predictable series of stages before reaching adult form.
Piaget’s research and theory has and will continue to generate a huge body of
scholarly work throughout the world.
Piaget’s
theory of Genetic Epistemology
Piaget was not a
psychologist by training. He was a remarkable scientist who studied various
aspects of adaptation in the animal kingdom. His interest in psychology began
when he watched his own three children playing and interacting (Morris, 1996).
From there, he began to study how humans -- and children in particular --
learn. Learning is, after all, perhaps the greatest adaptive step in the
history of mankind. He called his new field “Genetic Epistemology”.
Piaget’s
biological study led him to believe that all species have two innate, inherited
basic tendencies, or “invariant functions.”
These functions
are:
1.Organization: Combining, arranging, recombining and
rearranging of behaviors and thoughts into coherent systems (Woolfolk, 1995).
What this means is that human beings have a need to organize their thoughts and
knowledge into workable groups, or schemes. For example, children are seemingly
born with a scheme for suckling. They can suckle their mother’s breast, and
when you present a child with a bottle or pacifier, they apply that scheme to
the bottle or pacifier. As we learn more and more information, our schemes
become more and more complex--from the simple (suckling) to the complex
(preparing this paper on Microsoft Word).
2.Adaptation: Adjusting to the environment (Woolfolk, 1995). Piaget
believed humans are constantly adjusting or adapting to the environment, making
things work better. We are on an ongoing mission to understand more, and to
understand better.
Adaptation
involves two processes:
•Assimilation: Assimilation is the process of using
existing schemes to incorporate new information (Woolfolk, 1995). This is the
example of the child adapting to the bottle or pacifier, or the student
learning how to use a different aspect of Microsoft Word. To achieve this, however, we often distort the new information to
make it fit. For example, if the above mentioned baby were handed a cactus,
he would be likely to try to suckle it. Or, a child who has a dog and has never
seen a cat is likely to say, “Dog! Dog!” when he sees a cat.
•Accommodation: Altering existing schemes or creating
new ones in response to new information (Woolfolk, 1995). When the child who confused the dog and the cat learns that dogs are
dogs and cats are cats, he will build a new scheme for cats. This is
accommodation.
One other concept
that should be included with these concepts is equilibration. This is
the search for mental balance between cognitive schemes and information from
the environment (Woolfolk, 1995). This is, in short, the process we use to make
sense of the information we assimilate or accommodate and see how well it
“balances” with the world.
According to Piaget,
assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration interact to form the foundation
for intellectual growth. In the “Origins of Intelligence”, he explains about
assimilation: “Intelligence is assimilation to the extent that it incorporates
all the given data of experience within its framework. Whether it is a question
of thought which, due to judgment, brings the new into the known and thus
reduces the universe to its own terms or whether it is a question of
sensorimotor intelligence which also structures things perceived by bringing
them into its schemata, in every case intellectual adaptation involves an
element of assimilation, that is to say of structuring through incorporation of
external reality into forms due to the subject’s activity.” (Piaget, 1952 p. 6)
Then Piaget ties
in accommodation: “There can be no doubt either, that mental life is also
accommodation to the environment. Assimilation can never be pure because by
incorporating new elements into its earlier schemata the intelligence constantly
modifies the latter in order to adjust them to new elements. Conversely, things
are never known by themselves, since this work of accommodation is only
possible as a function of the inverse process of assimilation.”(Piaget, 1952 p.
6,7)
He concludes by
stating that: “In short, intellectual adaptation, like every other kind
consists of putting an assimilatory mechanism and a complementary accommodation
into progressive equilibrium. . . Always and everywhere adaptation is only
accomplished when it results in a stable system, that is to say, when there is
equilibrium between accommodation and assimilation.” (Piaget, 1952 p. 7)
The mind is
constantly taking in new information and trying to make sense of it within the
framework of existing schemata. To the extent that new information is
consistent with old understandings, the new information is assimilated into the
existing schemata. On the other hand, if new information is in conflict with
old schemata, then the mind will do one of three things:
1.It may reject the new data by
ignoring it or rejecting its validity.
2.It may alter the perception to
match the expected observations.
3.The new information may create
cognitive conflict, or disequilibrium, that is resolved by
accommodating the old schemata, or
beliefs, to fit the new data.
Schemata, in my
view, represent a set of cognitive structures that stand for what we call a
person’s beliefs. Of course the existence of a framework of schemata within a
person’s mind is an assumption, or a helpful convention if you like. However I
find it helpful to think in terms of having a framework of schemata, as an
intermediary between the observable input and the observable change of beliefs.
I believe that an adequate understanding of this process comes with time as one
notices how new perceptions affect change in his/her beliefs.
Piaget’s
understanding of learning in children comes from observing the interaction
between children’s observations and their existing knowledge. Piaget always
tried to perceive reality from the child’s point of view; he never thought that
reality as he understood it would suffice for his purpose. It was this method
of using the child as a source of information, rather than imposing a wrongly
presumed adult structure upon the child’s behavior, that led to Piaget’s unique
understanding of how children perceive the world.
Piaget pioneered
in suggesting that perceptions are simultaneously connected to many different
areas of the brain. In his words even the “most elementary perceptions . . .
are simultaneously related to each other and structured into organized
totalities.” (Piaget, 1952 p. 10) These relationships are then structured into
organized totalities. The way I understand it, these totalities are like
schemata through which judgments about the world are made. Actually the set of
these totalities represents an intricate model of the world as we have come to
experience and thus understand it. When new perceptions conflict with the
existing schemata, the mind reacts to this disequilibrium by accommodating to
find equilibrium. As Piaget put it: “Desirability is the indication of a
rupture in equilibrium or of an uncompleted totality to whose formation some
element is lacking and which tends toward this element in order to realize its
equilibrium.” (Piaget, 1952 p. 11) In other words, the mind desires the joy
that equilibrium offers and thus works (in fact works hard) toward it; a
process in fact resulting in a natural drive to learn[2].
Piaget’s
theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s empirical
chief work - that which made him first of all known as developmental
psychologist - is a highly detailed description of the cognitive development of
children from the infantile state of pure and simple reflexes[3]
to the adolescent-adult abstract thinking and concept-formation capabilities.
His goal was to develop a taxonomy[4]
of the growing individual’s possibilities for thinking and respectively acting
while uncovering the underlying
cognitive workings.
Cognitive
development is a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of
maturation and experience. Children construct an understanding of the world
around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and
what they discover in their environment. The continual process of resolving
these discrepancies moves the child’s intelligence into a more mature
understanding
Piaget believed
that heredity played a primary role in the process of cognitive development. He
discovered that the organization of mental processes changed quite predictably
with maturation, and characterized these processes into stages. These stages
are referred to as the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete
operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Each of these
stages represents a qualitative change is the child’s thinking.
Piaget’s main criteria in distinguishing between stages
of development are summarized in the following requirements:
1. Each stage must represent a
qualitative change in cognition.
2. Children progress through the
stages in a culturally invariant sequence. Once a higher stage has
been
entered, regression to a lower stage is not possible, and all normal
children reach the last
stage.
3.Each stage
includes the cognitive structures and abilities of the preceding stage.
4.At each stage,
the child’s schemes and operations form an integrated whole.
Piaget’s stages of
cognitive development are the following:
·The sensorimotor stage ranges from birth to about
age 2. Infants learn mostly through trial and error processes[5].
Children initially rely on reflexes, eventually modifying them to adapt to
their world. Behaviors become goal directed, progressing from concrete to
abstract goals. Objects and events take on a mental representation.
This
stage has to do with the physical, motor responses of the infant as well as the
senses. What is seen and heard is all that there is. For instance, if Mommy is
gone, Mommy ceases to exist. In fact, the infant does not truly distinguish
between himself and Mommy. There is no separation between the world and the
self.
·The preoperational stage ranges from about ages 2 to
7. Children in this stage can mentally represent events and objects (the
semiotic function), and engage in symbolic play. Their thoughts and
communications are typically egocentric. They are only able to focus on one
aspect or dimension of problems.
Egocentrism is the principal mental characteristic of this
stage and it is manifested in the child’s assumption that others experience the
world as it does. This is not a negative quality, as the term is often used in
popular culture. In the preoperational child, it is manifested in behavior such
as a child covering his eyes and thinking that since he can’t see anything, he
is invisible[6].
·Children in the concrete operational stage
are usually ages 7 to 11. They gain the abilities of conservation and
reversibility. Thinking is more organized and rational. They can solve problems
in a logical fashion, but are not typically able to think abstractly or
hypothetically.
A
concrete operational child can perform mental actions, but only where physical,
“concrete” objects are concerned. Abstract thinking is lacking in the concrete
operational child. For example, a concrete operational child can mentally
arrange blocks on a table in several shapes without actually moving them, but
he cannot present a valid description of what the world would be like if
“compassion” was lacking.
In
this stage children start mastering the ability of conservation. Conservation
is the concept that some characteristics of an object remain the same despite
changes in appearance. For example, a cup of water in a tall beaker is the same
as a cup of water in a short, wide bowl. The preoperational child will not recognize
this, and will pick one or the other as having more, even if he witnesses two
equal cups of water being poured in them, but the concrete operational child
will in fact recognize that the amount of water is conserved.
·The formal operation stage occurs at about age 11. As
adolescents enter this stage, they gain the ability to think in an abstract
manner, the ability to combine and classify items in a more sophisticated way,
and the capacity for higher-order reasoning. Central to this stage is the capability
for formal operations..
A
formal operational thinker can think abstractly about real and unreal objects
and situations. This thinker is no longer tied to the physical. With formal
operational children, one can use “what if...” scenarios.
Criticism on Piaget’s
Theory
Replication of
Piaget’s experiments has shown that not all children reach the formal
operational stage. Interestingly enough, there are studies to suggest that many
people either never develop fully as a formal operational thinker, or that they
revert back to Concrete thinking most of the time. (Neimark, 1975 and Piaget,
1974) Other studies have shown that some early concrete operational children
temporarily regress in reasoning.
Also, Gelman
suggests that Piaget’s findings may only be relative to the particular tasks
that Piaget used and the question of
whether or not the stages are continuous has been raised many times. On the
other hand, Piaget’s almost absolute time frames of the various stages of
cognitive development make it almost impossible for learning to be accelerated,
while various experiences from experimental educational systems in some cases
testifies otherwise.
Finally there are
studies indicating that children have an inability to master different tasks
based on the same principle.
Children’s conception
of whole and parts
With a couple of
coworkers Piaget investigated what happens if you give children of different
ages the simple task of cutting some cardboard into pieces. Each of them got a
number of white squares of cardboard, of about 7 cm2 of area and received the instruction that they could cut it any way
they liked. Using the pieces they had to cover an orange square after they were
previously brought to realize that the white and the orange squares were equal.
After that they received the instruction to cut the square into 2, 3, or 4
pieces in all possible ways. Lastly, they had to cut it into 2, 3, or 4 equal
pieces.
As in previous
investigations the performances are divided into three main-levels, which can
have sub-levels. Level II is the transition-level where the task is solved in
relation to concrete materials and actions. Below are some of the results and
comments of the experiment, especially from “free cutting”.
Level
I
At the first level
the pieces are ascribed a special meaning or self-value. They are independent
of the whole (the big cardboard-square which had been cut into pieces). This is
not the case where the “pieces” or the
“parts” without this relation to the whole lead to a semantic question, as when
you say “a piece of music” to designate a limited whole which is independent.
The difficulty is in the spatial inclusion of the different pieces or what we
could call “conservation of space”. One can see that if he/she poses the
question: “What is a piece?” - Answer: “It is something you have cut out.” -
“And the other piece?” - “There are no more!”
As an example we
can take little Nic who is just five and a half year. After having verified the
similarity with the orange square and got the task to cover it with the pieces
of the white, she cuts out a very small square. “How many pieces are there?” -
“One.” - “And what is it called?” - “A square too.” - “Can you cover the
orange?” - (She places her small square). - “And with this (the rest) what do
you do?” - “You can take it too.” - “Is it a piece too?” - “No, it is not a
piece.” - “Do you have another idea?” - (She cuts a small triangle from another
cardboard) “A triangle!” - “How many pieces are there?” - “One.” - “Can you
cover the orange?” - “It becomes too small... you put the other end” - “Another
idea?” - (She cuts.) “A rectangle”. - “Can you cover?” - “Still too small, you
take the rest.” - “How many pieces are there (showing all of them)?” - “Also
one.” - “Still an idea?” - “A round.” -
“Still more?” - “No, not other ideas.”
The reactions show
that the task of cutting a square into pieces do not mean to partition it but
to cut out something which has its own significance. The whole ceases to exist.
It is destructed and there are only “ends” or “rests”. Even if some uses the rests
to cover the orange square there are no signs of conservation of the original
whole.
Level
II
At level II the
possibilities unfold. The activity of cutting is a procedure which can lead to
many goals or in reverse, an activity which can in many ways lead to a goal. At
the transitory level of 7-8 years of age one witnesses great inventiveness
although the use of asymmetrical cuts is increased. This broad realization of
what was possible due to the procedure as such is a significant point.
Level
III
At level III with
the free cutting we have VAL who is 9 years old. After some preliminary
asymmetrical divisions VAL makes a cross, which connects the opposing sides and
from there goes to a system of foldings which can result in millions of
partitions.
When it comes to
the constricted tasks, for instance to part the cardboard-square into a number
of pieces, there is a greater tendency to both count the cutout and the “rest”
as pieces. At level III the demand for two equal pieces further leads to a consideration
of the surfaces which may be cut in many fancy ways. Partitioning of the
cardboard into three parts is very difficult for the youngest and is in some
cases declared as impossible.
We have seen a
development of the procedural which is the same as formation of new
possibilities. There is, as Piaget formulates it the case of “an accommodative activity in search of its form of
actualization”(Piaget, 1952). When it gets its form it belongs to the real, it
is written into a schema. But the new, the possible is born first of a
disequilibrium which starts reequilibration as a process which ends up with
something which was outside the reach of the schema. The accommodatory process
met with hindrances and blockings in the real world and overcame them in a
constructive process which for instance can be expressed by the fact that the
cutouts and rests immediately became parts of a whole which is reconstructed.
After the age of 7-8 there is a balance between part and whole.
The Child: Key
Principles for a Healthy Cognitive Development
The character of
children’s development is holistic[7].
What this means is that the child’s development cannot be compartmentalised
into health, nutrition, education, social, and emotional variables. All are
interwoven in a child’s life.
Contemporary
psychologists hold firmly to a belief that early childhood experiences for
children, at whatever age, should be planned around the child’s developmental
abilities. Support for this position comes from international literature on how
children develop and learn.
Specifically:
• Development
begins pre-natally and learning starts at birth. Too often the wrong assumption
is made that learning begins when children enter the formal school system. In
fact, significant learning takes place before the child enters school.
Therefore, attention to the developmental and learning needs of children should
begin with pre- and post-natal interventions and be continued thereafter.
• Development has
several inter-related dimensions. These include physical, cognitive, social,
spiritual and emotional development, each of which influence the other and all
of which are developing simultaneously. Progress in one area affects progress
in others. Likewise when something goes wrong in any one of those areas it
impacts all the other areas. For example, children who are malnourished are not
able to learn; children with learning problems frequently have low self-esteem,
etc. Developing a program based on an understanding of holistic development
means taking the whole child into consideration, providing attention to the
child’s health, nutrition, cognitive, and socio-emotional needs. Therefore
interventions should provide integrated attention to the child, including
attention to needs for protection, food, health care, affection, interaction
and stimulation, security provided through consistency and predictability, and
play allowing exploration. All of these elements should be present to support
the child’s development.
• Development
proceeds in predictable steps and learning occurs in recognized sequences,
within which there is a great deal of individual and social variability in
children’s rates of development and styles of learning. It is important for
adults to use methods that fit with the child’s growth pattern, not only in the
cognitive area, but also in all other important areas mentioned above.
Activities should provide the child with a developmentally appropriate
challenge. There is no value in presenting concepts and tasks before a child is
developmentally ready to understand them. Integrated interventions promoting
social, emotional and spiritual development as well as cognitive learning can
take advantage of varied forms of learning, consistent with the particular culture,
even while taking into account the fact that there are recognized sequences and
activities that facilitate learning.
• Development and
learning occur continuously as a result of the child’s interacting with people
and objects in his or her environment. The role of adults (at home and in other
settings) in supporting children’s learning is to provide children with opportunities
to work with concrete objects, to make choices, explore things and ideas,
experiment and discover. Children also need opportunities to interact with
peers and adults in a safe environment that provides the child with security
and acceptance. Given the importance of the environment in promoting children’s
learning, it is also possible to focus interventions on changing the child’s environment.
For example, increasing family income, upgrading health and sanitation in the
community, and enhancing the social and political milieu will affect children’s
growth and development.
• Children are
active participants in their own development and learning. Learning and related
development involve the child’s construction of knowledge, not an adult’s
imposition of information. The skills which are the basis for constructing
knowledge improve with practice. It is important for children to have opportunities
to construct their own knowledge through exploration, interaction with
materials and imitation of role models. Therefore interventions should include
opportunities for children to learn by doing, to be engaged in problem-solving,
and to develop language and communication skills. Passive memorization as a way
of learning should not be reinforced.
Opportunities for active involvement should abound, whether at home, in
everyday chores or in more organized settings outside the home.
In conclusion,
providing “paideia”[8] based on a
holistic understanding of children’s growth and development suggests a using a
broad concept of early childhood development: addressing the whole child within
the context of the family and community. The early childhood years are
perceived as the basis for learning life-long skills and attitudes. Activities
and programs planned for parents and young children should not focus solely on
providing children with school survival skills, but should emphasize the
development of the child’s sense of intellectual, motor and moral autonomy,
initiative and self esteem. Emphasis should be on how to learn rather than what
to learn.
Gagne’s
Biography
Born in 1916 in
North Andover, Massachusetts, Gagne attended Yale University where he obtained
an A.B. in 1937. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University in
1940 and taught at Connecticut College for Women from 1940-49 and at
Pennsylvania State University from 1945-46. From 1949-58 Gagne was research
director of the perceptual and motor skills laboratory of the US. Air Force, at
which time he began to develop some of the ideas that would go into his
comprehensive learning theory called the “conditions of learning”. His research
on military training problems while working for the Air Force and his
experience as consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense (1958-61) helped him
see that the “grand learning theories” of his predecessors were inadequate for
the design of instruction.
Gagne’s theory of
Teaching-Learning
Around this time
Gagne began to formulate three principles that he saw as contributing to
successful instruction:
1.Providing instruction on the
set of component tasks that build toward a final task.
2.Ensuring that each component
task is mastered.
3.Sequencing the component tasks
to ensure optimal transfer to the final task.
He published an
article in 1962 entitled “Military Training and the Principles of Learning”
that discussed these ideas. Gagne first published his best known book “The
Conditions of Learning” in 1965.
Gagne’s early
investigations into the psychological bases of effective teaching led him to
believe that an instructional technology or theory must go beyond traditional
learning theory. Gagne concluded that instructional theory should address the
specific factors that contribute to the learning of complex skills. He
described these factors in a 1968 article entitled “Learning Hierarchies”.
Gagne next identified five unique categories of learning: verbal information, intellectual
skills, attitudes, motor skills and cognitive strategies. These
categories represent different capacities and performances and are learned in
different ways. They are outlined in Gagne’s 1972 article, “Domains of
Learning”.
After establishing
his domains of learning Gagne went on to describe the environmental events and
stages of information processing required for each of these domains in the 1977
edition of his book, “The Conditions of Learning”. The main aim of Gagne’s
theory is to assist in classroom instruction. The skills to be learned are
written in the form of performance objectives and the specific type of learning
is identified. Task analysis is then employed to identify prerequisite skills
and “instructional events” are chosen for each learning objective. The major
contribution of Gagne’s approach is that it operationalizes the notion of
cumulative learning and offers a mechanism for designing instruction from
simple to complex levels. Gagne’s concept of hierarchies has become a standard
component of curricula in a variety of subject areas. His theory provides a
unified framework for a wide range of findings about learning such as those
from information processing studies.
Since 1969 Gagne
has been a Professor in the Department of Educational Research at Florida State
University in Tallahassee. Concerning his life’s work, Gagne told “Contemporary
Authors”: “My writing began with articles in scientific journals reporting
studies of human learning. Experience as an aviation psychologist in World War
II influenced a positive attitude toward applications of learning knowledge.
For the past twenty-five years I have written articles and books that attempt
to interpret and to apply the findings of learning research and learning
theory, mainly to school learning. My current view about instructional design
is that much of its good technology is being put to use in instructional
training, but not much is being put to use in the schools.”
Gagne’s “The
Conditions of Learning” (1965) has undergone development and revision for 20
years, the last edition appearing in 1985. With behaviorist roots, it now
brings together cognitive information processing perspective on learning with
empirical findings on what good teachers do in their classroom.
In 1985 Gagne
introduced the “Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes” that include knowledge and
comprehension in its verbal information; and discrimination, concrete concepts,
defined concepts, rules, and higher order rules in its intellectual skills.
In Gagne and
Driscoll (1988) the “Essential of Learning for Instruction”, they summarized
the external conditions that are essential for learning the different varieties
of outcomes known as the building blocks for instruction.
In order to plan
what learning conditions should be present in instruction, Gagne, Briggs and
Warner in their fourth edition of the “Principles of Instructional Design”
(1992) recommended categorizing learning goals according to the type of outcome
they represent.
Gagne’s
instructional theory is widely used in the design of instruction by
instructional designers in many settings, and its continuing influence in the
field of educational technology can be seen cited in prominent journals in the
field .
Gagne’s Theories of
Instruction
Robert Gagne began
the pioneering work in developing task analysis skill hierarchies with Leslie
Briggs. Gagne was a major force during the 1960’s when components of
instructional design process were being recognized. In this early, behaviorist
in nature work he developed the idea of a task analysis or the “Hierarchical
Nature of Skill Building” which follows a simple task hierarchy in order to
build skills. An example of this theory is illustrated as follows:
Reading a paragraph (depends on) è
Reading a sentence (depends on) è
Understanding the meaning of words (depends on) è
Identifying
letters
Such an emphasis
on skill hierarchy is based on the foundations of behavioral psychology which
bases theories on observable behavior. Once behaviors are assessed and
observed, a task analysis is used to break down the components attributable to
skill acquisition. Within these skill hierarchies, there were originally eight
Types of Learning which Gagne distinguished; signal learning,
stimulus-response learning, chaining, verbal association, discrimination learning,
concept learning, principle learning, and problem solving.
Later, Gagne
restructured these Types of Learning and constructed five major Outcomes for
learning as follows:
1. Verbal Information : Being able
to state previously learned material (listing symptoms of cancer)
2. Intellectual skills : (With five
subcategories: discriminations, concrete
concepts, defined concepts, rules, and higher order rules) Be able to
discriminate objects or features (hear different pitches), be able to identify
concrete concepts or features (pick all the green M & Ms), use defined
concepts, and follow rules.
3. Cognitive Strategies :
Personalize ways to guide learning, thinking, feeling (devise own corporate
plan).
4. Attitudes : Act as you feel
(exercise to maintain good health).
5. Motor Skills : Use muscles to
perform specific actions (perform a triple off the diving board).
Gagne espoused
that there are a variety of learning conditions which should be used to teach
each of the outcomes; a learning condition provides the meaningful context for
instruction. Robert Gagne believes that within any learning hierarchy, less
complex skills transfer positively to more complex skills (Gagne, 1970). Once
skills are taught, they are able to be generalized and applied to other
situations. Therefore, Gagne believes that learning is cumulative; that is,
skills build on skills to achieve higher levels of learning, while this
learning is developed intellectually by teachers through planned or directed
learning. Gagne does not believe that learning is dependent on age. Such
directed learning assumes that learning is sequential, universal ,
determinable, countable, and objectively defined.
Upon such a
premise then, Gagne developed the Nine Events of Instruction to guide
teachers’ instruction (each event is followed by specific example):
1. Gaining attention (Teacher
flip lights on and off to gain students’ attention).
2. Informing learner of the
objective (Teacher tells students what they will study - Syllabus).
3. Stimulating recall of prerequisites
(Teacher reviews yesterday’s lesson).
4. Presenting the stimulus
material (Books, and/or a film in order to meet desired outcome).
5. Providing learning guidance
(Show an example of a problem).
6. Eliciting the performance
(Ask students to solve 10 questions).
7. Providing feedback
(Reinforcement and error correction of material learned).
8. Assessing the performance
(Does student perform new skill, tests, skill demonstrations?).
9. Enhancing retention and
transfer (Is student able to generalize and transfer skills to new problems
or situations?).
Robert Gagne’s
theoretical work contributed to the field of education and design of
instruction. His belief in sequential skill hierarchical learning, in order to
obtain specific domains of outcomes, taught under specific conditions for
learning has been valued in the field of education since the 1960’s. Much of
this earlier work was premised on behaviorist notions .
However, in his
later work, Gagne developed theories about learning which expanded to include
Cognitive Information Processing Theories. In the book, “Instructional
Technology Foundations” (Gagne, 1987) Gagne discussed the relevance of the
analogy of the mind to a computer. Humans receive sensory input, process such
information in the short term or long term memory which interact, transfer, and
store information using an elaborate code, and then utilize such information to
solve new problems and/or to produce output or an end product. Gagne recognized
the important role cognition plays in learning.
In conclusion,
Robert Mills Gagne has written many books incorporating the assumptions and
scientific approaches used in Behaviorist and Cognitive Information Processing
Theories as a basis for his learning theories. Indeed, he is most well known
for his contribution to instruction as he has been active in developing
instructional objectives for training to assist in classroom instruction.
Cognitive
Theory
History/Background
During the 1940’s,
psychologists and other scientists, those who would become known as the
“forefathers of cognitive science,” had grown impatient with behaviorist views
which did not deal with the brain and “higher-level perceptual and
problem-solving processes.” For example,
“questions about . . . human language, planning, problem solving, imagination,”
and other human activities, could not be “approached” with behaviorist theory.
They felt that understandings of the brain and the characteristics of
computation could be merged together “in the study of cognitive systems.” This
first generation of cognitive scientists were not concerned with the human
brain or the nervous system. Instead, their research focused on the “properties
of thought”[9] as
“simulated by the computer.” (Gardner, 1985)
In 1936, Alan
Turing, a British mathematician[10],
developed a simple computing machine, called a “Turing machine,” based on a
simple binary code that could be programmed to carry out mathematical
calculations. Scientists interested in human thought quickly became interested
in Turing’s machine and his work and believed that they could design a
computing machine that could simulate or even duplicate human thought
processes. During the same time period, an electrical engineer at MIT, Claude
Shannon, using principles of logic, developed “the key notion of information
theory.” Research into the idea of information processing continued into the
1940’s, and, in fact, much of the early research occurred as a result World War
II and the work undertaken with the many victims of brain damage. As “cognitive
science,” as it came to be known, grew, it drew scientists from many
disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, engineering, computer science,
linguistics, mathematics, medicine, anthropology, logic, and eventually,
neuropsychology. (Gardner, 1985)
Among the “founders” of
information processing, the most recognized is Herbert Simon. Through his
research in artificial intelligence, engineering, and psychology, he drew an
analogy between the computer and human mental processes. To him, information
processing was an attempt to understand “the workings of the human mind in
information processing terms. As such,” computer programming languages [were
introduced] as formal [mathematical] languages for expressing theories of human
mental processes.” (Simon, 1979)
Simon’s impact on information processing
theory was profound, and in addition to a Nobel Prize in Economic Science, he
received numerous awards in the fields of artificial intelligence, public
administration, political science, and management science, including the
Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological
Association and the National Medal of Science from the President of the United
States. (Klahr & Kotovsky, 1989)
Overview of Cognitive Theory
“According to the
Cognitive Information Processing view, the human learner is conceived to be a
processor of information in much the same way a computer is.” Information is
input from the environment, processed, and stored in memory then output in the
form of some learned capability. The models of memory and information
processing can be traced to Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, “who
proposed a multistore, multistage theory of memory.” They believe that memory
consists of three basic components: sensory memory, short-term memory, and
long-term memory. (Driscoll, 1994, p. 69.)
Sensory memory
holds information for a very brief time. From here, information is transferred
to short-term memory, or working memory. While in short-term memory,
information is processed and prepared for long-term memory. Long-term memory is
the “permanent storehouse.” For information to be remembered for longer than a
few minutes, it has to be transferred to long-term memory. (Driscoll, 1994)
During the
development of the theory, there was some argument by some researchers that
there was only one memory store rather than both short and long-term memory.
Atkinson and Shiffrin maintained the view that there was a division between
short and long-term memory due to research with patients with damage to the
hippocampal region of their brain. These patients were able to remember events
prior to their injury or illness but were unable to remember new information
for longer than 30 seconds. Information was not able to be transferred from
short to long-term memory. (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968) A recent
illustration of this is with Jeremy C.;
Jeremy is a young man in his mid-twenties who suffered a brain injury
that damaged the pathway into the hippocampus. As a result, he has no
short-term memory. He can remember most of his life before the injury and knows
the people from his past, such as family members and friends, because his
long-term memory is intact. He can’t, however, lay down any new memories. In
order to cope with his moment to moment existence, he records everything that
happens to him throughout the day onto a hand-held tape recorder. He then
transcribes everything he recorded into a notebook at the end of the day.
Again, with damage to the hippocampal region of his brain, Jeremy is unable to
transfer any new information from short-term to long-term memory.
The cognitive
information processing view “represents an integration of the behavioral and
traditional cognitive positions.” Learning and behavior results from an
interaction between the environment and the learner’s previous experiences and
knowledge. It demands that each step and procedure of a mental operation be
described in sufficient detail so that it can be simulated on a computer, which
is consistent with traditional cognitive view. And, in addition, cognitive
information processing view also requires that mental processes must be
supported by experimental evidence, as required by behaviorist tradition. (Phye
& Andre, 1986)
Key Assumptions
Howard (1995,
p.19) highlights nine key assumptions relevant to Cognitive Information
Processing Theory:
1.
Psychology should
study the mind.
The mind is
a device for
representing the outside world[11]
and manipulating the
representations. Mental representations are symbols for things in the world,
and the
mind is a program that runs on
hardware (neurons).
2.
Representations contain
information and are
manipulated by processes. There is a
set of
representational primitives
that are the building blocks of larger units. All cognitive phenomena can be
described in terms of
representations and processes that
intervene between observable stimuli and
responses.
3.
A
small number of elementary processes, perhaps only a few dozen, underlie all cognitive
activity[12].
4.
Processes
operate together. They can combine into higher level routines with emergent
properties.
Several processes may combine
to perform a particular task, and so performance results from the
interaction of simpler
processes.
5.
Processing
occurs in stages.
6.
Cognitive
theory is a description of how representations and processes interact in stages
to produce performance.
7.
Humans
are active seekers of and selectors of information who formulate and act on
rules.
8.
Learning
is constructing new mental representations or modifying existing ones.
9.
Cognitive
development occurs through self-modification; for example, through maturation,
and learning.(Howard, 1995, p.19)
Methodology
A variety of
methodological procedures are employed by researchers in the area of learning
and memory (Howard, 1995).
1.Archetypal[13]
experiments in learning and memory involve learning, retention and testing
phases. The individual learns particular facts or skills in the learning phase,
engages in another activity or rests, then is tested for retention. Subjects
may also be tested with no initial learning phase, to measure exiting
knowledge.
2.Recall tasks require the
individual to learn and later remember a list of words. The number of correctly
recalled words, reaction time, and order of recall may serve as the dependent
variables.
3.Paired associates involve
exposing individuals to word pairs, then later presenting the first word and
having them remember the second in the testing phase.
4.Recognition presents
individuals with a list of stimulus words then in the testing phase identifying
the words they previously viewed from a list of previously viewed or unviewed
words. Accuracy, reaction time, self ratings on perceived accuracy, and
patterns of error can be employed as dependent measures for recall, recognition
and the paired associates tasks.
5.Physiological methods such as
PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography) allow for the investigation of
different areas of the brain that are involved in the performance of a particular
task.
6.Self-reports by individuals
can be employed as a measure of their knowledge and organization in a
particular area of interest, and to gain an understanding of why they performed
in a certain manner.
7.Neuropsychological evidence of
how memory functions in the brain is provided through the study and examination
of those individuals with damage to particular regions of the brain. The focus
of this method is upon individual cases, unlike previous experimental methods.
8.Computer simulation is employed
either in conjunction with subjects, or alone. Simulation requires the
researcher to be very explicit about the memory and learning processes, and
makes more salient the assumptions that may have previously been obscured or
unnoticed.(Howard, 1995)
Types of Memory
Bornstein (1985)
identifies five different types of memory systems that exist for individuals: visual,
auditory, tactile, taste and smell.
1.Visual memory is identified as the
predominant mode of memory. Generally, individuals are able to remember more of
what they see than what they hear. The closer an individual observes, both
attention to detail and the strength of the impression on visual memory will
increase.
2.Auditory memory emphasizes the reproduction
of phrases, words, numbers, ideas and concepts which have been heard. The
phrasing and the intonation of the speakers voice can be registered in auditory
memory.
3.Tactile memory refers more generally to
motor memory which involves the retracing of a pattern through the sense of
touch. The process of reproducing what has previously been written aids the
individual to retrace patterns experienced through ones fingers. Dialing a
phone number may involve both tactile and auditory memory.
4.Taste and Smell memory are not as heavily emphasized
in the retention of facts and ideas as are visual, auditory and tactile.
Individuals normally emphasize one mode of memory more than others, however,
each of the three principal modes of memory interact and support one another.
Assimilation Theory
Term adopted by
Ausubel in 1978 to describe the meaningful learning processes of subsumption,
superordinate and combinatorial learning. The result of the interaction
that takes place between the new material to be learned and the existing
cognitive structure is an assimilation of old and new meanings to form a more
highly differentiated cognitive structure. It is of course obvious here that
contemporary cognitive science is in agreement with Piaget’s conception of the
assimilation process.
Application of Learning
Theories in Class
Piaget’s Cognitive Theory
I think that
schools should provide an environment that encourages children to express their
beliefs including their misconceptions. The teacher’s responsibility must be to
spot the misconceptions and create disequilibrium, or cognitive conflict. Only
when students act upon knowledge, for instance by thinking or justifying, will
any real change in their beliefs occur. Therefore, the teacher must assume an
non authoritarian role because otherwise the students will probably memorize
what the teacher says without coming into a state of disequilibrium. Students
need to realize that the new information may or may not be correct so that
their minds will check the new information to see if it fits the old schemata.
If the new information fits, then it is assimilated, otherwise the conflict
should result in accommodation or at least disequilibrium. I agree with Piaget
that teachers need to be very careful not to camouflage misunderstandings by
creating surface behaviors that appear correct, but are not attached to a
belief structure in the child’s mind.
A teacher
educator, would be very interested in the application of Piaget’s theory. To
begin this process, the first thing that a teacher has to keep in mind is that
the theory is very broad and general in nature. Second, he has to remember that the purpose of the theory
is to explain how knowledge is gained and developed. Third, he should bear in
mind that the theory is mainly applicable to children, not adults. The final
thing to be remembered is that the theory child-centered and not
teacher-centered. It is not meant to provide specific instruction on teaching
techniques (like Gagne’s theory does), but only to offer an insightful
explanation of the way children think and learn. Piaget’s theory, in my
opinion, must be used by any “would be” teacher as a valuable reference for
planning efficient teaching programs. As Brainerd (1978, p. 286) states, “the
basic assumption seems to be that children’s minds, if planted in fertile soil,
will grow quite naturally on their own.”
So where exactly
does the teacher come into play? I believe that the role of the teacher is to
provide this “fertile soil” , that Brainerd mentions, for the students. This is
not something that comes easily to many teachers who are accustomed to the mentality
of “providing knowledge to their
students” instead of “allowing students to construct knowledge on their own.”
Different theorists have different ideas about how to provide the “fertile
soil” (i.e. Vygotsky, Bruner, Piaget, Montessori, etc.). But, the important
point for teachers attempting to apply Piaget’s theory is to get out of the
sometimes destructive mentality of transferring sterile alienated[14]
knowledge to students. A good student is one who discovers and actively
remembers and not one who mechanically restates passively received information.
Even though it
might be difficult for teachers to abandon this relatively popular method of
instruction[15], Piaget’s
theory does provide some ideas that make its application easier. The first of
those is the structure and order that characterizes the theory. The theory
provides teachers with basic types, stages, and processes of knowledge
acquisition skill development. These ideas can be very helpful for teachers
designing instruction techniques and generally attempting to apply the theory
in class. Saettler (1990, p. 77)
suggests that the most significant contribution of Piaget’s theory is that it
provides teachers with a “new approach to the old problem of readiness, or
developmental capacity.” In other words, the theory helps teachers better
understand their students’ current level of knowledge and provides insight on
how to move them to higher cognitive levels at the appropriate time.
In addition,
Driscoll (1994) outlines three instructional principles that can be applied by
teachers in designing instruction to help children gain and develop knowledge.
Those principles are:
1.The learning environment
should support the activity of the child.
2.Children’s interaction with
their peers is an important source of cognitive development.
3.Teacher should adopt
instructional strategies that make children aware of conflicts and
inconsistencies in their thinking.
These principles
are basically general guidelines that teacher-theorists can keep in mind as
they design instruction. Specific methods of instruction should also be based
on the teacher’s knowledge of the individual student characteristics[16].
No theory can help on its own, since teaching is above all a matter involving
personal human relations and understanding of basic human needs.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Piaget’s Theory
Although, I have already included a criticism of Piaget’s
theory - while presenting its theoretical aspects - I will again refer to its
strengths and weaknesses but this time also stating their respective
implications on the practice of teaching/instruction.
Based on both the
strengths and weaknesses of Piaget’s theory many alternative theories have
grown (i.e. Case, Klahr and Wallace, Siegler, Carey). I have outlined three
basic strengths of Piaget’s theory in the preceding section. The first is the
order and structure derived from the theory’s types of knowledge, stages of
cognitive development, and processes of knowledge acquisition. A second
strength is the guidance and insight it gives to teachers in determining
student stages of cognition and on how
to help students move to higher stages. A third strength is the general nature
of the theory and the three guiding principles as outlined above.
As with most
theories, this theory also has several weaknesses. Some of these weaknesses cut
to the very core of Piaget’s theory. I will describe the two main weaknesses
that I feel will affect any teacher practitioner.
The first weakness
I have identified is that, as recent evidence suggests, not all students (or
even adults) get to the formal operational stage of cognitive development. Even
if students do get to that stage, they don’t seem to stay there. Driscoll (1994)
provides references that support this view.
Now, an educator can live with this weakness as long as he/she is
dealing with students in the first three stages of knowledge development. It is
the transition from the third to the fourth stage that can prove to be “extra”
troublesome for a teacher. As a teacher, how does one deal with getting his/her
students into the formal operational stage? Is this something he/she really
should worry about ? Should he/she attempt to design instruction to help the
students get to the final stage of cognitive development or is this an almost
(if not totally) impossible task?
The second main
weakness I can discern refers to two interrelated issues. First, are the stages of cognitive
development continuous? The theory maintains that as a child progresses there
is a qualitative change and a leap to the next stage. Is this really how
knowledge is developed? Some argue that there seems to be a transition time
when children move back and forth
between stages. This obviously can pose problems to teachers as they attempt to
determine at exactly what stage their students are functioning during this
transition period.
In addition,
Driscoll (1994), explains that sometimes children demonstrate unsuspected
cognitive strengths or characteristics at lower stages of cognitive
development. A possible explanation for this is given by some researchers who
believe that the nature of the task presented to a child rather than the stage
of development (or the age for that matter) is the critical factor in analyzing
student characteristics. With this confounding factor in mind, educators will
have a very difficult time determining the real stages of cognitive development
of their students.
Gagne’s Theory of Instruction
Applying Gagne’s nine events (steps) of instruction in
class can really enhance the efficiency of a teacher-practitioner. There are of
course factors that have to be taken under consideration when these events are
implemented, Specifically student characteristics must be considered and
Gagne’s instruction events should be adjusted accordingly. Let’s look at them
one by one:
1.Gaining attention can be
omitted as an event when the motivation of learners can be
assumed.
For many of instruction situations though, it is an essential event.
2.Informing learners of the
objective of a lesson is almost always a good idea, except when the
objective
is already apparent.
3.Stimulating recall of prior
learning is usually a critical event, although it may not be
necessary
for skillful self-learners.
4.Presenting the stimulus is
always essential and is usually made more effective when features
are
made highly distinctive.
5.Providing learner guidance is
the event that most typically may be provided by the learner’s
use
of cognitive strategies in self-instruction.
6.Eliciting performance. Skilled
learners virtually always assure themselves of their own
performance
capabilities.
7.Providing feedback is a step
that usually accompanies the performance. Learners who are
engaging
in self-instruction will seek accurate information about the adequacy of their
performances. It is this event that completes the learning, and to omit it
would be a serious mistake.
8.Assessing performance will
usually be done by experienced learners in following up the
initial
performance event.
9.Enhancing retention and
transfer requires additional practice with a variety of examples and
situations. Theses
will need to be supplied for most learners, but may often be independently
sought out by learners who are organizing their own instruction .
Including more
events than necessary is likely to lead to boredom on the part of the students.
Providing fewer than is needed may provide for inadequate instruction.
Cognitive Information Processing Theory
Ausubel believed
that there were two forms of learning that could take place in a classroom
situation: Reception Learning and Discovery Learning.
•Reception
Learning: entire content of material to be learned is presented in
its final form.
Examples: textbooks, videos, lectures
etc.
•Discovery
Learning: the learner must rearrange the information, integrate it
with existing cognitive structures
and reorganize it to create the desired end product.
Examples: chemistry labs, independent
projects
Learning Readiness
Learning readiness is a factor affecting teaching
efficiency that the cognitive theories take seriously under consideration.
Ausubel emphasized readiness as a function of previously acquired subject
matter knowledge. Ausubel’s belief was that the most important single factor
influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ausubel states
“Ascertain what the learner already knows and teach him accordingly”.
To be ready for
learning new material, learners of all sorts must possess a cognitive structure
or schema with the following characteristics:
•Relevant
•Stable
•Clear
•Organized
Age
Differences and Their Influence on Readiness for Learning
1.Children learn
proportionately more through representational learning than do adults, and more
of their own learning is representational than conceptual or propositional.
2.Children should
be taught in concrete ways. However, adults should be taught concretely when
they know very little about the subject matter.
3.Representational
learning must occur to provide a basis for conceptual and propositional
learning.
Cultural
Differences and Their Influence on Readiness for Learning
1.Ausubel believed
that children who are culturally disadvantaged relative to their classmates
have different cognitive structures owing to differences in their life experiences
and prior learning in a different cultural/geographical setting.
2.Some learning
tasks are likely to exceed the cognitive readiness of these learners.
3.To handle this
situation within the classroom, Ausubel reminds us that the basic principles
underlying appropriate teaching strategies are essentially the same, regardless
of who the learners are. Once the teacher ascertains what the learner already
knows (regardless of his/her cultural background), he/she can teach him
accordingly. (Ausubel, 1978)
CASE STUDY
A Guide to Ideal
Teaching in Elementary Grades
In this part of my research paper I will try organically
synthesize the practical aspects of all the cognitive/learning theories I have
presented into a coherent and validly applicable method of instruction of
children in the elementary grades.
Of course, at this age any kind of method of instruction should take under consideration
the fact that elementary school teaching is a task that involves far more than
its obvious academic part; it is rather a form of multi-faceted care-giving that should enfold a network of methods
that will suffice to provide all that is needed for the development/growth of
the children. This development occurs simultaneously and interrelatively in
many aspects of the child’s mind and body, and the whole process of this
massive and intricately balanced development generates a multitude of factors
that the teacher-theorist must consider in order to develop a workable and
efficient method of instruction.
Bearing this in mind, I understand that the system of
instruction I am going to propose is far from being perfect or even
satisfactory, but it does in my opinion represent a solid basis on which real
experience in the field can build something better.
This case study will be presented in the context of a
fairly specific geographical and cultural setting. The age of the students
involved is also specific. After I present the reader with some information
about the expected developmental state and general characteristics of the
students involved, I will lay out the proposed instructional method in the form
of three distinct parts; the first dealing with techniques and methods to be
implemented in the first few schooldays, the second describing a proposed
general instruction method that will be strictly implemented in a teaching
environment bearing certain characteristics which are also described, and
finally the third proposing a very specific way of proceeding with the
presentation of everyday lessons.
Setting
·
Place:
Downtown Brooklyn, NYC, United States of America. A city funded elementary
school with students of diverse cultural background.
·
Time:
Start of a new academic year in the late ‘80s.
Student
Characteristics
The age of the students involved in this case study can be from nine to twelve years. Their
expected stage of cognitive development is the Concrete Operational, but some
of them may already be in the process of transition to the next.
Differences in knowledge and skills among students can be
great. Other important factors to be taken under consideration are:
·
At
this age, possible growth spurt and beginning of puberty leads to greater
awareness of sex roles.
·
A
wide and in some cases conflicting cultural mosaic exists.
·
Percentage
of students with learning disabilities and various other retardations and psychological or physical problems is
relatively large, mainly due to birth defects elicited by drug use in pre-natal
period.
Method of Instruction
First Few Days
·
Teacher
gets acquainted with students. This should be done in a friendly, relaxed way
which encourages conversation.
Objectives:
1.
Point
out culturally disadvantaged children.
2.
Roughly
determine the general characteristics and potential of the class as a whole.
·
Teacher
should determine the cognitive development stage of each of the students. He
/she can do that by implementing specific experiment-games, proposed by Piaget
or other related learning theorists/researchers.
Objectives:
1.
Point
out students below or above the expected (for the given age) stage of cognitive
development.
2.
Point
out children with possible learning disabilities.
3.
Set
up special student groups for:
·
Culturally
disadvantaged children.
·
Children
in lower than the expected stage of cognitive development.
·
Children
with learning disabilities.
4.
Arrange
extra-curriculum instruction sessions of these groups and implement appropriate
teaching techniques to help these children catch up with their peers. Do not
forget that the same learning principles apply to children from different cultures;
they just need time and patience to develop the appropriate linguistic and
cultural schemas in order to be able to follow the courses of their class.
5.
Start
preparing advanced take-home assignments for advanced or cognitively maturer
students. These children should be helped in order to enhance their skills
more.
·
Do
what Ausubel proposes: Find out what the students already know, and start from
there. A teacher can do this by :
1.
Checking
if last grade’s material was covered and understood by the students. This can
easily be done by appropriate quizzes and tests.
2.
If
inadequacies are found, the teacher should dedicate the next few lessons to an
accelerated coverage of important material that was not covered in the previous
grade.
3.
After
this is done the teacher can proceed to covering the current grade’s material.
Basic Teaching Technique and Learning
Environment
·
Encourage
children to express their views/beliefs, including their misconceptions.
Conversation and debate, as any other way of active learning, should be
encouraged in any case.
·
Try
to create an environment that triggers the equilibration process in students.
This can be accomplished by:
1.
Posing
critical questions.
2.
Asking
many “whys” and giving time to students to think.
3.
Periods
of intense assimilation-accommodation should be followed by short periods of
mental relaxation, so that newly acquired knowledge can “set in” and register
to the long-term memory.
·
Implement
Discovery Learning techniques, by:
1.
Acquiring,
if possible, relevant teaching apparatus.
2.
Encouraging
learning games.
3.
Using
labs, independent projects, field trips, etc.
·
Learning
environment should support the physical activity of the children:
1.
Athletics
(soccer, running, basketball, etc.)
2.
Games
(i.e. Hide & Seek)
3.
Rest
periods should also be provided, given the fact that children of these ages are
very energetic and thus get tired easily.
·
Provide
plenty of opportunities for interaction with peers. It is agreed, by leading
authorities in the field, that peer interaction greatly promotes cognitive
development.
Everyday Teaching
For matters of instruction involving the purely academic
part of teaching, Gagne’s nine steps of
instruction, as I have presented them before, should be followed accordingly.
REFERENCES
Andre (Eds.), Cognitive
Classroom Learning: Understanding, Thinking, and Problem Solving. Orlando,
FL: Academic Press, Inc.
Atkinson, R.C., & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human
Memory: A Proposed System and Its Control Processes.
Baine, D. (1986). Memory and Instruction. Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey: Education Technology Publications.
Bornstein, A. (1985). Memory.
Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.
Brainerd, C.J. (1978). Piaget’s theory of intelligence.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of learning for
instruction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Gardner, Howard. (1985). The
Mind’s New Science. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Gruber, H.E. & Voneche,
J.J. (1977). The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.
Howard, R.W. (1995). Learning
and Memory: Major ideas, principles, issues and applications. Westport,
Connecticut: Praeger.
Kenneth W. Spence & Janet
Taylor Spence (Eds.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation : Advances
in Research and Theory (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press, Inc.
Klahr, David & Kotovsky,
Kenneth (Ed.) (1989). Complex Information Processing: The Impact of Herbert
Simon. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Minninger, J. (1986). Total
Recall: How to boost your memory power.
New York: Pocket Books.
Neimark, E. (1975). Intellectual
development during adolescence. In F. D. Horwowitz (Ed.), Review of
child development research (Vol. 4). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Phye, Gary D. & Andre,
Thomas (1986). Cognition, Learning, and Education. In Gary D. Phye &
Thomas
Morris, C. (1996). Psychology,
An Introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Piaget, J. (1954). The
construction of reality in the child (M. Cook, Trans.). New York: Basic
Books.
Piaget, J. (1963). Origins
of intelligence in children. New York: Norton.
Piaget, J. (1965). The
moral judgment of the child. New York: Free Press.
Piaget, J. (1974). Understanding
causality (D. Miles and M. Miles, Trans.). New York: Norton.
Saettler, P. (1990). The
evolution of American educational technology. Englewood, CO: Libraries
Unlimited, Inc.
Simon, Herbert A. (1979). Models
of Thought. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Woolfolk, A. (1995). Educational
Psychology. (6 Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
·
As
adapted from Essentials of Learning for Instruction by R.M. Gagne and
M.P. Driscoll, 1988.
[1] Semiotics is the general study of symbolic systems, including language. The subject is traditionally divided into three areas: syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
[2] In classical antiquity, Aristotle also adopted and empirical approach to the formation of an epistemological theory and argued that sensuous data processed by thought results to knowledge and also that a mass of memories of similar perceptual situations constitutes what we call “experience”. His conviction was, much like Piaget, that humans posses a natural drive to know and that knowledge is desired for its own sake(it is a reward per se.
[3] This is a notion characteristic of Piaget’s empirical approach to epistemology. The “tabula rasa” state of the mind of the newborn baby is a direct consequence of the empiricist conviction that “there is nothing in the mind (at least in the form of a pure idea or form) that was not prior in the senses”(“Nihil in intellectu nisi prius in sensu.”)
[4] A taxonomy in the form of a sequence of distinct developmental stages.
[5] This technique of approximating the solution of a problem that is or appears to be insolvable by any means of abstraction, is called Heuristics. Although it may seem strange it is still used by adults in situations where adequate previous experience (in whole or in parts) is not available and thus hypotheses cannot be formed and abstract simulations cannot be performed. In a way, even in adult life (when the formal operations stage has been reached), there are situations that are novel or strange enough to make a “heavy duty” scientist revert to “infantile“ approaches toward the solution of a problem.
[6] This is actually very close to what chickens do when they want to hide: they just put their head in a place where they cannot see anything and assume that they are invisible (Ostriches also do that by burying their head in the ground when they are scared). There are two conclusions that an informed scholar can reach at this point: First, that chickens and ostriches are in some kind of preoperational stage. Second, that the technique described above is better to be avoided in any case, provided the testimony of the high casualty rate of chickens under attack by vicious carnivores.J
[7] The etymology of the word comes from the Greek “(h)olon” meaning “whole”.
[8] Greek word meaning the whole system employed in raising and educating-forming a child.
[9] An approach that falls under the general notion of Functionalism.
[10] The father of “strong” A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).
[11] World model formed in mind through learning and simulations based on hypothetical data as a means of prediction.
[12] The analogy is to the central processing unit of a computer, which does a lot with only a few basic operations.
[13] “Archetypes” as a form of “a priori” knowledge or innate ideas was first introduced by the psychologist and researcher Carl Yung.
[14] Alienated because it does not register as personal, close-contact experience, while exploration/experimentation does exactly the opposite.
[15] Mainly popular because it is the least demanding in effort for the instructor.
[16] Temperament, psychological profile, academic performance, family condition, etc.