Session 4. Psychology and Curriculum Define in your group the following – What is Psychology – Why do Curriculum Specialist consider it when developing

Session 4

Psychology and Curriculum

• Define in your group the following– What is Psychology– Why do Curriculum Specialist consider it when

developing a curriculum?

Educational Psychology

• Educational Psychology is concerned with how people learn

• Issues such as :– Motivation– Memory– Development– Cognition


• IT is also concerned with include– What can teachers do to maximize learning– How should the curriculum be organized– What experiences help students learn the best


• Educational Psychology can be organized into several major categories– Behaviorism-– Phenomenological and humanistic theories which

consider the whole child– Cognitive- Information processing model

Activity• Each group will take a division of psychology and

answer the following questions• Develop a two to three statement description of

this philosophy• Who were the leaders in this field• What are the major tenets of this division of

psychology• What are its impact for learning• What are the considerations for developing

curriculum

• Clubs- Behaviorist• Spades- Phenomenological and humanistic

theories • Diamonds- Cognitive, Problem Solving, • Hearts-Developmentalist, language

development

Behaviorism

• Lets hear from the group

Comments

Behaviorist an the Curriculum

• Rely on:• Very prescriptive-Step by step layout• Structured • Relied heavily upon in Special education• Many critics of this type of learning• Examples- DISTAR, SQ3R, Some computer

programs

Report From the Spades Group

• Spades- Phenomenological and humanistic theories

Comments

Report back from

• Developmentalist, language development

Comments

• At the center of the Cognitive Theorist is the debate over nurture versus Nature,

• How much does environment play into intelligence and how much is it genetic?

Feedback From

• Diamonds- Cognitive, Problem Solving,

Lets look at Some Problems

• What factors do you need to consider when building a curriculum?

Problem solving

• A person needs to know what information they need to store. Many times information is given tat is unnecessary. The elevator story, 5 people get on- how many stops– the shopping story, five eggs cost, 2 gallons cost ,

how many items?

Problem Solving Strategies

• Combine algorithms -when two or more simple rules are used to solve a problem( sometimes used in geometric problems)

• Hill climbing-when individuals make any move that brings them closer to a goal


• Hill climbing example– You have 24 coins, twenty-three have the same

weight. Your task is to find the one heaver coin, you have a balance scale that will tell what is the heaviest between sets of coins. How many weighings will you need?


• The problem could be solved in as many as 12 weightings, but in as few as three

• Each step takes you closer to an answer and guarantees a correct answer-hill climbing


• A zoo keeper must transport three lions and three giraffes across a river. She has a barge that can only hold herself and two other animals, so she will have to make several trips and leave some animals unattended some of the time. However, whenever she leaves a group of animals, the giraffes must out number the lions; otherwise the lions will gang up on one of the giraffes and kill it. How can the zookeeper transport all six animals across the river

Hill Climbing

• The lions and the Giraffes is an example of when a hill climbing would not work

• To solve this you need to go backwards sometimes to reach the end


• Means-end Analysis• When you break a problem down into two or

more sub goals the work on each goals separately– Here is an example• Two sets of neighbors argue over whose barbeque is

bigger one is 3.5 feet by 5 feet the other is 1.5 meter by 1 meter


• First goal – Convert one barbeque from meters to feet

• Second goal– Calculate the area or each barbeque

• Third goal– Compare barbeques


• Working Backwards– Begin at the problems goal and work backwards

one step at a time to try and solve the problem.– Use this approach to solve the next problem


• There are 21 pennies on the table. Two players , Mary and Susan take turns removing pennies from the table. In a given turn, a player must remove either one, two, or three pennies. The player who removes the last penny wins the game and keeps all 21 pennies. Mary begins by taking two pennies. What strategy can Susan use to ensure she wins the game.


• Drawing Analogies– Analogies often help students visualize an answer

( 399)


• The number of quarters is seven times the number of dimes he has. The value of the dimes exceeds the value of the quarters by two dollars and fifty cents. How many of each coin does he have.

Others

• Bandura –– Developed a theory about learning through

modeling – Social learning theory

• Robert Gagne developed a hierarchy of learning- – His theory was a transition between Behaviorism

and Cognitive psychology.

Activity

• In your groups, what are some behaviors that can be learned through modeling? Develop a list of ten.

• Stopped 1-31-11

• Students are better readers when their parents are readers

• Students solve math problems when they see others solve the problems

• Are more likely to resist temptation from a stranger when they see it modeled by a peer

• Can deal with fear after they see someone else model fearless behavior

• Are more likely to be intolerant of racism when they see other around them are intolerant of racist statements

• Are more likely to violate traditional gender stereotypes when they see others break the traditional rules

Aggression

• Research has demonstrated that- Children that have been modeled aggressive behavior demonstrate it more than those who have not seen it. Conversely, children that are modeled non-aggressive behaviors are less aggressive than children who have had no modeling

Morality

• Many studies have been conducted in which children have made more positive moral decision when this behavior was modeled to them. Such behaviors as generosity, resistance to temptation are some examples of this.

The Four Process for Learning Using Modeling

• Attention• To learn a behavior, you must pay attention to

the model ( common sense)• Retention– (More common sense) you must remember what

you observed- How many times have you heard a funny joke and not been able to tell it later?


• Motor reproduction• You must be able to replicate the behavior

that was demonstrated• How many have watched Tiger woods swing

but can’t replicate it• As teachers we may need to task analyze

teach motoric action ????


• Motivation• Obviously, the observer must want to

replicate the behavior or modeling will not work.

Characteristics of Effective Modeling

• Model is competent• Model has prestige and power• Model behaves in stereotypical ways-Boys

copy men models better than women and girls copy women models better.

• Models behavior is relevant to the observer

Concept Learning

• Feature list is similar to the prototype theory• But focuses on learning by the following:– What are the relevant features, both defining and

correlation– The probability that these features will present

itself in a positive instance– The relationship between the features- what are

the rules for combination

Concept Learning

• Robert Gagne developed a theory of learning that included eight types of learning, four basic types and four more complex forms of learning

Gagnebasic learning

• Classical conditioning• Operant conditioning• Chaining- it is a series of S-R interactions

( stimulus Response. Mostly physical motoric learning.

• Verbal associations-like chaining with verbal responses

Gagne’s Higher level learning

• Discrimination learning- a child learns to distinguish the letter “b” form other letters and say the sound “bee”

• Concept learning– Has two types of concepts abstract and defined

concepts, this type of learning involves learning defined concepts only. Only learning physical concepts

Gagne’s Higher order learning skills

• Rule learning rules allow people to respond effectively to a wide range of stimuli

• They involve two or more concepts• These concepts are learned through

statements expressing rules

Gagne’s Higher order learning skills

• Higher order rules• When people can combine two or more rules

to solve problems. We will discuss problem solving later

• Here is how some college students interpreted Gagne’s theory on learning

Maria Montessori

• Another major influence in the cognitive field• First job to teach children from and insane

Asylum– She was successful and concluded that any of their

problems were not medical, but poor education• Believed in activity, but unlike the behaviorist

and Dewey who thought that the Motoric part of activity was important, she felt that the visual and auditory sense (all senses) were the reason children learn during activity

Maria Montessori

• Students learn by activity, although very structured

• Also pointed out that children of lower SES communities were disadvantaged because they lacked stimulation in the home

Birth Order

• IN families with multiple children. There is usually a three point difference in IQ from the first to second child, and second to third…

• Usually not genetic, it is the expectations placed on this child

• Second and third children usually are more creative and have more diverse interest

Multiple Intelligences

• Garner developed a ( or expanded) theory on the idea that there are several dimensions that comprise intelligence

• Originally there were six• Now there are eight and there is work saying a

ninth is coming out

Multiple Intelligences

• Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):• Logical-mathematical intelligence

("number/reasoning smart")• Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")• Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")• Musical intelligence ("music smart")• Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")• Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")• Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

Learning Styles

• Somewhat like the concept of multiple intelligences, Learning styles promotes and idea that people have different avenues that they are able to learn better through

• Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Tactile( physical)• Other models• Debate if you teach through these or teach

against these to develop them

Constructivism

• The learner generates meaning for concepts, They Construct the learning

• As they construct the learning the automatically make links to what is existing in their mind

• Learning is optimized when they are aware that they are learning

Different types of thinking

• Critical Thinking– Problem solving- we already explored

• Creative Thinking- They puzzle school– Often their needs are not addressed in the

curriculum, certainly they are not planned for

• Intuitive thinking- coming to an answer with little or no awareness of how

Different types of thinking

• Reflective Thinking– Is a model of problem solving based on the

scientific method– Perceive the difficulty, identify the problem,

formulate an hypothesis, accept or reject the hypothesis, formulate conclusion and evaluate

• Discovery learning- from Jerome Bruner, similar to constructivism, where students discover relationships between concepts

Documents

Session 4. Psychology and Curriculum Define in your group the following – What is Psychology – Why do Curriculum Specialist consider it when developing