| Stndents
as Learners
• Student development and the learning processes.
• Students as diverse learners.
• Student motivation and the learning environment.
Instrnction and Assessment
• Instructional strategies.
• Planning instruction.
Communication Techniques
• Effective verbal and nonverbal communication.
• Cultural and gender differences in communication.
• Stimulating discussion and responses in the classroom.
Teacher Professionalism
• The reflective practitioner.
Some
More Information on Theory to Help With the Praxis PLT
Cognitive
Development.
Cognitive
development concerns how children's thinking becomes
more efficient, logical, or informed over time.
Piaget
Jean
Piaget was a developmental psychologist who proposed a 4-stage
theory of the changes children normally go through on their
road to adult logical thinking. I-Ic believed that these stages
were biologically determined and therefore universal. Ages to
which the stages are applicable appear in parentheses. They
are I. sensorimotor stage (0-2): children~s knowledge of the
world consists of their physical interactions with it. 2. preoperational
stage (2-7), children think symbolically but no logically. 3.
Concrete operations stage (7-11): children think logically,
but only in the here and now. At the formal operations stage
(12 on), children begin to think logically about hypothetical
and abstract situations. Educationally important concepts of
the theory include assimilation (Children understanding information
in light of existing concepts) accommodation (Children must
revise their concepts in light of new information.) equilibrium
(Everything in the child's world makes sense.) and disequlibrium
(A child encounters a discrepant bit of information that creates
confusion but arouses curiosity.). Educational Implications:
Readiness (Content must be taught to children that is developmentally
appropriate.) Creating disequlibrium: (Interesting or unexpected
demonstrations, anecdotes, or facts are an ideal way to initiate
learning.) Hands on learning (Piaget believed that children
learn best by doing; for example, by the use of manipulatives
to learn math concepts.)
Vygotsky
Vygotsky:
Whereas Piaget emphasized biology, Vygotsky, his contemporary,
emphasized language and social interactions in his theory of
cognitive development. His is not a stage theory; rather, Vygotsky
argues that cognitive development advances incrementally. He
was the first social constructivist (one who believes that students
create their own knowledge under social guidance, which may
or may not be an accurate representation of external reality).
He argued that human thought begins in young children as overt
speech that they use to plan, cope, recall, and rehearse. Most
utterances of children, including those that guide their behavior,
are borrowed from their social environment (e.g., parents, teachers,
friends, and older siblings). As they mature. children's overt
speech becomes covert (private) thoughts, but still remain vital
in directing their behavior. Educational Implications: Modeling
speech (Teachers should not only demonstrate the steps of problem
solving or components of a skill, they should also provide students
with accompanying speech that describes what they are doing
and why they are doing it, which will help guide students' behavior
when they engage in independent practice, such as homework.)
Scaffolding (different forms of social support teachers provide
for students engaged in problem solving or other tasks, which
includes prompts (reminders), encouragement, modeling, feedback,
and so forth, short of solving the problem for the child) Zone
of proximal development (the edge of a child's knowledge or
problem solving competency; the point at which a child can only
succeed with scaffolding provided by another more skilled individual;
the optimal point at which learning can occur and is unique
to each child for each task)
Information
Processing Theory
The Information Processing Theory of Cognitive Development is
not a stage theory; rather, it postulates that cognitive development
occurs incrementally in the form of gradual increases in knowledge
and skill. It also emphasizes the steps students use in solving
a problem; that is, the mental activities that underlie problem
solving. Older children are hypothesized to have more knowledge
than younger children in their Long-Term Memories (LTM). Their
knowledge is thought to be stored in a more organized fashion
such that it is more accessible during problem solving. Older
children can be regarded as experts and younger children as
novices. Older children's skills, including reading, writing,
and computational, are more automatic and efficient. For instance,
older readers are able to decode words quite quickly. Consequently,
they can focus attention on text comprehension rather than on
sounding out words. Perhaps the most educationally important
contribution of information processing theory concerns metacogn
itive development. Metacognition refers to children's knowledge
of and control over their own thought processes. Older children
have many more strategies for meaningful learning than do the
younger. For instance, when learning new material, they typically
adopt a more efficient strategy of encoding new information
by relating it to information currently in LTM. Younger children
are more likely to use inefficient rote rehearsal. Teachers
can teach metacognitive strategies to students to make them
better independent learners, especially by modeling their use.
Gagne
Nine
Instructional Events
Nine
Events of Instruction Interactive
Conditions
of Learning
Overview
This theory stipulates that there are several different types
or levels of learning. The significance of these classifications
is that different types of learning require different types
of instruction. Gagne identifies five major categories of learning:
verbal
information;
intellectual skills;
cognitive strategies;
motor skills; and,
attitudes.
Different internal and external conditions are necessary for
each type of learning. For example, for cognitive strategies
to be learned, there must be a chance for learners to practice
developing new solutions to problems; to learn attitudes, the
learner must be exposed to a credible role model or persuasive
arguments. Gagne suggests that learning tasks for intellectual
skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity:
stimulus
recognition;
response generation;
procedure following;
use of terminology;
discriminations;
concept formation;
rule application; and,
problem solving.
The significance of the hierarchy is to identify prerequisites
that should be completed to facilitate learning at each level
and to provide a basis for the sequencing of instruction. In
addition, the theory outlines nine instructional events and
corresponding cognitive processes:
gaining
attention (reception);
informing learners of the objective (expectency);
stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval);
presenting the stimulus (selective perception);
providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)
eliciting performance (responding);
providing feedback (reinforcement);
assessing performance (retrieval);
enhancing retention and transfer (generalization).
These events should satisfy or provide the necessary conditions
for learning and serve as the basis for designing instruction
and selecting appropriate media (Gagne, Briggs & Wager,
1992).
Application
While Gagne's theoretical framework covers all aspects of learning,
the focus of the theory is on intellectual skills. The theory
has been applied to the design of instruction in all domains
(Gagner & Driscoll, 1988). In its original formulation (Gagne,
1 962), special attention was given to military training settings.
Gagne (1987) addresses the role of instructional technology
in learning.
Example
The following example illustrates a teaching sequence corresponding
to the nine instructional events for the objective, Recognize
an equilateral triangle:
Gain
attention:--show variety of triangles;
Identify objective --pose question: What is an equilateral triangle?
;
Recall prior learning--review definitions of triangles;
Present stimulus--show an equilateral triangle and describe
it's properties;
Guide learning--show example of how to create equilateral triangle;
Elicit performance--ask students to create 5 different examples;
Provide feedback--check all examples as correct/incorrect;
Assess performance--provide scores and remediation;
Enhance retention/transfer--show pictures of objects and ask
students to identify equilaterals.
Social
Development
Social
development concerns how children become more socially
aware and interpersonally skilled with age.
Erikson
Erikson
believe that as children advance physically and cognitively,
Western society increasingly makes social demands on them. Ideally,
parents and teachers nudge them toward becoming autonomous,
contributing adult members of society. Erikson proposed 8 stages,
which individuals go through during the life span. As a major
socialization institution of society, schools affect children~s
social development across many of these stages. The first five
are most relevant to school success and are reviewed below.
The last 3 apply to adults. Each stage is characterized by a
conflict, successftil resolution of which contributes to autonomy
and happiness in adulthood. Unsuccessful resolution can have
persistent, negative consequences on future development. Normative
ages of applicability appear in parentheses.
Trust
vs. Mistrust (0-i): Children must receive consistent, quality
care from primary caregivers. In its absence, they will have
difficulty forming trusting relationships later in life.
Autonomy
vs. Shame/Doubt (1-3): Toddlers who are encouraged to dress,
wash, feed themselves, and so forth, develop a sense of autonomy
that can promote independence later in life. Without this encouragement,
children may become unsure of themselves and not fully realize
their emerging capacities.
Initiative
vs. Guilt (3-5): Children in this age range begin to develop
and act on preferences for activities, people, and so on. Parents,
day care providers, and other concerned parties need to encourage
children to make choices and develop preferences, so long as
they do not infringe on the rights of others. Otherwise, they
may become apprehensive and risk-avoidant.
Industry
vs. Inferiority (6-12): Children's well developed cognitive
and motor skills enable them to set and achieve long-term goals,
including writing short stories, designing and carrying out
science experiments, or building models. If parents, teachers,
peer tutors, or others suitably provide scaffolding, children
can emerge from this stage capable of making long-term commitments
in the face of short-term deprivations, setbacks, and frustrations.
Otherwise, they may feel inadequate and lack the confidence
to set and sustain such commitments.
Identity
vs. Confusion (adolescence): Society's main expectation for
adolescents is that they define themselves with regard to what
societal adult role (career) they will pursue. Ideally, the
choice should involve an extended search followed by a commitment.
Those who are identity achieved emerge from adolescence having
explored and found the adult role that best matches their interests
and abilities. Identity diffused individuals enter adulthood
unsure of what role they want to pursue and have not actively
explored possibilities. This is considered a negative outcome.
Adolescence in moratorium are unsure of what role they want
to fulfill in adulthood but are actively searching, an outcome
that is quite common but positive. Identify foreclosnre applies
to those who select a role to satisfy the expectations of others
(e.g., being forced into the family business) or society rather
than through their own exploration. Frustration and resentment
often occur at some point in the foreclosed individual. Educational
Implications: Middle and high school teachers should encourage
students to recognize their interests and aptitudes and explore
career options to match them.
Moral
Development
Moral
development is concerned with how a child develops morally.
Kohlberg
Kohlberg proposed a theory of the stages children go through
as they develop more sophisticated ways of thinking about moral
issues. His is not a theory of how children act morally. By
presenting children of various ages with moral dilemmas, he
identified three levels. Nested within each are two stages.
The three levels coincide with Piaget's preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational stages, respectively.
I
Preconventional Level: Dependent on preoperational thinking,
the child is egocentric; that is, he or she has difficulty conceiving
the moral impact of an action on others.
1. Punishment Obedience: Children at this stage define as moral
any behavior that avoids punishment. Any action likely to produce
punishmnent is viex\ed as immoral.
2. Instrumental Relativist: Children consider that any actions
that are in their self-interest or are mutually advantageous
to the child and/or others are moral.
II
Conventional Level: Dependent on concrete operational thinking,
children can think logically about moral issues so long as the
reasoning required is not too abstract or involve purely hypothetical
situations.
3.
Good boy/nice girl: No longer egocentric, children consider
the perspectives of others by regarding, as moral, actions that
are pleasing to others, particularly adults. Actions that are
displeasing to adults will be viewed as morally \x ron~z.
4.
Law & Order: Moral actions are judged to be choices of action
that follow the dictates of recognized authority (e.g., the
President) or that adhere to the lener of the law. Actions that
defly authority or the law are perceived to be morally v~ ron~z.
III
Postconventional Level: Dependent on formal operations, moral
reasoning retlects considerations of abstract principles, timeless
truths, or hypothetical thinking.
5.
Social contract: Moral laws are perceived to be relative to
a particular time and place, arrived at by consensus for the
benefit of the greater group. The Mayflower compact is an example.
It constituted moral authority until in was superseded by other
documents, such as the U.S. constitution
6.
Universal ethical principle: Reasoning is guided by appealing
to transcendent moral principles, such as the sanctity of life
or the inalienability of basic human rights. The principles
apply to many situations that are regarded as timeless and universal.
Perspectives on Intelligence. Intelligence is the single most
important and heavily studied individual difference dimension
along which children differ. Intelligence involves the ability
to adapt well to changing circumstances, the ability to learn
from experience, and the ability to apply what is being learned
to new situations, among other capacities. Two highly influential
perspectives on intelligence are considered below.
The
Psychometric View of Intelligence. French psychologist Alfred
Binet published the first IQ test in 1905. Like most modern
intelligence tests, it was not based on a theory of intelligence.
As today, test items were chosen because a) performance on them
was predictive of school success and b) older children did better
on the items than younger children. That is, most IQ tests include
items that are academically and developmentally discriminating,
a psychometric view on intelligence. Modern IQ scores provide
ordinal data by describing how well a child's test performance
compares with his or her peers. For instance, a global IQ score
of 1 00 indicates that a child is at the 50~ percentile compared
to a national sample. Traditional intelligence tests emphasize
verbal ability, reasoning, memory, and perception. Two IQ tests
commonly used are the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children~3ra
Edition and the Stanford-Binet. Both are individually administered
(one child, one examiner) tests that are used to make important
decisions about students, including placement in a special education
program.
Multiple
Intelligence: Howard Gardner has expanded traditional views
of intelligence by proposing that it is more heterogeneous than
previously thought. He has identified 8 varieties of intelligence:
1. verbal (using language well), 2. logical-mathematical (logically
and fluently manipulating symbols), 3. spatial (ability to manipulate
visual images). The remaining five are unorthodox: 4. musical
(ability to produce music), 5. bodily-kinesthetic (ability to
acquire motor skills), 6. intrapersonal (ability to manage one's
life well), 7. interpersonal (ability to interact effectively
with others), and 8. naturalistic (the ability to recognize
naturally occurring patterns in nature). Intelligence tests
based on Gardner's theory are being developed. Educational Implications:
By expanding the traditional concept of intelligence, teachers
who adopt Gardner's view can develop in students a broader tolerance
for other students' strengths as well as their own. By incorporating
a variety of authentic activities in the classroom that call
on different kinds of intelligence, a broader range of students
will have the chance to view themselves as intelligent and excel.
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