MODULE 3

PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Sound curriculum development can be effected only from a sound psychology of

learning. Knowledge about the psychology of the learner and of the learning process is
relevant to the three different matters of the curriculum which are (a) selection and
arrangement of content, (b) choice of the learning experiences and (c) plans for the
optimum conditions for learning.

The curriculum must be a means of initiating learners into activities and

experiences which are worthwhile for them. For this purpose it must draw upon
analyses of the nature of learning and the inherent human abilities it intends to develop.

General Objective

To know and understand psychology as a foundation to the study of the

curriculum development.

Specific Objectives. After reading this module, you are expected to:

1. Know and understand the major theories of learning that is important in

curriculum development.
2. Explain the relationship between the psychological foundation and the
curriculum.
3. Answer the given questions at the end of this module.

Learning
What is learning?

Learning is an acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new

behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but
much of human learning occurs outside the classrooms, and people continue to learn
throughout their lives.

Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use
their hands to manipulate toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to
learn about the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how
to interact with their parents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world.
When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading,
writing, and mathematics. They also continue to learn a great deal outside the
classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to
be punished. They learn social skills for interacting with other children. After they finish
school, people must learn to adapt to the many major changes that affect their lives,
such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job.

Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything
we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need
to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers,
criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain
experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make
use of the principles of learning to influence the behavior of workers, voters, consumers.

Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the

brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores
knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more
interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of person’s experiences.

These are seven major theories of learning presented in this module:

1. Associationism
2. Behaviorism
3. Social Interaction
4. Cognitive Development
5. Multiple Intelligences
6. Constructivism
7. Learning by Observation

Associationism

The associationists believed that ideas become more closely associated with one
another through experience, and that this associative bond constituted learning.
For instance, the word bread maybe associated with the word butter due to one’s
experience of eating bread and butter. The more experience one has with the
associated ideas, the stronger the associative bond is thought to be.

Influential Psychologists and Contributions to Associationism

Hermen Ebbinghaus (1850 – 1909): The Classical Forgetting Curve

In 1885 German philosopher Herman Ebbinghaus conducted one of the first

studies on memory, using himself as a subject. He memorized lists of nonsense
syllables and then tested his memory of the syllables at intervals reading from 20
minutes to 31 days. He found that he remembered less than 40 percent of the items
after nine hours, but that rate of forgetting leveled off over time. He summarized that for
verbal learning, forgetting proceeds very rapidly at first and then more slowly as
the time from initial learning increases.

Edward L. Thorndike (1874 – 1949): The Law of Effect

Thorndike stated that “Of several responses made to the same situation those
which are accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction to the animal will, other
things being equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so that, when it recurs,
they will be more likely to recur; those which are accompanied or closely followed by
discomfort to the animal will, other things being equal, have their connections to the
situation weakened, so that, when it recurs, they will be less likely to occur. The greater
the satisfaction or discomfort, the greater the strengthening or weakening of the bond.”

Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1946): Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning was discovered by accident in the early 1900s by Russian

physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was studying how saliva aids the digestive process. He
would give a dog some food and measure the amount of saliva the dog produced while
it ate the meal. After the dog had gone through this procedure a few times, however, it
would begin to salivate before receiving any food. Pavlov reasoned that some new
stimulus, such as the experimenter in his white coat, had become associated with the
food and produced the response of salivation in the dog. Pavlov spent the rest of his life
studying this basic type of associative learning, which is now called classical
conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning.

The conditioning process usually follows the same general procedure. Suppose a
psychologist wants to condition a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. Before
conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food in the mouth) automatically produces
an unconditioned response (salivation) in the dog. The term unconditioned indicates
that there is an unlearned, or inborn, connection between the stimulus and the
response. During conditioning, the experimenter rings a bell and then gives food to the
dog. The bell is called the neutral stimulus because it does not initially produce any
salivation response in the dog. As the experimenter repeats the bell-food association
over and over again, however, the bell alone eventually causes the dog to salivate. The
dog has learned to associate the bell with the food. The bell has become a conditioned
stimulus, and the dog’s salivation to the sound of the bell is called a conditioned
response.

The Example of Classical Conditioning in Human Behavior

 A person who has had painful experiences at the dentist’s office may become
fearful at just the sight of the dentist’s office building. Fear, a natural response to a
painful stimulus, has transferred to a different stimulus, the sight of a building. Most
psychologists believe that classical conditioning occurs when a person forms a mental
association between two stimuli, so that encountering one stimulus makes the person
think of the other. People tend to form these mental associations between events or
stimuli that occur closely together in space or time.

Principles of Classical Conditioning

Following his initial discovery, Pavlov spent more than three decades studying
the processes underlying classical conditioning. He and his associates identified four
main processes: acquisition, extinction, generalization, and discrimination.

Acquisition

The acquisition phase is the initial learning of the conditioned response – for
example, the dog learning to salivate at the sound of the bell. Several factors can affect
the speed of conditioning during the acquisition phase. The most important factors are
the order and timing of the stimuli. Conditioning occurs most quickly when the
conditioned stimulus (the bell) precedes the unconditioned stimulus (the food) by about
half a second. Conditioning takes longer and the response is weaker when there is a
dog delay between the presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned
stimulus. If the conditioned stimulus follows the unconditioned stimulus – for example, if
the dog receives the food before the bell is rung – conditioning seldom occur.

Extinction

Once learned, a conditioned response is not necessarily permanent. The term

extinction is used to describe the elimination of the conditioned response by repeatedly
presenting the conditioned stimulus without unconditioned stimulus. If a dog has learned
to salivate at the sound of a bell, an experimenter can gradually extinguish the dog’s
response by repeatedly ringing the bell without presenting food afterward. Extinction
does not mean, however, that the dog has simply unlearned or forgotten the association
between the bell and the food. After extinction, if the experimenter let’s a few hours
pass and then rings the bell again, the dog will usually salivate at the sound of the bell
once again. The appearance of an extinguished response after some time passed is
called spontaneous recovery.

Generalization

After an animal has learned a conditioned response to one stimulus, it may also
respond to similar stimuli without further training. If a child is bitten by a large black dog,
the child may fear not only that dog, but other large dogs. This phenomenon is called
generalization. Less similar stimuli will usually produce less generalization. For
example, the child may show little fear of smaller dogs.

Discrimination

The opposite of generalization is discrimination, in which an individual learns to

produce a conditioned response to one stimulus but not to another stimulus that is
similar. For example, a child may show a fear response to freely roaming dogs, but may
show no fear when a dog is on a leash or confined to a pen.

Behaviorism

The idea of behaviorism was developed in the early part of the 20 th century. The
behaviorist viewpoint holds that observable data is objective data and therefore the
most useful in attempting to understand psychological phenomenon. Behaviorism builds
on the work of the Associationist by way of conditioned responses.

Influential Psychologists and Contributions to Behaviorism

John B. Watson: Stimulus – Response

Watson performed experiments that studied behavioral responses to stimuli. His

most infamous study involved a baby named Albert. Watson conditioned baby Albert to
cry every time he saw a rat by presenting the rat to Albert along with a very loud noise.
The noise scared Albert. Soon Albert was afraid of rats and cried whenever he saw one.
This type of experimentation is considered highly unethical today and would not be
sanctioned by any institution.

B.F. Skinner: Operant Behavior

American psychologist B. F. Skinner became famous for his pioneering research

on learning and behavior. During his 60-year career, Skinner discovered important
principles of operant conditioning, a type of learning that involves reinforcement and
punishment. A strict behaviorist, Skinner believed that operant conditioning could
explain even the most complex of human behaviors.

Operant behavior is the behavior “emitted by an organism”. The behavior

occurs in response to the environment. Reinforcement of the behavior, either positive or
negative will determine whether the behavior re-occurs.

Skinner designed an apparatus, now called a Skinner box that allowed him to
formulate important principles of animal learning. An animal placed inside the box is
rewarded with a small bit of food each time it makes the desired response, such as
pressing a lever or pecking a key. A device outside the box records the animal’s
responses.

Skinner became famous not just for his research with animals, but also for his
controversial claim that the principles of learning he discovered using the Skinner box
also applied to the behavior of people in everyday life. Skinner acknowledged that many
factors influence human behavior, including heredity, basic types of learning such as
classical conditioning, and complex learned behaviors such as language. However, he
maintained that rewards and punishments control the great majority of human
behaviors, and that the principles of operant conditioning can explain these behaviors.

Principle of Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is the process of shaping behavior by means of

reinforcement and punishment.

In a career spanning more than 60 years, Skinner identified a number of basic

principles of operant conditioning that explain how people learn new behaviors or
change existing behaviors. The main principles are reinforcement, punishment, shaping,
extinction, discrimination, and generalization.

Reinforcement

In operant conditioning, reinforcement refers to any process that strengthens as

a particular behavior – that is, increases the chances that the behavior will occur again.
There are two general categories of reinforcement, positive and negative. The
experiments of Thorndike and Skinner illustrate positive reinforcement, a method of
strengthening behavior by following it with a pleasant stimulus. Positive reinforcement is
a powerful method for controlling the behavior of both animals and people. For people,
positive reinforcers include basic items such a food, drink, sex, and physical comfort.
Other positive reinforcers include material possessions, money, friendship, love, praise,
attention, and success in one’s career.

Depending on the circumstances, positive reinforcement can strengthen either

desirable or undesirable behaviors. Children may work hard at home or at school
because of the praise they receive from parents and teachers for good performance.
However, they may also disrupt a class, try dangerous stunts, or start smoking because
these behaviors lead to attention and approval from their peers. One of the most
common reinforcers of human behavior is money. Most adults spend many hours each
week working at their jobs because of the paychecks they receive in return. For certain
individuals, money can also reinforce undesirable behaviors, such as burglary, selling
illegal drugs, and cheating on one’s taxes.

Negative reinforcement is a method of strengthening a behavior by following it

by the removal or omission of an unpleasant stimulus. There are two types of negative
reinforcement: escape and avoidance. In escape, performing a particular behavior
leads to the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. For example, if a person with headache
tries a new pain reliever and the headache quickly disappears, this person will probably
use the medication again the next time a headache occurs. In avoidance, people
perform a behavior to avoid unpleasant consequences. For example, drivers may take
side streets to avoid congested intersections, citizens may pay their taxes to avoid fines
and penalties, and students may do their homework to avoid detention.

Punishment

Whereas reinforcement strengthens behavior, punishment weakens it reducing

the chances that the behavior will occur again. As with reinforcement, there are two
kinds of punishment, positive and negative. Positive punishment involves reducing a
behavior by delivering an unpleasant stimulus if the behavior occurs. Parents use
positive punishment when they spank, scold, or shout at children for bad behavior.
Societies use positive punishment when they fine or imprison people who break the law.
Negative punishment, also called omission, involves reducing a behavior by removing
a pleasant stimulus if the behavior occurs. Parents’ tactics of grounding teenagers or
taking away various privileges because of bad behavior are examples of negative
punishment.

Considerable controversy exists about whether punishment is effective way of

reducing or eliminating unwanted behaviors. Careful laboratory experiments have
shown that, when used properly, punishment can be a powerful and effective method
for reducing behavior. Nevertheless, it has several disadvantages. When people are
severely punished, they may become angry, aggressive, or have other negative
emotional reactions. They may try to hide the evidence of their misbehavior or escape
from the situation, as when a punished child runs away from home. In addition,
punishment may eliminate desirable behaviors along with undesirable ones. For
example, a child who is scolded for making an error in the classroom may not raise his
or her hand again. For these and other reasons, many psychologists recommend that
punishment be used to control behavior only when there is no realistic alternative.

Shaping

It is a reinforcement technique that is used to teach animals or people behaviors

that they have never performed before. In this method, the teacher begins by reinforcing
a response the learner can perform easily, and then gradually requires more and more
difficult responses. For example, to teach a rat to press a lever that is over its head, the
trainer can first reward any upward head movement, then an upward movement of at
least one inch, then two inches, and so on, until the rat reaches the lever. Psychologists
have used shaping to teach children with severe mental retardation to speak by first
rewarding any sounds they make, and then gradually requiring sounds that more and
more closely resemble the words of the teacher. Animal trainers at circuses and theme
parks use shaping to teach elephants to stand on one leg, tigers to balance on a ball,
dogs to backward flips, and killer whales and dolphins to jump through hoops.
Extinction

As in classical conditioning, responses learned in operant conditioning are not

always permanent. In operant conditioning, is the elimination of a learned behavior by
discontinuing the reinforcer of that behavior. If a rat has learned to press a lever
because it receives food for doing so, its lever-pressing will decrease and eventually
disappear if food is no longer delivered. With people, withholding the reinforcer may
eliminate some unwanted behaviors. For instance, parents often reinforce temper
tantrums in young children by giving them attention. If parents simply ignore the child’s
tantrum rather than reward them with attention, the number of tantrums should gradually
decrease.

Generalization and Discrimination

Generalization and discrimination occur in operant conditioning in much the

same way that they do in classical conditioning. In generalization, people perform a
behavior learned in one situation in other, similar situations. For example, a man who is
rewarded with laughter when he tells certain jokes at a bar may tell the same jokes at
restaurants, parties, or wedding receptions. Discrimination is learning that a behavior
will be reinforced in one situation but not in another. The man may learn that telling his
jokes in church or at a serious business meeting will not make people laugh.
Discriminative stimuli signal that a behavior is likely to be reinforced. The man may
learn tell jokes only when he is at a loud, festive occasion (the discriminative stimulus).
Learning when a behavior will and will not be reinforced is an important part of operant
conditioning.
Applications of Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning techniques have practical applications in many areas of

human life. Parents who understand the basic principles of operant conditioning can
reinforce their children’s appropriate behaviors and punish inappropriate ones, and they
can use generalization and discrimination techniques to teach which behaviors are
appropriate in particular situations. In the classroom, many teachers reinforce good
academic performance with small rewards and privileges. Companies have used
lotteries to improve attendance, productivity, and job safety among their employees.

Psychologists known as behavior therapists use the learning principles of

operant conditioning to treat children or adults with behavior problems or psychological
disorders. Behavior therapists use shaping techniques to teach basic job skills to adults
with mental retardation. Therapists use reinforcement techniques to teach self-care
skills to people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and use
punishment and extinction to reduce aggressive and antisocial behaviors by these
individuals. Psychologists also use operant conditioning techniques to treat stuttering,
sexual disorders, marital problems, drug addictions, impulsive spending, eating
disorders, and may other behavioral problems.
 Social Interaction

This learning theory based on the idea of social interaction developed in Soviet
Russia in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The social-interactionist believes that history and
culture play a prime role in learning and that language is key to the development of
higher ordered thinking skills.

Influential Psychologists and their Contributions to Social Interactionism

Lev Vygotsky: Zone of Proximal Development

The Zone of Proximal Development refers to the potential level of a child’s

mental development. Pairing a child with an adult or a more capable peer will frequently
allow the child to go beyond what they are currently capable of mentally. Through
guidance and instruction the child is able to mature intellectually.

Jerome Bruner: Discover Learning

“Rearranging or transforming evidence in such a way that one is enabled to go

beyond the evidence so assembled to additional new insights.”
Discovery learning is a method by which teachers and learners set out to
systematically discover connections among phenomena in a continually evolving world
concept.

Cognitive Development

While all of the theories covered thus far believe in the development of the mind
as a part of learning, there are specific developmental theories that have been well-
articulated and which are highly influential.

Influential Psychologists and Theories of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget: Stage of Cognitive Development

Piaget developed his theory of the stages of cognitive development through

observing and experimenting with his own children. Piaget believed that a child must
pass through each stage of cognitive development before he could understand certain
ideas. This notion was in direct contrast to Vygotsky’s idea of the Zone of Proximal
Development and the role of a teacher or guide in helping the child to develop mentally.

Jerome Bruner: Three Modes of Representation

 Bruner’s developmental theory holds that children acquire three sequential
modes of representing the world mentally:

1) the Enactive;
2) the Iconic; and
3) the Symbolic.

Young children may not be able to describe how to do something to another, but
they can show one how do it. The iconic mode refers to the ability of an individual to
express an idea through an icon, such as a drawing. The symbolic mode refers to the
ability of the individual to express herself through the use of a complex symbol system,
such as language.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

In 1983 American psychologist Howard Gardner proposed a theory that sought to

broaden the traditional definition of intelligence. He felt that the concept of intelligence,
as it had been defined by mental tests, did not capture all of the ways humans can
excel. Gardner argued that we do not have one underlying general intelligence, but
instead have multiple intelligences, each part of an independent system in the brain.

In formulating his theory, Gardner placed less emphasis on explaining the results
of mental tests than on accounting for the range of human abilities that exist across
cultures. He drew on diverse sources of evidence to determine the number of
intelligences in his theory. For example, he examined studies of brain-damaged people
who had lost one’s ability, such as spatial thinking, but retained another, such as
language. The fact that two abilities could operate independently of one another
suggested the existence of separate intelligences.

The eight intelligences Gardner has defined are:

1. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
2. Linguistic Intelligence
3. Spatial Intelligence
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
5. Musical Intelligence
6. Interpersonal Intelligence
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence
8. Naturalist Intelligence

Gardner’s theory found rapid acceptance among educators because it suggests

a wider goal than traditional education has adopted. The theory implies that traditional
school training may neglect a large portion of human abilities, and that students
considered slow by conventional academic measures might excel in other respects. A
number of schools have formed with curriculums designed to assess and develop
students’ abilities in all of the intelligences Gardner identified.

Critics of the multiple intelligences theory have several objections. First, they
argue that Gardner based his idea more on reasoning and intuition than empirical
studies. They note that there are no tests available to identify or measure the specific
intelligences and that the theory largely ignores decades of research that show a
tendency for different abilities to correlate-evidence of a general intelligence factor. In
addition, critics argue that some of the intelligences Gardner identified, such as musical
intelligence and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, should be regarded simply as talents
because they are not usually required to adapt to life demands.

Constructivism

The theory of constructivism is philosophical in nature. The idea is that the world
is interpreted and constructed internally by each of us. Our individual constructions will
by definition be different from one another. Therefore we will reach have a unique
understanding that we have individually constructed. Reality for each of us is slightly
different and built on our own perceptions and experiences, not on objectivity.

Constructivism in Education

This idea in education has been translated into teaching principles and
techniques that can be combined to facilitate the naturally occurring constructive
process.

Learning by Observation

People learn much of what they know simply by observing others. Here a child
learns to use a lawnmower by observing his father’s behavior and imitating it with a toy
lawnmower.

Although classical and operant conditioning is important types of learning, people

learn a large portion of what they know through observation. Learning by observation
differs from classical and operant conditioning because it does not require direct
personal experience with stimuli, reinforcers, or punishers. Learning by observation
involves simply watching the behavior of another person, called a model, and later
imitating the model’s behavior. Both children and adults learn a great deal through
observation and imitation. Young children learn language, social skills, habits, fears,
and many other everyday behaviors by observing their parents and older children. Many
people learn academic, athletic, and musical skills by observing and then imitating a
teacher. According to Canadian-American psychologist Albert Bandura, a pioneer in
the study of observational learning, this type of learning plays an important role in a
child’s personality development. Bandura found evidence that children learn traits such
as industriousness, honesty, self-control, aggressiveness, and impulsiveness in part by
imitating parent, other family members, and friends.

Factors Affecting Imitation

Many factors determine whether or not a person will imitate a model. As already
shown, children are more likely to imitate a model when the model’s behavior has been
reinforced than when it has been punished. More important, however, are the expected
consequences to the learner. A person will imitate a punished behavior if he or she
thinks that imitation will produce some type of reinforcement.

The characteristics of the model also influence the likelihood of imitation. Studies
have shown that children are more likely to imitate adults who are pleasant and
attentive to them than those who are not. In addition, children more often imitate adults
who have substantial influence over their lives, such as parents and teachers, and those
who seem admired and successful, such as celebrities and athletes. Both children and
adults are more likely to imitate models that are similar to them in sex, age, and
background. For this reason, when behavior therapists use modeling to teach new
behaviors or skills, they try to use models that are similar to the learners.

Influence of Television

In modern society, television provides many powerful models for children and
abundant opportunities for observational learning. Many parents are concerned about
the behaviors their children can observe on TV. Many television programs include
depictions of sex, violence, drug and alcohol use, and vulgar language – behaviors that
most parents do not want their children to imitate. Studies have found that by early
adolescence, the average American child has watches thousands of dramatized
murders and countless other acts of violence on television.

For many years, psychologists have debated the question of whether watching
violence on television has detrimental effects on children. A number of experiments,
both inside and outside laboratory, have found evidence is inconclusive. Most
psychologists now believe, however, that watching violence on television can
sometimes lead to increased aggressiveness in children.

The effects of television on children’s behaviors are not all negative. Educational
programs give children the opportunity to learn letters of the alphabet, words, numbers,
and social skills. Such programs also show people who solve problems and resolve
differences through cooperation and discussion rather than through aggression and
hostility.

Factors that Influence Learning Ability

 A variety of factors determine an individual’s ability to learn and the speed of
learning. For important factors are the individual’s age, motivation, prior experience, and
intelligence. In addition, certain developmental and learning disorders can impair a
person’s ability to learn.

Age

Animals and people of all ages are capable of the most common types of
learning-habituation, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning. As children grow,
they become capable of learning more and more sophisticated types of information.
Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget theorized that children go through four
different stages of cognitive development. In the sensorimotor stage (from birth to about
2 years of age), infants use their senses to learn about their bodies and about objects in
their immediate environments. In the preoperational stage (about 2 to 7 years of age),
children can think about objects and events that are not present, but their thinking is
primitive and self-centered, and they have difficulty seeing the world from another
person’s point of view. In the concrete operational stage (about 7 to 11 years of age),
children learn general rules about the physical world, such as the fact that the amount of
water remains the same if it is poured between containers of different shapes. Finally, in
the formal operational stage (ages 11 and up), children become capable of logical and
abstract thinking.

Adults continue to learn new knowledge and skills throughout their lives. For
example, most adults can successfully learn a foreign language, although children
usually can achieve fluency more easily. If older adults remain healthy, their learning
ability generally does not decline with age. Age-related illnesses that involve a
deterioration of mental functioning, such as Alzheimer’s disease, can severely reduce a
person’s ability to learn.

Motivation

Learning is usually most efficient and rapid when the learner is motivated and
attentive. Behavioral studies with both animals and people have shown that one
effective way to maintain the learner’s motivation is to deliver strong and immediate
reinforcers for correct responses. However, other research has indicated that very high
levels of motivation are not ideal. Psychologists believe an intermediate level of
motivation is best for many learning tasks. If a person’s level of motivation is too low, he
or she may give up quickly. At the other extreme, a very high level of motivation may
cause such stress and distraction that the learner cannot focus on the task.

Prior Experience

How well a person learns a new task may depend heavily on the person’s
previous experience with similar tasks. Just as a response can transfer from one
stimulus to another through the process of generalization, people can learn new
behaviors more quickly if the behaviors are similar to those they can already perform.
This phenomenon is called positive transfer. Someone who has learned to drive one
car, for example, will be able to drive other cars, even though the feel and handling of
the cars will differ. In cases of negative transfer, however, a person’s prior experience
can interfere with learning something new. For instance, after memorizing one shopping
list, it may be more difficult to memorize a different shopping list.

Intelligence

Psychologists have long known that people differ individually in their level of
intelligence, and thus in their ability to learn and understand. Scientists have engaged in
heated debates about the definition and nature of intelligence. In the 1980s American
psychologist Howard Gardner proposed that there are many different forms of
intelligence, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and interpersonal
intelligence. A person may easily learn skills in some categories but have difficulty
learning in others.

Learning and Developmental Disorders

A variety of disorders can interfere with a person’s ability to learn new skills and
behaviors. Learning and developmental disorders usually first appear in childhood and
often persist into adulthood. Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
may not be able to sit along enough to focus on specific tasks. Children with autism
typically have difficulty speaking, understanding language, and interacting with people.
People with mental retardation, characterized primarily by very low intelligence, may
have trouble mastering basic living tasks and academic skills. Children with learning or
developmental disorders often receive special education tailored to their individual
needs and abilities.

Conditions Affecting Learning

The conditions that affect learning are as follows:

1. Learning will be most effective when the learning situations are related to life as
realistically as possible.

2. Learning will be most effective when the learner gains confidence in his ability
and also acquires favorable attitudes and good work habits.
 3. Learning will be most effective when the environment contributes positively to the
learning situation.

4. Learning will be most effective when the learning experiences help the learner
gain an insight through practical use of the relationship with which he is having
experiences.

5. Learning situations will be most effective when they are adapted to the needs,
capacities, and interests of learners.

6. Learning will be most effective when the learners feel the need for the
experiences and outcomes.

7. Learning will be most effective when the students are free from emotional
tensions.

8. Learning experiences will be most effective when the students are free from
emotional tensions.

9. Learning will be most effective in situations that provide satisfactorily for student
participation in planning and learning.

Major Considerations in Curriculum Development

Two major considerations in curriculum development are: the process of

learning and the nature of the learner. Several of these generally accepted principles
centered around the student: Students will differ in important ways no matter how they
are grouped, and there will be “loners.” A student’s personal history can be either a
help or a hindrance to learning, depending on the teacher involved. Students
experience success when the tasks and materials are meaningful. Although the tasks
themselves should not be too easy or too difficult, students without specific motivation
will learn only as much as they think is needed; therefore it is wise to challenge students
because under challenging conditions, students are more inclined to try and solve
problems. Students will have more success when they routinely set realistic goals for
themselves and are involved in selecting and planning activities. In fact, although active
participation is well documented as a key to learning, conceptual learning is
strengthened when it is presented in several different situations and then applied by
students to other situations. This transfer of learning will take place more readily if the
learner discovers the transfer and application for himself or herself. Finally, students will
learn more efficiently when they work with peers and ask questions.

Other basic principles of learning are focused on content and how it is presented:
No one subject in school is significantly better at building mental strength than the
others. Information that fits the learner’s existing attitudes will be more easily
remembered than information that doest not fit the learner’s existing attitudes. Retention
is enhanced with repetitive practice when this practice is spaced out over a long time.
Finally, positive and constructive feedback is valuable to all learners.

Even when teachers understand and apply these learning principles, they will still
have to come to terms with certain other realities imbedded in an honest appraisal of
the learning process. For example, some students simply cannot read, write, and
calculate at a socially acceptable level, no matter what approaches to learning and
instruction are attempted. The next step, then, is to accept the responsibility for
providing educative and productive learning experiences for these students so they can
participate constructively in their schools and communities. The challenge that this and
other realities pose to those who design curriculum is clear.

Another example is found in motivation. It is suggests that goal setting is central

to helping students become motivated and that students who regularly practice setting
realistic goals for themselves are more motivated to learn. Where this student-directed
goal setting exists, curricula are appropriate for all learners.

A final important principle of learning that relates to curriculum development is

related to conceptual development. Basically, students will learn any fact or skill much
more successfully in context than in isolation. That is, any new information must
somehow be seen by the learner as a part of a larger, more continuous whole, whether
it is using basic multiplication facts in determining costs of grocery items or
remembering the dates of the Civil War to get a deeper perspective on the economy of
the antebellum southern United States.

Because the nature of the learner is all too often ignored in the curriculum
planning process, the result is typically a pervasive sense of academic dread,
frustration, and failure for many learners. For student-centered curriculum and subject-
centered curriculum, and it is unlikely that either type will totally dominate curriculum
development. Regardless, it is hard to deny that there is an enormous amount of data
on any individual learner that should be known and considered in collaboratively
developing curriculum.

Table 1. Important Learner Data

vision hearing
motor skills handedness
verbal expressive language nonverbal expressive language
listening vocabulary reading vocabulary
stress responses social skills
emotional functioning fears
talents likes and dislikes
academic achievement personality type
interests favorites
memories nutritional needs
 learning modalities/styles best friends
family customs family characteristics

Furthermore, it is far more productive to identify and plan for specific individual
learner characteristics than it is to label learners based on a single characteristics.
Instead of planning for the learning disabled, the culturally different, or the gifted
student, educators must plan for the individual learner based on everything that the
learner brings to the classroom. This type of planning is enhanced when educators
collaborate.

Besides examining data on individual learners, it is critical for educators who are
involved in curriculum development to keep a current list of developmental
characteristics close at hand so that they are never inclined to drift away from a
curriculum appropriate for the developmental profiles of the students they are planning
for at that particular time. In fact, it is quite appropriate to plan curriculum needs directly
from these developmental characteristics.

In the process of planning a curriculum, educators should be aware of

several changes in the overall population of students. Compared to students from a
few generations ago, today’s students are bigger and healthier, enter puberty earlier,
and are exposed to far more information via television and the rest of the technological
explosion than any preceding generation. Adult authority has, in many cases, become
capricious, and many younger children are being left at home alone; children appear
more and more confused about what is and is not acceptable in people’s relationships
with each other. The implications for those involved in curriculum development are not
as simple in this case. It is clear, however, that all families can help make school
curriculum more meaningful for learners, and that one of the very clear needs among
today’s learners is a need for consistent, challenging expectations, both academically
and socially.

SUMMARY

Sound curriculum development can be effected only from a sound psychology of

learning.

Learning is an acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new

behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but
much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, and people continue to learn
throughout their lives.

There are seven major theories of learning presented in this module; 1)

Associationism; 2) Behaviorism; 3) Social Interaction; 4) Cognitive Development; 5)
Multiple Intelligences; 6) Constructivism; and 7) Learning by Observation.
 Associationism. The associationists believed that ideas become more closely
associated with one another through experience, and that this associative bond
constituted learning. Behaviorism. The idea of behaviorism was developed in the early
part of the 20th century. Behaviorism builds on the work of the Associationist by way of
conditioned responses. Skinner contributed “Operant Behavior”, a form of learning
that takes place when an instance of spontaneous behavior is either reinforced by a
reward or discouraged by punishment. Skinner identified a number of basic principles of
operant conditioning that explain how people learn new behaviors or change existing
behaviors. The main principles are reinforcement, punishment, shaping, extinction,
discrimination, and generalization. Operant conditioning techniques have practical
applications in many areas of human life. Parents who understand the basic principles
of operant conditioning can reinforce their children’s appropriate behaviors and punish
inappropriate ones, and they can use generalization and discrimination techniques to
teach which behaviors are appropriate in particular situations. In the classroom, many
teachers reinforce good academic performance with small rewards or privileges. Social
Interaction. The social-interactionists believe that history and culture play a prime role
in learning and that language is key to the development of higher ordered thinking skills.
Cognitive Development. Piaget believed that a child must pass through each stage of
cognitive development before he could understand certain ideas. This notion was in
direct contrast to Vygotsky’s idea of the Zone of Proximal Development and the role of a
teacher or guide in helping the child to develop mentally. The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. According to Gardner, there are 8 distinct intelligences that an individual
may possess. They include linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligence. Gardner’s theory found rapid acceptance
among educators because it suggests a wider goal than traditional education has
adopted. The theory implies that traditional school training may neglect a large portion
of human abilities, and that students considered slow by conventional academic
measures might excel in other respects. A number of schools have formed with
curriculums designed to assess and develop students’ abilities in all of the
intelligences Gardner identified. Constructivism. The theory of constructivism is
philosophical in nature. The idea is that the world is interpreted and constructed
internally by each of us. Our individual constructions will by definition be different from
one another. Therefore we will each have a unique understanding that we have
individually constructed. Reality for each of us is slightly different and built on our own
perceptions and experiences, not on objectivity. Learning by Observation. Although
classical and operant conditionings are important types of learning, people learn a large
portion of what they know through observation. Learning by observation differs from
classical and operant conditioning because it does not require personal experience with
stimuli, reinforcers, or punishers. Learning by observation involves simply watching the
behavior of another person, called a model, and later imitating the model’s behavior.
According to Canadian-American psychologist Albert Bandura, a pioneer in the study
of observational learning, this type of learning plays an important role in a child’s
personality development. Bandura found evidence that children learn traits such as
industriousness, honesty, self-control, aggressiveness, and impulsiveness in part by
imitating parents, other family members, and friends.
 Factors that Influences Learning Ability. A variety of factors determine an
individual’s ability to learn and the speed of learning. Four important factors are the
individual’s age, motivation, prior experience, and intelligence. In addition, certain
developmental and learning disorders can impair a person’s ability to learn.

Major Considerations in Curriculum Development. Two major considerations

in curriculum development are the process of learning and the nature of the learner.

Because the nature of the learner is all too often ignored in the curriculum
planning process, the result is typically a pervasive sense of academic dread,
frustration, and failure for many learners. For student-centered curriculum and subject-
centered curriculum, and it is unlikely that either type with totally dominate curriculum
development. Regardless, it is hard to deny that there is an enormous amount of data
on any individual learner that should be known and considered in collaboratively
developing curriculum.

Questions to Answer

1. How does psychological foundation of education influence curriculum

making?
2. Differentiate the different learning theories discussed in this module?
3. Which learning theory is/are applicable in the elementary curriculum today?
Why?