Psychological Foundations
of Curriculum Kevin Thompson
Focusing Questions
1. In what ways do psychological foundations enable curriculum
workers (teachers, supervisors, and curriculum developers) to
perform their educational responsibilities?
2. How would you compare the three major theoretical schools of
learning?
3. How has the view of multiple intelligences influenced the field of
curriculum? How might this concept of intelligence influence the
field in the future?
4. How does constructivism incorporate the most recent views of
learning?
Focusing Questions (cont’d)
1. How should the concept of learning styles influence the thinking
of those responsible for curriculum development and delivery?
2. How should an educator use the information about various types
of thinking?
3. How would you define humanistic learning in schools?
4. In what ways can addressing emotional intelligence be justified in
the curriculum?
What is Psychology?
• the scientific study of the mind and behaviour
• It is concerned with the question of how people
learn
• Question: Why should a curriculum developer
have knowledge about the psychology of
learning?
Psychology of Learning
Psychology theories provide insight into understanding
the teaching and learning process:
What is learning?
Why do learners respond as they do to teachers’ efforts?
What impact does the school and culture have on
students learning?
Psychology of Learning (cont’d)
Psychology theories provide principles and direction
for curriculum developer:
How should curriculum be organized to enhance
learning?
What is the optimal level of student participation in
learning the curriculums various contents?
Contrasts of the three Major Theories
Behaviorism.
Learning tends to focus on conditioning or modifying behavior through
reinforcement and rewards.
Cognitive Psychology
Learning process focuses on student’s developmental stages, multiple
forms of intelligence, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.
Phenomenology and Humanism
Learning deals with the learner’s needs, attitudes and feelings.
Behaviorism
Main Theorists:
1.Thorndike – Connectionism
2.Pavlov (and Watson) – Classical Conditioning
3.Skinner – Operant Conditioning
4.Bandura – Observable Learning and Modeling
5.Gagné – Hierarchical Learning
Edward Thorndike (1874 – 1949)
Father of modern educational psychology & founder of behavioral
psychology
Started his research with animals using stimulus-response (classic
conditioning) and developed the idea of Connectionism.
Connectionism
Defined learning as a connection or association of an increasing
number of habits.
Three Major Laws of Thorndike
1. Law of Readiness
- If nervous system is ready, conduction is satisfying and lack of
conduction is annoying.
2. Law of Exercise
- Justifies drill, repetition and review.
3. Law of Effect
- Justifies use of rewards and punishments, especially Skinner’s
operant model.
Ivan Pavlov (1849- 1936)
Pavlov was the first to demonstrate Classical Conditioning.
He is best known for his experiment with salivating dogs.
It involves - Eliciting an unconditioned response by using previously
neutral stimuli.
Unconditioned stimuli create reflexes that are not “learned,” but are
instinctual.
Neutral and adequate stimuli are introduced at the same time. Adequate
stimulus is gradually removed, and the neutral stimulus elicit the same
reflex.
James Watson
• Watson took Pavlov’s findings to another level.
• Emphasized that learning was observable or measurable, not
cognitive.
• Believed the key to learning was in conditioning a child from an
early age based on Pavlov’s methods.
• Nurture vs. Nature
Watson’s theories strengthened the argument for the influence
of experiences as opposed to genetics.
B.Frederick Skinner
B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential American psychologists.
He began his research with rats at Harvard and pigeons during WWII.
His work led to the development of the Theory of Operant Conditioning.
The idea that behavior is determined or influenced by its
consequence.
Respondent vs. Operant behavior
Respondent behavior is the elicited response tied to a definite
stimulus.
Emphasized the use of positive and negative reinforcement
Albert Bandura
Bandura- bridge/transition
learning is social by observation, modelling, imitation
He showed that aggressive behavior can be learned from
watching adults fighting, violent cartoons or even violent
video games. Passive behavior can also be learned from
watching adults with subdued actions
Robert Gagné (1916 – 2002)
Gagné’s Hierarchy of Learning notes the transition from behaviorism to
cognitive psychology.
The Hierarchy of Learning is an arrangement of 8 behaviors ranging
from simple to complex.
The first 5 behaviors are Behaviorist, the next 2 are both behaviorist and
cognitive and the last (highest form) is cognitive.
The hierarchy suggests a “bottom-up” approach to learning where
general principles/concepts must be learned before advanced
learning can take place.
He also describes 5 observable and measurable learning outcomes
Robert Gagné (1916 – 2002)
1. Intellectual Skills
• “knowing how” to organize and use verbal and
mathematical symbols, concepts and rules to solve a problem.
2. Information
• “knowing what” – knowledge and facts
3. Cognitive Strategies
• “learning strategies” needed to process information
4. Motor skills
• Ability to coordinate movements
5. Attitudes.
• Feelings and emotions developed from positive and negative
experiences.
• Mental operations needed for each outcome differ.
• Gagné’s Instructional Events lead into cognitive psychology.
The Impact on the curriculum
Cognitive Theory
Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952)
What she did:
• Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome- taught
“difficult” children to read at a normal level
• 1906 asked to start a progressive school for slum
children of Italy- Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House)
• Focus on how sensory stimulation from the
environment shapes thinking
Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952)
Focused progressive child- centered approaches
which involved freedom within structure
Opposed behaviorist focus on only “doing” but
focused also on looking and listening • Focus on
how sensory stimulation from the environment
shapes thinking
Formal Jean Piaget
operations
begins
@ 11-15
1896 - 1980
abstract thinker
Concrete operations
(ages 7 to 11)
begins to think abstractly,
needs physical, concrete
examples
Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 4)
Needs concrete interactions (no abstract)
use of symbols (pictures, words) to
communicate
Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 years old)
learning by movement and sensory exploration
Lev Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
•Russian psychologist
•theory of sociocultural development
•Culture requires skilled tool use (language, art, counting
systems)
•The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): distance between a
student’s performance with help and performance
independently.
•learning occurred in this zone
Lev Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
• Learning as a social activity
• Social environment (experiences, skills, knowledge, culture)
influence learning
• Cooperative, collaborative and group investigation allow
students to discuss ideas, beliefs, misconceptions
•Zone of proximal development – difference between what
learners can do on their own and with help of others (experts /peers)
Constructivism
• Some include this as a separate theory, other include it inside of
cognitive theories
• Individual must construct own knowledge - make meaning
• Learner must reshape words - mimicking is not enough.
• Learners must make knowledge personally relevant
• Learning occurs when new information is linked to prior
knowledge, so mental representations are subjective for each
learner • Learning is optimal when there is awareness of the process
- metacognition
Humanism
Learner is seen as a person who has feelings,
attitudes and emotions.
Emotions – feelings, attitudes, self-assurance,
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Emotions can facilitate learning and at the
same time can distract learning
Humanist: Abraham Maslow
Observed humans are striving to control behaviour
and gratify themselves
Proposed “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”
When lower needs are satisfied, they will be more
motivated to go higher level.
Humanist: Carl Rogers
Client- centered therapy (not tell directly what to do
but create atmosphere, sense their taught and
feelings)
Classroom must be learner centered and teachers
should facilitate learning.
Learning Styles
Some uses of psychology in making
decisions about the curriculum
Goals guide the educational thrust of the school,
objectives provide a specific direction in the
selection of experiences to meet students’
educational needs
Expectations of student achievement have been
stated against a background of goals and
objectives
Some uses of psychology in making
decisions about the curriculum cont’d
Learning experiences should be designed to allow
practice of the behaviors that the objective suggests.
Learning experiences should express what the learner
believes he or she is expected to know.
Learning experiences should sometimes be of the self-
activating type. Students need opportunities to
proceed at their own rate through subject matter that
suits them.
Some uses of psychology in making
decisions about the curriculum cont’d
Learning experiences should be fostered, whenever
possible, in intimate face-to-face relationships within
small groups.
Learning experiences should be as varied as the
objectives they represent. There has been too great a
tendency to utilize a few kinds of experiences to
achieve several objectives.
