Time Frame: 3 hours

Introduction:
In lesson 3, you will discuss the different characteristics of the
philosophers in education and their contributions. Like, Jean Piaget’s
Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a classic in the field of educational
psychology. In connection to this, theory fuels other researches and theories
of development and learning on how individuals construct knowledge.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you will:

• discuss the characteristics of theorist and philosophers;

• discuss the different contributions of theorist and philosophers in
education; and
• reflect the works of the pioneers of education through a reflection
paper

ACTIVITY- Let’s Read These

You may present your own insights/reflection about this picture, in not more
than 5 sentences.

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ANALYSIS – Let’s Analyze The Pictures

1. Based on this presentation, what is your expectation of the pioneers of

education?

Write your observations on the matrix and highlight your stand.

My observations…

ABSTRACTION – Let’s Conceptualize

The Different Contributions of Early Pioneers to Philippines Education

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 Piaget called his general theoretical framework “genetic epistemology”
because he was interested in how knowledge developed in human organisms.
Piaget was initially into biology and he also had a background in philosophy.
Knowledge from both these disciplines influenced his theories and research of child
development. Out of his researches, Piaget came up with the stages of cognitive
development.
Piaget examined the implications of his theory not only to aspects of
recognition but also to intelligence and moral development. His theory has been
applied widely to teaching and curriculum design specially in the preschool and
elementary curricula.
Basic Cognitive Concepts
Schema. Piaget used term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structures by
which individuals intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an
individual’s way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience. It is
like the mind has a filing cabinet and each drawer has folders that contain files of
things he has had an experience with. For instance, if a child sees a dog for the
first time, he creates his own schema of what a dog is. It has four legs and a tail. It
barks. It’s furry. The child then “puts this description of a dog ‘on file’ in his mind.”
When he sees another similar dog, he “pulls” out the file (his schema of a dog) in
his mind, looks at the animal, and says, “four legs, tail, barks, furry…. That’s a
dog!”.
Assimilation. This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing
or previously created structure or schema. If the child sees another dog, this time
a little smaller one, he would make sense of what he is seeing by adding this new
information (a different-looking dog) into his schema of dog.
Accommodation. This is the process of creating a new schema. If the same
child now sees another animal that looks a little bit like a dog, but somehow

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different. He might try to fit it into his schema of a dog, and say, “Look mommy,
what a funny looking dog. Its bark is funny too!” With mommy’s further descriptions,
the child will now create a new schema, that of a goat. He now adds a new file in
his filing cabinet.
Equilibrium. Piaget believed that people have the natural need to
understand how the world works and to find order, structure, and predictability in
their life. Equilibrium is achieving proper balance between assimilation and
accommodation. When our experiences do not match our schemata (plural of
schema) or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium. This
mean there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is understood.
We then exert effort through assimilation and accommodation to establish
equilibrium once more.
Cognitive development involves a continuous effort to adapt to the
environment in terms of assimilation and accommodation. In this sense,
Piaget’s theory is similar in nature to other constructivist perspective of learning
like Bruner and Vygotsky.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Stage 1. Sensori-motor Stage. The first stage corresponds from birth to infancy.
This is the stage when a child who is initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and
reaching becomes more organized in his movement and activity. The term sensori-
motor focuses on the prominence of the senses and muscle movement through
which the infant comes to learn about himself and the world. In working with
children in the sensori-motor stage, teachers should aim to provide a rich and
stimulating environment with appropriate objects to play with.
Object permanence. This is the ability of the child to know that an object
still exists even when out of sight. This ability is attained in the sensory
motor stage.
Stage 2. Pre-Operational Stage. The preoperational stage covers from about two
to seven years old, roughly corresponding to the preschool years. Intelligence at
this stage is intuitive in nature. At this stage, the child can now make mental
representations and is able to pretend, the child is now ever closer to the use of
symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following:
Symbolic Function. This is the ability to represent objects and events.
A symbol is a thing that represents something else. A drawing, a written
word, or a spoken word come to be understood as representing a real
object like a real MRT train. Symbolic function gradually develops in the
period between 2 to 7 years. Riel, a two-year old may pretend that she
is drinking from a glass which is really empty. Though she already
pretends the presence of water, the glass remains to be a glass. At
around four years of age, however, Nico, may, after pretending to drink
from an empty glass, turn the glass into a rocket ship or a telephone. By
the age of 6 or 7 the child can pretend play with objects that exist only in
his mind. Enzo, who is six, can do a whole ninja turtle routine without
any costume nor “props.” Trina, who is seven can pretend to host an
elaborate princess ball only in her mind.
Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of
view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. The
child cannot take the perspective of others. You see this in five-year-old
boy who buys a toy truck for his mother’s birthday; or a three-year-old
girl who cannot understand why her cousins call her daddy “uncle” and
not daddy.

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 Centration. This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one
aspect of a thing or event and exclude other aspects. For example, when
a child is presented with two identical glasses with the same amount of
water, the child will say they have the same amount of water. However,
once water from one of the glasses is transferred to an obviously taller
but narrower glass, the child might
say that there is more water in the taller glass. The child only focused or
“centered” only one aspect of the new glass, that it is a taller glass. The
child was not able to perceive that the new glass is also narrower. The
child only centered on the height of the glass and excluded the width in
determining the amount of water in the glass.
Irreversibility. Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse
their thinking. They can understand that 2 + 3 is 5, but cannot understand
that 5-3 is 2.
Animism. This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits
or characteristics to inanimate objects. When at night, the child is asked,
where the sun is, she will reply, “Mr. Sun is asleep.”
Transductive Reasoning. This refers to the pre-operational child’s type
of reasoning that is neither inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears
to be from particular to particular i.e., if A causes B, then B causes A.
For example, since her mommy comes home every day around six
o’clock in the evening, when asked why it is already night, the child will
say, “because my mom is already home.”
Stage 3. Concrete-Operational Stage. This stage is characterized by the ability
of the child to think logically but only in terms of concrete objects. This covers
approximately the ages between 8-11 hears or the elementary school years. The
concrete operational stage is marked by the following:
Decentering. This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the
different features of objects and situations. No longer is the child focused
or limited to one aspect or dimension. This allows the child to be more
logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations.
Reversibility. During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now
follow that certain operations can be done in reverse. For example, thy
can already comprehend the commutative property of addition, and that
subtraction is the reverse of addition. They can also understand that a
ball of clay shaped into a dinosaur can again be rolled back into a ball of
clay.
Conservation. This is the ability to know that certain properties of
objects like number, mass, volume, or area do not change even if there
is a change in appearance. Because of the development of the child’s
ability of decentering and also reversibility, the concrete operational child
can now judge rightly that the amount of water in a taller but narrower
container is still the same as when the water was in the shorter but wider
glass. The children progress to attain conservation abilities gradually
being a pre-conserver, a transitional thinker and then a conserver.
Seriation. This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series
based on one dimension such as weight, volume or size.
Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage. In the final stage of formal operations
covering ages between 12 and 15 years, thinking becomes more logical. They can
now solve abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is characterized by
the following:

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 Hypothetical Reasoning. This is the ability to come up with different
hypothesis about a problem and to gather and weight data in order to
make a final decision or judgment. This can be done in the absence of
concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “What if” questions.
Analogical Reasoning. This is the ability to perceive the relationship in
one instance and then use that relationship to narrow down possible
answers in another similar situation or problem. The individual in the
formal operations stage can make an analogy. If United Kingdom is to
Europe, then Philippines is to ______. The individual will reason that
since the UK is found in the continent of Europe then the Philippines is
found in what continent? Then Asia is his answer. Through reflective
thought and even in the absence of concrete objects, the individual can
now understand relationships and do analogical reasoning.
Deductive Reasoning. This is the ability to think logically by applying a
general rule to a particular instance or situation. For example, all
countries near the north pole have cold temperatures. Greenland is near
the North Pole. Therefore, Greenland has cold temperature.
From Piaget’s findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the
following principles:
1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at different
stages of cognitive development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or
situations that engage learners and require adaptation (i.e.,
assimilation and accommodation).
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level
of motor or mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking
students to perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive
capabilities.
4. Use teaching methods that actively involve students and present
challenges

Erikson

The Eight Psychosocial Stages of Development

Now, you are ready to go over the eight stages. As you read, enjoy filling up
the concept map we made, found at the beginning of each stage. This will help you
remember the important terms in each stage and how these terms are interrelated.
Use the side margins to write your thoughts about the stage and how they connect
to your own life no and as a future teacher.

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 The Eight Psychosocial Stages of Development:

Stage
Stage One
Psychosocial Crisis
The first stage, infancy, is approximately the first year or year and a half of
life. The crisis is trust vs. mistrust. The goal is to develop trust without completely
eliminating the capacity for mistrust. If the primary caregivers, like the parents can
give the base a sense of familiarity, consistency, and continuity, then the baby will
develop the feeling that the world is a safe place to be, that people are reliable and
loving. If the parents are unreliable and inadequate, if they reject the infant or harm
it, if other interests cause both parents to turn away from the infant’s needs to
satisfy their own instead, then the infant will develop mistrust. He or she will be
apprehensive and suspicious around people.
Maladaptation/Malignancy
Please understand that this doesn’t mean that the parents have to be
perfect. In fact, parents who are overly protective of the child, who are there the
minute the first cry comes out, will lead that child into the maladaptive tendency
which Erikson calls sensory maladjustment: Overly trusting, even gullible, this
person cannot believe anyone would mean them harm, and will use all the
defences at their command to find an explanation or excuse for the person who did
him wrong. Worse, of course, is he child whose balance is tipped way over on the
mistrust side. They will develop the malignant tendency of withdrawal,
characterized by depression, paranoia and possibly psychosis.
Virtue
If the proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the virtue of hope,
the strong belief that, even when things are not going well, they will work out well
in the end. One of the signs that a child is doing well in the first stage is when the
child isn’t overly upset by the need to wait a moment for the satisfaction of his or
her needs: Mod or Dad doesn’t have to be perfect; I trust them enough to believe
that, if they can’t be here immediately, they will be here soon; things may be tough
now, but they will work out. This is the same ability that, in later life, gets us through
disappointments in love, our careers, and many other domains of life.

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Stage 2

Stage 2

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

_______________ _______________ _______________

_ _ _

Virtue

_______________
_

Psychosocial Crisis
The second stage is early childhood, from about eighteen months to three
or four years old. The task is to achieve a degree of autonomy while minimizing
shame and doubt. If mom and dad, or caregiver permits the child, now a toddler,
to explore and manipulate his/her environment, the child will develop a sense of
autonomy or independence. The parents should not discourage the child, but
neither should they push. A balance is required.
People often advise new parents to be “firm but tolerant” at this stage and
the advice is good. The way, the child will develop both self-control and self-
esteem. On the other hand, it is rather easy for the child to develop instead a shame
and doubt. If the parents come down hard on any attempt to explore and be
independent, the child will soon give up with the belief that he/she cannot and
should not act on his/her own. We should keep on mind that even something as
innocent as laughing at the toddler’s effort can lead the child to feel deeply
ashamed and to doubt his or her abilities.
There are other ways to lead children to shame and doubt. If you give children
unrestricted freedom and no sense of limits, or if you try to help children do what
they should learn to do for themselves, you will also give them the impression that
they should learn by themselves, you will also give them the impression that they
are not good for much. If you aren’t patient enough to wait for your child to tie his
or her shoelaces, your child will never learn to tie them, and will assume that this
is too difficult to learn!
Maladaptation/Malignancy
Nevertheless, a little “shame and doubt” is not inevitable, but beneficial.
Without it, you will develop the maladaptive tendency Erikson calls impulsiveness,
a sort of shameless wilfulness that leads you, in later childhood and even
adulthood, to jump into things without proper considerations of your abilities. Worse
of course, is too much shame and doubt, which leads to the malignancy Erickson
calls compulsiveness. The compulsive person feels as if their entire being rides
on everything they do, so everything must be done perfectly.

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 Following all the rules precisely keeps you from mistakes and mistakes must
be avoided at all costs. Many of you know how it feels to always be ashamed and
always doubt yourself. A little more patience and tolerance with your own children
may help them avoid your path. And give yourself a little slack, too!
Virtue
If you get the proper, positive balance of autonomy and shame and doubt,
you will develop the virtue of willpower or determination. One of the most
admirable-and frustrating- things about two- and three-year-olds is their
determination. “Can do” is their motto. If we can preserve that “can do” attitude
(with appropriate modesty to balance it) we are much better off as adults.

Stage 3

Stage 3

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Malignancy

Crisis
_______________ _______________
_ _______________ _

Virtue

_______________
_

Psychosocial Crisis
Stage three is the early childhood stage, from three or four to five or six. The
task is to learn initiative without too much guilt. Initiative means a positive response
to the world’s challenges, taking on responsibilities, learning new skills, feeling
purposeful. Parents can encourage children to try out their ideas. We should accept
and encourage fantasy and curiosity and imagination. This is a time for play, not
for formal education. The child is now capable, as never before, of imagining a
future situation, one that isn’t a reality right now. Initiative is the attempt to make
that non-reality, a reality.
But if children can imagine the future, if they can plan, then they can be
responsible as well, and guilt. If my two-year-old flushes my watch down the toilet,
I can safely assume that there were no “evil intentions”. It was just a matter of a
shiny object going round and round and down. What fun! But if my five-year-old
does the same things… well, she should know what’s going to happen to the watch,
what’s going to happen to Daddy’s temper, and what’s going to happen to her! She
can be guilty of the act and she can begin to feel guilty as well. The capacity for
normal judgment has arrived.
Erickson is, of course, a Freudian, and as such, he includes the Oedipal
experience in this stage. From this perspective, the Oedipal crisis involves the
reluctance a child feels in relinquishing his or her closeness to the opposite sex
parent. A parent has a responsibility, socially, to encourage the child to “grow up –

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you’re not a baby anymore! “But if this process is done too harshly and too abruptly,
the child learns to feel guilty about his or her feelings.

Maladaptation/malignancy
Too much initiative and too little guilt means a maladaptive tendency Erikson
calls ruthlessness. To be ruthless is to be heartless or unfeeling or be “without
mercy”. The ruthless person takes the initiative alright. They have their plans,
whether it’s a matter of school or romance or politics or career. It’s just they don’t
care who they step on to achieve goals. The goals are the only things that matter,
and guilty feelings and mercy are only signs of weakness. The extreme form of
ruthlessness is sociopathy.
Ruthlessness is bad for others, but actually relatively easy on the ruthless
person. Harder on the person is the malignancy of too much guilt, which Erickson
calls inhibition. The inhibited will not try thins because “noting ventured, nothing
lost” and, particularly, nothing to feel guilty about. They are so afraid to start and
take a lead on a project. They fear that if it fails, they will be blamed.
Virtue
A good balance leads to the psychosocial strength of purpose. A sense of
purpose is something many people crave for in their lives, yet many do not realize
that they themselves make their purposes, through imagination and initiative. I
think an even better word for this virtue would have been courage, the capacity for
action despite a clear understanding of your limitations and past failings.

Stage 4
Stage 4

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

________________ ________________ ________________

Virtue

________________

Psychosocial Crisis
Stage four is the school-age stage when the child is from about six to twelve.
The task is to develop a capacity for industry while avoiding an excessive sense of
inferiority. Children must “tame the imagination” and dedicate themselves to
education and to learning the social skills their society requires them. There is a
broader social sphere at work now: The parents and other family members are
joined by teachers and peers and other members of the community at large. They
all contribute. Parents must encourage, teachers must care, peers must accept.
Children must learn that there is pleasure not only in conceiving a plan, but in
carrying it out. They must learn the feeling of success, whether it is in school or in
the playground, academic or social.

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 A good way to tell the difference between a child in the third stage and one
in the fourth stage is to look at the way they play games. Four-years-olds may love
games, but they will have only a vague understanding of the rules; may change
them several times during the course of the game; be very unlikely to actually finish
the games, unless it is by throwing the pieces at their opponents. A seven-year-
old, on the other hand, is dedicated to the rules, considers them pretty much
sacred, and is more likely to get upset if the game is not allowed to come to its
required conclusion.
If the child is allowed too little success, because of harsh teachers or
rejecting peers, for example, then he or she will develop instead a sense of
inferiority or incompetence. Additional sources of inferiority, Erickson mentions, are
racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. If the child believes that success
is related to who you are rather than to how hard you try, then why try?
Maladaptation/ Malignancy
Too much industry leads to the maladaptive tendency called narrow
virtuosity. We see this in children who aren’t allowed to “be children” the ones that
parents or teachers push into the area of competence, without allowing the
development of broader interests. These are the kids without a life: child actors,
child athletes, child musicians, child prodigies of all sorts. We all admire their
industry, but we look a little closer, it’s all that stands in the way of an empty life.
Much more common is the malignancy called inertia. This includes all of us
who suffer from the “inferiority complexes” Alfred Adler talked about. If at first you
don’t succeed, don’t ever try again! Many of us didn’t do well in Mathematics, for
example, so we’d die before we tool another math class. Others were humiliated
instead in the gym class, so we never try out for a sport or play a game of
basketball. Others never developed social skills—the most important skills of all—
and so we never go out in public. We become inert.
Virtue
A happier thing is to develop the right balance of industry and inferiority that
is, mostly industry with just a touch of inferiority to keep us sensibly humble. Then
we have a virtue called competency.

Stage 5
Stage 5

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

________________ ________________ ________________

Virtue

________________

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Psychoanalysis Crisis
Stage five is adolescence, beginning with puberty and ending around 18 –
20 years old. The task during adolescence is to achieve ego identity and avoid
role confusion. It was adolescence that interested Erikson first and most, and the
patterns he saw here were the bases for his thinking about all the other stages.
Ego identity means knowing who you are and how you fit in to the rest of
society. It requires that you take all you’ve learned about life and yourself and mold
it into a unified self-image, one that your community finds meaningful.
There are a number of things that make things easier: First, we should have
a mainstream adult culture that is worthy of the adolescence’s respect, one with
good adult role models and open lines of communication.
Further, society should provide clear rites of passages, certain
accomplishments and ritual that help to distinguish the adult from the child. In
primitive and traditional societies, an adolescence boy may be asked to leave the
village for a period of time. To live on his own, hunt some symbolic animal, seek
an inspirational vision. Boys and girls may be required to go through certain tests
of endurance, symbolic ceremonies, or educational events. IN one way or another,
the distinction between the powerless, but irresponsible, time of childhood and the
powerful and responsible time of adulthood, is made clear.
Without these things, we are likely to see role confusion, meaning uncertain
about one’s place in society and the world. When an adolescent is confronted by
role confusion, Erikson says, he or she is suffering from an identity crisis. In fact, a
common question adolescent in our society ask is a straight-forward question of
identity: Who I am?”
One of Erikson’s suggestion for adolescence in our society is the
psychosocial moratorium. He suggests you take a little “time out”. If you have to
go Europe. If you don’t bum around the Philippines. Quit school and get a job. Quit
your job and go to school. Take a break, smell a rose, get to know yourself. We
tend to want to get to “success” as fast as possible, and yet few of us have ever
taken the time to figure out what success means to us. A little like the young Oglala
Lakota, perhaps we need to dream a little.
There is such a thing as too much “ego identity” where a person is so
involved in a particular role in a particular society or subculture that there is no
room left for tolerance. Erikson calls this maladaptive tendency fanaticism. A
fanatic believes that this is the only way. Adolescents are, of course, known for
their idealism, and for their tendency to see things in black-and-white. These
people will gather others around them and promote their beliefs and life-styles
without regard to others’ rights to disagree.
The lack of identity is perhaps move difficult still, and Erikson refers to the
malignant tendency here as repudiation. To repudiate is to reject. They reject their
membership in the world of adults and, even more, they reject their need for an
identity. Some adolescents prefer to go to groups that go against the norms to form
their identity: religious cults, militaristic organization, group founded on hatred,
groups that have divorced themselves from the painful demands of mainstream
society. They may become involved in destructive activities- drugs, or alcohol- or
they may withdraw into their own psychotic fantasies. After all, being “bad” or being
“nobody” is better than not knowing who you are!
If you successfully negotiate this stage, you will have the virtue Erikson
called fidelity. Fidelity means loyalty, the ability to live by societies standards
despite their imperfections and incompleteness and inconsistencies. We are not
talking about blind loyalty, and we are not talking about accepting the

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imperfections. After all, if you love your community, you will want to see it become
the best it can be. But fidelity means that you have found a place in the community,
a place that will allow you to contribute.

Stage 6
Stage 6

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

________________ ________________ ________________

Virtue

________________

Psychosocial Crisis
If you made it this far, you are in the stage of young adulthood, which lasts
from about 18 to 30. The ages in the adult stages are much fuzzier than in the
childhood stages and people may differ dramatically. The task is to achieve some
degree of intimacy, as opposed to remaining in isolation.
Intimacy is the ability to be close to other, as a lover, a friend, and as a
participant in society. Because you have a clear sense of who you are, you no
longer need to fear “losing” yourself, as many adolescents do. The “fear of
commitment” some people seem to exhibit is an example of immaturity stage.
This fear isn’t always obvious. Many people today are always putting off the
progress of their relationships: I’ll get married as soon as I finish school, as soon
as I have a job, as soon as I have a house as soon as… If you’ve been engaged
for the last ten years, what’s holding you back?
Neither should the young adult need to prove him- or herself anymore. A
teenage relationship is often a matter of trying to establish identity through “couple-
hood”. Who I am? I’m her boyfriend. The young adult relationship should be a
matter of two independent egos wanting to create something larger than
themselves. We intuitively recognize this when we frown on a relationship between
a young adult and a teenager: We see the potential for manipulation of the younger
member of the party by the older.
Maladaptation/ Malignancy
Erikson calls the maladaptive from promiscuity, referring particularly to the
tendency to become intimate too freely, too easily, and without any depth to your
intimacy. This can be true of your relationships with friends and neighbors and your
whole community as well as with lovers.
The malignancy he calls exclusion, which refers to the tendency to isolate
oneself from love, friendship and community and to develop a certain hatefulness
in compensation for one’s loneliness.

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Virtue
If you successfully negotiate this stage, you will instead carry with you for
the rest of your life the virtue of psychosocial strength Erikson calls. love. Love, in
the context of this theory, means being able to put aside differences and
antagonisms through “mutuality and devotion”. It includes not only the love we find
in a good marriage, but the love between friends and the love of one’s neighbour,
co-worker, and compatriot as well.

Stage 7
Stage 7

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

________________ ________________ ________________

Virtue

________________

Psychosocial Crisis
The seventh stage is that of middle adulthood. It is hard to pin a time to it, it
would include the period during which we are actively involved in raising children.
For most people in our society, this would put it somewhere between the middle
twenties and late fifties. The task here is to cultivate the proper balance of
generativity and stagnation.
Generativity is an extension of love into the future. It is a concern for the
next generation and all future generations. As such, it is considerably less ‘selfish”
than the intimacy of the previous stage: Intimacy, the love between lovers and
friends, is a love between equals, and it is necessarily mutual. With generativity,
the individual, like a parent, does not expect to be paid for the love he gives to his
children, at least not as strongly. Few parents expect a “return on their investment”
from their children; If they do, we don’t think of them as very good parents!
Although the majority of people practice generativity by having and raising
children, there are many other ways as well. Erikson considers teaching, writing,
invention, the arts and sciences, social activism and generally contributing to the
welfare of future generations to be generativity as well—anything, in fact that
satisfies that old” need to be needed”. Stagnation, on the other hand, is self-
absorption, caring for no one. The stagnant person stops to be a productive
member of the society.
Maladaptive/ Malignancy
It is perhaps to imagine that we should have any “stagnation” in our lives,
but the maladaptive tendency Erikson calls overextension illustrate the problem:
Some people try to be so generative that they no longer allow times for themselves,
for rest and relaxation. The person who is overextension is no longer contributes

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well. I’m sure we are all know someone who belongs to many clubs, or is devoted
to many causes, or tries to take so many classes or hold so many jobs that they no
longer have time for any of them!
More obvious, of course, is the malignant tendency of rejectivity. Too little
generativity and too much stagnation and you are no longer participating in or
contributing to society. And much of what we call “the meaning of life” is a matter
of how we participate and what we contribute.
This is the stage of the “midlife crisis”. Sometimes men and women take a
look at their lives and ask a that big, bad question “what am I doing all this for?”
Notice the question carefully: Because the focus is on themselves, they ask what,
rather than whom, they are doing for. In their panic at getting older and not having
experienced and accomplished what they imagined they would when they were
younger, they try to recapture their youth. Men are often most flamboyant
examples: They leave their long-suffering wives, quit their humdrums jobs, buy
some “hip” new clothes and start hanging around singles’ bars. Of course, they
seldom find what they are looking for, because they are looking for the wrong thing!

Virtue
If you are successful at this stage, you will have a capacity for caring that
will serve you through the rest of your life.

Stage 8
Stage 8

Too much Too much

Maladaptation Psychosocial Crisis Malignancy

_______________ _______________ _______________

Virtue

_______________
Psychosocial Crisis
This last stage, referred to delicately as late adulthood or maturity, or less
delicately as old stage, begins sometime around retirement, after the kids have
gone, say somewhere around 60. Some older folks will protest and say it only starts
when you feel old and so on, but that’s an effect of our youth-worshipping culture,
which has eve old people avoiding any acknowledgement of age. In Erikson’s
theory, reaching this stage is a good thing, and not reaching it suggests that earlier
problems retarded your development.
The task is to develop ego integrity with a minimal amount of despair. This
stage, seems like the most difficult of all. First, comes a detachment from society,
from a sense of usefulness, for most people in our culture. Some retire from jobs
they’ve held for years; others find their duties as parents coming to a close; most
find that their input is no longer requested or required.
Then there is a sense of biological uselessness, as the body no longer does
everything it used to. Women go through a sometimes longer menopause. Men
often find they can no longer “rise to the occasion”. Then there are illnesses of old

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age, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart problems, concerns about breast and ovarian
and prostate cancers. There come fears about things that one was never afraid of
before- the flu, for example, or just falling down. Along with the illnesses come
concerns of death. Friends die. Relatives die. One’s spouse dies. It is, of course,
certain that you, too, will have your turn. Faced with all this, it might seem like
everyone would feel despair.
In response to this despair, some older people become preoccupied with
the past. After all, that’s where things were better. Some become preoccupied with
their failures, the bad decisions they made, and regret that that they really don’t
have the time or energy to reverse them. We find some older become depressed,
spiteful, paranoid, hypochondriacal, or developing the patterns of senility with or
without physical bases.

Maladaptation /Malignancy
The maladaptive tendency in stage eight is called presumption. This is
what happens when a person “presumes” ego integrity without actually facing the
difficulties of old age. The person in old age believes that he alone is right. He does
not respect the ideas and views of the young. The malignant tendency is called
disdain, by which Erikson means a contempt of life, one’s own or anyone’s. The
person becomes very negative and appears to hate life.
Virtue
Someone who approaches death without fear has the strength Erikson calls
wisdom. He calls it a gift to children, because “healthy children will not fear life if
their elders have integrity enough not to fear death”. He suggests that a person
must be somewhat gifted to be truly wise, but I would like to suggest that you
understand ‘gifted” in as broad a fashion as possible. I have found there are people
of very modest gifts who have taught me a great deal, not by their wise words, but
by their simple and gentle approach to lie and death, by their generosity of spirit”.
Ego integrity means coming to terms with your life, and thereby, coming to
terms with the end of life. If you are able to look back and accept the course of
events, the choices made your life as you lived it; as being necessary, then you
needn’t fear death. Although most of you are yet at this point of life, perhaps you
can still sympathize by considering your life up to now. We’ve all made mistakes,
you wouldn’t be who you are. If you had been very fortunate, or if you had played
it safe and made very few, mistakes, your life would not have been as rich as is.
Stages Psychosocial Maladaptation/Malignancy Virtue
Stages
Infancy Trust vs. Mistrust -overly protection of the child Hope
First year
Goal: To develop Maladaptive tendency: If proper
or year
trust without balance is
and a half Sensory maladjustment
completely achieved
of life Malignant tendency:
eliminating the
capacity after
Withdrawal
mistrust
Characterized by depression,
paranoia, possibly psychosis
Early Shame and doubt Maladaptive tendency: Willpower or
childhood- determinatio
Task: To achieve a “Shame and Doubt “
18 months n
degree of
to 3 or 4 Impulsiveness
autonomy while -proper
years old

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 -a sort of shameless -positive
willfulness balance of
minimizing shame
and doubt

- to jump things without proper “Shame and

consideration of abilities Doubt “
Malignant tendency: - “can do”
motto
Compulsiveness
Persevere
-too much shame and doubt
that” can do”
- a feeling of entirely being rides much better
on the thing to be done off as adults
- everything must be done
perfectly
-mistakes must be avoided at all
cost
Early Task: Maladaptive tendency: Courage
childhood
To learn initiative Ruthlessness -capacity for
stage 3-4
without too much action
to 5 to 6 - too much initiative and little
guilt despite a
years old guilt
clear
Oedipal
-to be heartless or unfeeling understandin
experience
without mercy g of
-crisis that involves limitations
--things that matter and guilt
reluctance and fast
feelings
- one’s feeling of failings
-goal matters
relinquishing
his/her closeness -guilty feeling and mercy are
to the opposite sex only signs of weakness
parent -extreme form of ruthlessness-
sociopathy
Malignant tendency:
Inhibition
-too much guilt
-will not try to things –nothing
ventured, nothing lost, nothing
to be felt guilty
Six to 12- Task: To develop Maladaptive tendency: Competency
years old a capacity for
Narrow Virtuosity To develop
industry while
the right
avoiding -children not allowed to “be
balance of
excessive sense children” – parents push into
industry and
of inferiority one area of competence
inferiority-
“tame the -engages child without life: sensibly
imagination”- Child actors, child musicians, humble
dedicate to child athletes, child prodigies
education and to
learning the social -they are admired, but stands
skills that society an empty life
requires Malignant tendency:
-sense of Inertia
inferiority or

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 incompetence-if - “inferiority complexes”
too little success
“If at first you don’t succeed,
because of harsh
don’t ever try again”
teacher and
rejection from -other don’t develop social skills
peers
-other sources of
inferiority; racism,
sexism, other
forms of
discrimination
18- 20 Task: Maladaptive tendency: Fidelity
years old
To achieve ego Fanaticism -successful
identity and avoid negotiation
-Too much ego identity
role of confusion
- mean
-so, involved in a particular role
-ego identity- loyalty- ability
in a particular society
knowing oneself to live by
and to fit in to the -conduct gathering and promote societies
rest of society their belief and life-styles standards
despite
- requires to take Malignant tendency:
imperfections
of all learning Repudiation and
about life and
-Lack of identity incompletene
oneself
ss,
-have a - to reject membership, need for inconsistenci
mainstream adult identity, es
culture
- found a
place that will
allow
- may become involve in everyone to
-good adult role destructive activities contribute
models
-open lines to
communication
Rites of passage-
should be
provided by the
society
-a certain
accomplishments
and rituals that
help to distinguish
the adult from the
child
Erikson suggests
that
-psychosocial
moratorium –to
take a little “time
out”-
Ex. If you have
money, take a
grand vacation.
Young -much fuzzier Maladaptive tendency: Love
adulthood,

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from 18 to Task: Promiscuity -psychosocial
about 30 strength
To achieve some -To become intimate too freely,
years old
degree of intimacy too easily, and without any -if negotiated
depth to intimacy successfully,
Intimacy- to be
will carry for
close to others
the rest of life
“fear of Malignant tendency:
- being able
commitment”-
Exclusion to put aside
seem to exhibit an
-To isolate oneself to love, difference
example of
and
immaturity friendship, and community
antagonisms
-to develop a certain through
hatefulness in compensation of “mutual of
one’s loneliness devotion”
- love bet.
Friends,
one’s
neighbor, co-
worker, and
compatriot
Middle Task: Maladaptive tendency: If successful,
Adulthood-
To cultivate the Overextension -have the
middle
proper balance of capacity for
twenties -no longer allow time for
generativity and caring that
and the oneself, for rest and relaxation
stagnation will serve
late 50 -no longer contributes well through the
years old -Generativity-
- belongs to so many clubs, rest of life
extension of love
into the future devoted to so many causes, to
take many classes, hold so
-concerns on next
many jobs that no longer have
generation and all
time for any
future generation
Malignant tendency:
- “return of
investment- Rejectivity
parent’s -too little generativity and too
expectation (few) much stagnation
- other ways in -no longer participating in or
practicing contributing to society.
generativity:
writing, teaching, - “midlife crisis”
invention, the arts - sometimes ask that big, bad
and sciences, question ‘what I am doing all
social activism this for?”
Stagnation- self-
absorption, caring
for no-one, stops
to be a productive
member of the
society
Late Task: to develop Maladaptive tendency: Wisdom
adulthood ego integrity with
Presumption -approaches
or maturity a minimal amount
death fear
of despair -When a person” presumes”
Old age,
ego integrity without actually - calls a gift
sometime -most difficult
facing the difficulties of old age to children-
stage
“healthy

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 around -detachment from -believes he is right children will
retirement society not fear if
-does not respect the ideas and
their elder
Around 60 -sense of view of young one
have integrity
uselessness
Malignant tendency: enough not
- sense of fear death”
biological
-some it’s a
uselessness
simple,
Disdain gentle
-means a contempt of life, one’s
own or anyone’s
-some become
preoccupied with -become very negative
approach to
the past -appear to hate life life and death
-some become
“generosity of
depressed,
spirit”
spiteful, paranoid,
hypochondriacal,
develop a pattern
of senility

Lawrence Kohlberg built on Piaget’s work, and set the groundwork for the
present debate in psychology on moral development. Like, Piaget he believed that
children form ways of thinking through their experiences which include
understandings of moral concepts such as justice, rights, equality and human
welfare. Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgment and extended that
ages covered by Piaget, and found out that the process of attaining moral maturity
took longer and occurred slower than Piaget had thought.

If Piaget designed specifics tasks to learn about the cognitive development

of children, Kohlberg utilized moral dilemma. The case you read in the Activity part
of this lesson 1 was based on how Kohlberg wrote his dilemma. Like Piaget, he
presented these dilemmas to individuals in his research and asked for their
responses. He did not aim to judge whether the responses were right or wrong. He
was interested in analysing the moral reasoning behind the responses.

From his research, Kohlberg identified six stages of moral reasoning change
in the socio-moral reasoning or perspective of the person.

Kohlberg

6 Stages of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Level Stage Description
Pre-conventional Level Punishment/Obedience…
Moral reasoning is based • Motivated by fear
on the consequence/result 1 • Act in order to avoid punishment.
of the act, not on the
whether the act itself is
good or bad
Mutual Benefit…
2 • Motivated to act by the benefit that
one may obtain later
Conventional Social Approval…
Moral reasoning is based 3 • Motivated by what others expect in
on the conventions or behavior-good boy, good girl
“norms” of society. This

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 may include approval of •Person acts because he/she values
others, laws and order. how he/she will appear to others.
• Gives importance on what people
will think or say
Post –conventional Law and Order…
Moral reasoning is based • Motivated to act in order to uphold
on enduring or consistent 4 law and order.
principles. It is not just • Follow the law because it is the
recognizing the law, but law
the principles behind the
law

Social Contract…
5 • Laws that are wrong can be
changed
• One will act based on social justice
and the common good.

6 Universal Principles…
• Associated with the development of
one’s conscience
• Having a set of standards that
drives one to possess moral
responsibility to make societal
changes regardless of
consequences to oneself.
• Examples:
Mother Teresa
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Vygotsky

When Vygotsky was a young boy, he was educated under a teacher who
used the Socratic Method. This method was a systematic question and answer
approach that allowed Vygotsky to examine current thinking and practice higher
levels of understanding. This experience, together with his interest in literature and
his work as a teacher, led him to recognize social interaction and language as
two central factors in cognitive development. His theory became known as the
Socio-Cultural Theory of Development.

Piaget and Vygotsky

Vygotsky worked on this theory around the same time as Piaget in between
the 1920’s and 30’s but they had clear differences in their views about cognitive
development. Since Piaget was taken up already in the preceding lesson, it would
be easier now to see how his views compare with Vygotsky’s.

Piaget Vygotsky
More individual in focus More social in focus
Believed that there are universal stages of Did not emphasized on cultural factors in
cognitive development cognitive development
Did not give much emphasis on language Stressed the role of language in cognitive
development

Social Interaction. Piaget’s theory was more individual, while Vygotsky was more
social. Piaget’s work on Piagetian’s tasks focused heavily on how an individual’s
cognitive development became evident through the individual’s own processing of
the tasks. Vygotsky’s on the other hand gave more weight on the social interactions

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that contributed to the cognitive development of individuals. For him, the social
environment or the community tasks on a major role in one’s development.
Vygotsky emphasized that effective learning happens through participation
in social activities, making the social context of learning crucial. Parents, teachers
and other adults in the learner’s environment all contribute to the process. They
explain, model, assist, give directions and provide feedback to the learner. Peers,
on the other hand, cooperate and collaborate and enrich the learning experience.
Cultural Factors. Vygotsky believed in the crucial role that culture played on the
cognitive development of children. Piaget believed that as the child develops and
matures, he goes through universal stages of cognitive development that allows
him to move from simple explorations with senses and muscles to complex
reasoning. Vygotsky, on the other hand, looked into the wide range of experiences
that a culture would give to a child. For instance, one culture’s view about
education, how children are trained early in life all can contribute to the cognitive
development of the child.
Language. Language opens the door for learners to acquire knowledge that others
already have. Learners can use language to know and understand the world and
solve problems. Language serves a social function but it also has an important
function. It helps the learner regulate and reflect on his own thinking. Children talk
to themselves. Observe pre-schoolers play and you may hear, “Gagawin ko itong
airplane (holding a rectangular block), tapos ito ang airport (holding two long
blocks),” for Vygotsky, this “talking-to-oneself” is an indication of the thinking that
goes on in the mind of the child. This will eventually lead to private speech. Private
speech is a form of self-talk that guides the child’s thinking and action.
Vygotsky believed in the essential role of activities in learning. Children learn
best through hands-on activities than when listening passively. Learning by doing
is even made more fruitful when children interact with knowledgeable adults and
peers.
Zone of Proximal Development

When a child attempts to perform a skill alone, she may not be immediately
proficient at it. So, alone she may perform at a certain level of competency. We
refer to this as the zone of actual development. However, with the guidance of a
More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), competent adult or a more advanced peer,
the child can perform at a higher level of competency. The difference between what
the child can accomplish alone and what she can accomplish with the guidance of
another is what Vygotsky referred to as zone of proximal development. The zone
represents a learning opportunity where a knowledgeable adult such as a teacher
or parent or a more advanced peer can assist the child’s development.
The support or assistance that lets the child accomplish a task he cannot
accomplish independently is called scaffolding. Scaffolding is not about doing the
task for the child while he watches. It is not about doing shortcuts for the child.
Unzipping the lunch bag, opening the food containers and putting straw in the
child’s tetra pack juice for him is not scaffolding. Scaffolding should involve the
judicious assistance given by the adult or peer so that the child can move from the
zone of actual to the zone of proximal development. When the adult unzips the
zipper an inch or two, and then holds the lunch bag still so that the child can
continue to unzip the lunch bag is scaffolding. Loosening he food container lid just
a bit and letting the child open the lid himself is scaffolding. Leading the straw to
the hole and letting the child put the straw through the tetra pack hole is scaffolding.
The examples given above show how a right amount of assistance can allow
the child to accomplish the task. The instructor should scaffold in such a way that

81
the gap is bridged between the learner’s current skill levels and the desired skill
level. As learners become more proficient, able to complete tasks on their own that
they could not initially do without assistance, the guidance can be withdrawn. This
is called scaffold and fade-away technique. Scaffolding, when done
appropriately can make a learner confident and eventually he can accomplish the
task without any need for assistance.
When the MKO scaffolds, the process moves in four levels:
1. I do, you watch.
2. I do, you help.
3. You do, I help.
4. You do, I watch.

Learning will depend in the skill of the MKO, and learner’s readiness and
ability to learn and the difficulty of the skill being learned.

Reading Source:
Bilbao, Corpuz, Llagas, and Salandanan (2019). The Teaching Profession Fourth Edition Lorimar
Publishing, Inc. Manila
Corpuz, Lucas, Borado, Lucido, (2018). The Child and Adolescent Learners and Teaching Principles, Lorimar
Publishing House, Inc. Manila

Calderon, J. F. (2010). Foundations of Education. Manila: Rex Printing Company Inc.

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APPLICATION – Let’s Apply

You will now, express the valuable works of our pioneers of education through
writing a reflection paper

Directions: Make Reflection Paper (Font 11, Arial, 1.5 spacing, long bond paper
only)
Kindly follow this format (supported with references/theory/journals)

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL NO.1 (AA2)

(Title)
Submitted by: JUAN DELA CRUZ Date:
Submitted to: NANCY B. GONZALES, ED.D.

I. The three(3) most significant learning I got from the topic are:
a…………,
b………. , and
c………. .
II. Why are these learning significant to me?
III. Give your own insights/reflections on the topic.

The Reflection Paper must start with a I) select a specific topic with three
short conceptual definition, followed by II) give emphasis on your personal
feelings , thoughts about the topic and III) synthesize your concept which is
supported by a theory/ journals/ references. See rubrics for your guidance.
This must be 300 words or more. You can submit this at Gmail using your
official email address or hardcopy (which will be forwarded to any USeP drop-
off point near you. If you opt for this, please inform your instructor after
submission. Contact numbers are in the faculty information part of the syllabus
and course pack).

Closure

Amazing! You just finish Module 1 with three lessons. You now know
different contributions of theorist and philosophers in education and its
concepts. Let us continue our journey!

Module Summary:

Congratulations! You learned in this module 1 the Historical Foundation of

Education, Historical Foundation of Philippine Education and Different Pioneers in
Education. Let’s move on to the next module.

Module Assessment:

You will do your e-report presentation in this module.

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Directions: In writing your e-report (Font 11, Arial, 1.5 spacing, long bond paper
only) kindly follow this format. (supported with
references/theory/journals)

Title of your E-report (LE1)

(Title)
Submitted by: JUAN DELA CRUZ Date:
Submitted to: NANCY B. GONZALES, ED.D.

The E-report is compose of word copy and power point. You must start
with a I) select a specific lesson, with a brief definition, followed by II) give
significance /relevance on your personal thoughts experiences and feelings
about the lesson and III) synthesize your concept which is supported by a
theory/ journals/ references. See rubrics for your guidance.
You can submit this at Gmail using your official email address or hardcopy
(which will be forwarded to any USeP drop-off point near you. If you opt for this,
please inform your instructor after submission. Contact numbers are in the
faculty information part of the syllabus and course pack).

84