STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO.

Module 2 – Learner-Centered Psychological Principles (LCP)

You, the learner, are the center of instruction. The world of instruction revolves around you. This module is focused
on the fourteen (14) principles that run through the twenty-five (25) modules of this book.

In this Module, challenge yourself to attain the following learning outcomes: - explain the 14 principles. - advocate
the use of the 14 principles in the teaching-learning process.

Activity

Do this activity before you can read about the.

1. Examine the title, “Learner-Centered Psychological Principles”. Quickly jot down at least 10 words that come to
your mind.
2. Go back to each word and write phrases about what you think the word can be associated with LCP
Abstraction/Generalization
LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES
The Learner-Centered Psychological Principles were put together by the American Psychological Association. The
following 14 psychological principles pertain to the learner and the learning process. The 14 principles have the
following aspects:
- They focused on psychological factors that are primarily internal to and under the control of the learner rather than
conditions habits or psychological factors. However, the principles also attempt to acknowledge external
environment or contextual factors that interact with these internal factors
- The principles are intended to deal holistically with learners in the context of realworld learning situations. Thus,
they are best understood as an o-
- The 14 principles are divided into those referring to (1) cognitive and metacognitive, (2) motivational and affective,
(3) developmental and social, and (4) individual differences factors influencing learners and learning.rganized set of
principles; no principle should be viewed in isolation.
- Finally, the principles are intended to apply to all learners – from children, to teachers, to administrators, to
parents, and to community members involved in our educational system
Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors
1. Nature of the learning process
The learning of a complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of constructing
meaning from information and experiences
- There are different types of learning processes: for example, habit formation in motor learning and learning
that involves the generation of knowledge or cognitive skills and learning strategies
- Learning in schools emphasizes the use of intentional processes that students can use to construct meaning
from information, experiences, and their own thoughts and beliefs
- Successful learners are active, goal-directed, self-regulating and assume personal responsibility for contributing
in their own learning.
2. Goals of the learning process
The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful,
coherent representations of knowledge
- The strategic nature of learning requires students to be goal-directed
- To construct useful representations of knowledge and to acquire the thinking and learning strategies
necessary for continued learning success across the life span, students must generate and pursue personally relevant
goals. Initially, students’ short-term goals and learning may be sketchy in an area, but over time their understanding
can be refined by filling gaps, resolving inconsistencies, and deepening their understanding of the subject matter so
that they can reach longer-term goals.
- Educators can assist learners in creating meaningful learning goals that are consistent with both personal
and educational aspirations and interests.
3. Construction of knowledge
The successful learner, can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways
- Knowledge widens and deepens as students continue to build links between new information and experiences and
their existing knowledge base. The nature of these links can take a variety of forms, such as adding to, modifying, or
reorganizing existing knowledge or skills. How these links are made or developed may vary in different subject areas,
and among students with varying talents, interests, and abilities. However, unless new knowledge becomes
integrated with the learner’s prior knowledge and understanding, this new knowledge remains isolated, cannot be
used most effectively in new tasks, and does not transfer readily to new situations
- Educators can assists learners in acquiring and integrating knowledge by a number of strategies that have been
shown to be effective with learners of varying abilities, such as concept mapping and thematic organization or
categorizing.
4. Strategic thinking
The successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve complex
learning goals.
- Successful learners use strategic thinking in their approach to learning, reasoning, problem solving and concept
learning.
- They understand and can use a variety of strategies to help them reach learning and performance goals, and to
apply their knowledge in novel situations
- They also continue to expand their repertoire of strategies by reflecting on the methods they use to see which work
well with them, by receiving guided instruction and feedback, and by observing and interacting with appropriate
models.
- Learning outcomes can be enhanced if educators assist learners in developing, applying and assessing their
strategic learning skills.
5. Thinking about thinking
Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative and critical thinking.
- Successful learners can reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable learning or performance goals, select
potentially appropriate learning strategies or methods, and monitor their progress toward these goals.
- In addition, successful learners know what to do if a problem occurs or if they are not making sufficient or timely
progress toward a goal. They can generate alternative methods to reach their goal (or reassess the appropriateness
and utility of the goal.
- Instructional methods that focus on helping learners develop these higher order (metacognitive) strategies can
enhance student learning and personal responsibility for learning.
6. Context of learning
ontext of learning Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology and instructional
practices.
- Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers play a major interactive role with the learner and the learning
environment.
- Cultural or group influences on students can impact many educationally relevant variables, such as motivation,
orientation toward learning and ways of thinking
- Technologists and instructional practices must be appropriate for learners; level of prior knowledge, cognitive
abilities and their learning and thinking strategies
- The classroom environment, particularly the degree to which it is nurturing or not, can also have significant impacts
on student learning.
Motivational and Affective Factor
7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning
What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner’s motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn, is influenced
by the individual’s emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking.
- The rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals and expectations for success or failure can enhance or interfere
with the learner’s quality of thinking and information processing.
- Students’ beliefs about themselves as learners and the nature of learning have a marked influence on motivation.
Motivational and emotional factors also influence both the quality of thinking and information processing as well as
an individual’s motivation to learn
- Positive emotions, such as curiosity, generally enhance motivation and facilitate learning and performance. Mild
anxiety can also enhance learning and performance by focusing the learner’s attention on a particular task. However,
intense negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, panic, rage, insecurity) and related thou8ghts (e.g., worrying about
competence, ruminating about failure, fearing punishment, ridicule, or stigmatizing labels) generally detract from
motivation, interfere with learning, and contribute to low performance.
8. Intrinsic motivation to learn
The learner’s creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic
motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for
personal choice and control.
- Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major indicators of the learner’s intrinsic motivation to
learn, which is in large part a function of meeting basic needs to be competent and to exercise personal control.
- Intrinsic motivation is facilitated on tasks that learners perceive as interesting personally relevant and meaningful,
appropriate in complexity and difficulty to the learners’ abilities, and on which they believe they can succeed
- Intrinsic motivation is also facilitated on tasks that are comparable to real-world situations and meet needs for
choice and control.
- Educators can encourage and support learners’ natural curiosity and motivation to learn by attending to individual
differences in learners’ perceptions of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevance, and personal choice and control.
9. Effects of motivation on effort
Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided practice. Without learners’
motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion
- Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The acquisition of complex knowledge and skills demands
the investment of considerable learner energy and strategic effort, along with persistence over time.
- Educators need to be concerned with facilitating motivation by strategies that enhance learner effort and
commitment to learning and to achieving high standards of comprehension and understanding.
- Effective strategies include purposeful learning activities, guided by practice that enhance positive emotions and
intrinsic motivation to learn, and methods that increase learners’ perceptions that a task is interesting and
personally relevant.
Developmental and Social Factors
10. Effects of motivation on effort
As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when
differential development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional and social domain is taken into account
- Individuals learn best when material is appropriate to their developmental level and is presented in a enjoyable and
interesting way.
- Because individual development varies across intellectual, social, emotional and physical domains, achievement
instruction in different instructional domains may also vary
- Overemphasis on one type of developmental readiness – such as reading readiness – may preclude learners from
demonstrating that they are more capable in other areas of performance.
- The cognitive, emotional and social development of individual learners and how they interpret life experiences are
affected by prior schooling, home, culture and community factors
- Early and continuing parental involvement in schooling, and the quality of language interactions and two-way
communications between adults and children can influence these developmental areas
- Awareness and understanding of developmental differences among children with and without emotional, physical
or intellectual disabilities, can facilitate the creation of optimal learning contexts
11. Social influences on learning
Learning is influenced by social interaction, interpersonal relations and communication with others.
- Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to interact and to collaborate with others on
instructional tasks
- Learning settings that allow for social interactions and that respect diversity encourage flexible thinking and social
competence
- In interactive and collaborative instructional contexts, individuals have an opportunity for perspective taking and
reflective thinking that may lead to higher levels of cognitive, social and moral development, as well as self-esteem
- Quality personal relationships that provide stability, trust and caring can increase learners’ sense of belonging, self-
respect and self-acceptance, and provide a positive climate for learning.
- Family influences, positive interpersonal support and instruction in selfmotivation strategies can offset factors that
interfere with optimal learning such as negative beliefs about competence in a particular subject, high levels of test
anxiety, negative sex role expectations, and undue pressure to perform well.
- Positive learning climates can also help to establish the context for healthier levels of thinking, feeling and
behaving. Such contexts help learners feel safe to share ideas, actively participate in the learning process, and create
a learning community
Individual Differences Factors
12. Individual differences in learning
Learners have different strategies, approaches and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience
and heredity.

- Individuals are born with and develop their own capabilities and talents
- In addition, though learning and social acculturation, they have acquired their own preferences for how they like to
learn and the pace at which they learn. However, these preferences are not always useful in helping learners reach
their learning goals
- Educators need to help students examine their learning preferences and expand or modify them, if necessary
- The interaction between learner differences and curricular and environmental conditions is another key factor
affecting learning outcomes.
- Educators need to be sensitive to individual differences, in general. They also need to attend to learner perceptions
of the degree to which these differences are accepted and adapted to by varying instructional methods and
materials.
13. Learning and diversity
Learning is more effective when differences in learners’ linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds are taken into
account
social backgrounds are taken into account. - The same basic principles of learning. Motivation and effective
instruction apply to all learners. However, language, ethnicity, race, beliefs and socioeconomic status all can
influence learning. Careful attention to these factors in the instructional setting enhances the possibilities for
designing and implementing appropriate learning environments.
- When learners perceive that their individual differences in abilities, backgrounds, cultures and experiences are
valued, respected and accommodated in learning tasks and contexts, levels of motivation and achievement are
enhanced.
14. Standards and assessment
Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner as well as learning progress –
including diagnostic process and outcome assessment – are integral parts of the learning process.
- Assessment provides important information to both the learner and teacher at all ages of the learning process.
- Effective learning takes place when learners feel challenged to work towards appropriately high goals; therefore,
appraisal of the learner’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, as well as current knowledge and skills, is important
for the selection of instructional materials of an optimal degree of difficulty
- Ongoing assessment of the learner’s understanding of the curricular material can provide valuable feedback to
both learners and teachers about progress toward the learning goals
- Standardized assessment of learner progress and outcomes assessment provides one type of information about
achievement levels both within and across individuals that can inform various types of programmatic decisions.
- Performance assessments can provide other sources of information about the attainment of learning outcomes.
- Self-assessments of learning progress can also improve students’ self-appraisal skills and enhance motivation and
self-directed learning.
Alexander and Murphy gave a summary of the 14 principles and distilled them into five areas:
1. The knowledge base. One’s existing knowledge serves as the foundation of all future learning. The learner’s
previous knowledge will influence new learning specifically on how he represents new information, makes
associations and filters new experiences.
2. Strategic processing and control. Learners can develop skills to reflect and regulate their thoughts and
behaviors in order to learn more effectively (metacognition).
3. Motivation and affect. Factors such as intrinsic motivation (from within), reasons for wanting to learn,
personal goals and enjoyment of learning tasks all have a crucial role in the learning process
4. Development and individual differences. Learning is a unique journey for each person because each learner
has his own unique combination of genetic and environmental factors that influence him
5. Situation or context. Learning happens in the context of a society as well as within an individual

Assessment Task/s
1. Describe what you can do to advocate the use of the 14 Learning-Centered Psychological Principles.
2. A 3-minute speech