CLARENDON COLLEGE

Odiong, Roxas, Oriental Mindoro

Course / Course Code Facilitating Learner-Centered Teaching (PEC4)

Lecturer JENNIFER A. SIÑEL
Module No. & Title Module 1: Learner-Centered Psychological Principles
Required Reference Bulusan, F., Raquepo, M., Balmeo, M., Gutierrez, J. Facilitating
Material of the Student Learner-Centered Teaching (2019). Rex Book Store, Inc.

A. Introduction

You, the learner, are the center of instruction. The world of instruction revolves around you. This learning
module is focused on the fourteen (14) principles that run through the following learning modules.

B. Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students shall be able to:

1) explain the fourteen (14) learner-centered psychological principles; and
2) advocate the use of the 14 principles in the teaching-learning process

C. Topics
oCognitive and Metacognition Factors oDevelopmental and Social Factors
oMotivational and Affective Factors oIndividual Differences Factors

D. Learning Activities
oBook Reading: Chapter 1 (pages 2-13)
oGuided Lecture and Group Discussion (Video)

E. Lecture Notes

The following 14 psychological principles pertain to all learners and the learning process. They are best
understood as an organized set of principles; no principle should be viewed in isolation. This is taken from the
principles developed by the American Psychological Association.
The following 14 psychological principles pertain to the learner and the learning process*. They focus on
psychological factors that are primarily internal to and under the control of the learner rather than conditioned
habits or physiological 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 real-world learning situations.
Thus, they are best understood as an organized set of principles; no principle should be viewed in isolation.
The 14 principles are divided into those referring to cognitive and metacognitive, motivational and affective,
developmental and social, and individual difference factors influencing learners and learning. 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 complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of
constructing meaning from information and experience. 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.

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Successful learners are active, goal-directed, self-regulating, and assume personal responsibility for
contributing to their own learning. The principles set forth in this document focus on this type of 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 develop 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 assist 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 for them, by
receiving guided instruction and feedback, and by observing or 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.
Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and instructional
practices. Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers a major interactive role with both 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. Technologies 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.

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 Motivational and Affective Factors

7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning.

What and how much is learned is influenced by the 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
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 thoughts (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 learners' 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 and 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 practices 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. Developmental influences on learning. 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 domains is taken into account. Individuals learn best when material is
appropriate to their developmental level and is presented in an enjoyable and interesting way. Because
individual development varies across intellectual, social, emotional, and physical domains, achievement in
different instructional domains may also vary. Overemphasis on one type of developmental readiness--such as
reading readiness, for example--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 interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others.
Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to interact and to collaborate with others on
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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 self-motivation
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,
through 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 most effective when differences in learners' linguistic, cultural, and 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 stages 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.

F. Assessments
 Ask lecturer for details.

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