Name of theory Focus of Theory Presentations of Facts

and its proponent

Piaget’s Stages of Focused in how The Basic Cognitive Concepts under this
Cognitive knowledge developed theory are:
Development in human organisms. Schema this refers to the cognitive
-by Jean Piaget structures by which individuals
intellectually adapt and organize their
environment.
Assimilation or the process of fitting a
new experience into an existing or
previously created cognitive structure or
schema.
Accommodation or the process of
creating new schema.
Equilibration or how people understand
the world works and to find order,
structure, and predictability in their life.

The three Stages of Cognitive

Development are the following:
Stage 1. Sensory-motor stage.
Focused on the prominence of the
senses and muscle movement through
which the infant comes to learn about
him and the world.
Object Permanence-the ability of
the child to know that an object still exist
even when out of sight.
Stage 2. Pre-Operational Stage. At this
stage, the child can now make mental
representations and use symbols.
Symbolic Function-ability to
represent objects and events.
Egocentrism-tendency of the child
to only see his point of view and to
assume that everyone also has his same
point of view.
Centration-tendency of the child to
only focus on one aspect of a thing or
event and exclude other aspects.
Reversibility-the inability to reverse
their thinking.
Animism-tendency of children to
attribute human like traits or
characteristics to inanimate objects.
Transductive Reasoning-refers to
the child’s type of reasoning that is
neither inductive nor deductive.
Stage 3. Concrete-Operational Stage.
Characterized by the ability of the child to
think logically but only in terms of
concrete objects.
Reversibility-the child can now
follow that certain operations can be
done in reverse.
Conservation-ability to know that
certain properties of objects like number,
mass, volume, or area do not change
even if there’s a change in appearance.
Seriation-ability to order things in a
series based on one dimension.
Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage.
The child can now solve abstract
problems and can hypothesize.
Hypothetical Reasoning-the ability
to come up with different hypothesis
about a problem and to gather data to
make final decision.
Analogical Reasoning-ability to
perceive the relationship in one instance
 and then use that relationship to narrow
down possible answers in another similar
problem.
Deductive Reasoning-ability to
think logically by applying a general rule
to a particular instance or situation.
Erikson’s Psycho- Focused in how First stage is infancy, approximately the
social Theory of children socialize and first year or year and a half of life. The
Development how this affects their psychosocial crisis is trust vs. mistrust.
-by Erik Erikson sense of self. Being over protective to the child will
lead to maladaptive tendency which
Erikson’s calls sensory maladjustment.
On the other hand if the 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. If there is what
we call proper balance, 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.
Second stage is early childhood, ranges
from ages 18 mos. to 3 or 4 years old.
The psychosocial crisis is autonomy vs.
shame and doubt. A little shame and
doubt is not only inevitable, but
beneficial. Without it, you will develop the
maladaptive tendency Erikson’s calls
impulsiveness. Too much shame and
doubt which leads to the malignancy
Erikson’s calls compulsiveness. If there
is positive balance of autonomy and
shame and doubt, you will develop the
virtue of will power and determination.
Stage three is early childhood stage,
from three or four to five or six. The
psychosocial crisis is initiative vs. guilt.
Too much initiative will lead to
maladaptive tendency Erikson’s calls
ruthlessness and too much guilt which
leads to malignancy Erikson’s calls
inhibition. If there is positive balance
between initiative and guilt, you will
develop the virtue of courage.
Stage four is school age- the
psychosocial crisis is industry vs.
inferiority. The task is to develop a
capacity for industry while avoiding an
excessive sense of inferiority. The
maladaptive tendency is narrow
virtuosity. The malignancy is inertia. If
there is positive balance between
industry and inferiority, you will develop
the virtue of competency.
Stage five is adolescence and the
psychosocial crisis is ego identity vs. role
confusion. The task is to achieve ego
identity and avoid confusion. The
maladaptive tendency is fanaticism. The
malignancy is repudiation. The virtue for
this stage is fidelity.
Stage six is young adulthood and the
psychosocial crisis is intimacy vs.
isolation. The task is to achieve some
degree of intimacy as opposed to
remaining isolation. The maladaptive
tendency is promiscuity. The malignancy
is exclusion. The virtue for this stage is
 love.
Stage seven is middle adulthood and the
psychosocial crisis is generativity vs.
stagnation. The task is to cultivate the
proper balance of generativity and
stagnation.The maladaptive tendency is
overextension. The malignancy is
rejectivity. The virtue for this stage is
capacity for caring.
Stage eight is late adulthood and the
psychosocial crisis is integrity vs.
despair. The task is to develop ego
integrity with minimal amount of despair.
The maladaptive tendency is
presumption. The malignancy is disdain.
The virtue for this stage is wisdom.
Vygotsky’s socio- Focused in social Social interaction-effective learning
Cultural Theory interaction and happens through participation in social
-by Lev Vygotsky language as two activities, making the social context of
central factors in learning crucial.
cognitive development Language-opens the door for learners to
acquire knowledge that others already
have.
Private Speech-is a form of self-talk that
guides the child’s thinking and action.
Zone of actual development-a term
used when a child can perform alone at a
certain level of competency.
Zone of proximal development-a term
used when a child can perform a certain
task with the guidance of another.
Scaffolding-happen when you do first a
certain task and you let the child finish
and accomplish that task.
Moral Focused in the The six stages of moral reasoning
Development development of moral grouped into 3 major levels.
Theory reasoning. The 1st level which is the Pre-
-by Lawrence conventional level- moral reasoning is
Kohlberg based on the consequences/ result of the
act, not on the whether the act itself is
good or bad and it has 2 stages, stage
1- Punishment/ Obedience & 2- Mutual
Benefit.
2nd level is Conventional level- moral
reasoning is based on the conventions or
norms of the society and its stages are
stage 3- Social Approval & 4- Law and
Order
3rd level is the Post-conventional
level- moral reasoning is based on
enduring or consistent principles behind
the law and its stages are stage 5-
Social contract & 6- Universal
Principle.

Learning/Thinking Focused on how Learning/Thinking styles refer to the

Styles individual develop preferred way of individual processes
-by A.Hilliard habitual ways of information.
responding to Several perspectives about learning-
experience. thinking styles.
Sensory Preferences. Individuals tend
to gravitate toward one or two types of
sensory input.
Visual Learners-see their teacher’s
action and facial expression to fully
understand the content of a lesson.
Visual-iconic-interested in visual
imagery such as film, graphic, displays,
or pictures in order to solidify learning.
Visual-symbolic-feel comfortable
 with abstract symbolism such as
mathematical formulae or the written
word.
Auditory Learners-learn best through
verbal lectures, discussion, taking thing
through and listening to what others have
to say.
Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners-more on
hands-on approach, actively exploring
the physical world around them.

Global-Analytic Continuum
Analytic-tend toward the linear, step-by-
step processes of learning, they are the
“tree seers”.
Global-lean towards non-linear thought
and tend to see the whole pattern rather
than particle elements, they are the
“forest seers”.
Multiple Focused on Gardner defines intelligence as “an
Intelligences intelligence or set of ability or set of abilities that allows a
-by Howard abilities person to solve a problem or fashion a
Gardner product that is valued in one or more
cultures”.
Visual/spatial intelligences- also called
picture smart, learning visually and
organizing ideas spatially. Seeing
concepts in action in order to understand
them.
Verbal/linguistic intelligence- also called
word smart, learning through spoken and
written word.
Matghematical- also called number/logic
smart, learning through reasoning and
 problem solving.
Bodily/kinesthetic- also called body
smart, learning through interaction with
one’s environment. It promotes
understanding through concrete
experience.
Musical- also called music smart,
learning through patterns, rhymes and
music.
Intrapersonal- also called self smart,
learning through feelings, values and
attitudes.
Interpersonal- also called people smart,
learning through interaction with others.
It promotes collaboration and working
cooperatively with others.
Naturalist- also called nature smart,
learning through classification categories
and hierarchies. It picks up on subtle
differences in meaning.
Existential- also called spirit smart,
learning by seeing the big picture. It
seeks connections to real world
understanding and application of new
learning.
People- First Focused on the This language tells us what conditions
Language -by language trend that people have, not what they are. Other
Schiefelbusch involves putting the suggestions for referring to those with
Institute, 1996 person first, not the disabilities include: avoiding generic
disability labels, emphasizing abilities and not
limitations, avoiding euphemisms and
avoiding implying illness or suffering.
Classical Focused on the study Stages in Classical Conditioning
Conditioning of observable
Theory by Ivan Stage 1: Before conditioning- the neutral
Pavlov and John measurable behavior stimulus (bell) has no response
Watson Stage 2: During conditioning-the neutral
stimulus is paired with unconditioned
stimulus(meat) it results unconditioned
response (salivation)
Stage 3: After conditioning- there’s a
conditioned stimulus that results to
unconditioned response.

Stimulus generalization- the dog has

learned to salivate at the sound of bell, it
also salivate other similar sounds.

Extinction- stoping pairing foods to bell,

salivation eventually cease as response
to the bell

Spontaneous recovery- extinguished

response is recovered

Discrimination- learning to discriminate

similar bells that present foods
Higher-order conditioning- the dog
salivate with another unconditioned
stimulus that before accompanied with
the bell.

Connectionism Focused on the Law of effect- connection between a

Theory-by Edward learning that has taken stimulus and response is strengthened
Lee Thorndike place when there’s a when the consequence is positive, if it is
strong connection weakened the consequence is negative
between stimulus and
response. Law of exercise- the more an stimulus
response bond is practiced the stronger
 it will become.

Law of readiness- the more readiness

the learner has to respond to the
stimulus, the stronger will be the bond
between them.

Principles in Thorndike’s
Connectionism:

1. Learning requires both practice

and rewards( laws of
effect/exercise)
2. A series of S-R connection can be
chained together if they belong to
the same action sequence ( law of
readiness)
3. Transfer of learning occurs
because of previously
encountered situations.
4. Intelligence is a function of the
number of connections learned.

Operant Focused on learning Reinforcement- reinforce is anything

Conditioning- by as a result of change in that strengthen the desired response
Burrhus Frederick overt behavior - Positive reinforce- any stimulus
Skinner that is given or added to increase
the response
- Negative reinforce-any stimulus
that results increased frequency of
a response when it is withdrawn.
- Punishment- consequence
intended to result in reduced
response
Shaping of behavior, animal on a cage
 may take a very long time to figure out
that pressing a lever will produce food
Reinforcement schedules- once the
desired behavioral response is
accomplished, reinforcement doesn’t
have to be 100%
Fixed internal schedules-target
response is reinforced after a fixed
amount of time has passed since the last
reinforcement
Variable internal schedule- similar to
fixed-internal schedules, but the amount
of time must pass between reinforcement
varies.
Fixed ratio schedule- a fixed number of
correct responses must occur before
reinforcement may occur.
Variable ratio schedule- the number of
correct repetitions of correct response for
reinforcement varies
Purposive Focused on internal This has also been referred to as the
Behaviorism -by and external elements Sign Learning Theory and is often seen
Edward Tolman in learning as the link between behaviorism and
cognitive theory.

Tolman’s Key Concepts were:

1. Learning is always purposive and
goal-directed.
2. Cognitive maps in rats.
3. Latent Learning.
4. The concept of intervening variable.
5. Reinforcement not essential for
learning.
Social Learning Focused on the It considers that people learn from one
Theory -by Albert learning that occurs another, including such concepts as
Bandura within a social context observational learning, imitation, and
modeling.

Cognitive factors in social learning:

1. Learning without performance.
2. Cognitive processing during learning.
3. Expectations.
4. Reciprocal causation.
5. Modeling.

Conditions necessary for effective

modeling to occur:
Attention,
Retention,
Motor Reproduction and
Motivation.
Gestalt Theory- by Fhe experience of Gestalt theory
Max Wertheimer, contact that occurs in
Wolfgang Kohler, here and now - It emphasized the importance of
Kurt Koffka sensory whole and the dynamic nature of
visual perception.
- Theory of mind and brain, the
operational principle of gestalt
psychology is that the brain is holistic,
parallel, and analog, with self-organizing
tendencies.
The principle maintains that the human
eye sees objects in their entirety before
perceiving their individual parts,
suggesting the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts.
Gestalt psychology tries to understand
the laws of our ability to acquire and
maintain stable percepts in a noisy
 world.
Principles:
Law of proximity- elements that are
closer together will be perceived as a
coherent object.
Law of similarity- elements that look
similar will be perceived as part of the
same form
Law of closure- we tend to fill the gaps
or “close” the figures we perceive.
Law of good continuation- tendency to
continue contours whenever the
elements of the pattern established.
Law of good Pragnanz- the stimulus will
be organized into as good a figure as
possible.
Law of Figure/ground- tend to pay
attention and perceive things in the
foreground first.
Information Focused on how Information Processing Theory
Processing Theory knowledge enters and Stages:
is stored and retrieved  Encoding- information is sensed,
from our memory perceived
 Storage- information is stored for
either brief or extended period of
time, depending upon the
processes following encoding
 Retrieval- information is brought
back at the appropriate time and
reactivate for use on a current
task.
Sensory Register
- Mind receives a great amount of
information but it is more than
what our minds can hold. It holds
 information for 1 to 3 seconds.
And auditory memory is more
persistent than visual
 Short term memory- it can only
hold 5 to 9 chunks of information.
It is working memory. The
duration is about 18 seconds or
less. It needs maintenance
rehearsal.
 Long term memory-it is
permanent storing house for
memory information. It has
unlimited capacity and duration is
infinite.
Methods for increasing for retrieval of
information
rehearsal- repeating information
verbatim
meaningful learning- connections
between new and prior knowledge
organization- connections among
various pieces of information
collaboration-adding ideas to new
informations
visual imagery- forming picture of
information
Constructivist Focused on how Bruner’s Main Concepts were:
Theory- by Jerome individuals construct Representation, Spiral Curriculum,
Bruner their own models or Discovery Learning and
view of the world. Categorization.

Stages in Knowledge Development:

1. Enactive- children learn about the
world through actions or physical
objects and the outcomes of these
 actions.
2. Iconic- learning can be obtain
through using models and pictures
3. Symbolic- ability to think abstract
terms. It uses symbol system to
encode knowledge

There are also principles in instruction as

stated by Bruner:
1. Instruction must be concerned with
the experiences and contexts that
make students willing and able to
learn.
2. Instruction must be structured so
that it can be easily grasped by the
student.
3. Instruction should be designed to
facilitate extrapolation and or fill in
the gaps.

Bruner states that a theory of instruction

should address four major aspects:
1. Predisposition to learn.
2. Structure of knowledge.
3. Effective sequencing.
4. Reinforcement.

There are several types of categories:

Identity, Equivalent and Coding
Categories.
Ausubel’s It focused on how Subsumption-process by which new
Meaningful Verbal individuals learn large material is related to relevant ideas in the
Learning/ amounts of meaningful existing cognitive structure.
Subsumption material from
verbal/textual
Theory presentation in a Four processes of meaningful learning:
-by David Ausubel school setting. Derivative subsumption-the new
information you learn is an example of a
concept that you have already learned.
Correlative subsumption-enriches the
higher-level concept.
Superordinate learning-knowing a lot of
examples of the concept, but did not
know the concept itself.
Combinatorial learning-newly acquired
knowledge combines with prior
knowledge to enrich the understanding of
both concepts.

Types of advance organizers.

1. Expository-describes the new
content.
2. Narrative-presents the new
information in the form of a story.
3. Skimming-looking over the new
material to gain a basic overview.
4. Graphic Organizer-visual to set up
or outline the new information.
Gagne’s Focused on intellectual Principles
Conditions of skills. 1. Different instruction is required for
Learning different learning outcomes.
-by Gagne 2. Learning hierarchies define what
intellectual skills are to be learned
and a sequence of instruction.
3. Events of learning operate on the
learner in ways that constitute the
conditions of learning.

Categories of learning:
 1. Verbal information
2. Intellectual skills
-discriminations
-concrete concepts
-defined concepts
-rules
-higher order rules
3. Cognitive strategies
4. Motor skills
5. Attitude

Event of Instruction
1. gaining attention
2. informing the learner of the
objective
3. stimulating recall of prior learning
4. presenting the stimulus
5. providing learner guidance
6. eliciting performance
7. giving feedback
8. assessing performance
9. enhancing retention and transfer

Cognitive Focused on the Constructivism focuses on knowledge

Processes external, observable construction.
-by Piaget and behavior. Individual Constructivism-emphasizes
Bruner individual, internal construction of
knowledge.
Social Constructivism-emphasizes
knowledge exists in a social context and
is initially shared with others instead of
being represented solely in the mind of
an individual.
Characteristics of Constructivism
 1. Learners construct understanding.
2. New learning depends on current
understanding.
3. Learning is facilitated by social
interaction.
4. Meaningful learning occurs within
authentic learning tasks.

Organizing Knowledge
Concept-is a way of grouping or
categorizing objects or events in our
mind.
 Concepts as feature lists
 Concepts as prototypes
 Concepts as exemplars
Making Concept-learning Effective
Schema-is an organized body of
knowledge about something. It is like a
file of information you hold in your mind
about something.
Script-is a schema that includes a series
of predictable events about specific
activity.
Transfer of Focused on the Transfer of learning happens when
Learning tendency to use the learning in one context or with one set of
knowledge and skills materials affects performance in another
that have learned to context or with other related materials.
the new situation. Positive transfer-occurs when learning
in one context improves performance in
some other context.
Negative transfer-occurs when learning
in one context impacts negatively on
performance in another.
Near transfer-refers to transfer between
 very similar contexts. Specific transfer.
Far transfer-refers to transfer between
contexts that, on appearance, seem
remote and alien to one another. General
transfer.
Facilitating Focused on identifying
Learning and and articulating  Knowledge
Bloom’s Taxonomy learning objectives that -remembering;
of Objectives facilitates learning. -memorizing;
-recognizing;
-recalling identification and
-recall of information
 Comprehension
-interpreting;
-translating from one medium to
another;
-describing in one’s own words;
-organization and selection of
facts and ideas
 Application
-problem solving;
-applying information to produce
some results;
-use of facts, rules and principles
 Analysis
-subdividing something to show
how it is put together;
-finding the underlying structure of
a communication;
-identifying motives;
-separation of a whole into
component part
 Synthesis
-creating a unique, original
product that may be in verbal form
 or may be a physical object;
-combination of ideas to a new
whole
 Evaluation
-making value decisions about
issues;
-resolving controversies or
differences of opinion;
-development of opinions;
judgments or decisions
Problem Solving Fluency-production of a great number of
and Creativity ideas or alternate solutions to a problem.
-by Torrance Flexibility-production of ideas that show a
variety of possibilities or realms of
thought.
Elaboration-process of enhancing ideas
by providing more details.
Originality-production of ideas that is
unique or unusual.
Creative Problem Solving (CPS)
Stage 1: Mess Finding: Sensitise
yourself for issues that need to be
tackled.
Stage2: Data Finding: Gather
information about the problem.
Stage3: Problem Finding: Convert a
fuzzy statement of the problem into a
broad statement more suitable for idea
finding.
Stage 4: Idea Finding: Generate as
many ideas as possible.
Stage 5: Solution Finding: Generate
and select obvious evaluation.
Stage 6: Acceptance Finding: Shun
negatively and continue to apply deferred
 judgment.
Motivation Focused on the how Motivation is an inner drive that causes
students intrinsically you to do something and preserve at
and extrinsically something. It is the strength of the drive
motivated. toward an action. It is an inner drive that
energizes you to do something. It refers
to what children will do.
Intrinsic motivation is when the source
of motivation is from within the person
himself/herself or the activity itself.
Intrinsic motivation is evident when
people engage in an activity for its own
sake, without some obvious external
incentive present. Reading for no reason
other than the joy of reading illustrates
intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motivation is when that which
motivates a person is someone or
something outside him/her. Extrinsic
motivation is necessary to develop the
love for learning among poorly motivated
students.
Attribution Theory Focused on the Locus: External versus internal. If your
attribution of student traces his good grade to his
successes or failures ability and to his hard work, he attributes
or other events to his good grade to internal factors.
several factors. However, if you student claims that his
good grade is due to the effective
teaching of his teacher or to the
adequate library facilities, he attributes
his good grades to factors external to
himself.
Stability: Stable versus unstable. If you
attribute your poor eyesight to what you
have inherited from your parents, then
 you are attributing the cause of your
sickness to something stable, something
that cannot change because it is in your
genes. If you attribute it to your
excessive watching on TV, then you are
claiming that your poor eyesight is
caused by unstable factor, something
that can change.
Controllability: Controllable versus
uncontrollable. If your student claims his
poor academic performance is due to his
teacher’s ineffective teaching strategy,
he attributes his poor performance to a
factor beyond his control. If, however,
your student admits and low motivation,
he attributes the event to factors which
are very much within his control.
Self-efficacy Focused on how Self-efficacy is the belief that one has
Theory individuals develop a the necessary capabilities to perform a
high sense of task, fulfill role expectations, or meet a
competence. challenging situation successfully.
Enhancing strategies of self-efficacy:
 Make sure students master the
basic skills.
 Help them make noticeable
progress on difficult task.
 Communicate confidence on
students’ abilities through both
words and actions.
 Expose them to successful peers.
Other recommendations from motivation
theorist are:
 Provide competence-promoting
feedback.
  Promote mastery on challenging
task.
 Promote self-comparison rather
than comparison with others.
 Be sure errors occur within an
overall context of success.
Self-determination Focused on the Some suggestion from motivation
and self-regulation relation of the sense of theorist to enhance students’ sense of
theories self-determination to self-determination about school activities
intrinsic motivation. and assignments:
 Present rules and instruction in an
informational manner rather than
controlling manner.
 Provide opportunities for students
to make choices.
 Evaluate student performance in a
non-controlling fashion.
Process involved in self-regulated
learning:
 Goal setting
 Planning
 Attention control
 Application of learning strategies
 Self-monitoring
 Self-evaluation

A student who has self-determination

and self-regulation is more likely to be
intrinsically motivated and so is more
capable of self-regulated learning.
Choice Theory Focused on Choice theory is a biological theory that
-by Bob Sullo psychological needs of suggests we are born with specific needs
human being. that we are genetically instructed to
satisfy.
 Four basic psychological needs:
 The need for belonging or
connecting motivates us to
develop relationships and
cooperate with others.
 The need for power is more than
just a drive to dominate.
 As humans, we are also motivated
to be free, to choose.
 Each time we learn something
new, we are having fun, another
universal human motivator.
Students are more likely to be
intrinsically motivated when they are in
need-satisfying environment that
responds to their need to belong, to have
power, to have free choice, and to have
fun; need to satisfy hunger, thirst, and
safety and security; need to belong; need
for self-esteem; and need for self-
actualization.
Goal Theory Focused on the goal Learning goals versus performance
-by Ormrod setting. goals. The goals we set for ourselves
affect our level of motivation.
 Learning goal is a desire to
acquire additional knowledge or
master new skills.
 Performance goal is a desire to
look good and receive favorable
judgments from others or else
look bad and receive unfavorable
judgments.
Self-determined goals. Personally
relevant goals and self-determined goals
enhance a student’s motivation.
Goals setting
 goal setting
 specificity
 challenge
 performance monitoring
 performance feedback

Lesson Objectives must be SMART

(specific, measurable, attainable, result-
oriented and time-bound)