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Principles of Teaching-Sept 22, 2023

The document summarizes 10 principles of psychology related to teaching and learning. Principle 1 discusses how students' cognitive development is not limited by general stages and they are capable of higher level thinking in familiar domains. Principle 2 notes that acquiring long-term knowledge and skills depends on practice over time. Principle 3 states that students tend to do better and enjoy learning more when intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated. Principle 4 explains that students persist more and process information deeper when adopting mastery goals of learning rather than performance goals of outperforming others.

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Our Lady of Lourdes Seminary
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24 views3 pages

Principles of Teaching-Sept 22, 2023

The document summarizes 10 principles of psychology related to teaching and learning. Principle 1 discusses how students' cognitive development is not limited by general stages and they are capable of higher level thinking in familiar domains. Principle 2 notes that acquiring long-term knowledge and skills depends on practice over time. Principle 3 states that students tend to do better and enjoy learning more when intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated. Principle 4 explains that students persist more and process information deeper when adopting mastery goals of learning rather than performance goals of outperforming others.

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Our Lady of Lourdes Seminary
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Handout in Principles of Teaching

September 22, 2023

Part 1

A REVISIT OF
TOP 10 PRINCIPLES
of PSYCHOLOGY of
TEACHING & LEARNING

Towards Effective Instruction and Classroom Environments

HOW DO STUDENTS LEARN?

Principle 1

Students’ cognitive development and learning are not limited by general stages of development.

Explanation:

Students are capable of higher level thinking and behavior….

• when there is some biological base (early competency) for knowledge in the domain

• Infants have been found to have early, native, competencies (biologically based) in certain
domains.

• For example, children can show knowledge of principles related to the physical world (e.g., that
stationary objects are displaced when they come into contact with moving objects or that
inanimate objects need to be propelled into motion), biological causality (e.g., animate and
inanimate entities differ), and numeracy (e.g., an understanding of numerical values up to three
items).

• When they already have some familiarity or expertise with a knowledge domain (schema)

• When they interact with more capable others or more advanced materials

• Context affects cognition

• This strategy is especially effective when materials are pitched not too near or too far from
students’ current level of functioning (zone of proximal development)

• When in sociocultural contexts with which they are familiar through experience.

• Relevance to Teachers

Encourage students’ reasoning in familiar areas—that is, in knowledge domains and contexts in
which students already have substantial knowledge.

• RELEVANCE FOR TEACHERS


• Present topics and domains pitched at a moderate distance from students’ current level of
functioning by making sure it is not too simple to be easily understood and not too complex to
be out of range of the learner’s understanding.

• PRINCIPLE 2

• Acquiring long-term knowledge and skills is largely dependent on practice.

EXPLANATION

Deliberate practice involves attention, rehearsal, and repetition over time and leads to new
knowledge or skills that can later be developed into more complex knowledge and skills.

Relevance for Teachers

• Using reviews and tests (practice testing). The value of practice exercises is enhanced by
conducting them at spaced intervals (distributive practice) and giving them frequently.

• Brief testing with open-ended questions is also effective because it helps learners to generate
new ideas while recalling long-term memory.

RELEVANCE FOR TEACHERS

• Providing students with a schedule of repeated opportunities (interleaved practice) to rehearse


and transfer skills or content by practicing with tasks that are similar to the target task or using
several methods to approach the same task.

• WHAT MOTIVATES STUDENTS?

PRINCIPLE 3

Students tend to enjoy learning and to do better when they are more intrinsically rather than
extrinsically motivated to achieve.

EXPLANATION

As students develop increasing competence, the knowledge and skills that have been developed provide
a foundation to support the more complex tasks, which become less effortful and more enjoyable.
When students have reached this point, learning often becomes its own intrinsic reward.

RELEVANCE FOR TEACHERS

In using external constraints make sure that the task is communicated properly to the learners so that
they will not perceive it as too controlling.

• Intrinsic motivation involves enjoying a task for its own sake, teachers might introduce the ideas
through providing some level of surprise or incongruity and allowing for creative problem solving.

PRINCIPLE 4

Students persist in the face of challenging tasks and process information more deeply when they adopt
mastery goals rather than performance goals.
EXPLANATION

Individuals can engage in achievement activities for two very different reasons: They may strive to
develop competence by learning as much as they can (mastery goals), or they may strive to display their
competence by trying to outperform others (performance goals).

EXPLANATION

Performance goals can lead to students’ avoiding challenges if they are overly concerned about
performing as well as other students. In typical classroom situations, when students encounter
challenging materials, mastery goals are generally more useful than performance goals.

Relevance to teachers

Try to emphasize individual effort, current progress over past performance, and improvement when
evaluating student work rather than rely on normative standards and comparison with others.

In classroom settings, student evaluations are best delivered privately.

• Praise like “perfect,” “brilliant,” and “amazing” that provides no specific information to the student
about what was done so well is best avoided because it does not promote guidance for replicating high-
quality work.

It is best to avoid social comparisons. Instead, teachers could consider the progress each student has
made on his or her individual work in a manner that does not compare one student’s work to another.

Encourage students to see mistakes or wrong answers as opportunities to learn rather than as sources
of evaluation or evidence of ability.

WHY IS SOCIO-EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING IMPORTANT FOR STUDENT LEARNING?

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