Learning Learning can be defined in many ways, but most psychologists would agree that it is a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience. During the first half of the twentieth century, the school of thought known as behaviorism rose to dominate psychology and sought to explain the learning process. The three major types of learning described by behavioral psychology are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Behaviorism Behaviorism was the school of thought in psychology that sought to measure only observable behaviors. Founded by John B. Watson and outlined in his seminal 1913 paper Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, the behaviorist standpoint held that psychology was an experimental and objective science and that internal mental processes should not be considered because they could not be directly observed and measured. Watson's work included the famous Little Albert experiment in which he conditioned a small child to fear a white rat. Behaviorism dominated psychology for much of the early twentieth century. While behavioral approaches remain important today, the latter part of the century was marked by the emergence of humanistic psychology, biological psychology, and cognitive psychology.Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is a learning process in which an association is made between a previously neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally evokes a response. For example, in Pavlov's classic experiment, the smell of food was the naturally occurring stimulus that was paired with the previously neutral ringing of the bell. Once an association had been made between the two, the sound of the bell alone could lead to a response. How Classical Conditioning Works Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the probability of a response occurring is increased or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment. First studied by Edward Thorndike and later by B.F. Skinner, the underlying idea behind operant conditioning is that the consequences of our actions shape voluntary behavior. Skinner described how reinforcement could lead to increases in behaviors where punishment would result in decreases. He also found that the timing of when reinforcements were delivered influenced how quickly a behavior was learned and how strong the response would be. The timing and rate of reinforcement are known as schedules of reinforcement. How Operant Conditioning Works Observational Learning Observational learning is a process in which learning occurs through observing and imitating others. Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that in addition to learning through conditioning, people also learn through observing and imitating the actions of others.As demonstrated in his classic "Bobo Doll" experiments, people will imitate the actions of others without direct reinforcement. Four important elements are essential for effective observational

1. Educational Psychology
EDU-202
Spring -2021
Dr. Fouad Yehya
fyehya@aust.edu.lb
1

2. Big goals
• In this session, you will:
- Recognize the cognitive developmental theory of
Piaget and Lev Vygotsky
- Compare the cognitive developmental theories of
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.

3. Cognitive Development

4. PIAGET’S THEORY:
Cognitive Processes
• What processes do children use as they
construct their knowledge of the world?

5. Cognitive Processes
• Piaget stressed that these processes are
especially important in this look:
1- Schemas,
2- Assimilation and accommodation,
3- Organization
4- Equilibration.

6. Schemas
• Piaget (1954) said that as the child seeks to
construct an understanding of the world, the
developing brain creates schemas.
• In Piaget’s theory, behavioral schemas
(physical activities) characterize infancy, and
mental schemas (cognitive activities) develop
in childhood.

7. Assimilation and
Accommodation
• Assimilation occurs when children incorporate
new information into their existing schemas.
Accommodation occurs when children adjust their
schemas to fit new information and experiences.
• Both assimilation and accommodation are
required in many of the child’s thinking challenge
(Yehya, 2019)
• Assimilation and accommodation always take the
child to a higher ground.

8. • Organization in Piaget’s theory is the grouping
of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a
higher-order system.
• Continual refinement of this organization is an
inherent part of development.
• After learning how to deal with a situation,
learner relates these solution, organizing his
knowledge.
Organization

9. Equilibration
• Equilibration is a mechanism that Piaget
proposed to explain how children shift from
one stage of thought to the next. The shift
occurs as children experience cognitive
conflict, or disequilibrium, in trying to
understand the world. Eventually, they resolve
the conflict and reach a balance, or
equilibrium, of thought.

10. Piagetian Stages
• Cognition is qualitatively different in one stage
compared with another. The way children
reason at one stage is different from the way
they reason at another stage.
• Each of Piaget’s stages is age-related and
consists of distinct ways of thinking.
• Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive
development: sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, and formal operational

11. 1- Sensorimotor stage
• The first Piagetian stage, lasting from birth to
about 2 years of age, in which infants construct
an understanding of the world by coordinating
sensory experiences with motor actions.

12. 2- Preoperational stage
• The second Piagetian stage, lasting from about 2
to 7 years of age, symbolic thought increases,
but operational thought is not yet present.
• Preoperational thought can be subdivided into
two sub-stages: symbolic function and intuitive
thought. The symbolic function sub-stage
occurs roughly between 2 and 4 years of age and
intuitive thought sub-stage (4-7 years)

13. • Symbolic function sub-stage (2 to 4 years):
the ability to represent an object not present;
egocentrism is present. Egocentrism is the
inability to distinguish between one’s own
perspective and someone else’s.
2- Preoperational stage

14. • Intuitive thought sub-stage (about 4 to 7
years):
• Children begin to use primitive reasoning and
want to know the answer to all sorts of
questions. They seem so sure about their
knowledge in this sub-stage but are unaware of
how they know what they know.
2- Preoperational stage

15. • Preoperational stage shows a characteristic of
thought called centration, which involves
focusing (or centering) attention on one
characteristic to the exclusion of all others
• it is the tendency to focus on only one aspect
of a situation at one time.
2- Preoperational stage

16. 3- Concrete operational stage
• Piaget’s third cognitive developmental stage,
occurring between about 7 to 11 years of age.
At this stage, the child thinks operationally,
and logical reasoning replaces intuitive
thought but only in concrete situations;
classification skills are present, but abstract
problems present difficulties.
• The ability to reason and logically combine
relationships denoted by transitivity exists .

17. 4- Formal operational stage
• Piaget’s fourth cognitive developmental stage,
which emerges between about 11 and 15 years
of age; thought is more abstract, idealistic, and
logical in this stage.

18. Evaluating Piaget’s Theory
Activity (10 min): Self -reflection
• What were Piaget’s main contributions?

19. • Piaget contributed to the current vision of
children as active, constructive thinker.
• Piaget showed an inventive ways to discover
how children act on and adapt to their world.
• Piaget showed how children need to make
their experiences fit their schemas (cognitive
frameworks) while simultaneously adapting
their schemas to experience.
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

20. • Criticisms:
- Some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than
Piaget thought, others later .
- Some concrete operational concepts do not
appear at the same time
- Some children who are at one cognitive stage
(such as preoperational) can be trained to
reason at a higher cognitive stage (such as
concrete operational).
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

21. • Criticisms:
- Culture and education exert stronger
influences on children’s development than
Piaget envisioned. For example, the age at
which children acquire conservation skills is
related to the extent to which their culture
provides relevant practice (Cole, 2006).
Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

23. VYGOTSKY’S THEORY
• In Vygotsky’s theory children’s cognitive
development is shaped by the cultural
context in which they live (Gauvain & Parke,
2010).
• Vygotsky’s belief in the importance of social
influences, especially instruction, on children’s
cognitive development. It is reflected in his
concept of the zone of proximal development.

24. Zone of proximal
development
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD) is
Vygotsky’s term for the range of tasks that are
too difficult for the child to master alone but
that can be learned with guidance and
assistance of adults or more-skilled children.
• The lower limit of the ZPD is the level of skill
reached by the child working independently.
The upper limit is the level of additional
responsibility the child can accept with the
assistance of an able instructor

25. • Teaching in the ZPD involves being aware of
“where students are in the process of their
development and taking advantage of their
readiness.
• It is also about teaching to enable
developmental readiness, not just waiting for
students to be ready
Zone of proximal
development

26. • Scaffolding means changing the level of
support. Over the course of a teaching session,
a more-skilled person (a teacher or advanced
peer) adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the
child’s current performance. When the student
is learning a new task, the skilled person may
use direct instruction. As the student’s
competence increases, less guidance is given.
Scaffolding is often used to help students
attain the upper limits of their ZPD.
Scaffolding

27. How can you scaffold
students’ learning?

28. Scaffolding
• Asking investigative questions is an excellent
way to scaffold students’ learning and help
them to develop more sophisticated thinking
skills.
• Ask students:
- “What would an example of that be?”
- “Why do you think that is so?”
- “Now, what’s the next thing you need to do?”
- “How can you connect those?”

29. • Many teachers who successfully use
scaffolding circulate around the classroom,
giving “just-in-time” assistance to individuals,
or detecting a class-wide misconception and
then leading a discussion to correct the
problem.
• They also give “children time to grapple with
problems” and guide them when they observe
that the child can no longer make progress
Scaffolding

30. Language and Thought In
Vygotsky's theory
• In Vygotksy’s view, language plays an
important role in a child’s development
(Gredler, 2009).
• According to Vygotsky, children use speech
not only for social communication, but also to
help them solve tasks.
• Vygotsky argued that young children use
language to plan, guide, and monitor their
behavior

31. • Vygotsky said that language and thought initially
develop independently of each other and then merge.
• Children must use language to communicate with
others before they can focus inward on their own
thoughts.
• Children must communicate externally and use
language for a long period of time before they can
make the transition from external to internal speech
(3-7 years) which becomes their thoughts.
Language and Thought In
Vygotsky's theory

32. • Vygotsky argued that children who use private
speech are more socially able than those who
don’t.
• He believed that private speech represents an
early transition in becoming more socially
communicative.
• For Vygotsky, when young children talk to
themselves, they are using language to govern
their behavior and guide themselves.
Language and Thought In
Vygotsky's theory

33. Activity (15 min):
• How will you apply Vygotsky’s theory to your
classroom.
Apply Vygotsky's theory

34. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

35. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
• Language is a form of communication—
whether spoken, written, or signed—that is
based on a system of symbols.
• Language consists of the words used by a
community (vocabulary) and the rules for
varying and combining them (grammar and
syntax)

36. • Language involves five systems of rules:
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,
and pragmatics.
- Phonology: Every language is made up of
basic sounds
- The morphology of a language refers to the
units of meaning involved in word formation.
A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning; it
is a word or a part of a word that cannot be
broken into smaller meaningful parts.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

37. - Syntax: The way words are combined to form
acceptable phrases and sentences is their syntax.
- Semantics: The term semantics refers to the
meaning of words and sentences. Every word has
a set of semantic features, or required attributes
related to meaning. Girl and women, for
example, share many semantic features,
but they differ semantically in regard to age.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

38. • Pragmatics: the appropriate use of language in
different contexts.
• Pragmatic rules can be complex, and they
differ from one culture to another
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

39. Biological and Environmental Influences
• Children are biologically prepared to learn
language as they and their caregivers interact.
• Children benefit when parents and teachers
actively engage them in conversation, ask
them questions, and talk with, not just to,
them.
• In sum, biology and experience interact to
produce language development.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

40. Language Development
• Language acquisition advances through stages.
- the first word at 10 to 13 months, and two-word
utterances at 18 to 24 months.
- Children make advances in phonology, syntax,
semantics, and pragmatics in early childhood.
- Vocabulary development increases dramatically
during the elementary school years, and by the
end of elementary school most children can apply
appropriate rules of grammar.

41. Language Development
• Metalinguistic awareness advances in the elementary
school years.
• In adolescence, language changes include more
effective use of words; improvements in the ability to
understand metaphor, and adult literary works and
writings.

42. • Self-Reflection (10 min)
- How have teachers encouraged or discouraged
the mastery of language?
Language Development