A reader recently commented in response to this post about learning styles that he’d like to know more about learning styles such as what is a learning style, what is the definition of this term, what are the different types, what is the method to determine your learning style, and what tools can be used.  This article was written in response to his questions.

Each person is different and special in his or her own way. Part of what makes an individual unique is how she learns and discovers new things. We use our senses to understand the world around us, and each of us finds one sense to be stronger in that assessment than another. Different learning styles are all about the way learning is approached and optimized individually.

Learning styles can be defined as an individual’s unique approach to learning based on strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Once a person connects with a certain style of learning, it provides the opportunity to tap into the brain and learning. There are three styles of learning – auditory, visual, and kinetic.

Auditory Learning Style

Auditory learners connect with listening and hearing when learning. Lectures provide a wealth of information, and auditory learners enjoy listening and paying attention. According to FamilyEducation.com, auditory learners benefit from traditional teaching techniques in the classroom. Teachers can aide in learning by adding extra auditory interest by using voice fluctuations during lectures, reading directions, and using verbal clues often.

Visual Learning Style

Visual learners find seeing information demonstrated, observing charts and visual aides, or watching a movie or video to be beneficial to learning. Learning often takes place in large visual chunks for visual learners. Within the classroom, educators can include charts, diagrams, and other visual aides to help the visual learner see the big-picture and understand new concepts.

Kinetic Learning Style

Kinetic learners are doers and learning takes place through movement and action. Touching, feeling, exploring and experimenting through the sense of touch is essential for the kinetic learner. Kinetic learners are active, which is sometimes misunderstood within the classroom. Offer hands-on activities within the educational environment to provide the kinetic learner the opportunity to learn while doing.

How to Determine Your Learning Style

There are several simple questionnaire tests you can take to help determine your learning style. Some can figure it out by paying attention to how they learn, but for others, it can be a bit more challenging. Once a learning style is identified as dominant, it can help the individual excel in learning and understanding of the surrounding world. And, some individuals have two learning styles that may benefit knowledge.

Consider how you enjoy learning. Visualize yourself in an educational situation. Which do you prefer – lectures, visuals, or activities? If you prefer listening to a lecture on a topic you are interested in, you are probably an auditory learner. Those that enjoy watching a demonstrative video can be considered visual learners. And, if you’d rather be doing a hands-on activity, like a dissection, you probably connect best with kinetic learning style.

Many have a gut feeling which style fits their personality and abilities. Along with learning what learning style fits you, you can find out more about how your brain works and utilize that information to encourage better educational experiences in the future. This is a great opportunity to explore learning activities with children to enhance learning style abilities, encouraging whole-brain learning.

Understanding Your Learning Style

Now that you have an idea what style of learning best fits you, you can begin using it to your advantage. While learning, tap into your knowledge and use what you have learned to advance how you gain knowledge. If you are a visual learner, observe, look at pictures about a new subject matter, and create charts and graphs. Auditory learners can search out lectures and discussions about topics they find interesting. And, kinetic learners can engage in activities and hands-on projects.

Within the classroom, when an educator understands the different learning styles of students, learning can be created to accommodate students with some simple adjustments, which is called the meshing hypothesis. When individual learning style preferences are accommodated through instructional teaching, academic achievement and individual attitudes towards learning improve.

Auditory, visual, and kinetic learning styles are essential concepts to aide in the educational process, although some studies disagree. Understanding that the concept of learning styles is a theory that assists with the learning process is key, and that tapping into that knowledge is beneficial to the individual as well as the educator.

By Sarah Lipoff. Sarah is an art educator and parent. Visit Sarah’s website here.

Parents often wonder why their child acts a certain way at certain times. What they don’t realize is that the answer is simpler than they think. The brain is conditioned to respond in a certain way. It is a learned behavior that repeats itself over and over. A child learns that if she cries, she will get a response. And, she might figure out that a certain specific behavior will really get a response, such as throwing a temper tantrum, which no parent enjoys and wants over as quickly as possible. So, a special something is given to the child to stop the behavior. Her brain just figured out, through conditioning, how to get a special treat.

What is Behaviorism?

Behaviorism is a learning theory that focuses on observable behaviors. It is broken into two areas of conditioning – classic and behavioral or operant. Most are familiar with operant conditioning, where one learns through reward what behavior is desired. B.F. Skinner spent lots of time exploring operant conditioning through research with animals, which proved that behavior is a learned response. Classic conditioning is a natural reflex or response to stimuli. When a child feels apprehension at the thought of taking a test, she’s exhibiting classic conditioning.

Skinner’s research determined the brain was not a part of conditioning, and learning was through environmental factors, differentiating his ideas from others such as John Watson, and coining his theories as radical behaviorism. All actions required a reaction, positive or negative, which modified behavior. With basic behaviorism theories, it is thought that the individual is passive and behavior is molded through positive and negative reinforcement. This means that a child’s behavior can be changed and modified through reinforcement, but which type of reinforcement is best? Positive or negative?

Rewarding Behavior

Yes, incentives do seem to reap positive rewards. Many of us resort to offering rewards for desired behavior. If a child performs well on her next test, she is promised a new toy. When she is loudly complaining at the supermarket, she is offered a tasty-treat to stop screaming. This means the child is rewarded for both her positive and negative behaviors sending a confusing message, which results in a child learning through her behaviors that she can receive the same outcome.

Behaviorism has even hit the mainstream with several television shows setting almost impossible examples of how children can and should behave with the proper attention. Alfie Kohn finds that behaviorism is as American as apple pie, applying techniques for a quick response without consideration for the future. According to Kohn, instead of tossing kids in time-out, spending time reasoning with children in a warm and compassionate manor offers better response resulting in future well-adjusted and loving adults.

Modifying Behavior

As adults, we can work to model positive behaviors to encourage the same behavior from our children along with not offering incentives when unnecessary or overly praising. Our gut reaction is to offer a “good job” when a child behaves in a promising way. This raises the child’s psyche, but doesn’t offer them necessary important incentive to continue the behavior. The child also does not understand specifically what behavior caused the adult to praise her, causing disregard. The blanket phrase “good job” becomes insignificant and doesn’t promote continued positive behavior.

When specific praise is provided, such as turning that “good job” into “I like the way you explained the answer to that question,” with the praise focused on growth, learning, and development, the child’s behavior is positively acknowledged and encouraged. It also gives the adult a chance to think about what actually excited them about the child’s behavior, making it a win-win on both ends. The child feels supported and motivated in a nurturing way, and the adult has identified the specific behavior they are proud of.

Along with offering specific and well-defined praise, adults can model positive behaviors to inspire the same in a child. Communication is key along with having realistic expectations. A parent can’t assume their two-year-old child will be able to sit through a family meal without some difficulty. But, when the behavior is modeled and expectations are communicated clearly to the child, the desired behavior can be achieved – potentially. And, instead of becoming frustrated when the behavior starts breaking down, redirect the child and offer assistance if necessary. Why not encourage the child to finish her meal with a puzzle at her side to help her stay motivated while at the table.

Consistent and realistic consequences are essential when dealing with behaviors. This can be a tricky area and children may manipulate the situation. Feedback, or consequences, are a large aspect of behaviorism. When feedback is given after a desired behavior, learning has been set in place. Selecting appropriate rewards is important so that they can be offered consistently. When a child works hard to perform in a positive way and then not rewarded as expected, her self-esteem drops and she is not motivated to continue the behavior. When she behaves negatively, instead of placing her in time-out, removing a reward is an option. Rewards could include items that are decided together. The child can take ownership of her behavior when she is able to take part in the decision making process.

Working with kids in a nurturing way is the best step toward positive behavior – and a healthy and happy relationship.

Sarah is an art educator and parent. Visit Sarah’s website here.

A reader posted a comment in response to a previous Funderstanding article about Behaviorism. The reader suggested we differentiate between the theories of John Watson and B.F. Skinner. Below is a more detailed summary of radical behaviorism in response to our reader’s suggestion. Thank you to our readers for your thoughtful feedback!   

How it Works and what Skinner’s Behaviorism Theories Explain

B.F. Skinner was a psychologist who founded behaviorism and also studied learning theory and behavior modification methods.

His work was controversial because it defied the conventional framework of the subject of psychology.

“Skinner’s radical behaviorism offered a unique conceptual framework for explaining human behavior that had no close brethren in psychology. Skinner used the term radical to note the stark contrast between methodological behaviorism (i.e., the behaviorisms of Watson, Hull, and Tolman) and his approach,” a Psychology Today article stated.

With his research, Skinner decided to take a new way of thinking about behavior and mannerisms.

“Rather than place causal status in hypothetical entities or constructs, Skinner’s radical behaviorism attempted to demonstrate orderly relations between behavior and environment. This approach is, at its core, a perspective of selection (Donahoe, 2003; Skinner, 1966; 1972). Radical Behaviorism views cause as a complex interaction extending across multiple temporal scales involving organisms and the environment,” the article said.

What is Basic Behaviorism?

“Behaviorism is a worldview that assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli. The learner starts off as a clean slate and behavior is shaped through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will happen again,” an article on the Web site Learning-Theories said.

“In contrast, punishment (both positive and negative) decreases the likelihood that the antecedent behavior will happen again. Positive indicates the application of a stimulus; Negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus. Learning is therefore defined as a change in behavior in the learner. Lots of (early) behaviorist work was done with animals (e.g. Pavlov’s dogs) and generalized to humans,” the article also said.

How did Skinner View Behaviorism?

B.F. Skinner’s idea of behaviorism is different from many other behaviorism schools of thought.

“B. F. Skinner’s entire system is based on operant conditioning: “the behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behavior in the future,” a Skinner biography said.

One example the biography stated included:

“Imagine a rat in a cage. This is a special cage (called, in fact, a “Skinner box”) that has a bar or pedal on one wall that, when pressed, causes a little mechanism to release a food pellet into the cage.  The rat is bouncing around the cage, doing whatever it is rats do, when he accidentally presses the bar and — hey, presto! — a food pellet falls into the cage!”

“The operant is the behavior just prior to the reinforcer, which is the food pellet, of course.  In no time at all, the rat is furiously peddling away at the bar, hoarding his pile of pellets in the corner of the cage,” the biography said.

Modifying Behavior Quickly

Skinner viewed behavior modification in very clear terms.

“It is very straight-forward:  Extinguish an undesirable behavior (by removing the reinforcer) and replace it with a desirable behavior by reinforcement,” a Skinner biography said.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

While Jean Piaget, the famous Swiss biologist and psychologist is revered in some social circles, he is not very popular in others. Read on to learn fact from fiction about one of psychology’s well-known pioneers.

How It All Started For Piaget

Piaget began his scientific career before he even made it to high school.

“At age 11, while he was a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school, he wrote a short notice on an albino sparrow. This short paper is generally considered as the start of a brilliant scientific career made of over sixty books and several hundred articles,” the biography from the Jean Piaget Society reads.

He Studied His Own Children

Piaget was married in 1923 to Valentine Châtenay. The marriage and the children that followed allowed to him to use his own family for observational purposes.

“The couple had three children, Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent whose intellectual development from infancy to language was studied by Piaget,” according to the Jean Piaget Society.

But because he studied his own children, he may not have been able to report accurate findings in some of his work.

“The biggest complaint about Piaget’s methods is that he studied his three children (hardly a representative sample). In “Origins of Intelligence” every observation he reported to build his sub-stages of infancy was with his children. Our methodology standards (e.g., selecting samples) keep getting more rigorous; look at most classic studies and I believe you will find similar ‘flaws’ (e.g., early memory studies run on one-self),” devpsy.org, a developmental psychology Web site said.

For the stages of child development and the primary influential factors, visit this Funderstanding article.

When Cognitive Processes are Divided

“Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget was the first to realize that the cognitive processes of children differ from those of adults,” Web site findingDulcinea said. “Piaget conducted most of his research in question-and-answer conversations. This allowed him to observe how his subjects’ thinking changed over time.” To see how Piaget’s theories impact learning for children, see this other Funderstanding article.

Shunning IQ Testing

Piaget worked with the authors of the Binet-Simon IQ test at the beginning of his research career. In terms of the intelligence tests, instead of focusing on the wrong answers students were getting, Piaget found it more important to look at the answers in general.

When he observed that many of the children were answering the questions with the same wrong answers, he was able to postulate that if education focused more on individual student needs, children may be able to learn better.

“Piaget felt that by looking at the answers themselves (rather than their correctness), he could see how the children were thinking. He noted that while many children were giving the same incorrect answers this important pedagogical fact was not even noticed by the Simon team because they looked only at the numbers of correct answers,” Web site Engines for Education said.

Piaget contributed directly to the development of intelligence theory testing by proposing methods that educational systems could use to encourage the intellectual development of students with different capabilities.

School Systems Remain Unchanged

Although Piaget focused on trying to encourage school systems to adapt to some of his theories, he was ignored.

“Piaget recognized that teaching needed to focus on how children were reasoning rather than focusing on how well they might recall facts for a test. Nevertheless, while his work is lauded by most researchers, it has had little effect on the school system,” Engines for Education said.

Piaget: Your View

What do you think? Do you think Jean Piaget’s theories were inaccurate because he didn’t use a representative sample? Or do you think it doesn’t matter? If you use Piaget’s theories for your classroom learning, how do you justify them?

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

Albert Bandura may be most well known for his work on social cognitive theory and observational learning.  But it’s important for educators and parents to know about a buried treasure at the heart of social cognitive theory – self-efficacy beliefs.  Self-efficacy is what helps nurture effort, perseverance, resilience, serenity, and optimism in the face of adversity.

Bandura defines self-efficacy as “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.” (Bandura, 1995, p. 2). In simpler terms, it’s best captured in Henry Ford’s famous quote:  “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re usually right.”

Self-Efficacy: Pervasive in All Aspects of Life

People’s self-efficacy beliefs extend to all aspects of their lives – career choice, dating behavior, and emotional regulation. A child’s ideas about what she’s good at influences her choice of studies and ultimately career.  If a person doesn’t believe her efforts will result in the outcome she wants, she will have a lot of trouble starting, applying effort, or persevering in any activity – whether it’s studying for an exam, engaging in a sport or asking someone out on a date.

Interestingly, in the world of education, Bandura also extended the concept of self-efficacy to a teacher’s “instructional efficacy“ - her belief in her ability to teach – and “collective efficacy beliefs” – the institution’s collective attitudes towards its students’ ability to learn.  Both significantly impact their students’ educational outcomes.

Self-Efficacy : 4 Sources

Bandura posits that self-efficacy beliefs are formed by how individuals interpret the input they receive through four sources:

1. The person’s own mastery experiences.  How a person interprets the results of her previous performance is the most influential source of self-efficacy beliefs.

• Classroom Strategy: As often as possible, invite students to evaluate their own work. The best way to strengthen self-efficacy is to have students identify those things they did well on assigned tasks.

2. Vicarious experience of observing others perform tasks.  A person forms beliefs in her own efficacy when she watches someone similar model the desired behavior.  Models can also be mentors if they show a better way of doing the task.

• Classroom Strategy: Teachers frequently ask students to assess something done by their peers (reviewing an oral presentation to the class, editing a paper or report, etc). Add the following direction: “In your self-efficacy journal, write down two positive things you observed that you do on a regular basis.”

3. Social persuasions.  These are the verbal judgments made by others. Negative appraisals weaken self-efficacy beliefs more than positive appraisals strengthen them.

• Classroom Strategy: When you ask your students to review/edit/assess the work of their peers, have them identify those things that were done well rather than identifying errors or weaknesses.

4. Somatic and emotional states. A person will assess how confident she feels by interpreting her own emotional and physical state as she contemplates an action.

• Classroom Strategy: Begin by asking your students to imagine themselves doing something they do well. Help them identify their physiological and emotional states during times of success. Tell them that as they imagine taking on new challenges, they have the best chance of success if they can replicate the same positive physiological and emotional states. (Note: This requires considerable abstract thinking skills and may not be especially useful with pre-adolescent students.)

These sources of self-efficacy beliefs point to the importance of a quality that makes us uniquely human.  That is our ability to self-reflect, which is the process by which we make sense of our experience.  Knowing the life-long impact that self-efficacy beliefs have, teachers and parents can help children develop healthy self-reflection skills.  Consistent with the theory of observational learning, a great way to do this is by modeling healthy self-reflection on one’s own performance, and mentoring how a child is interpreting the results of his or her performance.  Teachers can routinely evaluate their own performance in front of the class, specifically identifying what they did well and how they plan to build on their success. By modeling self-evaluation, teachers demonstrate a process designed to promote self-efficacy.

If you want more information about self-efficacy beliefs and how to apply them, you’ll find a wealth of information here.

By Emily K. Fitton, with classroom examples provided by educational consultant and Funderstanding contributor, Bob Sullo. Bob Sullo‘s bio is available here.

Emily K. Fitton, LMSW. Emily is now a psychotherapist and freelance writer after a 25-year career in marketing communications.  She graduated with honors from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service in 2008, and is currently in a post-graduate institute for advanced training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Emily’s writing is informed by her belief that self-awareness and understanding are at the heart of happy relationships and empowered choices.

Citations:

Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998).

Bandura, A. (1995). Self efficacy in changing societies, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Pajares, F. (2002). Overview of social cognitive theory and of self-efficacy.  Retrieved 2/23/08 from http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/eff.html

Every experience and interaction has an impact on development in early childhood. Swiss biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget recognized this when he studied and researched his own theories of cognitive development.

Some of his research led to the belief that every interaction establishes cognitive structure in children. This is especially important in the classroom environment.

Jean Piaget’s theories impact learning in many different ways, but keeping in mind the curriculum you are teaching, as well as how you are teaching it, directly applies to the essentials of child development. For the stages of child development and the primary influential factors, visit this Funderstanding article.

Observation and Education

Jean Piaget developed his methods of understanding children by directly observing them while they were working. Many of his thoughts have led to increased educational theory.

He also analyzed behavior.

“His particular insight was the role of maturation (simply growing up) in children’s increasing capacity to understand their world: they cannot undertake certain tasks until they are psychologically mature enough to do so,” according to Learning and Teaching Information.

Jean Piaget made note of certain stages of development that allowed children to learn better.

“He saw these transitions as taking place at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. This has been taken to mean that before these ages children are not capable (no matter how bright) of understanding things in certain ways,” Learning and Teaching Information said.

Structured Development

Jean Piaget’s theories of development centered on structure. The concept of structure introduced four stages of development, according to Teacher Education:

1. Sensorimotor stage -  0-2 years: imitation, memory and thought begin to be utilized
2. Preoperational stage- 2-7 years: language development and recognizing symbolic form
3. Concrete operational stage- 7-11 years: able to solve hands-on problems logically
4. Formal operational stage- 11-15 years : able to solve abstract problems in a logical fashion

Applying Jean Piaget in the Classroom

To apply Jean Piaget’s theories in the classroom, the University of Arkansas suggests these six steps to structure preoperational development:

1. Use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible.

2. Make instructions relatively short, using actions as well as words.

3. Do not expect the students to consistently see the world from someone else’s point of view.

4. Be sensitive to the possibility that students may have different meanings for the same word or different words for the same meaning. Students may also expect everyone to understand words they have invented.

5. Give children a great deal of hands-on practice with the skills that serve as building blocks for more complex skills like reading comprehension.

6. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a foundation for concept learning and language.

More on Jean Piaget

To learn more about Jean Piaget’s work, check out this Funderstanding page.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

A reader from India posted a question on our Constructivism page, asking how constructivism would be applied to a poetry class. Let’s imagine that a teacher were interested in teaching students the poetry of Shakespeare. Constructivism would challenge the teacher to:

• assure the students draw from their experience to relate to the poem
• keep a larger context, where they don’t just break down the poem into small pieces but keep the ‘whole’ in mind
• somehow, someway learners get involved in constructing their own poems and through them, find a way to relate to the poems being taught

This activity is easier if students are allowed to select their own poems. Ideally students would be offered a large variety of poems to choose from so they could select the ones that most relate to their experience. If the poems of Shakespeare were the subject, then perhaps students can draw from Shakespeare the poetry that best matches their lives. Students interested in leadership might select Henry V, and the romantics might choose from Romeo and Juliet or the sonnets.

Let’s make it harder though and assume that you want to teach the famous ‘To be or not to be….” soliloquy from Shakespeare. If you want to try a constructivist approach, what you don’t want to do is dissect the passage, explaining each line as you go. A more constructivist approach might be to:

1. ask students to describe a situation in their life where they felt alone and at conflict
2. have each student write about that feeling
3. work with students to convert their passage into something that matches a shared understanding of ‘poetic.’
4. then describe for them what Hamlet was feeling just before the speech begins, and ask the students how they feel Hamlet might react
5. review the students posts and challenge them to revise the passage to get either closer to Hamlet’s, or to at least understand how their version is different than his

Recognize that steps 4 and 5 above in particular could take a long time to work through. The teacher’s goal is to guide the student into discovery. Hard to do, and time consuming and standard curriculum don’t often allow this luxury. If you have limited time, adapt what you can.

And remember, constructivism is an excellent approach to learning but not the only approach. As an instructor you are an artist, tasked to come up with the best method to teach a topic at a given time.

Thoughts? Other ideas?

Definition

The social cognition learning model asserts that culture is the prime determinant of individual development. Humans are the only species to have created culture, and every human child develops in the context of a culture. Therefore, a child’s learning development is affected in ways large and small by the culture–including the culture of family environment–in which he or she is enmeshed.

Discussion

1. Culture makes two sorts of contributions to a child’s intellectual development. First, through culture children acquire much of the content of their thinking, that is, their knowledge. Second, the surrounding culture provides a child with the processes or means of their thinking, what Vygotskians call the tools of intellectual adaptation. In short, according to the social cognition learning model, culture teaches children both what to think and how to think.
2. Cognitive development results from a dialectical process whereby a child learns through problem-solving experiences shared with someone else, usually a parent or teacher but sometimes a sibling or peer.
3. Initially, the person interacting with child assumes most of the responsibility for guiding the problem solving, but gradually this responsibility transfers to the child.
4. Language is a primary form of interaction through which adults transmit to the child the rich body of knowledge that exists in the culture.
5. As learning progresses, the child’s own language comes to serve as her primary tool of intellectual adaptation. Eventually, children can use internal language to direct their own behavior.
6. Internalization refers to the process of learning–and thereby internalizing–a rich body of knowledge and tools of thought that first exist outside the child. This happens primarily through language.
7. A difference exists between what child can do on her own and what the child can do with help. Vygotskians call this difference the zone of proximal development.
8. Since much of what a child learns comes form the culture around her and much of the child’s problem solving is mediated through an adult’s help, it is wrong to focus on a child in isolation. Such focus does not reveal the processes by which children acquire new skills.
9. Interactions with surrounding culture and social agents, such as parents and more competent peers, contribute significantly to a child’s intellectual development.

How Lev Vygotsky Impacts Learning:

Curriculum–Since children learn much through interaction, curricula should be designed to emphasize interaction between learners and learning tasks.

Instruction–With appropriate adult help, children can often perform tasks that they are incapable of completing on their own. With this in mind, scaffolding–where the adult continually adjusts the level of his or her help in response to the child’s level of performance–is an effective form of teaching. Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills necessary for independent problem solving in the future.

Assessment–Assessment methods must take into account the zone of proximal development. What children can do on their own is their level of actual development and what they can do with help is their level of potential development. Two children might have the same level of actual development, but given the appropriate help from an adult, one might be able to solve many more problems than the other. Assessment methods must target both the level of actual development and the level of potential development.

Reading

Lev Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Original work published 1934)

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

A paper by James Wertsch and Michael Cole titled “The role of culture in Vygotskyean-informed psychology”. This paper gives an accessible overview of the main thrust of Lev Vygotsky’s general developmental framework and offers a contrast to the Piagetian approach.

This is an introduction to some of the basic concepts of Lev Vygotskyean theory (culturally-mediated identity) by Trish Nicholl.

This is a site for Cultural-Historical Psychology and provides a periodically-updated listing of Vygotskyean and related resources available on the Web.

This is a 1997 paper by P.E. Doolittle titled “Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as a theoretical foundation for cooperation learning” and is published in Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 8 (1), 83-103.

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Definition

Observational learning, also called social learning theory, occurs when an observer’s behavior changes after viewing the behavior of a model. An observer’s behavior can be affected by the positive or negative consequences–called vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment– of a model’s behavior.

Discussion

There are several guiding principles behind observational learning, or social learning theory:

1. The observer will imitate the model’s behavior if the model possesses characteristics– things such as talent, intelligence, power, good looks, or popularity–that the observer finds attractive or desirable.
2. The observer will react to the way the model is treated and mimic the model’s behavior. When the model’s behavior is rewarded, the observer is more likely to reproduce the rewarded behavior. When the model is punished, an example of vicarious punishment, the observer is less likely to reproduce the same behavior.
3. A distinction exists between an observer’s “acquiring” a behavior and “performing” a behavior. Through observation, the observer can acquire the behavior without performing it. The observer may then later, in situations where there is an incentive to do so, display the behavior.
4. Learning by observation involves four separate processes: attention, retention, production and motivation.
   • Attention: Observers cannot learn unless they pay attention to what’s happening around them. This process is influenced by characteristics of the model, such as how much one likes or identifies with the model, and by characteristics of the observer, such as the observer’s expectations or level of emotional arousal.
   • Retention: Observers must not only recognize the observed behavior but also remember it at some later time. This process depends on the observer’s ability to code or structure the information in an easily remembered form or to mentally or physically rehearse the model’s actions.
   • Production: Observers must be physically and/intellectually capable of producing the act. In many cases the observer possesses the necessary responses. But sometimes, reproducing the model’s actions may involve skills the observer has not yet acquired. It is one thing to carefully watch a circus juggler, but it is quite another to go home and repeat those acts.
   • Motivation: In general, observers will perform the act only if they have some motivation or reason to do so. The presence of reinforcement or punishment, either to the model or directly to the observer, becomes most important in this process.
5. Attention and retention account for acquisition or learning of a model’s behavior; production and motivation control the performance.
6. Human development reflects the complex interaction of the person, the person’s behavior, and the environment. The relationship between these elements is called reciprocal determinism. A person’s cognitive abilities, physical characteristics, personality, beliefs, attitudes, and so on influence both his or her behavior and environment. These influences are reciprocal, however. A person’s behavior can affect his feelings about himself and his attitudes and beliefs about others. Likewise, much of what a person knows comes from environmental resources such as television, parents, and books. Environment also affects behavior: what a person observes can powerfully influence what he does. But a person’s behavior also contributes to his environment.

How Observational Learning Impacts Learning:

Curriculum– Students must get a chance to observe and model the behavior that leads to a positive reinforcement.

Instruction– Educators must encourage collaborative learning, since much of learning happens within important social and environmental contexts.

Assessment–A learned behavior often cannot be performed unless there is the right environment for it. Educators must provide the incentive and the supportive environment for the behavior to happen. Otherwise, assessment may not be accurate.

Reading

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Control Theory is the theory of motivation proposed by William Glasser and it contends that behavior is never caused by a response to an outside stimulus. Instead, the control theory states that behavior is inspired by what a person wants most at any given time: survival, love, power, freedom, or any other basic human need.

Discussion

Responding to complaints that today’s students are “unmotivated,” Glasser attests that all living creatures “control” their behavior to maximize their need satisfaction. According to Glasser, if students are not motivated to do their schoolwork, it’s because they view schoolwork as irrelevant to their basic human needs.

Boss teachers use rewards and punishment to coerce students to comply with rules and complete required assignments. Glasser calls this “leaning on your shovel” work. He shows how high percentages of students recognize that the work they do–even when their teachers praise them–is such low-level work.

Lead teachers, on the other hand, avoid coercion completely. Instead, they make the intrinsic rewards of doing the work clear to their students, correlating any proposed assignments to the students’ basic needs. Plus, they only use grades as temporary indicators of what has and hasn’t been learned, rather than a reward. Lead teachers will “fight to protect” highly engaged, deeply motivated students who are doing quality work from having to fulfill meaningless requirements.

How Control Theory Impacts Learning

Curriculum–Teachers must negotiate both content and method with students. Students’ basic needs literally help shape how and what they are taught.

Instruction–Teachers rely on cooperative, active learning techniques that enhance the power of the learners. Lead teachers make sure that all assignments meet some degree of their students’ need satisfaction. This secures student loyalty, which carries the class through whatever relatively meaningless tasks might be necessary to satisfy official requirements.

Assessment–Instructors only give “good grades”–those that certify quality work–to satisfy students’ need for power. Courses for which a student doesn’t earn a “good grade” are not recorded on that student’s transcript. Teachers grade students using an absolute standard, rather than a relative “curve.”

Reading

William Glasser, The Quality School, Harper & Row, 1990.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.