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• Behaviorism


  The scientific study of observable behavior
• Conditioning


  Learning, or creating conditions conducive to learning
• Classical Conditioning/Pavlovian Conditioning


  • Ivan Pavlov developed Pavlovian conditioning and demonstrated how conditioned stimulus produced conditioned response
  • A form of conditioning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that causes an involuntary response until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and also causes the response
• Operant Conditioning


  • Voluntary behavior is conditioned through its consequences
• Forms of Reinforcement


  • Positive Reinforcement - presentation of a consequence that increases the probability of a response
  • Negative Reinforcement - removal of an aversive stimulus that increases the probability of a response (this is not punishment)
• Forms of Punishment


  • Positive Punishment - adding a consequence to unwanted behavior
  • Negative Punishment - removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior
• Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

  • Jean Piaget pioneered in studying child development and developed a theory of cognitive development
• Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

  • Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)
  • Preoperational Stage (About age 2 through 7)
  • Concrete Operational Stage (About age 7 through 11)
  • Formal Operational Stage (About age 12 and older)
• Preoperational Stage


  • Children are not yet capable of thinking logically, have limitations like animism, lack of hierarchical classification, egocentrism, and lack of conservation
• Concrete Operational Stage


  • Children can think more logically, decenter, reverse operations, classify, and conserve successfully
• Formal Operational Stage


  • Youth can think in the abstract, think about possibilities that may not physically exist, and think about, manage, and monitor their own thinking
• Advances in knowledge since Piaget include underestimation and overestimation of abilities, and the primacy of language
• Piaget's theory is a good starting point because it caused scientists to try to understand why children respond so oddly to Piaget's tasks, and it continues to be widely applied in education
• Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Theory


  • Stressed the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition
  • Believed that language develops from social interaction and plays an important role in cognitive development
  • Introduced the Zone of Proximal Development
• Socio-Cultural Theory


  The theory of how children learn, largely based on Vygotsky's writings, that emphasizes social interaction, historical context, and culture
• Zone of Proximal Development


  The distance between what learners can do independently and what they can do with the assistance of a competent other
• Scaffolding


  A more competent person helps a child master new skill by breaking the tasks or subskills into small units and guiding performance to a higher level
• Private Speech


  Talking to oneself out loud, partially out loud, or silently in one's mind to help regulate one's own behavior or solve problems
• Vygotsky's sociocultural theory is not stage-oriented, but one aspect that does show age trends is private speech
• Cultural Tools


  Concrete objects and symbolic tools that allow members of a culture to think, build, record, problem solve, and communicate
• Classroom Implications of Sociocultural Theory

  • Use language as a tool to help learners organize their thoughts and to consolidate memories
  • Teach learners in their zone of proximal development, using appropriate scaffolding
  • Help learners actively observe and participate in activities with adults and peers through apprenticeship and guided participation
  • Work together as a community of learners in which everyone contributes to the learning process
• Social Constructivism


  The view that knowledge is not poured into learners' brains, but that knowledge is constructed through social interaction
• Social Constructivist Instruction


  • Scaffoldings
  • Classroom Discussion
  • Reciprocal Teaching
• Behaviorism, Piaget's theory, and Vygotsky's theory are different theories of how children learn and develop cognitively, with Piaget's and Vygotsky's being considered constructivist
• There currently is no single grand theory that adequately unifies all three theories, as reinforcement does lead to learning, and children are innately motivated to explore the world and construct their own knowledge
• Information Processing Theory (IPT)


  Suggests that children process information similar to computers, with sensory input, storage, retrieval, and output, and focuses on how children acquire, process, store, and retrieve information to understand their cognitive development
• Components of Information Processing Model

  • Sensory Stage - Sensory register that takes in sensory information and holds it for no more than a few seconds
  • Long-Term Memory - Memory process that creates long lasting memories
  • Executive Functions - Higher-level cognitive skills used to control and coordinate cognitive abilities and behaviors
  • Working Memory - Temporarily storing and manipulating information for cognitive tasks
  • Cognitive Flexibility - Ability to adapt and switch between different cognitive strategies
  • Inhibitory Control - Cognitive ability to suppress inappropriate thoughts, impulses, or behaviors
  • Metacognition - Ability to monitor, evaluate, and regulate one's own cognitive processes
• Types of Metacognition


  • Metacomprehension - Awareness and control of one's own comprehension processes while reading
  • Metamemory - Awareness and understanding of one's own memory processes
• Age Trends in Information Processing

  • Infancy and Toddlerhood (Birth to 2 Years) - Processing speed is relatively slow
  • Early Childhood (3 to 5 Years) - Processing speed continues to improve, executive functions improve dramatically
  • Middle Childhood (6 to 12 Years) - Processing speed continues to improve, but rate of change slows down
  • Adolescence (13 to 19 Years) - Processing speed increases, levels off, and then begins to get slower after age 18
• Individual Diversity in Information Processing

  Wide range of cognitive abilities, strategies, and preferences that different individuals possess when perceiving, encoding, storing, retrieving, and utilizing information
• ADHD


  Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, impulsivity, and/or hyperactivity
• Classroom Implications of Information Processing

  • Reduce Working Memory and Executive Load - Limit talking, reduce distractions, increase learners' expertise, provide external storage, carve problems into smaller subtasks
• Memory Errors


  Memory is not an exact replica of an object, event, or experience
• Types of Memories


  • Verbatim Traces - Detailed accurate memories
  • Fuzzy Traces - A distilled gist of an experience
• Information-processing ability affects learners' academic and social success in your classroom
• Academic tasks require strong information processing
• Reduce Working Memory and Executive Load

  1. Limit your talking

  2. Reduce distractions in your classroom

  3. Increase your learners' expertise

  4. Provide external storage

  5. Carve problems into smaller subtasks that can be performed sequentially
• Verbatim Traces


  Detailed accurate memories
• Fuzzy Traces


  A distilled gist of an experience rather than an exact memory
• Three reasons learners forget things

  • Decay
  • Retrieval Failure
  • Interference