Course:

Educational Psychology and Guidance (Code 6501)

Level: M.A (T. Education)
Semester: Autumn, 2020 ASSIGNMENT No. 1

Q.1 Psychology is the science of behavior do you agree with the

statement? Support your viewpoint with relevant examples. Also,
explain the nature of educational psychology.

Educational psychology involves the study of how people learn, including

topics such as student outcomes, the instructional process, individual
differences in learning, gifted learners, and learning disabilities. Psychologists
who work in this field are interested in how people learn and retain new
information.
This branch of psychology involves not just the learning process of early
childhood and adolescence but includes the social, emotional, and cognitive
processes that are involved in learning throughout the entire lifespan. The field
of educational psychology incorporates some other disciplines, including
developmental psychology, behavioral psychology, and cognitive psychology.
Some of the different topics that educational psychologists are interested in
include:
 Educational Technology: Looking at how different types of technology
can help students learn
 Instructional Design: Designing learning materials
 Special Education: Helping students who may need specialized
instruction
 Curriculum Development: Creating curriculums can maximize learning
 Organizational Learning: Studying how people learn in organizational
settings
 Gifted Learners: Helping students who are identified as gifted learners
Throughout history, some figures have played an important role in the
development of educational psychology. Some of these well-known
individuals include:
o John Locke: An English philosopher who suggested the concept of
tabula rasa, or the idea that the mind is essentially a blank slate at birth
that knowledge is then developed through experience and learning.
o William James: An American psychologist who was also known for his
series of lectures titled "Talks to Teachers on Psychology," which focused
on how teachers could help students learn.
o Alfred Binet: A French psychologist who developed the first intelligence
tests.
o John Dewey: An influential American psychologist and educational
reformer who wrote extensively about progressive education and the
importance of learning through doing.
o Jean Piaget: A Swiss psychologist who is best known for his highly
influential theory of cognitive development.
 o B.F. Skinner: An American behaviorist who introduced the concept of
operational conditioning. His research on reinforcement and punishment
continues to play an important role in education today.
Educational psychology is a relatively young subfield that has experienced a
tremendous amount of growth in recent years. Psychology did not emerge as a
separate science until the late 1800s, so earlier interest in educational
psychology was largely fueled by educational philosophers. Many regard
philosopher Johann Herbart as the "father" of educational psychology. Herbart
believed that a student's interest in a topic had a tremendous influence on the
learning outcome and believed that teachers should consider this interest
along with prior knowledge when deciding which type of instruction is most
appropriate. Later, psychologist and philosopher William James made
significant contributions to the field. His seminal 1899 text Talks to Teachers
on Psychology is considered the first textbook on educational psychology.
Around this same period, French psychologist Alfred Binet was developing his
famous IQ tests. The tests were originally designed to help the French
government identify children who had developmental delays to create special
education programs. In the United States, John Dewey had a significant
influence on education. Dewey's ideas were progressive, and he believed that
schools should focus on students rather than on subjects. He advocated active
learning and believed that hands-on experience was an important part of the
learning process. More recently, educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom
developed an important taxonomy designed to categorize, and describe
different educational objectives. The three top-level domains he described
were cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning objectives.
As with other areas of psychology, researchers within educational psychology
tend to take on different perspectives when considering a problem.
o The behavioral perspective suggests that all behaviors are learned
through conditioning. Psychologists who take this perspective rely firmly
on the principles of operant conditioning to explain how learning
happens. For example, teachers might give out tokens that can be
exchanged for desirable items such as candy and toys to reward good
behavior. While such methods can be useful in some cases, the
behavioral approach has been criticized for failing to account for such
things as attitudes, cognitions, and intrinsic motivations for learning.
o The developmental perspective focuses on how children acquire new
skills and knowledge as they develop. Jean Piaget's famous stages of
cognitive development are one example of an important developmental
theory looking at how children grow intellectually. By understanding how
children think at different stages of development, educational
psychologists can better understand what children are capable of at each
point of their growth. This can help educators create instructional
methods and materials best aimed at certain age groups.
o The cognitive perspective has become much more widespread in
recent decades, mainly because it accounts for how things such as
memories, beliefs, emotions, and motivations contribute to the learning
process. Cognitive psychology focuses on understanding how people
think, learn, remember, and process information. Educational
psychologists who take a cognitive perspective are interested in
 understanding how kids become motivated to learn, how they remember
the things that they learn, and how they solve problems, among other
things.
o The constructivist approach is one of the most recent learning
theories that focus on how children actively construct their knowledge of
the world. Constructivism tends to account more for the social and
cultural influences that impact how children learn. This perspective is
heavily influenced by the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who
proposed ideas such as the zone of proximal development and
instructional scaffolding.
While educational psychology may be a relatively young discipline, it will
continue to grow as people become more interested in understanding how
people learn. APA Division 15, devoted to the subject of educational
psychology, currently lists more than 2,000 members.

Q.2 Describe the concept of cognitive development and discuss the

main stages of cognitive development in human beings with the help
of different theories.
The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of
French psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Piaget's theory, first published
in 1952, grew out of decades of extensive observation of children, including his
own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments
of the behaviorists. Although Piaget was interested in how children reacted to
their environment, he proposed a more active role for them than that
suggested by learning theory. He envisioned a child's knowledge as composed
of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and
serve as a basis for understanding new ones. Schemas are continually being
modified by two complementary processes that Piaget termed assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation refers to the process of taking in new information
by incorporating it into an existing schema. In other words, people assimilate
new experiences by relating them to things they already know. On the other
hand, accommodation is what happens when the schema itself changes to
accommodate new knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development
involves an ongoing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and
accommodation that he termed equilibration.
At the center of Piaget's theory is the principle that cognitive development
occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by
increasingly sophisticated and abstract levels of thought. These stages always
occur in the same order, and each builds on what was learned in the previous
stage. They are as follows:
 Sensorimotor stage (infancy): In this period, which has six sub-stages,
intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of
symbols. Knowledge of the world is limited but developing because it is
based on physical interactions and experiences. Children acquire object
permanence at about seven months of age (memory). Physical
development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new
intellectual abilities. Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at
the end of this stage.
 Pre-operational stage (toddlerhood and early childhood): In this period,
 which has two sub-stages, intelligence is demonstrated through the use
of symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are
developed, but thinking is done in a non-logical, non-reversible manner.
Egocentric thinking predominates.
 Concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence): In this
stage, characterized by seven types of conservation (number, length,
liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume), intelligence is demonstrated
through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to
concrete objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are
reversible). Egocentric thought diminishes.
 Formal operational stage (adolescence and adulthood): In this stage,
intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related
to abstract concepts. Early in the period, there is a return to egocentric
thought. Only 35 percent of high school graduates in industrialized
countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally
during adulthood.
The most significant alternative to the work of Piaget has been the
information-processing approach, which uses the computer as a model to
provide new insight into how the human mind receives, stores, retrieves and
uses information. Researchers using information-processing theory to study
cognitive development in children have focused on areas such as the gradual
improvements in children's ability to take in information and focus selectively
on certain parts of it and their increasing attention spans and capacity for
memory storage. For example, researchers have found that the superior
memory skills of older children are due in part to memorization strategies,
such as repeating items to memorize them or dividing them into categories.
Infancy
As soon as they are born, infants begin learning to use their senses to explore
the world around them. Most newborns can focus on and follow moving
objects, distinguish the pitch and volume of sound, see all colors and
distinguish their hue and brightness, and start anticipating events, such as
sucking at the sight of a nipple. By three months old, infants can recognize
faces; imitate the facial expressions of others, such as smiling and frowning;
and respond to familiar sounds.
At six months of age, babies are just beginning to understand how the world
around them works. They imitate sounds, enjoy hearing their voice, recognize
parents, fear strangers, distinguish between animate and inanimate objects,
and base distance on the size of an object. They also realize that if they drop
an object, they can pick it up again. At four to seven months, babies can
recognize their names.
By nine months, infants can imitate gestures and actions, experiment with the
physical properties of objects, understand simple words such as "no," and
understand that an object still exists even when they cannot see it. They also
begin to test parental responses to their behavior, such as throwing food on
the floor. They remember the reaction and test the parents again to see if they
get the same reaction.
At 12 months of age, babies can follow a fast-moving object; can speak two to
four words, including "mama" and "papa"; imitate animal sounds; associate
names with objects; develop attachments to objects, such as a toy or blanket;
and experience separation anxiety when away from their parents. By 18
months of age, babies can understand about 10–50 words; identify body
parts; feel a sense of ownership by using the word "my" with certain people or
objects; and can follow directions that involve two different tasks, such as
picking up toys and putting them in a box.
Toddlerhood
Between 18 months to three years of age, toddlers have reached the
"sensorimotor" stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development that involves
rudimentary thought. For instance, they understand the permanence of
objects and people, visually follow the displacement of objects, and begin to
use instruments and tools. Toddlers start to strive for more independence,
which can present challenges to parents concerned for their safety. They also
understand discipline and what behavior is appropriate and inappropriate,
and they understand the concepts of words like "please" and "thank you."
Two-year-olds should be able to understand 100 to 150 words and start
adding about ten new words per day. Toddlers also have a better
understanding of emotions, such as love, trust, and fear. They begin to
understand some of the ordinary aspects of everyday life, such as shopping for
food, telling time, and being read to.
Preschool
Preschoolers, ages three to six, should be at the "preoperational" stage of
Piaget's cognitive development theory, meaning they are using their imagery
and memory skills. They should be conditioned to learning and memorizing,
and their view of the world is normally very self-centered. Preschoolers usually
have also developed their social interaction skills, such as playing and
cooperating with other children their age. It is normal for preschoolers to test
the limits of their cognitive abilities, and they learn negative concepts and
actions, such as talking back to adults, lying, and bullying. Other cognitive
developments in preschoolers are developing an increased attention span,
learning to read, and developing structured routines, such as doing household
chores.
School-age
Younger school-age children, six to 12 years old, should be at the "concrete
operations" stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory, characterized by
the ability to use logical and coherent actions in thinking and solving problems.
They understand the concepts of permanence and conservation by learning
that volume, weight, and numbers may remain constant despite changes in
outward appearance. These children should be able to build on past
experiences, using them to explain why some things happen. Their attention
span should increase with age, from being able to focus on a task for about 15
minutes at age six to an hour by age nine.
Adolescents, ages 12 through 18, should be at the "formal operations" stage of
Piaget's cognitive development theory. It is characterized by increased
independence for thinking through problems and situations. Adolescents
should be able to understand pure abstractions, such as philosophy and higher
math concepts. During this age, children should be able to learn and apply the
general information needed to adapt to specific situations. They should also be
able to learn specific information and skills necessary for an occupation. A
major component of the passage through adolescence is a cognitive transition.
Compared to children, adolescents think in ways that are more advanced,
more efficient, and generally more complex. This ability can be seen in five
ways.
First, during adolescence, individuals become better able than children to think
about what is possible, instead of limiting their thought to what is real.
Whereas children's thinking is oriented to the here and now—that is, to things
and events that they can observe directly—adolescents can consider what they
observe against a backdrop of what is possible; they can think hypothetically.
Second, during the passage into adolescence, individuals become better able
to think about abstract ideas. For example, adolescents find it easier than
children to comprehend the sorts of higher-order, abstract logic inherent in
puns, proverbs, metaphors, and analogies. The adolescent's greater facility
with abstract thinking also permits the application of advanced reasoning and
logical processes to social and ideological matters. This is seen in the
adolescent's increased facility and interest in thinking about interpersonal
relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and morality.
Third, during adolescence, individuals begin thinking more often about the
process of thinking itself, or metacognition. As a result, adolescents may
display increased introspection and self-consciousness. Although
improvements in metacognitive abilities provide important intellectual
advantages, one potentially negative byproduct of these advances is the
tendency for adolescents to develop a sort of egocentrism or intense
preoccupation with the self.
The fourth change in cognition is that thinking tends to become
multidimensional, rather than limited to a single issue. Whereas children tend
to think about things one aspect at a time, adolescents can see things through
more complicated lenses. Adolescents describe themselves and others in more
differentiated and complicated terms and find it easier to look at problems
from multiple perspectives. Being able to understand that people's
personalities are not one-sided or that social situations can have different
interpretations depending on one's point of view permits the adolescent to
have far more sophisticated and complicated relationships with other people.
Finally, adolescents are more likely than children to see things as relative,
rather than absolute. Children tend to see things in absolute terms—in black
and white. Adolescents, in contrast, tend to see things as relative. They are
more likely to question others' assertions and less likely to accept facts as
absolute truths. This increase in relativism can be particularly exasperating to
parents, who may feel that their adolescent children question everything just
for the sake of argument. Difficulties often arise, for example, when
adolescents begin seeing their parents' values as excessively relative.
Common problems
Cognitive impairment is a general loss or lack of development of cognitive
abilities, particularly autism and learning disabilities. The National Institutes
of Mental Health (NIMH) describes learning disabilities as a disorder that
affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link
information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up in
many ways, such as specific difficulties with spoken and written language,
coordination, self-control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork
and can impede learning to read or write or to do the math. A child who has a
learning disability may have other conditions, such as hearing problems or
serious emotional disturbance. However, learning disabilities are not caused by
these conditions, nor are they caused by environmental influences such as
cultural differences or inappropriate instruction.
Parental concerns
As of 2004, it is widely accepted that a child's intellectual ability is determined
by a combination of heredity and environment. Thus, although a child's genetic
inheritance is unchangeable, there are definite ways that parents can enhance
their child's intellectual development through environmental factors. They can
provide stimulating learning materials and experiences from an early age, read
to and talk with their children, and help children explore the world around
them. As children mature, parents can both challenge and support the child's
talents. Although a supportive environment in early childhood provides a clear
advantage for children, it is possible to make up for early losses in cognitive
development if a supportive environment is provided at some later period, in
contrast to early disruptions in physical development, which are often
irreversible.
When to call the doctor
If by age three, a child has problems understanding simple directions or is
perplexed when asked to do something simple, the parents or primary
caregiver should consult a physician or pediatrician. The child may have a
delay in cognitive development. Parents should also consult a healthcare
professional if, after age three, their child's cognitive development appears to
be significantly slower than their peers.

Q.3 Morality constitutes an important aspect of development'.

Comment upon the statement and discuss Kohlberg's theory of moral
development with examples.

Moral Development: Forming a Sense of Rights and Responsibilities

Morality is a system of beliefs about what is right and good compared to what
is wrong or bad. Moral development refers to changes in moral beliefs as a
person grows older and gains maturity. Moral beliefs are related to, but not
identical with, moral behavior: it is possible to know the right thing to do, but
not actually do it. It is also not the same as knowledge of social conventions,
which are arbitrary customs needed for the smooth operation of society. Social
conventions may have a moral element, but they have a primarily practical
purpose. Conventionally, for example, motor vehicles all keep to the same side
of the street (to the right in the United States, to the left in Great Britain). The
convention allows for the smooth, accident-free flow of traffic. But following
the convention also has a moral element, because an individual who chooses
to drive on the wrong side of the street can cause injuries or even death. In
this sense, choosing the wrong side of the street is wrong morally, though the
choice is also unconventional.
When it comes to schooling and teaching, moral choices are not restricted to
occasional dramatic incidents but are woven into almost every aspect of
classroom life. Imagine this simple example. Suppose that you are teaching,
reading to a small group of second-graders, and the students are taking turns
reading a story out loud. Should you give every student the same amount of
time to read, even though some might benefit from having additional time? Or
should you give more time to the students who need extra help, even if doing
so bores classmates and deprives others of equal shares of ―floor time‖? Which
option is fairer, and which is more considerate? Simple dilemmas like this
happen every day at all grade levels simply because students are diverse, and
because class time and a teacher‘s energy are finite.
Embedded in this rather ordinary example are moral themes about fairness or
justice, on the one hand, and about consideration or care on the other. It is
important to keep both themes in mind when thinking about how students
develop beliefs about right or wrong. A morality of justice is about human
rights—or more specifically, about respect for fairness, impartiality, equality,
and individuals‘ independence. A morality of care, on the other hand, is
about human responsibilities—more specifically, about caring for others,
showing consideration for individuals‘ needs, and interdependence among
individuals. Students and teachers need both forms of morality. In the next
sections therefore we explain a major example of each type of developmental
theory, beginning with the morality of justice.
Kohlberg’s morality of justice
One of the best-known explanations of how the morality of justice develops
was developed by Lawrence Kohlberg and his associates (Kohlberg, Levine, &
Hewer, 1983; Power, Higgins, & Kohlberg, 1991). Using a stage model similar
to Piaget‘s, Kohlberg proposed six stages of moral development, grouped into
three levels. Individuals experience the stages universally and in sequence as
they form beliefs about justice. He named the levels simply pre-conventional,
conventional, and (you guessed it) post-conventional. The levels and stages
are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Moral stages according to Kohlberg
Moral stage Definition of what is “good”
Pre-conventional Level

Action that is rewarded and not

Stage 1: Obedience and
punished
punishment
Action that is agreeable to the
Stage 2: Market exchange
child and child‘s partner
Conventional Level

Stage 3: Peer opinion Action that wins approval from

friends or peers
Stage 4: Law and order Action that conforms to the
community customs or laws Post
conventional Level
Stage 5: Social contract Action that follows socially
accepted ways of making a
decision
Stage 6: Universal principles Action that is consistent with self-
chosen, general principles
Pre-conventional justice: obedience and mutual advantage
The pre-conventional level of moral development coincides approximately with
the preschool period of life and with Piaget‘s preoperational period of thinking.
At this age, the child is still relatively self-centered and insensitive to the moral
effects of actions on others. The result is a somewhat short-sighted orientation
to morality. Initially (Kohlberg‘s Stage 1), the child adopts ethics of
obedience and punishment—a sort of ―morality of keeping out of trouble.‖
The rightness and wrongness of actions are determined by whether actions are
rewarded or punished by authorities such as parents or teachers. If helping
yourself to a cookie brings affectionate smiles from adults, then taking the
cookie is considered morally ―good.‖ If it brings scolding instead, then it is
morally ―bad.‖ The child does not think about why action might be praised or
scolded; says Kohlberg, he would be incapable at Stage 1 of considering the
reasons even if adults offered them.
Eventually, the child learns not only to respond to positive consequences but
also learns how to produce them by exchanging favors with others. The new
ability creates Stage 2, ethics of market exchange. At this stage, the
morally ―good‖ action favors not only the child but another person directly
involved. A ―bad‖ action lacks this reciprocity. If trading the sandwich from
your lunch for the cookies in your friend‘s lunch is mutually agreeable, then
the trade is morally good; otherwise, it is not. This perspective introduces a
type of fairness into the child‘s thinking for the first time. But it still ignores
the larger context of actions—the effects on people not present or directly
involved. In Stage 2, for example, it would also be considered morally ―good‖
to pay a classmate to do another student‘s homework—or even to avoid
bullying or to provide sexual favors—provided that both parties regard the
arrangement as being fair.
Conventional justice: conformity to peers and society
As children move into the school years, their lives expand to include a larger
number and range of peers and (eventually) of the community as a whole. The
change leads to conventional morality, which are beliefs based on what this
larger array of people agree on—hence Kohlberg‘s use of the term
―conventional.‖ At first, in Stage 3, the child‘s reference group are immediate
peers, so Stage 3 is sometimes called the ethics of peer opinion. If peers
believe, for example, that it is morally good to behave politely with as many
people as possible, then the child is likely to agree with the group and to
regard politeness as not merely an arbitrary social convention, but a moral
―good.‖ This approach to moral belief is a bit more stable than the approach in
Stage 2 because the child is taking into account the reactions not just of one
other person, but of many. But it can still lead astray if the group settles on
beliefs that adults consider morally wrong, like ―Shoplifting for candy bars is
fun and desirable.‖
Eventually, as the child becomes a youth and the social world expands, even
more, he or she acquires even larger numbers of peers and friends. He or she
is therefore more likely to encounter disagreements about ethical issues and
beliefs. Resolving the complexities leads to Stage 4, the ethics of law and
order, in which the young person increasingly frames moral beliefs in terms of
what the majority of society believes. Now, an action is morally good if it is
legal or at least customarily approved by most people, including people whom
the youth does not know personally. This attitude leads to an even more stable
set of principles than in the previous stage, though it is still not immune from
ethical mistakes. A community or society may agree, for example, that people
of a certain race should be treated with deliberate disrespect or that a factory
owner is entitled to dump wastewater into a commonly shared lake or river.
Developing ethical principles that reliably avoid mistakes like these requires
further stages of moral development.
Post-conventional justice: social contract and universal principles
As a person becomes able to think abstractly (or ―formally,‖ in Piaget‘s sense),
ethical beliefs shift from acceptance of what the community does believe to
the process by which community beliefs are formed. The new focus constitutes
Stage 5, the ethics of social contract. Now an action, belief, or practice is
morally good if it has been created through fair, democratic processes that
respect the rights of the people affected. Consider, for example, the laws in
some areas that require motorcyclists to wear helmets. In what sense are the
laws about this behavior ethical? Was it created by consulting with and gaining
the consent of the relevant people? Were cyclists consulted and did they give
consent? Or how about doctors or the cyclists‘ families? Reasonable,
thoughtful individuals disagree about how thoroughly and fairly these
consultation processes should be. In focusing on the processes by which the
law was created, however, individuals are thinking according to Stage 5, the
ethics of social contract, regardless of the position they take about wearing
helmets. In this sense, beliefs on both sides of a debate about an issue can
sometimes be morally sound even if they contradict each other.
Paying attention to due process certainly seems like it should help to avoid
mindless conformity to conventional moral beliefs. As an ethical strategy,
though, it too can sometimes fail. The problem is that an ethics of social
contract places more faith in the democratic process than the process
sometimes deserves, and does not pay enough attention to the content of
what gets decided. In principle (and occasionally in practice), a society could
decide democratically to kill off every member of a racial minority, for
example, but would be deciding this by due process make it ethical? The
realization that ethical means can sometimes serve unethical ends leads some
individuals toward Stage 6, the ethics of self-chosen, universal principles.
At this final stage, the morally good action is based on personally held
principles that apply both to the person‘s immediate life as well as to the
larger community and society. The universal principles may include a belief in
democratic due process (Stage 5 ethics), but also other principles, such as a
belief in the dignity of all human life or the sacredness of the natural
environment. At Stage 6, the universal principles will guide a person‘s beliefs
even if the principles mean disagreeing occasionally with what is customary
(Stage 4) or even with what is legal (Stage 5).
Gilligan’s morality of care
As logical as they sound, Kohlberg‘s stages of moral justice are not sufficient
for understanding the development of moral beliefs. To see why to suppose
that you have a student who asks for an extension of the deadline for an
assignment. The justice orientation of Kohlberg‘s theory would prompt you to
consider issues of whether granting the request is fair. Would the late student
be able to put more effort into the assignment than other students? Would the
extension place a difficult demand on you, since you would have less time to
mark the assignments? These are important considerations related to the
rights of students and the teacher. In addition to these, however, are
considerations having to do with the responsibilities that you and the
requesting student have for each other and others. Does the student have a
valid personal reason (illness, death in the family, etc.) for the assignment
being late? Will the assignment lose its educational value if the student has to
turn it in prematurely? These latter questions have less to do with fairness and
rights, and more to do with taking care of and responsibility for students. They
require a framework different from Kohlberg‘s to be understood fully.
One such framework has been developed by Carol Gilligan, whose ideas center
on the morality of care, or system of beliefs about human responsibilities,
care, and consideration for others. Gilligan proposed three moral positions that
represent different extents or breadth of ethical care. Unlike Kohlberg, Piaget,
or Erikson, she does not claim that the positions form a strictly developmental
sequence, but only that they can be ranked hierarchically according to their
depth or subtlety. In this respect, her theory is ―semi- developmental‖ in a
way similar to Maslow‘s theory of motivation (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Taylor,
Gilligan, & Sullivan, 1995). Table 2 summarizes the three moral positions from
Gilligan‘s theory
Table 2: Positions of moral development according to Gilligan

Moral position Definition of what is morally

good
Position1: Survival
Action that considers one‘s personal
orientation
needs only
Position2:Conventional Action that considers others‘ needs
care or preferences, but not one‘s own
Position 3: Integrated Action that attempts to coordinate
care one‘s personal needs with those of
others

Position 1: caring as survival

The most basic kind of caring is a survival orientation, in which a person is
concerned primarily with his or her welfare. If a teenage girl with this ethical
position is wondering whether to get an abortion, for example, she will be
concerned entirely with the effects of the abortion on herself. The morally
good choice will be whatever creates the least stress for herself and that
disrupts her own life the least. Responsibilities to others (the baby, the father,
or her family) play little or no part in her thinking.
As a moral position, a survival orientation is not satisfactory for classrooms on
a widespread scale. If every student only looked out for himself or herself,
classroom life might become rather unpleasant! Nonetheless, there are
situations in which focusing primarily on yourself is both a sign of good mental
health and relevant to teachers. For a child who has been bullied at school or
sexually abused at home, for example, it is both healthy and morally desirable
to speak out about how bullying or abuse has affected the victim. Doing so
means essentially looking out for the victim‘s own needs at the expense of
others‘ needs, including the bully‘s or abuser‘s. Speaking out, in this case,
requires a survival orientation and is healthy because the child is taking care
of herself.
Position 2: conventional caring
A more subtle moral position is caring for others, in which a person is
concerned about others‘ happiness and welfare, and about reconciling or
integrating others‘ needs where they conflict with each other. In considering
an abortion, for example, the teenager in this position would think primarily
about what other people prefer. Do the father, her parents, and/or her doctor
want her to keep the child? The morally good choice becomes whatever will
please others the best. This position is more demanding than Position 1,
ethically and intellectually, because it requires coordinating several persons‘
needs and values. But it is often morally insufficient because it ignores one
crucial person: the self.
In classrooms, students who operate from Position 2 can be very desirable in
some ways; they can be eager to please, considerate, and good at fitting in
and working cooperatively with others. Because these qualities are usually
welcome in a busy classroom, teachers can be tempted to reward students for
developing and using them. The problem with rewarding Position 2 ethics,
however, is that doing so neglects the student‘s development—his or her own
academic and personal goals or values. Sooner or later, personal goals, values,
and identity need attention and care, and educators have a responsibility for
assisting students to discover and clarify them.
Position 3: integrated caring
The most developed form of moral caring in Gilligan‘s model is integrated
caring, the coordination of personal needs and values with those of others.
Now the morally good choice takes account of everyone including yourself, not
everyone except yourself. In considering an abortion, a woman at Position 3
would think not only about the consequences for the father, the unborn child,
and her family but also about the consequences for herself. How would bearing
a child affect her own needs, values, and plans? This perspective leads to
moral beliefs that are more comprehensive but ironically are also more prone
to dilemmas because the widest possible range of individuals is being
considered.
In classrooms, integrated caring is most likely to surface whenever teachers
give students wide, sustained freedom to make choices. If students have little
flexibility about their actions, there is little room for considering anyone‘s
needs or values, whether their own or others‘. If the teacher says simply: ―Do
the homework on page 50 and turn it in tomorrow morning,‖ then the main
issue becomes compliance, not a moral choice. But suppose instead that she
says something like this: ―Over the next two months, figure out an inquiry
project about the use of water resources in our town. Organize it any way you
won't—talk to people, read widely about it, and share it with the class in a way
that all of us, including yourself, will find meaningful.‖ An assignment like this
poses moral challenges that are not only educational but also moral since it
requires students to make value judgments. Why? For one thing, students
must decide what aspect of the topic matters to them. Such a decision is partly
a matter of personal values. For another thing, students have to consider how
to make the topic meaningful or important to others in the class. Third,
because the timeline for completion is relatively far in the future, students may
have to weigh personal priorities (like spending time with friends or family)
against educational priorities (working on the assignment a bit more on the
weekend). As you might suspect, some students might have trouble making
good choices when given this sort of freedom—and their teachers might there.

Q.4 Discuss different conditions of learning with examples.

Also, highlight the relationship between learning and maturation
It appears to be a simple task to define what we mean by the term learning.
After all, we have spent our entire lives learning new things. When asked to
define learning we usually offer such responses as:
 Knowing something you didn‘t know before.
 Gaining knowledge and skills.
 Acquiring information that you can use in new situations.
 Benefiting from instruction.
 Developing your intelligence.
 Acquiring a different perspective on the world.
Learning as a phenomenon has always fascinated people in many different
disciplines, and there are many theories and thoughts about what learning is.
Learning is a relatively permanent change in mental processing, emotional
functioning, and/or behavior as a result of experience.
Learning is the process of understanding, clarifying, and applying the meaning
of the knowledge acquired. Furthermore, it can also be an exploration,
discovery, refinement, and extension of the learner‘s meaning of knowledge.
Overall, learning occurs when an individual‘s behavior or knowledge changes.
Learning has also been defined from the perspectives of two major bodies of
learning theory to explain how people learn: behaviorism and cognitivism.
 Behaviorism – views learning as a change in observable behavior or
performance resulting from external reinforcers that stimulate change.
To be considered learning, a change in performance must come about as
a result of the learner‘s interaction with the environment
 Cognitivism – views learning as occurring when a new experience alters
some unobservable mental processes that may or may not be
manifested by a change in behavior or performance

As a learner myself, my idea of learning is that it is lifelong, and it is a dynamic

process by which we acquire new knowledge or skills and alter our thoughts,
feelings, attitudes, and actions. We human beings, at our best, we do things
for a reason or goal and strive to make meaning of our lives. People develop a
knowledge base through conditioning the environment; or through seeking
information and thinking about the subject based on their maturation and prior
knowledge. When knowledge is purposely put into practice it leads to
behavioral competence and, through reflection, to wisdom.

2. Look up the difference between maturation and learning and the

role of maturation in learning. Why should teachers be aware of
the relationship between maturation and learning? Cite personal
experiences or observations where the learning processes are
 impaired when the teacher/s fail to value this relationship.

Maturation is a developmental process that may be ascribed to heredity or

constitutes species-specific behavior. It is a natural process. Maturation is the
growth that takes place in the individual. The changes on account of
maturation are the results of unfolding and ripening of inherited traits. They
are relatively independent of activity, experience, and practice

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Following are some definitions of maturation:

 M.L. Biggie and M.P. Hunt, ―Maturation is a development process
within which a person from time to time manifests different traits, the.
‗Blue prints‘ for which have been carried in his cells from the time of
conception.‖
 Gates and Jersild, ―Maturation is the growth that proceeds regularly
within a wide range of environmental conditions or that takes place
without special conditions of stimulation such as training or practice.‖
 Garry and Kingsley, ―Maturation is a process whereby behavior is
modified as a result of growth and development of the physical
structure.‖

Maturation involves changes that are associated with normal growth. Learning,
on the other hand, is a change in the individual which is not on account of
genetic inheritance. It is a process that takes place as a result of stimuli from
without. Activity, experience, and training lead to changes in the behavior in
the process of learning.

Learning and maturation are closely interrelated. Sometimes it becomes

difficult to say definitely as to which behavioral changes are the results of
learning and which are the consequences of maturation.

Thus,
a) Maturation makes learning possible – Learning takes place only if
the stage for that type of learning has been achieved through a process of
maturation.

b) Maturation sets a limit to what a person can be or become –

Because of limitations in the hereditary endowment of the child,
development cannot go beyond a certain point even when learning is
encouraged

c) Variations in patterns of development – The different

environmental influences children experience affect the pattern of
development. Were human development due to maturation alone as in
some animal species, individuality would be reduced to a minimum
d) Deprivation of learning opportunities limits development – When
the environment limits learning opportunities, children will be unable to
reach their hereditary potentials.
e) Effectiveness of learning depends upon proper timing –
 Regardless of how much effort children put into learning, they cannot learn
until they are developmentally ready to learn.
f) Modification of behavior – For both learning and maturation the
purpose is the modification of behavior. However, learned behavior differs
from behavior attributed to maturation.
An understanding of stages and levels of maturation helps the teachers to
know what and when to begin training. If too much is expected from a child at
a given age, children are likely to develop feelings of inadequacy. On the other
hand, if too little is expected of them then they are deprived of incentives to
develop their potential.
If learning precedes maturation there is more wastage of time and energy.
Knowledge of the maturation and developmental stages of a learner also
suggests whether the learner is mature and old enough to profit by teaching.
In case a concept is taught before the appropriate age the teaching will go
waste. The understanding of the complexity of changes that take place as a
result of learning and maturation would make a teacher and his/her teaching
effective. Maturation and learning go hand in hand in the process of human
development, growth of the structures of the body makes it possible to
perform several activities and these activities make learning possible.

Q.5 Critically evaluate associative theories of learning. Discuss

the implications of these theories for today's classroom teaching.

Associative learning is a theory that states that ideas reinforce each other and
can be linked to one another. This lesson will explain the theory of associative
learning as well as provide some practical, real-life examples of this type of
learning.
Associative Learning
Sit back and close your eyes. Relax and get ready to recall some really specific
details. Imagine your mother's left eyebrow. Not her right eyebrow. Not her
eyes. Just her left eyebrow. Hard, isn't it? When you try to envision your
mother's eyebrow, you see her eyes, cheeks, forehead, nose, chin - her whole
face! Why is it so difficult to recall just her eyebrow?
Associative learning
is a learning principle that states that ideas and experiences reinforce each
other and can be mentally linked to one another. In a nutshell, it means our
brains were not designed to recall information in isolation; instead, we group
information into one associative memory. That's why it is difficult to recall just
one eyebrow without seeing the whole face.
Associative learning can be powerful classroom management and teaching
tool and has many uses in the classroom. It can be used to help students
connect with information more deeply and recall that information with greater
accuracy.
Associative Learning and Behavior
Associative learning is a form of conditioning, a theory that states behavior
can be modified or learned based on a stimulus and a response. This means
that behavior can be learned or unlearned based on the response it generates.
For example, a student might know that if she misbehaves in class (stimulus),
she will not be permitted to go out for recess (response).
This type of learning can be helpful in classroom management.
Much like conditioning, associative memory can be called upon based on the
relationship between two stimuli. Using both positive and negative
reinforcers (stimuli used to change behavior), teachers can help students
modify their behavior.
Some examples of positive reinforcement are:
 Awarding good grades for work that is well done.
 Allowing students to watch a video for finishing an assignment.
 Verbally rewarding students for their effort and hard work.
 Giving students a 'punch' in their punch card each time they do
something well. When the punch card is full, the student receives a
reward.
By using positive reinforcement, teachers can condition students to associate
good work and good behavior with a reward. On the other hand, negative
reinforcement can be used to punish students for poor behavior. Some
examples of negative reinforcement are:
 Removing recess from students who 'act out' in class.
 Taking points off of work that is turned in late.
 Not allowing a student who is misbehaving to sit with his friends.
 Using a chart to document the number of times a student has
misbehaved (using stickers). When the chart line is full, the student
loses a classroom privilege.
Associative Learning and Teaching
Associative memory can be a powerful teaching tool. Because associative
learning relies on the principle that ideas and experience can be linked
together and ultimately reinforce one another, an association can be used to
help students remember information.

4 Theories of learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Cognitive Theory.
 Social Learning Theory.

These are explained below:-

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a type of conditioning in which an individual responds
to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such as response.
It is the process of learning to associate a particular thing in our
environment with a prediction of what will happen next.
Classical conditioning, the association of such an event with another desired
event resulting in behavior, is one of the easiest to understand processes of
learning.
When we think of classical conditioning, the first name that comes to our mind
is Ivan Pavlov, the Russian psychologist.
The normal stimulus for a flow of saliva is the taste of food. But often the
mouth waters at the mere sight of luscious peach, on hearing it described or
even thinking about it. Thus, one situation is substituted for another to elicit
behavior.
This is called conditioning. In the case of classical conditioning, a simple
surgical procedure allowed Pavlov to measure accurately the amount of saliva
secreted by a dog.
When Pavlov presented one dog with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a
noticeable increase in salivation. When Pavlov withheld the presentation of
meat and merely rang a bell, the dog did not salivate.
Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat and the ringing of the bell. After
repeatedly hearing the bell before getting the food, the dog began to salivate
as soon as the bell rang. After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the
sound of the bell, even if no food was offered.
In classical conditioning, learning involves a conditioned stimulus and an
unconditioned stimulus. Here, the meat was an unconditioned stimulus; it
invariably caused the dog to react in a specific way.
The reaction that took place whenever the unconditioned stimulus occurred
was called the unconditioned response. Here, the bell was a conditioned
stimulus.
When the bell was paired with the meat, it eventually produced a response
when presented alone. This is a conditioned response.
Operant conditioning
The second type of conditioning is called operant conditioning.
Here, we learn that a particular behavior is usually followed by a reward or
punishment. What Pavlov did for classical conditioning, the Harvard
psychologist B.F. Skinner did for operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning argues that one‘s behavior will depend on different
situations. People will repeatedly behave in a specific way from where they will
get benefits.
On the other hand, they will try to avoid a behavior from where they will get
nothing. Skinner argued that creating pleasing consequences to specific forms
of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior. In one famous
experiment displaying operant learning, the psychologist B.F. Skinner trained
rats to press a lever to get food. In this experiment, a hungry rat was placed in
a box containing a lever attached to some concealed food.
At first, the rat ran around the box randomly.
In this process, it happened to press the lever, and the food dropped into the
box. The dropping of food- reinforced the responsibility of pressing the lever.
After repeating the process of pressing the lever followed by dropping off food
many times, the rat learned to press the lever for food.
People will most likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively
reinforced for doing so. Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow
the desired response. Also, behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is
less likely to be repeated.
Cognitive Theory
Cognition refers to an individual‘s thoughts, knowledge of interpretations,
understandings, or ideas about himself, and his environment.
This is a process of learning through active and constructive thought
processes, such as practice or using our memory.
One example might be that you were taught how to tell time by looking at a
clock.
Someone taught you the meaning of the big hand and little hand, and you
might have had to practice telling the time when you were first learning it.
This process of learning was entirely inside your mind and didn‘t involve any
physical motions or behaviors. It was all cognitive, meaning an internal
thought process.
The theory has been used to explain mental processes as they are influenced
by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, which eventually bring about learning in
an individual.
On the other hand, ineffective cognitive processes result in learning difficulties
that can be seen anytime during the lifetime of an individual.
Social Learning Theory
The social learning theory also called observational learning, stresses the
ability of an‖ individual to learn by observing what happens to other people
and just by being told about something.
One can learn things by observing models, parents, teachers, peers, motion
pictures, TV artists, bosses, and others.
Many patterns of behavior are learned by watching the behaviors of others and
observing their consequences for them. In this theory, it is said that the
influence of models is the central issue.
4 processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will have
on an individual. These processes are:
1. Attention process
People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its
critical features.
If the learner is not attentive they would not able to learn anything. We tend
to be most influenced by attractive models, repeatedly available, which we
think is important, or we see as similar to us.
2. Retention process
A model‘s influence depends on how well the individuals remember the models‘
actions after the model is no longer readily available.

After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the model, the watching
must be converted to doing. It
involves recall the model‘s behaviors and performing their actions and
matching them with those of the model.
This process then demonstrates that the individual can perform the modeled
activities.

Individuals are motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if positive incentives

or rewards are provided.
Behavior that is positively reinforced is given more attention, learned better,
and performed more often.
At last, we can say that social learning theory is a function of consequences. It
also acknowledges the existence of observational learning and the importance
of perception in learning.
In this case, a person who wants to learn should identify the target behavior
and select the appropriate model and modeling medium. Then he/she should
create a favorable learning environment and observe the model.