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Principles of education and views of learning - Coggle Diagram
Principles of education and views of learning
Education is learning, knowledge exposure and assimilation of knowledge, as well as the provision of praxis
Includes both learning and teaching
Learning (Hill, 2002) - process through which experiences produce a permanent change in knowledge or behaviour
Behavioural theory of learning - passive student role
Recalling facts, defining concepts and performing procedures - tabula rasa learning, shaped by external stimuli and learning shows a change in behaviour
Critical point - is dysregulated behaviour in SEN fair to label undesirable, how can behaviour be replaced with other responses to support this
Classical conditioning - natural reflexes to a stimulus that become trained:
Extinction of stimuli
Learning through association - associating feelings with school, response to praise or consequence to child's behaviour (reassociating this improves behaviour, or changes anxiety)
Cueing a response (provide antecedent stimuli) is useful for setting behaviours or teaching content, but it can be quickly forgotten
Prompting use - trigger behaviour using prompts just before, followed by gradual removal of prompts for behaviour management (Alberto & Troutman, 20006)
Operant conditioning - reinforcement / punishment based learning:
Reinforcement schedules -
Continuous - disappears quickly, rapid learning of response
Fixed interval - response rate speeds up but does not persist
Variable interval - greater persistance
Fixed ratio - little persistence
Variable ratio - highest persistence
Token economy - use of reward has to be age motivated, but adding reward where intrinsic motivation exists could be detrimental
Behaviour -
Desirable - punctuality and completing homework
Undesirable - fighting, cheating
Skills -
Social - sharing, helping others
Motor - playing sports, playing instruments
Zimmerman - self-regulation -> goal-setting:
Self instruction
Self monitoring
Self evaluating
Self consequences
Does this apply to all students e.g. ASD and ADHD?
See lecture notes for diagram
Reward focus in the behavioural approach - Deci, Koestner & Ryan., 1999 (meta-analysis on 128 studies):
Tangible rewards - contingent and expected, but more detrimental for children (extrinsic maintained)
Verbal rewards - more motivating for college students (instrinsic more maintained)
-> Intrinsic motivation - measured by free choice and reported interest
-> Type of reward - Marinak & Gambrell (2008) looked at reading rewards in a school
Proximal rewards to the target behaviour are more effective e.g. giving a book to a student as a reward for reading
Token group in the study showed undermining of motivation for reading, and it was less impactful than not rewarding reading at all
Proximal rewards were less undermining to intrinsic motivation, but made little difference compared to no reward
Criticisms -
Prevents development of interactive teaching, as it ignores intricate learning situations - can shape educational reform and ABA is effective, but not without its limitations (Susetyarini et al., 2024)
Effective in setting behavioural boundaries
Can create negative associations about feelings and places
Students lack control over own learning, which could lead to more behaviour
Overly rewarding erases motivation
Cognitive theory - passive and active
Reasoning, problem-solving and information processing - overcomes the black box of connection / mediation processes between stimulus and response in behavioural approach
Education is effective when it involves the body, brain and environment - physical activity, generative learning and offloaded cognition (Casto-Alonso et al., 2024)
Baddeley & Hitch - working memory - decay and interference (retroactive and proactive):
Metacognition - knowledge about own cognition
-> Allows regulation of reasoning, comprehension, problem-solving and learning
-> Nicolson & Fawcett (1994) - combination of mnemonic and mastery techniques can support metacognition in learning difficulties
-> Declarative knowledge must be made meaningful through images, mnemonics and other methods
Loci method - associate with places
Keyword method - recode, relate and retrive
Serial position effect - combatted by part learning, distributed practice over massed practice
-> Development of procedural skills
Cognitive stage (follow instructions), associative stage (chunked instructions) and autonomous stage
Domain-specific strategies - consciously applied skills for specific problem
Craik and Lockhart - Levels of processing; Human information processing: (see lecture for diagram)
Senses -> stimuli -> receptors -> short term sensory memory
Perception (informed by attention)
Memory (informed by attention) - long-term memory informs perception, working memory is bidirectional to perception
Intention (informed by attention) -> decision making and response selection (bidirectional to working memory)
Action -> response execution of motion or behaviour -> response
Learning is an active process in which information is sensed, examined and processed before response
Effective processing = learning:
Weinstein, Madan & Sumeracki (2018) - 6 areas of effective processing support
Concrete examples - when studying abstracts
Dual coding - visuals
Elaboration - asking how and why
Retrieval practice - Agarwal, Nunes & Blunt., 2021
Spaced practice - study schedule to spread activities
Interleaving - switch between topics
Social cognitive theory (Bandura) - active and passive
Observational learning, imitation, modelling and reciprocal determinism -
Schunk (2013) - self-regulation is important to learning
Criticising use in primary schools - peer modelling is effective for an inclusive learning environment, as well as observational learning
-> Limited resources and resistance to change are barriers (Widodo & Astuti, 2024)
Attention -> retention -> reproduction -> reinforcement (vicarious and self):
Factors impacting observational learning (Schunk, 2004)
Developmental status
Model prestige and competence
Vicarious consequences
Outcome expectations
Goal setting - important in self-management (Schunk, 2002)
Self-efficacy - self-management (Rachlin, 2000) in a behaviour change programme to set their own goals
In teaching - direct attention, fine tuning learned behaviours, strengthen or weaken inhibitions (ripple effect of behaviour contagion), modelling and arousing emotion
Allow self-evaluation (Sweeney et al., 1993) in behaviour change programmes and self-reinforcement
Learning occurs as a result of social interaction -
Behaviour (performance; mental events such as attention, retention and motivation) <-> personal (self-efficacy) <-> environment (teacher feedback)
Asking for help can influence the teaching and the environment
A person's behaviour influences their environment and is influenced by their environment (social and personal)
Self-efficacy -
Mediating / moderating factors on performance (Honicke & Broadbent, 2015)
Effort regulation - have to put in effort to increase performance
Processing strategies
Goal orientation
Dissonance when failure is tangible - this could undermine the self-efficacy (unstable trait)
Overconfidence when learning - less engaged
Overly simplistic view of performance (more of a cycle)
Urhahne & Waijnia (2023) - six stages to understanding; the situation, the self, the goal, the action, the outcome and the consequence
Social-psychological interventions - Yaeger & Walton, 2011:
Context-dependent tools
Interventions to target feelings, beliefs and thoughts over competencies
Attribution theory for academic setbacks -
-> Stable v unstable causes - growth mindset / theories of intelligence mitigate stereotyped threat
-> Self-affirmation
-> Social belonging
-> Increases academic outcomes for children with learning disabilities (Schnitzer, Andries & Lebeer., 2007) - mediated by teacher attitude
Allows students to take more advantage of academic opportunities available rather than directly intervening in the learning
Constructivist theory - active
Discovery and negotiation (modify and remove) of misconceptions and biases acquired during earlier stages of education
Child is active in their own learning
Equilibrium - reaching that feeling of making sense of knowledge
Cognitive constructivism - Piaget:
Concepts - schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium
Principles - learning is an active rather than passive process and learning should be whole, authentic and real to be effective
People construct knowledge themselves and make sense of their own experiences - saw the role of learners as active rather than passive
Social constructivism - Vygotsky:
Social interaction is the medium for learning
Psychological tools - language
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) -> scaffolding (tutoring)
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - child is successful with support but not in isolation
Socially shared activities become internalised - cognitive growth first occurs on a social level and later on an individual level
Discovery learning - Alferi et al, 2010 (meta-analysis) -
Explicit instruction - better than unassisted discovery but not better than assisted discovery
Unassisted discovery does not benefit learners
Assisted discovery (feedback/questioning, worked examples and scaffolding) -> very effective compared to other forms of instruction
Role of private speech -
Vygotsky - cognitive development is based on social interaction and language development - guides and monitors thinking
Veraska (2022) - the two theories are similar and needed for development as they frame social contact in different ways
Vygotsky suggested we interact with social structures we are presented with, and thus it comes from the environment first
Piaget suggests we confront the environment with the knowledge we have and learn from mistakes made
Private speech indicates egocentrism
Stages - sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete and formal
The theories all increase in the level of cognitive processing from the learner (Ertmer & Newby., 1993)
All the approaches have their place in education, but most should not be used in isolation
Modelling and social cognition is beneficial for behaviour management, and using reinforcement schedules can help younger children learn appropriate behaviour
However, cognitive and constructivist processes bridge knowledge gaps and give reason to the behaviours preferred by society
-> Children will reject structures they do not see purpose in, as evidenced by papers which illustrate the high impact of child-led reward systems (Piazzalunga, Donati & Ferrante, 2023)
Further reading
Biesta (2010) - Evidence based practice:
Epistemological domain has a knowledge deficit, ontological has a efficacy deficit and practice domain has an application deficit
Role of normativity, power and values - value-based education is a good alternative to evidence-based
As education is teleological (shaped by an aim), it implies decisions about actions being based on what they aim to achieve
-> Evidence does not provide direction, so value must precede it (Ax & Ponte, 2010)
-> Evidence-informed practice is better - it is evidenced that the home environment impacts achievement, but one would not remove a child from their parents because of this to improve educational success
-> Interventions should be informed by desirability of outcome
Whitehead (n.d.) -
English education is without an aim - government has killed the aim to follow a results based system
Schools should have independent assessment and qualifications - rigid curriculums and groupings is not positive for education
Woofolk, Hughes & Walkup (2013)
Cognitive development and language -
Students should be taught in an environment where they are neither bored or frustrated - have to be challenged but supported
Cooperative learning - guided by others
Limitations of Vygotsky -
Children are equipped with knowledge much before they are instructed by an MKO
No detail of underlying cognitive processes
Consists of general ideas - also did not detail applications for teaching
Applications -
Imitative learning, instructed learning and collaborativ learning (Tomasello et al., 1993)
Learning should be assisted by others, through demonstration of concepts, scaffolding work and demonstrating thought processes, detailed feedback
Cognitive behaviour modification and self-instruction -
Emphasis on thinking and self-talk - Manning and Payne, 1996
Adult models task
Child performs under adult instruction
Child performs whilst instructing out loud
Child whispers instructions
Child uses private speech
Applications of Piaget -
Interventions based on 6 areas of learning (personal, communication, mathematical, world knowledge, physical and creative) which reflect the theory - but not ages
Understanding children’s thinking helps us matching teaching methods - strategies used can be revealed and assisted with (Confrey, 1990 - learners understand their learning best)
Learning contexts - let children choose own follow up activities with the teacher encouraging them
-> Learning should be done with physical and mental objects used in the constructive process to actively engage them e.g. classification of dimensions
-> Use of play - playing leads children from no rule settings to rules, conventions and thus cooperation, fairness and language
Developing language
Precedes other cognition, and so have biases, rules and constraints about language that restrict possibilities considered
Children have a constraint that a new label is for a whole object, rather than a part of it
Nativist (Chomsky) v behavioural (Skinner)
Areas of language at school - vocabulary, semantics, syntax, pronunciation, pragmatics, metalinguistic awareness (understanding how language works), partnerships with families
Dual language - older learners go through stages twice as fast, but critical period for pronunciation is before adolescence (never near native after this)
-> Higher proficiency at the first language increases learning of the second
Cross cultural differences in cognition:
Piaget’s stages are accurate, but not the age ranges (Western children move stages 2-3 years earlier)
-> Depends on the teaching and value of knowledge in that culture, as well as the domain tested
Higher receptive ability in Asian cultures, higher expressive in Western cultures - due to emphasis on listener role in accurate communication in Asian cultures, whereas it is on the communicator in Western cultures (Meesook, 2003)
Cross cultural similarities:
Requires social and cognitive stimulation
Children have to be active linguistically, mentally and physically for thinking - benefit from teaching, guidance, questions and explanations
Play matters
Teaching what they know is boring, teach what they are not ready for is frustrating
Challenge with support engages
Recognising name, says 1-2 words -> respond to coos, tell nursery rhymes and sing, play simple games
Uses 5-20 words and 2 word sentences -> reward and encourage early efforts, narrate actions, talk simply, clearly and slowly, look at the child when they talk to you, describe the child’s feelings
Identifies body parts, refers to themselves as ‘me’, short sentences, knows little v big etc - help them follow instructions, simple games, repeat new words, describe actions, expand phrases, show you have understood them
Can tell a story - talk about similarity of objects, encourage play, talk about places you will go and have been, helping with sorting objects
Sentence length is 4-5 words, past tense, high vocab, identifies colours and shapes - allow them to help plan things, talk about interests, let them make up stories
Enquiry and problem based learning -
Present event after rules
Learners ask questions
Test causal relationships
Form generalisation
Discuss thinking
Gives flexible knowledge and makes them active learners
Dialogue and instructional complications (Vygotsky) - impacts the effectiveness
Cognitive apprenticeships:
Learners observe expert
Get external support through tutoring
Conceptual scaffolding
Articulate knowledge
Reflect on progress
Explore new ways to apply learning
Applied behavioural analysis - application of behavioural learning principles to understand and change behaviour
Behaviour modification - systematic application of antecedents and consequences to change behaviour
Provides specification of behaviour, how it will be changed and interventions - measures what causes undesirable behaviour and changes it
-> Measure behaviour -> apply intervention -> stop intervention -> reintroduce
Reinforcement - with teacher attention, differential attention to ignore undesirable behaviour
-> However, praise and ignore approach does not solve classroom management problems (McGoey and DuPaul, 2000 - removing reward more effective)
-> Systematic praise improves behaviour (Landrum and Kauffman, 2006) - contingent on behaviour, specify what is reinforced and praise must be genuine
Reinforcement - Premack principle - a more-preferred activity can be a reinforcer for less-preferred activity
Reinforcement - shaping by reinforcing small steps that progress
Successive approximations - small components that make up complex behaviour are praised
Task analysis (Miller, 1962) - break down main skill into steps and sequence awareness can help teachers instruct each part of a skill to learners
Positive practice - replacing behaviour (academic error focused)
Use of negative reinforcement for undesirable behaviour - natural and logical consequences to strengthen the behaviour you want (deviation from behaviourism - too much thinking involved)
Satiation - repetition until undesirable behaviour is boring - however this is harmful
Reprimands in private are more impactful (Landrum and Kauffman, 2006), especially when in a warm and supportive way (Kaplan, 1991)
Response cost - loss of privilege (Walker et al, 2004)
Social isolation from peers
Approaching problem behaviours and providing positive support
Function of behaviour -
Receive attention
Escape unpleasant situation such as demands
Obtain a desired activity
Meet sensory needs
This allows positive behaviour to be put into practice, known as a positive behavioural support (provide same function) or a functional behavioural assessment (determine the function)
-> FBAs - identify when and where it happens, who is involved, what happens before, what happens after and what do they gain from it
Use of good behaviour games - class rules and rewards
Group consequence
Token reinforcement programmes - complicated and time-consuming, should be used to motivate learners, encourage progress or deal with a behaviourally difficult class
Contingency contracts - learners suggest rules and rewards, and allows feeling of control (Locke and Latham, 1990) and more motivation to complete the behaviours as they choose the reward
Criticisms of behaviourist approach:
Do not always translate into work improvements - rewards can devalue education, and praise based on intelligence can lead to motivation loss when they make a mistake
Ethical issues with punishment
Diversity and convergence in behavioural learning -
-> Diversity of models needed
-> No one repeats behaviours that are punished or ignored, and no sense of progress means this does not persist
-> When actions lead to positive consequence, they are repeated
-> Teachers fail to use reinforcement for positive behaviour
-> To be effective, praise must be sincere and real
-> All people can learn to be self-managing regardless of level of functioning
Evidence based practice
Dilemma of identity in educational psychology - Slavin (2002) and Berliner (2002) have contrasting perspectives
S - research should focus on replicability and central practices that meet acadmic rigor
B - impossible to create scientific rigour when education is embedded in complex and changing social networks - variable power over each other changes, context is uncontrollable
S - issue of selection bias in RCTs and well matched - however, self-selection from students and schools makes treatment effective, even if observed effects may not be true
The value is in accepting intervention
Advantages of single method - highly generalisable and comparable
Disadvantages - ignores context
B - ethnographic research is crucial, along with case studies, surveys and action research
Single methodology is not helpful
Reverse adv v dv as above
Effectiveness v cost-effectiveness - both have advantages and disadvantages:
Recommended practical application -> appropriately designed research studies -> theoretically derived hypotheses -> identify practical problem
Levels of evidence - different evidence has different purposes:
Randomised controlled trial and meta-analyses - may not generalise to education with socio-emotional influences
Helps to show what is helpful on average
Nonrandomised trial, concurrent and historical controls - can be beneficial, but often learning mediated by historical events
Cohort study, prospective and retrospective - more beneficial, allows integration of context but less comparable (group characteristics)
Case-control study
Cross-sectional study
Case study - helpful to understand the profile of individuals, but not generalisable to all students
Case report
Burnett & Coldwll (2020) - randomised controlled trials and interventionisation of education
Call for evidence-based practice -> increasing use of RCTs and systematic reviews, but it erases other valuable methods which help individual students
Interventions - clearly defined programmes to target specific skills, behaviours and attitudes, that follow a structure, routine and time limit
-> Show strong statistical effect in RCTs
Assumptions - knowledge, understanding and skills are measurable and fixed, not evolving
Educational objectives are defined
Teaching process involves routinised delivery of specified work
Teacher = deliverer, learner = receiver
Issues - ignores socio-emotional influence, engaging and varied learning can be more effective, statistical success does not always mean intrinsic enjoyment of content
Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF)
The Institute of Effective Education (IEE)
What Works Clearinghouse
Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE)