school psychology APS 417

Clinical psychology primarily focuses on the problems of adjustment brought to the psychologist by individuals. Is typically involved in diagnoses of such problems and often offers psychotherapy to those who can benefit. The child-clinical psychologist specializes in the problems of children with emphasis on the interaction of parents with the child . Usually deals with, maladaptive behaviour or psychopathology. The counselling psychologist emphasizes helping people cope with the normal problems that arise in life especially those problems that are faced by normal adults in the world of work. Rehabilitation (helping veterans or other people with disabilities to prepare for different vocations and to make sensible adjustments to their handicaps) and vocational counselling (helping people find appropriate occupational goals) are major considerations of the counselling psychologist. Industrial Psychologists/organizational emphasizes the study of industry or business as a complex social system which must be studied as a total system if individual behaviour within it is to be truly understood. Within this setting they are occupied with recruitment, selection, training, management development, improving morale, and the study of organizational effectiveness. Community psychology is based on the recognition that problems people present to the clinical psychologist have to be considered in the context of the total community. Community psychologists have special concern for community problems that lead to social pathology including unemployment, urban decay and poverty. School psychology views the school as a unique arena of life that must be studied and understood if the problems of the people who live in the school are to be solved . The people who live in the school include not only administrators, supervisors, teachers and pupils but teacher’s aides, cafeteria workers, secretaries, and custodians as well. Education psychology is frequently confused with the school psychology because both direct their interests towards the school, its personnel, and its pupils. Education psychology studied the characteristics of students and teachers and explores such topics as learning, motivation, reinforcement, transfer and the conditions that affect them. School psychology is generally concerned with findings that can immediately be applied toward the solution of a particular problem. It differs from other specialties in that it brings psychological knowledge, skills and techniques to bear on the problems presented by the school as a total, unique place in which people live and work and on the problems of the people living in the school. WHY WE NEED SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS All children and adolescents face problems from time to time. They may:

underlies reading ability? Can he remember what needs to be remembered to read? Can he concentrate long enough to learn? Does he attend to directions? Is he capable of realizing his own errors? Can he discriminate among symbols that are similar yet subtly different? School psychologists attempting to assess problems areas closely allied to classroom learning frequently use the Stanford-Binet or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). There is a considerable amount of evidence that the so called verbal abilities (knowledge, of the meaning of words, ability to use them extensively and correctly, ability to think in verbal constructs) are closely related to school success. Areas of malfunctioning: A child may have a relatively specific learning disability. Such a deficit is due to a physical or psychological abnormality and can be discovered through individual assessment. For example a child may be a victim of some cerebral development anomaly that prevents or hinders his development of speech and language functions. A central nervous system dysfunction may impair the child’s ability to organize coherently what he sees (a perceptual rather than a visual problem) so that the symbols of language are confusing and senseless to him. Social, economic, or physical factors may be involved in student’s inability to read. They also review and revise techniques to deal with problems of students and in schools to maintain a good, safe setting. Affective Factors: (emotional factor) A child’s perception may be distorted by the fact that everything going on around him is filtered through preconceptions .There are children who seem to use not learning despite good abilities as a way to express resentment at their parents nagging them to do ever better and better . Pervasive strong anxiety interferes with the ability to learn. All kinds of events taking place in the school can cause anxiety and an extremely anxiety prone child reacts though a series of small, internal firecrackers were going off. This kind of anxiety may be a basis for the behaviour of some children who seem unable to sit in the classroom or who are unable to concentrate on schoolwork and have what teachers call a short attention span. Consultation They provide consultation and case management by ensuring students’ needs are met; speak out for students in and out of the school; make sure all people involved with the student are aware of the needs of the student, what resources are available, and how to get the services; aid in the communication between parents, schools, and community services; and modify achievement plans to best meet needs of student. On advice and concerns for the students, school psychologists are expected to be knowledgeable in many areas including but not limited to child development, disability, assessment ,teaching, parenting ,learning, special education law, general education law, discipline, classroom management ,relationships, intervention, prevention ,crisis management and counselling. Learning to be effective is not about knowing all the answers but about the right questions.

Halls focus was much more research oriented, looking to develop normative characteristics for groups . The two form the foundations of school psychology. Particularly the testing movement. Alfred Binet (1857-1911) together with Theodore Simons helped spur the individuals testing movement by developing the first practical intelligence test battery which assessed higher level cognitive skills and substantial correlations with measures of school achievement. World War 1 (1914-1918) had a major influence on the development of group standardized tests (Army Alpha and Army Beta) and the utility of these tests gained public attention and acceptance of tests . The development of individual ability and achievement tests helped define the primary role and function of early school psychologists. These tests were used in differentiating students with different ability and achievement levels and became the main tool used by psychologists in education settings. 1925 saw the establishment of the first school psychology training program at New York University (Undergraduate and graduate) 1930’sbrought the first doctoral level training in school psychology. In the mid-1930,s state department certification for school psychologists occurred in New York and Pennsylvania. American Association of Applied Psychology (AAAP) was formed and had less stringent membership requirements thus many school psychologists became members. Finally, in 1969, the National Association of Schools Psychologists was formed .NASP brought practitioners nationwide together in a more stable and strengthened identity.(Fagen and Wise, 1994) Through bred years (1970 to the present): A time of growth in the number of training programs, practitioners, state and national associates and the expansion of literature and regulations, all of which contributed to a stabilized entity called School Psychology In 1975, Congress passed the Education for all Handicapped Children Act, better known at the time as public law 94-142. This proved to be landmark legislation, requiring public schools to provide students with a broad range of disabilities including physical handicaps, mental retardation, speech, vision and language problems, emotional and behavioural problems and other learning disorders with a free appropriate public education. With the tremendous growth in school psychologists came a corresponding increase in the number of state associations from 17 in 1970 to 48 by 1989. The national organization ,National Association of schools Psychologists (NASP) began assuming much more responsibility in determining education and professional qualification standards as well as moving from a reactive model (simply responding to information and recommendations from outside agencies to a proactive role ( working to influence the types of decisions these other agencies might make

In the first decade of life, a child’s brain forms trillions of connections or synapses. Axons connect to dendrites, and chemicals called neurotransmitters help send messages (called “impulses”) across the resulting synapses. Each individual neuron may be connected to as many as 15,000 other neurons, forming a network of neural pathways that is immensely complex. This elaborate network is sometimes referred to as the brain’s “wiring” or “circuit ry.” As the neurons mature, more and more synapses are made. At birth, the number of synapses per neuron is 2,500, but by age two or three, it’s about 15,000 synapses per neuron. The neural network expands exponentially. If they are not used repeatedly, or often enough, they are eliminated. In this way, experience plays a crucial role in “wiring” a young child’s brain. Brain development does not stop after early childhood, but it is the foundation upon which the brain continues developing. Early childhood is the time to build either a strong or supportive, or fragile and unreliable foundation. These early years are very important in the development that continues in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The Newborn Brain The raw material of the brain is the nerve cell, called the neuron. When babies are born, they have almost all of the neurons they will ever have, more than 100 billion of them. Although research indicates some neurons are developed after birth and well into adulthood, the neurons babies have at birth are primarily what they have to work with as they develop into children, adolescents, and adults. The brain starts forming prenatally, about three weeks after conception. Before birth, the brain produces trillions more neurons and “synapses” (connections between the brain cells) than it needs. During the first years of life, the brain undergoes a series of extraordinary changes. . As the neurons mature, more and more synapses are made. At birth, the number of synapses per neuron is 2,500, but by age two or three, it’s about 15,000 per neuron. The brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never used, which is a normal part of brain development. During fetal development, neurons are created and migrate to form the various parts of the brain. As neurons migrate, they also differentiate, so they begin to "specialize" in response to chemical signals (Perry, 2002). This process of development occurs sequentially from the "bottom up," that is, from the more primitive sections of the brain to the more sophisticated sections (Perry, 20002). The first areas of the brain to fully develop are the brainstem and midbrain; they govern the bodily functions necessary for life, called the autonomic functions. At birth, these lower portions of the nervous system are very well developed, whereas the higher regions (the limbic system and cerebral cortex) are still rather primitive

By the age of 3, a baby's brain has reached almost 90 percent of its adult size. The growth in each region of the brain largely depends on receiving stimulation, which spurs activity in that region. This stimulation provides the foundation for learning. Lateralization Specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain. Each half of the brain controls the opposite side of the body. Damage to the right side of the brain will affect movement of the left side of the body and the vice Versa . Certain areas of the brain affect particular behaviors. For most people the left hemisphere of the brain is a major factor in language processing, and the right hemisphere handles much of the spatial-visual information. For some left handed the relationship may be reversed but for most left handers, and for females on average there is less hemisphere specialization. Altogether. Plasticity —The Influence of Environment Researchers use the term plasticity to describe the brain's ability to change in response to repeated stimulation. The extent of a brain's plasticity is dependent on the stage of development and the particular brain system or region affected (Perry, 2006). For instance, the lower parts of the brain, which control basic functions such as breathing and heart rate, are less flexible than the higher functioning cortex, which controls thoughts and feelings. While cortex plasticity may lessen as a child gets older, some degree of plasticity remains. In fact, this brain plasticity is what allows us to keep learning into adulthood and throughout our lives. The developing brain's ongoing adaptations are the result of both genetics and experience. Our brains prepare us to expect certain experiences by forming the pathways needed to respond to those experiences. For example, our brains are "wired" to respond to the sound of speech; when babies hear people speaking, the neural systems in their brains responsible for speech and language receive the necessary stimulation to organize and function (Perry, 2006). The more the babies are exposed to people speaking, the stronger their related synapses become. If the appropriate exposure does not happen, the pathways developed in anticipation may be discarded. This is sometimes referred to as the concept of "use it or lose it." It is through these processes of creating, strengthening, and discarding synapses that our brains adapt to our unique environment. The ability to adapt to our environment is a part of normal development. Children growing up in cold climates, on rural farms, or in large sibling groups learn how to function in those environments. But regardless of the general environment, all children need stimulation and nurturance for healthy development. If these are lacking—if a child's caretakers are indifferent or

During the teenage years, the brain again goes through a process of pruning synapses— somewhat like the infant and toddler brain (National Institute of Mental Health, 2001). As the teenager grows into young adulthood, the brain develops more myelin to insulate the nerve fibers and speed neural processing, and this myelination occurs last in the frontal lobe. MRI comparisons between the brains of teenagers and the brains of young adults have shown that most of the brain areas were the same—that is, the teenage brain had reached maturity in the areas that govern such abilities as speech and sensory capabilities. The major difference was the immaturity of the teenage brain in the frontal lobe and in the myelination of that area (National Institute of Mental Health, 2001). Another change that happens during adolescence is the growth and transformation of the limbic system, which is responsible for our emotions. Teenagers may rely on their more primitive limbic system in interpreting emotions and reacting, since they lack the more mature cortex that can operate. Like constructing a house, brains are built upon a strong foundation. This starts before birth, and is very important during the first three years of life. Brain cells are “raw” materials — much like lumber is a raw material in building a house, and a child’s experiences and interactions help build the structure, put in the wiring, and paint the walls. Heredity (nature) determines the basic number of “neurons” (brain nerve cells) children are born with, and their initial arrangement. A child’s experiences, good or bad, influence the wiring of his brain and the connection in his nervous system. Loving interactions with caring adults strongly stimulate a child’s brain, causing synapses to grow and existing connections to get stronger. Connections that are used become permanent. If a child receives little stimulation early on, the synapses will not develop, and the brain will make fewer connections. Stress can become toxic when a child has frequent or prolonged experiences like abuse, neglect or poverty without adult support. When adults are present to support a child’s experiences and help the child’s stress levels come down, stressors may be tolerable. Examples of tolerable stress include loss of a loved one, illness or injury, or poverty when a caring adult helps the child adapt. Some stresses are also thought of as positive stress, such as when there is a small amount of fear or sadness, or everyday challenges. In experiences of positive stress, the system can return to a calm state in a relatively short period of time. When children are faced with physical or emotional stress or trauma, the hormone cortisol is released when the brain sends a signal from the hypothalamus to the adrenal cortex, which is a gland above the kidney. High levels of cortisol can cause brain cells to die and reduces the connections between the cells in certain areas of the brain, harming the vital brain circuits. In other words, the wiring of the house can be severely damaged or miswired if a child is exposed to repeated and longtime stress without the assistance of a caring adult. Babies with strong,

Transformations refer to all manners of changes that a thing or person can undergo . States refer to the conditions or the appearances in which things or persons can be found between transformations. For example, there might be changes in shape or form (for instance, liquids are reshaped as they are transferred from one vessel to another, humans change in their characteristics as they grow older), in size (e.g., a series of coins on a table might be placed close to each other or far apart) in placement or location in space and time (e.g., various objects or persons might be found at one place at one time and at a different place at another time). Thus, Piaget argued, that if human intelligence is to be adaptive, it must have functions to represent both the transformational and the static aspects of reality. He proposed that operative intelligence is responsible for the representation and manipulation of the dynamic or transformational aspects of reality and that figurative intelligence is responsible for the representation of the static aspects of reality. Operative intelligence is the active aspect of intelligence. It involves all actions, overt or covert, undertaken in order to follow, recover, or anticipate the transformations of the objects or persons of interest. Figurative intelligence is the more or less static aspect of intelligence, involving all means of representation used to retain in mind the states (i.e., successive forms, shapes, or locations) that intervene between transformations. That is, it involves perception, imitation, mental imagery, drawing, and language. Therefore, the figurative aspects of intelligence derive their meaning from the operative aspects of intelligence, because states cannot exist independently of the transformations that interconnect them. Piaget believed that the figurative or the representational aspects of intelligence are subservient to its operative and dynamic aspects, and therefore, that understanding essentially derives from the operative aspect of intelligence. At any time, operative intelligence frames how the world is understood and it changes if understanding is not successful. BASIC TENDENCIES IN THINKING ORGANIZATION People are born with a tendency to organize their thinking processes into psychological structures. It’s the combining, arranging, recombining, and rearranging of behaviors and thoughts into coherent systems. Very young infants for example can either look at an object or grasp it when it comes in contact with their hands. They cannot coordinate looking and grasping at the same time. As they develop however infants organize these two separate behavioral structures into coordinated higher-level

structures of looking at, reaching for and grasping the object. They can still use each structure separately. ADAPTATION People also inherit the tendency to adapt to their environment. Two basic principles are involved in adaptation: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation and accommodation Assimilation is the process of taking one’s environment and new information and fitting it into pre-existing cognitive schemas. Involves trying to understand something new by fitting it into what we already know. Assimilation occurs when humans are faced with new or unfamiliar information and refer to previously learned information in order to make sense of it. Accommodation is the process of taking new information in one's environment and altering pre- existing schemas in order to fit in the new information. Occurs when a person must change existing schemes to respond to a new situation.If data cannot be made to fit any existing schemes then more appropriate structures must be developed. PIAGET’S COGNITIVE STAGES Sensorimotor stage The sensorimotor stage is the first of the four stages in cognitive development which "extends from birth to the acquisition of language. In this stage, infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with physical, motoric actions. Infants gain knowledge of the world from the physical actions they perform on it. An infant progresses from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward the end of the stage. Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six sub-stages. From birth until the age of two, infants have only senses: vision, hearing, and motor skills, such as grasping, sucking, and stepping. The child learns that he is separate from his environment and that aspects of his environment continue to exist even though they may be outside the reach of his senses.

In this stage according to Piaget, the development of object permanence is one of the most important accomplishments at the sensorimotor stage. (Object permanence is a child understands that objects continue to exist even though they cannot be seen or heard). Sub-Stage Age Description 1 Simple Reflexes Birth-6 weeks "Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviours. Three primary reflexes are described by Piaget: sucking of objects in the mouth, following moving or interesting objects with the eyes, and closing of the hand when an object makes contact with the palm ( palmar grasp ). Over the first six weeks of life, these reflexes begin to become voluntary actions; for example, the palmar reflex becomes intentional grasping. 2 First habits and primary circular reactions phase 6 weeks-4 months "Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes: habits (reflex) and primary circular reactions (reproduction of an event that initially occurred by chance). Main focus is still on the infant's body. As an example of this type of reaction, an infant might repeat the motion of passing their hand before their face. Also at this phase, passive reactions, caused by classical or operant conditioning , can begin 3 Secondary circular reactions phase 4–8 months Development of habits . "Infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self- preoccupation; repeat actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results. This stage is associated primarily with the development of coordination between vision and apprehension . Three new abilities occur at this stage: intentional grasping for a desired object, secondary circular reactions, and differentiations between ends and means. At this stage, infants will intentionally grasp the air in the direction of a desired object, often to the amusement of friends and family. Secondary circular reactions or the repetition of an action involving an external object begin; for example, moving a switch to turn on a light

repeatedly. The differentiation between means and ends also occurs. This is perhaps one of the most important stages of a child's growth as it signifies the dawn of logic 4 Coordination of secondary circular reactions stages 8–12 months "Coordination of vision and touch--hand-eye coordination; coordination of schemes and intentionality. This stage is associated primarily with the development of logic and the coordination between means and ends. This is an extremely important stage of development, holding what Piaget calls the "first proper intelligence . Also, this stage marks the beginning of goal orientation , the deliberate planning of steps to meet an objective. 5 Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity 12–18 mon ths "Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things they can make happen to objects; they experiment with new behaviour. This stage is associated primarily with the discovery of new means to meet goals. Piaget describes the child at this juncture as the "young scientist," conducting pseudo-experiments to discover new methods of meeting challenges. 6 Internalization of Schemes 18–24 mon ths "Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations. This stage is associated primarily with the beginnings of insight , or true creativity . This marks the passage into the preoperational stage.

By the end of the sensorimotor period, objects are both separate from the self and permanent. Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Acquiring the sense of object permanence is one of the infant's most important accomplishments, according to Piaget. Pre-operational stage Piaget's second stage, the Pre-operational Stage, starts when the child begins to learn to speak at age 2 and lasts up until the age of 7. During the Pre-operational Stage of cognitive development, Piaget noted that children do not yet understand concrete logic and cannot mentally manipulate information. Children’s increase in playing and pretending takes place in this stage; however the child still has trouble seeing things from different points of view. The children's play is mainly categorized by symbolic play and manipulating symbols. Such play is demonstrated by the idea of checkers being snacks, pieces of paper being plates, and a box being a table. Their observations of symbols exemplify the idea of play with the absence of the actual objects involved. By observing sequences of play, Jean Piaget was able to demonstrate that towards the end of the second year, a qualitatively new kind of psychological functioning occurs, this is known as the Pre-operational Stage. The pre-operational stage is sparse and logically inadequate in regards to mental operations. The child is able to form stable concepts as well as magical beliefs. The child however is still not able to perform operations, which are tasks that the child can do mentally rather than physically. Thinking in this stage is still egocentric, meaning the child has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others. The Pre-operational stage is split into two sub stages: The symbolic function sub stage, and the intuitive thought sub stage. The symbolic function sub stage is when children are able to understand, represent, remember, and picture objects in their mind without having the object in front of them. The intuitive thought sub stage is when children tend to propose the questions of why and how come. This stage is when children want the knowledge of knowing everything. The symbolic function sub stage At about 2–4 years of age, children cannot yet manipulate and transform information in a logical way, however they now can think in images and symbols. Other examples of mental abilities are language and pretend play.

Symbolic play is when children develop imaginary friends or role-play with friends. Children’s play becomes more social, they assign roles to each other. Some examples of symbolic play include playing house, or having a tea party. Interestingly, the type of symbolic play children engage in is connected with their level of creativity and ability to connect with others. Additionally, quality of symbolic play can have consequences on their later development. For example, young children whose symbolic play is of a violent nature tend to exhibit less prosocial behavior and are more likely to display antisocial tendencies in later years. In this stage, there are still limitations such as egocentrism and precausal thinking. Egocentrism occurs when a child is unable to distinguish between their own perspective and that of another person's. Children tend to stick to their own viewpoint, rather than take the view of others. Indeed, they are not even aware that such a thing as ‘different viewpoints’ exists. Egocentrism can be seen in an experiment performed by Piaget and BärbelInhelder , known as the three-mountain problem. In this experiment three views of a mountain are shown and the child is asked what a traveling doll would see at the various angles; the child will consistently describe what they can see from the position they are seated from, regardless of what angle from which they are asked to take the doll's perspective. Egocentrism would also be a child believing, "I like Sesame Street, so Daddy must like Sesame Street, too." Similar to preoperational children's egocentric thinking is their structuring of a cause and effect relationships. Piaget coined the term precausal thinking to describe the way in which preoperational children use their own existing ideas or views, like in egocentrism, to explain cause-and-effect relationships. Three main concepts of causality as displayed by children in the preoperational stage include – animism, artificialize and transductive reasoning. Animism is the belief that inanimate objects are capable of actions and have lifelike qualities. An example could be a child believing that the sidewalk was mad and made them fall down, or that the stars twinkle in the sky because they are happy. Artificialism refers to the belief that environmental characteristics can be attributed to human actions or interventions. For example, a child might say that it is windy outside because someone is blowing very hard, or the clouds are white because someone painted them that color. Finally, precausal thinking is also categorized by transductive reasoning. Transductive reasoning is when a child fails to understand the true relationships between cause and effect. Unlike deductive or inductive reasoning (general to specific, or specific to general), transductive reasoning refers to when a child reasons from specific to specific, drawing a relationship between two separate events that are otherwise unrelated. For example if a child hears the dog bark and then a balloon popped, the child would conclude that because of the dog bark the balloon popped.

The intuitive thought sub stage Occurs between about the ages of 4 and 7. Children tend to become very curious and ask many questions; begin the use of primitive reasoning. There is an emergence in the interest of reasoning and wanting to know why things are the way they are. Piaget called it the intuitive substage because children realize they have a vast amount of knowledge but they are unaware of how they acquired it. Centration, conservation, irreversibility, class inclusion and transitive inference are all characteristics of preoperative thought. Centration is the act of focusing all attention on one characteristic or dimension of a situation, whilst disregarding all others. Conservation is the awareness that altering a substance's appearance does not change its basic properties . Children at this stage are unaware of conservation and exhibit centration. Both centration and conservation can be more easily understood once familiarized with Piaget's most famous experimental task. In this task, a child is presented with two identical beakers containing the same amount of liquid. The child usually notes that the beakers do contain the same amount of liquid. When one of the beakers is poured into a taller and thinner container, children who are younger than 7 or 8 years old typically say that the two beakers no longer contain the same amount of liquid, and that the taller container holds the larger quantity. (centration), without taking into consideration the fact that both beakers were previously noted to contain the same amount of liquid. Due to superficial changes, the child was unable to comprehend that the properties of the substances continued to remain the same (conservation). Irreversibility is also a concept developed in this stage which is closely related to the ideas of centration and conservation. Irreversibility refers to when children are unable to mentally reverse a sequence of events. In the same beaker situation, the child does not realize that if the sequence of events was reversed and the water from the tall beaker was poured back into its original beaker, then the same amount of water would exist. Another example of children's reliance on visual representations is their misunderstanding of "less than" or "more than". When two rows containing equal amounts of blocks are placed in front of a child, one row spread farther apart than the other, the child will think that the row spread farther contains more blocks. Class inclusion refers to a kind of conceptual thinking that children in the preoperational stage cannot yet grasp. Children’s inability to focus on two aspects of a situation at once inhibits them from understanding the principle that one category or class can contain several different subcategories/classes. For example a four year old girl may be shown a picture of 8

dogs and 3 cats. The girl knows what cats and dogs are, and she is aware that they are both animals, however when asked, “Are there more dogs or animals?” she is likely to answer “more dogs”. This is due to her difficulty focusing on the two subclasses and the larger class all at the same time. She may have been able to view the dogs as dogs OR animals, but struggled when trying to classify them as both, simultaneously. Similar to this is concept relating to intuitive thought, known as transitive inference. Transitive inference is using previous knowledge to determine the missing piece, using basic logic. Children in the preoperational stage lack this logic. An example of transitive inference would be when a child is presented with the information - "a" is greater than "b" and "b" is greater than "c." This child may have difficulty here understanding that "a" is also greater than "c." Concrete operational stage The concrete operational stage is the third of four stages from Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This stage, which follows the preoperational stage, occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years and is characterized by the appropriate use of logic. During this stage, a child's thought processes become more mature and "adult like ." They start solving problems in a more logical fashion. Abstract, hypothetical thinking has not yet developed, and children can only solve problems that apply to concrete events or objects. Piaget determined that children are able to incorporate inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning involves drawing inferences from observations in order to make a generalization. In contrast, children struggle with deductive reasoning, which involves using a generalized principle in order to try to predict the outcome of an event. Children in this stage commonly experience difficulties with figuring out logic in their heads. For example, a child will understand A>B and B>C, however when asked is A>C, said child might not be able to logically figure the question out in their heads. Milestones of the concrete operational stage - Ability to distinguish between their own thoughts and the thoughts of others. Children recognize that their thoughts and perceptions may be different from those around them. - Increased classification skills: Children are able to classify objects by their number, mass, and weight. - Ability to think logically about objects and events - Ability to fluently perform mathematical problems in both addition and subtraction

Important processes Conservation The understanding that although an object’s appearance changes, it still stays the same in quantity. Redistributing an object does not affect its mass, number, or volume. For example, a child understands that when you pour a liquid into a different shaped glass, the amount of liquid stays the same. Decentering The child now takes into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it. For example, the child will no longer perceive an exceptionally wide but short cup to contain less than a normally wide, taller cup. Reversibility The child now understands that numbers or objects can be changed and then returned to their original state. For example, during this stage, a child understands that his or her favorite ball that deflates is not gone and can be filled with air and put back into play again. Another example would be that the child realizes that a ball of clay, once flattened, can be made into a ball of clay again. Seriation The ability to sort objects in an order according to size, shape, or any other characteristic. For example, if given different-shaded objects they may make a color gradient. Transitivity Transitivity, which refers to the ability to mentally sort objects and recognize relationships among various things in a serial order. For example, when told to put away his books according to height, the child recognizes that he starts with placing the tallest one on one end of the bookshelf and the shortest one ends up at the other end. Classification The ability to name and identify sets of objects according to appearance, size or other characteristic, including the idea that one set of objects can include another. Hierarchical classification refers to the ability to sort objects into classes and subclasses based on similarities and differences among groups.

Elimination of Egocentrism The ability to view things from another's perspective (even if they think incorrectly). For instance, show a child a comic in which Jane puts a doll under a box, leaves the room, and then Melissa moves the doll to a drawer, and Jane comes back. A child in the concrete operations stage will say that Jane will still think it's under the box even though the child knows it is in the drawer. Children in this stage can, however, only solve problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events, and not abstract concepts or hypothetical tasks. Understanding and knowing how to use full common sense has not been completely adapted yet. Logic Piaget determined that children in the concrete operational stage were able to incorporate inductive logic. On the other hand, children at this age have difficulty using deductive logic, which involves using a general principle to predict the outcome of a specific event. This includes mental reversibility. An example of this stage is being able to reverse the order of relationships between mental categories. For example, a child might be able to recognize that his or her dog is a Labrador, that a Labrador is a dog, and that a dog is an animal, and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical Testing for concrete operations Piagetian tests are well known and practiced to test for concrete operations. The most prevalent tests are those for conservation. One example of conservation is that as stated before with the different shaped glasses. There are some important aspects that the experimenter must take into account when doing their experiments with these children. One example of an experiment for testing conservation is that an experimenter will have two glasses that are the same size, fill them the same amount with liquid, which the child will acknowledge is the same. Then, the experimenter will pour the liquid from one of the small glasses into a tall, thin glass. The experimenter will then ask the child if the taller glass has more liquid, less liquid, or the same amount of liquid. The child will then give their answer. The experimenter will then ask the child why they gave that answer, or why they think that is.  Word Choice - The phrasing that the experimenter uses may affect how the child answers. If, in the liquid and glass example, the experimenter says "Which of these glasses has more liquid?", the child may think that his thoughts of them being the same is wrong because the adult is saying that one must have more. Alternatively, if the

experimenter says "Are these equal?" then the child is more likely to say that they are because the experimenter is implying that it is.  Justification - After the child has answered the question being posed, the experimenter must ask why they said that answer. This is important because the answers they give can help the experimenter to assess the child's developmental age.  Number of times asking - Some argue that if a child is asked if the amount of liquid in the first set of glasses is equal then, after pouring the water into the taller glass, the experimenter asks again about the amount of liquid, the children will start to doubt their original answer. They may start to think that the original levels were not equal, which will influence their second answer. Formal operational stage The final stage is known as Formal operational stage (adolescence and into adulthood, roughly ages 11 to approximately 15-20): Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. At this point, the person is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Piaget believed that hypothetical-deductive reasoning becomes important during the formal operational stage. This type of thinking involves hypothetical situations and is often required in science and mathematics. Abstract thought emerges during the formal operational stage. Children tend to think very concretely and specifically in earlier stages. Children begin to consider possible outcomes and consequences of actions. Situations. The abstract quality of the adolescent's thought at the formal operational level is evident in the adolescent's verbal problem solving ability. The logical quality of the adolescent's thought is when children are more likely to solve problems in a trial-and-error fashion. Adolescents begin to think more as a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically test opinions. They use hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which means that they develop hypotheses or best guesses, and systematically deduce, or conclude, which is the best path to follow in solving the problem. During this stage the adolescent is able to understand such things as love, "shades of gray", logical proofs and values. During this stage the young person begins to entertain possibilities for the future and is fascinated with what they can be.

Adolescents are changing cognitively also by the way that they think about social matters. Adolescent Egocentrism governs the way that adolescents think about social matters and is the heightened self-consciousness in them as they are which is reflected in their sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility. Adolescent egocentrism can be dissected into two types of social thinking, imaginary audience that involves attention getting behavior, and personal fable which involves an adolescent's sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility. These two types of social thinking begin to affect a child's egocentrism in the concrete stage however carry over to the Formal operational stage when they are then face with abstract thought, and fully logical thinking. Problem-solving is demonstrated when children use trial-and-error to solve problems. The ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way emerges. Metacognition the capacity for "thinking about thinking" that allows adolescents and adults to reason about their thought processes and monitors them Practical applications Piaget was more interested in understanding children’s thinking than in guiding teachers. He however believed that the main goal of education should be to help children learn how to learn and that education should form not furnish the minds of students. He taught us that we can learn a great deal about how children think by listening carefully by paying close attention to their ways of solving problems. If we understand children’s thinking we will be better able to match teaching methods to children’s current knowledge and abilities. Parents can use Piaget's theory when deciding how to support, what to buy in order to support their child's growth. Teachers can also use Piaget's theory, for instance when discussing whether the syllabus subjects are suitable for the level of students or not. For example, recent studies have shown that children in the same grade and of the same age perform differentially on tasks measuring basic addition and subtraction fluency. While children in the preoperational and concrete operational levels of cognitive development perform combined arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction) with similar accuracy, children in the concrete operational level of cognitive development have been able to perform both addition problems and subtraction problems with overall greater fluency. The ability to perform mathematical operations fluently indicates a level of skill mastery and a readiness to learn more advanced mathematical problems. Teachers who work with children in both the preoperational and the concrete operational levels of cognitive development should adopt suitable academic expectations with regard to children's cognitive developmental abilities.

The need for educators to individualize and adopt appropriate academic expectations appears to be most relevant for children at the first-grade level. In recent years, several scholars attempted to address concerns with Piaget's theory by developing new theories and models that can accommodate evidence which violates Piagetian predictions and postulates. The neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development , advanced by Case, Demetriou , Halford, Fischer, and Pascual-Leone, attempted to integrate Piaget's theory with cognitive and differential theories of cognitive organization and development. Their aim was to better account for the cognitive factors of development and for intra-individual and inter-individual differences in cognitive development. They suggested that development along Piaget's stages is due to increasing working memory capacity and processing efficiency. Moreover, Demetriou ´s theory ascribes an important role to hyper cognitive processes of self-recording, self-monitoring, and self-regulation, and it recognizes the operation of several relatively autonomous domains of thought (Demetriou, 1998; Demetriou, Mouyi, Spanoudis, 2010). Piaget's theory stops at the formal operational stage, but other researchers have observed that adults' thinking is more nuanced than formal operational thought generally is. This stage has been named post formal thinking . Post formal stages have been proposed. Kurt Fischer suggested two, Michael Commons presented evidence for four postformal stages: systematic, metasystematic, paradigmatic, and cross-paradigmatic. (Commons & Richards, 2003; Oliver, 2004).There are many scholars, however, who have critizized 'postformal thinking', because the concept lacks both theoretical and empirical verification. Term 'integrative thinking' has been suggested to be used instead. A "sentential" stage, said to occur before the early preoperational stage, has been proposed by Fischer, Biggs and Biggs, Commons, and Richards. Searching for a micro-physiological basis for human mental capacity, Traill (1978, Section C5.4; - 1999, Section 8.4) proposed that there may be "pre-sensorimotor" stages ("M −1 L", "M −2 L", … … ), which are developed in the womb and/or transmitted genetically.  Jerome Bruner has expressed views on cognitive development.  Michael Lamport Commons proposed the model of hierarchical complexity .  Kieran Egan has proposed stages of understanding .  Lawrence Kohlberg developed stages of moral development .

 Andreas Demetriou has expressed Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development .  Loevinger's stages of ego development  Ken Wilber has incorporated Piaget's theory in his multidisciplinary field of Integral Theory .  The process of initiation is a modification of Piaget's theory integrating Maslow's concept of Self-actualization . EXPLAINING LEARNING Learning occurs when experience (including practice) causes a relatively permanent change in an individual’s knowledge or behaviour. The change may be deliberate or unintentional, for better or for worse, correct or incorrect and conscious or unconscious (Schunk, 2008). Changes simply caused by maturation, such as growing taller or turning grey, do not qualify as learning. Illness, fatigue, drugs, or hunger are also excluded from a general definition of learning. A person who has gone without food for two days does not learn to be hungry and a person who is ill does not learn . Of course, learning plays a part in how we respond to hunger or illness. Changes resulting from learning take place in the individual’s knowledge or behaviour. Cognitive psychologists, who focus on changes in knowledge, believe is an internal mental activity that cannot be observed directly. One of the earliest explanations of learning came from Aristotle. He said that we remember things together when they contrast and when they are contiguous.The principle of contiguity states that whenever two or more sensations occur together often enough, they will be remembered too (a response). The behavioral approach to learning developed out of work by Skinner, whose research in operant conditioning showed that voluntary behavior can be altered by changes in the antecedents of the behavior, the consequences, or both. Early work focused on consequences and demonstrated that consequences following an action may serve as reinforcement or punishment.

Skinner's theories have been used extensively in education, by applying principles of reinforcement and punishment to change behaviors, often called applied behavior analysis. For much of the 1960s Skinner's ideas and those of behaviorists who followed him shaped teaching in regular and special education, training in the military, coaching, and many other aspects of education. Principles of reinforcement continue to be important for all teachers, particularly in classroom management and in decisions about grades and incentives for learning. According to the behavioural view consequences determine to a great extent whether a person will repeat the behaviour that led the consequences. The type and timing of consequences can strengthen or weaken behaviours. A reinforcer is any consequence that strengthens the behaviour it follows. Positive reinforcement occurs when the behaviour produces a new stimulus. When the consequences that strengthens behaviour is the appearance of anew stimulus the situation is defined as positive reinforcement. In contrast when the consequences that strengthens behaviour is the disappearance of a stimulus the process is called negative reinforcement. If a particular action leads to avoiding/ escaping an aversive situation the action is likely to be repeated in a similar situation. Punishment on the other hand involves decreasing or suppressing behaviour. A behaviour followed by a punisher is less likely to be repeated in similar situations in the future. Again it is the effect that defines a consequence as punishment and different people have different perceptions of what is punishing. One student may find suspension from school punishing whereas another student wouldn’t mind it at all. Reinforcement Schedules Continuous reinforcement schedules: Reinforcement for every correct behaviour. Effective in learning new behaviour’s faster. Intermittent reinforcement schedule: When the behaviour has been mastered they will maintain it best if they are reinforced intermittently rather than every time. Helps students to maintain skills without expecting constant reinforcement.

Types of intermittent reinforcement schedules: Interval schedules: based on amount of time that passes between reinforces. A ratio schedule: based on the number of responses learners give between reinforcement.Interview and ratio reinforcement Schedules may be fixed (predictable) or variable (un predictable EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SCHEDULES Speed of performance depends on control. If reinforcement is based on the numbers of responses you give then you have more control over the reinforcement. The faster you accumulate the correct number of responses the faster the reinforcement will come. Persistence in performance depends on unpredictability. Continuous and both kinds of fixed reinforcement (ratio and interview) are quite predictable. We come to expect reinforcement at certain points and are generally quick to give up when the reinforcement does not meet our expectations. To encourage persistence or response Variable schedules are most appropriate. If the reinforcement schedule is gradually changed until it becomes very lean meaning that reinforcement occurs only after many responses or after a long time interval then people can learn to work for extended periods without any reinforcement at all. Extinction.In classical conditioning the conditioned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus appears but the unconditioned stimulus does not follow (tone but no food. In operant conditioning a person or an animal will not persist in a certain behaviour if the usual reinforcer is withheld long enough. Removal of reinforcement altogether leads to extinction. Classical conditioning focuses on the learning of involuntary emotional or physiological responses such as fear, increased muscle tension, salvation or sweating. These sometimes are called respondents because they are automatic responses to stimuli. Through the process of classical conditioning humans and animals can be trained to react involuntarily to a stimulus that previously had no effect or a very different effect on them. The stimulus comes to elicit or bring forth the response automatically. Classical conditioning has implications on teachers. Emotions and attitudes as well as facts and ideas are learned in classrooms. This emotional learning can sometimes interfere with academic learning. Methods of encouraging behaviours

Encourage existing behaviours or teach new ones. Include attention and praise, the premack principle, shaping and positive practice. Many psychologists advise teachers to accentuate the positive –praise students for good behaviour, while ignoring misbehaviour. A related strategy is differential reinforcement or ignoring inappropriate behaviours while being sure to reinforce appropriate behaviours as soon as they occur. Positive results occur when teachers carefully and systematically praise their students. To be effective praise must be contingent on the behaviour reinforced, specify clearly the behaviours being reinforced and be believable Premack principle: A high frequency behaviour (a preferred activity) can be an effective reinforce for low frequency behaviour (less preferred activity).(Grandm’s rule). First do what I want you to do and then you may do what you want to do. Cognitive views of learning. Behaviorists define learning as a change in behavior brought about by experience with little concern for the mental or internal aspects of learning. The cognitive view, in contrast, sees people as active learners who initiate experiences, seek out information to solve problems, and reorganize what they already know to achieve new insights. In fact, learning within this perspective is seen as "transforming significant understanding we already have, rather than simple acquisitions written on blank slates" (Greeno, Collins, and Resnick, p. 18). Cognitive psychologists, focus on individual and developmental differences in cognition; Cognitive views of learning are consistent with the educational theories of Bruner and Ausubel and with approaches that teach learning strategies, such as summarizing, organizing, planning, and note taking. Knowledge in the cognitive perspective include both subject specific understanding ( math ,history soccer) and general cognitive abilities such as planning, solving problems and comprehending language. There are different kinds of knowledge. Some is domain specific knowledge that pertains to a particular task or subject, some knowledge is general it applies to many different situations for example general knowledge about how to read and write is useful both in and out of school. COGNITIVE VIEW OF MEMORY

Early information processing views of memory used the computer as a model. The human mind takes in information, performs operation, to change its form and content, stores the information, retrieves it when needed and generates responses to it. Sensory memory is the initial processing that transforms incoming stimuli (sights, sound and smells) into information so we can make sense of them. The capacity of sensory memory is very large and can take in more information than you can possibly handle at once but this vast amount of sensory information is fragile in duration, it lasts between one and three seconds. Perception is the process of detecting stimulus and assigning meaning to it, the meaning is constructed based on both physical representations from the world under existing knowledge. The role of attention: Attention is selective, by paying attention to selected stimuli and ignoring others we limit the possibilities of what we perceive. Process of what we pay attention to is guided to a certain extent by what we already know and what we need to know, it is also affected by what is happening at the time, by the complexity of the task and by your ability to control or focus your attention. Some students with attention deficit disorder have great difficulty focusing attention or ignoring competing stimuli. Attention takes effort and is a limited resource. We can pay attention to only one cognitively demanding task at a time. After years of practice many processes that initially require attention and concentration become automatic.e.g driving Attention and teaching The first step in learning is paying attention students cannot process information that they do not recognize or perceive. Many factors in the classroom influence students attention; e.g. bright colors underlining, highlighting of written or spoken words calling students by names, surprise events, intriguingquestions, variety in tasks and teaching methods, changes in voice levels, writing and pacing. For students to maintain attention they have to stay focused on the important features of the learning situation,

MEMORY Working memory/short term It is the working bench of the memory system, the interface where new information is held temporarily and combined with knowledge from short term memory to solve problems. It contains what you’re thinking about at the moment ( consciousness). Short term memory usually means just storage, the immediate memory for new information that can be held about 15 to 20 seconds. Working memory is composed of three elements: central executive - the part that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources it supervises, attention makes plans, retrieves information and integrates the information. Phonological loop ; it is a system for rehearsing words and sounds for short term memory. Visual special sketch pad is the place where you manipulate the image; it is a holding system for visual and special information. Retaining information in working memory; because information in working memory is fragile and easily lost it must be kept activated in order for it to be retained, to keep information activated most people continue rehearsing the information mentally, Types of rehearsal; maintenance rehearsal involves repeating the information in your mind it is useful for retaining something you plan to use then forget. Elaborative rehearsal ; involves connecting the information you’re trying to remember with something you alreadyknow. This kind rehearsal not only retain information in working memory but also help move information to long term memory. Forgetting Information may be lost from working memory through interferences or decay. Processing new information interferes or get confused with old information. Asnew thoughts accumulates old information is lost from working memory, in case of decay. If you don’t continue to pay attention to information the activation level decays or weakens and finally drop so low that the information cannot be reactivated, it disappears all together.

Forgetting is very useful without forgetting people would quickly overload their working memories and learning would cease.If you remembered every sentence you ever read, every sound you ever heard, every picture you ever saw it would be impossible to find a particular bit of information in all that sea of knowledge. Long term memory, it is the permanent store of knowledge, Contents of long term memory; Declarative knowledge; it is the knowledge that can be declared through words and symbol systems of all kinds e.g. braille,sign language, mathematical symbols etc. it is knowing that something is the case. Procedural knowledge: is knowing how to do something, it is knowledge in action must be demonstrated e.g. divide fractions or when students translate a passage into a foreign language. Self-regulatory knowledge: it is knowing how to manage your learning, knowing how and when to use your declarative and procedural knowledge. It takes self-regulatory knowledge to know when to read every word in a text, when to skim or when to apply a strategy for overcoming procrastination, it is also called conditional knowledge. It can be specific to a subject area like when to use the formulae for calculating area not perimeter. All three kinds of knowledge can be either general or domain specific. Categories of long term memory Explicit memory; it is memory for meaning including words ,facts, theories and concepts; declarative knowledge, these memories are not tied to particular experience and are represented and stored as propositions, images ,concepts and schemers.Can either besemantic based on meaning or episodic based on the sequence of events. Implicit memory is knowledge that we are not conscious of, recalling but influences behavior or thought without our awareness; Kinds of implicit or out of awareness memories; Classical conditioning Procedural memory: for skills, habits and how to do things. It may take a while to learn a procedure but once learnt it tends to be remembered for a long time.

Procedural knowledge is presented as scripts and condition action rules called productions, scripts are action sequences or plans for actions stored in memory e.g. scripts for events like ordering food in different restaurants. For very young children scripts help them organize and remember the predictable aspects of the world. This frees up some working memory to learn new things and recognize when something is out of place in the situation. Productions specify what to do under certain conditions e.g. if A occurs then do B. Priming involves activating information that already is in long term memory through some out of awareness process. Storing and retrieving information in long term memory; The way you learn information in the first place and the way you process it in the working memory strongly affects its recall later. One important requirement is that you integrate new information with existing knowledge asyou construct understanding. Elaboration, organization and context play a role; elaboration is adding meaning to new information by connecting with already existing knowledge, We apply our schemers and draw on already existing knowledge to construct an understanding. Frequently we change our existing knowledge in the process, e.g. a paragraph about a historic figure in ancient Rome tends to activate our existing knowledge in that period. Material that is elaborated when first learnt will be easier to recall later. The more students elaborate new ideas the more they make them their own, the deeper their understanding and the better their memory for the knowledge will be. Students can elaborate when asked to translate information in their own words, create examples, explain to a peer, draw or act out the relationships or apply the information to solve new problems, If students elaborate new information by developing misguided explanations this misconceptions will be remembered too. Organization; placing a concept in a structure helps students to learn and remember both general definitions and specific examples.

The structure serve as a guide back to the information when you need it, context aspects of physical and emotional context; Places, rooms ,moods are learnt along with other information, later if you try to remember information it is easier if the current context is in similar information, context is a kind of priming that activates information. TRATEG S IES FOR HELPING STUDENTS LEARN Making it meaningful; meaningful lessons are well organized with clear connections between different elements of the lesson. They make natural use of old information to help students understand new information through information or analogies. Are presented in avocabulary that makes sense to students Visual images and illustrations Mnemonics; loci method derives its name from plural of Latin word meaning place , to use loci you must first imagine a veryfamiliar place such as your own house or apartment and pick out places to hung memories. When you want to remember the items take an imaginary walk through your house. Acronyms which is a form of abbreviations Keyword methods Rote memorization; remembering information by repetition without understanding the meaning of the information if you have tried to memorize a list of items similar to each other you may have found you tended to remember items at the beginning but forgot those at the middle. This is called the serial position effect, part learning. Breaking the list into smaller segment can help prevent this effect since they will be fewer in the middle items to forget. Distributed practice involves practice of memorizing a long list with brief periods with rest intervals. Constructivist theories of learning. Constructivist perspectives on learning and teaching are increasingly influential today. These views are grounded in the research of Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, the Gestalt psychologists, Fredric Bartlett, and Bruner as well as the Progressive educational philosophy of Dewey.

There are constructivist approaches in science and mathematics education, in educational psychology and anthropology, and in computer-based education. Some constructivist views emphasize the shared, social construction of knowledge; others see social forces as less important. Constructivism is a broad term used by philosophers, curriculum designers, psychologists, educators and others. Are concerned with how individuals construct internal representations (propositions images, concepts, schemas that can be remembered and retrieved. The outside world is seen as a source of input but once the sensations are perceived and enter working memory the important work is assumed to be happening inside the head of the individual. There is no one constructive theory of learning, but most constructive theories agree on two central ideas. Central idea 1: learners are active in constructing their own knowledge. Central idea 2: social interactions are important in this knowledge construction process. Even though there is no single constructivist theory, many constructivist teaching approaches recommend five conditions for learning:  Embed learning in complex, realistic, challenging learning environments and authentic tasks  Provide Social negotiation and shared responsibility as a part of learning  Support multiple perspectives and usemultiple representations of content  Nurture self-awareness and anUnderstanding that knowledge is constructed  Encourage ownership in learning. (driscoll, 2005; marshal, 1992):Student-centered instruction Even though there are many applications of constructivist views of learning, we can recognize constructive approaches by the activities of the teacher and the student. Inquiry is an example of constructivist teaching. Dewey described the basic inquiry learning format in 1910. There have been many adaptations of this strategy, but the teacher usually presents a puzzling event, question, or problem. The students formulate hypotheses to explain the event or solve the problem, collect data to test the hypotheses, draw conclusions, and reflect on the original problem and on the thinking processes needed to solve it.

Like discovery learning, inquiry methods require great preparation, organization, and monitoring to be sure everyone is engaged and challenged. A second example of constructivist teaching influenced by Vygotsky's theories of assisted learning is called cognitive apprenticeships. There are many models, but most share six features: 1. Students observe an expert (usually the teacher) model the performance. 2. Students get external support through coaching or tutoring (including hints, feedback, models, reminders). 3. Conceptual scaffolding (in the form of outlines, explanations, notes, definitions, formulas, procedures, etc.) is provided and then gradually faded as the student becomes more competent and proficient . 4. Students continually articulate their knowledge - putting into words their understanding of the processes and content being learned. 5. Students reflect on their progress, comparing their problem solving to an expert's performance and to their own earlier performances. 6. Students are required to explore new ways to apply what they are learning - ways that they have not practiced at the professional's side. Piaget’s psychological (cognitive) constructivist perspective is less concerned with correct representation and more interested in meaning as it is constructed by the individual. Piaget proposed that as children develop their thinking becomes more organized and adaptive and less tied to concrete events. Piaget’s special concern was with logic and the construction of universal knowledge that cannot be learned directly from the environment knowledge such as conservation or reversibility. Such knowledge comes from reflecting on and coordinating our own cognitions or thoughts not from mapping external reality. This perspective holds that there is no reality or truth in the world only the individual’s perceptions and beliefs. Each of us constructs meaning from our own experiences, but we have no way of understanding or knowing the reality of others. A difficulty with this position is that when pushed to the extreme or relativism, all knowledge and all beliefs are equal because they are all valid individual perceptions. Constructive share similar goals for learning. They emphasize knowledge in use rather than the storing of inert facts, concepts and skills. Learning goals include developing abilities to find and solve ill-structured problems, critical thinking inquiry, self-determination and openness to multiple perspectives.

Mark windschitl (20020 suggests that the following activities encourage meaningful learning:  Teachers elicit student’s ideas and experiences in relation to key topics then fashion learning situations that help students elaborate on or restructure their current knowledge.  Students are given frequent opportunities to engage in complex meaningful, problem-based activities.  Teachers provide students with a variety of information resources as well as the tools, technological and conceptual necessary to mediate learning.  Students work collaboratively and are given support to engage in task-oriented dialogue with one another.  Teachers make their own thinking processes explicit to learners and encourage students to do the same through dialogue, writing drawing or other representations.  Students are routinely asked knowledge in diverse and authentic contexts explain ideas interpret texts, predict phenomena and construct arguments based on evidence rather that focus exclusively on the acquisition of predetermined right answers.  Teachers encourage students reflective and autonomous thinking in conjunction with the conditions listed above  Teachers employ a variety of assessment strategies to understand how student’s ideas are evolving and to give feedback on the processes as well as the products of their thinking. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY Albert Bandura demonstrated that people can learn by observing the actions of others and the consequences of those actions. Most of what we know today as social cognitive theory is based on the work begun by Albert Bandura. Banduras early social learning theory emphasized modeling and seeing others reinforced or punished for particular behaviors. His current perspective is called social cognitive theory. First at the time there were at least four other theories called social learning theory that differed both from each other and from Banduras work. To escape this confusion he chose a new name for his theory. Second his theory was broader than a theory of learning-it included cognitive factors and motivation.

Social cognitive theory today retains an emphasis on the role of other people serving as models and teachers ( the social part of social cognitive theory), but includes thinking, believing expecting anticipating self-regulating and making comparisons and judgments ( the cognitive part). SELF-EFFICACY AND AGENCY Bandura (1986, 1994, 1997) suggests that predictions about possible outcomes of behavior are critical for learning because they affect goals, effort, persistence, strategies and resilience. Will I succeed or fail? Will I be liked or laughed at? Will I be more accepted by teachers in this new school? These predictions are affected by self-efficacy- our beliefs about our personal competence or effectiveness in a given area. Bandura (1994) defines self-efficacy as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy is future oriented, a context-specific assessment of competence to perform. Sources of self-efficacy. Bandura identified four sources of self-efficacy expectations: mastery experiences, physiological and emotional arousal, Vicarious experiences and social persuasions.  Mastery experiences are our own direct experiences, the most powerful source of efficacy information. Successes raise efficacy beliefs, while failures lower efficacy.  Levels of arousal affect self-efficacy depending on how the arousal is interpreted. As you face the task are you anxious and worried (lowers efficacy) or excited and psyched (raises efficacy) bandura 1997 schunk, pintrich and meece 2008)?  In vicarious experiences someone else models accomplishments. The more closely the student identifies with the model the greater the impact on self- efficacy will be. When the model performs well the students’ efficacy is enhanced, but when the model performs poorly, efficacy expectations decrease. Although mastery experiences generally are acknowledged as the most influential sources of efficacy beliefs in adults, keyser and Barlng (1981) found that the

children (6 th graders in this year study) rely more on modeling as a source of efficacy information.  Social persuasion can be pep talk or performance feedback. Social persuasion alone can’t create enduring increase in self-efficacy, but a persuasive boost in self-efficacy can lead a student to make an effort, attempt new strategies or try hard enough to succeed ( bandura 1982). Social persuasion can encounter occasional setbacks that might have instilled self- doubt and interrupted persistence. The potency of persuasion depends on the credibility, trustworthiness and expertise of the persuader (Bandura 1997). APPLYING SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY There are five possible outcomes of observational learning: directing attention, encouraging existing behavior, changing inhibitions, teaching new behaviors and attitudes and arousing emotions. Directing attention ; By observing others we not only learn about actions but also notice the objects involved in the actions. For example in a preschool class when one child plays enthusiastically with a toy that has been ignored for days many other children may want to have the toy even if they play with it in different ways or simply carry it around. This happens in part because the children’s attention has been drawn to that particular toy. Fine tuning already learned behaviors. All of us have had the experience of lookingfor cues or other people when we find ourselves in unfamiliar situations. Observing the behavior of others tell us which of our already-learned behaviors to use; the proper fork for eating the salad, when to leave a gathering what kind of language is appropriate and so on. Adopting the dress and grooming styles of TV or music idols is another example of this kind of effect. Strengthening or weakening inhibitions; if class members witness one student breaking a class rule and getting away with it ,they may learn that undesirable consequences do not always follow rule breaking. If the rule breaker is a well-liked high status class leader the effect of the modeling may be even more pronounced.

This ripple effect can work for the teachers benefit . When the teacher deals effectively with the rule breaker especially class leader the idea of breaking this rule may be inhibited for the other students viewing the interaction. This does not mean that teachers must reprimand each student who breaks a rule but once a teacher has called for a particular action, following through is an important part of capitalizing on the ripple effect. Teaching new behaviors . Modeling has long been used of course to teach dance, sports and crafts as well as skills in subjects such as food science, chemistry and welding. Modeling can also be applied deliberately in the classroom to teach mental skills and to broaden horizons, to teach new ways of thinking. Teachers serve as models for a vast range of behaviors, from pronouncing vocabulary words to reacting to seizure of a student with epilepsy to being enthusiastic about learning. For example a teacher might sound critical thinking skills by thinking out loud about a student’s question. Or a high school teacher concerned about a girl who seems to have stereotyped ideas about careers might invite women with nontraditional job to speak to the class. Studies indicate that modeling can be most effective when the teacher makes use of all the elements of observational learning especially reinforcement and practice. Models that are the same age as the students may be particularly effective. For exampleSchunk and Hanson compared two methods for learning this skill. One group of students observed other 2 nd graders learning the procedures while another group watched a teacher’s demonstration. Then both groups participated in the same instructional program. The students who observed peer models learning not only scored higher on tests of subtraction after instructions but also gained more confidence in their own ability to learn. For students who doubt their own abilities a good model is a low-achieving student who keeps trying and finally masters the material. Arousing emotional. Finally through observational learning people may develop emotional reactions to situations they have never experienced personally such as flying or driving. A child who watches a friend fall from a swing and break an arm may become fearful of swings.

After the terrible events of September 11 2001 children may be anxious when seeing airplanes flying close to the ground. News reports of shark attacks have many of us anxious about swimming in the ocean. Teachers’ sense of efficacy . Ateacher’s belief that he or she can reach even difficult students to help them learn appears to be one of the few personal characteristics of teachers that is correlated with students’ achievements. Self-efficacy theory predicts that teachers with high sense of efficacy, work harder and persist longer even when students are difficult to teach in part because these teachers believe in themselves and in their students. Also they are less likely to experience burn-out. We have found that prospective teachers tend to increase in their personal sense of efficacy as a consequence of completing student teaching. But sense of efficacy may go down after the first year as a teacher perhaps because the support that was there for you in student teaching is gone. As with any kind of efficacy there may be both benefits and dangers in overestimating abilities .Optimistic teachers probably set higher goals, workharder, teach when necessary and persist in the face of problems. But some benefits might follow from having doubts about your efficacy. The point/ counterpoint looks at both sides of the teachers efficacy judgments. Encouraging emotional self regulation Create a limit of trust in your classroom Avoid listening to tattle tale stories about students. Follow through with fair consequences. Avoid unnecessary comparisons and give students opportunities to improve their work. Help students recognize and express their feelings Provide a vocabulary of emotions and note descriptions of emotions in characteristics or stories. Be clean and descriptive about your own emotions. Encourage students to write in journals about their own feelings. Protect the privacy of the writings Help students recognize emotions in others

For young children look at chandras face. How do you think she feels when you say those things. For older students use readings analysis of characteristics in literature films or role reversals to help them identify the emotions of others. Provide strategies for coping with emotions. Discuss or practice alternatives such as stopping to think how the other person feels seeking help and using anger management strategies such as self-talk or leaving the scene. Model strategies for students. Talk about how you handle anger disappointment or anxiety. Help students recognize cultural differences in emotional expression. Have students write about or discuss how they show emotions in their family. Teach students to check it out ask the other people how they are feeling Domains of learning: psychomotor, cognitive, and affective Learning domains, sometimes referred to as categories of learning outcomes, are critical to consider as you plan your lessons. By analyzing the type of learning domain or outcome that you want, you can determine which activities, assessments, and representational modes (face-to-face, video, online, multimedia) are optimal based on the learning outcome desired. These domains include cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and interpersonal. Cognitive Domain This domain focuses on intellectual skills. Bloom’s Taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) is frequently used to describe the increasing complexity of cognitive skills as students move from beginner to more advanced in their knowledge of content. The cognitive domain is the core learning domain. The other domains (affective, interpersonal, and psychomotor) require at least some cognitive component. The cognitive domain is well suited to the online environment. Face-to-face courses benefit from using the web as a way to supplement classroom lectures that are cognitive in nature. These supplemental material may include the following:  Graphics to show relationships between ideas  Organized class notes  Tables that provide summary information  PowerPoint slides

 Additional examples  Self-check quizzes  A discussion board  Case studies  Drill and practice of content that must be memorized  FLASH animations or simulations of challenging and key concepts  Practice questions with answers and “expert” explanations  Links to similar information presented in a different way The Affective Domain The affective domain is critical for learning but is often not specifically addressed. This is the domain that deals with attitudes, motivation, willingness to participate, valuing what is being learned, and ultimately incorporating the values of a discipline into a way of life. Stages in that domain are not as sequential as the cognitive domain, but have been described as the following:  Receiving (willing to listen)  Responding (willing to participate)  Valuing (willing to be involved)  Organizing (willing to be an advocate)  Characterization (willing to change one’s behavior, lifestyle, or way of life) We do not necessarily expect our math students to become math instructors or mathematicians, but we want them to be willing to “show up” for class, participate in class, and become involved with the content. We expect students to expend effort in their courses and sustain the effort throughout the duration of the course. We also would like our students to take the next higher course or another course in the curriculum because they value what they have learned. Psychomotor Domain The psychomotor domain focuses on performing sequences of motor activities to a specified level of accuracy, smoothness, rapidity, or force. Underlying the motor activity is cognitive understanding. In the higher education environment, we see psychomotor learning in content including the following:  Lab courses for science classes  Vocational courses  Physical education courses

 Training in using specified equipment such as computers, cameras, musical instruments etc.  Performing arts The stages of the psychomotor domain have been described as follows:  Action (elementary movement)  Coordination (synchronized movement)  Formation (bodily movement)  Production (combine verbal and nonverbal movement The psychomotor domain is best assessed in a face-to-face situation. Since there is a cognitive component underlying motor skills, these can be effectively viewed in videos, demonstrations, online text descriptions, or with pictures of each step in the sequence. Simulations can be used to help people learn the steps or practice variations of a motor sequence; but ultimately, the student should perform the skill with an instructor or designee judging if the skill was performed to a set standard. Sometimes, simulations are used for learning without “hands on” opportunities, because the psychomotor activity is dangerous or equipment is not readily available. Students who are new to a content area will generally benefit more from “hands-on” learning than from mediated learning within the psychomotor domain. As students become more expert, videos and pictures can be used to teach the skill. Interpersonal Domain The Interpersonal domain focuses on people interacting with others. The levels in this domain should not be considered hierarchical as in the cognitive domain, but more as a list of skills. These include the following:  Seeking/giving information (asking for and offering information)  Proposing (putting forward an idea)  Building and supporting (helping another person’s idea move forward)  Shutting out/bringing in (excluding or involving another)  Disagreeing (appropriately offering a difference of opinion)  Summarizing (Restating in a compact form a discussion or collection of ideas) Principles of learning/laws of learning

Provides insights into what makes people learn most effectively. Edward Thorndike developed the first three laws of learning: Readiness: DEGREE OF concentration and eagerness. Learn best whenphysically, mentally and emotionally ready ; exercise : most things often repeated are best remembered. Basis 4 drill and practice. Should be followed by positive feedback Effect: based on emotional reaction of the student. Learning is strengthened when associated with pleasant feeling and weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling. Positive reinforcement is more apt to lead to success and motivate the learner. Experiences that produce feelings of defeat, confusion,anger, futility are unpleasant Five additional ones have been added: Primacy:the state of being first, often creates a strong, almost unshakeable impression. Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is difficult to erase. First experience should be positive Recency:: things most recently learned are best remembered.the closer the training or learning time is to the time of actual application the more apt the learner will be to perfom successfully. Intensity: the more intense the material taught the more likely it will be retained. Classroom instruction can benefit from a variety of instructional aids to improve realism, motivate learning and challenge students. Emphasize important points with gestures, voice, demonstrations, role play analogies and personal experience Freedom: things freely learned are best learnt. The further a student is coerced the more difficult is for him to learn assimilate and implement. Since learning is an active process students must have freedom: of choice, of action, to bear the results of action. Requirement: we must have something to obtain or do something. It can be ability, skill, instrument or anything that may help us to learn or gain something. Learning environment/classroom management The basic management task for teachers is to achieve order and harmony by gaining and maintaining student cooperation in class activities. Gaining student cooperation means much more than dealing effectively with misbehavior.

It means planning activities having materials ready making appropriate behavior and academic demands on students giving clear signals, accomplishing transitions smoothly, foreseeing problems and stopping them before they start, selecting and sequencing activities so that flow and interest are maintained and much more. Different activities require different managerial skills. Appropriate student participation varies across different activities. For example loud student’s comments during a hip-hop reading of green eggs and ham in an urban classroom are indicators of engagement and cooperation not disorderly call-outs. The goals of classroom management The aim of classroom management is to maintain positive, productive learning environment. It is unethical to use classroom management techniques just to keep students docile and quiet. Access to learning, Each classroom activity has its own rules for participation. Sometimes these rules are clearly stated by the teacher, but often they are implicit and unstated. Teacher and students may not even be aware that they are following different rules for different activities. The rules defining who can talk, what they can talk about and when to whom and how long they can talk are often called participation structures. Giving all students access to learning you must make sure everyone knows how to participate in class activities. More time for learning To expand the sheer number of minutes available for learning. This is sometime called allocated time. Students will learn what they practice and think about. Time spent actively involved in specific learning tasks often is called engaged time or sometimes time on task. When students are working with a high rate of success-really learning and understanding we call the time spent academic learning time. So the second goal of class management is to increase academic learning time by keeping students actively engaged in worthwhile learning activities. Management for self-management If teachers focus on student compliance they will spend much of the teaching/ learning time monitoring and correcting. Students come to see the purpose of school as just following rules not constructing deep understanding of academic knowledge. And complex learning such as cooperative or problem-based learning require students self-management.

Through self-control students demonstrateresponsibility, the ability to fulfill their own needs without interfering with the rights and needs of others. Students learn self-control by making choices and dealing with the consequences ,setting goals and priorities managing time, collaborating to learn mediatating disputes and making peace and developing trusting relations with trustworthy teachers and classmates. Routines and procedures. How will materials and assignments be distributed and collected/ under what conditions can students leave the room? How will grades be determined? What are the special routines for handling equipment and supplies in science art or vocational classes? Describe how activities are accomplished in classroom, but they are seldom written down; they are simply the ways of getting things done in class. Weinsten and mignano 2007 suggest that teachers establish routines to cover the following areas; 1. Administration routines, such as taking attendance. 2. Students movement such as entering and leaving or going to the bathroom. 3. Housekeeping such as watering plants or storing personal items. 4. Routines for accomplishing lessons such as how to collect assignments or return homework. 5. Interactions between teacher and student such as how to get the teachers attention when help is needed. 6. Talk among students such as giving help or socializing Rules. They are often written down andposted because rules specify expected and forbidden actions in the class, they are dos and don’ts of classroom life. In establishing rules you should consider what kind of atmosphere you want to create, What students behaviors will help you teach effectively/ what limits do students need to guide their behavior the rules you set should be consistent with school rules and also in keeping with principles of learning. Rules should be positive and observable (raise your hand to be recognized). Having a few general rules that cover many specific areas is better than listing all dos and don’ts. Maintaning a good environment for learning Encouraging engagement.As teacher supervision increases students engaged time also increases. Make basic work requirements clear

Communicate specific assignments Monitor work in progress Give frequent academic feedback Kounin concluded that effective classroom managers were especially skilled in four areas with- it-ness, overlappingactivitiesand group focusing and movement management. With-itness means communicating to students that you are aware of everything that is happening in the classroom that you aren’t missing anything. Always scanning the room making eye contact with individual students so the students know they are being monitored. Overlapping and group focus; overlapping means keeping track of and supervising several activities at the same time. Maintaining a group focus means keeping as many students as possible in appropriate class activities and avoiding narrowing in on just one or two students. Movement and management, movement and management means keeping lessons and the group movement at an appropriate pace with smooth transitions and variety. The effective teacher avoids abrupt transitions such as announcing a new activity before gaining the students attention or starting a new activity in the middle of something else. Student’s social skills as prevention Debra stipek and her colleagues describe many ways teachers’ embeded social skills lessons into school subjects and informal discussions. For example class rules emphasize respect (there are no stupid questions) students learn to give put ups not put downs, the lives of historical figures provide opportunities to discuss choices and how to deal with stresses and student conflicts become life lessons in relationships. Caring relationships; connections with school Students who feel connected with school are happier, more self-disciplined and less likely to engage in dangerous behaviors such as substance abuse, violence and early sexual activity; Jeffrey Cornelius-white concluded that positive warm encouraging relationships with teacher are related to many students outcomes including higher participation in class, greater critical thinking skills, lower dropout rates, higher-self-esteem increased motivation less disruptivebehavior and better attendance.

When students perceive their schools are competitive places where they are treated differently based on race gender or ethnicity then they are more likely to act out or withdrawal altogether. But when they feel that they have choices that the emphasis is on personal improvement and not comparisons and that they are respected and supported by teachers students are more likely to bond with schools. Recognizing violence warning signs in others If you see these immediate warning signs violence is a superior possibility; Loss of temper on a daily basis Frequent physical fighting Significant vandalism or property damage Increase in use of drugs or alcohol Increase in risk taking behavior Detailed plans to commit acts of violence Announcing threats or plans for hurting others enjoying hurting animals Carrying weapon If you notice the following signs over a period of time, the potential for violence exists: A history of violent or aggressive behavior Serious drug or alcohol use Gang membership or strong desire to be in a gang Access to or fascination with weapons especially guns Threatening others regularly Trouble controlling feelings like anger Withdrawal from friends and usual activities Feeling rejected or alone Having been a victim of bullying Poor school performance History of discipline problems or frequent run-ins with authority

Feeling constantly disrespected Failing to acknowledge the feelings or rights of others. TEACHER PLANNING Planning is a very important step in teaching. The plan determines what students will learn, because planning transforms the available time and curriculum materials into activities assignments and tasks for students. Teachers engage in several levels of planning by the year,term ,unit, week and day. All the levels must be coordinated. Plans reduce but do not eliminate uncertainty in teaching. There is no one model for effective planning. For experienced teachers, planning is a creative problem-solving process. Experienced teachers know how to accomplish many lessons and segments of lessons. They know what to expect and how to proceed, so they do not necessarily continue to follow the detailed lesson-planning models they learned during their teacher-preparation programs. Objectives for learning Instructional objectives: it is a clear and unambiguous description of your educational intentions for your students. The value of objectives Having objectives seems to improve achievement, but only under certain conditions. First objectives can promote learning with loosely organized and less-structured activities such as lectures, films and research projects. With very structured materials such as programmed instructions objectives seems less important. If the importance of some information is not clear from the learning materials and activities themselves, instructional objectives will probably help focus students’ attention and thus increase achievement. Finally having objectives at the beginning of a reading passage seems to help students remember very specific verbal information from the passage. At the highest level the student would adopt an idea or a value and act consistently with that idea. There are five basic objectives in the effective domain.

1. Receiving: bein aware of or attending to something in the environment, this is the ill listen to the concert but I wont promise to like it level. 2. Responding: showing some new behaviours as a result of exeperience, at this level a person might applaud after the concert or hum some of the music the next day. 3. Valuing, showing some definite involvement or commitment, at this point a person might choose to go to a concert instead of a film. 4. Organization: integrating a new value into ones general set of values giving it some ranking among ones general priorities, ths is the level at which a person would begin to make long range commitments to concert attendance. 5. Characterization by value; acting consistently with the new value, at this highest level a person would be firmly committed to a love of music and demonstrate it openly and consistently. Objective in the psychomotor domain should be of interest to a wide range of educators, including those in fine arts, vocational-technical education and special education. Many other subjects such as chemistry physics and biology also require specialised movements and well-developed hand-eye coordination. Using lab equipment themouse on a computer or art materials mean leraning new physical skills. Here are two psychomotor objectives; Four minutes after completing a one mile run eight minutes or under your heart rate will be below 120. Use a computer mouse effectively to drag and drop files. Whatever your instructional objectives are for your students, terry ten brick suggests these criteria. Objectives should be: Students-oriented (emphasis on what the student is expected to do). Descriptive of an appropriate learning outcome (both developmentally appropriate and appropriately sequenced with more complex objectives following prerequisite objectives). Clear and understandable (not too general or too specific). BASIC TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR REACHING OBJECTIVES LECTURING

It is appropriate for communicating a large amount of material to many students in a short period of time. The teacher can integrate information from many sources and give students a more complete understanding of a subject in less time than it would have taken the students themselves to integrate the information. Lecturing is a good method for introducing a new topic, giving background information and motivating students to learn more on their own. Lecturing also helps students learn to listen accurately and critically and gives the teacher a chance to make on-the-spot changes to help students understand when they are confused. Disadvantages Some students have trouble listening for more than a few minutes at a time and simply tune you out. Lecturing puts the students in a passive position and may prevent them from asking or thinking of questions. Recitation and questioning Teachers pose questions and students answer. The teachers questions generally follow sort of plan to develop a framework for the subjects matter involved. The studentsanswers are often followed by reactions from the teachersuch as statements of praise correction or request for further information. Kinds of questions Convergent questions (only one right answere) or divergent questions (many possible answeres). Questions about concrete facts are convergent: who ruled England in 1540? Who wrote the origin Peter pan? Urge teachers to ask more higher-level questions (analysis, synthesis and evaluation) and divergent questions. Group discussion A teacher may pose questions, listen to student answers, react and probe for more information. Students ask questions answereach other’s questions and respond to each other’sanswers. On the positive side the students are directly involved and have the chance to participate. Group discussion helps students learn to express themselves clearly ,to justify opinions and to tolerate different views. Group discussion also gives students a chance to ask for clarification and get more information. Can assume responsibility by sharing the leadership of the group with the teacher.

Group discussions are appropriate for objectives like evaluation of ideas, development of tolerant attitudes and synthesis of personal viewpoints; discussions are also useful when students are trying to understand difficult concepts that go against common sense. Seatwork and homework The assignments or seatwork and homework must be meaningful extensions of class lessons not just busywork. To benefit from seatwork or homework students must stay involved and do the work. The first step toward involvement is getting students started correctly by making sure they understand the assignment. It may help to do the first few questions as a class to clear up any misconceptions. This is especially important for homework assignments because students may have no one to consult if they have problems with the assignment. Inquiry methods John dewey described the basic inquiry teaching format in 1910. There have been a number of adaptations of this strategy but the form usually includes the following elements. The teacher presents a puzzling,event ,question or problem, The students;  Formulate hypothesis to explain the event or solve the problem.  Collect data to test the hypotheses.  Draw conclusions.  Reflect on the original problem and on the thinking processes needed to solve it. At times teachers present a problem and students ask/or questions to gather data and test hypotheses. This allows the teacher to monitor students thinking and guide the process. Individualized instruction Each student works with learning plans designed to fit his or her own needs, interests and abilities. To accomplish this goal individualized instructions takes many forms; students may work in small or large groups so long as the activities are designed to match the needs of the individuals involved. Modifying lessons to fit individual needs. Tailor a learning activity to an individual student, a teacher might vary one or more of the following elements: the pace of learning, the instructional objectives, the activity or the materials, the reading level or the methods by which students are to demonstrate what they have learned. Perhaps the simplest form

of individualized instruction is to let students work at their own pace on the same assignment. What makes an effective learner Self regulated learner have a combination of academic learning skills and self-control that makes learning easier sor they are more motivated to learn. How can teachers encourage their students to become active, successful, self-regulated learners so the students will take advantage of learning opportunities and use learning resources? In order to be effective, expert self regulatedlearners students need both the skill and the will to learn. Three factors influence skill and will knowledge motivation and self-discipline or volition. Learners knowledge Students need knowledge about themselves the subject the task and strategies fr learning. Expert students know about themselves and how they learn best. These expert students not only know what each task requires they can also apply the strategy needed. They can skim or read carefully. They can use mnemonics or recognize the material. Motivation, self-regulated learners know why they are learning. They are serious about getting intended benefit from the subject. They are especially likely to work hard if they believe that through effort thay can become smarter-more competent. Interest, curiosity, co-operation a safe learning environment realistic goals, valued outcomes encourage student motivation. Volition volition is an old fashioned word for will power. Self-regulated learners know how to protect themselves from distructions-where to study for example so they are not interrupted. They know how to cope when they feel anxious drowsy or lazy. And they know what to do when tempted to stop working and watch L.A law the temptation I am facing now- that and a large bowl of Halloween candy. Sem Assignment a).Discuss the conditions that influence the brain development of children aging birth – five years.(5 Mks) b). Citing practical examples, explain five reasons for encouraging deployment of school psychologists ( 5 Mks) c) Using Social Learning Theory, describe the empact of dormains of learning in a real learning situations of a rural setting.(5Mks)

Note : Class Rep organize the class in groups for the assignments. – Use APA Format. ** Section 2 will have two more questions Thank You and Every Blessing Thank You Dr. Rev. Davis Gatua