Theoretical Framework for the
Teaching Proposal
Pedagogical, psychological and
sociological principles of a
teaching proposal
A. Sánchez Villalón,
DDC-I, Master Secundaria UCLM
Psychological principles
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Physical and psychological changes that influence
teenagers behaviour.
Cognitive changes :
- David Ausubel’s “Meaningful Learning” considers
previous knowlege.
- Lev Vigotsky’s “Sociocultural Theory” considers
individual personal experience
- Jerome Bruner’s “Theory of Instruction” considers
motivation as an important tool.
Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning
Ausubel, D.P.: American psychologist born in New York. (1918 – 2008)
Advance organisers:
(a cognitive strategy to help students learn and retain information, =
cognitive elements preparing learning)
Presentation of an advance organizer
 Presentation of learning tasks or material
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Strenthening the cognitive organization
Being these phases relevant for the learning process.
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“advance organizers can be catered to any student to aid them in
bridging a gap between what they already know and what they are
about to learn”.
See “http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/cues.php”
Vigostky’s Social Cognition Theory
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L. Vigostky: A Soviet psychologist (1896 –1934)
Language and Thought are connected.
Culture is determinant for individual development.
A child learning development is affected by the
culture surrounding him/her.
Actual and Potential Development
“He observed how higher mental functions developed historically
within particular cultural groups, as well as individually through
social interactions with significant people in a child's life,
particularly parents, but also other adults”
Bruner´s Spiral Curriculum
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J. Bruner: An American Psychologist (1915- ~)
Based on categorization
Bruner proposed the Spiral Curriculum, a teaching approach in
which each subject or skill area is revisited at intervals, at a
more sophisticated level each time.
A syllabus must be developed revising the basic ideas.
Best stimulus to learn to learn was the interest that a student
had in the subject up to date material and resources
“Spiral Curriculum in which students repeat the study of a
subject at different grade levels, each time at a higher level of
difficulty and in greater depth”
Piaget’s Cognitive Development
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J. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist (1896 –1980)
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Cognitive Development explains knowledge
development as a process of equilibration using two main
concepts in his theory, assimilation and accommodation
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In Stages: 4th stage: Formal Operational Stage
Development of Abstract Reasoning:
Children develop abstract thought and can easily
conserve and think logically in their mind (12 years
onwards)
Age of acquisition:
At Adolescence (ages 11 to school leaving):
Advantages:
(i) Increased capacity to appreciate
many aspects of language and
culture contacts.
(ii) Still sufficient time to attain high
standard.
(iii) Improved memory and higher
level of intellectual growth.
(iv) First language skills well
established, hence no confusion.
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Disadvantages:
(i) More laborious than early learning.
(ii) Success demands tenacity.
(iii) Self-consciousness.
(iv) Possible refusal to memorize.
(v) Experience has shown poor results
frequent.
(vi) Already crowded curricula &
specialization of studies.
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At Adulthood:
 Advantages:
(i) Specificity of purpose.
(ii) Good motivation added to reasons
mentioned for adolescence.
(iii) Greatest amount of learning in least
amount of time.
 Disadvantages:
(i) Not enough time.
(ii) Other preoccupation.
(iii) Irregularity of study.
Bibliography
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Ausubel, D. (1963). The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning . (1963). New
York: Grune & Stratton.
Ausubel, D. (1978). In defense of advance organizers: A reply to the critics .
(1978). Review of Educational Research, 48, 251-257.
Ausubel, D., Novak, J., & Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational Psychology: A
Cognitive View (2nd Ed.) . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London.
Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotsky's Psychology: A Biography of Ideas. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Lee, C. D., & Smagorinsky, P. (Ed.) (2000). Vygotskian perspectives on literacy
research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry. NY.CUP.
Olson, David (2007). Jerome Bruner: Continuum Library of Educational Thought.
Continuum, London : Continuum International Publ. Group.
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