Facilitating Learner-Centered
Teaching
GESTALT
PSYCHOLOGY
Module 9
"GESTALT"
Structure
Form
Configuration
Put Together
"GESTALT"
1. an organized whole that is perceived as more than the
sum of its parts.
2. It makes a reference to the way individual components
are structured by our perception as a psychical whole
(Wulf, 1996)
Gestalt Theory
It emphasizes the importance of sensory wholes
and the dynamic nature of visual perception
Observed that human brain tends to automatically organize and
interpret visual data through grouping.
Gestalt Psychology
A school of thought that seeks to understand how the
human brain perceives experiences. It suggests that
structures, perceived as a whole, have specific properties
that are different from the sum of their individual parts.
Gestalt
Psychologists
Max Wertheimer
Experimental Studies of
the Perception of
Movement (1912)
Apparent motion is the
perception of
movement that results
from viewing a rapid
sequence of static
images
Wolfgang Köhler
The human brain would
“converge” towards a
minimum energy state through
a process of simplification of
perception - a mechanism
that he called Pragnanz
(Rock & Palmer, 1990).
Kurt Koffka
Principles of Gestalt
Psychology (1935)
Application of the
Gestalt Laws to topics
such as motor action,
learning and memory,
personality and society.
Perceptual
Process
Gestalt Principles
Laws of Perception
Law of Proximity
Elements that are
near together will
be perceived as
coherent subject
Law of
Similarity
Elements that look similar will be
perceived as part of the same form
Law of
Similarity
Law of Closure
Space were enclosed by completing
a contour and ignoring gaps in the
figure
Law of Good Continuation
(Continuity)
Individuals have the tendency to continue
contours whenever the elements of the
pattern establish an implied direction.
Law of Good Continuation
(Continuity)
Law of Good
It states that when faced with a
Pragnanz
set of ambiguous or complex
objects, the human brain seeks to
make them as simple as possible.
Law of Simplicity
Law of Good Figure
Law of
Good
Pragnanz
Law of
Figure/Ground
Paying attention and perceiving
things in the foreground first.
Law of
Figure/Ground
INSIGHT
LEARNING
Insight Learning
The important aspect of learning
was not reinforcement, but the
coordination of thinking to create
new organizations (of materials)
Gestalt Principles and
Teaching Learning
Process
For the students
Students should perceive the
whole of the learning goal, and
then discover the relations
between parts and the whole.
For the teachers
Provide the basic framework
of the lesson as an organized
and meaningful structure, and
then go into details.
Life Space by Kurt Lewin
Individual has inner and outer
forces that affect his perception
and learning.
THANK
YOU
See you next time!
References:
Module 9, Facilitation Learner-Centered Teaching 5th Edition, Lorimar Publishing
https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-gestalt-psychology.html
https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-theory/gestalt-theory-of-learning-withobjections-psychology/13473
https://inkbotdesign.com/gestalt-principles/