SOUTH EASTERN KENYA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL
SCIENCES,
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
TPS 202: PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING
AND TEACHING
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LESSON ONE..................................................................................... 1
MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ..........1
1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................1
1.1 OBJECTIVES .....................................................................................1
1.2 DEFINITION OF EDUCATION.............................................................1
1.3 THE CONCERNS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY..........................2
1.4 AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY .........................................3
1.5 RELEVANCE OF EDUCATION PSYCHOLOGY ....................................5
1.6 FOCUS AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ............................9
1.7 SUMMARY .......................................................................................11
1.8 KEY TERMS .....................................................................................12
1.9 Review Questions .............................................................................14
LESSON TWO .................................................................................. 14
LEARNING .............................................................................................14
2.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................14
2.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................14
2.2 THE RELEVANCE OF LEARNING .....................................................14
2.3 DEFINITION OF THE TERM LEARNING ...........................................15
2.4 TYPES OF LEARNING ......................................................................15
2.5 OPERANT CONDITIONING ...............................................................19
2.6 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY ...........................................................22
2.7. INSIGHTFUL LEARNING .................................................................23
2.8 INFORMATION PROCESS SYSTEM ..................................................25
2.9 SUMMARY .......................................................................................27
2.10 KEY TERMS ...................................................................................29
2.11 REVIEW QUESTIONS .....................................................................29
LESSON THREE .............................................................................. 30
REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING ....................................................30
3.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................30
3.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................30
3.2 WHY STUDENTS FORGET THE CONTENT THEY LEARN ................30
3.3 THE BEHAVIORISTIC THEORY ........................................................30
3.4 COGNITIVE EXPLANATION ..............................................................34
3.5 IMPROVING MEMORY .....................................................................36
3.6 SUMMARY .......................................................................................40
3.7 KEYWORDS .....................................................................................41
3.8 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ................................................41
LESSON FOUR ................................................................................ 42
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING ............................................42
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4.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................42
4.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................42
4.2 THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING .................................42
4.3 THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ......................................................44
4.4 The Learner Characteristics .............................................................46
4.5 The Subject Matter ...........................................................................49
4.6 SUMMARY .......................................................................................53
4.7 KEY WORDS ....................................................................................53
4.8 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ................................................54
LESSON FIVE .................................................................................. 54
TRANSFER OF LEARNING ...................................................................54
5.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................54
5.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................55
5.2 DEFINITION OF TRANSFER OF LEARNING .....................................55
5.3 ASPECTS OF TRANSFER .................................................................55
5.4 TYPES OF TRANSFER ......................................................................57
5.5 TEACHING FOR TRANSFER.............................................................59
5.6 NOTE ...............................................................................................62
5.7 SUMMARY .......................................................................................62
5.8 KEY WORDS ....................................................................................63
5.9 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ................................................63
LESSON SIX .................................................................................... 64
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING .........................................64
6.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................64
6.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................64
6.2 WHAT CAUSES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING? ..........64
6.3 WHAT GENES GIVE .........................................................................66
6.4 DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS..........................................................67
6.5 SUMMARY .......................................................................................73
6.6 KEY WORDS ....................................................................................74
6.7 REVIEW QUESTIONS .......................................................................74
LESSON SEVEN ............................................................................... 76
MOTIVATION ........................................................................................76
7.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................76
7.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................76
7.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM MOTIVATION .......................................77
7.3 MOTIVATION IN THE SCHOOL SETTING .........................................77
7.4 THEORETICAL APPROACHES .........................................................77
7.5 EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION .......................................84
7.6 SUMMARY .......................................................................................89
7.7 KEY TERMS .....................................................................................90
7.8 REVIEW QUESTIONS .......................................................................91
LESSON EIGHT ............................................................................... 92
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ATTITUDES ...........................................................................................92
8.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................92
8.1 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................92
8.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM .............................................................93
8.3 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES ........................................................94
8.4 FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES ............................................................96
8.5 DEVELOPMENT OF ATTITUDES ......................................................97
8.6 ATTITUDE CHANGE .........................................................................99
8.7 ATTITUDES AND SCHOOL SETTINGS ........................................... 105
8.8 SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 108
8.9 KEY TERMS ................................................................................... 109
8.10 DISCUSSION/REVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................ 109
LESSON NINE................................................................................ 110
PERSONALITY .................................................................................... 110
9.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 110
9.1 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................. 111
9.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM PERSONALITY ................................... 111
9.3 DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY............................................... 112
9.4 THE HOME INFLUENCES .............................................................. 114
9.5 NEGATIVE HOME INFLUENCES .................................................... 118
9.6 EDUCATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY ..................... 121
9.7 PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT AND MALADJUSTMENT ................. 125
9.8 MALADJUSTMENT ......................................................................... 126
9.9 SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 128
9.10 KEY CONCEPTS ........................................................................... 128
9.11 REVIEW \ DISCUSSION QUESTIONS .......................................... 129
LESSON TEN ................................................................................. 130
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ............................................................. 130
10.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 130
10.1 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................... 131
10.2 THE RELEVANCE OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ................... 131
10.3 METHODS OF IDENTIFYING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS IN THE
CLASSROOM .............................................................................. 132
10.4 WHY DO PUPILS MISBEHAVE? ................................................... 133
10.5 HOW PUPILS REACT TO PROBLEMS .......................................... 135
10.6 METHODS OF BEHAVIOUR CHANGE ......................................... 137
10.7 BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES .................................. 141
10.8 PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE............................................................ 143
10.9 SUMMARY.................................................................................... 145
10.10 DISCUSSION/REVIEW QUESTIONS .......................................... 145
10.11 KEY CONCEPTS ......................................................................... 145
LESSON ELEVEN........................................................................... 147
THE EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER ...................................................... 147
11.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 147
11.1 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................... 147
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11.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN .............. 147
11.3 CATEGORIES OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN .............................. 148
11.4 CLASSIFICATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN ......................... 148
11.5 HOW A TEACHER IDENTIFIES THE GIFTED CHILDREN ............ 149
11.6 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH GIFTEDNESS. .......................... 149
11.7 HOW TO MANAGE THE GIFTED CHILDREN ............................... 149
11.8 LEARNERS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES ................................ 152
11.9 ARE LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN A HOMOGENEOUS
GROUP? ....................................................................................... 152
11.10 PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES ......................................................... 154
11.11 SENSORY EXCEPTIONALITIES .................................................. 155
11.12 THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED ......................................................... 156
11.13 INTERVENTION .......................................................................... 158
11.14 SERVICES FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN ............................... 159
11.15 SUMMARY.................................................................................. 162
11.16 KEY WORDS .............................................................................. 162
11.17 REVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................. 163
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LESSON ONE
MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Dear learner, this is an introductory lesson of the module Educational
Psychology. I am going to explore the concepts relevant to understanding
the teaching and learning processes. This lesson has several sections:
• Definition of Educational Psychology.
• The concerns of Educational Psychology.
• Areas of Educational Psychology.
• Relevance of Educational Psychology.
• Benefits of the scientific approach.
• Focus areas of Educational Psychology
1.1 OBJECTIVES
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By the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
Define Educational Psychology.
Outline the area of Educational Psychology.
Discuss the relevance of Educational Psychology for teachers.
Identify the benefits of using the scientific approach in the teaching-learning process.
Describe the focus areas of Educational Psychology.
1.2 DEFINITION OF EDUCATION
What is Educational Psychology?
We cannot define Educational Psychology without knowing what
psychology is.
Psychology is defined as the scientific discipline that studies animal and
human behaviour and mental process. As a science psychology is used in
the understanding of behaviour, prediction of behaviour and control of
behaviour. Marshall, (1992) defines behaviour as anything we do, such as
thinking, talking, sneezing, sleeping, loving and so on.
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As a science of behavior psychology has many branches and approaches.
The following are some of the branches of psychology:
• Industrial psychology.
• Experimental psychology.
• Developmental psychology.
• Counseling psychology.
• Social psychology.
• Educational Psychology.
Looking at these branches of psychology we can deduce that Educational
psychology is one of the branches of psychology. It is one of the newer
branches of psychology, which is slightly over a century old today,
(Woolfolk, 1998).
Educational Psychology is defined as an applied branch of Psychology. It
is concerned with the application of the principles and techniques of
psychology to the solution of the problems confronting the teacher in the
classroom, (Gage/Berliner, 1992).
Educational Psychology is also defined as the study of what people think,
do and feel as they teach and learn a particular environment where
education and training are intended to take place, (Woolfolk, 1998).
As an applied branch of psychology Educational Psychology focuses on the
psychological study of everyday problems of Education from which the
teacher derives principles, models, theories, teaching procedures and
practical methods of instruction and evaluation. This involves the selection
from the total field of psychology of those facts, principles and techniques,
which relate to the teaching-learning process as they operate in and out of
the classroom.
Although Educational Psychology borrows heavily from psychology it has
evolved as a distinct science with its own methods and theories.
1.3 THE CONCERNS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Educational Psychology is concerned with the learning situation. The
learning situation involves group dynamics as they operate to affect
learning.
• Educational Psychology is concerned with the learning process. This
refers to the means by which learning can be made more active.
• Educational Psychology is concerned with the teacher’s role as the
facilitator of learning.
• Educational Psychology is also concerned with the learner. It seeks to
discover the dynamics that operate to make the learner receptive to
learning.
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1.4 AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
We have already learned that Educational Psychology is an applied
science. As an applied science it borrows from many areas within the wider
field of psychology. The following are some of the areas Educational
Psychology borrows from:
1. Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with the mental
processes that rare involved in understanding behavior. These are
thinking, remembering, forgetting, problem solving and perception. From
this area of psychology the teachers applies the principles of enhancing
memory of learned material. He also learns what to do in the learning
situation in order to minimize forgetting of the learned material.
2. Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is the science that studies the changes that
take place in the lifetime of a person. The changes take place in the body
from the time of conception through uterine life, infancy, Early childhood,
middle and late childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle
adulthood, later childhood, aging and dying.
Changes also take place in the intellectual dimensions. These changes
refer to the development of thought and the ability to acquire knowledge
and use it through out the chronological and mental ages of children. In
this dimension the child develops intellectually for example Piagetian
stages of cognitive development. According to the Piaget, the child
development is based on the reflexes that are present at birth. This reflexes
lead to the sensori motor development that is present from birth to two
years of age intelligence.
From sensori motor stage of cognitive development the child develops preoperational reasoning, concrete operations and formal operational stage.
These stages are well covered in the human development course. Our duty
here is to point out that the teacher applies the knowledge in order to
develop curriculum that is in the line with the intellectual stage of
development for the child. It also helps the teacher to gauge the level of
difficulty of content so that he can organize teaching and learning activities
that present the right level of difficulty to learners.
From the Piagetian theory the teacher also derives the teaching and
procedures that are appropriate to the level of cognitive development of the
learner. For example if learners are concrete thinkers then the teacher
uses concrete things in teaching them. But if the learners are formal
thinkers then the teacher can use abstract thinking. The application of
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information gained from cognitive psychology makes teaching and learning
very effective.
From developmental psychology the teacher understands the learners
emotional, social and moral development. With this understanding he is
able to develop learning activities that help the learner to develop positively
in these areas. This ensures that the learner is well rounded in all aspects
of development; intellectually, physically, socially, morally, emotionally
and even spiritually.
3. Social Psychology
The teacher also borrows from the area of social psychology. Social
psychology also refers to the study of social interactions and their
influence on individual and group behavior.
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From social psychology the teacher understands how attitudes are
acquired and changed. For example how learners acquire positive or
negative attitudes towards a teacher, a subject, school or even the
schools administration and how the acquired attitude affects
learning and adjustment to school.
From social psychology the teacher gain insights to how biases and
prejudices are acquired and how they can affect learning.
The teacher also acquires information regarding how friendships
develop and how friendships are maintained. This has a bearing on
the learners’ social adjustment and acceptance by the peers and it
effects on learning.
4. Psychometric psychology
Psychometric psychology deals with the measurement theory, which
equips the teachers with the skills needed in measurement of relevant
variables. These are variables like achievement and personality traits in
educational settings. Equipped with the measuring skills the teacher is
able to evaluate learning and to make the necessary adjustments so that
effective learning takes place.
5. Personality psychology
Personality theories are concerned with individual differences. They
explain why each learner is unique in terms of his needs and his
personality traits. Information gained from personality psychology equips
the teacher with the tools he needs in terms of understanding each learner
in particular and learners in general. This understanding helps the teacher
to organize learning experiences that cater for each learner. This is
important since the teacher deals with learners with differences in
intellectual ability, emotional experience and expression, moral thinking
and behavior, sociability and other traits that learners bring to class.
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6. Mental hygiene
Mental hygiene refers to those factors that promote the child’s adjustment.
These factors may exist in the home, in the school among peers and in the
community and may operate to promote or hinder learning and
adjustment. The teacher who is aware of these factors will be prepared to
handle any problem that arises from any of the possible angles and help
the learner to cope adequately in all situations.
Guidance and counseling are major concerns of mental hygiene. The
teacher who can both guide and counsel learners will help to promote
appropriate methods of solving problems and dealing with the stresses of
daily living in the learner.
1.5 RELEVANCE OF EDUCATION PSYCHOLOGY
The issue of relevance of Educational Psychology to the teacher is of great
importance. The relevance emanates from the fact that teachers in the
schools do not teach Educational Psychology. They teach other disciplines.
For example English language, mathematics, Kiswahili, Biology,
Geography, Physics, Chemistry etc. These are languages, humanities,
sciences and practical subjects.
These are disciplines that require scholarship. This means that a teacher
may be very good in scholarship achieving high grades in the area of
academic pursuit. Another teacher could be an average achiever in
scholarship while another one merely passed his examinations.
One question that need to be asked is whether the person with excellent
performance will of necessity become a good teacher while the poor scholar
consequently becomes a poor teacher.
The other issue of concern is whether teachers are born or made. Focusing
on these concerns one remembers the joke about teachers and jobs which
goes like this; “Those who can find jobs do them, Those who do not find
jobs teach, while those who cannot teach, teach teachers”. It is impractical
to focus on these issues in order to install educational Psychology where
it belongs. Therefore it is important to point out that being a brilliant
scholar does not necessarily make one a good teacher, neither does being
a poor scholar make one a poor teacher.
The difference between a good teacher and a poor one is made by the
knowledge and application of Educational Psychology. Educational
Psychology equips the teacher with the scientific approach to learning and
teaching. It equips the teacher with scientific and practical insights into
the various aspects of the learning teaching process. The scientific
approach enables the teacher to know what can be done in the learning
teaching process. The scientific approach enables the teacher to know
what can be done in the learning teaching process. He gets to know what
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will work in the process and what will not work. Why some approaches
work while others fail totally. The teacher gets to know and to apply what
consists realistic goals for learning and teaching. With this knowledge the
teacher learns to avoid the use of pre-scientific methods in the learning
teaching process. We shall briefly look at pre-scientific approaches to
learning and teaching.
Activity
1. Can you remember the methods your teacher used in order to get you to learn
the multiplication tables or even historical dates and scientific formulae.
2. Can you remember the teachers who made the subject difficult so that few
people did well in it? What was the subject and what did the teacher do to
ensure that few students passed well in it.
1.5.1The pre scientific methods teachers use.
Pre-scientific methods are those that are not founded in any scientific
research or theory. These are methods that have not been tested for their
applicability or validity. When the teacher uses them, they posses the
likelihood of inhibiting or preventing learning. We shall mention a few of
them here:
1. Certain Habits
There are certain habits, which are pre-scientific, and if used by the
teacher could be detrimental to learning. These are habits like being
unprepared. A teacher may imagine that there is no need to prepare for a
lesson because they have taught the lesson for many years and therefore
has control over the content. This teacher may not take time to prepare
lesson plan or learn notes and therefore goes to the class with the textbook
alone. This teacher cannot run an effective lesson because of being
unprepared. Although it is true that he has taught the content for many
years it is important to take time and interact with the content by making
a lesson plan and lesson notes. That way he will demonstrate
incompetence in his teaching.
2. Pre-established beliefs
Teachers or school heads may hold certain pre-established beliefs, which
can inhibit learning. There is belief that anybody can teach anything. The
school heads who hold this belief will allocate people subjects that they
are not comfortable teaching. For example a teacher could be very good in
teaching physics and since physics is a science he could be allocated to
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teach all the sciences. This will result in teacher producing poor results in
those subjects where he lacks competence.
There is also the issue of relying on untrained teachers because they will
not ask for a large salary. These teachers may have the potential of being
good teacher but their untrained state translates into poor performances.
These teachers do not posses the appropriate methods of dealing with
many aspect of the student’s life in the school.
3. The use of common sense
This is yet another pre-scientific belief. Teachers who lack the training in
educational psychology may rely on the use of common sense. For example
hey may hold the belief that any student can learn anything. They are not
aware that for a student to be able to learn there many variables that
interact in highly complex ways to promote or hinder learning for any
student. These variables are; the learner’s intellectual giftedness, which
may be genetically, determined, the learner’s motivations, interests, needs
and values. The teacher has to understand the learner very well in order
to be able to determine what he can learn and the conditions under which
learning will occur.
4. Personal impressions
There are personal impressions which are pre-scientific and which will
prevent learning. The teacher may have biased perceptions of particular
learners or a class in general. The teacher may believe that a certain
learner or a class is bad or poor. This belief may be a result of stories. A
teacher with two kinds of impressions is likely to cultivate very negative
attitudes towards the learners. The negative attitudes affect the teacher’s
interactions with the learners both inside and outside the classroom. This
will promote the development of hostility between the teachers and the
learners and as a result learning and adjustment is affected negatively.
5. Popular beliefs
Every school has its own popular beliefs. One such belief is that learners
cannot be disciplined unless they are punished. A teacher with such a
belief relies on punitive measure in his interactions with learners. Reliance
on punishment has very many negative effects on learners it is responsible
for development of hostilities and negative emotions between the teacher
and the learners and its effects on learning are negative. They hinder
learning and also hinder healthy adjustment to the school.
6. Folklore
When the teachers are in the staff room they tell each other stories about
students. These stories may be told by a teacher or teachers who have
problems with a certain or certain pupils. The stories may be full of biases,
prejudices are negative attitudes towards the students. The stories may be
about the teacher’s beliefs towards the students. He may believe that the
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students are disobedient, lazy, poor academically, rude, or even outright
bad. The teacher with these beliefs wishes to bias the other teachers so
that they too can hold the attitudes he holds. If the other teachers assume
the same biases they approach students negatively and as a result
learning and teaching are grossly affected. These teachers approach
students in a hostile manner, which in turn affects both achievement and
adjustment to school.
7. Subject centered approach
The teacher who uses the subject-centered approach forgets that the
content is meant to be imbibed by the learner. They focus on the coverage
of content. This teacher is also teacher-centered while the learner takes
the passive role in the learning teaching process. What happens is this
situation is that learner is lost most of the time and he lacks competence
and motivation to learn the content. This results in the learner’s
disorientation and failure to achieve in tests and examinations based on
the content.
8. Drilling
Drilling is a method of teaching that relies on rote memory. Rote memory
refers to committing to memory meaningless content. Students who are
subject to drilling concentrate in the passing the examination only. They
do not learn the meaning or usefulness of the content learned. They find
it difficult to use or apply the knowledge in life situations. The traditional
methods of teaching mathematics and science relied a lot on drilling
accompanied by heavy punishment for those who failed to master the
content. Inherent with the drilling methods was the concept that the
subject was taught because it was difficult. As a result, the content was
so mystified that only a few bright students were able to cope with it. The
teacher concentrated his attention on the few students who could cope
with it. He said that all other students were in class to warm it up for those
capable students.
Question
Do you remember a subject that you found extremely difficult to learn? How was
the teacher going about it? Why did you find it difficult?
1.5.2 An Appraisal of the pre-scientific approach
A lot can be said about the negative effects of using the pre-scientific
approach to teaching. However we need to note that these methods may
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not be entirely wrong. Their only problem lies in the fact that they could
be detrimental to learning, they could prevent learning because they are
incomplete. Their incompleteness lies in the sense that they do not take
into account the psychological factors that play a highly significant role in
stimulating, directing and disinhibiting the learning process. It is also true
that the teacher who uses the pre-scientific approaches to teaching lacks
the awareness of the complexity and dynamism of the learning process.
1.5.3 Benefits of the scientific approach
It is important to find out what the teacher gains from using the scientific
approach in his interactions with learners. This teacher demonstrates
competence in the following skills:
• He posses the traditional skills of explaining, demonstrating, informing
and evaluating.
• He can organize learning activities.
• He can diagnose learning difficulties of pupils.
• Can motivate children to learn so that they direct their energies towards
the learning tasks.
• He is able to select materials appropriate to the level of learners
attainment.
• He can identify the learning difficulties of children and refer them for
treatment by other specialists.
• The teacher has a better theoretical and functional understanding of
the educational process.
• He has a broader deeper and more effective understanding of the
learning teaching process based on scientific research. This approach
is realistic and it leads to effective teaching.
• Educational psychology fills the gaps in the teachers understanding of
educational processes. Corrects misconceptions so that the teacher
sees education and its processes in a different light. He sees
possibilities, relations and problems.
• The teacher can identify problems in a given classroom situation and
can find more solutions to these problems.
1.6 FOCUS AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
The teacher needs to know something about the focus areas of Educational
Psychology.
The focus area can also be referred to as the elements of teaching –learning
situation. From the start it is important for the teacher that the teaching
–learning situation is a highly complex one. It consists of many variables,
which interact in highly complex ways. These variables may interact to
hinder or promote learning. The elements are the following:
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1. The subject matter
The subject matter refers to the content. For the content to be learned with
ease, it needs to be selected, organized and presented in a manner that
makes it learnable. The teacher should also deliver the content in fluent
and clear communication. In order to succeed in this task the teacher
should take into account the level of difficulty of content for the class level
in order to ensure that the content is assimilated by the learners.
2. The learner
The learner is a very important element in the teaching learning process.
Without him nobody is learning and of course if nobody is learning there
is no teaching. The teacher should understand learner characteristics. The
learners in any classroom situation bring differences in stages of
intellectual development, personalities, learning styles, experiences, and
level of motivation, abilities, emotional dispositions, cognitive styles and
perception. They bring differences in social economic backgrounds,
cultural orientation, religious and family backgrounds as well. For these
reasons the teacher needs to use appropriate psychological theories and
principles in order to understand each learner and his personality
dynamics. He needs to understand learners in general and social dynamics
that promote learning for each of them.
3. The learning process
The element is learning process. This is the process by which people
acquire changes in behavior, improve performance, reorganize their
thinking, discover new concepts and information. The learning process
involves everything that people do when they learn. From educational
psychology the teacher gets to learn how pupil think and perceive,
remember and forget. The teacher gets to know the conditions that make
these behaviors probable and also the conditions that inhibit them. The
teacher should have the awareness that teaching and learning are not
coextensive. With this knowledge the teacher can ensure that learning has
all the chances of occurring.
4. The learning environment
The learning environment refers to the surrounding in which the learner
finds himself in and in which the learning process takes place. The
learning environment can also be defined as any factor that affects the
learner or the learning process. This refers the facilities that are provided
for learning. The facilities may be adequate or inadequate for the use they
are put in. They may be safe or unsafe, comfortable or uncomfortable
appropriate or inappropriate for their use.
5. The social climate
When we consider the learning environment we need to focus on the social
climate as well. This is a very important factor as it helps to facilitate
learning or to hinder it. The social climate refers to the human interaction
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that take place in any classroom situation between the teacher and the
learners. The social climate can be amicable or hostile. The hostilities may
exist between the teachers. Hostilities can also take the nature of intra and
inter class fights. A hostile relationship between the school and its
immediate neighborhood can exist in situations where the school is
engaged in hostile social environment learning and teaching are affected
negatively.
From the study of Educational Psychology the teacher gets to know the
relationship between the physical and social environment and the
promotion or inhibition of learning.
Activity
1. Do you know the relationship between poor ventilation, noise,
poor arrangement of seats and effective learning?
2. Are you aware of the role played by attitudes, morale, emotional
climate and community values in the learning process?
1.7 SUMMARY
This lesson has introduced the learner to Educational Psychology by doing
the following:
• Define the concept Educational Psychology.
• Discussing the concerns of Educational Psychology.
• Identify areas of educational psychology.
• Explaining the relevance of educational psychology.
• Explaining the benefits of educational psychology.
• Discussing focus areas of Education.
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1.8 KEY TERM
1. What do we mean when we say that Educational Psychology is an applied
branch of psychology?
2. A person may be good in scholarship but may not necessarily be a good
Educational Psychology: -An applied branch of psychology, which deals with the application
of facts, principles and techniques of psychology to the solution of the problems, confronting
the teacher.
Pre-scientific methods: -Approaches that are not based on scientific theory or research.
Methods that have not been tested for their applicability nor validity.
Subject- centered approaches: -these are approaches which make the subject or the content
the focal point of the lesson ignoring the person for whom content is intended for; the learner.
Subject matter: -The content to be learned. This could be facts, rules, principles or techniques
in any subject, topic or sub-topic.
The learning environment: -the surroundings in which he learner finds himself in and in
which the learning process takes place.
The social climate: -Refers to the social environment, which is, composed of the people
surrounding the learner.
teacher Explain.
3. Show the importance of the following focus areas of Educational psychology
• The learner.
12
•
•
The learning environment.
The learning process.
13
LESSON TWO
LEARNING
2.0 INTRODUCTION
In lesson one we have noted Educational Psychology is a science that deals
with learning and teaching. In this lesson I will discuss the following:
• Definition of learning.
• The relevance of learning.
• Behaviorism and concepts that are applicable to the classroom
situation.
• Modeling and how to apply some of the concepts in the classroom
situation.
• Insightful learning and its application.
• The information processing model and its application.
2.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the student should be able to:
• Discuss the relevance of learning.
• Define learning.
• Discuss the various types of learning.
• Bring out the application of the concepts learned from the
types of learning in a classroom situation.
2.2 THE RELEVANCE OF LEARNING
This is a question of why we should be concerned about learning. When
we hear about learning most of us think about studying and school. We
think about subjects for example mathematics, languages, geography,
history, biology and so on. But we need to know that learning is not limited
to school subjects, (Woolfolk, 1998).
We need to understand that all learning is intended to enable the person
to adopt completely in life situations:
• To think and solve problems.
• Fit well in the community.
• Perceive the word in a realistic manner.
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This actually means that learning is not limited to the formal school
settings. There are many informal settings where learning takes place. For
example:
• At home.
• In street corners.
• In the fields.
• In religious institutions.
• Through the mass media.
From these places children learn many unintentional things.
Even when children are in school they learn many unintentional things for
example:
• They acquire certain attitudes positive or negative.
• They learn something about their capabilities; their areas of strength.
• Their limitations; their areas of weakness
• Their school; whether they like or dislike it.
• Their teachers; whether they are good or bad.
• Their subjects; whether they are interesting or boring.
What is the teacher’s role in the leaning process?
The teacher is very important in both the formal and non-formal settings
within the school. So although the teacher’s primary role is to deliver
content knowledge he can influence the student’s life in many other ways
for example:
• He can provide experiences that contribute to the acquisition of
behavior patterns that are desirable and necessary for competent living.
• He should be the facilitator of learning. As a facilitator he should
provide an enabling environment for learning.
2.3 DEFINITION OF THE TERM LEARNING
What is learning? We are going to look at a few definitions of learning.
Santrock (2004) defines learning as relatively permanent influence on
behaviour, knowledge and thinking skills, which comes about through
experience.
Lefrancois (1994) defines it as the acquisition of information and
knowledge, skills and habits, attitudes and beliefs.
2.4 TYPES OF LEARNING
15
The types of learning are derived from the theories of learning. In this
lesson we shall focus on the following types of leaning.
• Classical conditioning.
• Instrumental conditioning.
• Observational learning.
• Insightful learning.
• Information processing model.
2.4.1 Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is also referred to as respondent learning. It is a
simple form of learning through associations. Normally people tend to
associate events that occur together in time and place. These events are
said to be contiguous because the appearance of one indicates that the
other event is to be anticipated. In every day life people know that where
there is smoke there is fire because the two events are contiguous. Also
when lightning is seen people anticipate thunder to follow contingently
because the two events occur together in time and space.
2.4.2 Ivan Pavlov’s experiments
The classical example that illustrates how learning occurs through
classical conditioning is derived from the experiments that were conducted
by Ivan Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist. He was a physiologist
who conducted experiments on the dogs’ digestive system. He had won a
Nobel Prize for his work. His experiments involved harnessing the dog in
the laboratory and giving it food and then measuring the amount of saliva
the dog produced. The dogs were used to being given food by Pavlov.
During the course of the experimentation Pavlov noted that the dog
salivated when he heard his footsteps and also when it saw the food bowl.
Pavlov guessed that the dog had learnt to associate his footsteps and even
the sight of the food bowl with food and that this association caused
salivation. Pavlov deduced that this salivation was a learned response. He
then set out to conduct a series of experiments to confirm his believe. His
experiments have several stages.
2.4.3 The acquisition stage
During the acquisition stage Pavlov put a hungry dog in the experimental
position, then he sounded a tone and then gave the dog food. He repeated
this sequence of events many times. After many repeated trials the dog the
dog would salivate at hearing the tone alone. If the dog hears the tone and
salivates, It means that it has learned the association between the tone
and food. The acquisition stage may require a minimum of ten trials.
Bell → food → salivation
Terminology used in classical conditioning
•
The food
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The food given to the dog before the conditioning process is referred to as
the natural stimulus because under natural conditions the dog will elicit
salivation on being presented with food.
• The Natural response
Salivation when the dog salivates when it has been given food it is called
a natural response because naturally salivation is elicited by the
presentation of food.
• The neutral stimulus
Before the conditioning process, the bell or tone is called the neutral
stimulus because it has no relationship whatsoever with salivation. Dogs
will not normally salivate as a consequence of hearing a bell.
• Conditioning stimulus
The bell during and after conditioning is called the conditioned
stimulus because it acquires the power to elicit salivation by its
association with the food.
• Conditioned response
Salivation that occurs because the dog has learned to associate the tone
or bell with food is called the conditioned response. It is the learned
response.
2.4.4 Principles of classical conditioning
1. The principle of reinforcement
When the dog is put in the experimental situation and the tone is sounded
and then food is given this constitutes reinforcement. The food is a
pleasant event presented to the dog and it constitutes positive
reinforcement
2. The principle of extinction
Extinction refers to the dying of the learned response, which occurs when
reinforcement is withdrawn. This occurs when a dog has been conditioned
to associate the tone or bell with presentation of food and after some time
the food is not delivered. When the experimenter rings the bell or sounds
the tone without giving the dog food the learned response disappears.
3. The principle of spontaneous recovery
Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a learned response. It follows
the following stages:
• First the dog is conditioned to salivate when the bell tone is
presented.
• Then the dog, which services to reinforce the salivation, is
withdrawn. This removal of the food causes extinction.
17
•
•
•
•
Then the dog in the extinction is given a resting period when no bell
tones are presented.
After the resting period the dog is re-introduced to the experimental
situation.
The bell tone is sounded but no food is given this time.
This dog remembers the learned association and salivates. This
salivation is the one referred to as spontaneous recovery. This
response dies very fast if reinforcement is not re-introduced.
4. The principle of generalization
Generalization refers to responding to stimuli, which is similar to the
original stimuli as long as both are reinforced. This occurs when the
experimenter reinforces the dog with food every time he sounds different
types or tones or bell sounds. In this training the dog that every time there
is a bell sound whatever the type there will be food therefore the dog learns
to respond to similarities. So when there is a tone similar to the one it was
conditioned to.
5. The principle of discrimination
Discrimination refers to learning to pick the differences in the stimuli and
therefore to respond to a very specific stimulus. This occurs when a dog
has been conditioned to respond to a particular stimulus. If the
experimenter introduces other stimuli he does not accompany them with
the reinforcement. As a result the dog learns to pick out the differences in
stimuli to respond to very specific ones. Discrimination training takes a
much longer time and more trials to establish.
2.4.5 Application of classical conditioning to the teaching learning
process
In this section I have looked at the aspects of classical conditioning, which
are applicable in the classroom setting.
1. The learning environment
From classical conditioning we learn that it is important to provide a
conducive learning environment. The believe is that all behavior is
controlled by environmental conditions and demands. The learning
environment should be enriched enough. It should be arranged in a
manner that makes learning probable. It is true that if Ivan Pavlov had not
provided the right environment for learning the dog would never have been
conditioned to learn the association between the bell and the food.
2. The principle of contiguity
This principle states that events that occur closely together in time and in
space are associated together. These are the events that are paired. When
we look at the school situation we are concerned about the event that are
paired If the teacher pairs pleasant experiences with the school
18
experiences the students learn to approach school with enthusiasm. They
learn to enjoy school and learning.
On the other hand the teacher who pairs the school experiences with
unpleasant events conditions pupils to fear and hate school.
There are many unpleasant events that can be present in school. These
include; the use of harsh words, insulting language and punitive events.
These negative events affect the pupil adjustment to school as well as their
performance. They also create negative feelings and attitudes towards the
teacher, the subject he teaches and school in general. Teachers are
therefore advised to pair school experiences with pleasant events.
2.5 OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning is the second type of simple learning through
association. There are differences between learning through classical
conditioning and operant conditioning.
Operant learning is a little more complex than classical conditioning. Its
complexity is observed in the following ways:
• In classical conditioning the dog is a passive learner.
• It is given food and expected to salivate without working for the food.
• Salivation in the dog is said to be elicited since it is an involuntary
behavior in order to learn the associations and earn its
reinforcement
• In operant conditioning the organism earns its reinforcement by
showing desirable behaviour.
2.5.1 Operational conditioning Experiments
Experiments to illustrate how learning occurs through operant
conditioning were conducted by B.F. Skinner. Skinner devised an
apparatus called the Skinner box. The Skinner box was a small enclosure,
which was equipped with a few gadgets. At one corner of the box was a
lever or bar. This lever was connected to a food magazine, which contained
food pellets. Skinner would put a hungry rat in the Skinner box. Hunger
would motivate the rat to move about in the box. Each movement was
called a trial. The rat would move all over the box without finding food.
Accidentally it would touch the bar, which would operate the food
magazine. The food magazine would release a few pellets of food which the
rat would eat and continue the exploration of the box. After many trials
the rat learned to associate a certain corner of the box with food. This
would reduce the unnecessary movement all over the box as it would
confine its exploration of the box to the particular corner, which yielded
food. Soon the rat would learn to associate the bar-pressing behavior with
the food and would press the bar until there is enough food. Therefore the
bar-pressing behavior was the learned response, which was accompanied
by the food, which was the reinforcement.
19
2.5.2 Application of operant conditioning in the teaching learning
situation
In operant conditioning, reinforcement is a key element in learning. The
principle is that reinforcement strengthens behaviour and makes it more
probable.
Operant conditioning can be applied in the teaching-learning process in
the following way in the use of:
•
•
•
•
•
Positive reinforcement.
Negative reinforcement
Primary reinforcement
Secondary reinforcement
Learner involvement.
Positive reinforcement
This is the administration of a pleasant event contingent upon the desired
response. Positive reinforcers are like food, candy or something valued by
the learner like a smile, a nod an exclamation of “good!”, “great!” or even
permission to do something the child desires.
Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement refers to the removal of a noxious stimulus in order
to encourage the desirable behavior. Noxious or unpleasant stimuli
include:
•
•
•
Annoying noise
Harsh criticism
A teachers nagging.
Students always want to escape from these events. This reinforcement
works in the following way when the child is under negative stimuli like a
teacher nagging or harsh criticism he is in a state of discomfort. This state
of discomfort reinforces him to do the desired task. When the desired task
is done the nagging stops. This type of reinforcement ensures that the
desirable behavior is strengthened and repeated by the child in order to
escape or avoid the unpleasant stimulus.
Primary and Secondary reinforcers
We need to make the distinction between primary and secondary
reinforcers. Positive primary reinforcers are stimuli like food, water, pain
avoidance, temperature regulation and sex. These are physiological states
that arouse the physiological needs. By satisfying physiological needs we
can strengthen behavior both human beings and animals. Physiological
needs are unlearned and survival related.
20
Secondary needs on the other hand are learned or acquired. They are not
related to survival. The person acquires these needs as he interacts with
other people. Secondary reinforcers are things like the need for money,
power prestige. In school good grades are very reinforcing. The learner who
is achieving well is liked by the teacher and the parents and is also envied
by the peers.
Learner involvement
From operant condition we can also apply the principle of learner
involvement. This is because when skinner put the rat in the Skinner box
he wanted it to learn actively. The rat had to explore the box and as a
result, discovered the relationship between bar pressing behavior and
food. Likewise the teachers should encourage learner involvement. The
learners should be given the chance to be searchers of knowledge. If they
search knowledge it becomes very significant for them. They should be
allowed to discover knowledge under conditions of reinforcement.
Programmed Instruction
From operant conditioning the teacher can apply the programmed
instruction procedures. This involves the following;
•
•
•
•
•
•
Taking a topic or sub-topic of a given content.
Breaking down the content into small manageable parts.
Presenting the parts sequentially, each part at a time.
Testing for the mastery of each part progressively.
This is beneficial in the mastery of content which may be perceived
as difficult.
It is also a piece-meal approach to learning which can help the less
gifted learners achieved a degree of mastery of the content.
Behaviour Shaping
Behaviour shaping is used by animal trainers. It is also used by special
educators to train mentally retarded children acquire mastery of important
skills. People training psychiatric patients also benefit from behaviour
shaping procedures. The following steps are used in behaviour shaping:
•
•
•
•
The trainer identifies the behaviour to be acquired by the animal or
person. For example, training a dog to retrieve balls that are thrown
at a distance.
The trainer will reinforce the dog with meat when the dog is facing
the direction where the ball is. This is a successive approximation.
The dog will be reinforced when it is moving towards the ball. This
is another successive approximation.
When the dog is touching the ball it is reinforced.
21
•
These reinforcements procedures are carried out until the dog learns
to retrieve the ball.
2.6 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
This type of learning is also referred to as observational learning. The
theory is based on the belief that people acquire knowledge, belief,
attitudes and values through observing others in their social world,
(Atkinson, 1990). Children observe their parents, siblings, teachers, and
community figures.
This theory was developed by Albert Bandiera, (1986,1977); Bandiera
believed that traditional behavioral views of learning although accurate
were incomplete because they gave only partial explanation of learning.
The behavioral theories overlooked important elements because they
ignored social influences on learning (Woolfolk, 1998).
According to the Bandura’s theory people learn new behaviors through two
types of observational learning namely: Vicarious conditioning and
Modeling.
2.6.1 Vicarious conditioning
Let us look at vicarious conditioning. This is learning that occurs when
the child observed another child’s behavior and its consequences. For
example, a young sibling could observe an older sibling being praised or
rewarded for demonstrating positive behavior patterns like obedience,
hard work, honesty and good grooming or even excellence in field events.
The learner is the young sibling who will be motivated to engage in the
behavior the older sibling is rewarded or praised or for. This child tries to
excel in that behavior in order to be treated like the older sibling. The
younger sibling can also observe the older sibling being punished for bad
behavior like cheating, bullying others, laziness, poor grooming and so on.
The younger sibling watches as the older sibling suffers as he carries out
the punishment or as he takes blame from either the parents or the
teachers. He learns to avoid all those behaviors the older sibling is
punished for. He learns to behave differently in order to be praised or
rewarded. He learns to avoid punishment.
2.6.2 Application of vicarious conditioning to school
From vicarious conditioning we must ensure that the learners are exposed
to model of good behavior. At the same time, when good behavior occurs
it should be ignored. It should be recognized and rewarded in order to
encourage its occurrence and its spread to other children. The problem
among people is the tendency to take things for granted. When good
behavior is ignored it dies out. To avoid this the teacher should recognize
the efforts that learners are making and reinforce them. Reinforcement
22
strengthens the good behaviors. It also motivates other children to emulate
the model.
Modeling
Modeling refers to learning through direct observation. It involves a model
and an observer. The model may be the father, mother, sibling, teacher,
and peers. While the observer is the learner, the model demonstrates
behavior, which the learner imitates. The behavior could be mannerisms,
gestures, dressing style, language use, walking style, aggression, manner
of working, attitudes and even values. In order to acquire any of the above
behaviors the observer watches the model demonstrate the behavior and
practices it.
The process of behavior acquisition
For the observer to acquire the behavior and demonstrate it just like the
model he must do the following things:
• Attend to the behavior. That is, see it, hear and even experience it.
• The behavior must be retained. This means that it must be stored in
memory.
• In order to produce the behavior it must be practiced well until it is
perfected.
• The behavior must be motivated and reinforced. This means that for
the behavior to be produced there must be an incentive. Good
incentives could be, complementing remarks, encouragement or even
taught rewards.
Application
To apply the concept gained from the modeling theory the teacher should
do the following:
• Become models of good behavior like good grooming, punctuality,
hard work, positive attitude, responsibility, honesty and so on.
• The teacher should recognize models of good behavior from among
the students and reinforcement positively.
• The teacher should also invite models of the desired behavior from
the community to come and speak to the students. For example
model of women who earn a living through mathematics, physics,
chemistry or even biology can be limited to talk to the girls and
encourage them to take these subjects seriously and also to confirm
to them that women can actually excel in them.
2.7. INSIGHTFUL LEARNING
This type of learning is also referred to as field learning. It is a cognitive
type of learning which focuses on the use of mental process like thinking.
Perception and insight in the solution of the problem confronting the
organism. This theory focuses on the ability of animals and people to solve
23
problems through reorganizing the perceptual world and using the
facilities thereof to solve problems.
•
The experiments to demonstrate how learning occurs through
insight were conducted by Wolfgang Kohler in the 1920’s. Kohler
worked with chimpanzees. He had one bright chimpanzee called
Sultan, (Atkinson, 1990). Kohler put Sultan in a cage then put a
banana outside the cage out of Sultan’s reach. In the cage Kohler
put a stick. Sultan wanted to reach out for the banana but he could
not retrieve it with his hand because it was out of reach. When he
did not get the banana he looked around the cage and saw the stick.
Quickly he went for the stick and used it to retrieve the banana.
•
On the next day Kohler put the banana further away outside the
cage but at the same time placed two bamboo sticks in the cage.
Sultan ran for one of the sticks and tried to retrieve the banana. He
failed to pull the banana within arms reach because the stick was
not long enough. He then sat frustrated at one corner of the cage.
Then he saw the other sticks and went for it. Initially he did not
know how to use both sticks to get the bananas. However as he
played with both sticks. One end of the sticks entered into the hollow
side of the other stick.
Sultan looked at the joined sticks and immediately ran to solve his
problem. With the now lengthened stick he pulled the bananas in
and ate them.
•
•
Following this story insight refers to that moment in time that Sultan
is able to mentally see the relationship between the stick or sticks
and the bananas.
•
Insight then is that mental activity that is very rapid, almost
immediate that helps us to solve a problem, when we mentally see
the relationships of things in our immediate environment.
•
It is a rapid perception of relationships, which helps us to
restructure or reorganize our perceptual world. For example Sultan
was able to restructure his environment and reorganize it to solve
his immediate problem.
24
Activity
•
•
What do you think will happen if mother puts some cookies on the
cupboard out of the reach of a child in a situation where there is a
table, chair and a stick?
What will students do if the bulb in their class is blown and they want
to replace it with a new one? The ceiling is higher than they can reach
standing or even climbing on their desk?
2.7.1 Application
From the theory of insightful learning we need to take note of the following:
•
The teacher should enrich the learning environment by providing
facilities/resources that learners could use to solve learning
problems.
•
The teacher should have faith in the learner’s mental abilities to
work over information until they solve problems.
•
The teachers should realize that learners like to make sense of what
they learn by cognitively restructuring events.
•
Insightful learning is whole, complete and unforgettable.
2.8 INFORMATION PROCESS SYSTEM
The information processing system deals with the ability of human mind
to take in information (code), store it by maintaining it memory and the
ability to retrieve or recover information from memory.
There are a number of theories of information processing system, but I will
focus on the model developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin, (1968). This model
draws on the similarity between the human mind and the computer. Just
like the computer the human mind senses, stores and retrieves
information much as a computer does.
The model discusses three hypothetical memory levels or stages. These
memory levels explain how learners acquire complex concepts; how these
are attended to, how they enter the memory banks sand how they are
25
accessed when needed. This model discusses three memory levels also
called memory banks. They are the following:
•
•
•
The short-term sensory storage/sensory register.
The short-term memory/working memory.
The long-term memory.
We need to look at what happens to information at each memory bank in
order to understand the conditions that facilitate learning or those that
hinder learning.
2.8.1 The Short Term Sensory Storage (STSS)/Sensory Register
This memory bank is also called the sensory register. Its function is to
receive sensory information from the environment. This information is
stored briefly at the short Term sensory register. This memory bank has
limited capacity. The STSS memory consists of the exact replica of sensory
information. The visual memory is called iconic memory. It looks like a
snap shot that fades away in about 0.5 seconds. It is visual spatial. This
means that objects are seen in different positions in space e.g. we see a
bird up a tree, the dog under the table, the hills in the horizon, the moon
high in the sky and so on. .
The auditory memory is called echoic memory and lasts for 4 seconds. This
memory is phonological; it contains the echo of the sounds that we hear.
The STSS is bombarded by information all the time. Therefore it must
select what information to focus on or to attend to. Any information that
is not attended to is lost and we do not ever remember sensing it.
However, the information that is attended to is processed and encoded
enabling it to move further along the memory levels. It moves to the shortterm memory and working memory banks.
2.8.2 The short term memory
This bank is also called the working memory. It is the conscious memory
because this is where thinking occurs. For this reason it is also called the
thinking pad. This memory bank receives all the information that is
attended to at the STSS. At this memory level information is processed
based on what the information looks like, sounds like or means. This
memory bank has limited duration, which last for 20 to 30 seconds. It can
contain 5 to 9 pieces of information at a time. Information is stored
acoustically and semantically, this is how it sounds like and what it
means.
Two things happen to information at this bank. One may get information
that we do not want to keep for a long time. For example you may want to
26
go to the shop to buy a few items but you do not write a shopping list. On
your way to the shop you will rehearse the items you want to buy until you
buy them. Once you have bought them you do not need to rehearse the
information again and you quickly forget it. This kind of rehearsal is called
maintenance rehearsal and its purpose is to keep the information in
memory for a short time. This information does not move further along the
memory bank.
The second thing that could happen to information is that you may want
to process information for the purpose of storing it in the long-term
memory bank. In this case you will engage in elaborate rehearsal. This
rehearsal involves a rehearsal of information and a memory search. You
will search the memory to find out whether there is information there that
is similar to the incoming information. This enables you to link the new
information with the information already in memory. For example if you
are introduced to your lecturer for the first time and you are told that he
is called Mr. Odhiambo you will search your memory and finds another
Odhiambo stored there. You will link the new Odhiambo to the old one to
help you to remember him next time he comes to class. Elaborate rehearsal
helps to help to get information into the long-term memory bank.
2.8.3 The long term memory bank (LTM)
The long-term memory is the permanent storehouse of information. We
store first dates, special birthdays, capital cities and other information
accumulated throughout ones lifetime there. This memory bank has
unlimited capacity. We may want to look at how information enters this
memory bank. In our discussion of term memory we have noted that
information is kept in memory through both maintenance and elaborate
rehearsal. The maintenance rehearsal is for information that we do not
intended to keep in memory for long. The elaborate rehearsal is for memory
we want to make permanent. It involves a recreation of information
through repetition and also giving it meaning through its connection with
already existing information. This information is then stored in memory
band is easier to remember if it has gone through elaborate rehearsal.
2.9 SUMMARY
•
•
•
Brought out the relevance of the topic learning.
Defined the term learning.
Discussed the following types of learning
-
Classical conditioning
27
•
- Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
- Insightful learning
- Information processing model of learning
For each type of learning the application aspects were addressed
This lesson discussed learning by doing the following:
• Showing the relevance of the topic.
• Defining learning.
• Discussing types of learning.
• The application of concepts to teaching learning.
28
2.10 KEY TERMS
Learning: -an enduring change in behavior potentiality which occurs as a result of
reinforced practice.
Classical conditioning: - Also called respondent learning. A type of association learning in
which events that appear together in time and place are associated.
Operant conditioning: -A type of association learning in which the organism produces an
expected behavioral response in order to receive reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement: - The administration of a pleasant event contingent upon the desired
behavior.
Social learning: -Learning through observing other people and imitating them.
Information processing model: -A theory of learning that draws an analogy between the
human being and information processing system.
2.11 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Discuss situations in life that can be explained by:
I. Classical conditioning.
II. Operant conditioning.
III. Insightful learning.
2. Discuss the role played by attention and rehearsal in learning.
3. Explain instances where the theory of insightful learning is applicable at
home and classroom situations.
29
LESSON THREE
REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING
3.0 INTRODUCTION
The classroom experiences show that learners forget the information they
acquire or learn. The teacher is a witness that the majority of learners in
most of the tests taken hardly ever get full marks. The explanation for this
phenomenon is that between the time material is learned or even revised
and the time the test is taken some information is lost through forgetting.
In this lesson I have discussed why forgetting occurs as well as how
memory can be improved. I have drawn heavily from the behaviorism and
information processing theories.
3.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of the lesson the student will be able to:
• Explain why forgetting occurs using the disuse theory.
• Describe two types of interference’s that cause forgetting.
• Explain the importance of attention.
• Discuss the role played by rehearsal in promoting memory.
• Discuss various methods learners could use improve memory.
3.2 WHY STUDENTS FORGET THE CONTENT THEY LEARN
Educational experience show that some things are remembered very well,
others are ‘there’ but sometimes difficult to find while still others are
completely forgotten. A good teacher should know why this happens so
that he can try and create conditions that promote memory all the time.
Different theories give different explanations as to what causes forgetting.
I have discussed the behavioristic theory and the cognitive theory.
3.3 THE BEHAVIORISTIC THEORY
The behaviorists developed the following explanations:
30
The disuse model and the interference model.
3.3.1 The Disuse Theory
This theory advocates that people forget the S-R connections or
associations made previously because they grow rusty or fade away
through lack of use. This concept can be explained through the Pavlovian
or Skinnerian experiments:
• In Pavlov’s classical conditioning it refers to the withdrawal of
reinforcement. If the food which served as the reinforcer to keep the
association between the bell and the food was removed extinction
occurred.
• If the dog was subjected to this state for long i.e. the bell ringing
without the accompaniment of the food, the stimulus-response
connections were lost. In Skinners operant conditioning if the rat
continued to press the bar without getting food as a reinforcer this
bar pressing behavior disappeared because the connections or
associations between it and food was lost.
• This information can be applied in the classroom situation for the
purpose of helping the teacher to understand the dynamics involved
in forgetting and remembering.
• Just like Pavlov’s dogs and Skinners rats would forget the S-R
associations they had learned, pupils too forget what they learn
under similar principles.
Application
According to this theory, the teacher should ensure that learners rehearse
information under conditions of reinforcement.
Rehearsal
• Learners who do not rehearse content often lose the S-R connections
they had learned. Rehearsing refers to the constant repetition and
review of content.
• For rehearsal to benefit learners, the teacher should give them time
and place to do their rehearsal (Study time).
• The teacher should also ensure that the learners rehearse content,
which is meaningful to them, because there is the tendency to forget
content if it is meaningless.
• There is the need to show learners how the content they are learning
is related to what was learned earlier. These activities help to stamp
in the S-R connections already learned keeping them in memory and
hence minimizing forgetting.
Reinforcement
•
Remembering is best promoted if learning is reinforced.
31
•
Withdrawal of reinforcement causes extinction, which is the
disappearance of the learned response.
•
If a learner displays the desirable behavior without being reinforced,
forgetting occurs.
•
The teacher should never lose sight of the fact that reinforcement
strengthens behavior and makes it more probable. Making it more
probable means that that behavior is given the chance to occur
again.
3.3.2 Interference model
This is another behavioristic explanation of forgetting. According to this
model learners forget content that they learn because others interfere. For
example learners will forget old content because new content interferes
with its memory. They will also forget new content because old content
interferes with its memory.
•
When old content interferes with the memory of new content, we call
this proactive inhibition.
•
If new content interferes with the memory of old content we refer to
this as retroactive inhibition.
Proactive inhibition
•
Proactive inhibition is the forgetting that occurs when old
information makes it difficult to remember new information. For
example a teacher gives learners a list of words and asks them to
study it. Call it list A.
•
The teacher does not test for the memory of this list at this time. He
gives the learners another list of words to study. Call it list B.
•
Then the teacher tests the learners on the recall of the second list of
words (List B) not the first (List A).
•
What normally happens is that as the learners try to recall words on
the second list they experience some mix-up.
•
They remember some words and they forget others. At the same time
some of the words from list A are recalled.
32
•
The words from list A are said to interfere with the recall of List B.
This interfere is called proactive inhibition because new information
acts forward interfere with old information. .
Retroactive inhibition
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Retroactive inhibition occurs when new learnings make it difficult to
remember old content.
First the teacher gives learners list A. They study it but are not
tested immediately.
Then he gives them list B. they study this list as well.
Then the teacher tests them on the recall of list A.
As the learners try to recall words on list A, they will forget some of
them.
At the same time they will recall some of the words from list B.
This is because the memory of list B will interfere will with the recall
of list A.
This interference is retroactive because later or old memory acts
back words to interfere with the new information
Activity
Give learners the following lists of words. The first two lists to test for proactive
interference and the other two to test for retroactive information.
List A
List B
Cat
Cut
Dip
Deep
Hut
Hat
Reed
Rind
Fat
Fit
Feat
Feet
Rut
Rat
Ship
Sheep
Further
Father
Leap
Reap
Goat
Gate
Rate
Late
Lot
Rot
Creek
Crack
Cup
Cap
Arrive
Alive
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Application
The teacher should take note that both retroactive and proactive
interference are greater when the items in memory are similar.
Therefore to promote memory he should do the following:
•
Make new learning clear by bringing out the similarities and differences
between the old and new information.
•
A learning task must be practiced until it is mastered and even overlearned.
•
The principle is that partially learned tasks interfere more with other
partially learned tasks.
•
Over learning means going beyond the mastery of a task and ensuring
that the content is at the “finger tips”. This means that content can be
recalled with ease.
3.4 COGNITIVE EXPLANATION
According to the cognitive theory. The key to memory is the way in which
the material is coded and organized, as it is stored in the long-term
memory bank. Something important happens at every stage of information
processing to either promote memory or hinder it.
At the short-term sensory storage the key to memory at this level is
attention. For information to be retained in memory it should be focused
on and rehearsed briefly so as to be registered for further processing. Any
information that is not attended to is lost or forgotten.
The short term memory/working memory
The most important process at this level is rehearsal. Rehearsal takes two
forms depending on the reasons why we want to retain the information in
memory.
Maintenance rehearsal
•
Sometimes we want to keep information in memory briefly and then
discard it. For example we meet old friend in town and gives us his
cell phone number.
•
Before we enter this number in our own cell phone or in our diary
we shall rehearse it.
34
•
Once the number is entered in the relevant place we stop rehearsing
it.
•
Another example to illustrate this type of rehearsal is a shopping
list. We may want to go to the market to buy some items e.g. ripe
bananas, cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, green maize and
carrots.
•
Before we make our shopping list we rehearse this items until we
write all of them on paper.
•
Again once they are on paper we stop rehearsing them.
•
These two examples illustrate maintenance rehearsal. This is
rehearsal of information, which is not intended to move to the longterm memory bank.
•
It involves repetition of information over and over again.
•
When the information is no longer needed it is forgotten.
Elaborative rehearsal
Elaborative rehearsal is used for all the information that we wish to
transfer to the long-term memory bank. This rehearsal involves repetition
of information and linking it with information already existing in the longterm memory. These two processes ensure that the information is
catalogued and filed in the long-term memory.
The Long term memory Bank
The following memories exist at this bank:
•
Declarative memory. This is memory for things that can be expressed
in words e.g. this is a dog, my grandmother died last year.
•
Semantic memory. This is memory for general facts e.g. the sun rises
from the east..
•
Episode memory. This is the memory for personal experiences e.g. when
I was coming to class, I me wit my friends.
•
Procedural memory for actions and skills e.g. how to prepare meal or.
At this memory bank information is organized in categories.
35
•
Items that are similar are stored close together in a method that is
close to cataloguing.
•
For each item in memory there is an imaginary index card which is
appropriately catalogued.
•
Forgetting occurs if there are cataloguing errors i.e. a card can be
catalogued in the wrong place or a card can get lost.
What causes cataloguing errors?
•
Cataloguing errors can occur if a learner takes in too much
information within a short time.
•
For example if you attend a function and are introduced to about
ten people within a short time you will find it difficult to match the
right names and faces due to cognitive bottlenecks.
•
But if you are introduced to one person every day for tend days you
will not have a problem remembering each one of them because you
have processed all the information properly.
•
If two things are similar one may be remembered in the place of the
other.
Application
In order to ensure that content learned is remembered it is important to
give it time to be processed at all memory levels until it enters the long
term memory bank because anything that gets there is permanent.
3.5 IMPROVING MEMORY
There are a few methods that learners can use in order to improve their
memory.
3.5.1 Increasing attention
As we have noted above, attention refers to focusing on information and
registering it, isolating it from all possible distracters. This is an important
prerequisite for all memory. Inorder to increase attention, one should do
the following:
•
Select a study environment, which does not contain too many
distractions. Distractions will refer to unnecessary noise, heat, cold,
activities and things that appeal to sight. They refer to any
environmental event, which interferes with taking in of information.
36
•
If learners are studying in a classroom or in a laboratory there
should be minimal distractions.
Reinforcement
•
Remembering is best promoted if learning is reinforced.
•
Withdrawal of reinforcement causes extinction, which is the
disappearance of the learned response.
•
If a learner displays the desirable behavior without being reinforced,
forgetting occurs.
•
The teacher should never lose sight of the fact that reinforcement
strengthens behavior and makes it more probable. Making it more
probable means that that behavior is given the chance to occur
again.
3.5.2 Rehearsal
Rehearsal refers to the repetition of what has been learned in the school
setting it may refer to what is commonly referred to as study.
•
As learners conduct their study it is important to ensure that they
engage in repetition of correct responses with the awareness of what
the responses relate to. They should not engage in repetition of
meaningless material. For the study to be successful, the teachers
should ensure that:
•
The school organize study timetables
•
Give the learners the time and classrooms convenient for the purpose
•
They should train learners how to conduct individual study, for
example, how to pick out important facts, review them immediately and
again later
•
Learners should be trained on how to engage in distributed practice or
massed practice depending on reasons for study.
Distributed practice involves taking short periods of study at a time
and taking a break after each period. This method is very beneficial
when the learners want to process information and store it in memory
permanently.
37
•
The short periods of study could take two hours of study at a time and
the breaking to do a totally unrelated activity before resuming the
study again.
•
The unrelated activity could be taking a shower, a walk, a snack or
even a nap.
•
This activity should be one that helps one to rest as well as reward
oneself. Massed practice refers to sitting for long hours of study
Massed practice refers to sitting for long hours of study e.g. studying
throughout the night. SQ3R method
•
The learner can be introduced to the model of study developed by
Robinson (1970) called SQ3R survey the material through once Raise
questions about it
•
Read it looking for answers
•
Recite it and by doing so committing it to memory
•
Review it
•
By the time the learner is through with the last step the material is well
committed in memory.
3.5.3 The use of mnemonic devices
Mnemonic Devices-techniques that have been developed to improve
memory-particularly memory for bits of unrelated information.
The Pegword method
•
One mnemonic is the pegword method ni-‘mon-iks. To use it you
must first learn a series of words to go with numbers for example
one is bun, two is shoe, three is tree and four is door. The words and
numbers rhyme.
•
When you want to learn a list of unrelated words you think of some
image that combines the pegword and the word you are trying to
remember.
•
Let us imagine that you wish to remember a grocery list, if the first
item on the list is soap you imagine a bun covered with soap
bubbles.
38
•
If the second item is apples you picture a shoe stuffed with apples.
Eggs: -you imagine a tree with eggs for fruits.
•
If the fourth item is Cabbage: -you imagine a door with a large
cabbage as the lock knob.
39
The Loci method
Another technique is the loci method Losi. This was a method used by
ancient Romans.
•
•
•
First you think of a location.
Then for each item you want to remember you think of a
representative image something that symbolizes that item to you
Then you imagine each image in place in the location e.g.
Bedroom floor-------------------------soap bubbles
Your bed--------------------------------two large apples
Your dressing table---------------------filled with eggs
Your coffee table----------------------two huge carrots
The clothes wardrobe----------------cabbage hanging there
These techniques use imagery- a representation in thought of visual
scenes forming a vivid, unusual image of each object, which is
unforgettable.
3.6 SUMMARY
In this lesson Remembering and forgetting have been discussed and the following theories
The behavioristic theory which developed
❖ The disuse model of forgetting
❖ The interference model
➢ Proactive
➢ Retroactive
❖ The information processing theory which focuses on the importance of
➢ Attention
➢ Rehearsal
▪ Maintenance rehearsal
▪ Elaborative rehearsal
➢ Cataloguing
❖ Also examined are methods for improving memory
❖ Selecting a study environment that enhances attention
➢ Distributed practice
➢ Massed practice
❖ The SQ3R method
❖ Use of mnemonic devices
▪ Pegword
▪ Loci
40
3.7 KEYWORDS
Disuse theory-forgetting information due to lack of use
Elaborative rehearsal - repetition of information for the purpose cataloguing it in the long term
memory
Forgetting - the loss of information from memory through failure to retrieve it from memory.
Interference-forgetting information caused by inhibition either proactive or retroactive
Loci method-committing familiar places in memory in order to aid memory of unrelated
information.
Maintenance rehearsal - repetition of information again and again for the purpose of retaining it in
memory.
Mnemonic pegwords - words that are memorized to help a person remember a list of unrelated
words
Remembering-the ability to recall information by means of retrieval memory forgetting the loss of
information from memory through failure to retrieve it from memory.
3.8 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What will you advise learners to do in order to minimize forgetting caused by:
a) Disuse.
b) Interference.
2) Discuss the role played by the following processes in aiding memory:
a) Attention.
b) Maintenance rehearsal.
c) Elaborative rehearsal.
3) Explain how you could help learners to engage in practice of learned material.
41
LESSON FOUR
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING
4.0 INTRODUCTION
The learning-teaching process is a highly complex one. The complexity
arises due to the fact that many variables interact with each other to
enhance or hinder learning. This lesson examines these factors as they
operate inside and outside the classroom and their effect on learning.
4.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the student-teacher will be able to
Discuss how each of the following factors operates to either promote or
hinder learning
• The teacher
• The learning environment
• The learner
• The subject matter
4.2 THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING
•
When we think about learning, the concern is about delivery of
content assumably from the teacher to the learner. The teacher is
seen as the source of knowledge and his role is to deliver the content
for learners to imbibe.
•
This lesson intends to bring out the fact that delivery of content by
the teacher or even the imbibing of the same is not a simple matter.
It is complicated and involves dynamic interactions of multi-faceted
variables.
•
This lesson discusses the following variables and the operation of
each one of them in influencing or hindering learning.
The teacher
The learning environment
The learner
42
-
The subject matter
4.2.1 The Teacher
When we look at the teacher’s role in influencing learning, there is need to
take into account several factors. Crucially, we should recognize the role
of the teacher as a facilitator of learning. As a facilitator of learning the
teacher has the enormous responsibility of ensuring that everything he
does goes a long way in facilitating or hindering learning. Even before we
consider the delivery of content it is imperative to look at other issues
pertinent to the teachers role. Some of the issues may look minor or
irrelevant but their impact is not to be ignored. For example
4.2.2 The Teachers Grooming
This refers to teacher’s management of self in terms of dressing and
general appearance. The teacher should be consciously aware of his role
as a model. While he may not afford designer clothes, he is required to
take good care of what he wears.
It should be clear to the students that the teacher takes time every
morning to make himself presentable in every possible way.
Any teacher whose personal presentation is shoddy does himself and the
student a disservice. The teacher should dress in a manner that is
compliant with the expectations. Both males and females can indecent.
We realize that what is decent or indecent is relative and therefore leave it
to individual teachers to use their good discretion in order to observe
acceptable modes of dress. In any case the manner of dress and grooming
tell a lot about a person.
When people first see you as a teacher, they judge you by your appearance
before they know whether you can teach or not.
4.2.3 Teachers Competence
The teacher’s competence is considered in several issues. First among
them his ability to handle the subject matter and secondly his classroom
management skills. Thirdly not least in importance is his communication
ability.
The teacher’s competence in these areas is paramount because it can
determine the amount of learning that takes place.
43
We need to be emphatic that the teacher should be well informed regarding
the subject matter, conversant and comfortable with its scholarship and
methods of delivery.
4.2.4 Classroom Management
Classroom management is a lecture discussed in this module and
therefore it cannot be covered in any depth here. However it should suffice
to say that a good teacher is a good classroom manager.
He knows what to do when confronted with the specific challenges that
present themselves in any classroom situation.
He posses the necessary skills to adequately handle all manner of issues
that arise inside the classroom.
A good classroom manager is a good organizer. He is organized in his daily
operations and in the classroom.
Good organization helps to save time and other resources.
4.2.5 The Teachers Communication Ability
Good communication is an art. It does not necessary require the teacher
to use huge bombastic words so that pupils know that he went to school
it does not require him to be a walking dictionary either. It calls upon the
teacher to gauge the weight of his words depending on the recipients’ level.
He should be fluent, clear and simple of course we do realize that each
subject has its own technical jargon. The teacher should ensure that these
technical words are well understood by the learners.
A good teacher is a good businessman. He should treat students like
clients. For this reason he should maintain a pleasant atmosphere and not
show hostility. Some teachers behave as if the classroom is a war zone and
sometimes they have good reason to do so. If the teacher knows that he is
unprepared for the lesson or lacks the necessary mastery of content he
may result to the use of defense mechanisms like fault finding, being
excessively punitive among other negative practices. One important aspect
of teacher behavior is hid attitude towards the profession, the school the
pupils or even himself. If the teacher’s general attitude is positive he will
most likely maintain conditions favorable for learning.
4.3 THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The learning environment refers to the facilities available for use by the
learners. These are; the classrooms, the fields, the laboratories, the dining
room and the dormitories. The issues of concern here are appropriateness
44
or inappropriateness, overcrowded-ness, ventilation and the psychological
environment
4.3.1 Overcrowded ness
Speaking to teachers reveals that many classrooms in Kenyan schools are
overcrowded In some classrooms the teacher does not have space to stand
or even move around. This means he cannot monitor learners’ behavior
effectively.
A classroom that is overcrowded is uncomfortable for both the teacher and
the learners.
Overcrowded ness is a factor causing maladjusted behavior.
If the teacher is unable to access every pupil in the classroom there are
those pupils who will engage in divergent acts like writing letters, reading
novels, dozing or even daydreaming while the lesson is in progress.
4.3.2 Appropriateness
There are learning environments which are inappropriate for use, For
example
•
Lessons that are scheduled in the dining hall next to the school
kitchen. In this environment learners are exposed to the various
stages of food preparations as well as the changing smells as the
food gets ready. Hungry learners will not be motivated to be very
attentive during the last two lessons just before lunchtime break.
•
Also there are schools whose locations are inappropriate, here I have
in mind those schools in middle of towns sandwiched with bars,
hotels and noisy operations that go on and on in the heart of town.
These schools have to be a big hindrance to learning.
4.3.3 Ventilation
Ventilation refers to the amount of air circulating in the classroom. Fresh
air is important because it burns food into energy. If there is enough air
circulating in the classroom the pupils are likely to keep awake, alert and
attentive. However if the classroom is poorly ventilated the learners are
likely to be dull, lethargic and inattentive.
• Poor ventilation can be caused by overcrowded-ness and
inappropriateness of a learning environment. For learning to be
influenced positively the issue of proper ventilation should be
addressed in every school facility.
4.3.4 Quality Of Buildings
45
The overall quality of the school buildings is an important factor in either
promoting or hindering conditions for learning. Buildings provide security
and warmth. Properly constructed buildings keep the natural elements
away i.e. the rain, the wind, the sun, the cold.
•
If the school buildings are not firm the wind blows away the roofs
and sometimes children are harmed or even killed.
•
During the rainy season children feel unsafe particularly in lightning
prone areas. If no lightning arrestors are installed then children live
in fear because they know they are likely to be harmed or even killed
by lightening.
•
Even issues such as ensuring that the classroom has a ceiling can
affect learning.
•
Without a ceiling the classroom can become uncomfortable
particularly when it is raining. Pupils can have most of the rainy
afternoon wasted because the teacher’s voice gets drowned in the
din of the raindrops on the iron roofs.
•
Sometimes pupils learn in buildings that have been condemned and
therefore unsafe. They may be afraid that walls or roofs will cave in
and injure them.
4.4 The Learner Characteristics
The learner is the person for whom the learning process is intended. The
teacher should always bear in mind the fact that learners bring to class a
wide range of differences in any one-classroom situation. These differences
are bound to influence learning. In this lesson the following learner
characteristics are addressed:
•
•
•
•
•
Personality dispositions.
Intellectual giftedness.
Motivational levels.
Conflicts of interest.
Social-economic backgrounds.
4.4.1 Personality dispositions
Some of the personality dispositions of learners that the teacher needs to
understand are the following emotionality, sociability, and ability to cope
with stress and even management of problem situations.
There are learners who have serious problems managing anger, frustration
and other emotions they experience. As a result learning is affected
negatively.
46
•
Also there are those pupils who have problems making and keeping
friends due to deficiency in social skills they may be in constant
conflict with peers and classmates a situation, which will affect
learning for them and their peers.
•
Coping with stress and even managing problem situations cause
difficulties for some pupils.
•
Basically the teacher should be ware that if there are problems
emanating from any of these issues learning will not be promoted.
4.4.2 Intellectual Giftedness
Learners bring to class differences in intellectual giftedness. There is the
high, the average and low intellectual giftedness. Sometimes a teacher may
conduct a lesson that favors the highly gifted learners.
•
It is the intention of this lesson to remind the teacher that every
learner has the right to benefit from classroom interactions. Every
learner should be given a chance to benefit from the lesson.
•
The view that the classroom is owned by a few learners while the
majority is there to warm it for the gifted ones should be discarded.
•
The teacher should cater for individual differences to ensure that
every learner is attended to.
•
The teacher should also make sure that each learner is helped to
realize their potential so that an A student gets the A the B student
gets the B and so on.
•
Any A student who gets a B is under achieving and any B student
who gets a C is under achieving and this situation should not be
accepted nor allowed.
•
If a learner is under achieving proper investigation as to why this is
happening should be carried out.
4.4.3 Motivational Levels
An examination of motivation levels shows that a learner may be highly
motivated and therefore spends a lot of time and energy pursuing a
47
subject. Another learner may have only average motivation while yet
another learner may lack motivation completely.
•
The teacher should discover ways and means of maintaining the
high levels of motivation in highly motivated learners.
•
He should also find out why learners may lack motivation to pursue
a subject.
•
Motivation and achievement are related in that the highly motivated
learner is expected to show high performance in tasks and
conversely the low motivation translates itself in poor performance.
•
The teacher should discover both the teacher and learner factors
that cause low motivation.
•
Lesson seven which is on motivation will help the teacher to develop
skills to use to motivate the learners. All the pertinent issues will be
handled in detail in that lesson.
4.4.4 Conflicts of interest
Sometimes learners fail to attend to the learning task even when the
teacher is doing his best to promote conditions for learning. This can
happen if the pupil has other interests that conflict with the learning tasks.
•
Sometimes the pupil has a problem that is social in nature, may be
news from home that somebody is unwell or their is disharmony.
During the lesson those home issues distract this particular learner.
•
May be the pupil has quarreled with a friend or has been wronged
by another and tends to focus his interest in this direction other
than to the ongoing lesson.
•
There are many things that could distract a learner at any one-time
and the teacher should handle each issue with a lot of sensitivity.
4.4.5 The Social Economic Backgrounds
The pupil’s social economic backgrounds is a factor that will influence
learning one way or the another. Some learners come from backgrounds
where they lack resources needed for learning. They may not have books
or writing materials or even adequate facilities to do their home work or
further study.
48
•
When these pupils come to school with unfinished work, untidy
work or even late, the teacher should handle each situation with
sensitivity because at times the teacher’s approach to a problem may
actually aggravate it instead of easing it.
4.5 The Subject Matter
Many years ago Ausubel (1978), Brunner (1960) stated that schools exist
to foster intellectual growth by transmitting knowledge and basic skills.
They further acknowledge that learning should facilitate intellectual
growth. For this reason it is important to discover those factors that
coupled with those discussed above will facilitate learning in the classroom
situation, of course when the teacher goes to any classroom with the
purpose of holding a teaching learning session he takes with him certain
content.
•
The content can be referred to as subject matter, which in turn can
be translated to mean certain facts, principles, skills or procedures.
These could be from any subject, topic or sub-topic.
•
If all other factors are considered that is the learning environment,
the teacher characteristics, the learner characteristics and so on
then the teacher turns focus on what should be done to make the
content learnable.
•
The teacher must ensure that the content is presented in such a way
that the learners can imbibe or assimilate it into their cognitive
structure.
•
The most important factor to consider here is ensuring that the
learner finds the content meaningful. Meaningfulness of content is
a critical issue in the sense that it leads to understanding. Indeed
meaningfulness and understanding are the essence of classroom
learning.
4.5.1 Meaningfulness Of Material
The importance of meaningfulness of content lies in the fact that, what is
meaningful is easy to process mentally.
•
It rends itself easy for storage in memory.
•
It is easier to retrieve.
•
It makes the learner comfortable and ready for further learning
49
•
This reduces frustration for both the learner and the teacher.
•
This fact has been demonstrated amply in experiments where
learners are exposed meaningless content by rote. When memory of
content is tested one thing comes out crystal clear. That is, learners
will remember meaningful content better. They will have problems
remembering meaningless content. In order to illustrate this point
study the following content and give you a minute to recall content
on List B.
Activity
Try to recall the following content in memory and to recall it. Give yourself 30 seconds to
read list A. Try to recall the content in 30 seconds. Do the same for list B.
List A
List B
Nkeot
Class
Ikn
Pupil
Enfik
Teacher
Iyuor
Ivory
Recealit
Knife
Ssalc
Token
Lipup
Ink
I am sure that you have discovered that it is difficult to process and
remember content A while content B poses no problem at all whatsoever.
The same thing happens to the pupils. If they find the content
meaningless, they are unable to process it and to remember it. For this
reason the teacher should make every possible effort to ensure that the
learner finds content meaningful. In order to achieve this goal the teacher
could try the following suggestion.
Exposing the teacher to potentially meaningful material. This refers to
ensuring that the content has the potentiality of being meaningful to the
learner. This can be tricky at times. Sometimes the teacher himself may
experience difficulty processing content and finding it meaningful.
If the teacher does not find the content meaningful, then it becomes
meaningful, then it becomes difficult to help the learner to find it
meaningful. This is allegorical to the blind man who cannot lead another.
Of course a teacher will never admit that he finds content difficult. At best
he will deal with it superficially, or skip it. Some teachers will demand that
50
learners make notes from textbooks. I intend to assure the teacher that he
can avoid embarrassing situations while dealing with content. He should
admit it to himself that work needs to be done to make content meaningful
to himself. He should follow the suggestions given below.
•
Read several sources of particular information. Different sources
highlight different angles of a situation. After reading those sources
the teacher will be more enlightened.
•
The teacher could also consult colleagues who will share their own
experiences, their approach, even sources they have found helpful.
By the forgoing the teacher is required to be resourceful and not rely
on a single textbook or some notes made many years ago.
•
The teacher should keep abreast with current developments in the
content area. He should have more in his bags of tricks so that at
no time should he find himself inadequate.
•
The teacher who finds content meaningful goes a step further to
ensure that the learner is helped to find meaningfulness as well.
•
In this context the teacher should select the content, organize it in
a potentially meaningful way.
•
To do this the teacher ensures that the content is consistent with
the learner’s developmental level. This means that before content is
presented to the leaner, the teacher has already gauged the
readiness level of the learner.
•
This refers to cognitive or mental ability of the learner to imbibe the
content.
•
Here, the learner’s motivation also counts. By learner motivation we
refer to the learners desire to want to know.
4.5.2 Readiness Of The Learner
It is important to look at the role of the teacher closely in this context.
• The first thing he should do is to assess the readiness of the learner
by identifying the knowledge the learner already possesses, the
learners abilities, motives and experiences and make the starting
point.
• Secondly present the material in a style that captures the students
interest. In doing this, the teacher ensures that the content is well
linked with the learner’s experiences and where examples are given
they should be derived from the learners world.
51
•
•
Problems are experienced in some cases when teachers make the
subject matter abstract. Abstract content has no bearing in the lives
and experiences of the learners. It is irrelevant and therefore
learning it becomes difficult.
Bringing out usefulness of content is an important concept. This is
the idea of making the content relevant to the needs of the learner
making him perceive it as useful to him.
4.5.3 Activity
Think about a particular topic in any of your teaching subjects. Identify ways and means of
bringing out its usefulness or relevance in the lives of learners. What is it about the content
that should make learners want to learn it?
Draw from the following reasons and any others you may think about
• Every year a question is always set from the topic in the KCSE examination
• The content is useful in every day to day life of the learner and give examples
• The content helps in understanding other concepts in the same subject or in other subjects
• A C.A.T. will be set from the topic
• The content is interesting in its own right.
4.5.4 Discovery learning
Still on the issue of encouraging meaning and understanding, the teacher
should encourage discovery learning.
•
This can be done by giving learners assignments that require them
to do their individual or group projects in the library or in the field.
In this the teacher should refer to learners to specific sources of
information with enough guidance that spells out the concepts,
meanings and relationships to be discovered.
•
Once learners have done their projects, they can present their
findings in class for the purposes of enriching each pupils or groups
findings by integrating all the findings.
•
This way each learner acquires additional information on points they
had missed out.
52
•
This method works on the principle that knowledge that is selfdiscovered is more significant to the learner and is remembered
better.
4.5.5 Concept Learning
Concept learning too enhances both meaningfulness of content and
understanding for the benefit of enhancement of learning. The learner
should not be exposed to facts that are isolated. Instead he should be
helped to perceive relationships, classifications. In other words, he should
be exposed to the big picture and not small unrelated pictures. If the
learner can understand a concept then he can also transfer the knowledge
to future situations.
4.6 SUMMARY
In this lecture we have looked at factors that influence learning. We have identified the role played by
the following specific factors.
• Learning mainly deals with delivery of content.
to teacher
assimilate
knowledgewhich could operate to enhance or hinder learning.
•Imbibe
There-are
characteristics,
• There are characteristics of the learning environment, which will promote or hinder learning.
giftedness: -with
refers
to the
intelligence
that
occurs in any one•Intellectual
Learner characteristics
a focus
onvariations
differencesinthat
exist among
learners.
•classroom
The characteristics
situation. Some
of the subject
learners
matter
havedwelling
a high IQ
onscores
meaning
others
an understanding.
are average and others low.
Learning environment: - Any environmental factor that affects learning. It can refer to the
physical environment or the social environment.
Motivational levels: - The amount of energy a learner directs towards the learning task.
Rote: - memorization of meaningless content that the learner does not really understands.
Subject matter: -content or the skills, facts, principles that the teacher intends to deliver.
Teacher characteristics: -Any teacher factor that influences learning. The characteristics have
to do with teacher personality, mastery of content, classroom management, attitudes etc.
4.7 KEY WORDS
53
4.8 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss how the following factors are likely to have a positive effect on learning:
1.1. Grooming.
1.2. Mastery of content.
1.3. Positive attitudes towards learners.
2. Explain what schools should do to ensure the following environmental conditions facilitate
learning:
2.1. The classrooms.
2.2. The location of the school.
3. Outline what you should do in order to ensure that learners find content meaningful.
4. In you own opinion, which factors predominate to determine what learners will learn easily
and what they will find difficult to learn?
LESSON FIVE
TRANSFER OF LEARNING
5.0 INTRODUCTION
Knowledge that is learned in school is intended to prepare the student for
life outside school. Content learned in one context can be applied in
another context within the same subject or in another subject. For
example, learning how to sew a shirt on a sewing machine during a Home
economics lesson should help a student to sew a skirt at home. Also
learning English grammar should help a student write correct English.
Therefore transfer of learning is a key concept. IT refers to the ability to
apply knowledge and skills in new situations. If a learner cannot apply
knowledge from situation to situation learning will have little purpose. In
this less, I have discussed transfer of learning focusing on
• The definition of the term,
• Aspects of transfer and
• Teaching for transfer.
54
5.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the learner will be able to
Define the concept transfer of knowledge
Explain the importance of transfer of learning
Describe aspects of transfer of learning
Outline three types of transfer
Describe two methods of teaching for transfer
5.2 DEFINITION OF TRANSFER OF LEARNING
We shall first look at situations that help us to infer that transfer of
learning takes place
We could say that transfer of learning occurs when previously learned
content influences current learning positively or negatively. For example,
when students learn a mathematical principle, which can be used to solve
a physics problem, this is positive transfer. From the foregoing we can
define transfer of learning as the process that enables us to make
previously learned responses in new situations. Transfer results in the
ability to perform sensibly and adequately in a new task as a result of
having performed other tasks previously. Put simply, transfer of learning
is ability to apply knowledge from one situation to another situation. For
example, the ability to apply mathematical formulae to compute
mathematical problems, or the ability of knowledge in mathematics to
understand balancing equations in chemistry or physics.
5.3 ASPECTS OF TRANSFER
There are two basic aspects of transfer. These are:
• Discrimination.
• Generalization.
5.3.1 Discrimination
When the learner is exposed to knowledge or skills that are similar he
should understand all the specific features so that he applies in each
situation only those aspects that are applicable and leaves out those
features that are not applicable.
55
•
Ivan Pavlov illustrated the idea of discrimination when conditioning
dogs to respond to bell tones. In discrimination training he would
give the dog food only under one particular tone and not any similar
tone. Then the dog learned that only one tone led to food and
therefore it salivated only when that particular tone was presented.
•
Likewise when it comes to transfer of learning the pupil should be
able to pick out specific features from the general features and use
them. A good illustration here is the use of the following documents;
the dictionary, the catalogue and the directory. These documents
have general and specific features, the general features are found in
the arrangement of content. All documents have their contents
arranged alphabetically and therefore require the same skill in their
usage. However the aspect of discrimination comes in when we
consider the type of information found in each document.
•
When we want to look up meanings of words we pick out the
dictionary.
•
When we wish to get some address or telephone number we pick up
the directory.
•
When we wish to locate some basic information of books available in
a library we go for the catalogue.
•
In bakery, discrimination can be applied. There are general
guidelines that are used to produce bread or cakes but when the
baker wants to bake bread with raisins or fruitcake or even teacake
he applies very specific features by using discrimination.
Discrimination is an aspect used every day in computer programming.
There are general features and specific features in computer operations for
example all computer programs have an interaction interface. There are
specific features like calculations, typing documents, carrying out
simulations and so on. It is the user who determines the specific feature
to use depending on the task to be performed. Discrimination as we have
noted requires the ability to apply in a specific situation and what not to.
This involves the understanding of differences.
5.3.2 Generalization
This means understanding the general features, the similarities or
sameness of information or skills. For example the dictionary, directory
and catalogue are similar in that the way information is arranged
alphabetically. These documents use the same skills to search for
information but the similarity ends there.
56
•
•
In baking there are similar procedures of mixing ingredients and
using baking pans and oven for the final products.
In computer operations the skills used to open the computer and to
access information is the same. In generalization therefore the
learner understands the general features.
Pavlov conditioned dogs to acquire generalization training. He would call
different tones and give the food every time a tone was sounded. This dog
knew that as long as there was a tone no matter which one, food was on
the way. Similarly, learners can acquire generalization in transfer of
learning.
5.4 TYPES OF TRANSFER
There are three types of transfer:
• Zero transfer.
• Negative transfer.
• Positive transfer.
5.4.1 Zero transfer
This refers to acquiring knowledge, skills or principles that are not
transferable from one situation to another. This occurs, when there is no
relationship between one subject and another one and therefore learning
one subject has no effect on the other one positively or negatively.
•
Examples of zero transfer can be illustrated by the learning of
mathematics and Kiswahili. Unless Kiswahili is used as a language
of instruction in mathematics there is no other relationship between
the two. Mathematical principles will not help a learner understand
Kiswahili principles or vise versa.
•
Other examples can be illustrated between geography and music or
fine art and biology. These two pairs of subjects share no meeting
ground. Each is independent from each other in terms of facts,
skills, principles and technical jargon. The learning of one is
independent from the learning of the other and does not inhibit nor
enhance the other.
5.4.2 Negative transfer
Negative transfer occurs content in a subject or in two different subjects
has a negative influence on one another. This happens when what is
learned in one situation hinders or inhibits what is learned in another
situation.
57
•
For example if a learner is introduced to two new languages, which
are similar at the same time, negative transfer occurs. A learner who
is learning English and German at the same time experiences
difficulties mastering both languages simultaneously due to
inhibition or interference. English interferes with German and vise
versa.
•
Negative transfer operates much the same way as proactive and
retroactive inhibition does. Before mastering of each is achieved
there is a lot of back and forth movement and even mix-up of English
and German words. Consequently this brings about a slowed
process or retardation in the learning process. However with enough
practice and mastery of both negative transfer is minimized and even
eliminated all together.
5.4.3 Positive Transfer
Positive transfer occurs, when knowledge acquired in one situation helps
the learner to acquire knowledge in one situation helps the learner to
acquire knowledge skills or principles in another situation much faster.
For example learning of mathematical principles enables the learner to
acquire principles in physics. There are many illustrations of positive
transfer in school setting, which can be mentioned here:
For example
•
Learning grammar in any language and writing compositions in the
language
•
The learning of biology and agriculture
•
Learning of physics and mathematics
•
Learning of chemistry, biology and Agriculture, Mathematics,
geography, business Education, Chemistry and Physics.
•
Positive transfer indicates a positive relationship between particular
topic areas in given subjects or even two or more content areas in
different subjects.
Positive transfer can operate at two levels. These are:
•
Lateral transfer(horizontal )
58
•
Vertical transfer
1. Lateral transfer
Lateral transfer occurs a learner is exposed to content that is applicable
to another subject or situation at the same level. For example, a child who
is trying to learn basics in arithmetic discovers that (4 x 9=36, 9 x 4=36),
(3+5=8, 5+3=8) is transferring knowledge laterally or horizontally.
•
Secondly when a learner acquires the basic skills of baking a cake
in school applies the knowledge to bake at home horizontally. He
will use the same ingredients, the same measures and the same
baking methods as learned at school.
•
Thirdly mathematical skills and principles learned in form one helps
the learner to acquire principles and skills to master form one
physics. So this kind of transfer is applicable at the same level and
is basically foundational.
2. Vertical transfer
Vertical transfer occurs when knowledge is applied to other learning at a
higher level either in the same subject or in another subject. For example
form one mathematics series is a foundation for form two, form three, and
form four mathematics. This happens at all applications of subject areas
in an ascending order.
•
For vertical transfer to occur the subject should be well mastered at
the foundational levels so that learning is given a chance to
generalize and become useful further along the learning process.
•
For example when a pupil masters simple grammatical rules he is
enabled to speak correct English, write competently and to study
other subjects in English as well.
•
Also when a pupil masters simple arithmetic and numeracy he is
enabled to acquire complex concepts in mathematics and physics.
5.5 TEACHING FOR TRANSFER
There are several basic ways of teaching for transfer
• Substantive (specific).
• Procedural (general) transfer.
• High road transfer.
5.5.1 The substantive method
59
The substantive method refers to specific transfer of rules facts or skills.
It is the direct transfer of knowledge from one situation to another. For
example applying rules of punctuation to write a job application letter or
using the knowledge of the alphabet to find a word n the dictionary. To
facilitate this type of transfer the teacher exposes the learner to the
substance of the material to be applied.
•
This is a very common phenomenon in computer programming. If a
certain computer program is required in a person’s occupation, the
person is taught that particular computer program during training.
•
Also in dress making the person is exposed to actual dress making
skills needed on the job.
•
A surgeon is trained in a hospital setting and performs surgery
under supervision. There are many examples that can be cited the
most important concept here is the exposure of the substance of
material to be applied and lots and lots of practice. According to
Garvriel Salomon and David Perkins, (1989). This transfer involves
the spontaneous automatic transfer of highly practiced skills with
little need for reflective thinking. The key to low road transfer is
practicing a skill often in a variety of situations until the learner’s
performance becomes automatic. For example using many different
kinds of typewriters, computers sewing machine, driving cars.
Practice enables a person to transfer a skill to a new situation
5.5.2 High road transfer
This is training learners to consciously apply abstract knowledge learned
in one situation to different situations. There are two methods of doing
this:
• Forward reaching method
• Backward reaching method
1. Forward reaching method
This method is used when a learner intends to use a principle or strategy
in future. He plans transfer in advance. For example a surgeon taking
theory and practical during subsequent semesters may do some forward
planning. During the theory semester he may search for and collect all the
relevant skills and procedures surgeons’ literature with the intention of
applying them during the practical or “hands-on” sessions.
Also a teacher preparing for teaching practice may search for principles
about teaching and learning (pedagogical skills). He may search in the
focus areas like how to motivate learners, the art of classroom
60
management and so on with the intention of applying the same during
actual teaching.
This kind of transfer is forward teaching in the sense that the person looks
forward to applying it in future situations.
2. The backward teaching transfer
This method is used when the learner is faced with a problem situation
that requires some prior knowledge. The person has to look back on what
has been learned in previous situations to help to solve the new problem.
This method requires the person to search for other related situations that
might provide clues to the solution of the current problem. The most
important thing in this kind of transfer is mindful abstraction or deliberate
identification of a principle main idea, strategy or procedure that can apply
to many situations. This guides future learning and problem solving.
5.5.3 The Procedural Method
This method is useful when applying knowledge about how principles and
rules apply across a wide variety of situations. It includes the learning of
broadly applicable concepts, principles and procedures. For example when
pupils learn the meaning of words such as untie, unfair that is useful to
learning that the prefix un means not or contrary to.
5.5.4 Activity
1. Apply the rule about the prefix un to find the meanings of the following words.
Unaffected, unaccompanied, unarmed, unlocked, unfastened, uncooked, uncooked,
unbalanced and unsteady.
2. Add the prefix un before the following words and explain their meaning: Fortunate,
do, pack, tidy, ravel, accomplished, deterred, detected, focused.
To train learners to use this method the teacher should present them with
a wide array of examples in which they can see how new principles and
techniques are used. The examples should be drawn from real world
settings.
61
5.6 NOTE
In order to ensure that transfer is given all the probability to occur. The teacher should
ensure the following:
• That training situations are made as similar to the real world situations as possible. If the
real world is not accessible to the students it should be described to them.
• Provide many practicals on the original task before the transfer task is attempted.
• Stress transfer both inside and outside the classroom. This means that when teaching,
transfer should always be in focus.
• The teacher should use specific, concrete examples from television, newspapers, school
activities, current events and life in general.
• The teacher should devise projects and competitive games that foster, transfer
• Finally the teacher should always test for transfer
5.7 SUMMARY
This lecture has focused on the transfer of learning. Transfer of learning is the application
acquired knowledge in different situations.
Transfer of learning has two aspects: Generalization and discrimination.
Types of transfer identified are
➢ Zero which occurs when there is no relationship between two subjects.
➢ Negative which occurs when the learning of content has a negative effect on another.
➢ Positive
▪ Lateral-horizontal
▪ Vertical- at higher levels
❖ Methods for teaching for transfer
➢ Substantive method
➢ High road method
▪ Formal reaching
▪ Back ward reaching
➢ Procedural method
62
5.8 KEY WORDS
Discrimination: -Ability to apply specific elements of a situation leaving out what is not
applicable.
Generalization: -Ability to apply general or similar features of a situation.
High road transfer-training learners to consciously apply knowledge either forward or
backward.
Horizontal transfer: - occurs when knowledge is applicable at the same level.
Negative transfer:-Occurs where two content area affect the learning of each through a
process similar to inhibition.
Procedural transfer: - applying broadly applicable rules and procedures.
Substantive transfer: -Application of knowledge directly.
Transfer of learning-the usage or application of acquired knowledge skills or procedures in
new situations.
Vertical transfer: - occurs when content is applicable higher along the learning process.
Zero-transfer:-Occurs when two content areas are unrelated and there fore have no effect on
each other.
5.9 REVIEW/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Imagine two novel situations that you could require your students to show:
a) Discrimination.
b) Generalization.
2) Bring out clearly the difference between Zero and negative transfer.
3) With examples show illustrations of:
a) Lateral transfer.
b) Vertical transfer.
63
LESSON SIX
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING
6.0 INTRODUCTION
This lesson shifts its focus on a question that every teacher must ask all
the time. That is what causes individual differences in intellectual ability
and achievement. The teacher experiences shows that learners in the
class, with the same books, same teachers show variations in
achievement. This lesson examines the causes of individual differences as
they influence learning and achievement. It attempts to give the teacher
valuable insights into children’s lives, which should leave him better,
equipped and informed. Every time the teacher interacts with a pupil he
should be aware of the facts of the pupils life from the genes, the uterine
environment, the home environment and the school influences that
contribute to make each pupil different from all other pupils. With this
knowledge, the teacher should show better understanding and more
sensitivity in his interactions with pupils.
6.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the learner should be able to explain the roles played by the
following factors in contributing to individual differences
• Heredity
• Environment
The learner will be able to discuss how the following factors cause individual differences
• The home environment
• The social economic status
• The school environment
6.2 WHAT CAUSES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING?
When we deal with a topic like individual differences in intellectual ability
and achievement. We must bear certain things in mind.
64
First there is need to realize that individual differences in intellectual
ability is difficult to define and measure due to the complexity and the
dynamism of the variables that interact to produce these differences.
For the purposes of this lesson, we shall define intellectual ability as the
capacity to acquire and use knowledge to adapt to the environment.
We must also ask the question where intelligence comes from and answer
it. According to Lefrancois, intelligence does not just happen it has a
cause. We must revive the old age controversy regarding the determination
of all human traits, intelligence being one of them. This is the naturenurture debate, which has been used to explain variations that exist
among people. Observation of members of the same family reveals marked
contrasts in appearance, interests and abilities. In the study of what
causes these differences psychologists have developed three positions.
These are; the hereditary, the environmental and the Interactional
positions or approaches.
6.2.1 The hereditary position
Adherents of this position believe strictly in the role played by genes in the
determination of human traits. This position holds the view that it is
nature and not nurture that determines the intellectual giftedness of
individual children. Among the strong adherents of this position was Sir
Francis Galton, 1869. In his view intellectual ability is genetically
determined. He had observed that great scientists had parents who were
equally gifted. Studies done by various psychologists have tended to
confirm high correlation’s in IQ among identical twins reared apart. This
view holds the belief that during fertilization when maternal and paternal
genes interact, IQ is fixed. Therefore some children inherit high IQs while
still others receive low gifts in this trait. This position does not
acknowledge the role different environments may play in modifying
intellectual ability. To them intelligence is fixed and the child is a helpless
pawn of the dictates of nature.
6.2.2 The environmental position
The second position takes the environmental approach. Adherents of this
position believe that experiences provided by different environmental
conditions and demands shape intelligence. Among these psychologists is
the J.B. Watson, (1913) who prided himself that if he was given a dozen
children and his own environments to raise them in, he would produce
any kind of person as he so wished. He would shape one into a beggar,
another into a thief, the third into a banker and so on. This position
attributes variations in intellectual ability to environmental causes.
Children intellectual giftedness is ultimately determined by nurture not
65
nature. This view focuses on the importance of improving environmental
conditions, enriching them in order to influence intelligence positively.
Those children who are raised in improvised environment have their IQ
stimulated and enhanced.
6.2.3 The interactionist position
Today heredity versus environment is no longer an important question.
The more important question has to do with how individuals and
environments interact during development with the processes that
account for intellectual change and with how deficits can be remedied and
gifts fostered (Lefrancois, 1994). Adherents of this position recognize that
genes or nature contribute certain potentialities towards intellectual
endowment but the actual determinant to what a child’s intellectual ability
will be lies in the interaction between what is genetically given and the
environment. This position identifies the interaction between nurture and
nature as the sole determinant of intellectual ability in a child. This is a
popularly held position today and we need to examine what genes
contribute and what the environment contributes towards the shaping of
intellectual ability.
6.3 WHAT GENES GIVE
The question of concern here is whether genes fix intellectual ability.
Genes do not fix intelligence as such, they provide the blue print of
intellectual abilities. By this we mean that genes establish a wide range of
possibilities or possibilities or potentialities. These potentialities are bound
to unfold in relation to the range of possible experiences that environment
can provide. Put in another way, genes provide the raw materials for
intellectual abilities and set the limits. This means that even the
environmental influences modify the inherited potentials within certain
limits. For example a child may inherit a potential towards average IQ,
which has its own ranges. All a teacher and the best environments can do
for such a child is to help him to realize his maximum potential.
These potentialities are analogous to a rubber band, which can remain
unstretched or stretched to various lengths. The rubber band can be
stretched all the way and it can also be stretched until it breaks. This
analogy is very important for learners.
It suggests that the learning environments should be arranged in a
manner that will allow the rubber band to stretch to full potential but not
to stunt or break. When dealing with children we must know their gifts
and their limitations in order to nurture the gifts and help improve on
limitations.
66
We should not allow a child with a high intellectual gift to underachieve
and we should not expect a child with an average gift to show outstanding
performance.
Every child should be allowed to perform within the limits of their rubber
band stretchability.
6.4 DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS
The environmental influences include everything from the health of a
child’s mother during pregnancy to the amount of poisonous substances
in the environment to the quality of teaching the child receives, (Woolfolk,
1988).
We shall examine the influence of the following environments briefly:
• The environment before birth.
• The home environment.
• The school environment.
6.4.1 The environment before birth
The first environment the human organism encounters is the uterus or
the womb. This environment has the potentiality of promoting the child’s
development as per the genetic plan or changing the course of development
completely.
In this environment the genetic blue print is given chance to begin
unfolding through the process of growth, maturation and development of
all the characteristics provided for by the genes. These characteristics are
physical, physiological and mental, psychological.
If the uterus is baby friendly or compliant it produces nutrition, warmth
and security, which allow the genetic potentials to unfold as per plan. So
the child is given the chance to develop a healthy body and mental
capacity.
Those children meant to be highly gifted, average or low intellectually
realize their natural gifts.
On the other hand the uterus may have adverse effects on the developing
child if the expectant mother is exposed to the following
•
Undernourishment and malnourishment,
•
Certain diseases during the first three months of pregnancy (e.g.
Rubella and Sexually Transmitted Diseases),
67
•
Ingestion of psychoactive drugs or is dependent on them (e.g.
alcohol, nicotine and heroine),
•
Certain medications (e.g. antibiotics, anti-convultants and antimalarial drugs),
•
High doses of X-radiation, prolonged stress or the rhesus factor.
These conditions change the course of development in extreme cases
causing either the death of the unborn baby or stillbirth. If the baby
survives the adversity that these conditions cause he may be
physically or mentally defective or both. This means that a baby who
would otherwise have been born with a healthy and well functioning
body is born with physical and psychological defects. A baby who
would have been born with normal intelligence is born with mental
deficits due to the brain damage these conditions cause.
So the womb as the first environment the human baby encounters is very
critical. It sets the foundations to intellectual development. All other
environmental effects come later and they may come when damage has
already occurred.
6.4.2 The home environment
Ideally every child is born in a home. The home environment means many
things. A home has physical and social dimensions. These refers to the
buildings and the facilities as well as the people. The home provides for all
the developmental needs of children: -the physiological and psychological.
The manner in which these needs are provided determines how the child
will develop physically and mentally. This lesson does not allow us to delve
into all the logistics and operations of the home. So we shall point out a
few things that help to determine how the home factors influence
intellectual development.
First it is critically important to point out that homes are diverse
environments. No one is like the other and therefore even their influence
on children’s development is bound to vary.
However, there are certain basic features that we can examine in relation
to their effect on intellectual development. We can broadly place homes in
two categories; the stimulative and non-stimulative
The stimulative homes
These are homes that are enriched in terms of facilities that promote
intellectual growth, these are things like paper, number, number charts,
letter charts pictures, colors and play materials. Besides these facilities
68
the child needs space in which to manipulate and interact with provided
facilities. These facilities play a stimulative role in the development of
intelligence. They also aid in language development. An enriched home
provides the child with varying experiences with trips to various places. In
the modern world enriched homes expose children to facilities like
television and computers. All these facilities go along way to stimulating a
child’s intellectual growth.
The non stimulative home
There are homes that are impoverished. They do not posses minimal
facilities. The material things present are only those that are necessary for
bare survival. The environment is restrictive as well as monotonous and
nothing exciting seems to happen. There are many homes where paper or
pen, chart or colors. Children never venture very far unless they are sick
and have to be taken to hospital. When a car visits the neighborhood the
whole village goes to witness the wonder. A child growing up in this kind
of environment may have high levels of intelligence but the necessary
stimulation. The child has limited experiences, even fewer words to
express himself and may have problems with ideas.
6.4.3 Activity
Suppose you were asked to advise the chief of your location on issues concerning
intellectual life of the children in the location. How would you advise him regarding;
material, health, family planning and overcrowded school conditions?
6.4.3 The social economic status
A glimpse into the relationship between socio-economic status ( SES) and
intellectual ability in order here. We have noted that children are born in
homes that are stimulative while others find themselves in homes that are
non-stimulative. The question of concern is whether children born in rich
homes excel in intellectual ability while those born in poor homes fail in
intellectual ability. Let’s examine the term social economic status. This is
a term used to refer to variations in wealth, power and prestige. We shall
acknowledge that levels of wealth, power and prestige are not always
consistent and therefore not operationally definable because of the
relativity inherent. An example may suffice. Take for example teachers or
professors in Kenya. They are members of professions that are prestigious
but which provide little wealth of power. In Kenya too there are people with
political power but who may not be wealthy. If you have talked with a
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wealthy man who did not get a good education and there are many of them
in Kenya, he holds the educated person who has no wealth in owe. In fact
many conflicts exist between the wealthy and less educated and the well
educated but not wealthy.
From these examples it is evident that we cannot use a single variable, not
even income to effectively measure SES. This not withstanding most
researchers identify four general levels of social economic status the
upper, middle, working and lower. For a long time the relationship between
SES and school performance has been tricky. If you listen to the stories
told by prominent lawyers, doctors, engineers, and politicians you realize
that they tell one story. How they suffered their way up the educational
ladder to be where they are today. They were educated through bursaries,
the sale of animal lands and animals. Stories about huge sacrifices by
individual families abound. These are people who did not a second change
of clothes nor two pairs of shoes. Yet they emerged as shining stars in their
fields. Among eminent scholars who are world-renowned and who have left
Kenya for greener pastures abroad the story is the same. This means that
in Kenya the relationship between SES and intellectual attainment is
rather tricky.
One question begs to be answered. Is SES the sole consideration
determining a child’s intellectual performance? Studies done in this area
seem to suggest that parent’s education may not be strongly related to a
child’s excelling performance. Variables that have been found to yield
positive results in this area are parents’ attitudes towards education, their
aspirations for their children and the intellectual activities of the family.
(Laosa, 1984;Peng and Lee 1992; White, 1982). These studies explain why
children from affluent families may not necessarily excel in academic
matters. We understand why many families with limited incomes do an
excellent job of supporting their children’s learning because of their
positive attitudes and behaviors. Lack of income ceased to be an important
factor for school, achievement. This not withstanding an exploration of
how poverty could mitigate against intellectual ability is deemed necessary
at this juncture.
6.4.4 Effects of low SES on Achievement
There are cases where poverty acts as a motivator. This happens when
parents have encouraged their children, or individual children have
worked hard to excel in academic work in order to get a good job and
escape poverty. This scenario is very familiar to many educated people.
These are people whose efforts have been recognized and they have
received support from well-wishers and bursary awarding bodies. There
are many children who are not this lucky and who seem lucky and who
seem bound in completely difficult situations where they are unable to rise
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above average performance or even mediocre ability even when they have
above average intelligence.
This picture is occasioned by many factors that exist and which help to
maintain the cycle of poverty. These factors have been identified by Gareia,
(1991), as poor health care for mother and child. Limited resources, Family
stress interruptions in scholarship and discrimination.
All these factors lead to school failure or even school drop out for both boys
and girls. When a girl or boy drops out of school they get poor paying jobs,
they tend to marry and get children earlier than their age mates who
continue with their age mates who continue with their education. This
leads to another generation born in poverty. Children raised in low SES
are exposed to hostile conditions.
•
•
•
•
They may wear old and torn clothes.
They are less familiar with books and school activities. They
experience problems in verbal and non-verbal skills-speaking
ungrammatically.
They experience difficulties with reading and comprehension,
mathematics and general information. Consequently teachers and
other children may assume that these children are not bright.
They believe that these children are not good in schoolwork and
show a negative attitude towards them.
The low SES children may respond in the following ways:
• By being more inhibited and withdrawn leading to repeated failure.
• Repeated failure leads to learned helplessness where the pupil
comes to believe that doing well in school is hopeless. The child has
experience of many of his friends and relatives who never finished
school anyway. So it is normal to quit school as well as we noted
earlier if he does not complete school:
- He finds a less rewarding job, where he barely ekes a living and
continues to live below the poverty line.
- This kind of person tends to get more children than his income
can support. These children also drop out school early and the
poverty cycle continues.
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6.4.3.1 Activity
Suppose you are the Director of Education in your District, what changes would you like to see
effected in the homes and in the schools to ensure improved intellectual performance in the
district.
6.4.4 The School Environment
The schools differ just like the homes. Some schools being more enriched
than others and therefore providing varying experiences. Like the homes,
the schools are made up of physical resources and human resources. The
physical resources constitute the buildings and the facilities. Some of the
schools provide stimulative environments for intellectual development of
learners while other remain non-stimulative.
Issues of concern as mentioned earlier are adequacy appropriateness and
security of school facilities. There are those schools, which are lacking in
these things and those that are overflowing with them as it were.
Equally important is the issue of human resources, mainly the teaching
staff and the support staff. Like we have said about the home, the attitudes
held by the teachers and the school administration regarding their pupils
are very important in determining academic excellence or failure. School
exists where nothing that one would ask for in term of facilities is lacking
but when you examine the pupils’ performance you are faced by appalling
results. Other schools exist where resources are limited but the results
excellent. This goes to show that the good will of the teachers, their positive
attitudes towards their work and towards learners may hold the key to
whether learners will succeed academically or fail dismally.
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6.5 SUMMARY
The lesson has examined causes of individual differences in intellectual ability and discussed the
following:
• Genetic heredity.
• Environmental conditions and demands focusing specifically on:
- The uterine environment.
- The home environment.
- The socioeconomic status.
- The school.
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6.6 KEY WORDS
Blue print: - a kind of program with the potentiality of unfolding in line with the inherited
properties of the organism and their interaction with the environment.
Environment: - All the forces that shape the child’s life. These include the uterus, the home, the
school as well as ecological factors that affect the developing person.
Heredity: - The passing down of traits from parents to offspring through the interaction of genes.
Individual differences in learning: - refers to the marked variations among children in their
capacity to learn, the total knowledge a child acquires, the ability to adapt successfully to new
situations and the environment in general.
Non-stimulatitive: - impoverished environmental conditions, which retard or inhibit
development.
Social Economic Status: -Relative measure of wealth, power and prestige.
Stimulative: - enriched environmental conditions, which enhance or promote development.
Teratogens: - any environmental agents that can cause abnormalities in the developing foetus.
6.7 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What kind of advice would you give to expectant mothers to help them
promote healthy mental development for their children?
2. Describe an ideal home environment which can promote intellectual
development in he children?
3. Why is it that some children coming from affluent homes do not perform
well in school?
4. What changes would you like to effect in your school inorder to improve
performance?
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75
LESSON SEVEN
MOTIVATION
7.0 INTRODUCTION
In this lesson I have discussed motivation in the context of education. I
have specifically examined how the teacher can apply knowledge of the
theories of motivation to make learners want to learn.
Motivation concerns itself with the following:
•
Dynamics of getting pupils to want to learn, or have the interest to
do so.
•
Have the desire to spend time on learning tasks.
•
To complete assignment and even to want to excel.
•
For teachers motivating learners remains one of the greatest
challenges of the profession. Many teachers will complain that
pupils do not want to learn, they are lazy and they never complete
assignment and so on. This lecture explores motivation in classroom
setting. The encouraging message for teachers derived from this
lesson is that something can be tried out. We do not have to throw
the towel in or fold our arms in despair. We can get them to want to
learn. Let us see how.
7.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lecture the learner should be able to
Define the term motivation
Relate motivation to educational settings
Explain different theoretical orientations
Discuss the use of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
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7.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM MOTIVATION
Motivation is defined as the driving force or impetus behind behavior,
thoughts and actions. Motivation energizes behavior and gives it direction
towards a goal. The goal is always to satisfy a need, for example, hunger,
thirst, pain avoidance, temperature regulation and elimination. At a higher
level motivation energizes behavior towards achievement, competence,
affiliation, esteem and so on.
7.3 MOTIVATION IN THE SCHOOL SETTING
Motivating students is one of the critical tasks of teaching. Teachers are
expected to get pupils interested in learning or interested to display
desirable behavior. This problem can be aptly summed up by the old adage
that says that you can take the donkey to the river but you cannot force it
to drink water. Analogous with this saying the teacher should realize that
he can have pupils in the classroom and even provide an atmosphere
conducive for learning but whether they learn or not depends on them. It
heavily depends on their interests or disinterests, their priorities and
needs, their attitudes and values. This means that the teachers interest in
wanting to get learners to learn may not coextend to their wanting to learn.
Given this picture the teacher needs to know how to play his cards right
so that he creates a desire in the learner to want to learn. We shall start
the exploration of this issue from the theoretical viewpoints. What do
different theories advocate.
What do different theories advocate?
7.4 THEORETICAL APPROACHES
Motivation is a vast and complicated subject encompassing many theories.
We shall explore the following theories in our endeavor to throw some
illumination in this area. We intent to suggest certain things teachers
could try out as they apply concepts derived from each of the theories:
• The behavioristric approaches
• The humanistic approaches
• The cognitive approaches
• The social learning approaches
7.4.1 The Behaviouristic approaches
Behavioristic approaches advocate the use of reinforcement.
Reinforcement refers to the use of rewards or incentives. A reward is an
attractive object or event supplied as a consequence of a particular
behavior. An incentive is an object or event that encourages or discourages
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behavior. For example the promise of an A+ is an incentive. The threat to
punish is an incentive. According to the behavioral approach an
understanding of student motivation should begin with a careful analysis
of incentives and rewards present in the classroom. These could be
•
•
•
•
•
Affection,
Money,
Praise,
Privileges,
Grades or even stars.
The teacher should also identify the behaviors that need to be reinforced.
These could be
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Outstanding performance,
Punctuality,
Neatness,
Attentiveness,
Completion of home work,
Good conduct,
Proper language use,
Non-aggression,
Honesty and showing respect for others.
This list is by no means exhaustive but it gives the teacher the general idea
of what he could do. He could come up with a catalogue of described
behavior and a list of possible reinforcers.
The application
The teacher should always be alert and notice when the desired behavior
occurs. Its occurrence should be accompanied by a reinforcer. A student
who shows improved performance could be praised or rewarded. One who
shows improved grooming should be rewarded appropriately. The idea
here is to acknowledge desired behavior and accompany it with reinforcing
stimuli. The principle is that reinforcement strengthens behavior and gives
it the chance to occur again. The teacher should remember that that any
behavior, which is ignored, goes through the process of extinction, it dies
off so if you want behavior to recur, reinforce it by all means.
7.4.2 Cognitive Approaches To Motivation
Cognitive approaches to motivation developed as a reaction to the
behavioral views. Cognitive theorists believe that behavior is determined
by our thinking not by rewards or punishments we anticipate or receive.
In their view behavior is initiated and regulated by inner plans not by
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external events or physical conditions like hunger. Cognitive theorists tend
to see people as
•
•
Active,
Curious and always searching for information to solve personally
relevant problems.
In their view people work hard because they enjoy work and because they
want to understand. They emphasize intrinsic motivation, (Weiner, 1984).
The teacher should help learners to develop their curiosity and methods
of searching for information students need to be trained to be intrinsically
motivated to search for knowledge for its own sake. Intrinsic motivation is
included in this lesson and will be dealt with at length then.
Note
The cognitive approaches deal with the higher mental processes involved in thinking problem
solving and perception.
7.4.3 Social Learning Theories Of Motivation
The social learning theories of motivation are integrations of behavioral
and cognitive approaches. These theorists see motivation as a product of
two main forces: The individual expectation of success in a task and the
vicarious experience.
The person’s expectation of success in a task is determined by personal
effectiveness also called self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to personal
competence. One important idea that teachers could borrow from these
concepts is that learners need to be empowered to perform learning tasks
with high chances of succeeding. If a learner knows he will succeed in
solving a mathematical problem or in balancing a chemistry equation their
motivation will be heightened. Studies have shown students with a high
sense of academic efficacy display greater persistence effort and intrinsic
interest in their academic learning and performance.
The vicarious experience constitutes observations of other students. A
student compares his performance with that of other children. If the child
discovers that performance is poor he is likely to loose his sense of
competence and efficacy altogether. In this respect the teacher should help
the child to keep up with the level of performance of other children in order
to keep up their motivation. In many instances teacher aggravate the
problem when they torment the child who is comparing with peers
unfavorably. They make the child sink deeper in despair and apathy. A
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little help understanding, encouragement and even persuasive and moral
support may be all that this child needs to improve his sense of efficacy.
7.4.3.1 Activity
Observe learners who are failing those getting less than 30% in a given subject in their tests
and examinations. Compare the amount of time they spend studying the subjects they fail
and the amount of time they spend studying the subjects they perform well. Find out when
they are likely to be missing classes
Observe well-rounded pupils those performing well in most of the subjects they take. Find
out why they enjoy school work and school life. Discover whether they are likely to turn in
complete assignments
7.4.4 Humanistic Approaches
The proponents of the humanistic approaches to motivation are Abraham
Maslow and Carl Rogers. The humanistic perspective is referred to as the
“Third force” psychology because it developed in the 1940s as a reaction
against two dominant forces at the time. The first force was Freudian
psychoanalysis while the Second was Watson’s behaviorism.
The Humanistic perspective emphasized intrinsic sources of motivation.
They held the view that every human being has an inherent desire to selfactualize. This desire motivates the person to continually want to seek selfactualization. According to Abraham Maslow students cannot develop in
the direction of self-actualization unless their needs are met. He developed
the hierarchy of needs in order to illustrate the levels of motivation. We
shall examine this hierarchy with a view to helping the teacher to
understand the conditions that must be met before we can ask students
to be motivated to learn.
Maslow Hierarchy Of Needs
Maslow, (1970) suggests that humans have a hierarchy of needs ranging
from lower level needs to higher level needs are called metaneeds. The
lower level needs are survival and safety related. They consist of the
primary needs, the basic biological needs like the need for food, water,
temperature regulation and pain avoidance. Safety needs refer to the
persons desire to feel secure in non-threatening physical and social
environments. The higher level needs are those for intellectual
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achievement and self-actualization. Self-actualization is Maslows term to
refer to Self-fulfillment or realization of personal potential.
Self-Actualization
Self Esteem
Belonging ness
Safety
Physiological Needs
1. Physiological needs
At the base of the hierarchy are physiological needs. They constitute the
need for food water, temperature regulation and pain avoidance. These
needs are basic for the survival of the organism and they must be met first
before the learner can be motivated to learn. A student who is hungry or
in pain or even one who needs to go to the toilet has to satisfy the need
first because these needs are proponent or pressuring.
What can the school do in order to help meet this need? The school should
ensure that,
• There is a lunch program
• There is clean water to drink and
• There are usable toilets for students.
Students should never be punished by being deprived of food neither
should they be denied time to use the toilet facilities.
2. Safety
The second level of the hierarchy consists of safety needs. These are needs
to do with the security of environment. These are natural elements like
winds, floods and lightning. They can be met in the following ways:
• Schools provide firm safe buildings that will not be blown away by
the wind or be washed away by floods.
• The school buildings should be fortified against natural elements
like lightning. In lightning prone areas lightning- arrestors should
be installed. In flood prone areas proper drainage should be put in
place.
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What are the sources of insecurity?
•
Insecurity can also be caused by the human factors like politically
motivated aggression found in bandit prone areas or areas hit by
tribal clashes. These should be eliminated in order to give students
secure environments in which to learn.
•
Insecurity can also exist in the form of bullying where new comers
are physically or psychologically harassed.
•
These incidents should be minimized if not completely eliminated.
•
Teachers too can pose insecurity to learners if they use physically
and psychologically threatening methods in their discharge of duty.
Whatever the source of insecurity, makes the students fearful and
they spend a lot of their time and energy dwelling on their fears
rather on learning tasks.
3. Belongingness
The third level of need is the need for belongingness. This is the need to be
loved by significant other people and to be accepted by them. For the
student significant other people are; parents, siblings, peers and teachers.
Every person has the desire to feel accepted and is any threat to love is
perceived the person begins to malfunction psychologically.
How can the teacher help learners meet the needs for love and
belongingness? The teacher should help learners
•
To make and keep friends by training them in social skills.
•
The teacher should also try to bond with the students by developing
a loving relationship with them. By a loving relationship we mean
parental not romantic love.
•
The teacher should show concern and sensitivity to the needs and
feelings of the learner and communicate the attitude of care.
Students respond to this by extending love and sensitivity towards
the teacher in reciprocation. This is an aspect that can go very far
in instilling discipline and at the same time motivating learning. W
know that there is prevailing circumstances that make it difficulty
for the teacher to bond with students namely:
Work overload,
- Overwhelming teacher student ratio among other professional
challenges. However the teacher should make effort to
communicate care and sensitivity to his pupils at every
opportunity.
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4. Self Esteem
Self-Esteem is also referred to, as prestige need. It underlies the general
competitiveness. The need to be outstanding in various aspects of school
life. Some students will excel in:
•
Academic performance while other will outshine others in field
events.
•
There are those who hold positions of prestige and are envied
because of their leadership qualities
•
Some students shine because of their outstanding beauty or
strength.
How do teachers help learners meet their needs? In helping pupils fulfill
this need, the teachers should open their eyes to the school stars and give
them an opportunity to shine by creating conditions that allow healthy
competitiveness.
The school should develop incentives to encourage competitiveness. Some
schools do this by promising field trips or valued awards to the students
or group of students who show excellence in academic work, games and
sports in school beauty contests in leadership and in any other areas of
excellence. The main idea here is to put the lamp on the housetop where
all can see it and not cover it up with a bucket. So wherever we are we
should let the school stars shine.
The teacher should recognize that every student has the capacity to
improve on task performance. This goes even for those students who are
not in the top ten or in any area whether academic or extra curriculum.
The teacher should provide the right incentives to keep tem trying harder
and to improve their performance.
5. Self-actualization
At the top of the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization, the need to
develop ones human capacity to think and feel and understand the world.
In Maslow’s view, people’s failure to satisfy “lower” needs leaves the
individual unable to focus on “higher” needs. If students are hungry
insecure and unloved, they wont worry about academic success. Although
this need looks like it is beyond the attainment of learners, I believe their
ways in which they can be assisted to systematically self-actualize.
Learners can be helped to become the best they are capable of becoming,
to release their potential to optimum levels if the school creates the right
conditions consciously and systematically. Learners physiological, safety,
affiliate and esteem needs should be planned for and delivered. Then there
should be deliberate effort to help learners improve in many areas of school
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life
namely:
•
Knowledge,
•
The need for beauty and,
•
The need to perform at peak in all school endeavors.
•
As far as knowledge is concerned learners can be trained t study
and value good performance.
•
In the pursuance of beauty or aesthetics learners can be trained to
value cleanliness, neatness not only personal but environmental as
well. They can be trained to appreciate good handwriting and to
strive towards perfection in these things. These are not difficult
things to do as long as the teacher has the will and the necessary
commitment towards learners.
7.5 EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
I find it very difficulty to ignore a discussion extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation. What do these two terms refer to? Extrinsic motivation refers
to the external forces that motivate a person’s behavior. Intrinsic
motivation on the other hand refers to the internal forces that motivate
behavior. The teacher needs to understand both forces of motivation as
well as how to use them to good advantage.
7.5.1 Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation can be delivered in two main ways
• The use of punishment
• The use of incentives
The use of punishment
This refers to the use of punishment or threats to punish the pupils who
do not meet the set standards of behavior whether academic or general
conduct or attitude. One thing to be said before engaging in the discussion
is the following. The use of force and even threats of to use it often selves
as powerful motivators of behavior. If used properly and wisely can
punishment instill discipline. The emphasis is on using punishment
wisely. We may actually discover that many times we do not use it wisely.
When not used wisely, punishment may have many negative effects on
behaviour. Let us see what is likely to happen if the teacher threatens to
punish a student who does not score 50% and above in a test or the one
who does not complete assignments. When punishment is promised to
latecomers, those whose work is untidy, rude and so on. What effect does
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the threat or punishment have on these behaviors. Two things are bound
to happen when we use punishment on behavior. First it serves as an
incentive to motivate the desirable behavior. It motivates the pupil to avoid
or escape the punishment. But it has serious limitations these are;
•
Even if it succeeds in stopping undesirable behavior it is likely to
create dependence on external agents.
•
A pupil who is used to the use of force never learns self-direction.
•
He relies on others to direct him.
•
A learner who is punished never performs a task with enthusiasm.
•
He resents the things he does
•
He never learns cooperation.
Use of incentives
This refers to the use of rewards or promise of rewards to pupils who
display desirable behavior. For example the promise of trips, status,
points, marks, money and so on. This kind of motivation is useful because
people want and need rewards.
•
•
Pupils will work hard to get good grades so that they can get the
promised reward.
They will also strive to attain standards of behavior that will lead to
rewards. However the use of rewards has similar effects on
motivation as the use of coercion. It causes dependency, the pupil
works to please the teacher and in the absence of reward behavior
stops. So the motivation is short lived. For this reason it is important
to rely on intrinsic motivation.
7.5.2 Intrinsic motivation
This is motivation that comes from within the learner. It also referred to
as identification or ego involvement. This motivation results from the
pupils identification with desired goals-The learner has the desire and the
will to learn. His ego is fully involved in the learning task. If this is the case
then the teacher needs to know what will make a learner identify with the
learning task. The learner will identify the learning task if his need for
competence is met. By competence we mean
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•
•
•
The ability to perform a task,
Mastery of a task or
Competitiveness in a task.
In fact every pupil has an inherent desire to perform competently in school
tasks. The teacher’s role is to discover how to help the learner to achieve
this. The teacher can assist the learner by providing him with the
opportunity to become competent. This can be done by helping the pupil
avoid failure. This can be achieved if learners are given tasks they are
intellectually capable of performing. If a learner is successful in performing
a task his self-concept is enhanced and he gains self-respect from the good
feeling of being able to perform the task. This is ego inflating. It makes the
ego grow fat. Another thing that the teacher could do is to help learners
set up both short term and long-term goals. For example, I will get 80% in
the biology test next week or I will improve my test marks in the chemistry
test tomorrow instead of getting 50% I am working for 70%. The shortterm goals could consist of mastering topics and sub-topics and getting
good grades in the tests set on them. Passing the end of year or terminal
examinations should be long term goal. For example, aiming to score A or
B+ in a given subject. All stages the teacher should provide the learners
with immediate feedback. This means that they should know their
performance soon after a test or an examination.
The feedback should inform them of the correct responses expected as well
as informing them how well they have achieved their goals. Basically we
want to emphasize the importance of empowering the learner so that he is
successful in the learning task and making that the marks he or she earns
are reflected on the paper. Let us dispel the myth that a learner who scores
90% becomes self confident and may slacken in his performance. Let the
teacher know that a learner who is successful develops an interest in an
activity and continues to pursue that activity. On the other hand a learner
who fails results in declining interests. Failure other negative
consequences, For example
•
•
•
Avoidance of the activity,
Absenteeism,
Total loss of motivation.
7.5.3 Achievement motivation
Achievement motivation is the desire:
• To excel,
• To complete difficult tasks,
• To meet high standards and
• To out perform others.
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Pupils who are high in the need to achieve are those who are intrinsically
motivated. They differ from low need achievers in a number of ways
• They do better on problem solving tasks
• They show better performance and more rapid improvement on verbal
tasks.
• They set realistic but challenging goals for themselves
• They show a need for competence for its own sake as early as three
years of age.
What are the factors that promote achievement motivation? Achievement
motivation is related to the following factors.
a) Parental expectations-parents should put realistic pressure on the
child’s performance. They should not allow a child to underachieve
nor should they expect a child to achieve beyond his level of
competence. The sex of the child, depending on socialization, boys
tend to show are higher on achievement motivation than girls. This
occurs in cases where they are expected to perform well, pass their
examinations get jobs and finally become providers for their families.
How true is this in the Kenyan situation? This scenario has changed
in many families where girls are no linger waiting to get married to
men who have made it. There are families in Kenya today where the
girls are achieving and the boys failing not only in academic work
but also in life.
b) The third factor affecting achievement motivation is the size of the
family Again the view held is that small families composed of parents
and probably two children achievement motivation is higher while
in large families achievement motivation is low. In the African
context and Kenya in particular the issue is not as simple as
whether the family is large or small. There are large families, which
have produced many prominent people.
However as the cost of educating children continue to soar higher
and higher then the families with many children may not be able to
sustain them in institution of learning.
c) Birth order of the child is another factor influencing achievement
motivation. First borns have a higher need for achievement than
later siblings. Again this is determined by the families expectations
of its first borns. If the first-born is pressurized to achieve in order
to take up parental roles, then he will work hard in order to fulfill
parental expectations. There are many instances today where the
first born ends up to become so spoilt that even finishing school
remains a remote dream. Culture is another factor affecting
achievement motivation. There are cultures that encourage
cooperation while others encourage competition. The cultures that
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encourage cooperation do not nurture achievement motivation.
They encourage the individual to perform at the same level with the
other people. This is illustrated well in the way communal duties
are performed. If a group of ten people are digging a piece of land,
they device a song and all the digging tools go up or down in rhythm.
At the end o the day nobody will claim to have put in more work
than the others. No participant achieves more than another
because there is no competition. On the other hand the cultures that
encourage competition nurture achievement motivation. Children
learning in these cultures learn to want to excel, to out perform
others and generally to be outstanding. In these cultures the
individual child’s value is based on the ability to outperform others
in tasks e.g. the fastest runner, the strongest, the most outstanding
in academic performance are all accorded positions of prestige.
7.5.4 Nurturing Achievement Motivation
How can a teacher encourage the development of achievement motivation?
The tendency to achieve success is determined by three things
•
•
•
The motive to succeed or need achievement
The persons estimate of the likelihood of success in a task
The incentive of success
The teacher should make every possible attempt to arouse in the learners
the need to achieve. This can be done by empowering learners to succeed
by:
•
Providing them with tasks that they can master under conditions of
reinforcement.
•
The learner should have the promise that the likelihood to succeed is
high.
•
If he knows that he is more likely to succeed then he will pursue the
learning task. It is the teacher’s task to help learners to be achievers.
7.5.5 Personalized goals and incentives as motivators
Intrinsic motivation is also displayed n personal goals and incentives in
the sense that many motives are personalized There are people motivated
to be leaders and others to be followers. Some people want to assert
themselves by physical actions, other want to use the spoken word while
others want to seek recognition by becoming somebody, a doctor, a lawyer,
an engineer, teacher, lecturer and so on. These personal motives
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determine the individual’s level of aspiration. Here aspiration is the
expectation of accomplishment. Some people have high level of
accomplishment tasks and low in others. A person’s level of aspirations is
usually modified by his success and failure. A person who often succeeds
continues to have high aspirations while the failing person’s aspiration
drops. If a person is succeeding and hence the level of aspirations is high
then his self-concept is positive. This can be noted in a person who
considers himself an intellectual and studies hard to become a scholar.
The person does everything he can to maintain the image of a scholar. On
the other hand the person who develops a negative self-image of failure
will not do very well not to do very much to change the situation. Instead
he becomes resigned to his fate. With this in mind the teacher is advised
to help each learner to identify his personal goals and aspirations.
7.6 SUMMARY
This lesson has discussed motivation with a view to highlighting its application
in school settings. In the discussion the following issues have been outlined.
❖ Pupils learn if they want to do so.
❖ Teachers could borrow certain ideas from different theoretical positions:
➢ Behavioristic theory reinforcement.
➢ Cognitive theory-development curiosity.
➢ Social learning-self efficacy and the vicarious experience.
➢ Humanistic theory-develop self actualizing tendencies.
❖ Teachers need to have an understanding of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
on pupils behavior:
➢ Extrinsic motivation can be applied in two ways:
▪ The use of force coercion
▪ The use of incentives/rewards
➢ Intrinsic motivation can be observed in:
▪ Need to be competent
▪ Achievement motivation
▪ Personalized goals and incentives
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7.7 KEY TERMS
Achievement motivation: -The desire to excel in learning that arises from the need to be
efficient and competent in tasks.
Behavioristic approaches to motivation: -Refer to the theories that believe in the power of
reinforcement in motivation.
Cognitive approaches to motivation: -theories that believe that thinking or inner plans and
not external events motivate behavior.
Esteem needs: -the need to hold a prestigious position among peers. The need for
competitiveness.
Extrinsic motivation: -motivation that is determined by forces outside the individual.
Motivation aroused by the need for a reward or desire to escape punishment.
Hierarchy of needs: -Maslow arrangement of human needs from the most basic survival
needs to the highest growth needs. The hierarchy is arranged in ascending steps which are
broader at the base and narrowing as the needs get higher forming a kind of a pyramid.
Humanistic approaches: - theories that advocate that human behavior is motivated by needs.
If needs are met the pupil will be motivated to move towards self-actualization.
Incentives: -use of rewards or promise of rewards to entice a person to behave in a certain
way. Use of punishment or threat to punish is also an incentive.
Intrinsic motivation: -motivation that comes from within the learner rather than from
external sources like rewards and punishments.
Motivation: -term used to refer to internal psychological forces that initiate behavior and give
it direction.
Self-actualization: -Word used by Maslow to refer to tendencies towards self-fulfillment or
realization of personal potentials.
Social learning theories: - approaches that believe in the power of efficacy and vicarious
experiences in motivating behavior.
Vicarious experience: -observing the other people and comparing oneself with them.
7.8 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. In your own assessment what are the conditions that demotivate learners
in a school setting?
2. Why do teachers sometimes ignore desirable behavior and fail to
accompany it with reinforcement?
3. What happens to a learner who experiences continued failure in any
subject?
4. What are some of the learners’ needs that schools should meet in order to
get learners to focus on learning tasks?
5. What is the effect of good performance on motivation?
6. Do you really believe that first borns have higher achievement motivation
than later siblings?
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LESSON EIGHT
ATTITUDES
8.0 INTRODUCTION
In this lesson I have discussed the role played by attitudes in school
situations,
• The components of attitudes
• The function of attitudes
• How attitudes develop
• How a teacher can change learners’ attitudes.
Learning in the school and even a pupil’s adjustment to school is largely
determined by the attitudes the pupil holds. The pupils’ interaction with
the school and with peers lead to the development of various attitudes.
The pupil learns to like school or to dislike school. The liking of school is
related to the ability to adjust well in school. It can also be related to good
performance. On the other hand the dislike for school is related to the
ability to adjust well in school as well as to good performance. On the other
hand the dislike for school is related to the inability to adjust well in the
school setting and it could also affect how the learner eventually performs.
It is of utmost importance then for a teacher to know how attitudes
develop. If the teacher knows how positive attitudes towards school and
school subjects develop the he will be able to influence their development.
Also if the teacher knows how positive attitudes towards school and school
subjects develop then he will be able to influence their development. Also
if the teacher knows how negative attitudes can be changed he will be able
to influence the changes.
8.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the learner will be able to do the following
• Define the term attitude
• Explain the components of attitudes
• Discuss how attitudes develop
• Outline the relationship between the attitudes held vis-a–vis performance
• Explain how attitudes are changed
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8.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM
Like many psychological constructs attitude is not easy to define. However
we shall define it as a favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction
towards things in ones environment. Attitudes are exhibited through ones
beliefs, feelings or intended behavior. (Myers, 1996.Severy Brigham and
Schlenker, (1976) defined attitude as an orientation towards an object in
ones environment inferred from behavior. Attitude can also be defined as
a predisposition to act in a negative or positive way towards persons,
objects, ideas or events.
•
As predisposition attitudes are anticipatory responses.
•
They describe a relationship between a person and something else
called the attitudinal object.
•
The attitudinal object could be another person, a place, an event or
even oneself.
•
Attitudes are directional in the sense that they represent a positive
or negative preference for the attitudinal object.
•
Attitudes also vary in intensity, meaning that an attitude towards
something can be very strong or moderate or even weak.
•
Attitudes can also be defined as learned ways of consistently
interacting with and responding to the stimuli in ones environment.
•
We can also look at attitudes as general response patterns in the
sense that they predispose a person to be motivated in ways that are
consistent to the attitude.
•
The way people behave reveal the attitudes they hold and sometimes
it is difficult to infer attitude from behavior.
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Activity
Imagine that you have quarreled with a neighbor or a colleague. Basically you feel like
throwing an insult at him every time you see him or her. For a whole year you have not
greeted each other and you do not intend to do so for a long time. Then a friend of yours
invites you to attend a function in his home and you agree to grace the occasion. When you
get to your friend’s house, you find your enemy among the invited guests. Will you shake
hands? Smile and hug him? Or will you show open hostility and start a quarrel? Of course
you might pretend that nothing is the matter and painfully go through the motions of greeting
and hugging. This illustrates that sometimes it is difficult to infer the attitude held from
observed behavior.
8.3 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES
Attitudes have three components
• The affective feeling/emotional
• The cognitive
• The behavioural
8.3.1 The affective component
This component describes ones emotional reactions towards the
attitudinal object. It consists of positive or negative feelings. In the positive
direction there are positive feelings of liking, loving, enjoyment
accompanying the attitudinal object. Whereas in the negative direction
there are negative feelings of dislike, hate, feeling uncomfortable in the
presence of the attitudinal object.
In terms component evaluation the affective components in the most
primitive and irrational of the three components. Any attitude operating at
this level can cause a lot destination. Many animosities that people visit
on each other are caused by attitudes operating at this level. In this life
Muslims may hate Christians, Catholics may fight with Protestants and
vice versa, men may dislike women, boys may dislike female teachers, one
tribe my rise up in arms and massacre another tribe simply because of
negative feelings held. Students may dislike a teacher, a subject or school
without knowing why. Most politically motivated attitudes operate at this
level.
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8.3.2 The Cognitive Component Of Attitudes
The cognitive component includes beliefs, facts, and information about the
attitudinal object. At this level the person holds an attitude on the basis
of information. This component has its inherent problems in the sense that
the attitude may be based on a large store of incorrect information and
false beliefs. For example a person may belief that somebody is good or
bad or one may rely on stories told by people who have various biases and
prejudices regarding the attitudinal object. For example a principal who
does not want to go on transfer because of certain vested interests in the
current school may tell terrible stories about the in coming principal. He
may summon the school on the parade ground and tell the students that
the incoming principal will eat up all the money in the school, or that he
is being transferred because of his inability to run his previous school. The
story may run to the effect that the incoming principal has even killed a
student and so on. Given all the misinformation the students will rise up
in rebellion against the incoming principal before he sets his foot in the
neighbourhood leave alone the school compound. With this in mind it is
very important for one to confirm the sources of their information by
considering the evidence and shocking facts. People should seek to base
the cognitive component of their attitudes on solid, factual and unbiased
information.
8.3.3 The Behavioral Component
Attitudes towards a person, an event, a place or an idea affect how the
person behaves towards the attitudinal object. An attitude is never
observable. We cannot look at a person and then tell the attitude he holds.
Therefore we infer attitudes from observable behavior.. That if a persons
attitude towards a certain object is positive then the persons behavior
should be positive and therefore correspond with the attitude. Likewise if
the held attitude is negative we expect the person to display negative
behavior towards the attitudinal object.
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Activity
a) Consider this you have a friend in a rival team or rival group. Your group or team meets
for a competition. Ordinarily you would help your friend and he would help you in things.
When you meet you hug, laugh and spend hours together. Just now you are in rival groups
where will your loyalty be with your friend or with your group?
b) Also consider this
You are sworn enemies with Mike. Suddenly you find yourselves in the same group and you
must prepare for an important competition. Again will you allow the negative attitude you
have against Mike interfere with the training and subsequent competition?
These examples are meant to tell us that, sometimes the link between
attitudes and behavior tends to be weak. So although social psychologists
agree that attitudes and actions feed each other, they also agree that
attitudes are poor predictors of our action. Many times people pay verbal
pledge when they are not committed in their behavior. This can be seen in
friendships and even in religion. People pay lip service to their friends and
even to their religious faith. They say one thing but do the opposite. A
person will proclaim the undying friendship with you when they need a
favour but run away when you need them most. Under these specific
circumstances we have to observe the behavior in order to know the
attitude. We also confirm that actions speak louder than words.
8.4 FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDES
At this juncture it is important to examine the role attitudes play in our
lives. These are the following:
•
•
•
•
Cognitive
Social adjustment
Ego defense mechanisms
Expressing Values
1. The cognitive function
Attitudes platy the role of assisting the individual understand the world..
Under this function attitudes give one a frame of reference, a way to
structure the world so that it makes sense. For example a pupils attitudes
about possible professional fields may help him in the choice of subjects.
It is also the effort to put in order to attain the specific goals.
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2. Social Adjustment function
Human beings are social creatures. Certain individuals and groups are
very important to the person. These important individuals called the
significant other persons expect one to hold certain attitudes particularly
attitudes consistent with those they hold. When the person holds the
desired attitudes, he earns group membership through being acceptable
as one of them. This is important and promises survival in the group. The
expression of the approved attitudes earns the person rewards,
identification and approval. On the other hand if the individual does not
hold attitudes consistent with the group is threatened with excommunication. When a child is sent away from the family home, or a
pupil is expelled from the school it is because they fail to comply with the
attitudes fostered by either the home or the school. When Bishop Milingo
of the Catholic Church went against the behavior prescribed by the church
he was threatened by excommunication.
3. Ego defense mechanisms
Human beings are psychologically uncomfortable with situations that
threaten their self-esteem or their ego. So in order to live with such
situations they build psychological defenses around their egos. The
defense mechanisms involve a degree of self-deception as well as distortion
of reality. For example a pupil who has not worked hard for their
examination will refuse to accept responsibility for the failure that results.
He will attribute the failure to other sources may be say the teacher
dislikes him and therefore can never give him good grades. Or the teacher
is incompetent and the like. Or a man who is beaten by his wife finds it
extremely difficult to acknowledge and accept that indeed it happens, so
when he is among other men he becomes the staunchest advocate for the
supremacy of men, the power of the men over women and the need to keep
women in their place.
A teacher may believe that a certain pupil or class is bad. A person who
uses ego defense mechanisms looks for the slightest opportunity to
confirm the belief. This confirmation protects him from acknowledging this
weaknesses and basic truths about him. At times the ego-defense
mechanisms lead to self-fulfilling prophesies.
8.5 DEVELOPMENT OF ATTITUDES
The key questions here concerns how attitudes are acquired. Attitudes are
acquired early in life through the following methods:
• Observation
• Instrumental conditioning
• Classical conditioning
• Direct experience
• Observing our own behavior
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1. Observation learning
According to the school learning theory attitudes are transmitted through
the process of imitation. This is learning by observing others. From early
in life children see how a parent, a sister, a brother, a teacher, a television
character or model reacts towards a kind of food, a certain animal, person
or event. The child then models his own attitudes after those expressed by
these important models. In later childhood and adolescence the person
observes the peer group and identifies with them by assuming the
attitudes they hold.
2. Instrumental conditioning
According to this theory attitudes can be established or modified through
reinforcement procedures. Throughout life people are reward with praise
approval and friendship for expressing certain attitudes. They are
punished for expressing others. The attitudes that are rewarded tend to be
held more strongly while punished attitudes are weakened. According to
these theories the environment must be organized in such a way that an
attitude has all the likelihood of being reinforced until it is established.
3. Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is learned through association. In life people see
smoke and they know smoke and fire occur together. When lightening is
seen thunder is anticipated. Likewise when a person visits the dentist,
pain is anticipated. Experiments in classical conditioning have revealed
when a neutral stimulus is consistently associated with unconditioned
stimulus that produces emotional response, classical conditioning occurs.
After repeated pairings of stimuli the previously neutral stimulus become
conditioned stimulus and elicits the same response that the unconditioned
stimulus does.
At home if the mention of the neighbours home by the parents is
associated with negative comments e.g. they are of dubious character or
background, they steal, they are proud and so on the children assume the
negative attitudes towards the neighbours.
If a boy continually hears his father comment negatively or derogatively
about women he acquires negative attitudes towards girls and women.
Every time a child hears people speak negatively about members of a
certain religion, community, race or religion, then the child assumes
similar attitudes.
In the school situation classical conditioning influences attitudes in the
following ways;
If a maths lesson is paired with difficult incomprehensible concepts and
maths tests with failing grades the learner acquires negative attitudes
towards mathematics. Also if school life is paired with physical and
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psychological pain and discomfort, then the child acquires a negative
attitude towards school.
4. Direct experience
Many attitudes are learned by direct experience with the attitude object.
This occurs through our interaction with the attitude object as well as our
memory for these interactions. For example a pupil may have heard that
a certain teacher is very harsh and every body fears him. When this
teacher takes up the mathematics class he instills discipline, goes about
teaching seriously and systematically and eventually the mathematics
grade improves. The pupil learns to respect the teacher and his hope for
passing mathematics is renewed. This positive attitude towards the
teacher is likely to endure. Attitudes formed as a result of first hand or
direct experience are well thought out, more certain, more stable and more
resistant to attack.
8.6 ATTITUDE CHANGE
In this section I have discussed attitude change in the light of different
theoretical approaches.
• The behaviouristic theory,
• Cognitive theory,
• Social learning theory.
8.6.1 Behaviouristic theories
The same theories that we have used to explain how attitudes are acquired
can be used to explain attitude change. At times a person who had
acquired a positive attitude towards something assumes a negative
attitude and where a positive attitude was a negative one might replace it.
If we consider social learning theory and attitude change, a child or a
pupil will change a held attitude in order to conform with the one held by
significantly other people. For example a boy who did not like a certain
kind of food changes his attitude when he learns that, that dish is the
father’s favourite. Since he wishes to identify with the father he likes the
food the father likes. Using the operant conditioning theory we note that
the attitudes that are not reinforced go through the process of extinction
until they disappear in association learning, when the stimuli paired
together cease the conditioned behavior dies.
8.6.2 Personality traits that characterize persuasibility
The teacher as a person who is central in attitude change needs to know
the personality traits that characterize persuasibility. These are traits that
make a person open or closed to suggestions that change attitudes. These
are the following:
1. Congruence
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Congruence refers to the agreeability. In this respect individuals will
readily listen to messages with which they agree. They turn away when
confronted with a message with which they agree with. By way of example
lets consider this boy who comes to school with his trouser hanging
dangerously around his hips, his shirt lacking all the buttons and shoes
that have not seen polish for months. His hair has not encountered the
torture of a comb in weeks. This is an ungainly sight capable of revolting
even the most compassionate of teachers. If we want to change his attitude
there are nice things that this boy wants to hear. He wants to hear that he
is a good boy that he is handsome, that you like him, but is there
something that he can do about his dressing? On the next day he will
appear looking better. This should not be ignored, he should be applauded
for improved grooming and within no time he will have rejoined the flock.
Activity
What will most teachers do when confronted with the scenario described above? How many
will start with throwing insults punishments and abuses? What do you think the punishments
and insults will do to this student? How many teachers will ignore this student? What do you
think ignoring will do to this student?
2. The age factor
Age is a factor that influences suggestibility. Children are more
influenceable when they are young. This suggestibility increases through
early childhood through age nine. This means that all the positive attitudes
should be instilled at this time. From age nine through adolescence the
influence is from the peer group. So it is very important that the peer group
has imbibed the appropriate attitudes.
3. Intelligence and educational level are factors influencing
suggestibility
Intelligent and more educated people are more open to suggestion because
they can process more information.
•
They need to be presented with both sides of an argument because
they have no problem dealing with the pros and cons of an
argument.
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•
The less intelligent people can be persuaded by naïve arguments.
The politicians, theologians and even people who move masses for
personal gain use his particular insight.
•
In school a few people use this style. They use a few arguments on
people who don’t think for themselves and in a short while the school
is burned down.
4. Sex is a factor
They sat that women are more readily influenced than men. This is
because they are better listeners and they absorb more messages.
5. Self esteem
People with high or low self-esteem are more influenciable than people with
average self-esteem
6. Dogmatism
Dogmatism deals with the area of belief systems where people are
supposed to take in religious teachings and training without questioning.
They are also expected to escape any possibility of questioning and even
become militant when people question their beliefs.
In dogmatism there are people who are high while others are low.
The High Dogmatic
High dogmatic people are intolerant, stereotypic in their thinking and
highly defensive. They tend to avoid views that are inconsistent with those
they hold and avoid information as well. Due to these reasons they are
unable to mix widely with other people that is why they tend to spend a
lot of time together so that they foster narrowly held attitudes. Generally
they tend to be psychologically immature and poorly adjusted.
Teachers will encounter students who come from different dogmatic
orientations. Students who dress in a certain prescribed way, who eat only
certain foods or drink certain beverages. The issue of the Sabbath in
seventh day Adventist areas has been contentious for long and will not be
resolved. The issue of how women should dress and how they should not
has been controversial with conservative thinkers wanting to prescribe a
particular dress code of dress and subjecting women to humiliating,
horrors in public undressing of women in trousers and mini skirts.
Imagine if the Scott and not the English Colonised Kenya then every man
would be wearing a Scottish Kilt and those in trousers would be publicly
undressed.
The low dogmatic people
The low dogmatic people are known to be calm, mature, forceful and
efficient.
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They listen to information even when it is inconsistent to their belief.
Teachers should actually be sensitive to student’s orientation so that they
don’t confront and attack. Confrontation makes students more resistant
because in the process of acquiring the various dogma they also get
psychological inoculation which makes them very resistant to attack.
8.6.2 Cognitive Theories
The cognitive theories identify several methods, which can be used to
change attitudes these are:
(i) Persuasion
(ii) Role models
(iii) Cognitive dissonance.
Persuasion
Attitudes can be changed through persuasion.
• In school we may wish to change attitudes regarding learners social
behaviors.
• Attitudes towards the positive aspects of the African cultures.
• Attitudes towards healthy living habits and so on.
In persuasion we use persuasive messages. These messages should be
repeated often until they become familiar. This is similar to the methods
used to advertise products. Every time the television is on or the radio the
advertisement selling the product is on. Currently the lux soap is being so
highly advertised on the television screens on the billboards, in the print
media every where. There was a time the AAR, makers of Kilometric,
Panadol had hit the screens.
This method can be used in the school to ensure that pupils continue
hearing certain message over and over again. The use of persuasive
arguments can also help to foster attitudes. Arguments should be
delivered depending on the audience receiving them.
•
To an audience that is dull a one sided argument will do. This side
is presented with the side that presents the attitude that is intended
to be acquired. Many politicians and theologians use this method.
•
The school could use this method when dealing with a young
audience.
•
When dealing with an intellectual audience a two sided argument
works very well. Let the audience know the attitude to hold while
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presenting them with the opposing view as well. You tell them
something like this,
Proabortionists say this----but remember.
• Or students are not working hard because they say there are no
jobs--- but remember----.
This gives the audience psychological immunity. Again theologians and
politicians are very good at this.
In persuasion emotional appeal is very important. By emotional appeal we
mean reaching the feelings of the audience.
•
For example over and above telling a person that smoking causes
mouth, throat and lung cancer, these messages could be enriched
by showing a video of doctors operating on cancerous lungs. The
emotions that will arise from watching the video will make the
person stop smoking.
•
Likewise if a girl who wants to abort is exposed to a video showing
doctors performing an abortion will most likely stop wanting to
abort.
•
If we want youths to change their sexual behavior, an exposure to
video showing the sufferings people go through before eventually
dying of aids passes the message clearly across.
Role models
Role models can also be used to help change attitudes. The role model
must be a person who is trusted, one who is an expert, credible competent,
better informed than most and one who is gregarious. (Loves to mix with
pole).
The model should be a person perceived as credible. For religious and
moral issues the bishop or the kadhi should be the role model,
•
•
•
•
For legal matters, the lawyer,
For medical issues the doctor.
If we want girls to change their attitude towards mathematics and
science, female professors in the respective fields should be taken
as role models. This person could be invited to school to talk to the
students.
The students can also be shown a video of the person at work.
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Yet again commercial advertisements are very good at using famous people
to sell their products. For example:
•
•
The famous Kenyan rally driver was at one time used to sell panadol.
There were huge billboards with Njiru saying that, “I could not do
the rally without my AAR membership”.
The famous one time gold medallist Kipchoge Keino was used to sell
the kilometric biro pens with the message that it runs and runs---
The use of dissonance in attitude change
Cognitive dissonance theory of attitude change was developed by Leon
Festinger, (1957). The theory states that we change our attitudes because
we are motivated to maintain consistency among our cognitions According
to the theory human beings are psychologically comfortable when the
cognitions they hold about themselves, objects, events and other people
are consistent, all in agreement. For example you believe that someone is
your friend and when you have a problem he helps you out. The cognitions
in this example are;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
John is my friend
The other cognition is; he helps me out when I have a problem.
The two cognitions are said to be consonant because they are
consistent or in harmony.
We could also have a statement like;
I have always known Wafula is a traitor.
When we sneaked out of school he told on us.
The first cognition here is that Wafula is a traitor.
The second cognition is that; he told on us. Again these two
cognitions are consonant. Consonant cognitions help to stamp in an
attitude. They help to confirm it and not to change it.
Dissonance
Cognitions are said to be dissonant when they are inconsistent. The
inconsistency is called dissonance and it is caused by psychological
tension arising from mixed feelings. Dissonance is psychologically
uncomfortable hence human beings strive hard to remove it. Examples of
dissonance, having the knowledge that something is bad or harmful yet
one continues to indulge in it e.g. the knowledge that cigarette smoking is
harmful to the lungs, yet I cannot do without my cigarette.
•
•
The first cognition is that cigarette smoking is harmful. The second
cognition is that I smoke.
Another example; Excessive consumption of harmful to the liver,
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•
I love to drink heavily. The first cognition is; excessive consumption
of alcohol is harmful, the second I love to drink heavily. In both
instances the cognitions are dissonant.
Sources of dissonance
Inconsistency with cultural mores in case dissonance occurs when one
holds beliefs that go against. Ones culture or religion, particularly when
there are strong cultural or religious feelings about an attitude. For
example when a country is going to war and every body is in the war mood
but there is a person who holds feelings to the contrary.
In school there could be a culture of hard work and seriousness but one
student may want to incite the others to strike.
Dissonance can also be caused by inconsistency between a particular
behavior and general trend of behavior for example a person who is known
to be honest or truthful or even obedient all the time but at one time he is
forced to be dishonest, untruthful or disobedient. In a school situation a
student may be performing very well academically but suddenly he begins
to perform poorly.
How does dissonance cause attitude change?
All situations where dissonance occurs call for rethinking, decisionmaking and change of attitude. In school the teacher could use dissonance
to change attitudes in a way that will benefit learning. For example a
teacher who is posted in a new school where the dominant culture is mass
failures in his subject can use this approach. He could change the teaching
methods, use teaching aids, teach in an interesting manner initially give
tests that students can pass and then increase the level of difficulty as
pupils improve their performance. At the end of it all the students will turn
around and say ”we had not imagined that maths or Chemistry can be this
easy or interesting” Dissonance will have worked to change an attitude.
8.7 ATTITUDES AND SCHOOL SETTINGS
8.7.1 How do attitudes relate to school settings?
Attitudes help to determine what a learner perceives and how he perceives
it. The learner may have acquired a positive or a negative attitude towards,
• A particular teacher,
• Subject or school in general. The acquired attitude affects school life
Learning and adjustment.
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It goes without saying that positive attitudes towards the teacher and
school work lead to success and healthy adjustments to school whereas
negative attitudes make the learner desist and dislike school.
•
•
When the learner desists and dislikes school his energies and
interests are channeled elsewhere.
This learner will fight all attempts to make him learn. He will
perceive the learning task as unpleasant and useless. The learners’
attitudes towards self are also very important.
There are those learners who have positive attitudes towards themselves.
•
They become self-confident and they approach learning tasks
confidently. This makes them successful. Success is reinforcing and
satisfying and helps to maintain the positive attitude towards self
and school. On the other hand the learner who holds a negative
attitude towards self loses confidence and consequently this leads
to failure.
•
In turn failure leads to disorganization and disorientation.
•
The failing pupil will result to the use of defensive mechanisms for
example blame his failure on the teacher, who he may accuse of
being bad,
•
Biased and
•
Unfair or even incompetent.
•
The negative attitudes block future learnings which results in
repeated failure. Repeated failure produce strong feelings of
insecurity and inferiority, which eventually affect adjustment to
school.
8.7.2 The teacher and attitude change
What is the teacher’s role in attitude change?
The teacher is the person on the ground. He is in direct contact with the
students and therefore his role in attitude change can never be
underestimated. For him to be effective in changing pupils’ attitudes he
should be conversant with the following
Remember that attitudes are very resistant to change because they are
tied up with personal feelings, needs and self-concept.
Note that schools are usually unable to change attitudes because their
programs do not appeal to the total person.
To be effective in attitude change the teacher should first know the
attitudes held by learners then use the following methods to change them
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1.Use the peer group
The peer group can be used in discussions or debates on certain topical
issues. For example: sexuality, abortion, school life friendship and so on.
• As the peers exchange their views and give points for or against the
topic being debated or discussed they influence each others
attitudes.
• The catch here is that the youth will readily accept values of their
own peers. Attitudes changed this way are more desirable.
2.First hand experience
Students need to be exposed to first hand experiences in the attitude
issues concerned. If they had previously thought that the subject is boring
or difficult, they should be exposed to interesting teaching and to proper
guidance that leads to success. If they are taught in an interesting manner
and they experience how a good teacher works, they will change their
attitudes.
3.Appeal to feelings
The teacher should always ensure that the students register information
not only with their senses but also with their affect; their feelings. If they
are expected to cultivate positive feelings towards the attitudinal issue or
even negative feelings this issue should be well attained. The teacher could
refer the pupils to sources of information that will arouse feelings. Video
shows that arouse feelings could be shown. Stories with first hand
experience could be exchanged. Whatever feelings the teacher thinks will
be beneficial should be evoked. Feelings lead to experience of catharsis,
which is very important in attitude change
4. Discovery method
The teacher could also allow the students to discover for themselves basic
information concerning the attitudinal object. For example there could be
a student who is HIV positive or one who has lost parents through AIDS
and the rest of the class don’t know how to behave towards him/her.
Nobody wants to share a desk or books with her. For the teacher to instill
positive attitude towards the particular student he could give students
projects to visit doctors for information, to read about the topic, to contact
families with AIDS patients and then present their findings in class. After
they have discovered all the basic information, that they can, they will be
friendlier, more helpful and more accepting towards their fellow student.
5. Persuasive periods
The teacher should look for persuasive periods in the childs life and then
foster the necessary attitudes. There are times when students will be most
receptive to new attitudes; for example during a transition or crisis. This
is the time when the student is facing some challenge or some kind of
failure. This could be:
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•
•
•
When a good student’s performance has been dropping steadily due
to influence from bad company.
It could be a well-behaved student whose behavior has suddenly
changed and is facing punishment almost daily or
It could be a lazy student who has lost a parent and now he needs
to see the importance of being serious and focused in his life.
Whatever the case a student who is in a crisis situation will be more
receptive to suggestibility and attitude change.
6. Consistent attitudes
In attitude change, the teacher should foster attitudes that are consistent
with attitudes held by the home, the community and the mass media. In
other words the teachers attitudes should not deviate from the generally
held attitudes. Of course some care and discretion may be required here
because there are widely held attitudes, which need some revision if not
complete overhaul.
8.8 SUMMARY
In this lesson the role of attitudes in school setting has been examined.
The term attitude has been defined
Components of attitudes have been discussed
Functions of attitudes have been outlined
Development of attitudes has been discussed
Attitude change has been explained
Attitude and school setting has been spotlighted
Teachers’ role in attitude change has been outlined
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8.9 KEY TERMS
Attitude: -A predisposition to act in a negative or positive way towards persons, objects, ideas
or events.
Affective component: -the feelings evoked by an attitude. These could be positive or negative
feelings.
Cognitive component: - The higher mental processes that involve thinking perceiving and
which also involve beliefs, facts and information about attitudinal objects.
Behavioral component: -Observable acts that occur in response to the held attitude.
Functions of attitudes: - refer to the roles attitudes play in our lives.
Consonance: -Consistency, agreement of cognition.
Dissonance: -Inconsistency, disagreement of cognitions in an attitude
8.10 DISCUSSION/REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Discuss four ways in which attitudes affect performance and adjustment to
school.
2. Discuss explosive situations that you have witnessed and which have been
prompted by the affective component of attitudes.
3. Many attitudes are established and have their roots in a large store of
misinformation. Discuss.
4. Teachers need to be very careful when they are teaching in areas with
tendencies towards high dogmatism. Discuss.
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LESSON NINE
PERSONALITY
9.0 INTRODUCTION
In this less I have discussed personality focusing on:
• Genetic determinants
• Environment determinants.
In the environmental determinants I have examined the role played by the
home and the school in the determination of personality.
Why is the study of personality important to the teacher.?
Among the many important concepts that the teacher needs to be
conversant with and which is beneficial to his discharge of duties is the
role personality plays in the whole mosaic matrices of school life for every
student. Personality psychology examines the differences that exist among
people. When the teacher is dealing with pupils in any one-classroom
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situation, he needs to be aware of individual differences that predominate
at any one time.
•
•
If there are forty pupils in the classroom there are forty different
personalities there. Each pupil is unique and different from every
other pupil who has been in the past who is in the who will be in the
present or future.
These differences exist even when many variables like age, sex,
social class, cultural background and even family background are
the same.
The knowledge of personality helps the teacher to know what causes the
individual differences in learners and at the same time gives him insights
in the sensitivities required when dealing with the learners.
•
The teacher gets to understand that there are learners who will not
take a joke or humour. The information is also beneficial in
classroom management and behavior modification and change
because if the teacher knows where the pupil is coming from he will
be better equipped to deal with any situations requiring behaviour
change.
9.1 OBJECTIVES
•
•
•
•
•
By the end of the lesson the learner should be able to:
Define the term personality
Account for causes of individual differences in personality
Discuss the role played by home factors in the development of personality
Explain how school factors influence personality
9.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM PERSONALITY
Personality is a complicated concept to define. The complication not
withstanding psychologists have agreed on some definitions.
Larnsen (2002) defines personality as the set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively
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enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations
to, the environment (including the intra psychic, physical and social
environments.
Mischel (2003) defines personality as the complex organization of
cognitions, affects, and behaviors that gives direction and patterns
(coherence) to a person’s life. Like the body, personality consists of both
structures and processes and reflects both nature (genes) and nurture
(experience). In addition, personality includes the effects of the past,
including memories of the past, as well as constructions of the present
and future.
Allport (1961) defines personality as the dynamic organization within the
individual of these psychophysical systems that determine his
characteristic behavior and thought.
There are common themes that run through these definitions of
personality. That personality is the sum total of what a person is: the body
the mental characteristics as well as the psychological traits. The second
theme running through the definition refers to the organization and
structure of personality. There is agreement that personality is organized
and structured so that there is frequency and consistency of personality
characteristics. For example if we know someone to be kind and hard
working, friendly honest and so on, we expect the person to display these
characteristics most of the time, now and in the future. In the same token,
if we know someone to be bad and mean, unfriendly and dishonest we
expect these traits to be consistent over the time.
9.3 DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
There are two major determinants of personality. These are nature, which
refers to the biological make up of the person or the genes.
The second is nurture, which refers to all the environmental influences on
personality.
Question
What do people inherit from genes and which go towards the shaping of personality?
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9.3.1 Genetic determinants of personality
From genes individuals inherit the “blue print” towards certain traits. The
“blue print” refers to the laid down potentialities.
• There are potentialities towards certain physical traits e.g. height,
body structures and skin pigmentation.
• Genes also lay down the potentialities towards the quality of the
central nervous system. This means that the quality of the brain and
intellectual functioning has genetic heritability to it.
• Thirdly genes determine the biochemical balance of the body.
Question
What are the materials of personality?
The principle raw materials of personality are; physique, intelligence and
temperaments. These are the foundations of personality, which are
determined through structural inheritance.
• These raw materials are then patterned into personality
characteristics through maturation experience and learning.
• Genetic heredity produces the raw materials and sets the limits of
development.
Question
Does genetic heredity alone account for individual differences in personality?
When we acknowledge that we are unique, we have our own ways of
thinking, feeling and behaving that distinguish us from everyone else, we
also need to acknowledge that genetic heredity explains these differences
partially. There are many environmental influences that shape and modify
personality. The genetic blue prints are given room to unfold as the person
interacts with different environmental conditions and demands.
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Question
What lesson should the teacher derive from genetic information?
•
•
•
That each pupil possesses a distinctive personality from all other
pupils.
Physical traits, emotionality, sociability activity levels and intellectual
functioning are all influenced by the genetic potentials inherited by
every child.
That these innate potentials cannot develop beyond the set limits and
therefore have realistic expectations for every child.
9.3.2 Environmental determinants of personality
Children find themselves growing up in many different environments.
Each environment leaves its on mark on the malleable human being. Of
course the most important environmental influences are those that impact
the child early in life during the formative period when the self-concept is
being formed.
Many of these influences are experienced at home as the child interacts
with the parents, siblings and other persons in the home. Today many
children go to school early as age three. By the time the child attains school
age, which is set at age six Kenya, they have been through
•
•
•
Baby class at age three,
Nursery school at age four and
Pre unit at age five.
9.4 THE HOME INFLUENCES
There are certain home influences, which are very important in shaping
the personality of a child. In this section I have discussed:
-
Love and acceptance
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-
Time spent at home
Personal identifications,
Methods of behaviour control
Security of the home environment
Emotional climate of the home.
•
The trainer will reinforce the dog with meat when the dog is facing
the direction where the ball is. This is a successive approximation.
The dog will be reinforced when it is moving towards the ball. This
is another successive approximation.
When the dog is touching the ball it is reinforced.
These reinforcement procedures are carried out until the dog learns
to retrieve the ball.
•
•
•
9.4.1 Love and Acceptance
The home is usually the first social environment that the child encounters.
It provides the child with the earliest social experiences as he interacts
with mother, father siblings and other people. These people normally
referred to as significant others in the child’s life lay down the foundations
of trust or mistrust.
During infancy and early childhood, the individual will learn to trust the
mother, then the self and the world if they are exposed to
• A stable loving, acceptable and warm social environment.
• Parental love and acceptance sow seeds of trust and feelings of
security in the child.
• These become the foundation upon which psychological health is
built upon.
There are those children who suffer rejection and who are unloved.
• These develop a deep mistrust towards the mother, the self and the
world. They feel insecure and their psychological development starts
on a troubled note. It is there fore extremely important for parents
to ensure that their young ones enjoy love and acceptance for
psychological health.
9.4.2 Time spent at home
The time a child spends at home with family members is very important in
the determination of personality.
• The critical issue and one which many parents may be oblivious
about is the fact that family influences on personality are greater
when a major part of ones time is spent in the home with family
members. Here we are concerned about the amount of time parents
and children spend together at home. The amount of time spent with
a person determines how significant that person is. Many times
parents imagine that if thy provide for the physical needs of children
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they have done their work- they have paid for their fees, there is food
at home and other necessities are catered for so what else does the
child want from me? The child needs to spend time with parents
both the father and the mother. If the parent is pending time with
the child then it becomes easy to influence his attitudes, values and
behaviour.
Question
Who is at home with the children?
In many Kenyan homes the child is with other children raising each other
with a little help from the television and other electronic devices while the
ayah cooks and cleans around the house. This means that for some
children parental influence is a remote possibility. Many parents are
strangers to their children and vise versa.
9.4.3 Personal identifications
Identification is a Freudian concept. It refers to the child’s wish to become
like the father for the boys or to become like the mother for girls. If the boy
becomes like the father, he assumes the male gender role while the girl
assumes the female gender role if she becomes like the mother. Mostly a
child will identify with family members he respects and loves. He /she
consciously or unconsciously imitates that person. The big question here
is; Is the father at home to give the boy the model for identification? Is the
mother at home to give the girl the model for identification?
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Activity
•
Identify activities that keep mothers and fathers away from home after 5 o’clock in the
evening, on Saturdays and Sundays.
How can these activities be rescheduled to allow parents time with their children?
When parents keep away from home, could it be that they are escaping something?
What is it?
In your own assessment, what should be the role of the “ayah” The inevitable
household technician? To run the home To raise the children? Or to offer assistance?
•
•
•
We are concerned about parental absences from the home because each
parent has specific contributions towards rearing children, which nobody
else can deputize.
•
The mother’s role is very specific. She should be there to provide
nurturance as well as female role modeling.
• The father should provide discipline as well as the male role model.
• The absence or non-participation of one parent in the child’s life
leaves deficits or gaps, which could be easily filled by, many negative
influences. When we complain that our children are using indecent
language, are lacking in respect, are lazy are dressing badly and so
on we should be concerned about the kind of influences they are
exposed to as a result of our absences or non-participation in their
lives.
9.4.4 Methods of behavior control
The methods used by parents to control the child’s behavior are very
important. These refer to the incentives the parents put in place to induce
good behavior, the frustrations and punishments they mete out to
discourage unacceptable behavior. Many times some parents leave
children’s discipline to chance. They hope that the children will pick up
the desirable behavior by and by.
These parents are usually shocked when the children turn into monsters
that nobody can tame. Other parents are conscious of their role in
instilling discipline in their children but they do all the wrong things in
this endeavour. When they beat their children they do it with a vengeance
that leaves children physically and psychologically damaged. When they
deprive children favours, they deny them food and other basic
requirements leaving the children hungry unloved and damaged. Parents
should know that even when they must discipline children it should be
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love-oriented discipline. The child should never feel unloved or rejected
during the formative years. Child discipline should be accompanied by love
acceptance, unconditional positive regard.
9.4.5 Security of environment
Every child needs to feel secure. For this reason the home should be that
secure environment where the child should go with his joys and success
as well as with his sorrows and defeats without feeling unwanted,
inadequate or unhappy. The home should provide the child with firm
ground that gives him anchorage. If the child is well anchored his
development moves in the direction of self-actualization.
9.4.6 Emotional climate of the home
The emotional climate of the home is very important. Children need a
healthy emotional climate. This is aided by empathy, communication, and
respect for each other, together ness and appropriate methods of coping
with disagreements.
Just these conditions are conducive to the
development of psychological health in children. However in many homes
these conditions are utopian and unattainable as the order of the day in
many homes is the lack of feelings for one another, lack of communication
disrespect and inappropriate methods of coping with disagreement. Many
children are treated to rude shocks by night and by day when parents offer
free for all entertainment in the neighbourhood as they hurl verbal barrage
of insults mixed with some physical actions of flying kicks and fists at each
other. The unfavourable frictional home climate affects children negatively.
The children from such homes develop hostility, antagonism and they grow
to resist authority.
9.5 NEGATIVE HOME INFLUENCES
In this section I have discussed some of the negative influences that impact
personality development negatively. These are:
• Favouritsm
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Cheating parents
• Maladjusted family members
• Authoritarian control
• Marital maladjustment
• Child over protection
• Defective home descriptive
9.5.1 Favouritsm
This refers to the condition where the parents prefer other children openly
in their words and actions. Parents are known to openly talk about
children they like and those they dislike. They will go out of their way to
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extend favours to the “good” children while the ‘bad’ ones don’t get to visit
exiting places nor have nice things bought for them. The favoured child
gets new things while the bad on gets the old ones. This practice promotes
sibling rivalry, which could at one time cause dire consequences leading
to death or injury. It causes insecurity and inferiority.
9.5.2 Feelings of inadequacy in parents.
A parent who is feeling inadequate for their role may be because they lack
basic resources or may be because they have misused or mishandled
resources becomes a very dangerous person. Many men and women will
not accept their shortcomings. They will use defense mechanisms. They
may become too harsh and blame the other parent or children to the point
that no one will dare approach them for anything. A woman or man who
comes home and starts finding fault in everything around him fortifies
herself/himself against any questions.
9.5.3 Cheating parents
Parents both men and women may cheat about many things; about some
suspicious past,
• Resources,
• Extra marital affairs,
• Jobs,
• Other children,
• Sicknesses and so on.
Parents who cheat use a lot of psychological energy to cover up the things
they want to keep hidden. They also use resources and they institute some
unexplained restrictions.
•
•
•
They become difficult and complicated and sometimes fearful.
They don’t want you to meet their relatives or people who know
them.
They go places alone and won’t entertain questions.
9.5.4. Maladjusted family members
Sometimes a family has someone who is maladjusted. For example:
• A known thief,
• Drunk,
• Or a known criminal.
Mostly teachers and other children make it their business to keep
reminding the child about their defective family member.
• The child is made to feel inferior and unaccepted because of a father
who is in jail or a mother who crawls home drank or a brother who
steals and so on.
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•
This child feels insecure and rejected, which are not recipes for the
development of psychological health.
9.5.5. Authoritarian control
There are parents who are known to rule the family with an iron fist. The
child is supposed to be seen and not to be heard, to obey every command
without questioning. A child raised in this kind of family background never
learns to be resourceful and neither does he learn to be autonomous.
Parents are therefore requested to be authoritative and not authoritarian.
Being authoritative means allowing children room to ask questions and
reason out while at the same time being firm and loving while dealing with
discipline issues.
9.5.6. Marital maladjustment
Marital maladjustment refers to the situation where the married couple
discover that the marriage is not working yet they still share a roof amid
fights, insults, separate lives and public dramatic scenes or pretences. In
many cases where there is marital maladjustment the child suffers a great
deal. There are instances where the parents decide to use the child as a
weapon to fight the other partner. In other cases a partner can gang up
with the child against the other partner or the child could go through a
great deal of suffering torn in between the two parents.
NOTE
The family factor is recognized as the single most important influence on cognitive
development, emotional development and the development of self-concept.
Question
What is the critical factor determining psychological health or ill health?
It is noteworthy to point out that if one or two aspects of the home are
psychologically unfavourable they may not cause personality development
problems. No home can pride itself to be ideal-each home has its
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shortcomings and challenges therefore the one critical factor in
determining psychological health is the experience and the feelings of
security. As long as the home can make the child feel secure it is alright.
Question
What cause insecurity in children?
When children are rejected they feel both insecure and nervous and they
are likely to become non compliant. Rejected children may be abandoned,
beaten up or starved. These children build up hate and hostility, which
they vent through retaliation against people and property. These children
are likely to become unsocialised and aggressive who fear neither man nor
beast. They take on everybody in a compulsive desire to revenge.
9.5.7. Over protection
Over protection refers to cases where parents insist on prolonging a child’s
infancy or childhood. They feed and dress a child who should have
outgrown being fed. The parent over restricts the child’s activities-he
should play with other children or do anything that can cause him injury.
The over protected child develops feelings of insecurity jealousy,
nervousness, submissiveness and even enuresis.
9.5.8 The over demanding parent
When the parents demand more than the child is capable of achieving one
child may become submissive and work hard to attain parental standards.
In the process of pushing oneself so hard this child could develop neurotic
symptoms. When another child is driven too hard he may result to
cheating to give the parents the false belief that he is achieving. A third
child may become outrightly rebellious and refuse to be driven.
9.5.9. Defective home discipline
When home discipline is defective children become poorly adjusted,
aggressive, delinquent or even neurotic.
9.6 EDUCATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
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Educational institutions play a significant role in personality development
schools rank second to the home as their influence comes early in life when
the self-concept is being formed. In fact once children join school they
spend more time there than in any other place outside the home. School
has different influences and challenges on the child. It is the first place
that provides the child with challenge. At school the child is no longer a
baby. He is an equal among peers. He cries they laugh at him and tease
him as a crybaby. He wets or soils himself and they break into laughter.
School provides the child with the opportunity to measure himself against
the peers in terms of intellectual, social and physical abilities.
Question
What is a critical factor to consider before introducing a child to school?
Introducing a child to school?
Activity
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A child wakes up in the morning and starts to cry, he refuses to take breakfast and
neither will he prepare to go to school.
The mother beats him and forcefully dresses him up for school.
He wont walk to school so he is half carried and dragged there.
When he gets to school he looks a pitiable sight. He is dirty, full of tears and mucous.
The child is resisting school. Can you guess several reasons causing the resistance?
What do you think the teacher is likely to do to this crying, dirty, tear eyed and nose
running child?
What is the likely response of the other children towards this child?
How is the child likely to behave on the following day?
9.6.1 Readiness For School
The purpose of the above activity is to point out some difficulties
experienced by children when they enter school. Some little boys and girls
are traumatized by the school experience and there is nowhere they can
run to escape the torture that school can be. The mother or father beats
them without wanting to find out why they are unhappy with school, when
they get to school the teacher continues the lamenting ordeals while other
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children laugh at and taunt the poor child. We should ensure that the
ordeals children go through in an attempt to go to school are minimized
by ensuring that first and foremost, the child is physically and
psychologically ready for school. That is he has control of his bowel
movement. He can control his urination. He has the ability to
communicate his needs and he possesses the social skills to ask the
teacher for permission to go to the toilet. The school skills must extend to
the child’s ability to live with other children with the degree of harmony
that his age permits. At least the child’s should be able to share materials
and to control his aggression to a certain extent so that he earns peer
acceptance. The child should also possesses competencies that other
children have and is able to meet other demands of the school. The parents
and the teacher should try to find out the problems the child is
experiencing early and alleviate them instead of aggravating them as
happens many a time. If the child’s problems are dealt with early enough
adjustment to school becomes possible. A child fails to adjust to school if
they encounter ego-deflating experiences. They wet or soil their clothes
and other children laugh at them, the teacher beats them, the person who
washes their soiled clothes shows open disgust and hostility.
9.6.2 The emotional climate of the school
The emotional climate of the school is very important to the child. This is
where the teacher’s role becomes very critical as she is normally
responsible for setting the emotional climate.
• The teacher’s influence on personality development is second only
to that of the parents.
• She is the mother of many children, all of them the same age. They
look up to her
- For love,
- Acceptance and
- Fair play.
The teacher should be seen to treat all children equally, avoiding
favouritsm. She should be seen to have a keen interest on children and
• Always remember that children are very sensitive. They want
to be assured of love, acceptance and unconditional positive
regard.
• Indeed the teacher sets the foundation for the child’s
adjustment or maladjustment to school.
• The teacher should use the enormous powers she possesses
to put children on the right footing in the direction of
psychological health; the direction towards self-actualization.
9.6.3 Academic success
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The degree of academic success that the child achieves affects personality
development. If a child is getting good grades in schoolwork he enjoys inner
satisfaction which boosts his ego.
• Good grades not only lead to praise and commendation from
teachers and parents, they also attract envy from peers.
• They promise a good future as well as adjustment to school.
• A child who is performing well will most likely steer away from any
disciplinary problems.
• This is the child you ask what he wants to become when he grows
up and he has a clear vision of it; a pilot, a lawyer, a surgeon, an
engineer, they say.
9.6.4 Academic Failure
If a child is getting poor grads in school work he losses self- efficacy which
deflates is ego. This child is likely to engage in negative practices like
cheating, absenteeism, truancy, aggression and so on. It also becomes
very difficulty for this child to focus and plan for the future. Due to the
many discipline problems this child may have, he may also experience
hostile responses from the teachers. He may be punished most of the time.
In extreme cases the child may drop out of school all together.
9.6.5 Success in extra curriculum activities
Some children may not show excellent performance in class but when they
are in the field they hold their own places very well. Some run for the
school at district or national levels. Others are on the school teams;
football, volleyball, basketball, rugby, tennis, netball and so on. There are
those who have talent in leadership while others shine in drama, choir, or
dance. These activities influence the amount of peer acceptance the
student enjoys. They also boost the ego and are good recipes for positive
development.
9.6.6 School type
Schools differ just like the homes. Some schools are well endowed with
physical and human resources while others could do with a lot more than
currently available in both types of resources. Schools also differ in terms
of culture. Some schools have established cultures of hard work and
success while other schools have a culture of complacency and failure.
This means that a child’s personality will be shaped according to what the
school has to offer. The unfortunate bit here is that a child’s success in
school and in life may be determined solely by the school factor.
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Activity
1. Why do students rise up against their own schools?
2. Why do they burn school property?
3. In recent times the country has been treated to macabre and grotesque activities by
students who buy petrol and burn other students as they sleep.
4. Rape orgies have been reported in cases where students break loose and visit a
neighbourhood village or a girl school with the sole purpose of raping and killing.
Can we explain why these things happen?
5. What is it that turns our good boys into terrors?
6. Are there factors in the school perhaps? Or are the teachers going to forever
continue blaming factors that exist outside the schools?
9.7 PERSONALITY ADJUSTMENT AND MALADJUSTMENT
It is difficult to discuss personality without giving some attention to the
concepts of personality adjustment and maladjustment. A pupil will
become adjusted or maladjusted depending on the experiences
encountered both at home and at school. Children who are exposed to
pleasant experiences from early childhood are more likely to develop
capacity for adjustment and psychological health while those who are
exposed to unpleasant or traumatic experiences are likely to develop
tendencies towards maladjustment.
Let us look at these concepts closely.
9.7.1. Adjustment
Adjustment is the term used to refer to the process by means of which the
individual seeks to maintain physiological and psychological equilibrium.
it refers to the adequacy of behavior patterns the individual uses to satisfy
his needs. A person is adjusted if he satisfies his needs within the
framework of the expectations and constraints of the social order. The
person must satisfy his needs in ways that are consistent with social
expectations for age, sex and status. To be well adjusted a person must
have adequate coping skills.
9.7.2 Characteristics of a well adjusted person
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•
•
•
•
A well-adjusted person is efficient in dealing with situational
demands. This means that he adapts well and deals with challenges
competently.
He accepts his strengths and weaknesses and goes about life
confidently.
He also displays social sensitivity and conforms to social standards.
This person rarely violates rules.
Adjustment gives the person happiness because the adjusted person
lives in harmony with his world and is oriented towards selfactualization.
9.8 MALADJUSTMENT
Maladjustment refers to a person’s inability to met needs in a manner that
is acceptable for ones age, sex and status. The maladjusted person lacks
adequate behaviour patterns to solve the problems of daily living. In a
school situation a pupil is maladjusted if he cannot make and keep friends.
He cannot communicate his needs and feelings to other people. He is in
discipline problems with the school maybe due to aggression noncompletion of assignments, rudeness, disobedience and so on. Some
maladjusted pupils are withdrawn, they are closed to themselves and will
not open up to other people to share their feelings, needs or fears.
People are faced with adjustment problems all the time. If the problems
are too severe, and the solution not forthcoming frustrations arise. Severe
and continued frustration leads to maladjustment, desperation, queer
atypical behavior.
9.8.1 Characteristics of a maladjusted person
The maladjusted person displays inability to interact appropriately with
the physical and social environment.
• Is unable to satisfy ones needs
• Is likely to be an underachiever
• Suffers from anxiety motivated affiliative needs
• Has cultivated a self concept of inferiority and guilt
• Suffers a breakdown of efficiency under stress
• Withdraws from participation and can easily disrupt group work
• Uses defense mechanisms like excessive aggression and
destructiveness
• Will engage in repeated transgressions despite punishment
• Suffers loss of constructiveness
• Will withdraw from school or social activities
• Worries excessively and is likely to fall into depression and
pessimism.
9.8.2 Effects of Maladjustment on Learning
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As expected personality maladjustment has negative effects on learning.
The maladjusted pupil fails to focus on learning grades. Failing grades
have a negative effect on the pupil who may actually sink deeper into
maladjusted behaviour. He may engage in behaviours like stealing. Telling
lies, aggression, absenteeism and truancy.
Consequently, this pupil gets into trouble with the school authority all the
time. He will be on the punishment list than not. The problems of the
maladjusted pupil are man as he may also get into trouble with the parents
who may also punish him.
9.8.3
Role of Parents and Teachers
It is important for the parents and the teachers to promote adjustment in
the children. They will do this if they keep in close touch with the children
and note when problems arise. The children should experience love,
acceptance and guidance from both the parents and the teachers. The
teachers and parents can help the children to become competent in school
tasks. They should train them to observe the levels of desired discipline.
Both teachers and parents should let children know the expected
behaviour or performance. They should use reinforcement procedures to
encourage both desired behaviour and performance.
NOTE
The primary responsibility for the child’s adjustment lies with the parents.
• They are the ones who set the basic personality pattern through the security they provide in
early childhood.
• It also lies with the teachers. The teachers hold the key to whether the child will be fulfilled or
frustrated.
• Both the parents and the teachers should help children develop their capacity for adjustment so
that they learn to deal with present as well as future problems competently.
• If the parents and teachers do their job well then, cases of children who become delinquent,
school drop outs, those who have hopeless and helpless lives will be minimized.
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9.9 SUMMARY
In this lesson we have discussed personality with a specific focus on the following;
• Definition of the term
• Determinants of personality
- Genetic determinants
- Environmental determinants
- The home influences on personality
- The school influences on personality
• Personality adjustment and maladjustment
9.10 KEY CONCEPTS
Adjustment: -ability to deal with situational demands in relation to social expectation, sex and
status of a person.
Genetic determinants: -inherited potentials, which are passed down from parent to offspring.
Home influences: -interactions with physical and human resources within the school and their
impact on personality.
Maladjustment: -inability to deal with personal problems due to deficiency in behavior potential
and skills.
Personality: -the whole of a person’s outstanding characteristics.
School influences: - The interactions with physical and human resources within the school and
their impact on personality.
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9.11 REVIEW \ DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why should the teacher study the topic personality?
2. From observation from people in your neighbourhood or family can you tell
which physical, intellectual or social traits that children inherit from their
parents?
3. Who spend more time with the children where you come from? Mom or dad
or the housemaid? When parents are not at home, where are they?
4. What is the prevalence of domestic violence in your community? Who batters
who, mom or dad?
5. What do you remember of your best and worst teachers in terms of how they
dealt with problematic students?
6. How will the understanding of forces that shape personality influence you as
a teacher?
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LESSON TEN
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
10.0 INTRODUCTION
In this lesson I have discussed classroom management. I have specifically
focused on:
•
•
•
•
The relevant methods of identifying behaviour problems.
Reasons why learners misbehave.
How pupils react to problems.
Methods of behaviour change.
One of the principle reasons for teacher’s unhappiness is indiscipline
problems. Any time you have a collection of pupils in a classroom you have
a fertile ground for all the possible misdemeanor. They make noise, pinch
each other, steal, chat, cough or yawn contagiously. They appear in class
looking untidy, with unfinished homework or reports. When you report for
the first lesson you find a cartoon caricature of you deftly outlined on the
chalkboard.
On the next morning you may discover that the teachers chair is missing
and in its place is a three-legged one. You intend to ask about the missing
chair but you are confronted with blank faces of girls or boys who wont
leak any information. Somewhere at the corner of the chalkboard is one
word “unbwogable” or two words “hatucheki na watu”. Somewhere else is
your nickname inscribed!
Which teacher will have the courage to go through all these and still teach?
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10.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the learner should be able to;
• Understand the relevance of classroom management
• Identify the methods the teacher could use to identify problem behaviors in the
classroom
• Outline the possible causes of problem behaviors
• Discuss various methods of behavior change
10.2 THE RELEVANCE OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
The teacher’s roles in the classroom are mainly two.
• The first being to ensure that the classroom environment is
conducive for learning while,
• The second one is the delivery of content. The first role is critical
because it might be the sole determinant to the amount of learning
that takes place.
The classroom environment is largely determined by the teachers by the
teacher’s ability to manage all the variables present at any one time for the
purposes of promoting conditions for learning.
This means that the teacher’s ability to run a well-managed class is of
utter importance. In fact many teachers fail in their job because of their
inability to manage their classrooms than for any other reason. Classroom
management is seen as the teacher’s number one professional problem,
Gage/Berliner, (1991)
For the teacher to be an effective classroom manager, he should:
• Possess methods of identifying problem behaviors in the classroom
• Know why students misbehave
• Possess effective skills for maintaining discipline
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10.3 METHODS OF IDENTIFYING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS IN THE
CLASSROOM
For the teacher to be able to identify problem behaviors in the classroom,
he needs
1. To be in touch with the class. This means being aware of what is
happening in all parts of the classroom so that he can interfere
promptly and accurately when inappropriate behavior occurs,
Brophy, (1989).
2. The teacher should possess observation skills. Observation refers to
watching children. The teachers observation of children will reveal
facial expressions that may indicate unhappiness, anxiety,
restlessness, hyperactivity, tension, self-consciousness, anger,
nervous habits and day dreaming.
3. The teacher could observe the learners’ social activities. When
children are playing in the field the teacher could use scientific
gadgets like the binoculars to observe the pupils social interactions
unobtrusively. The use of this method will reveal the pupils
• Who are playing together and
• Those who are left out by the others so that a lot of the time
they sit or stand by themselves.
• If a student is observed alone on many occasions the teacher
should know that this student has a problem.
Observation of pupils’ social interaction will also reveal the pupils,
• Who bully others,
• Those who are bullied,
• The fearful ones, the quarrelsome ones and
• Those who are defiant.
4. The teacher could also use sociometric questions to discover the
pupils who are problems. For example ask pupils in the class to
nominate other pupils from the same class with whom one would
like to share cubicles, to be deskmates, to go for walks with and so
on. This method will reveal those children who are isolated or
rejected by others. It is the teacher’s duty to discover why any pupil
will be rejected by the classmates.
5. The teacher could also ask the class to write a story with following
themes:
• What I dreamt last night. Normally people dream about things
that bother them.
• If I had three wishes. Again as children write about this theme
the teacher will know the problems pupils have.
• The day I was most afraid. This theme will reveal the fears that
individual learners have about school and home life.
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6. The teacher could also use the direct approach of finding out what
is bothering the pupil. The use of this method requires the teacher
to ensure a private discussion in the staffroom and not public
address in the classroom or on parade ground.
10.4 WHY DO PUPILS MISBEHAVE?
Pupils do not misbehave for the sake of doing so, they have their own
reasons. A good teacher is the one who knows why learners likely to show
problem behaviors. The following are some of the reasons;
1. Unmet needs
Every child must achieve reasonable satisfaction of his physical, social and
personality needs in order to develop in a normal and wholesome manner.
When these needs are frustrated then problematic behavior arises.
2. Poverty
Children coming from poor homes may lack basic necessities like food.
They will also be lacking the things required by the school. For example
when other children who have good uniforms and can afford other things
like pens, books, money for trips, the child from a poor home lacks these
things. This child is also likely to be taunted by other children and called
names referring to his torn clothes and inability to have things like them.
As a result the poor child will be ashamed of himself, his home and his
parents. Due to the hostility of his sociopsychological environment, this
pupil has a high likelihood of showing maladjustment behavior.
3. Broken homes
There are children who come from broken homes. A home may be broken
by death of a parent or divorce, separation, dissertation and even
separation. Any of these conditions make children feel very insecure. This
security translates itself into the behavior problems conflict-ridden homes
also produce children who are nervous, unhappy and insecure and who
are likely to show behavior problems.
5. Conflict-ridden homes also produce children who are:
Nervous, unhappy and insecure and who are likely to show behaviour
problems.
6. Personal inadequacies
Sometimes a pupil may feel inadequate when he is unable to carry out
tasks that are expected of him. The pupil who is unable to engage in
physical tasks like the rest of the group or one who is unable to achieve
on mental tasks like the others experiences frustration. This pupil tends
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to feel inferior and unhappy. In order to live with this problem
inappropriate behavior arises.
There are pupils who set for themselves goals that they cannot attain, For
example a child with average mental ability wanting to be position one in
a class where competition is high. This pupil can never attain the goal and
therefore the frustration that arises becomes a source of behavior
problems. The pupils who are self conscious tend to feel inferior and
friendless and may crave for affection, become attention seekers or even
aggressive.
7. The rejected child
Many children come from homes where they are neither loved nor valued
by their parents. Their need for affection and security is threatened. These
children may suffer neglect, separation from parent, they could be nagged,
humiliated before others or even compared unfavorably with others or even
compared unfavourably with others. These children will engage in
attention seeking behavior, some become restless or non-conforming. They
are likely to develop unstable tendencies with disregard for rules and
convections of society.. They will develop shallow feelings, lacking in
reaction of guilt, suffer emotional instability, and lack self-control and they
have underdeveloped ego, which makes them have no feelings of remorse.
This means that many undesirable behaviors may be associated with child
rejection.
8. The overprotected child
This is the child whose every flimsy need is catered for. He eats whenever
and whatever he wants, has many material possessions. This child may
be restricted from playing with other children so that he does not get hurt.
This child is likely to become selfish and aggressive, lacks a sense of
responsibility, develops infantile behavior, exhibits problems like thumb
sucking, emuresis temper tantrums. This child is likely to develop poor
social adjustment, bad manners, impoliteness, rudeness, disobedience,
will be bossy, selfish, show off and lacking in frustration tolerance.
8. Unhygienic school practices
Many times conditions that exist in the school may result in a child’s
unwholesome development. These are conditions, which could be
detrimental to the good health of their pupils. These are;
a) Failure to cater for individual differences.
When the students feel that the teachers are not caring for them
individually they tend to feel insecure, uncertain and afraid. These
students may show disobedience.
b) Autocratic control
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If the teachers and the school administration do not exercise democratic
control in their interaction with pupils then problems arise. The pupils
who are ruled with an iron fist as it have their resourcefulness and
initiative stifled. This happens because they can never learn to control
their behavior, their thoughts or their actions.
c) Humiliating pupils in public
There are times when students do the wrong things. For example they fail
to complete assignments, they make noise in class, they are rude, they tell
lies, cheat etc. Many teachers react to these misdeeds by scolding the pupil
publicly in class on school assembly. Many times the scolding is meant to
make the erring boy or girl suffer humiliation in the presence of peers or
the whole school. A teacher who exposes pupils to this kind of humiliation
is likely to contribute to delinquency. This will occur when the pupil
decides to skip school all the together and join a gang of truant pupils who
care nothing for school.
d) Teachers can also use labels on pupils.
This happens when the teacher decides to refer to pupils social inferiority
or even stress on the pupils negative behavior or weakness. This kind of
cruelty is experienced by many pupils who have been convinced that they
are dumb bad, stubborn, disobedient and outright defective. Naturally
children have a way of fulfilling their teachers prophesies by displaying
their labels. They become what their teacher says they are.
e) The teacher’s competence
The teacher’s ability to fit their roles is critically important. Any teacher
who has problems in any area of his duty is likely to contribute to the
emergence and existence of problematic behavior. Such a teacher is likely
to use defensive mechanisms. In order to cover up his shortcomings, he
will blame, the school, the pupils, the parents, the society.
10.5 HOW PUPILS REACT TO PROBLEMS
Pupils react to problems by becoming problematic. Problematic will not
adjust to the socially acceptable norms for behavior. A problematic pupil
will disrupt his own academic progress and the classmates. He lacks the
ability to make and to keep friends due to poor interpersonal relations.
The problematic pupil is likely to show any of the several outwardly
manifested behaviors:
1. Absenteeism
Absenteeism can be either physical absence means that the child is bodily
away from class many times with faked reasons of sickness or other
problems.
Psychological absence mans that the pupil is bodily present in class but
mentally he is far away. This can be observed if the pupil looking outside
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the window, passing notes to others in the class, staring vacantly, fidgeting
or day dreaming.
2. Show of misconduct
The problematic child is likely to be involved in misbehavior, for example
noise making, aggression, defiance, use of profane language and basically
acting tough.
3. Stealing
Pupils will engage in stealing for various reasons.
• Sometimes they want to get revenge
• They wish to vent hostile feelings towards parents.
• A child may steal due to lack of respect for other people’s property.
• There are children who steal without an apparent good reason.
• This may happen when a child has problems that are psychological
in nature.
In this case a child will steal in order to fill a psychological deficit with
material things.
4. Lying
This refers to twisting or falsifying information for selfish motives.
Children will tell leis for various reasons.
• To escape the consequences of punishment or to get attention.
• To reduce anxiety or
• To get something they want.
5. Cheating
• Pupils will cheat when a task is too difficult and particularly when
parents and teachers have set standards that the child cannot
attain.
• The child will also cheat in order to avoid failure.
• The cheating child may also be the one who feels both inadequate
and inferior.
6. Truancy
The truant child stays away from school without knowledge of the parents.
• He may go fishing, movie watching or just any other activity that
keeps him away from school.
• A child will become truant if school is threatening. For example a
pupil who is being bullied or one who is performing poorly in school
will be truant.
• Also the pupil who has neither found love at home nor at school will
develop a strong dislike for school and can turn to truancy.
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Activity
Try and list all the methods teachers use to deal with inappropriate behavior.
• Types of punishments.
• Other methods.
• From your observations do these methods succeed in eliminating undesirable behavior?
• Try to suggest reason for your answer.
10.6 METHODS OF BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
10.6.1 Punishment
In their effort to maintain order in the classroom, teachers use many
methods of behavior change. Among them, punishment rank very high.
Punishment is a form of aversive control of behavior. Aversive means
unpleasant, noxious or painful. Students can be punished through the
following methods:
•
•
•
•
A teacher could administer an aversive stimulus like e.g. caning,
kneeling
A teacher could also remove an individual from a reinforcing
situation e.g. removing a student from class also called time out.
Even removing a desirable stimulus from the student e.g. taking
away playtime is punishment.
Punishment can also be psychological like scolding or blaming a
student.
10.6.1 Purpose of punishment
When a teacher administers punishment to a pupil, he hopes to do the
following:
• To make undesirable behavior less probable.
• To weaken it,
• To suppress or eliminate it.
With this in mind we need to acknowledge that punishment may not have
any of these effects on the undesirable behavior.
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•
•
There are times when the punished behavior is not suppresses nor
eliminated and the teacher needs to know why this happens.
Undesirable behavior will not be eliminated if the following
conditions are not met.
1. Intensity of punishment
Intensity refers to the strength or severity of punishment. Punishments of
high intensity are likely to eliminate undesirable behaviour. Good
examples are when a child touches fire and is burned he ceases to touch
fire for all time. Also any child playing with a sharp object stops doing so
if cut by the object. In the school situation very severe punishment are
discouraged because they can harm both the body and the mind. Teachers
are not allowed to mete out punishments, which are physically, and
psychologically damaging as well. The punishments that are allowed are
mild and bearable so that the pupil may no problem repeating the
punishable behavior.
2. Consistency of punishment
Consistency refers to the condition of punishing a pupil everytime the
undesirable behavior occurs. Consistency in punishment is difficult to
maintain because the teacher cannot watch a child 24 hrs a day, seven
days a week and so on. This means that the pupil knows that he can
escape with the punishable behavior when the teacher is not around.
Making punishment consistent is not humanly possible. Inconsistency
makes undesirable behavior recur.
3. Contingency of punishment
Contingency refers to the pairing of punishment with the undesired
behavior. It means that punishment should be administered immediately
the undesirable behavior occurs. Punishment be contingent; it should
accompany the undesired behavior. For example at home if one wants to
punish a dog that is messing up the compound, the punishment should
be administered when the dog is at the act not minutes or hours later. The
principle is that if punishment is made contingent upon the undesired
behavior the association between it and the behavior will be created and
thus it will have the power to suppress that behavior.
What is the situation like in the classroom or in the school? Many
times teachers are unable to deliver punishment contingent upon the
undesirable behavior. For example, a student who comes late, or one who
disrupts the classroom activity may have to wait for hours before
punishment is delivered. Also it is not humanly possible to monitor a pupil
so as to punish him contingently. There fore pupils know they can get
away with punishable behavior. Consequently punishment as a method of
behavior control fails.
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Activity
Imagine you are in a day school in one of the low SES ares. One week you are on duty
and you notice this boy who reports to school late. You give him the punishment for
lateness. The same boy did not wash his uniform and you give him the prescribed
punishment. You also discover he did not finish his home assignment. By the end of the
day you have not noticed any other pupil because you are preoccupied with this particular
one. Are you going to punish this pupil every day for all the ‘wrong’ things that he has
done or the ‘ right’ things he has failed to do?
Discuss this case suggesting how you could intervene in the case of this pupil.
10.6.2 Facts about punishment
When we talk about punishment we have certain expectations. We expect
that it will serve as an incentive to induce behavior change. We expect the
punished pupil to avoid errors. But whereas punishment could meet our
expectations we should also realize that it can also be an incentive to
induce other undesirable behaviors.
There are times when punishment can provide the pupil with need
satisfaction. For example a child who attracts the teachers attention only
when he talks in class will continue talking. For this pupil punishment is
desirable, it is rewarding. This happens when the teacher recognizes the
presence of that pupil only when he misbehaves. For this reason teachers
are advised to recognize pupils and reward them for any good behavior
they show and not wait to recognize the pupil only when he has
misbehaved.
Another factor determining whether a learner will engage in undesirable
behavior or not is knowledge of punishment. A learner may choose to
engage in undesirable behavior with full knowledge of the punishment and
also with the willingness to take the punishment. This happens if the
teacher punishes the pupil for dependence behavior, the child becomes
more dependant. This happens even at home when a mother beats the
child for clinging on to her. Common sense would have it that the child
should run away from the mother but doesn’t. This child clings to the
mother even more firmly. The same case happens with pupils, a pupil who
is punished for showing dependency behavior becomes more dependent.
If the teacher punishes a pupil for aggressive tendencies, this pupil is likely
to be more aggressive and particularly if subjected to harsh physical
punishment.
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Punishment may not eliminate the undesirable behavior. For example a
child who is punished for smoking in school may stop smoking while in
school but continue to do so in other places.
At other times, punishment may eliminate one undesirable behavior but
another equally undesirable behavior emerges e.g. a child may be
punished for being aggressive and actually stops but becomes withdrawn.
There are pupils who may fear punishment so much that they become
avoidant. They may fake illness, become truant or fail to attend school
sessions.
It is also noted that when a pupil is punished he is not provided with an
alternative behavior, for example a child can learn to control his aggressive
tendencies but doesn’t learn to be friendly.
10.6.3 Negative effects of punishment
It has become increasingly important for teachers to know that the effects
of punishment are frequently undesirable.
1. For one the threatening aspects of punishment may produce
emotional tension in the pupil who may actually learn to hate the
punisher because of the fear of punishment.
2. The pupil may acquire many undesirable behaviors to avoid being
punished. He may cheat, lie, and become anxious.
3. The teacher needs to be aware that punishment has limited
usefulness as a control technique
It has real disadvantages in the terms of the total learning of the child
Teachers need to note that if their interaction with pupils are largely
characterized by punitive relationship, they are likely to be ineffective in
promoting a wide range of desirable behavior.
10.6.4 Conditions under which punishment should be given
From the foregoing it looks like we are discouraging the use of punishment.
However we recognize that punishment cannot b dismissed or ignored. We
would therefore want to look at it as one of the methods of behavior change
which should be used under specified conditions in order to be beneficial.
The teacher may find the following suggestions useful;
•
If the teacher must punish he should specify and communicate the
punishable behavior to the pupils by means of classroom rules and
regulations.
•
The pupils should be involved in the drawing of the rules
•
These rules should be posted where the pupils can see them
•
The rules should be reviewed often
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•
The school should also provide the pupils with models of acceptable
behavior. If the acceptable behavior is good grooming, punctuality,
honesty, hard work or responsibility, then a student who displays any
of these characteristics should be called in front of the school during
the school assembly for all to see an example of the desirable behavior
that the teacher wishes to reinforce. The schools should never display
models of undesirable behavior because everytime they do so they
create hero worship of the pupils with the undesirable characteristics:
Those with the most unkempt hair, lazy, dishonest or poorly groomed
pupils should never be put on the display. They should be denied
recognition.
•
If the punishment must be delivered it must be done immediately. This
should be done in line with the principle of contingency discussed
above.
•
Pupils should be informed of the alternative behavior that is what they
would have done instead of the punished behavior.
•
The punishment should always be perceived as fair. This means that
the teacher should not be seen to practice partiality. Those who deserve
to be punished must receive their punishment as prescribed.
Impartiality can be a major cause of school unrest and increased
indiscipline.
•
Punishment must be delivered consistently in line with the principle of
consistency. This means that whenever possible the punishable act
should never be allowed to escape punishment.
•
The teacher should try and avoid group punishment at all costs .A lot
of gain is made if the teacher is able to isolate a student or two and
punish them instead of punishing the whole class. If the whole class is
making noise or failing to cooperate it is advisable to sometimes ignore
the incidence or to look for alternative methods of dealing with the
situation. When the teacher uses group punishment, it ceases to be
punishment as learners may actually enjoy it.
10.7 BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES
There are several methods the teacher could use in classroom
management and which could go along way to minimize cases of
indiscipline while at the same time they will help to maximize the
occurrence of desirable behavior. These theories are derived from the
theories of behavior modification. They follow the principles of learning
that we are quite familiar with. They are the following
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• From classical conditioning eliciting and extinction principles
• From operant conditioning-reinforcement
• Behavior contracting.
10.7.1 Classical conditioning
1. Eliciting
Eliciting is the act of expecting and calling upon the pupil to display the
desirable behavior. The teacher could call the students by name and ask
him to answer a question or to do a certain assignment or pick something
on the floor. The most important concept here is giving the pupil the
opportunity to do something desirable. When the pupil has displayed the
desirable behavior he should be given recognition. He should be told
“thank you”, good, well done. The positive response from the teacher will
enhance the chances of recurrence of the behavior.
2. Extinction
This refers to the elimination of a response through the withdrawal of
reinforcement. The teacher could ignore a behavior that is undesirable
sometimes. For example, some attention-seeking pupil who comes to class
late so that he can be asked why he is late could be ignored. A student
who does things to make the class laugh could be discouraged if the
teacher instructs the class not to laugh. Extinction works very well if the
teacher accompanies with the reinforcement of alternative behavior. For
example in the above cases, the first pupil is reinforced for showing up for
class on time. In the case of the second pupil reinforcing him every time
he displays seriousness in the classroom interactions.
10.7.2 Reinforcement
Reinforcement is the key concept derived from operant conditioning
theory. Reinforcement refers to the use of rewards as incentives to induce
and strengthen desirable behavior. The teacher should always remember
that rewards are useful when they are seen, as potential sources of need
satisfaction. Therefore certain pupils will work for certain rewards. For this
reason the teacher should know his pupils well, in order to know what
rewards a learner will work for. Secondly rewards must be attainable. If a
pupil is attracted to a certain reward but he knows that he has little chance
of attaining it he will not work for it. Thirdly the reward punishment ratio
should be right. A pupil must receive more rewards than punishment to
the ratio of 5:1. If the ratio falls to 2:1 the pupil can develop neurotic
symptoms of inferiority, inadequacy and generalized fear of failure when
the ratio drops further to 1:1 the pupil is likely to develop delinquent
behaviors.
Token economy
Tokens are concrete forms of reinforcers. They can be in the form of points
or poker chips. If a pupil performs a desirable task, he is given tokens. For
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example punctuality can earn a pupil two tokens, turning in complete
homework 5 tokens, presenting neat work 2 tokens. At the end of he month
the tokens may be exchanged for something concrete eg the pupil can be
given permission to do something interesting or something desirable.
Tokens can also be taken away if the pupil misbehaves.
10.7.3 Behavior contracting
Behavior contracting involves two people. The teacher and the student.
These people identify the undesirable behavior as well as the desirability
to change it. The behavior to be changed could be lateness, poor grooming,
untidy work, non-completion of homework, rudeness or any other
behavior.
The teacher and the pupil enter into a contract. The contract details what
will happen when the undesirable behavior is changed. That is what the
pupil will stand to gain on one hand and what he stands to suffer or loose
if the desirable behavior is not observed.
The strength of this method lies in the fact that the pupil is an involved
party in the contract. He is cognitively involved in his own behavior change
and consequently when behavior change occurs it becomes durable.
10.8 PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE
There is an old wise saying that states that prevention is better than care.
The teacher could borrow a left from this old wisdom and seek ways and
means of making sure that discipline is maintained without necessarily
relying giving rewards or punishments. This refers to the use of preventive
discipline, which should ensure that indiscipline is not given a chance to
occur.
In preventive discipline the teacher arranges or organizes the
experiences children are exposed to in school in a manner that favours
inbuilt disciplinary processes. Preventive discipline ensures that the
pupils not given room to engage in any indiscipline. The following are some
of the measures that promise the likelihood of preventive discipline. These
measures go beyond rewards and punishment.
1. The teacher should respect and love children
Respect their identity
Acceptance means being aware of their unique personality,
interests, strong points, failures, temperaments
2. Help them to develop social competence so that they can win peer
acceptance
3. Organize the school experiences to meet the need for new
experiences
➢ Expose them to new subject matter, new activities, progressive
responsibility, field trips, use teaching aids
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➢ Satisfy their need for curiosity, need for mastery, need for success
An achieving child will feel worthy, recognized, competent and
autonomous.
4. School programmes should be arranged for more equitable
distribution of the experiences of success.
Every child may achieve some degree of it
5. The school should provide varied opportunities for emotional,
physical, intellectual aesthetic achievement.
6. Provide good teaching
7. Let children be committed to behavior change
8. Establish clear behavior guidelines, expectations , standards and
rules that are clear to all
9. Adopt a teamwork approach- involve teachers administration and
parents and design a complete discipline ladder with a clear
description of available corrective disciplinary measures- warning,
call parents, and refer to principal or counselor.
10. Train self management and discipline
11. Invite good discipline by doing the following:
• Focusing on student success and self-esteem
• Implanting fair fi rules
• Planning lesson thoroughly
• Continually monitor the classroom environment
• Minimizing problems early.
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10.9 SUMMARY
This lesson has discussed classroom management focusing on the following issues;
❖ Relevance of classroom management
❖ Methods of identifying problem behaviors in the classroom
❖ Why pupils misbehave
❖ Methods of behavior change
➢ Punishment
➢ Behavior modification techniques
❖ Preventive discipline
10.10 DISCUSSION/REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. In your own assessment what are the root causes of discipline problems
in your school?
2. To what extent do teachers rely on punishment and with what results?
3. Have you come across a teacher who tries to use the other behavior
modification techniques discussed above?
4. In what ways do teachers apply preventive discipline?
10.11 KEY CONCEPTS
Classroom management: -the skills the teacher uses to ensure delivery of
content in an atmosphere of order and good behavior as well as the ability to
deal with cases of indiscipline.
Intensity of punishment: - refers to the strength or severity of punishment.
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Contingency: - refers to the immediacy of punishment. It refers to proximity in
time and space.
Eliciting: - refers to creating conditions that favor the production of a behavior.
Extinction: - the disappearance of a response due to non-reinforcement
Reinforcement: - refers to the strengthening of a response by proving certain
incentives.
Tokens: -Concrete forms of reinforcers, which use the same principle as money.
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LESSON ELEVEN
THE EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER
11.0 INTRODUCTION
I find it extremely difficult to give this lesson in the limited time and space
I have. This is due to the fact that exceptionality deserves a whole book or
whole books. It is a discipline of study in its own right with many areas of
specialization and focus. As such no single lesson can attempt to do it any
justice without looking like sheer mockery. This not withstanding, no
course in educational psychology will be complete without the mention of
the exceptional learner even if it is in a passing sentence.
In this lesson I have introduced the student to the exceptional learner with
the hope that the aroused interest will eventually seek to know more about
it so that you can be alert to exceptional learners in your classes. With
the sensitization that this lesson gives I hope you will find it necessary to
discover more about exceptional learners and enroll in special education
programs available at our university.
11.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson the lesson should be able to;
• Define the term exceptional child
• Describe five broad categories of exceptional children
• Discuss the classification of exceptional children
• Explain causes of exceptionality
• Discuss the concept of intervention
• Describe the services for exceptional children
11.2 DEFINITION OF THE TERM EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
Henry (1950), defines exceptional children as those who deviate from what
is supposed to be average in physical, mental, emotional or social
characteristics to such an extent that they require special education
services in order to develop to their maximum capacity Crunk Shank 1958
seems to concur with the above definition saying that exceptional children
are those who deviate intellectually, physically, socially, or emotionally so
markedly from what is considered to be normal growth and development
that they cannot receive maximum benefit from regular school programs
and require special classes or supplementary instructional services.
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Admittedly it is difficult to define exceptionality but as the foregoing
definition go it is important to note that exceptional are those who will
require specialized skills and services. Some of them cannot adjust to the
school program without radical modifications of the curriculum, special
methods of instructions, special equipment or even adjusted school
schedule. Some exceptional children may require to be put in a special
class or special schools while others may need individualised attention in
regular classrooms.
11.3 CATEGORIES OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
Exceptional children can be categorized as follows
1. The intellectually different. This category covering the gifted and
talented, mentally handicapped and those with specific learning
disabilities.
2. The physically different. This category covering the orthopedic,
physically handicapped, crippled or deformed
3. The neurological impaired. This category covering the hearing
impaired or deaf, the visually impaired or blind and those with
multiple handicaps
4. The psychosocially different. This category includes all those
children with conduct or behavioral problems which are markedly
different from normal and which is continuous e.g. the emotionally
disturbed and socially maladjusted children. The category may
include children in difficult circumstances.
5. Those with health problems. This category covers the children who
are diabetic, those who suffer from arthritis, heart diseases, kidney
diseases, tuberculosis, leukemia and sickle cell anaemia.
11.4 CLASSIFICATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
11.4.1The gifted and talented
There is no agreement about what constitutes a gifted student one reason
being that individuals can have many gifts. The general consensus is that,
the gifted learners are those with:
• Above average general ability
• High level of creativity
• High level of task commitment or motivation to achieve in certain areas
There are other characteristics that distinguish the gifted learners from
other children. These are:
• There are larger, stronger and healthier than the norm group
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•
•
•
They achieved developmental milestones earlier than the norm
group i.e. they talk 3 ½ months earlier, walk earlier, they learn to
read before age six, they master school subjects two classes beyond
their age level.
They have great curiosity and good memory.
They are more emotionally stable than their peers
As adults they are better adjusted than the average person.
11.5 HOW A TEACHER IDENTIFIES THE GIFTED CHILDREN
The gifted children may not be those who simply learn quickly with little
effort. Although this characteristic is present it is important that the
teacher notices those children who reason things out, think clearly, use
common sense and practical knowledge, have knowledge of many things,
have a large vocabulary accurately used
Perform difficult mental tasks, ask many questions and are interested in
a wide range of things.
The intellectually gifted child is original and uses good but unusual
methods or ideas. He is also alert and keenly observant and responds
quickly.
11.6 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH GIFTEDNESS.
The gifted and talented children constitute a group of students with special
education needs that are often overlooked by the school. The very gifts that
make them outstanding are 6the ones that cause them untold difficulties.
The teacher may note the following problems;
• Non-participation
The gifted children need stimulating and challenging work. If they get
bored with classroom routine they may become indifferent, restless,
inattentive, disturbing and even annoying
• They may get into trouble
The gifted children may get into trouble because they have abundant
energy, insight, vivid sense of humour, strong feelings of truth and justice,
which makes them outspoken.
They get misunderstood sometimes teachers will think that the gifted child
is rude, unruly and indiscipline if they do not understand them.
11.7 HOW TO MANAGE THE GIFTED CHILDREN
Many suggestions have been put forward
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•
Some people feel that the gifted children should be put in classes
according to mental age rather than chronological age.
•
They could be allowed to skip grades. This approach would solve one
problem but create another problem for the gifted child. If a child
skips grades he is removed from his social emotional peers, which
may later affect social adjustment later. For these reason some
approaches have advised that the child should be retained in class
with his age mates but be given additional work or material.
•
This is the concept of enriching the regular classroom by allowing
the gifted child to conduct independent research, offering them
additional learning and even offering them extra curriculum
activities.
Activity
Do you know that many gifted children underachieve and even drop out of school?
Try and find out the cause of this phenomenon. When there are problems in the school like
strikes, many gifted children are expelled from the institutions. Can you explain why this
happens?
Are you aware that at times gifted children are dismissed as show offs?
11.7.1 The mentally handicapped children
According to the American Association on mental deficiency (AAMD)
Mental retardation to the substantial limitations in present intellectual
functioning which is characterized by sub average intellectual functioning
existing concurrently with related limitations in two or more of the
following; applicable adaptive skill areas e.g. communication, self-care,
home living, social skills, community use, self- direction, health safety,
functional academics, leisure and work. Mental retardation manifests
before age 18.
11.7.2 Causes of mental retardation
Mental retardation could be caused by the following factors
1. Inborn errors of metabolism for example in the case of
phenylketunoma(pku)aka pyruvic idiocy. In PKU the child is born
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with a genetic defect, which interferes with the ability to metabolise
protein. When protein is not completely broken down it causes
poisoning in the child’s body. The poisoning interferes with physical
development as the baby fails to thrive physically. The poisoning
also causes damage to the central nervous system causing severe
retardation. As a result the child has very little I.Q. and may not
acquire language nor any self help skills and may require life-long
care.
2. Chromosomal abnormalities, for example Trisomy 21. Trisomy 21
affects the chromosome no. 21. As you know chromosomes occur in
pairs. However there are cases when the chromosome 21 may have
three chromosomes instead of two. The three chromosomes in
chromosome number 21 causes mental retardation called Downs
Syndrome or Mongolism.
3. Prenatal factors-Diseases like rubella, conditions like Rh factor,
malnutrition and even drugs taken by the mother during pregnancy
are known to cause mental retardation.
4. Perinatal factors; these refer to conditions surrounding the birth
process for example injury to the central nervous system during the
birth process, Anoxia which is deprivation of oxygen to the baby’s
brain during the birth process and even prematurity are all
conditions known to cause mental retardation.
5. Postnatal factors. These are conditions existing after the birth of the
baby for example infections e.g. meningitis, malaria etc.
11.7.3 Categories of mentally retarded children
Mentally retarded children are classified as follows
1. The profoundly mentally retarded with I.Q. below 30
2. The severely mentally retarded I.Q. 30-35. Children in these
categories cannot be trained in self-help skills like dressing, feeding
or toileting. They cannot be trained in socialization or economic
usefulness and they need life long care.
3. The trainable mentally retarded I.Q. 35-50
These children have potentialities in three areas.
• They can learn self care like feeding, dressing, undressing. Toileting
and sleeping
• They can learn to adjust in the home and the neighbourhood
• They can learn economic usefulness in the home
4. The educable mentally retarded I.Q. 50-79. These children can do
writing, arithmetic and reading at a very slow rate. If they are given
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all the help they can get, they can go up to std 3 or 4. They acquire
numeracy and literacy skills very late. They are slow in specific
intellectual functions needed for school work, they lack concentration
have a short attention span and they have many problems with social
behavior. The educable mentally retarded children have some
capacity for school adjustment to a point where they can get along
independently in the community. They can acquire minimum
occupational adequacy, which will enable them to support themselves
partially or totally at a marginal level.
5. The slow learner I.Q. ranges from 80-90
This is a borderline category of learners who have problems in
catching up with the rest of the children in class academically. They
are capable of achieving a moderate degree of academic success at a
slower rate than the average child.
The slower learner can benefit from individualized attention. He can be
allowed to learn at his own pace and to master those concepts that he is
capable of mastering. He should not compete with the rest of the class if
he is in a regular classroom. If he becomes frustrated he is likely to dislike
school and even drop out.
11.8 LEARNERS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
Learning disability is a new and controversial category of exceptional
learners. There is no fully agreed upon definition. Cartwright and
Cartwright (1981) define learning disabilities as a general term that refers
to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifest by significant difficulties
in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing,
reasoning or mathematical abilities. The disorders are intrinsic to the
individual presumed to be due to certain Nervous system dysfunction, and
may occur across the life span.
Hallahan and Kauffman (1976) say that children with special learning
disabilities exhibit a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language.
These may be manifested in disorders of listening, thinking, talking,
reading, writing, spelling or arithmetic. They include conditions, which
have been referred to as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimum
brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia etc. They do not
include learning problems, which are due primarily to visual hearing, or
motor handicaps, to mental retardation, emotional disturbance or to
environmental disadvantage
11.9 ARE LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN A HOMOGENEOUS
GROUP?
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The learning disabled children are a heterogeneous group. Each child may
have specific difficulties in one or more academic areas e.g. Poor
coordination, problems paying attention, hyper activity and impulsivity,
problems organizing and interpreting visual and auditory information,
disorders of thinking, memory, speech and hearing or difficulties keeping
friends. Hallahan and Kauffman(1997). For purposes of academic life, we
need to be aware that most children with learning disabilities have
•
Difficulties reading caused by problems related to sounds, which
consequently make spelling hard. Those with problems with reading
are called Dyslexic.
•
Other children will have problems with mathematics because they
cannot perform computation tasks and neither can they solve
problems.
•
A third category of children have problems writing. Their writing is
virtually unreadable. Problems with writing are called Dysgraphia.
•
A fourth category of disabled learners speak in a halting and
disorganized manner.
11.9.1 What seems to be the problem
The problems of learning disabled children are that;
• They lack effective ways to approach academic tasks.
• They do not know how to focus on relevant information or get
organized.
• They cannot apply learning strategies or study skills to change it.
• They tend to be passive learners partly because they do not know
how to learn.
• These learners cannot work independently on homework or
seatwork.
11.9.2 How can they be helped?
The learning disabled children should be diagonised early in order to
prevent them from becoming frustrated and discouraged. If they do not
understand their problem they begin avoiding certain subjects. Once
diagnosis has been carried out they should be referred to professionals
fore the necessary intervention measures. Teachers handling learning
disabled children should emphasize study skills and methods of
processing information in a given subject like reading and mathematics.
The teachers should also help the learning disabled children to improve
their attention memory and problem solving abilities. Those who need
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specialized attention by special education specialists should be referred to
them.
Activity
In Kenya the learning disabled children could be confused with mentally retarded children
why do you think, this is the case?
11.10 PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES
11.10.1 Celebral palsy
What is celebral palsy?
Celebral palsy is a disorder affecting voluntary movement. It causes a child
to have difficulty moving or coordinating his or her body. The problem may
be mild making the child sappear clumsy. It can also be severe making
voluntary movement practically impossible. The most common form of
celebral palsy is characterised by spasticity. Spasticity refers to muscles
that are too tight or tense. Mant children with celebral palsy may also have
secondary handicaps e.g. hearing problems, speech problems or mild
mental retardation.
What causes celebral palsy?
Celebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain before birth like in cases
associated with anoxia (reduced oxygen supply in the foetus brain. It can
also be caused by brain damage during the birth process or during
infancy.)
11.10.2 Physical challenges
This category constitutes the physically different children e.g. the
orthopedic, physically handicapped, crippled or deformed. The physically
different children could:
•
•
Be intellectually gifted,
Of normal intelligence, average or mentally retarded.
These children may have special orthopedic devices such as braces,
special shoes, crutches or wheel chairs for these children to participate in
a normal school program, they need attention architectured features such
as ramps, elevators and accessible toilets. They also require physiotherapy
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and other medical services that will help them to develop their physical
potentials. They need teachers who will allow for their physical limitations.
11.11 SENSORY EXCEPTIONALITIES
11.11.1 Hearing impairments (the deaf)
Who are deaf children?
The deaf children are those who are born with little or no hearing or who
suffered the loss of hearing in infancy before speech and language patterns
are acquired. Not all hearing-impaired children are deaf. There are those
with partial hearing loss.
11.11.2 Classification of hearing impairments
•
•
•
The deaf refer to those children whose sense of hearing is nonfunctional.
Congenitally deaf- those born deaf
Adventitiously deaf- those born with normal hearing but loose sense
of hearing through disease or accident
11.11.3 Cause of hearing impairment
Hearing impairment have many causes that are mentioned here below
Heredity: 30-60% of deafness is attributed to genetic factors. Deafness
can be caused by dominant genes, recessive genes or sex linked genes.
Maternal rubella is also known to cause deafness. Maternal rubella refers
to a viral infection also called German measles. If the expectant mother
suffers from this disease during the first three months of pregnancy, the
baby may be born with hearing impairment
Prematurity. Prematurity refers to cases when babies may be born before
term are more likely to suffer hearing impairment than full term babies.
Rhesus incompatibility (Rh)
The Rh factor affects the babies who have a different blood group from the
mother. For example if the mother is Rh –ve and the foetus is Rh +ve there
will be incompatibility. The mother’s blood senses the foetus blood as
something foreign and produces antibodies that fight the babies blood
stream. The baby who has suffered the incompatibility will become
anaemic due to the destruction of the red blood cells. The anaemia will
cause reduced oxygen supply in the foetal or neonatal brain. One of the
complications which may arise from this could b hearing impairment.
Meningitis. Meningitis is a viral infection which causes inflammation of
the meninges
If this condition is not checked early it causes brain damage and one likely
complication it may cause in hearing impairment. It is estimated that 8.1%
of children loose their hearing after birth due to meningitis
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Otitis media. Otitis media is an infection that causes fluid to accumulate
in the middle ear. If the condition is chronic or untreated it can create mild
or moderate hearing losses.
11.11.4 Characteristics of the haring impaired children
Hearing impaired children do not hear speech. Consequently they do not
acquire oral language. Intellectually, some deaf children could have
superior intelligence, others normal, average, while others may be
mentally handicapped.
What are some of the signs of hearing impairment?
Some of the signs of hearing problems are turning one ear towards the
speaker, favouring one ear in conversation when the speakers face cannot
be seen. Omission of consonant sounds. Other indicators include; not
following directions, seeming distracted or confused at times, frequently
asking people to repeat what they have said, mispronouncing new words
or names or being reluctant to participate in class discussions.
Some of the physical problems associated with hearing impairment are ear
aches, discomfort in the ears, stranger ringing or bizarre noses. Discharge
from ears or excessive heavy wax building in the ear canal also cause
hearing impairment. Frequent colds and sore throats are occasional
indicators of infections that could impair hearing.
11.11.5 How are hearing impaired children managed?
Over the years several approaches have been developed in the
management of hearing impaired children:
•
They have been trained in speech reading also called lip reading.
•
They have also been trained in sign language and finger spelling.
•
A combination of the manual method of communication and oral
methods has been known to yield fruits.
•
Today technological innovations such as teletypewriters and many
avenues of communication through email and the internet have
expanded communication possibilities for all the people with hearing
impairment.
11.12 THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Definition of the term blindness
Blindness is generally defined as visual activity for distance vision of
20/200 or less in the better eye with correction. Very simply a person will
be defined as blind if they can use an object that the normal sighted person
can see from 200ft at 20 feet. That means that a blind person has very
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close to the object in order to see it (20feet) while the normal person sees
it from 200 feet.
•
Blindness can also be defined from the perspective of the field of
vision. If the widest diameter of field of vision subtends on an angle
no greater than 20 degrees, the person is partially sighted.
•
A person with a visual accuracy greater than 20/70 in the better eye
with correction has low vision but can learn to read large print.
•
The educationally blind refer to those who cannot learn to read print
and who must use hearing and touch as the prominent learning
channels.
11.12.1 Causes of visual impairment
There are varied causes to visual impairment.
Infectious diseases like German measles, gonorrhea. If the expectant
mother contracts German measles during the first three months of
pregnancy, the child is likely to be born blind.
Hereditary factors. If the child has a genetic defect affecting
chromosomes 14-16 they are born with small or absent eyes. Accidents
and injury to the eyes also cause blindness.
Poisoning caused by the spitting cobra or other chemicals that are
harmful to the eyes are known to cause blindness
Tumours, these are growths in the brain which suppress the visual area
of the brain can cause blindness. Other prenatal and perinatal factors
11.12.2 Sums of Visual Impairment
The following are signs of visual impairment:
•
Children who have difficulty seeing will often hold books either very
close or very far from their eyes.
•
Some will tilt the head in making effort to see.
•
The teacher could also notice students with crossed eyes (strabism).
These students have eyes that lack coordination in focusing so that
they see with each eye individually.
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•
Other problems associated with visual impairment are rubbing eyes
frequently, squinting, displaying sensitivity to bright lights and or
being awkward in games requiring eye hand coordination.
Other characteristics of the visually impaired are;
•
Problems in mobility:-Whenever they are in new environments they
need mobility training so that they can get by independently. In a
way blindness affects speech with blind people speaking louder than
sighted people. Their speech is slower in rate and lacks modulations.
The blind people use less lip movement in articulation of sounds,
they also lack effective use of gestures and bodily actions typical of
the sighted.
11.12.3 The management of the visually impaired students
There are special materials and equipment that help visually impaired
students to function in regular classrooms. These include large print
typewriters, variable speed tape recorders, special calculators, the abacus,
three dimensional maps, charts, models and special measuring devices.
Instructions in Braille are also useful.
11.13 INTERVENTION
Intervention is a concept that involves identifying the child with handicaps
and helping that child in developing his maximum potentials.
When should intervention programmes begin?
Intervention should start early in child development. At least by age two
some problems should be noticeable. This is the best time to start
intervention. Intervention includes the following procedures
1.Observation
Identification of children with special needs begin with observation.
A teacher or parent can observe the child’s behavior and psychological
processes i.e. those with problems with hearing, sight, language
acquisition or deficits in certain processes and achievement of
developmental milestones. If any irregular patterns are observed in one
child. For example problems with sight or hearing then screening should
follow the initial observation.
Screening is a process used to find out whether the observed problem is
present in other children in the population. Children in a school or
neighbourhood can be screened. Screening helps to identify those children
who require further diagnosis in the school or locality. After screening
process diagnosis follows.
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Diagnosis is a procedure carried out by qualified medical personnel apart
from the parents and teachers. In Kenya examples of screening and
diagnosia are the free eye ear or dental services offered by certain bodies
of professionals. In the operation smile is one such body that deals with
children with cleft lip and palate.
Activity
Do Kenya families today shared the stigma associated with exceptional children?
Do you know of homes where these children are still hidden away from the public eye?
What impairing conditions are found predominantly in you area?
What in your opinion is the major cause of these impairments?
11.14 SERVICES FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
In Kenya today there are many services available for exceptional children.
1.Special schools and units
There are special schools and units of every category. Among them are
residential and day schools for various handicapped children. The units
attached to regular primary schools. For example there are primary
schools, which may have a class for mentally retarded or hearing-impaired
children. These children learn in their special unit but can play and
interact with the rest of children in the school. Mainstreaming or
inclusion/integration.
2.Grants
The governments provides grants for capital development and aid for the
expenses of learning school and units.
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3.Teachers and support staff
Teachers for exceptional children are trained at Kenya institute for special
Education at Kasarani, Nairobi. Kenyatta University and Maseno
University offer degree programs in special Education.
The government posts teachers to special schools and units. Some schools
employ teacher aides to assess special teachers. Some non-governmental
organizations run their own special schools and hire their own teachers.
11.14.1 Support staff
Education for exceptional children requires a teamwork approach. To run
an ideal special education program will require the following personnel
Physicians, psychologists, therapists, occupational and physiotherapists,
social nurses and teacher aides. Some categories of exceptional children
need house, mothers and resource persons. All these are very expensive
services.
11.14.2 The curriculum
Curriculum materials for exceptional learners are developed at the Kenya
Institute of Education. The institute has a special education department
with qualified staff in most areas of exceptionality. The Ministry of
Education Science and Technology has an Inspectorate department
charged with the responsibility of inspecting teachers and other services
offered to exceptional children.
11.14.4 Teacher training
Today both Kenyatta University and Maseno University are admitting
form four leavers who wish to take a Bachelors degree in Special Education
and those who also qualify for the joint Admissions boards. Form four
leavers who qualify for the university admissions criteria of C + and who
do not meet the criteria set by JAB may join the degree programs as selfsponsored candidates. Other people who qualify to take bachelors of
education (Special education are the mature entrants who were previously
P1 teachers with ‘O ’ or “A” level and who had three years of teaching
experience. These teachers took a two years diploma in Special education
at Kenya institute of special education KISE and many of them have
enrolled and graduated with Bed Special Education at Kenyatta
University. Some of them have graduated with Masters degree while others
are Ph.D holders today. Before KISE was established in 1985 special
education teachers were trained at Siriba, Kamwenja and Highridge
Teachers colleges).
Those teachers working in special school and who may not meet the
requirements of either Diploma or Degree courses are given three months
in-service courses at KISE. Also the inspectorate, special education section
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gives in-service courses for teachers and other workers in special schools
e.g. housemothers and fathers.
11.14.5 Placement and referral
In 1984 17 educational assessment and referral services were established.
Every district should have one assessment center. An assessment teacher
was posted to every district to assess children with suspected disabilities
and to make referral and placement of the child to special schools and
units. The assessment centers provide counseling services to parents of
the handicapped children. They prepare learning materials and collect
information about handicapped children in the district.
11.14.6 Coordination of services
The government coordinates all services for handicapped children through
the National Rehabilitation Committee in the Ministry of culture and social
services provide other services. There are also other various
agencies/societies which are actively concerned with various areas of
disabilities. These include;
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Kenya Society for Deaf Children
The Kenya Society of the Blind
The Kenya Society of the Mentally Handicapped
The association of the physically disabled of Kenya
11.14.7 Vocational Training
Some special schools offer vocational training as part of the 8.4.4
curriculum they teach such courses as leatherwork, agriculture, home
economics, woodwork and metal work. Skilled technicians are employed
to help the teachers in these programs. The Ministry of culture and social
services also manages vocational rehabilitation centers where courses
similar to those offered in youth polytechnics are offered.
11.14.8 Public Education and awareness
The government of Kenya and other agents have made a lot of effort to
educate the public about the needs of handicapped persons. Medical
services such as Radio, television and local newspapers have been used to
create awareness of handicapped persons needs. Among other things,
talents and capabilities of exceptional persons are exposed inculcating
positive attitudes among members of the public.
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11.15 SUMMARY
This lesson has introduced the student to the exceptional learner
Defined the exceptional child as that child who deviates from the norm to
such an extent that he requires a modification of the school services in order
to develop full potential
❖ The lesson has looked at the broad categories of exceptional children
❖ The classification of exceptional children has also been discussed in this
lesson
➢
➢
➢
➢
➢
The gifted
The mentally retarded
The learning disabled
The physically different children
The sensory impaired
❖ Causes of handicapped conditions as well as the management of
exceptional children have been addressed in this lesson
❖ The concept of intervention has been discussed
❖ Services available for exceptional children
11.16 KEY WORDS
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Cerebral palsy-This is a disorder affecting voluntary movement. The child
affected has problems with neuromuscular coordination caused by brain
damage before or during birth.
Hearing impaired children refer to the group of children who may have
partial hearing loss as well as those who are deaf.
Intellectually different-refers to those children who deviate from the norm
group in mental characteristics. This group includes those children who are
mentally retarded and therefore have lower I.Q. below 90. Lowered mental
functioning and adaptive behavior
The category also covers those children whose mental capacity is above the
norm group above 140 and who may be talented in special areas.
Intervention-refers to the identification of children with exceptional
conditions screening and diagnosing their cases which leads to the provision
of the necessary professional services as well as placement.
Learning-disabled children- This refers to those children who have
significant difficulties in listening speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or
mathematical skills. These difficulties are not attributed to mental
retardation nor are they attributed to environmental deprivation. They have
to do more with psychological processes than other factors.
Orthopedic cases. This group refers to those children who are physically
handicapped crippled or deformed.
Visually impaired children are those who are partially sighted or those who
are blind.
11.17 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Define the term exceptional children.
2. Give reasons why families with exceptional children maybe stigmatised
in your community.
3. Has your community developed a kind of language for the deaf people?
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4. Which category of exceptional people are accorded full social status in
your community. So that they can own property, get married and be
accorded social recognition so that they can sit on councils’ etc.?
5. What are the major causes of exceptionality in your community? Do you
know if any attempts to screen for any of the areas of exceptionalities in
your district?
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
.
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Cartwright, G.P. Cartwright, C.A. and Ward, M.E.(1981)Educating special
learners, Belmont, C.A. Wadsworth
Cruickshank, W.M.(1958) Education of Exceptional Children and Youth.
New Jersey prentice Hall, Inc Englewood Cliffs
Gage N.L. and Berliner, D. C.(1991). Educational Psychology. Toronto,
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Gardner, H.(1983). Frames of mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligences.
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Gibson, R. L., Mitchel M. H. (2003).
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Hallahan. D.P. and Hauffman J.M.(1976) Introduction to learning
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