PGDE 602: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Historical Perspective
The word psychology is derived from a combination of two Greek words “Psyche” and “logos”.
Psyche means “soul” and logos means “knowledge”. Thus psychology literally came to be known
as “the study of the soul”. The early thinkers (philosophers) ascribed the mental activities of human
being to a power that was not tangible and which was hidden from the outer senses. They called
this intangible power the soul. The soul was the main concern of both philosophy and religion.
The above definition was found to be inadequate for several reasons. First, it was rejected because
Aristotle and his associates could not satisfactorily explain the relation of soul to the body.
Secondly, it "was rejected due to dualism nature that involves the study of physical and spiritual
matters. Later on the word soul was replaced by the term mind. So psychology came to be known
as “the study of science of the mind.” Early Greek philosophers who were opposed to the earlier
definition of psychology held this definition. However, this definition did not last because by
calling itself a science, it was not automatic whether psychology was a positive or normative
science. Finally, the thinkers who used the term mind did not agree on its nature.
Psychology was later defined as “the science of consciousness”. In the view of James Sully,
psychology has to do with the inner world and has to employ introspection as its method. Wilhelm
Wundt (1879) was of the opinion that psychology being the study of consciousness deals with
internal experience which includes sensation, perception, thinking, reasoning and problem solving
behaviour. This definition was later on discarded on the ground that social thinkers who used the
word consciousness did not agree on its nature. Secondly, the definition did not include
unconscious and subconscious levels of the mind.
Later on, psychology was defined as the science of human behaviour. Watson, the founder of the
school of behaviourism, defined psychology as “a science of behaviour”. William McDougall
defined it as “a positive science of the conduct of living beings”. However, these definitions faced
some criticisms. Firstly by merely calling it a science, it is not clear whether psychology is a
positive or normative science. Secondly, Watson took a very narrow sense of behaviour. Behaviour
as Watson saw it was merely stimulus-response (S-R) connection.
In the words of Woodworth, psychology is “the scientific study of human behaviour and all
activities in relation to his environment”. Psychology, in the view of Woodworth, is a positive
science because it studies facts. The psychological judgments are factual. It is not concerned with
values, thought or axiological judgment.
It can be realised from the foregoing explanations that the definition of psychology has gone
through various changes during the short period that it has existed.
Therefore, psychology has a long past but a short history. However it was Wilhelm Wundt (1879)
who established the first ever psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany that led to the separation
of psychology from philosophy. The definitions that are going to be given below are therefore
some of the definitions of modern psychology.
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Lehey (1992) defined psychology as “the science of behaviour and mental processes”.
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Baron (1996) defined psychology as “the science of behaviour and cognitive processes”.
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Rathus (1993) defined psychology as “a scientific study of behaviour and mental
processes”.
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Rod Plotnik (1996) defined psychology as “the systematic, scientific study of' behaviour
and mental processes”.
There are three key terms common in the above definitions: science, behaviour and mental
processes. Psychology is considered as a science because psychologists' main concern is to
understand people's behaviour through carefully controlled observations. Also, it is a science
because it uses only those methods, which are strictly scientific, and which give us knowledge that
can be verified everywhere. It is therefore based on generalizations drawn on the basis of factual
data analysed and compared. Therefore psychology can be distinguished front mental philosophy
on the basis of its methods. It became a science when the earlier psychologists began to perform
experiments, make observations and seek evidence more or less like in pure or natural sciences.
The second term “behaviour” refers to all overt actions that can he observed directly such as
speaking, laughing, facial expressions, etc.
Lastly, but by no means the least, “mental process” refer to experiences and higher
mental/cognitive processes such as sensation, perception, learning, memory, intelligence,
emotions, imagination, etc. In conclusion, Psychology is defined as scientific study of human
behaviour and mental process
Definition of Educational Psychology
Educational psychology is a very broad field of applied psychology that utilises the theories,
methods, and instruments of psychological science for educational purposes. It is a combination
of two different fields: education and psychology. Perhaps it is better to explain these two fields:
education is a field of study that deals with training and giving instruction especially to children
and young people in schools and colleges or universities that are designed to give knowledge and
develop required skills.
The educational psychologist is involved in a wide variety of activities such as research,
educational testing, counselling and guidance, consultation with teachers and parents and working
with children with special needs. The educational psychologist is interested in the fundamental
laws of human behaviour as well as in their application to education. Despite its wide scope,
educational psychology is concerned with 3 basic questions:
Focal areas of educational psychology
There are three focal areas in education that concern educational psychologists as well as teachers
that we shall explain in this section.
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The learner
In any learning situation, the learner occupies the first place. Without learners, teaching activities
cannot take place. The term learner simply means pupils or students whom individually or
collectively make up the classroom setting. Teaching in the classroom to a larger extent depends
on the personalities, emotional state, developmental stages, cognitive development, and psychosocial problems of learners in the classroom. Thus, for teaching to be effective a teacher must have
indepth knowledge about these qualities in addition to the potentialities of the learners.
The learning process
The learning process is the process by which people acquire changes in their behaviour, improve
performance, reorganise their thinking or reasoning, discover new ways of solving problems, new
concept formation, etc. All the activities that one does in the process of acquiring new information,
ideas, skills, techniques and habits can best be described as the learning process. The learning
process can be directly observed as in when learners learn how to write, draw, solve arithmetic;
talk, etc, or it can as well be indirectly observed as in thinking, reasoning, remembering, problem
solving and perception. What concerns educational psychologists is the way in which this learning
process takes place. They are eager to find out and know what happens when students learn and
why they learn.
The learning situation
This refers to the learning environment in which learning takes place and in which learners find
themselves. All the situational factors and personal factors that surround learning activities form
the learning situation. These may include the classroom setting, the emotional climate of the
classroom, school and the attitude the community has towards the school activities. In some
situations, learning is facilitated when teachers have a sympathetic attitude, when classrooms are
well ventilated, sitting arrangement is conducive, and learners have affection towards each other.
On the other hand in some situations, the learning process is impeded when the teacher is harsh, a
learner has unsympathetic colleagues, the community is unsympathetic and school surrounding is
unconducive and the school authority does not care about the welfare of learners. Therefore, the
educational psychologist is interested in finding out which environment positively facilitates
learning and which does not.
Influence of heredity and environment on behavior
Heredity
All species transmit characteristics from one generation to the other through the mechanism of
genetics. It implies that every human being carries genetic traits that one inherits from their parents.
This implies that each of us has a genetic code that we inherited from our parents which is located
within every cell in our body. It is because of the human genetic code that a fertilized human egg
cannot grow into a sheep, hen, goat, cow or fish. Heredity therefore is the transmission of traits
from one generation to the other.
The genetical instructions come about as a result of a single cell that is formed after fertilization
has taken place. The single cell is responsible for housing the entire genetic code. The single cell
later on grows into a person made of trillions of cells, which contain a perfect replica of the original
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genetic code. The nucleus of each human cell contains 46 chromosomes, which are thread like
structures that are 23 pairs. Each parent therefore contributes 23 chromosomes. Chromosomes
consist of an important genetic substance called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with associated
molecules that have genetic information. Genes, which are units of hereditary information, are
segments of the DNA in a chromosome. This implies that DNA is made up of genes. Genes act as
a blueprint for cells to reproduce and manufacture proteins that are necessary to sustain life.
Gametes are the human reproductive cells that are created in the testes of males and ovaries of
females. The male gametes contain XY chromosomes while female gametes contain XX
chromosomes. The loss or gain of genes is determined by either dominant or recessive genes in
which case the dominant always wins. However, the recessive genes may stay in the cell and when
given a chance, then they may manifest on the subsequent generations. This is precisely why a
particular characteristic can remain within a family for several generations before it appears. For
instance, a family may have a dominant gene for shortness and recessive tallness. Therefore, if
the gene for shortness is crossed with the one for tallness, then the offspring will be short but the
gene for tall ness (tall children) will only show when crossed with each other (gene for tallness
crossed with another gene for tallness.
Heredity alone does not act solely to determine the way development takes place in an individual.
Environment is also an important factor in development. It’s effect is realized immediately one
comes into the world. Environmental factors such as home, school, church, playmates or peers are
quite influential in determining the way one behaves or develops.
Influence of Environment on human behaviour
Environment refers to “all the non-genetic factors that can have effect on an individual’s
development”. Environment includes a multitude of variables that an individual comes into contact
with after heredity pattern has been transmitted to the offspring.
The impact of the immediate cell environment on the genes, the effects of nutrition and medical
care, learning, socio-economic status, the influence of church, playmates, geographical locations,
family dynamics, school and cultural contexts are all parts of the environment. Environment in
this context includes everything one comes into contact with at every point of life from the first
prenatal moments to the last heartbeat.
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CHAPTER TWO: LEARNING
Learning has been defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as the result
of prior experience. This definition has three important key terms:
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Change in behaviour: learning involves a change for better or worse.

Change takes place through practice or experience; changes due to growth or maturation
are not learning.
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Before it can be called learning, the changes must be relatively permanent. What one
learns is relatively permanent because it can be changed by future experience.
Learning therefore is considered to be a modification of behaviour through experience. It is a
mental activity by means of which knowledge, skills, habits, attitudes, etc, are acquired and then
utilised. This results in a progressive adaptation and modification of behaviour.
Classical conditioning theory of learning
Classical conditioning is the process of repeatedly associating a previously neutral stimulus with
an unconditioned stimulus in order to produce a conditioned response.
This theory was propounded by a Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 -1936).In his
experiments, Pavlov observed that when food is given to a dog, the dog will salivate. This is the
unconditioned response (UCR). Pavlov paired the presentation of food with the sound of the bell.
After a number of these pairings, the sound of the bell caused the dog to salivate even in the
absence of food. The dog had learned to salivate to a new stimulus. This learning is one type of
conditioning.
Before conditioning, the bell was a neutral stimulus; it was not associated with any particular
behaviour by the dog. After sufficient pairings of the bell and food, Pavlov’s dogs would salivate
with the sound of the bell alone. The bell that was formerly a neutral stimulus becomes a
conditional stimulus (CS) and the salivation response is then a conditioned response (CR), since
its association with the bell and food were paired; that is, the bell, too, could elicit a regular
response. However, the dog after sometime stopped salivating with the sound of the bell because
there was no reinforcement (food). This behaviour is referred to as extinction. Also, Pavlov noticed
that after a certain period, the dog salivated again when the bell was rung. This behaviour of the
dog was due to spontaneous recovery, that is, as a result of remembering the earlier learning. When
the dog learnt to respond to the conditioned stimulus (CS) the bell, it could not discriminate other
stimuli. But later, the dog learned to distinguish the sound of the bell from other sounds hence it
learnt to discriminate other sounds.
Applications of classical conditioning theory in teaching
1. Teachers should avoid presenting fear-eliciting stimuli such as ridicule, bitter remarks, open
hostility in the classroom, etc, otherwise learners may learn (be conditioned) to fear or hate
school because of painful experiences.
2. In stimulus discrimination, Pavlov noticed that the dog restricted its responses to one stimulus
that had been reinforced while responses to other stimuli had not. The implication for a teacher
is that when teaching, he/she should identify the most important aspects of the lesson and
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5.
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emphasize them. Also, a teacher should give a clear distinction of similar concepts or topics
so that learners are able to distinguish between them.
In order for the dog to be conditioned, Pavlov made several pairings of the bell and food.
Therefore, the implication for a teacher here is that he/she should give learners more
opportunities to use and repeat the knowledge they have acquired.
A teacher should apply the principle of extinction in a classroom situation by reinforcing
desired behaviours and extinguishing undesired ones. For instance, good performance in the
lesson should be paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal praise, prizes and good
grades.
In spontaneous recovery, Pavlov noticed that after the dog had rested it would still elicit a
response that had been extinguished. The dog would recall its earlier learning. The classroom
implication for a teacher here is that he/she should give pause to learners and afterwards
resume. This enhances internalisation of learnt material.
To maintain connection for longer periods, teachers should again review learnt materials just
as Pavlov made the dog use the earlier conditioned stimulus after it had rested by ringing the
bell again.
Operant conditioning theory
Operant conditioning refers to a kind of learning process whereby a response is made more
probable or more frequent by reinforcement. It involves the use of pleasant consequences to control
the occurrence of behaviour. It helps in the teaching of operant behaviour, which is necessarily
associated with a known stimulus. This theory is different from Pavlov’s classical conditioning in
that here behaviour is reinforced or rewarded after it has occurred but in classical conditioning it
is rewarded or reinforced as it occurs.
This theory was put forward by Skinner (1932). He derived this theory as a result of carrying out
experiments on animals. He put a hungry rat into a box (Skinner Box) with a bar and a cup
underneath the bar. The rat had to learn to press the bar, which released food pellets into the cup.
The rat began to explore until it happened to press the bar and pellets of food dropped into the cup.
After a few accidental bar presses, the rat started pressing the bar frequently receiving food
reinforcement each time. Therefore, in operant conditioning, a rein forcer is an event that follows
a response and increases its probability. The principle of reinforcement in the classroom may seem
obvious but in practice it is not easy as it appears.
Educational implications of operant conditioning theory of learning
1. Teachers should decide what behaviour they want from students and reinforce when such
behaviour occurs. Praise or reward good work done, do not reward or praise work that is not
up to a student’s capability.
2. Learning objectives should be defined very specifically in terms of behaviour.
3. Teachers should be aware of the timing of reinforcement. Obviously, it is impossible to
reinforce all good behaviour, but if a teacher decides that a certain behaviour is critical, then
he/she should reinforce it immediately just as the rat would immediately receive reinforcement
after pressing the bar in the operant conditioning experiment.
4. Punishment may cause more problems than it solves. A teacher should use it carefully,
although there are occasions when nothing else can suffice. If possible, let the offending
student do something else.
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5. If a teacher punishes a student, he/she should later let the student do something that can lead
to being positively reinforced. Punishment should not produce hostile and defiant students who
will see teachers as punishing agents.
6. A teacher should provide feedback on progress and link rewards with progress.
7. In the operant conditioning experiment whenever the rat pressed the bar it received
reinforcement. Therefore teachers should not reinforce behaviours in class in a haphazard
manner. Each correct response of a learner should be reinforced.
Cognitive Theory of Learning
This theory was put forward by Gestalt psychologists namely: Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka,
and Wolfgang Kohler .Gestalt is a German word that means ‘configuration or pattern’.
According to Gestalt psychologists, learning is the organisation of precepts and purposes by the
learner. Cognitive learning psychologists give importance to cognition (perception in learning).
This theory focuses on the fact that people learn not by associating bits of experiences, but by
forming/seeing new patterns and organizing them into a meaningful whole in total situation.
When an individual struggles with a problem, the solution may come all of a sudden. This quick
change in perception is called insight. The theory was developed as a result of conducting an
experiment with an ape (Chimpanzee) called Sultan.
To demonstrate insight learning, Kohler placed a chimpanzee, sultan, in a cage next to which a
banana was just beyond the bars of the cage. Sticks were put in the cage that could be used to rake
the food to within the chimpanzee’s reach. The process of learning to reach the food was slow, but
it was eventually accomplished when the chimpanzee joined two sticks together. The first joining
of the sticks appeared to be almost accidental; it occurred when two sticks happened to be placed
approximately end-to-end.
The chimpanzee was then able to perceive the relationship and use the two sticks as a single tool
to reach the food. The process of perceiving relationships is termed as insight. Human learning
and perception according to Gestalt psychologists are influenced by the way stimuli are arranged
and their arrangement may have more meaning than the stimuli themselves. In cognitive theory of
learning, the learner is considered as already having a complex of attitudes and skills from his
previous experiences.
The learner therefore, perceives the learning as a whole or as a configuration and then responds to
the elements of the configuration that he sees as being significant to him. In so doing, he organizes
the stimuli in the learning situation into a meaningful pattern. Therefore, according to Gestalt
theory, learning is not a mere linking of associations in the learner’s mind but it involves
rearrangement of the previous ideas and experiences acquired into the present environment hence
forming patterns of thoughts.
Educational implications of the theory
1. A teacher teaching should emphasize meaningfulness and understanding of material. The
examples and illustrations given should be related to relevant situations so that the material
has meaning to the learner. For instance, historical facts will have little meaning unless
related to current events or to something important.
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2. To enhance productive thinking, a teacher should organize the lesson in such a way that
learners are able to make their own discoveries.
3. The teacher should organise learners’ experiences or prior knowledge into meaningful
patterns so that the learners gain insight of what is being imparted to them.
4. When planning a lesson, a teacher should bear in mind starting with familiar concepts and
basing each step on things that students already have prior knowledge or experience or
perception of.
5. A teacher should avoid mechanical instead his/her lesson structure should be based on
comprehension/ understanding as opposed to mere memorization.
Transfer of learning
The goals of education demand more than mastery of classroom topics. If students can learn and
retain what they have learnt, then they must take their new knowledge with them when they leave
school. Whether for personal accomplishment, professional skills or social adjustment, students
should transfer what they learnt to different situations.
Transfer of learning is the application or carrying over skills, habits, attitudes or other responses
from one situation in which they were initially acquired to some other situations where they are
applicable. For transfer to take place there must be something in common between the earlier
learning and the situation in which it is to be made
Types of transfer
There are various forms of transfer of learning some of them are:
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Positive transfer: This occurs when knowledge and skills acquired in one domain
facilitates learning of another to an extent that the learner gains from the previous learning.
For example, leaning Maths may facilitate learning of Physics.
Negative transfer: This happens when what is learned in one situation hinders or interferes
with or inhibits learning in another another situation. It occurs when stimuli are similar and
responses are different. For instance there is a negative transfer when an English speaking
student wishes to learn French language and transfers his/ her English pronunciation to
French pronunciation.
Zero transfer: It occurs when the previous learned task does not facilitate or hinder
learning of subsequent task. For example, learning of mathematics does not facilitate or
affect learning of History language.
Lateral transfer: This is the application of general of knowledge or skills to a new
situation; one that is different from the original situation in which the knowledge or skills
were acquired.
Vertical transfer
This is a situation whereby learning at one (lower) behavioral level facilitates learning at a
higher behavioral level in a vertical manner. For instance, comprehension of addition and
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subtraction of facts would facilitate the subsequent solution of problems when these
operations are utilized in more complex arithmetic calculations.
Educational implications of transfer of learning
Below are some of the ways that can be used to help increase students’ transfer of learning.
 A teacher should provide a variety of circumstances that actually encourage students to
transfer/apply the knowledge and skills acquired. He/she should also foster transfer in
class discussions, assignments, examinations, tests etc .
 A teacher should ensure that the material he/she teaches is well organized. This is because
more organized and meaningful material is more easily transferred.
 Discussion should be held in class with students about situations where subjects being
studied can be of importance. For example, a teacher may tell students the courses they
can do at university that are in line with the subjects they are doing at O-level or A-level
 Teachers should emphasize similarity between class work and the transfer situation. For
example, if an English teacher teaches phonetics, he/she should be sure that the letters or
words being taught have the same form with what students will see in text books, exams,
etc
Factors that may influence learning
There are many factors that may affect learning some of them include.
Teacher – student and student – student relationships: Although not all students can have good
relationships with their teachers, teachers should be aware that poor relationships greatly a affect
a student’s academic performance. Poor relationships cause anxiety and conflicts, which are
detrimental to effective learning. Students who hate a teacher, or who are hated by the teacher,
psychologically become disturbed and cannot learn properly. Students’ problems become worse if
their fellow students also reject them for some reason. However, this does not mean that teachers
must adjust their personalities to suit each individual student in class, but a positive attitude
towards students and their problems will help a lot. Teachers who create conducive atmosphere
for learning, for instance, a warm, friendly and inspire and motivate their learners, will reduce the
occurrence of learning problems in class.
Learning milieu (Classroom environment). This is one of the most important factors that affect
learning. It involves aspects such as class size, seating facilities, temperature, building facilities,
lighting, ventilation, etc.
 Class size: An excessively large class, particularly when it is overcrowded
in the space available, affect both the social and instructional aspects of the
classroom environment. Big classes make it difficult for a teacher to cater
for individual differences of learners and effectively manage the
classroom.. It limits teachers’ ability to regularly assess the progress of
his/her learners.
 Noise: The teaching /learning process may not properly take place in a
noisy environment Excessive noises such as traffic noises, talking
emanating from within and outside the classroom within the classroom can
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be distracting. However, this does not mean that a teacher maintains a silent
class, as it would suppress student participation in the learning process.
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Ventilation: Too much air and too little air can influence the teaching/
learning process. Too little air caused by overcrowding or lack of proper
ventilation is unhealthy and may lead to suffocation of learners. Too much
air caused by windows and doors without shutters can greatly affect the
teaching/ learning process.
Seating facilities: Whether there are enough seats in the classroom, what
kind of seating, and how it is arranged, can affect social interaction and
teaching learning process. Desks which are too close in a classroom,
allowing no free movement of the teacher, affect the teaching /learning
process.
Temperature: Unfavourable weather conditions also affect the teaching /
learning process. For example, too cold or too hot weather conditions make
it difficult for students to concentrate and to participate fully in the leaning
process.
Lack of interest in the subject. Students may not be active in classroom if they have no interest
in the subject. Although students may be weak in some subjects, teachers who lack motivation
skills may make learners to develop a negative attitude towards such subjects.
Family economic status of the learners. Children from well –to – do families are provided with
the necessary scholastic materials and other facilities, pay school fees in time and have enough
time to concentrate at school. On the other hand, children from poor families face hardships that
deter them from concentrating at school. For instance, they often report to school late and are sent
back in the middle of the term to collect school fees. At home they have to work after school to
add to the meagre family income. This makes it difficult for them to concentrate both at school
and home.
Age. The development of intelligence is closely related to age. Generally, as one grows from
childhood to adolescence his/her intelligence level increases. After adolescence, one’s memory
declines. Likewise our sense of perception tends to decline with age. That is why young children
are more able perceive and recall information than old people. On the other hand, old people due
to experience tend to be more knowledgeable about certain issues than young people.
Sex. According to Maccoby (1996), the level of intelligence between men and women is the same.
However, research has shown that girls possess a higher reading ability than boys and boys are
more likely face problems in reading than girls. As far as physical development is concerned, girls
generally mature much earlier than boys. This means that girls tend to develop certain abilities
earlier than boys and therefore are likely to do better in schools than boys.
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Parents’ attitude towards school. Parents who do not value education tend to develop a negative
attitude towards schooling. Such parents sometimes influence their children by not only leading to
their irregular attendance but also develop negative attitude towards school.
Nutrition. Students who feed poor become tired very easily at school. They strain their digestive
systems in a way that calories that could be profitably spent in the learning situation are inadequate.
This leads to dosing and being inattentive in classroom.
Length of the learning content. Cramming students with too much learning content in a too short
a period greatly affects learning. It does not allow learners to understand and internalize the
material given to them.
Meaning and relevance .Learning can be effectively executed when learners are able to
understand the various concepts and principles covered. Memorisation of material without
understanding should be avoided. There should be relevance of material to the learner’s interest
because learners are more ready to respond to materials that meet their needs and which fit well
with their already established interests. Meaning and relevance can be enhanced through:
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Teachers being able to relate past knowledge to their current situation.
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Teachers being able to select, organise and present materials in a logical sequence.
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Teachers being consistent and avoiding controversies.
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Teachers motivating learners through reinforcement and assessment.
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Teachers tailoring material to the learners’ level  the approach being from the general
to specific.
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The lesson should be relevant to the needs of the learner. Complexity of materials. Bruner
(1978) was of the view that ‘any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually
honest form to any child at any stage of development.’ He revealed how stimulus is
identified depending on the needs and desires of the perceiver. Even then, the material
being taught should be presented at the learner’s level of development from simple to the
complex or from the known to unknown. The teacher should break complex parts of the
task to simpler forms so that learners can understand the subject matter.
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Practicability. Learners should participate actively in the learning process and the subject matter.
This requires that schoolwork should be tied to dimensions like prestige, success, occupation, etc.
Competence of the teacher. The teacher must be competent and confident, be able to command
attention and the respect of the class for effective learning to take place. Professionally trained
teachers can achieve that as compared to their untrained counterparts though this is not necessarily
so. One’s competence can also come from one’s initiative and efforts put into teaching. Any
competent teacher develops his/ her own ways of recognising the needs currently felt by his/her
students and then guide them into and through experiences designed to result in learning that will
satisfy these needs.
Motivation and emotions .Motivation is the impetus to excel while emotions are internalised
feelings based on personal and external factors. Therefore, motivation involves the manipulation
of incentives and goals, creating a proper atmosphere, arousing emotional interest and inducting a
pleasant state of satisfaction in the learners. The secret of successful teaching is to discover means
of making learners like and want to do things that the teacher wants them to do.
Teachers should motivate learners through constant evaluation and fostering or reinforcing the
right motive as well as positive emotions. Rein forcers are stimuli that increase the strength of
response; these can be positive or negative reinforcements in the learning situation that include
praise, pleasant symbols and facial expressions. These should be utilised in class to enhance
learning. Punishment should be avoided because it may discourage learners from learning
activities.
Socio-economic status
This can be considered by measures taken in relation to family income, residential area, social
facilities or amenities, occupation and educational level of parents. These factors can impede
learning if they are not well balanced. Learners, who come from high socio-economic status
families may look down upon those who come from low socio-economic status, subsequently it
may have negative effects on the latter. Hence frustration and poor performance. For proper and
effective learning to occur, it is necessary to eliminate differences in aspirations between poor and
rich students.
Individual differences
This may be manifested in the area such as physical attributes, level of motivation, emotional
development, maturational status, socio-economic backgrounds, intellectual ability (I Q), etc. All
these have a bearing on the eventual performance of learners in a given task or assignment. The
severity will depend on how seriously they are perceived by learners. The single most significant
area in individual differences which teachers should take into consideration is the intellectual
ability of learners. However, heredity and environmental factors are instrumental in causing
individual differences. We discussed the nature versus nurture in Module 9 ‘Developmental
Psychology’ so you can refer to it. The goal of a teacher is to accept learners as they are and guide
them in achieving and realising maximum possible development of intellectual skills. There is
little a teacher can do to change inherited characteristics, however, a conducive learning
environment can foster intellectual growth because poor environmental conditions can impair
learners’ cognitive functions.
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