PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

LESSON 1: THE OVERVIEW:

LEARNER CENTERED
APPROACH

LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH
Learner centered teaching is an approach
that places the learner at the centre of the
learning. This means that the learner or
student is responsible for learning while the
tutor/teacher is responsible for facilitating CURRICULUM AND ITS IMPORTANCE
the learning. This is also known as student- IN LEARNER CENTERED APPROACH
centered learning. This learner-centered
approach is based on constructivist learning The curriculum provides a lot of help and
theory that put emphasis on learner’s role in assistance to the learners.
constructing meaning from new information
and prior experiences. The students will The curriculum gives students a written
choose what they will learn, how they will detail about the types of learning
learn and how they will assess their own experiences they need to acquire for
learning. Here students take a more active completing the expected learning objectives.
role. In a nutshell, a learner centered
approach is one where the complete The curriculum makes them familiar with
Learning experience is focused on the the learning objectives. This way it makes
learners. For example, the courses need to the tasks of learning purposeful and goal
be very user-friendly, so that learners can oriented. This purposefulness makes them
navigate the course without any difficulty. motivated towards learning as they are
They should be able to easily access the aware of the types of behavioral changes
content of their choice, and skip the sections expected as learning outcome from the study
they are not interested in. Likewise, learners of a particular subject or doing a certain
should find the courses relevant to their activity to complement learning.
challenges and learning needs. The courses
should include real life examples that A properly developed curriculum is
learners can relate to. In this kind of accompanied by the resource materials
approach, student-centered learning requires needed to supplement it. These resources
the student to be active, responsible include suggested experiments, learning
participants in their own learning and with activities, projects, assignments, references
their own pace of learning. etc. These materials are equally important
for both teachers and learners.

A curriculum is a properly developed

framework of the teaching-learning process.
It includes learning objectives that should be
known to the learners. When learners are
aware of the learning objectives they can
plan, execute and evaluate them for the

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PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
realization of the learning outcome of the •Makes learning more fun.
course being studied. •Boosts performance at work. A typical
learner centered Learning course will have a
Hence a properly developed curriculum can
help the learner in their learning process lot of scenarios, case studies, role plays, etc.
from beginning to end for the realization of For example, if an organization is training
the set learning objectives. its employees on quality guidelines or
industry best practices, a learner centered
Realization of these learning objectives course with a lot of engaging and interactive
results in overall growth and development in
content will help learners grasp the content
all the aspects and dimensions of their
personality. more effectively. This way, learners are
more likely to apply their learning at work,
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES leading to improved on-the-job
OF LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH performance.
•Advantages •Disadvantages
•Improved participation. A learner centered •It often relies on the teacher’s ability to
approach addresses all the essential needs of create materials appropriate to learner’s
learners, ensuring learners get a personalized expressed needs.
and convenient Learning experience. For •It requires more skill on the part of the
example, if a certain learner group prefers teacher as well as their time and resources.
games and exercises, the courses should be •It is often difficult for teachers to make an
made more interactive. Similarly, if learners acceptable balance among competing needs
are more likely to access the course content and interests of students.
on tablets or mobiles, the courses should be •In terms of man, material and resources this
designed to support this need. Due to the approach could be a luxury that learners
minute attention paid to learner’s needs, often can not afford.
learner centered courses ensure greater
participation in Learning.
•Improves retention of knowledge. Given
LESSON 2: METACOGNITION
that a learner centered approach places high
emphasis on relevance and engagement, it
Metacognition
greatly influences learners’ interest levels.
•This approach to curriculum gives power to is considered a critical component of
learners. successful learning ‘…themselves through
•Facilitates personalizes learning. metacognitive strategies such as adapting ,
•Students see their needs clearly reflected in monitoring , self-regulation. If we want
students to develop into critical thinking,
the classroom, which is very motivating. lifelong learners, we need them to develop
•It creates a direct link between classwork metacognitive skills. Metacognition is vital
and the learner’s needs. for helping students become self-directed
•Learners can easily transfer new skills in learners (both self-managers and
day to day activities. selfstarters). It will help them navigate the
•It encourages learners persistence. complexities of a changing world and it will

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PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
help them as they engage in creative work. People debate about which subjects will
In this blog post, we explore how to make prepare kids for the future – whether it’s
that happen. engineering or coding or philosophy. But I
love way A.J. Juliani puts it, “Our job as
Navigating the Maze teachers is not to ‘prepare’ kids for
something; our job is to help kids learn to
• We live in an era where robotics and prepare themselves for anything.” This is
artificial intelligence will replace many of why metacognition is so important. When
our current jobs. Global connectivity will students have strong metacognition skills,
continue to allow companies to outsource they are able to anticipate change and
labor to other countries. Our students will navigate complexity. But that doesn’t
likely change jobs every five to seven years. always happen. According to a Pascarella
The corporate ladder is gone and, in its and Terenzini study, one of the most
place,, is a complex maze. They will inhabit significant challenges college students face
a world of constant change. But how do we is managing their own learning. However, it
help students navigate that maze? goes beyond success in college and career. If
we want students to become lifelong
learners, they need to know how to own
their learning; which means they need to
know how to think about thinking.

How Does Metacognition Work?

We often hear that our current students will

work in jobs that don’t exist right now. But
here’s another reality: our current students
will be the ones who create those jobs. Not
every student will create the next Google or
Pixar or Lyft. Some students will be
engineers or artists or accountants. Some
will work in technology, others in traditional • It starts with the ability to assess the task at
corporate spaces and still others in social or hand. Here, students have a clear picture of
civic spaces. Some of them will work in what they need to accomplish. This part
high-skilled manufacturing. But no matter sounds easy. However, this goes beyond
how diverse their industries will be, our simply reading instructions. It includes the
students will all someday face a common ability to integrate prior knowledge with
reality. They will need to be self-starters and new knowledge and make connections
self-managers. between direct instruction and a new tasks.
If a task feels too complicated, students can
The Critical Role of Metacognition become overwhelmed and give up. Other
times, they might oversimplify the task or
get hung up on one specific detail.

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PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
How Does Metacognition Work? more effective in implementation, because
novices experience more initial mistakes.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• In the second phase, students evaluate their

own strengths and weaknesses. This can be
tricky if students have an inaccurate view of
their skills. Often, students who are highly • Students then take action and apply the
skilled will suffer Imposter Syndrome, strategies and monitor their progress, which
where they underestimate their skills leads to the next phase, where they reflect
because they are painfully aware of what on their learning and adjust their approach.
they don’t know. On the other hand, Here, they might determine new strategies
students with a lower skill level might that ultimately lead back to a re-assessment
experience the Dunning Kruger Effect, of the tasks. Effective problem-solvers are
where they overestimate their skills. more likely to adjust their approach by
highlighting what’s working and fixing
How Does Metacognition Work?
what’s failing while poor problem-solvers
are more likely to stick with an approach
that isn’t working.

How Does Metacognition Work?

• Afterward, students plan out their

approach. Note that this does not have to be
a detailed plan. In some cases, students
might visualize where they need to be and
what they need to do to get there. However,
it’s interesting that experts tend to spend
more time in planning than novices but are

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• This cycle can happen rapidly or over a • Two questions that kids can ask
longer stretch of time. And it doesn’t always themselves or that teachers can ask students
follow the sequence systematically. In some can help students become more
cases, it can almost feel so seamless that it’s metacognitive (see Perry, et al., 200)
invisible. However, even so, it is vital for
learning. • What did you learn about yourself as a
reader/writer/learner today?
NATURE AND OTHER PRINCIPLES OF
METACOGNITIVE FACTORS OF • What did you learn that you can do again
LEARNING. and again and again?

NATURE OF THE LEARNING PROCESS • Students, however, vary greatly in their

metacognitive abilities - some differences
GOALS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS are probably biological or variations in
learning experiences
CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
DISTINCTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE
STRATEGIC THINGKING AND METACOGNITIVE LEARNING
STRATEGIES
NATURE OF THE LEARNING PROCESS
Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies and
The learning of complex subject matter is skills are closely related in terms of them
most effective when it is an intentional both involving cognition and skill but they
process of constructing meaning from are conceptually distinct in at least one
information and experience. major way. Weinstein and Meyer state that a
cognitive learning strategy is a plan for
GOALS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS orchestrating cognitive resources, such as
attention and long term memory to help
The successful learner, overtime and with
teach a learning goal. This indicate that there
support and instructional guidance, can
are several characteristics of cognitive
create meaningful, coherent representation s
learning strategies, such as being goal-
of knowledge.
directed, intentionally, invoked, effortful,
CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE and are not universally applicable, but
situation specific.
The successful learner can link new
information with existing knowledge in DISTINCTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE
meaningful ways. AND METACOGNITIVE LEARNING
STRATEGIES
Individual differences in Metacognition
Metacognitive strategies appear to share
• Age 5 or 7. most of this characteristic with the
exemption of the last one since they involve
• They continue to improve throughout more universal application through focus
school years. upon planning for implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation. That is to say
• Developmental metacognitive strategies are not so situation
specific but involve generic skills essential

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PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
for adult, more sophisticated forms of emotions, care about others, make good
thinking and problem solving. decisions, behave ethically and responsibly,
develop positive relationships, and avoid
negative behavior.
LESSON 3: AFFECTION
` Eight skills of emotional competence
DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL, have been defined:
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES,
1. The awareness of one’s
CONTINUITY AND own emotions
DISCONTINUITY
2. The ability to discern and
understand other’s emotions

AFFECTION DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL 3. The ability to use the

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, vocaabulary of emotion and expression
CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY
4. The capacity for empathic
Affective development is the development and sympathetic involvement in others’
of emotions as well as their outward emotional experiences
expression that begins in infancy and
progresses throughout adolescence. 5. The ability to differentiate
Affective development is the development subjective emotional experience from
of emotions as well as their outward external emotion expression
expression that begins in infancy and
progresses throughout adolescence. It 6. The adaptive coping with
encompasses the awareness and discernment aversive emotions and distressing
of one’s emotions as well as those of others, circumstances
the ability to connect emotions to those of
7. The awareness of the
others, to display emotion, and to manage
nature and structure of emotional
one’s own emotions.
communication within relationships
Emotions involve three components:
The capacity for emotional self-efficacy
feeling, cognition, and behavior.
Just as children’s language and cognitive
Feeling is the physiological sensation development is accomplished as a result of
experienced; maturation and experience, so is their
affective development. As a newborn’s
Cognition relates subjective thoughts to senses are inundated by stimulation, his first
accompany the sensation; and emotional milestone is to feel peaceful
despite the stimulation. Within a short time
Behavior includes a variety of actions, such the infant takes an interest in what is
as facial display and body positioning that happening around him with the sights and
relate to the feelings and thoughts. sounds. A third emotional milestone is met
The underlying result of acquiring social- when the child realizes that the world
emotional learning skills could be described operates as cause and effect and that his
as learning to recognize and manage actions produce corresponding actions. This

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progresses to the realization that feelings During the early elementary school years,
and social behavior are connected. They children begin to learn to regulate their self-
learn their first social games like peek-a-boo conscious emotions such as embarrassment.
and also express “fake” crying to get While they tend to still lean on support from
attention. caregivers to help them cope in difficult
situations, they are beginning to be more
Toddlers express a wide variety of emotions, self-reliant on problem-solving solutions to
such as affection, jealousy, fear, frustration, some conflicts. By middle childhood years,
anger, guilt, and joy, and often demonstrate children prefer to solve their own problems
extreme emotional shifts. Their vocabulary if not too difficult or they learn to distance
themselves from the problems if necessary.
for communicating their feelings begins to
Preadolescent children aged 1013 years are
develop, and they are growing in their capable of generating multiple solutions and
ability to distinguish others’ emotions and strategies for dealing with stress. They are
the meanings behind them. As toddlers more aware of expected behavior to sustain
become more aware of their own emotional relationships. Adolescent teens become
responses, they are able to express early more aware of their emotions and develop
forms of empathy as well. Empathy has been better coping skills to deal with them.
defined as knowing what another is feeling,
feeling what another is feeling, and SOCIAL INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
responding compassionately to another’s
distress. Prosocial behaviors, such as Individuals differ not only in the ability to
helping, sharing, and comforting others make decisions, but also in the degree to
illustrate the development of empathy. which they respond adaptively to
uncertainty about those decisions.
During the preschool years, young children
are constantly trying to understand their own Definitions of individual differences point
and others’ behavior. They use the out the reality of traits that distinguish
information conveyed by others’ behavior, individuals. For example, The Encyclopedia
emotions, and perceived intentions to guide of Social Psychology (Baumeister & Vohs,
their own responses and behavior. Children 2007) defines individual differences in terms
of enduring psychological characteristics.
begin to enjoy pretend play and learn to
discern teasing behavior during these years. Individual differences are the more-or-less
To build successful relationships children enduring psychological characteristics that
need to have developed skills in self- distinguish one person from another and
regulation to be able to avoid conflict and thus help to define each person's
not hurt others’ feelings. Children less individuality. Among the most important
skilled will be more self-centered and react kinds of individual differences are
in less adaptive ways to promote a intelligence, personality traits, and values.
successful relationship. Children’s ability to The study of individual differences is called
regulate their emotions appropriately affects differential or trait psychology and is more
how well they are liked by their peers. commonly the concern of personality
Developing the capacity to control impulses psychologists than social psychologists.
helps children adapt to social situations and Individual differences are neither a fiction
follow rules. nor a nuisance; they are enduring

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psychological features that contribute to the people. For example, one could calculate the
shaping of behavior and to each individual's Introversion of a sample of engineers. One
sense of self. Both social and applied might want to do this to ascertain the
psychology can benefit by taking these
characteristics of a “typical” engineer, while
enduring dispositions into account.
recognizing that individual engineers will
The Sage Glossary of the Social and differ in respect to these characteristics.
Behavioral Sciences (Sullivan, 2009) has a CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY
definition of individual differences that is
particularly geared to learning. Continuity and discontinuity are two
theories in developmental psychology that
How individuals differ in traits such as attempt to explain how people change
skills, aptitudes, and abilities to learn and throughout their lives.
perform. Learners may vary in their
personalities, motivations, and attributions CONTINUITY – view says that change is
for their successes and failures when gradual. Children become more skillful in
learning—all of which may affect how and thinking, talking or acting much the same
why they learn. Additionally, they differ in way as they get taller
their preferences for learning and their
willingness to learn. Some traits may be DISCONTINUITY-view says development
more adaptive, whereas others are stable and as more abrupt a succession of changes that
less malleable, or resistant to change, produce different behaviors in different age
especially as an individual matures to specific life periods called stages.
adulthood. Examples of stable traits are
gender, culture, and race. Even education Some theories of development argue that
and age are considered as stable traits. Traits changes are simply a matter of quantity;
that may be more malleable, or adaptive, children display more of certain skills as
could include effort and attributions of they grow older. Other theories outline a
success and failure, among others. series of sequential stages in which skills
Individual differences may be considered in emerge at certain points of development.
making the learning environment
Most theories of development fall under
educationally appropriate, interesting, and
three broad areas:
relevant.
1. Psychoanalytic theories are those
A theme that typifies most definitions of
influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud,
individual differences is that individual
who believed in the importance of the
differences vary across people and thus
unconscious mind and childhood
distinguish individuals from one another. As
experiences. Freud's contribution to
the second definition demonstrates,
developmental theory was his proposal that
individual differences are sometimes
development occurs through a series of
malleable.
psychosexual stages.
It is also important to note that when scoring
Theorist Erik Erikson expanded upon
individual difference variables such as Freud's ideas by proposing a stage theory of
personality traits and learning styles, the psychosocial development. Erikson's theory
scores can be averaged for a group of focused on conflicts that arise at different

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stages of development and, unlike Freud's become evident during birth, and when a
theory, Erikson described development person reaches a certain age, for instance,
throughout the lifespan. during puberty, that is when the hidden
attributes begin showing up. The biological
Most theories of development fall under clock guides such characteristics, and when
three broad areas: the right time comes, the physical and
behavioral attributes mature and become
2. Learning theories focus on how the conspicuous. Such traits get programmed in
environment impacts behavior. Important a way that for them to grow visible, they
learning processes include classical will take a certain period to develop.
conditioning, operant conditioning, and Moreover, they are also dependent on other
social learning. In each case, behavior is biological factors within our bodies for them
shaped by the interaction between the to manifest. However, the traits still
individual and the environment. maintain the genetic combination and the
similarity of a specific lineage.
3. Cognitive theories focus on the
development of mental processes, skills, and Nature refers to an individual’s qualities
abilities. Examples of cognitive theories based on their genes
include Piaget's theory of cognitive
● Physical traits
development.
● Personality traits Etc.
● These traits stay the same regardless
LESSON 4: NATURE AND from where you were born and raised
NURTURE ● Encoded by;

Biological factors
NATURE.
Family Factors
Nature principle holds that biological
characteristics of individuals get inherited ● Examples of Nature: A girl was born
from the genetic makeup in their lineage. with brown hair because her parents
Character traits such as height, weight, hair was brown too. Therefore; her
vulnerability to certain illnesses and skin brown hair was inherited, Genetic
complexion are inherited and determined by diseases, Eye color, Hair color , Skin
the genetic combination of individuals. Such color and Height
biological combination is usually similar
amongst individuals who are blood relatives, NURTURE
and for this reason, they tend to have almost
a uniform genetic combination. Moreover, On the contrary, through nurture, an
other behavioral, mental and personality individual acquires specific attributes from
attributes are also a reflection of our genetic the environment that surrounds them. When
makeup and usually inherited from a child is born, for instance, its mind is black
individuals’ close blood relatives (Kong et and empty. It is through its interaction with
al. 2018). Through the traits, it is easier to the surrounding and the people around it that
identify closely related individuals just by will make the infant acquire some of their
looking at their appearance and conduct. traits through learning, observation and
Besides, specific characteristics do not aping their conducts. In other words,

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nurturing is dependent on the environment, behavior and personality attributes of
experience, and learning as the individual individuals. Nature is entirely dependent on
interacts with the environment with time the genetic combination of an individual
(Vazsonyi, Roberts, Huang & Vaughn,
which
2015). The way an individual was nurtured
or brought up will influence their aspect of
child development. Maturation will only dictates their character and appearance. On
affect biological development. The the other hand, nurture is dependent on the
environment plays a vital role in the environmental factors that an individual gets
development process. exposed to which end up shaping his or her
personality. Nature and nurture influence
· Nurture refers to all environmental individuals to a certain extent because
influences after conception, i.e. experience.” individuals get exposed to both of them in
one way or the other dictating their
· In other words, What an individual development process. Twins are often used
learns by its surroundings and experiences? in a variety of studies to uncover the truth
What an individual learns by its behind nature and nurture and which one
surroundings and experiences? takes more effect.

· Examples of Nurture:

Suppose a man had parents who both TWIN SEPERATED AT BIRTH CASE
consumed drugs on a daily basis, and their • In this case, researchers focused on
son began to use drugs as he got older identical twins who were separated at birth.
o This may have been a result of “nurture” • Were both adopted by different
families
Because; he was around this type of
environment and this is what he learned • They were raised apart
A child might observe and be taught how to • When they met they found that they
be poliet by saying “please” and “thank both shared many similiarities Suffered
you” Academic Achievement. headaches

Bit their nails Smoked Salems

NATURE VS NURTURE
Took up woodworking

Vacationed on the same beach in Florida

NATURE IN NURTURE IN
PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY
(Nativist) (Empiricists)
Nature and nurture is a hotly contested • Certain • We are they
argument concerning what influences the

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traits are inborn way we are because of be the way they are. A persons brains varies
and occur our experiences and is different in its own ways because of
naturally genes and environmental factors
because of your • Mind begins as
genes regardless a blank slate (tabula LESSON 5: BEHAVIORIST
from your rasa) PERSPECTIVE - PALLOV,
environmental WATSON, THORNDIKE,
influences • Characteristics
are as a result of SKINNER.
• learning
Philosophers Behaviorism
such as Plato and • Philosophers
Descartes such as John Locke by Watson,
suggested this were empiricists
theory Thorndike and skinner
DR. MARY JANE GUAN

INTRODUCTION
Is Human Behavior affected by Nature and
Nurture? This subject focuses on concept of
Behaviorist Perspective. The Behavioral
• Nature and Nurture both play a role
Perspective Behavioral psychology is a
in a persons traits, they both operate together
and somewhat equal perspective that focuses on learned
behaviors. Behaviorism differs from many
• For example other perspectives because instead of
emphasizing internal states, it focuses solely
• Many families have genetics that
on observable behaviors. It is important in
gives them a great advantage in musical,
mathematical, or verbal intelligences the field of education because is a
systematic approach to the understanding of
• However, this does not mean that you human and animal behavior. It assumes that
will have these advantages if you do not the behavior of a human or an animal is a
practice them. consequence of that individual's history,
• If you are raised in a home with no including especially reinforcement and
sign of music, math, or verbal punishment, together with the individual's
communication you will not develop these current motivational state and controlling
advantages since you are not exposed to stimuli.
them. What is BEHAVIORISM all about?
• It simply demonstrates that you have • Focuses on the study of observable and
a genetic possibility for being outstanding in measureable behavior. It emphasizes that
these areas. behavior is mostly learned through
conditioning and reinforcement (rewards
• There is no telling whether If nature and punishment).
or nurture takes a bigger role in a persons
life. Without either or, a person would not

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• Behavioral psychology is the study of A Russian psychologist, well know for his
external behavior work in classical conditioning or stimulus
substitution. Experiment involved meat, a
• Behavior is objective and observable dog and a bell.

• Behavior is the response of an organism

to stimuli

Study by Pavlov

Stimulus Generalization – once the dog has

learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it will
ACTIVITY salivate at other similar sounds.
How do you explain Behaviorism? • Extinction – if you stop pairing the
CONTRIBUTION OF THE FF: bell with the food, salivation eventually
cease in response to the bell
• Ivan Pavlov
• Spontaneous recovery – extinguished
• Edward L. Thorndike responses can be “recovered” after an elapse
time but it will soon extinguished again if
• John Watson the dog is not presented with food.
• Burrhus Frederick Skinner • Discrimination – the dog could learn
to discriminate between similar bells
(stimuli) and discern which bell would
result in the presentation of food and which
would not.

• Higher –Order Conditioning – once

the dog has been conditioned to associate
the bell with food, another unconditioned
stimulus, such as a light may be flashed at
the same time that the bell is rung.

Ivan Pavlov

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1. Learning requires both practice and
rewards (laws of effect/exercise)

2. A series of S-R connectionism can be

chained together if they belong to the same
action sequence (law of readiness)

3. Transfer of learning occurs because

of previously encountered situations.

4. Intelligence is a function of the

number of connections learned.

Edward L. Thorndike
is famous in psychology for his work on
learning theory that lead to the development
of operant conditioning within Behaviorism.
Whereas classical conditioning depends on
developing associations between events,
operant conditioning involves learning from • John Watson
the consequences of our behavior.
First American psychologist to work with
Connectionism theory gave us the original Pavlov’s ideas. He considered that humans
S-R framework of behavioral psychology. are born with a few reflexes and the
The main principle of connectionism was emotional reactions of love and rage.
that learning could be adequately explained
without considering any observable internal All other behavior is learned through
states stimulus-response associations through
conditioning.
Law of Effect - connection between a
stimulus and response is strengthened when Experiment on Albert
the consequences is positive (reward) and
• His work did clearly show the role of
the connection between the stimulus and the
conditioning in the development of
response is weakened when the consequence emotional responses to certain stimuli. This
is negative. may help us understand the fears, phobias
• Law of Exercise – the more S-R (stimulus and prejudices that people develop.
response) bond is practice the stronger it
will become. • Burrhus Frederick Skinner

Law of Readiness – the more readiness the • American psychologist and an

learner has to respond to the stimulus, the influential exponent of behaviourism, which
stronger will be the bond between them. views human behaviour in terms of
Principles Derived from Thorndike’s
responses to environmental stimuli and
favours the controlled, scientific study of
Connectionism

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responses as the most direct means of • Extinction or Non-reinforcement:
elucidating human nature. responses that are not reinforced are not
likely to be repeated.

• Shaping behavior - successive

approximation of the behavior are
rewarded.

• Behavior chaining - comes about

when a series of steps are needed to be
learned.
• Burrhus Frederick Skinner
• Reinforcement schedules – once the
• Believed in the S-R pattern of desired behavioral response is
conditioned behavior. accomplished, reinforcement does not have
to be 100%
• Wrote Walden Two (1948) and
Science and Human Behavior (1953) • Fixed interval schedule - target
response is reinforced after a fixed amount
Operant Conditioning of time has passed since the last
reinforcement.
• Studied operant behavior (voluntary
behaviors used in operating on the • Variable inter schedule – similar to
environmentBased upon the notion that fixed interval schedule but the amount of
learning is a result of change in overt time that must pass between reinforcement
behavior. Change in behavior are the result varies.
of individual’s response to event (stimuli)
that occur in the environment. • Fixed ratio schedule - fixed number of
correct responses must occur before
• Reinforcement - is the key element in reinforcement may recur.
Skinner’s S-R theory.
• Variable ratio schedule – number of
• Reinforcer – anything that strengthen correct repetitio9ns of the correct response
the desired responses. for reinforcement varies

• Positive reinforcer – any stimulus that Operant Conditioning

is given or added to increase the response.
• Operant conditioning, sometimes
• Negative reinforcer - any stimulus that referred to as instrumental conditioning, is
results in the increased frequency of a a method of learning that employs rewards
response when it is withdrawn or removed . and punishments for behavior. Through
A negative reinforcer is not a punishment, it operant conditioning, an association is
is a reward. made between a behavior and a
consequence
• Punishment - consequence intended to
result in a reduced responses (whether negative or positive) for that
behavior.1

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PED 5: FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
For example, when lab rats press a lever
when a green light is on, they receive a food
pellet as a reward. When they press the
lever when a red light is on, they receive a
mild electric shock. As a result, they learn to
press the lever when the green light is on
and avoid the red light.
1. Practice should take the form of
question (stimulus) - answer (response)
frames which expose the student to the
subject in gradual steps.

2. Require that the learner makes a

response for every frame and received
immediate feedback

3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the

questions so the response is always correct
and hence, a positive reinforcement.

4. Ensure that good performance in the

lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers
such as verbal praise, prizes and good
grades.

Principle derived from skinners operant

conditioning

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced

will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is
particularly effective.

2. Information should be presented in

small amounts so that responses can be
reinforced (shaping).

3. Reinforcements will generalized

across similar stimuli (stimulus
generalization) producing secondary
conditioning.

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