Learning
Learning can be defined in many ways, but most psychologists would agree that it is a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience. During the first half of the twentieth century, the school of thought known as behaviorism rose to dominate psychology and sought to explain the learning process.
The three major types of learning described by behavioral psychology are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism was the school of thought in psychology that sought to measure only observable behaviors.
Founded by John B. Watson and outlined in his seminal 1913 paper Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, the behaviorist standpoint held that psychology was an experimental and objective science and that internal mental processes should not be considered because they could not be directly observed and measured.
Watson's work included the famous Little Albert experiment in which he conditioned a small child to fear a white rat. Behaviorism dominated psychology for much of the early twentieth century. While behavioral approaches remain important today, the latter part of the century was marked by the emergence of humanistic psychology, biological psychology, and cognitive psychology.Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a learning process in which an association is made between a previously neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally evokes a response.
For example, in Pavlov's classic experiment, the smell of food was the naturally occurring stimulus that was paired with the previously neutral ringing of the bell. Once an association had been made between the two, the sound of the bell alone could lead to a response.
How Classical Conditioning Works
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the probability of a response occurring is increased or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment. First studied by Edward Thorndike and later by B.F. Skinner, the underlying idea behind operant conditioning is that the consequences of our actions shape voluntary behavior.
Skinner described how reinforcement could lead to increases in behaviors where punishment would result in decreases. He also found that the timing of when reinforcements were delivered influenced how quickly a behavior was learned and how strong the response would be. The timing and rate of reinforcement are known as schedules of reinforcement.
How Operant Conditioning Works
Observational Learning
Observational learning is a process in which learning occurs through observing and imitating others. Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that in addition to learning through conditioning, people also learn through observing and imitating the actions of others.As demonstrated in his classic "Bobo Doll" experiments, people will imitate the actions of others without direct reinforcement. Four important elements are essential for effective observational
3. Big goals
In this session, you will:
• Discuss how the social contexts of families, peers,
and schools are linked with socioemotional
development.
4. SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF
DEVELOPMENT
• In Bronfenbrenner’s theory, the social
contexts in which children live are important
influences on their development.
• Families, peers, and schools are three of the
contexts in which children spend much of their
time
5. Families
• Literature review proposed four parenting
styles:
1- Authoritarian
2- Authoritative
3- Neglectful
4- Indulgent
6. Activity 1: (10 min)
• What parenting style(s) have you witnessed
and experienced?
• What effects did they have?
Families
7. Families
• Authoritarian parenting: A restrictive and
punitive parenting style in which there is little
verbal exchange between parents and children;
associated with children’s social incompetence.
• Children tend to be anxious about social comparison,
fail to initiate activity, and have poor communication
skills.
8. Families
• Authoritative parenting: A positive parenting
style that encourages children to be independent
but still places limits and controls on their
actions; extensive verbal give-and-take is
allowed; associated with children’s social
competence.
• Children tend to be autonomous, get along with their
peers, and show high self-esteem. Because of these
positive outcomes, Baumrind strongly endorses
authoritative parenting
9. Families
• Neglectful parenting: A parenting style of un-
involvement in which parents spend little time
with their children; associated with children’s
social incompetence.
• Children are usually not achievement
motivated
10. Families
• Indulgent parenting: A parenting style of
involvement but few limits or restrictions on
children’s behavior; linked with children’s
social incompetence.
• Children usually don’t learn to control their
own behavior. Indulgent parents do not take
into account the development of the whole
child.
11. • Evidence links authoritative parenting with
competence on the part of the child in research
across a wide range of social strata, cultures,
and family structures (Shea & Coyne, 2008).
• Authoritative parenting is associated with
children’s social competence and is likely to
be the most effective
Families
12. • In co-parenting, parents support one another in
jointly raising a child.
• Lack of effective coparenting because of poor
coordination between parents, lack of
cooperation and warmth, and disconnection by
one parent are conditions that place children at
risk for problems
• Children benefit when parents engage in
coparenting.
Families: Co-parenting
14. Families
• The nature of parents’ work can affect their
parenting quality.
• Work can produce positive and negative
effects on parenting (Han, 2009).
• Recent research indicates that what matters for
children’s development is the nature of
parents’ work rather than whether one or both
parents work outside the home (Clarke-
Stewart, 2006).
15. Families
• Literature review described how parents bring
their experiences at work into their homes.
Researchers concluded that parents who have
poor working conditions, such as long hours,
overtime work, stressful work, and lack of
autonomy at work, are likely to be more
irritable at home and engage in less effective
parenting than their counterparts who have
better work conditions in their jobs.
16. • Parents can serve as gatekeepers and provide
guidance as children assume more
responsibility for themselves.
• Parents play an important role in supporting
and stimulating children’s academic
achievement.
• Experienced teachers know the importance of
getting parents involved in children’s
education
Families: School-Family
Linkages
17. Families: School-Family
Linkages
• Fostering school-family partnerships involves
providing assistance to families,
communicating effectively with families about
school programs and student progress,
encouraging parents to be volunteers,
involving families with their children in
learning activities at home, including families
in school decisions, and coordinating
community collaboration.
18. School-Family Linkages
• How can you forging a comprehensive school,
family, and community partnerships in any
elementary, middle, or high school?
19. Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
1- Provide assistance to families
• Schools can provide parents with information
about child-rearing skills, the importance of
family support, child and adolescent
development, and home contexts that enhance
learning at each grade level.
• Teachers are an important contact point between
schools and families and need to become aware
of whether the family is meeting the child’s
basic physical and health needs
20. 2- Communicate effectively with families
about school programs and their child’s
progress.
• This involves both school to-home and home-
to-school communication.
• Encourage parents to attend parent-teacher
conferences and other school functions .
• Set up times for parent meetings that are
convenient for them to attend.
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
21. • Work on developing activities in which parents
can get to know each other, not just know the
teacher.
• Keep parents informed about what is happening in
your class via newsletters—either paper or Web-
based—or e-mail.
• Provide your contact information and availability
to parents.
• Promptly return any phone calls or e-mail you
receive from parents.
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
22. 3- Encourage parents to be volunteers.
• Try to match the skills of volunteers to
classroom needs.
• Parents have different talents and abilities, just
like children
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
23. 4- Involve families with their children in
learning activities at home.
• This includes homework and other curriculum
linked activities and decisions
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
24. 5- Include families as participants in school
decisions.
• Parents can be invited to be on schools’
boards, various committees, councils, and
other parent organizations.
• Encourage discussions with parents about
school and district educational goals, child
discipline, and testing performance.
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
25. 6- Coordinate community collaboration.
• Help interconnect the work and resources of
community businesses, agencies, colleges and
universities, and other groups to strengthen
school programs, family practices, and student
learning
Strategies for Forging School-
Family-Community Linkages
26. PEERS- Friendship
• In addition to families and teachers, peers play
powerful roles in children’s development and
schooling
• Peers are children of about the same age or
maturity level.
27. • Peer relations are linked to children’s
socioemotional development.
• Children can have one of five peer statuses:
popular, average, rejected, neglected, or
controversial.
• Rejected children often have more serious
adjustment problems than do neglected
children.
PEERS- Friendship
28. • Friendship is an important aspect of students’
social relations. Friendships influence children’s
attitude toward school and how successful they
are in the classroom
• Having friends who are academically oriented,
socially skilled, and supportive is a
developmental advantage.
• Students who have friends engage in more
prosocial behavior, have higher grades, and are
less emotionally distressed.
PEERS- Friendship
29. • Discuss how the social contexts of schools are
linked with socioemotional development.
Schools
30. Schools
• Schools involve changing social
developmental contexts from preschool
through high school.
• The early childhood setting is a protected
environment with one or two teachers, usually
female.
31. Schools
• Peer groups are more important in elementary
school. In middle school, the social field enlarges
to include the whole school, and the social system
becomes more complex.
• Debate characterizes early childhood education
curricula.
• On one side are the promoters of the child-
centered, constructivist approach; on the other are
the promoters of an instructivist academic
approach.
32. Schools
• The transition to middle or high school is
stressful for many students because it
coincides with so many physical, cognitive,
and socioemotional changes.
• Participation in extracurricular activities has a
number of positive outcomes for adolescents.
