THEORIES

REYNEL S. REBOLLOS
Presenter
1.Attachment Theory
2.Classical Conditioning within Behaviorism by
John Watson
3.Adult Learning Theory
4.The Zone of Proximal Development and
Scaffolding
5.Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
 ATTACHMENT THORY
The theory of attachment was first proposed by John Bowlby
in the 1960s, and has since become an established feature of
work with children in areas such as health and social care.
The theory emphasizes the importance of children making
secure attachments with their main care-giver within their first
three years
It suggests that, if these attachments fail to be made, this can
have a lasting impact on the child, with the effects often re-
emerging during adolescence
 ATTACHMENT THEORY

• Maternal sensitivity says that a child’s attachment

style is dependent on the behavior their mother
shows towards them. (Mary Ainsworth)
ATTACHMENT THEORY
 The Implications of Attachment Theory to
Schools
• Security of attachment predicts academic achievement. This
effect occurs as early as toddlerhood for pre-academic skills.
Insecure toddlers tend to have shorter attention spans and perform
worse on cognitive tasks than secure toddlers (Frankel and
Bates1990; Main1983; Moss and St-Laurent2001). While reading
with their mothers, insecure toddlers are less inclined to stay on
their mother’s lap and tend to be less attentive to the book. In
contrast, secure toddlers tend to be more engaged during joint
story-book reading (Bus and van IJzendoorn1997). Secure
preschoolers develop better reading or pre-reading skills and better
attitudes toward reading than insecurely attached preschoolers
(Buset al.1997; Bus and van IJzendoorn1988a,b).
 Advantage to the Philippine Education

• DepEd Order No. 40, Series of 2012.- Child Protection Policy

Aims to ensure special protection of the child from all
forms of abuse and exploitation and care as is necessary for
the child’s well-being, taking into account the primary rights
and duties of parents, legal guardians or individuals who are
legally responsible and exercise custody over the child.
 2. Classical Conditioning within Behaviorism by
John Watson
• John Watson proposed that the process of classical
conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to
explain all aspects of human psychology.
• Everything from speech to emotional responses was
simply patterns of stimulus and response. Watson denied
completely the existence of the mind or consciousness.
Watson believed that all individual differences in behavior
were due to different experiences of learning.
• Watson mirrored Pavlov’s research findings in his conditioning
experiment with a young child who he conditioned to fear a
white rabbit by repeatedly pairing it with the loud clang of a
metal bar. The child’s conditioned fear of a white rabbit was so
ingrained in his behavior that he became fearful of other white
furry objects such as a Santa mask and Watson's white hair
(Watson & Rayner, 1920).
 Classical Conditioning in the Classroom

• The implications of classical conditioning in the classroom are less

important than those of operant conditioning, but there is a still need for
teachers to try to make sure that students associate positive emotional
experiences with learning.

• Ifa student associates negative emotional experiences with school,

then this can obviously have bad results, such as creating a school
phobia.
 Adult Learning Theory of Malcolm Knowles
(1913-1997)
• Malcolm Knowles (1913-1997) was an
American educator who theorized adult
education.
• He brought the term andragogy into use as a
term associated with adult education.
• According Malcolm Knowles, andragogy is the art
and science of adult learning, thus andragogy refers
to any form of adult learning. (Kearsley, 2010)
• Developed by Malcolm Knowles in 1968, Adult Learning
Theory or andragogy is the concept or study of how adults
learn and how it differs from children. It aims to show how
adult learning is distinct and identify the learning styles
which suit them best.
 Implications to Curriculum

• Educators teaching adult learners need to know the concepts

of the adult learning theory and be able to incorporate them
into their teaching style. Educators need to become
facilitators of adult education, helping the adult learner to
set and achieve goals and guide them in choosing the
subjects and courses needed to fulfill these goals. They need
to keep in mind that the adult learner needs to know why the
course is important to their learning and life situation.
• The adult learner brings into the continuing
educational arena a rich array of experiences that
will affect the learning styles and assimilation of
knowledge. Adult learners need to be able to apply
the knowledge into their life situations.   
 The Zone of Proximal Development and
Scaffolding

• The zone of proximal development refers to the

difference between what a learner can do without help
and what he or she can achieve with guidance and
encouragement from a skilled partner.
• Thus, the term “proximal” refers to those skills that the
learner is “close” to mastering
 The Zone of Proximal Development and
Scaffolding

• The zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been defined as:

"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined
by independent
problem solving and the level of potential development as determined
through problem-solving
under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers"
(Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86)
 Implications to Curriculum

• Vygotsky believes the role of education to provide children with

experiences which are in their ZPD, thereby encouraging and
advancing their individual learning. (Berk, & Winsler, (1995).

• Lev Vygotsky views interaction with peers as an effective way of

developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use
cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop
with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal
development.
 Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
• Socioculturaltheory views human development as a socially
mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values,
beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative
dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.
• Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social
interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as
he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the
process of "making meaning.“
 Implications
• Vygotsky emphasized the collaborative nature of learning by
the construction of knowledge through social negotiation.
• Sociocultural theory encourages instructional designers to
apply principles of collaborative practice that go beyond social
constructivism to create learning communities. The
sociocultural perspective views learning taking place through
interaction, negotiation, and collaboration in solving authentic
problems while emphasizing learning from experience and
discourse, which is more than cooperative learning.
 Vroom's Expectancy Theory

• One of the most widely accepted explanations of

motivation is offered by Victor Vroom in his Expectancy
Theory. It is a cognitive process theory of motivation.
The theory is founded on the basic notions that people
will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when
they believe there are relationships between the effort,
they put forth, the performance they achieve and the
outcomes/rewards they receive.
The Expectancy model
Implications
• Vroom’smotivation theory depends on the outcomes that
employee expects to receive due to his behavioral choices. It
also depends on employee’s personal preference for the
outcome.
• For instance, an employee will be more motivated to suggest
ideas in a meeting, if there is a bonus attached to it. Vroom
believes that employee will be motivated to select his behavior
based on the nature of reward he expects to get. In other
words, Vroom’s theory helps to understand the decision process
that employees use in order to determine how much effort they
will expend on their jobs.