MODULE 3
REVIEW OF THEORIES RELATED TO THE LEARNERS DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES:
In this module, the students should be able to:
1. Explain the salient concepts and principles of the major development theories.
2. Apply these theories to teaching-learning situations.
Activity 1: Answer attached activity sheet.
INTRODUCTION
The educational trend brought out by a number of ground-breaking researches tells that one can
be an effective facilitator of learning if one has a good working knowledge of the learners’
development. Previously in your Child and Adolescent Development course, the foundational
theories related to the learners’ development were discussed. This lesson will help you think
about and review these theories that you have taken up and connects them to learning.
Freud Piaget
3 Components of Personality 4 Stages of
5 Psychosocial Stages Cognitive Development
of Development
Theories Related
To the Learners’
Development
Kholberg Vygotsky
3 Levels and * On Language
6 Substages of * Zone of Proximal
Moral Development Development
COURSE CONTENT
The ideas of the theorists, Freud, Piaget, Vygotsky and Kholberg remain to be foundational in the
teachers’ understanding of the learners’ development. Let us recall highlights of their theories.
Freud said, “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one –seventh of its bulk above water.” This
is of course the very famous analogy that Freud referred to when he explained the subconscious
mind. He believed that much of what the person is really about is not what we see in the outside
and what is conscious, but what is there hidden in the subconscious mind. As teachers, it is
important that we remember not to be too quick in making conclusions about our students’
intentions for their actions. Always consider that there are many factors that may influence one’s
behavior.
Freud also emphasized the three components that make that make up one’s personality, the id,
ego, and the superego. The id is the pleasure-centered; the ego, reality centered, and the
superego, which is related to the ego ideal or conscience.
Freud believed that an individual goes through five psychosexual stages of development. This
includes the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages. Each stage demands satisfaction of
needs, and failure to do so results in fixation.
Piaget said, “The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women
who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.”
Piaget’s theory centered on the stage of cognitive development. He described four stages of
development, namely the sensory-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal
operational stages. Each has characteristic ways of thinking and perceiving that showa how one’s
cognitive abilities develop.
Kohlberg said, “Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and
standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.” Kohlberg
proposed three levels of moral development (pre-conditional, conventional, and post-
conventional) which are further subdivided into the stages. Influence by Piaget, Kohlberg
believed that one’s cognitive development influenced the development of one’s moral reasoning.
Vygotsky said, “The teacher must orient his work not on yesterday’s development in the child
but on tomorrow’s.” Vygotsky emphasized the role of social interaction in learning and
development. Scaffolding is the systematic manner of providing assistance to the learner that
helps the learner effectively acquire a skill. He believed that guidance from a more
knowledgeable other (MKO) would lea a learner to a higher level of performance than if he were
alone. This higher level of performance then eventually becomes the learner’s actual
performance when he works independently in the future. His concept of zone of proximal
development (ZPD) illustrates this.
Note: Topics presented are excerpts from the book Facilitating Learning: A Metacognitive Process
Worksheet No. 3
Supply the following graphic organizers to help you review the principles of the aforementioned
theories. Submit in a separate sheet of paper.
Freud’s Components of the Personality
Review the three components and write important concepts about them in the spaces.
Submit in a separate sheet of paper.
id Ego Superego
Freud’s Psycho-Sexual Stages of Development
Write the description and fixation of each of the stages below. Submit in a separate sheet of
paper.
ORAL STAGE
ANAL STAGE
PHALLIC STAGE
LATENCY STAGE
GENITAL STAGE
Piaget’s Cognitive Stages of Development
(Submit in a separate sheet)
Sensory Motor Stage: Age Range:
Characteristics:
Key Teaching Strategies:
Pre-operational Stage: Age Range:
Characteristics:
Key Teaching Strategies:
Concrete Operations Stage: Age Range:
Characteristics:
Key Teaching Strategies:
Formal Operation Stage: Age Range:
Characteristics:
Key Teaching Strategies
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
(Submit in a separate sheet of paper)
Review the moral stages and identify and describe each using the graphic organizer below.
Stage1
PRE-CONVENTIONAL
Stage 2
Stage 3
CONVENTIONAL
Stage 4
Stage 5
POST-CONVENTIONAL
Stage 6
Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory
Define or describe the words in each column. Submit in a separate sheet of paper.
More Knowledgeable Zone of Proximal Scaffolding
Others (MKO) Development (ZPD)
