Psychology of Teaching and Learning

Brian G. Smith, Ph.D.

You may also check your understanding of the material on the Ablongman web site. Click on the Publisher Help Site button.

The assessments in this course are patterned after the Praxis II, Principles of Learning and Teaching tests required for licensure

Case Study - Lesson 10

Case studies are a very important part of this course of study. You may run through these scenarios an unlimited number of times. If you make errors, you will be referred to the appropriate area of the book, or an appropriate website.  The questions will be narrative, constructed responses to the issues in the study.   Upon submission of your answers, each of the narrative responses will have professionally written feedback of an ideal answer.  Carefully compare this to your answer to determine correctness There is a score associated with each case study but that score will not be recorded.  You will be given credit for participation.

Quiz - Lesson 10

You will have to take a quiz for each of the lessons. You have two opportunities to take each quiz.  The highest score will be recorded in the grade book.   Each of the quizzes will be multiple choice & true/false, open-book, open-notes.  Upon submitting each quiz, your quiz score as well as any items answered incorrectly will be available.

Homework and Quizzes are on Desire 2 Learn. Click on the Desire 2 Learn link, log in, select the Homework/Quizzes icon and choose the appropriate homework or quiz.

Learning Profiles - Lesson 10

Each lesson in this course will have a Special Education topic  associated with it.  Click on the link below to go to the content of the topic.  Each of the Special Education topics was specifically chosen to complement the psychology topic.  There will be Special Education items on each lesson's quiz. 

• Lesson 10 Learning Profile

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The structure of memory for human beings is a multiple module system of give and take.  It is a purely cognitive view of learning dependent on data input, focus, and storage issues.  It is very reminiscent of how modern programming for computers is set up in that the same elements of input, focus and storage had to be solved for computing as well.  In this model there will be issues of processing, attention, and retrieval. 

This being a cognitive theory, there are philosophical differences between what cognitivists believe and what we have previously studied as behaviorist and neo-behaviorists.  First of all, cognitivists would say that consequences are more than just punishment and reward.  They are feedback that can be learned from no matter what the effect on behavior.  Learning, for a cognitivist, is a purely internal function that can be reasonably  measured  with accuracy and consistency.  Learning is an activity that is in a constant state of evolution for the learner, with constant revisions and discoveries taking place everyday of consciousness.  Lastly, a cognitivist would propose that humans have a sense of self and an awareness of learning that is unique to us.

The major components of the model are sensory, working, and long-term memory.  Within each module there are special challenges to the learner.  These will all be outlined on following pages.  

Information Processing Model

Processing Styles

Retention/Forgetting