1. Theoretical Framework for the Teaching Proposal
Pedagogical, psychological and sociological principles of a teaching proposal
A. Sánchez Villalón,
DDC-I, Master Secundaria UCLM

2. Psychological principles
Physical and psychological changes that influence teenagers behaviour.
Cognitive changes :
- David Ausubel’s “Meaningful Learning” considers previous knowlege.
- Lev Vigotsky’s “Sociocultural Theory” considers individual personal experience
- Jerome Bruner’s “Theory of Instruction” considers motivation as an important tool.

3. Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning
Ausubel, D.P.: American psychologist born in New York. (1918 – 2008)
Advance organisers:
(a cognitive strategy to help students learn and retain information, = cognitive elements preparing learning)
Presentation of an advance organizer
Presentation of learning tasks or material
Strenthening the cognitive organization
Being these phases relevant for the learning process.
“advance organizers can be catered to any student to aid them in bridging a gap between what they already know and what they are about to learn”.
See “

4. Vigostky’s Social Cognition Theory
L. Vigostky: A Soviet psychologist (1896 –1934)
Language and Thought are connected.
Culture is determinant for individual development.
A child learning development is affected by the culture surrounding him/her.
Actual and Potential Development
“He observed how higher mental functions developed historically within particular cultural groups, as well as individually through social interactions with significant people in a child's life, particularly parents, but also other adults”

5. Bruner´s Spiral Curriculum
J. Bruner: An American Psychologist (1915- ~)
Based on categorization
Bruner proposed the Spiral Curriculum, a teaching approach in which each subject or skill area is revisited at intervals, at a more sophisticated level each time.
A syllabus must be developed revising the basic ideas.
Best stimulus to learn to learn was the interest that a student had in the subject up to date material and resources
“Spiral Curriculum in which students repeat the study of a subject at different grade levels, each time at a higher level of difficulty and in greater depth”

6. Piaget’s Cognitive Development
J. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist (1896 –1980)
Cognitive Development explains knowledge development as a process of equilibration using two main concepts in his theory, assimilation and accommodation
In Stages: 4th stage: Formal Operational Stage
Development of Abstract Reasoning: Children develop abstract thought and can easily conserve and think logically in their mind (12 years onwards)

7. Age of acquisition: Disadvantages:
At Adolescence (ages 11 to school leaving):
Disadvantages:
(i) More laborious than early learning.
(ii) Success demands tenacity.
(iii) Self-consciousness.
(iv) Possible refusal to memorize.
(v) Experience has shown poor results frequent.
(vi) Already crowded curricula & specialization of studies.
Advantages:
(i) Increased capacity to appreciate many aspects of language and culture contacts.
(ii) Still sufficient time to attain high standard.
(iii) Improved memory and higher level of intellectual growth.
(iv) First language skills well established, hence no confusion.
At Adulthood:
Advantages:
(i) Specificity of purpose.
(ii) Good motivation added to reasons mentioned for adolescence.
(iii) Greatest amount of learning in least amount of time.
Disadvantages:
(i) Not enough time.
(ii) Other preoccupation.
(iii) Irregularity of study.

8. Bibliography
Ausubel, D. (1963). The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning . (1963). New York: Grune & Stratton.
Ausubel, D. (1978). In defense of advance organizers: A reply to the critics . (1978). Review of Educational Research, 48,
Ausubel, D., Novak, J., & Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View (2nd Ed.) . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London.
Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotsky's Psychology: A Biography of Ideas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lee, C. D., & Smagorinsky, P. (Ed.) (2000). Vygotskian perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry. NY.CUP.
Olson, David (2007). Jerome Bruner: Continuum Library of Educational Thought. Continuum, London : Continuum International Publ. Group.

9. ITALab Site
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