Discussion Forum #3

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Erikson proposed that individuals have similar fundamental needs. He additionally accepted that
self-improvement happens in light of those requirements and relies upon the nature of help given
by the social environment, especially guardians and parental figures.
According to Erikson development continues in stages, each described by a crisis, a psychosocial
challenge that open doors for development. Each time a crisis is resolved at a stage if positively
impacts the likelihood of resolving the next stage’s crisis. Erikson believed that people
experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. If the conflict or stage is
handled well, the person will feel a sense of pride and mastery, which can be referred to as ego
strength or ego quality. If the opposite occurs, the person will manifest oneself with a sense of
inadequacy in that aspect of development.

Erikson Eight Life-Span Stages:

1. Trust vs Mistrust (Birth – 1 year)
At this first stage of psychosocial development, children develop a sense of trust within parental
figure when they provide them with reliability, care and affection. However, lack of these
attributes at this stage will lead to a child developing mistrust in the world around them.
2. Autonomy vs Shame (1 – 3 years)
Children who struggle and who are ashamed by their accidents tend to not develop a sense of
personal control. Success at this stage of psychosocial development leads to feelings of
autonomy for example, events such as gaining control over food choices, clothing and toy
choices.
3. Initiative vs Guilt (3 – 6 years)
When children are overdirected by parental figures, they may struggle to develop a sense of
initiative and confidence in their own capabilities. Success at this stage will allow children to
make good choices through the use of modelling and reinforcement.
4. Industry vs Inferiority (6 – 12 years)
Parental figures and teachers help children to develop a sense of competence by avoiding
excessive praise and rewards, this then helps children develop a growth mindset. Feelings of
inferiority occurs when there is a pattern of failure.
5. Identify vs Confusion (12 – 18 years)
Teenager explore their independence and develop a sense of self awareness. Confusion is
centered developing a personal identity.
6. Intimacy vs Isolation (Young adulthood)
Success at this stage leads to strong, close or romantic relationships. If one struggles at this stage
it can result to them feeling lonely and isolated.
7. Generativity vs Stagnation (Adulthood)
At this stage adults aim to create or nurture thing that will outlast them by influencing of children
or contributing to positive changes that benefit other people. When individuals feel disconnected
or uninvolved with their community and society it is referred to as stagnation.
8. Integrity vs Despair (Old age)
Integrity transpires when one believes they have lived their best life and willingly accepts the
fact that death can come at any given point at that age. However, if one is remorseful over things
of the past or of incomplete tasks if leads to despair.
In regards to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, there are implications that teachers
in the primary system can take. These are:
 Teachers must give students equal opportunity to make choices and act upon them. The
third stage, initiative versus guilt determines whether students learn to plan activities on
their own even group or they will associate taking initiative with receiving punishment
(guilt). Allowing the students to choose their own abilities builds their self-esteem and
engagement in class.

 It is good when teachers allow students to set realistic goals. Let them create academic
and personal goals and revise as well as monitor their progress. This helps the students to
navigate the stage of industry versus inferiority. Also, at this stage the teacher can teach
students study skills and how to budget time and good organizational skills. They should
then enter with a sense that hard work and perseverance pays off.

References
Theclassroom.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.theclassroom.com/apply-eriksons-
theory-instruction-8400675.html> [Accessed 28 October 2020].

“Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development.” Student Study Guide to Accompany

Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms, by Paul D. Eggen and Donald P.
Kauchak, Prentice-Hall, 2010, pp. 66–68.
Discussion 4
Meaningful learning is more effective than Rote learning or learning that involves acquiring
information in isolated pieces, most commonly through memorization. (Lin, 2007; R. Mayer,
2002)
Rote learning is being able to remember something yet what is remembered has no value
attached to it. (Moreno 2010) For example reciting the alphabet and numbers. The view point is
that an individual will be able to quickly recite the meaning of the material the more they repeat
it. On the other hand, Meaningful leaning is making connections between new information and
previous prior knowledge. It permits individuals to link obtained knowledge with previous
knowledge that serve as a foundation when obtaining new knowledge. Meaningful learning
allows the individuals to make valuable connections that will allow learning to be a diversified
and long life lasting.
Intentional learning in a session is where one is determined to learn the material and apply it to
memory. For instance, students will be told before hand that they are going to be tested after the
learning phase. They will then store the word information (study) that is to be learned and then
transfer that knowledge to the test/exam. Whereas, incidental learning is learning that is
unintended. Individuals develop this while engaging in an activity while they are acquiring
additional knowledge unconsciously. Incidental learning can take place from watching
television, reading a book and playing video games.
Three factors that could prevent students from engaging in meaningful learning are:
1. STRESS- Stress worsens grades and performance. If the students are stressed and
distracted, it deters them from focusing in class and even when studying. Stress can cause
students to act out in class and distract peers and teachers and may reach to the extent
where students drop out of class or school.

2. POOR NUTRITION – Poor nutrition occurs when one is not getting enough nutrients.
Iron deficiency in children (students) can decrease dopamine transmission which then
negatively impacts cognitive abilities and mental concentration. Other deficiencies in
vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin E, B, Iodine and Zinc can hamper the intelligence
levels of students. Also, when students are not receiving a balanced diet, they can then
overtime become malnourished. Malnutrition leads to behavioral problems which then
gives way for class disruption. This prevents the ‘problem child’ from engaging in
meaningful learning as well as their peers.

3. NOISE POOLUTION- School environment is a vital factor to be considered when

deciding on a site for leaning, keeping in mind its influence on the academic
performance. Students taking a test in a quiet, peaceful room will almost certainly
perform better than students taking the same test in a loud chaotic environment. Noise
pollution prevents both student and teacher from performing a task effectively.
 Meaningful learning is unable to take place as majority of the learning time would be
spent complaining about or competing with the distracting noise.

Subject: Science Topic: Atoms

1. Argue with Science (Essential Questioning)
Help students uncover knowledge. Instead of strictly using textbooks, ask essential
questions and engage students into in class discussion forum. So instead of the teacher
standing in front of the class, everybody would be sharing opinions and the teacher will
take this opportunity to correct the wrong concepts while interacting with the students.

2. Role Playing
This is an essential part of science where students can creatively and physically be
involved in activities while learning a new topic. For instance, students can be placed in
groups and further go on to take the role of atoms to study a chemical reaction. Students
can do a short dramatization of how atoms behave.

3. Video Clips
The use of instructional video clips is very useful for teaching atoms. The behavioral
patterns of atoms can be conveyed better with animated videos demonstrating the
different state of matters; gas, liquids and solid. There is a great chance that the students
will grasp the concept quicker through this method than if the teacher thought it from the
textbook.
REFFERENCES
Moreno, R. (2010). Educational psychology. Hoboken NJ: J. Wiley & Sons
 Discussion 6
Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make
do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. (Mihaly, 1996) Two traits of a creative
individual are the ability to visualize and their willingness to gather information. An education
system that is too reliant on testing and assessment, educators being restricted from straying
outside the curriculum and lack of resources all lead to ways in which creativity in your pupils
are inhibited in classroom learning environment.
Once the education system only focuses on testing and assessment at the end of semester, it gives
no way for creativity to strive. Student perform differently under different circumstances. For
example, Student A may be able to put on paper how the circulatory system works while
Student B can draw or build a perfect model of the circulatory system works. Both students have
the same understanding but different form of assessment should be implied.
Secondly, where permission is not given to the educators to allow creativity in the classroom it
affects those with differential learning abilities. Such a curriculum should be flexible to allow
both written test and a test of creativity. When students are allowed to be creative it improves
their performance and engagement in class as well as build their self-esteems.
Lastly, lack of resource in the classroom learning environment poses great barriers to obtaining
creativity from students. Teachers and students feel a sense of stress when there is a constant
“tug-of-war” for school supplies, materials and resources. This also hinders the students from
being creative and also the teacher from being creative and also the teacher from being able to
teach them how to be creative. It may then leave the children feeling overwhelmed and stifled by
a dull lesson or class.
Form four students age 14-15 in a business class. Three classroom strategies that the teacher can
encourage are:
1. In class debate forums – students will be allowed to creatively build debate on
topic with the subject area. For example, “Being and entrepreneur versus
being employed”. They would engage in arguments based on the notes and
lessons taught in previous classes. The teacher should place the students in
groups and assign grades and mark schemes to motivate the students more.

2. Do a film or portfolio – the teacher can place the students in groups and assign
a topic to each group instructing them to do a film or portfolio. Let this
exercise be a part of their end of semester assessment. This allows students to
think of creative ideas of how to carry out the objective expected of them.

3. Bring in the Experts – An excellent way to excite business students is to have

a successful business person/s speak to them. The teacher can dedicate on of
her class sessions to an interactive event like this. The students will be eager
to ask this individual/s questions that may not ask the teacher. Also, for those
students who dream to be creative entrepreneurs in the future, moments like
these would truly inspire them in ways a regular sit-and-listen would not have.
Discussion 2
Lev Vygotsky’s theory on child development is a form of social constructivism. His approach is
based on the opinion that cognitive development is the product on social interaction. Vygotsky’s
works is based on two key ideas, he believed that intellectual development can be comprehended
with the historical and cultural experiences of children. Secondly, he believed that development
is dependent on the sign systems that individuals grow with. Knowledge of lev Vygotsky’s
theory informs the teacher about a child’s culture as part of the learning process in the classroom.
Social experiences teach children how to think and at the same time teach them about what they
should be thinking. Planning a classroom using Vygotsky’s theory, one must take into
consideration the importance of interaction between the teacher and the students and the students
with each other. Take for instance, a Grade 5 mathematics class. In this subject, you would
always have fast students and slower students in the area mixed fractions. The teacher can create
groups for this particular class where she would mix the fast and weaker students. Very often
students tend to understand a concept quicker when it is explained by their peers rather than from
their teacher. Once applied correctly, students will not only learn from the teacher but they will
learn from each other.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed that acquisition of sign systems occurs in an invariant
sequence of steps that is the same for all children.
Jean Piaget developed his way of understanding children by directly observing them while they
were working. He also studied their behavioral patterns. According to his theory, when children
increase their capacity to understand their world that is termed as the role of maturation (simply
growing up). Piaget for stages are age specific (from 2-young adulthood) and divided by
important characteristics. These four stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational and formal operational stages. Piaget used the term schema to represent building
blocks of knowledge. Teachers can help build students schemas to promote learning and
development from one stage to another. The demonstration is based on consist of students of the
concrete operational stage. In social studies, when teaching about our ancestors, the teacher can
start the class by asking the children brain teasers or open-ended questions. For example, “What
if Christopher Columbus discovered St. Vincent and the Grenadines first?” This strategy fosters
analytical thinking. As a teacher, this is where you would observe your students’ engagement ad
their previous knowledge on the topic. Also, it sets a good atmosphere between the teacher and
students as they are actively corresponding and learning as the teacher will give guidance at this
point.

REFERENCES

Marcin, A. (2018, March 27). What Are Piaget’s Stages of Development and How Are
They Used? Healthline; Healthline Media.
https://www.healthline.com/health/piaget-stages-of-development#howto