COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN

Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

MODULE 6 COGNITIVISM

LESSON 1- GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY and

AUSUBEL’S MEANINGFUL/SUBSUMPTION THEORY

Learning Outcomes
Projecting your journey in this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Describe the different gestalt principles

2. List ways of applying gestalt psychology in the teaching-learning process
3. Use advance graphic organizers for topic presentation

Study
the
Engage image
closely.
Describ
e what
Activity 1 you
see?

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DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN
Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

Explore
Activity 2
What was your experience in figuring out the image? (easy, took time,etc.) What helped you
perceive the interesting figure? How did you go about examining it?Did
you focus on background, the foreground, the shape,etc…?

Explain
COGNITIVE THEORIES

They are concerned with the things that happen inside our heads as we learn. They take the
perspective that students actively process information and learning through the brain. Learning
takes place through the efforts of the student as they organize, store and then find
relationships between information, linking new to old (prior) knowledge, schema and scripts.

Attributed to:

• Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole" or form or configuration. It refers to
theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s.

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 COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN
Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
• These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or
unified wholes when certain principles are applied.
• Psychologists Wertheimer, Kohler, Koffka and Lewin studied perception and concluded that
perceiver ( or learners) are not passive, but rather active. They suggested that learners do not just
collect information as is but they actively process and restructure data in order to understand it.
This is the perceptual process. Certain factors impact/affect on this perceptual process like past
experiences, needs, attitudes and ones present situation.

GESTALT PRINCIPLES

1. LAW OF PROXIMITY.

 Elements that are closer together will be perceived as a coherent object.

When objects are near each other, they are perceived to belong together.

 Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be
perceived as a group. The nine squares are placed without proximity. They
are perceived as separate shapes.

When the squares are given close proximity, unity occurs. While they continue
to be separate shapes, they are now perceived as one group.

The fifteen figures form a unified whole (the shape of a tree)because of their
proximity.

2. LAW OF CLOSURE.

We tend to fill the gaps or ‘close’ the figures we perceive. We enclose a space by
completing a contour and ignoring gaps.

Individuals perceive objects such as shapes, letters, pictures, etc., as being

whole when they are not complete. Specifically, when parts of a whole picture
are missing, our perception fills in the visual gap

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed.

If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the
missing information

Although the panda is not complete, enough is present for the eye to complete
the shape. When the viewer's perception completes a shape, closure occurs.

3. LAW OF SIMILARITY.

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 COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN
Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
Elements that look the same will be perceived as part of the same form. This similarity can occur in the
form of shape, colour, shading or other qualities

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or
pattern. The example containing 11 distinct objects appears as a single unit because all of the shapes have
similarity.

Unity occurs because the triangular shapes at the bottom of the eagle symbol look
similar to the shapes that form the sunburst.

The figure becomes a focal point because it is dissimilar

to the other shapes.

4.LAW OF CONTINUATION.

We tend to continue contours whenever the elements of the pattern establish an

implied direction. In cases where there is an intersection between objects,
individuals tend to perceive the two objects as two single uninterrupted entities.

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and
continue to another object.

Continuation occurs in the example, because the viewer's eye will naturally follow
a line or curve. The smooth flowing crossbar of the "H" leads the eye directly to
the maple leaf.

5. LAW OF GOOD PRAGNANZ

Prägnanz is a German word that directly translates to mean "pithiness" and

implies the ideas of salience, conciseness and orderliness. In this figure good
refers to symmetry, simplicity and regularity

The stimulus will be organized into as good figure as possible.

6. LAW OF FIGURE/GROUND

We tend to pay and perceive things in the foreground first. A stimulus will be
perceived as separate from its ground.
The form, silhouette, or shape is naturally perceived as figure (object), while
the surrounding area is perceived as ground (background).Balancing figure
and ground can make the perceived image more clear. Using unusual
figure/ground relationships can add interest and sublety to an image. In the
image, the figure and ground relationships change as the eye perceives the
form of a shade or the silhouette of a face.
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DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN
Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

This image uses complex figure/ground Relationships which change upon perceiving
leaves, water and tree trunk.

INSIGHT LEARNING

• It is the abrupt realization of a problem’s solution. It is not the result of trial and error,
responding to environmental stimulus, or the result of observing someone else attempting the
problem.

• It is completely cognitive experience that requires the ability to visualize the problem and the
solution internally – in the mind’s eye so to speak – before initiating a behavioral response.

• It is sometimes called a ‘eureka’ or ‘aha’ moment – an ‘out- of- the box thinking’.

The Experiment:

• Kohler hung a piece of fruit just out of reach of each chimps. He then provided each chimp with
either 2 sticks or 2 boxes, then waited and watched. Kohler noticed that after the chimps realized
they could not simply reach or jump up to retrieve the fruit, they stopped, had a seat and thought
about how they might solve the problem. Then after a few minutes, the chimps stood up and
proceeded to solve the problem.

Examples (Insight learning)

1. placing the smaller stick into the longer stick = longer stick to knock down the hanging fruit.
2. stacking the boxes on top of each other = climbed on top of the boxes and reach the fruit

 In insight learning, learning results from observation, experience though personal interaction with
the environment.

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DIVINE WORD COLLEGE OF VIGAN
Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

MEANINGFUL LEARNING is the acquisition of new meanings.

* The acquisition of new meaning refers to the process by which students turn potentially
meaningful material into actual meaningfulness.

*The material to be learned is potentially meaningful if it is appropriate for the student; if it is

related to what the students already know.

The main theme of Ausubel’s theory is that knowledge is hierarchichally organized; that new information
is meaningful to the extent that it can be related (attached, achored) to what is already known. It is about
how individuals learn large amounts of meaningful material from verbal textual presentation in a school
setting. He proposed the use of advance organizers asa tool for learning.

Ausubel’s belief of the use of advance organizers is anchored on the principle of SUBSUMPTION ; a
process by which new material is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure. What is
learned is based on what is already known.

Meaningful learning can take place through FOUR PROCESSES:

1. Derivative subsumption. This describes the situation in which the new information learned is an
example of a concept that one has already learned. From this type of subsumption, completely
new concepts can emerge, and previous concepts can be changed or expanded to include more
of the previously existing information. This is "figuring out".

Example: An acquired basic concept such as about a kind of bird (parrot) seen before with that
of an eagle just saw …… conforms to previous understanding of bird. Your new knowledge of an
eagle is attached to your concept of a bird, without substantially altering that concept of a bird in
any way.

2. Correlative Subsumption. New material is an extension or elaboration of what is already known.

Example: You have seen a new kind of bird that has a really big body and long strong legs. It
doesn’t fly but it can run fast. In order to accommodate this information, you have to change or
expand your concept of bird to include the possibility of being big and have long legs.

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You now include your concept of an ostrich to your previous concept of what a bird is. It enriches
the higher-level concept.

3. Superordinate Learning. This describes the situation where one already knew many things about
the concept but did not know the concept itself until it was taught or made known to him.

Example: A child was well acquainted with banana, mango, dalandan, guava, etc., but the child
did not know, until she was taught, that these were all examples of fruits. In this case, the child

already knew a lot of examples of the concept/fruit, but did not know the concept/fruit itself
until it was taught to her.

4. Combinatorial Learning. This is when newly acquired knowledge combines with prior knowledge
to enrich understanding of both concepts.

* It describes a process by which the new idea is derived from another idea that is neither higher
nor lower in hierarchy, but at the SAME LEVEL. It is a lot like learning by analogy.

Example: To teach someone about how plants ‘breathe” you might relate it to previously
acquired knowledge of human respiration where man inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide.

Note: Derivative, Correlative & superordinate learning included new information that related to
hierarchy at a level that is either below or above previously acquired knowledge

EXAMPLE: SPORTS BALL

Derivative Subsumption: What is a ball? Ping pong ball, a tennis ball, basketball
Correlative Subsumption: Adding a football to the group, a person would expand their definition
(schema) of a ball because of its different shape.
Superordinate Learning: All these balls are sports equipment.
Combinatorial Learning: A mouse ball is introduced, which is still a ball, but not sports equipment.
Their schema would change.

ADVANCE ORGANIZER (an important contribution of

Ausubel to teachers)

 A form of expository teaching, that is, explaining

what is to come.
 A general overview of new information to be
learned that occurs in advance of the actual
reading.
 Bridges the gap between what students already
and what they need to know before they can
successfully learn new material.
 It gives an overview of the material

BENEFITS OF ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

Sample Advance Organizer

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Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
• It is easier to connect new information with what is already known about the topic.
• One can readily see how the concepts in a certain topic are related to each other.

Note: Advance organizers are not the same with OVERVIEWS and SUMMARIES which simply
emphasize key ideas and are presented at the same level of abstraction and generally as the
rest of the material. Advance organizers act as a subsuming bridge between new learning
material and existing related ideas.

TYPES OF ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

a. Expository – describes the new content

b. Narrative - presents the new information in a form of story.
c. Skimming – done by looking over the new material to gain a basic overview
d. Graphic Organizer – visuals to set up or outline the new information. This may include
pictographs, descriptive patterns, concept patterns, concept maps.

APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES

• The presentation of most general ideas of a subject first and then progressively differentiated in
terms of detail and specificity. (Progressive Differentiation)

PURPOSE of Progressive Differentiation

To increase the stability and clarity of anchoring ideas. Thus, in teaching three related topics –
A, B, C - the SPIRAL APPROACH should be used. Thus, A (big ideas) then B to C. (depending on
hierarchy)

Elaborate
Challenge your perceptive faculty.
Activity 3

What do you
see in the
image?
Describe.

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Activity 4
Give and illustrate at least three (3) ‘Graphic Organizers’ . State their use.

Kind of GO _________________ __________________________ __________________________

Use: ______________________ __________________________ __________________________
______________________ __________________________ __________________________
______________________ __________________________ __________________________
______________________ __________________________ __________________________

Evaluate
Answer the following: (Lucas & Corpuz:2014)
Activity 5
A. Choose a topic related to your field of specialization (for
BSEd) ; any subject area for BEEd . Obtain a material/book chapter for this topic
and prepare an advance organizer about it.

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Calle Burgos, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

Activity 6 B.Identify the Gestalt Principle applied in each of the following learning activities.

Answer Learning Activities

1.The teacher relates a new topic with something the student
already knows.
2.Topics with commonalities are taught next to each other.
3.The most important words in the paragraph are written in
bolder fonts.
4.The teacher slows down her pace and varies her tone of voice
to emphasize a point
5.Teacher remind children to keep their numbers in straight
columns when doing math operations.

References
Aquino, A. (2009). Facilitating Human Learning. Phils.: Quezon City. Rex Company, Incorporated.
Brawner, D. & Leus, M. (2018). Facilitating learner-Centered Teaching. Phils.: Quezon City. Adriana
Printing
Company, Incorporated.
Lucas, MR & Corpuz, B. (2014). Facilitating Learning: A Metacognitive Process. Phils: Quezon
City. Lorimar Publishing, Incorporated
Vega,V. & Prieto, N. (2006). Facilitating Learning.. Phils.: Mandaluyong City. Books Abp. Publishing
Corporation

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