Sielkundige teorie en praktyk in eietydse perspektief
educational resource
posted on 2024-11-18, 15:42authored byInaugural addresses
Inaugural lecture--Department of Psychology, Rand Afrikaans University, 3 September 1969@@A remarkable diversity in concepts of the human mind dominated psychological theory and practice through the ages. In contemporary perspective, different theories concerning the structure of the mind characterize the modern psychological lines of thought. Today we can identify at least two main viewpoints concerning human thinking and learning. These are the behaviouristic associationism and the phenomenological field theories.
These two basic theories of human behaviour represent the foundations of two conflicting view-points on the mental discipline
of school subjects. Subscribers to a field theory of learning usually recommend the study of a small number of basic subjects devised to lead to the attainment of insight in learning. On the other hand associasionistic theorists generally insist on a curriculum consisting of as many occupationally directed courses as possible. A disturbing shift towards more school subjects and a disregard for fundamental subjects such as Mathematics and Latin occurred since the beginning of the twentieth century. This movement is at present gaining unjustified predominance on the South African educational scene.
It is discouraging to see how few pupils can really demonstrate insight into the subject in an examination. When memorization
is emphasised in teaching practice, then we cannot expect true understanding and optimal mental discipline. An emotional factor in the form of manifest anxiety, which can influence perceptual as well as conceptual learning, should also be accounted for in this dimension of the problem. Does the responsibility for the present position not possibly lie in an outdated examination philosophy concentrating on measuring memorized knowledge?
History
Date of creation
2009-02-23
Date submitted to repository
1969-09-03
Copyright information
University of Johannesburg
Original repository
Vital
Language Translation
Psychological theory and practice in contemporary perspective