This document discusses the nature vs nurture debate around the development of learning abilities. It introduces key thinkers like Francis Galton, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and their perspectives. Both genetic/hereditary factors (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) influence learning development. The learning environment, including factors like physical environment, social environment, technology, and classroom design, shapes how genetic predispositions are developed. Both hereditarian and environmentalist viewpoints have impacted educational practices to accommodate individual differences and disabilities through mainstreaming and special education.

1. Learning Ability: Genetic or
Environmental?

2. Francis Galton
• First to introduced the “nature-nurture”
controversy
• Impressed by the fact that genius tended
to run in families
• For him, there is a strong inherited
component in intellectual ability

3. John Locke
• A 17th century English philosopher
• Believed that a child was born a “tabula
rasa”̶ blank slate
• His belief placed emphasis on learning as
a way of explaining how children’s
knowledge develops with age

4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• An 18th century Swiss philosopher
• Produced the book “Emile”
• Inside it, he gave the reasons why children
should be treated as children and not as a
miniature adults
• Based on him, children are innately good
who follow the normal course of
development accdg to nature’s plan

5. Our ability to learn..
• Is affected by biological or genetic
predisposition (nature) and environmental
factors (nurture)
• NATURE ̶ refers to various external
factors to which we are exposed from
conception to death
• Environmental factors account for the
nature of the environment as well as its
physical characteristics

6. Several dimensions of
Environmental Factors:
• PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
̶ Prenatal nutrition and seconhand smoking
• SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
̶ Peer pressure and media
• It can range from the most immediate (families,
friends and neighbors) to larger contexts
(schools, churches, and local governments) to
macro factors (global warming, human rights,
violence, prostitution, int’l politics and more)

7. What is nature?
• Refers to heredity or the genetic makeup
of genes which means the information
encoded in the deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA)
• Also refers to biological component such
as tendencies and capabilities which
unfold themselves throughout the lifespan

8. Heredity
• Are specific genetic predispositions that
potentially explain why we have individual
differences
• It also is defined as “The
biological process whereby genetic factors
are transmitted from one generation to the
next”

9. Our brain
LOCALIZATION ̶ refers to the brain activity
underlying a specific cognitive function that
is concentrated in a particular part of the
brain
PLASTICITY ̶ refers to the idea that the
cognitive function of the brain changes in
response to experience

10. • All genetically programmed influences on
the development of individuals are
possibly influenced by the environment
• In like manner, all environmental
influences on the development of physical
and psychological aspects comprise
genetic components
BEHAVIORAL GENETICS ̶ aimed at
understanding various differences in a wide
variety of human characteristics

11. “The quintessence of this discussion on
heredity and environment lies in the
comparative significance of each of these to
human development and how environmental
factors can create a dramatic impact on the
development of genetic predisposition which
may constrain its development or offset the
inherited human capacity and potential.”

12. Two different views..
To explain physical and psychological
development:
1. ENVIRONMENTALISTS
̶ Human development is characterized by
pliability or flexibility
2. HEREDITARIANS
̶ Human development reflects genetic
potentials

13. Designing the Learning
Environment
• The perspective of nature-nurture have
influenced educational practices in general
and the teaching-learning contexts in
particular
• Educators believe that the development of
individuals reflect both genetic and
environmental potentials

14. What is a Learning
Environment?
• One of the many contexts in which
development is expected to occur
• Designing it is the focus of every teacher
• It is not just limited to the classroom,
because learning environment is
everywhere

15. Classroom as a Learning Place
• Many individuals first learn and teach in
the classroom
• It is an arena where there is information
exchange
• To make it more effective and productive
for learning, teachers should design it
effectively in order to achieve our
objectives

16. Designing the learning
environment accounts for the
following:
1. Active participation
2. Practice
3. Individual differences
4. Feedback
5. Realistic contexts
6. Social interaction

17. Technology in the Classroom
• Other concept that has changed the
learning environment is technology
• The advent of technology has ushered in
the age of asynchronous learning making
it possible for us to have an easy access
into stupendous information
• Modes of learning have been made more
sophisticated
Example: College courses are now
offered online

18. Accommodating Diversity
• Both hereditarians and environmentalists
have greatly influenced our educational
practices
• Development of individuals manifests
genetic potentials which give way to
mainstreaming and ability grouping
• Teachers put students in ability groups
and provide them with activities more
appropriate for their classification

19. • The emergence of students with special
needs, who are very talented, and who are
physically, mentally, or socially impaired
gives birth to inclusive and special
education
• The focus of these educational practices is
placed on individual development in the
context of assessed potential so that he or
she can benefit from certain educational
programs

20. Integration and Mainstreaming
• To the viewpoint of environmentalists:
1. They believe that the environment plays a
crucial role in shaping human development
2. Growing children should be allowed to
experience a wide range of environments
that harness individual development
Why? So that their learning difficulties will be
mainstreamed, thereby giving them the chance to
take advantage of the rectangular classroom

21. Children with disabilities
• These children have very limited capacity
for development such as the ability to
speak, read, or write.
• As a result, they are restricted to their
special schools where they mingle with
the same children with special needs

22. • Today, those children are included in the
rectangular classroom
• Everyone has the right to be placed on
equal footing regardless of their race,
culture, tradition, or beliefs they have as
their capacity for development
• It is therefore the teachers role to stimulate
learning by providing them an encouraging
classroom environment
• The developmental dimensions of children
are not a fixed entity, it is a variable that
can be nurtured and developed