Gestalt LEARNING THEORY SULTAN THE MONKEY HAS PICTURES AND A WIDE RANGE OF INFORMATION ELT

1. Gestalt
Psychology

2. means “form” or “configuration”
Psychologists like Max
Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt
Koffka, studied perception and concluded
that the „learners were not passive , but
rather active. They suggested that
learners do not just collect information but
they actively process and restructure data
in order to understand it. This called
perceptual process. Like past
experience, needs, attitudes and one‟s
present situation can affect his/her
perception.

3. GESTALT THEORY
was the initial response of behaviorism.
this emphasized the importance of
sensory wholes and the dynamic nature
of visual perception.
According to the Gestalt Psychologist
» the way we form our perception are
guided by certain principles or laws.

4. Gestalt
Principles

5. LAW OF PROXIMITY
these are the objects near each other
or closer together that tend to be
grouped together.

6. LAW OF SIMILARITY
 elements that look similar we perceived as
part of the same form.

7. LAW OF CLOSURE
 objects grouped together are seen as a whole.

8. LAW OF GOOD
CONTINUATION
 holds the points that are connected by straight or curving
lines are seen in a away that the smoothest path, rather
than seeing separate lines and angles, lines are seen
that are belonging together.

9. LAW OF GOOD PRAGNANZ
 the word pragnanz a German term meaning “good
figure”. The law of pragnanz is sometimes referred to as
law of good figure or law of simplicity. This hold that
objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes
them appear as simple as possible.

10. LAW OF FIGURE/GROUND
we pay attention and perceived things in the foreground
first. A stimulus will be perceived as separate from its
ground.
 (by Jenny Fultz of Anderson University)

11. INSIGHT LEARNING
 Wolfgang Kohler was the first psychologist
who developed the insight learning in which
he described an experiments with apes
could use boxes and sticks as tools to solve
problem.

12.  in the box problem, the banana is attached to
the top of a chimpanzee‟s cage. The banana is out
of reach but can be reached by climbing upon and
jumping from a box. Only one of Kohler‟s
apes(Sultan)could solve this problem. A much
more difficult problem was involved the stacking of
boxes was introduced by Kohler. This problem
required the ape to stack one box on another , and
master gravitational problems by building a stable
stack. Kohler also gave the apes sticks which they
use to take food into the cage. Sultan, Kohler„s
very intelligent ape, was able to master a two-stick
problem by inserting one stick into the end of the
other in order to reach the food.

13.  the important aspect of
learning was not
reinforcement, but the
coordination of thinking
to create new
organizations. Kohler
referred to this
behavior as insight or

14. GESTALT PRINCIPLES AND
TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS
this six Gestalt Principles not only
influence perception but also they impact
on learning.
* Kurt Lewin
• his theory focusing on “life space
adhered to gestalt psychology.
• he said that an individual has inner and
outer forces that affect his perception and
also his learning.

15. Inner Forces
include his own
motivation, attitudes and feelings.
Outer Forces
include the attitude and behavior of
the teacher and classmates.

16. MARIO POLITO
» italian psychologist writes about
the relevance of Gestalt
Psychology to education.

17. • Gestalt theory is focused on the experience of
contact that occurs in here and now. It considers
with interest the life space of teachers as well as
students. It takes interest in the complexity of
experience, without neglecting anything, but
accepting and amplifying all that emerges. It
stimulates learning as experience and the
experience as a source of learning. It appreciates
the affections and meaning that we attribute to
what we learn.

18. . Knowledge is conceived as continuous
organization and rearrangement of information
according to needs, purposes and meanings. It
asserts that learning is not accumulation, but
remodeling or insight. Autonomy and freedom
of the student is stimulated by the teacher. The
time necessary for assimilation and for
cognitive and existential remodeling is
respected. The contact experience between
teacher and students is given value : an
authentic meeting based on sharing ideas and
affections.

19. THANK YOU FOR
ALL YOUR
ATTENTION 
ELİF ÜSTÜNDAĞ