Home l Overview & Objectives l Physiological l Safety l Love and Belonging l Self-esteem l Self-actualization l Student Quiz & Assignments l Standards l Resources & References

What's Your Motivation?

Maslow's Hierarchy of

Needs

Lesson Plan 

Teacher's Lesson Plan Guide 

"Constructivism is a psychological and philosophical perspective contending that individuals form or construct much of what they learn and understand (Bruing et al., 2004)."  Constructivist theorist believe that everything can be proven through research, and they look at how people interact with their environment, and how they grow and learn from it.  Understandably we could see how humanistic theories which look at how people make choices in their life based on scenarios that present themselves as they are interacting with their environment is based largely in constructivism.  Within constructivism we have Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which states, "human actions are unified by being directed toward goal attainment" (Schunk, 2008).  Maslow believes that how we act and learn is based on where we are in each level of the pyramid on the left.  The biggest area is the Physiological area, which includes food, water, and air.  An individual is unable to move to the next level until all their needs are met at this level.  Since these are basic needs to survival, individuals focus on how they are going to be able to meet these needs, by forming constructs on how this can be obtained.  Once an individual is able to meet their basic needs, they then seek safety from environments that are conducive to fulfilling this need.  The individual is again unable to focus on love and belonging until they feel safe in their environment.  Once the individual feels safe, they then seek love and want to belong to families and social groups that can help the individual obtain these feelings.  By having family and friends that accept the individual, they develop their esteem and value.  The more meaningful relationships that the individual obtains, the higher the individuals self esteem can be, but helps them reach the last level of self-actualization.  In self-actualization, the individual may have a strong tendency to achieve greatness in an area of their lives. (ex. truth, justice, wisdom)  Many people never reach self-actualization, since they are still stuck in the physiological and safety areas of this theory.

Created by:  

Marni Saenz

Jessica Pettyjohn

University of Texas at Brownsville

    College of Education

      EDCI 6304 – Learning and Cognition

Yan Yang, Ph. D.

Spring 2011

 Home l Overview & Objectives l Physiological l Safety l Love and Belonging l Self-esteem l Self-actualization l Student Quiz & Assignments l Standards l Resources & References 

Image taken from: http://www.letsstartthinking.org/quickreference/images/maslow-need-hierarchy.gif