Indiana Social Studies P.4.8
The Standard
Identify key psychologists in the fields of learning and cognition, including Pavlov, Skinner, and Bandura and explain the impact of their contributions.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students match Pavlov, Skinner, and Bandura to examples of learning. They explain how each psychologist changed our understanding of behavior and learning.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student explains Pavlov’s learned associations, Skinner’s use of consequences, and Bandura’s learning through observation. They can use a new example to show how each idea works.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often call any reward an example of Pavlov’s work. They may also confuse receiving a reward with watching someone else receive one.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: “A child starts putting away toys after watching a sibling get praised for doing it. Which psychologist best explains this, and why?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Fold a paper airplane silently while students copy your steps, then ask how Bandura’s work explains what they learned.
Ask: “A student raises a hand after watching a classmate get praised. Why does Bandura fit better than Skinner?”
Give pairs three cards showing a learned reaction, a reward, and copying someone; have them match each card to a psychologist and explain why.
Ask students to connect Pavlov to feeling tense at a phone alert after repeated stressful messages, and explain the learned link.
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Printable P.4.8 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- P.1.11
Locate and analyze primary sources of landmark experiments in psychology and other counter arguments.
- P.5.6
Evaluate the influences of variables, such as culture (belonging to an individualist or collectivist culture), family, and genetics, on personality development ...
- P.4.1
Explain the process of learning, including principles of operant, classical, and observational.
- P.3.6
Describe the theories of various developmental psychologists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Freud, and Erikson.
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