This is what I wrote for this assignment, my tutor said I'd done well on it, so hope it helps!
Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) became interested in children’s cognitive development when he was working on intelligence tests as a zoologist. He noticed that children would often give ‘wrong’ answers to some questions, and began to investigate why this might be happening. He made detailed observations on his own children, and gradually developed his own influential theory.
Piaget suggested that children ‘constructed’ or ‘built’ their thoughts according to their experiences of the world around them, which is why his theory of learning is referred to as a “constructivist approach”.
Piaget used the word ’schema’ to show the meaning of a child’s conclusions or thoughts and he felt that learning was an on-going process, where children need to adapt their original ideas if a new piece of information contradicted their conclusions. An example of this would be a group of toddlers who are served milk in blue beakers, may come to believe that milk is only served in this way, they will then come to the conclusion that all drinks are served in blue beakers.
This theory can help us to understand why young children’s thinking is different from an adult’s.
Another suggestion Piaget made was that as a child develops, so does their thinking, and he grouped children’s cognitive development into four stages:-
• Sensori-motor (age 0-2) – Development of permanence and child begins to use symbols (i.e. language).
• Pre-operational (age 2-7) – Child uses symbols in play and thought, egocentrism, centration, animism and inability to conserve.
• Concrete operational (age 7-11) – Ability to conserve, child can begin to solve problems mentally using practical supports, i.e. counters and objects.
• Formal operational (age 11-15) – Young people think about experiences that have not happened to them, and they juggle ideas in their minds.
Links to practice
Because of Piaget’s work, early years settings and school now attempt to provide a more hands-on approach and more relevant tasks for children and young people. His work has influenced a more “child-centred” approach to teaching, where teachers initially work out the child’s needs and plan their activities in accordance. Piaget’s work has also influenced approaches to the management of children’s behaviour, as he also looked at children’s moral development from a child’s perspective, rather than from an adult’s point of view.
Vygotsky’s theory of Cognitive Development
Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) has also proved to be influential, and has been adopted by the Early Years Foundation Stage framework in England and Scotland.
Vygotsky believed that a child’s social environment and experiences are very important. He believed that children are born to be sociable and by spending time with their parents and friends, they will gain skills and concepts.
Vygotsky also believed children to be “apprentices” who learn and gain understanding through being with others (also known as “scaffolding”)
Vygotsky suggested that maturation was a vital element of child’s development, and that their carers must extend their child’s learning so that the child is able to use these emerging skills and concepts. This idea was defined by as the “zone of proximal development” by Vygotsky, but can also be referred to as “potential”.
Links to practice
Vygotsky suggested that people who work with children should extend and challenge their thoughts so that their “zone of proximal development” can emerge. He also stressed how important social interaction was and is today. He also believed that adults must work alongside children, and also that children can help to develop each other’s full potential. This means now that children and young people are encouraged to do tasks together in early years settings.
Although Vygotsky saw that teaching directly was important, he also believed that it is important for children and young people to be active in their own learning.
Psychoanalytical learning theory
Freud’s Structure of Personality
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) is particularly well known for his psychosexual theory of development, which is mainly used to explain our unconscious thoughts and actions.
Freud suggested that our personalities are made up of three parts: the “id”, the “ego” and the “superego”, which are not all present at birth, but will develop as the child develops.
The id: - This is the instinctive part of our personality. It follows the drives and needs of our body, for example hunger of pleasure. The id is often thought of as the ‘selfish’ component of our personality, as it doesn’t consider how meeting our needs and desires will affect others. Freud suggested that babies have the id at birth as they will cry until they are fed, no matter how tired their primary carer may be or whether or not there are other babies around them who also need feeding. When this need is met it is known as ‘gratification’.
The ego: - The ego is the planning part of our personality. It is the part that works out how the id’s needs and desires can be met in the best way. Babies develop the ego from the id in their first few months of life, for example they might learn that if they smile in some situations, they are more likely to have their needs met, whereas others will cry to have their needs met.
In some situations, the ego might make the id wait for its needs to be met, for example if a child snatches a cake from a tray they might have it taken away from them, whereas if they wait for a cake, they might get offered one and eventually get one.
The ego is often referred to as the “common sense” part of our personality.
The Superego: - The superego usually develops later in childhood. It is known as the control part of our personality, as it tries to control the ego. It is made up of 2 different parts; the “conscience” and the “ego-ideal”. The conscience punishes the ego if it misbehaves, which is our source of guilt, whereas the ego-ideal will reward the ego when it behaves well, which is our source of confidence and pride.
Link to practice
Although Freud’s work has faced a lot of scrutiny and criticism, his observations about the link between our unconscious actions and our mind are still seen as useful. For example, his work is useful when looking at defence mechanisms in children, like when they cover their mouths when telling a lie, as if to stop the words from coming out.
Humanist learning theory
Maslow’s theory of motivation and personality
Abraham Maslow (1908-70) looked at people’s motivation in the 1940s and suggested that people had certain fundamental needs. These needs had to be met before a person could achieve “self-actualisation”. I these needs are not met, a disadvantage would be created in the person.
His basic needs were made in a hierarchy of needs, where all needs have to be met for self-actualisation to be achieved. Below is a diagram of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Link to practice
When working with children, it is often recognised that their needs for food, shelter and warmth need to be met, as well as their psychological needs, i.e. love, and promoting their self-esteem. In regards to practice, this means that early years workers and teachers should think about the environment that the children are in as well as focusing on building strong relationships with them.
Social learning theory
The social learning theory is an example of a Behaviourist approach.
Albert Bandura (born 1925) is the key figure among social learning theorists, who suggested that as well as principles of conditioning, we also learn by observing others. This is also known as “observation learning”.
Observational learning is an interesting theory and most early years workers will have observed a child copying another child or adults behaviour. One of the features of observational learning is that it is not planned, it is spontaneous, and children usually learn by imitation rather than someone teaching or showing them. It is also different from conditioning as it can occur without reinforcement.
Since the early days of this theory, researchers have been very interested to work out why children and young people can copy some things but not others. Cognition seems to play a vital role in this, as the child would need to be able to notice the activity as well as being able to remember it. Because of this link with cognition, Bandura changed the name of his theory to a “Social Cognitive Theory”.
Link to practice
By observing the actions of others around them, children and young people will learn a lot of social behaviours. Therefore, most early years settings will encourage staff to become role models to the children in their care, by peaking to them courteously and showing them good and healthy behaviours.
Behaviourist approaches to learning
The behaviourist approach to learning suggests that learning is influenced by punishments, rewards and environmental factors. Behaviourists often use the word “conditioning”, which means that we learn to act a certain way because of what past experiences have taught us to do, or not to do. This is also known as “learning by association”.
There are two types of well documented conditioning; classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning: - Ivan Pavlov worked with dogs and noticed that while studying the dogs, they would always start to salivate before food was given to them. He came to the conclusion that because they dogs had learnt to associate the bringing of food with other things, such as the sound of footsteps and the sight of buckets, they were anticipating the food and would therefore salivate.
To show this more clearly, Pavlov came up with an experiment where he fed the dogs while ringing a bell. The dogs would then associate the bells with food and would therefore begin to salivate when they heard the bells ringing, even if no food was given.
John B. Watson (1878 – 1958) took over Pavlov’s work and discovered that children and adults could also be classically conditioned.
Link to practice
Classical Conditioning is not used with children and young people as part of practice; however it is useful to understand, especially in terms of children’s phobias such as fear of needles, spiders, etc.
Operant Conditioning: - The operant conditioning theory was devised by B.F Skinner (1904-90) and is based on the type of consequence or “reinforcement” that follows certain behaviour.
Skinner suggested that humans and some animals learn best by exploring their environment and then drawing conclusions that are based on the consequences of their behaviour. This means that, unlike the classical conditioning theory, people tend to be active in their learning.
Skinner divided these consequences into 3 groups:-
Positive reinforcers: - Likely to make people repeat the behaviour if they receive a reward. Skinner thought that this was the most effective way to encourage new learning.
For children, positive reinforcers include stickers, sweets and treats, praise and adult attention.
Negative reinforcers: - Also likely to make people repeat the behaviour, except that the behaviour is repeated to stop something happening.
Punishers: - Likely to stop people repeating certain behaviour.
Link to practice
For workers in early years settings and schools, operant conditioning is used one way or another, even if you don’t know you are doing it. An example of this would be to praise a child or young person, giving them a treat, sticker or other form of reward, for doing well at something or behaving well.
Social Pedagogy
Thinking holistically and thoughtfully about theories of development and the ways that working with children and young people can be brought together to create frameworks for education and care is known as ‘social pedagogy’. The aim of social pedagogy is to find ways to work with children and young people that will improve their chances in life, and their social outcomes.
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