Here's a bit from an essay I did ages ago - there's only about 10 in here, but it'll be a start!
There have been several Theorists who have given us the many different theories that we know of and use nowadays. These theories try to explain how young children develop intellectually, and often describe this development as stages, or patterns of development, and give us a framework for understanding the process of learning. However, working with just one framework may stop us from exploring other views so it important that we look different theorists and what they have researched.
The main theory which seems to influence early years education in the UK is the sociocultural theory of Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). This is not the only approach however, the behavioural work of Skinner (1905-1990) for rewarding positive behaviour and ignoring negative behaviour influences a lot of work with children who have learning and behavioural difficulties. Jean Piaget's (1896-1980) theories have become popular again in recent years as further research is done into his idea of schemas through which children progress through stages in their learning. His theories are known as cognitive.
Sociocultural perspectives try to explain how children learn what is important through their interaction with the adults around them. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky placed great importance on the role of the adult in teaching culture, knowledge and language. He believed that learning mainly occurs and is extended through interaction with adults or more able others. His main theory was the 'zone of proximal development' he believed that children work on two developmental levels, their actual level and their proximal (next) level. The 'zone' lies just between these levels where the child is just starting to stretch their abilities and is the difference between what a child can do with help today and what they can do by themselves tomorrow. The adult helps to minimise the risk of failure, encourages independence and steers the child towards the limits of their competence. For example, supporting a child's bottom from behind as they try to climb the stairs.
Jerome Bruner (1977) took Vygotsky's theories and developed them into a 'contingent control' of learning through 'scaffolding' highlighting the need for adults to be sensitive in responding to children's need for support. He and Rudolph Schaffer (1977) observed that mothers and babies 'take turns' with each other during a potential learning episode, for example, playing with a ball pushing, bouncing and rolling it.
Reggio Emilia approach interpreted the zone of proximal development as the idea of learning partners that operates in his nurseries in Italy and which are becoming well known. His teachers take the role of the child's learning partner and offer strategies to help them when they have problems.
Behavioural theories stem from the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936) who trained dogs to react to sound stimulus. His theory was called 'classical conditioning' and it was thought that children's responses could be conditioned in the same way. Edward Thorndike (1874 - 1949) started the theory of 'operant conditioning' which was further developed by BF Skinner (1904 - 1990) by using positive reinforcement to effect wanted behaviour. We use this system in Pre-school by giving children stickers when they behave especially well or are polite or helpful.
Cognitive perspectives were studied by Jean Piaget who was born in Switzerland about the same time as Vygotsky. He theorised that learning comes though active involvement in the environment and he placed less emphasis on the role of the adult. One aspect of his work, Schema, has provided a very useful way of looking at children's learning. According to Piaget, children progress through three stages of learning, assimilation when they are absorbing events into existing schemas, accommodation when they are changing existing schemas as a result of new information, and equilibriation when they have a desire to stay in balance and have an understanding of the world. He believed that children connect ideas and reach new understandings by using schema, forms of thought, in which children make sense of the knowledge they have. Chris Athey (1990) moved Piaget's work on, as she believed that schema dominate children's play and they way they learn. She showed how children's 'forms of thought' develop through experiences and developed a framework for teaching which extends schema through curriculum experiences.
All these theories are linked and all try to explain how we can effectively support children's learning.
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