The field of education focuses on the processes in which students can obtain, retain and express learned information through the guided assistance of an educator. Learning can be simplified to “an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience” (Schunk, 2016, p. 3). This and many other definitions of learning resulted from the creation, experimentation and implementation of learning theories.
Learning theories are conceptualized beliefs derived from professionals about the various means that affect, enhance and encourage learning. These learning theories provide the foundational blueprint for the advanced knowledge, practices and principles that are still researched and implemented within classrooms today. Cognitive, social, moral, emotional and behavioral learning theories provide valuable information that can be implemented within the classroom.
Such learning theories illuminate the inner workings of a student’s mind, motivations and abilities. Jean Piaget believed “that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages” (Slavin, 2016, p. 30). Lev Vygotsky believed that “learning involves the acquisition of signs by means of information from others and deliberate teaching” (Slavin, 2016, p. 38). Lastly, Albert Bandura believed that children “learn through social contexts [and] modeled behavior” (Ryan, 2011). Listed below are the six key theoretical approach to learning and the associated professionals that helped to perpetuate each theory.
Humanistic Need Theory– Children are moved by a hierarchy of basic and higher-level needs.
Abraham Maslow
Behavioristic Theory– Focuses on the relationships between experiences and behavior
Ivan Pavlov
B.F. Skinner
Cognitive Theory– Human development is a process of adaptation and the highest form of adaptation for humans involves ignition
Jean Piaget
Biological and Ecological Theories– (Biological) Human development emphasizes innate behavior patterns and tendencies. (Ecological) Focuses on relationships between individuals and their environment.
Albert Bandura
Lev Vygotsky
Erie Bronfenbrenner
John Bowlby
Open Systems Theory-Development can only be understood in terms of continuous, mutual interaction among all levels of the developing system.
Ludwig Bertalanffy
Esther Thelen
Psychoanalytic Theory– Focuses on the fact that most important causes of human behavior and personality are deep-seated, usually unconscious forces within individuals and the development of a healthy personality.
Sigmund Freud
Erik Erikson
Classroom Management Plan 