LEARNING THEORIES

Jean Piaget- Children’s Developmental Stages

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of
mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also
on understanding the nature of intelligence.

Piaget believed that children took at active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they
perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world.

As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing
knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information.

The Piaget stages of development is a blueprint that describes the stages of normal intellectual development,
from infancy through adulthood. This includes thought, judgment, and knowledge. The stages were named
after psychologist and developmental biologist Jean Piaget, who recorded the intellectual development and
abilities of infants, children, and teens.

Piaget's four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development are:

● Sensorimotor. Birth through ages 18-24 months.
● Preoperational. Toddlerhood (18-24 months) through early childhood (age 7)
● Concrete operational. Ages 7 to 12.
● Formal operational. Adolescence through adulthood.
Lev Vygotsky- Zone of Proximal Development

The zone of proximal development, often abbreviated as ZPD, is the difference between what a learner can
do without help and what he or she cannot do.[1] The concept was introduced, but not fully developed, by
psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) during the last ten years of his life.[2] Vygotsky stated that a child
follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help. [3]Vygotsky and
some other educators believe that the role of education is to give children experiences that are within their
zones of proximal development, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning such as skills and
strategies.[4]

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been defined as:

"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the
level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or in
collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).
Lev Vygotsky views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests
that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more
skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.
Vygotsky believed that when a student is in the ZPD for a particular task, providing the appropriate assistance
will give the student enough of a "boost" to achieve the task.
Howard Bloom-Taxonomy of Learning

Bloom's Taxonomy was created in 1956 under the leadership of educationalpsychologist Dr

Benjamin Bloom in order to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analyzing and evaluating
concepts, processes, procedures, and principles, rather than just remembering facts (rote learning).Jun 5,
1999

Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition
—i.e., thinking, learning, and understanding.Mar 5, 2014

The authors of the revised taxonomy suggest a multi-layered answer to this question, to which the author of
this teaching guide has added some clarifying points:

1. Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and
students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.
2. Teachers can benefit from using frameworks to organize objectives because
3. Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.
4. Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to:
o “plan and deliver appropriate instruction”;
o “design valid assessment tasks and strategies”;and
o “ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objectives.”

Citations are from A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives.
B.F. Skinner- Behaviourism

B.F. Skinner (1904–90) was a leading American psychologist, Harvard professor and proponent of the
behaviourist theory of learning in which learning is a process of ‘conditioning’ in an environment of stimulus,
reward and punishment.
Skinner explains the difference between informal learning, which occurs naturally, and formal education,
which depends on the teacher creating optimal patterns of stimulus and response (reward and publishment),
or ‘operant conditioning’:
An important process in human behavior is attributed … to ‘reward and punishment’. Thorndike described it in
his Law of Effect. It is now commonly referred to as ‘operant conditioning’ … The essentials may be seen in a
typical experimental arrangement. A hungry rat [can be seen] in an experimental space which contains a food
dispenser. A horizontal bar at the end of a lever projects from one wall. Depression of the lever operates a
switch. When the switch is connected with the food dispenser, any behavior on part of the rat which
depresses the lever is, as we say, ‘reinforced with food’. The apparatus simply makes the appearance of food
contingent upon the occurrence of an arbitrary bit of behavior … The relation between a response and its
consequences may be simple, and the change in probability of the response is not surprising. What is
technologically useful in operant conditioning is our increasing knowledge of the extraordinarily subtle and
complex properties of behavior which may be traced to subtle and complex features of the contingencies of
reinforcement which prevail in the environment …
 Abraham Maslow- Hierarchy of Learning

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (often represented as a pyramid with five levels of needs) is a
motivational theory in psychology that argues that while people aim to meet basic needs, they seek to
meet successively higher needs in the form of a pyramid.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has often been represented in a hierarchical pyramid with five levels.
The four levels (lower-order needs) are considered physiological needs, while the top level of the
pyramid is considered growth needs. The lower level needs must be satisfied before higher-order
needs can influence behavior. The levels are as follows (see pyramid in Figure 1 below).

● Self-actualization – includes morality, creativity, problem solving, etc.

● Esteem – includes confidence, self-esteem, achievement, respect, etc.
● Belongingness – includes love, friendship, intimacy, family, etc.
● Safety – includes security of environment, employment, resources, health, property, etc.
● Physiological – includes air, food, water, sex, sleep, other factors towards homeostasis, etc.