From Social Constructivism to Behaviourism

What is it about?

As well as a consideration of fundamental learning development theories, which range from those postulated by theorists such as Sigmund Freud and Maria Montessori, to those argued for, by B F Skinner, contested by Albert Bandura, this paper considers extensively, the four hierarchical stages of cognitive development - as set forth by Piaget, namely: the sensorimotor, pre operational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages of development.

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Why is it important?

It considers and attempts to explain why behaviours and abilities amongst certain groups and influencing or categorising criteria, should not be restricted to certain boundaries. Against this backdrop, Perry’s Scheme of intellectual and moral development is also considered. In contrasting both approaches and in arguing that learners’ abilities “depend on their background knowledge, experiences, and abilities “ - as well as support for arguments that “the same individual can experience different zones of proximal developments (ZPDs) in different subject areas,” the paper seeks to justify the argument that learning capabilities are shaped, not only through the level and complexity of social interactions, that is, the frequency of interactions and levels of social associations, with those who are more knowledgeable, but also internal factors such as motivation, perceived relevance of subject/topics, self confidence, and a positive learning environment - to name but a few of other influencing factors which impact students’ abilities to learn.

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