Children are complex thinkers and they need to be prepared and encouraged to play and to think . Early childhood educators should help children to explore their world through play, imitation and exploration. Children should be supported to become thinkers too. Extending their thinking with variety, stimulation, materials and experiences. ( Nutbrown, 2006) Humans are unique in being able to communicate symbolically.
Cognitive behavior therapy is based on the belief that people are born with the ability to have rational and irrational thinking, and it helps clients to accept themselves and their mistakes. They teach the client that they will continue to make mistakes and is a normal part of life. However, the psychoanalytic theory is inconsistent with these views because it is rooted in the belief that our behavior is determined by unconscious forces. Also, that sexual and death instincts are the sources of our actions and our motivation for pleasure and pain. b.)
He believed that people develop constructs as internal ideas of reality to help them understand the world around them and that the way the world is viewed is based on individual experiences, interpretations and observations. This essay will also look closely at the work from Hans Eysenck and Stanley Rachman on Trait Theory (1965) and Phillida Salmon (2003) who developed George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory further by relating it to teaching. It will also discuss the interrogative themes of Power Relations, Situation Knowledge and Agency Structure. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches will be critically compared along with looking at the contrasts of both hoping to offer an explanation to the above statement ‘The traits that we think we find in others represent our personal construction of them’ (Butt, 2012, p.53). Theories of personality were developed around a century ago in three different strands known as clinical, psychometric and experimental traditions, although all separate they seek to explain behaviour and the individual differences in the way people react to the same situation.
In this essay, I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who both influenced the more scientific approach to analysing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge, (Flanagan 1996). Both Vygotsky and Piaget were regarded as constructivists in the field of cognitive development, meaning that cognition is the result of mental construction (Davison, 2006). According to constructivists, a person’s ability to learn is affected by the context in which the person is taught, as well as their personal beliefs and attitudes.
Behaviourism and Humanism Learning Perspectives The two perspectives of adolescent learning this essay will discuss are behaviourism and humanism. Both of these perspectives search for the reasons humans do things however the contrasts between the two are rather extreme. The behaviourist school of thought considers observed physical behaviour and believes behaviour can be predicted and controlled (O’Donnell et al, 2012, p. 230). Skinner and Watson are the most well known developers of this theory, and in the early stages of behaviourism animal behaviour was studied. Humanism came about as a response to behaviourism; with humanists looking at the whole person and their experience, believing that learning is a part of natural human growth.
He suggested that the adult's role in helping the child learn was to provide appropriate materials for the child to interact and construct. He would use Socratic questioning to get the children to reflect on what they were doing. He would try to get them to see contradictions in their explanations. Theorist jean Piagets suggested that children think differently than adults and proposed a stage theory of cognitive development. He was the first to note that children play an active role in gaining knowledge of the world.
An example of that is how parents in various cultures use language with their children. It is theorized that children possess the innate ability to learn language. There are several theories as to how adults play a part in the language development of a child. The first few theories that will be discussed is about how children learn language. The first theory is the nativist theory which states all kids have the yearning to understand the logic of their domain.
Any movement capable of affecting another organism may be verbal.”(Skinner Pg.14). The outcome of a verbal response depended on the four-term contingency model which consists of: motivating operation (MO), discriminative stimulus, response, and reinforcement. (Skinner Pg.15) These interactions of the above in a child’s environment would develop into associations which are the basis of all language. Let’s first try and understand the concept of Verbal Operant Conditioning. It is the idea that when a verbal response in a certain situation is followed by a positive reinforcer it becomes more likely that the behavior
Jean Piaget’s theory was based on systematic (schema) study for our cognitive development. Piaget believed that there were stages that you had to achieve in order to move on to the next. The order of the stages: Piagets theory came in to place by observing children. A way of applying his theory to the classroom is “use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible...” (McLendon, 2011) In my practice we set up activities for each individual need of each child to help them progress through the stage of the theory which links to Piagets theory. Lev Vygotsky’s theory was based on social/emotional development needs to show demonstration/imagination to allow a child to progress.
(Katz & Chard, 2000, p. 2)” The two essential elements of the project approach are “child-centered activities” and “social reconstruction”. Child-centered is means that enables children to follow their interests and fascinations. That is spontaneous learning method that they can learn about practical information and a theoretical framework through the process of developing a project in group. This learning-method leading developmental objectives: physical, cognitive and language, affective and social and aesthetic development (Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum,2006, p.17). Phases 1: Beginning a project Children are leading learners but no only received information.