Theory/theorist

Description of Theory

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Negative Education

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a philosopher whose controversial work of fiction, Emile, outlined his views on education and child socialization. He challenged the prevailing view that children were blank slates or empty vessels to be filled, but instead thought that children possessed knowledge that needed to be drawn out through education.

Emile told the story of a young boy who was tutored at home in order to protect him from negative influences in the outside world and preserve his innocence and goodness. The tutor or teacher was positioned as a protector and master who controlled the learning environment to prevent corruption. This concept of negative education thus prevented children from being exposed to certain undesirable elements.

John Locke

17th century philosopher John Locke criticized the notion that individuals are born with certain ideas (which he defined as “mental actions”) implanted in them by God. Rather, he argued that people predominantly gain knowledge or ideas through their experiences. In this sense, children are seen to be “tabula rasa” or blank slates until they have experiences, though the mind does have capacities and dispositions. According to Connolly (2004), Locke believed there are two sources which develop these ideas; sensation and reflection. The first source is one’s experiences with external objects or exploration using the five senses. The child might, for instance, drink a glass of apple juice savouring the taste, smell, and the feel of the liquid on their throat. The second is one’s internal reflection; that is, the mind is active and performs operations that, when noticed, spark moments of reflection such as memory, imagination, doubt, judgment, and choice. So, when the child remembers the experience of drinking the juice, it builds ideas in their mind based on that reflection. These experiences of sensation and reflection give the individual simple ideas which can be combined to form complex ideas.

(Source: https://www.iep.utm.edu/locke/)

Howard Gardner

Multiple Intelligences Theory

Although intelligence has traditionally been linked to a narrow range of cognitive achievements as measured by standardized assessments such as IQ tests, Howard Gardner (1983) theorized that learners have multiple types of intelligence. These intelligences include: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. These types of intelligence are influenced by the context as cultures define and value each type differently. For instance, spatial awareness has a very different meaning in a rural agrarian society than in a large city. Moreover, while the dominant Euro-North American culture may prioritize logical-mathematical and linguistic forms of intelligence, others cultures might value different skills and understandings. If you are curious about learning more about your own “intelligences”, you can find a number of multiple intelligences tests online. Some teachers try to elicit this information about their own students in order to adapt their instruction to the specific “intelligences” of their students. For instance, a child scoring high on bodily-kinesthetic intelligence might need opportunities for movement during learning.

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was a medical doctor who later became a professor of education. Her interest in forming schools for children with exceptionalities led her to develop a teaching approach which was adapted to use in schools for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Montessori believed children have “sensitive periods” of development where their minds are most receptive to learning and growth. Similarly, children’s minds were seen to be “absorbent”, soaking up information without external motivation or support. Montessori schools, still prevalent today, have a prepared environment with child-sized furniture and mixed age groupings to allow children to learn from one another. Specially designed learning or didactic materials which children can use independently are a feature of these programs. These materials are designed to be “self-correcting;” that is, there is only one correct way of using them. There are also some control materials which show them the correct answers. Materials are presented to children in increasing degrees of difficulty. The curriculum is designed around four main areas. The first, practical life, involves daily living activities such as care of the environment and self, life skills, and etiquette. For example, children might practice dressing, fastening, cooking, sewing, cleaning, and setting the table.  The second area is sensorial which relates to sharpening or refining the senses and perception. Some examples include discriminating between various attributes (size, colour, shape) by sorting or ordering blocks, colours, cylinders and so forth. The third area includes academic materials for mathematics and language arts. Finally, cultural activities include those related to social studies and the arts.

Ivan Pavlov

Classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was a behaviourist or learning theorist. Learning theorists would agree with John Locke’s view of the child as a blank slate; that is, experience, rather than genetics, shapes the child’s development. Pavlov was the first theorist to develop the idea of classical conditioning which maintains that animals or human beings can be trained to respond to a stimulus in a way that they would not typically respond. In his famous study with dogs, he noted that dogs would salivate if he fed them. He then began to ring a bell before he fed the dogs. Through this training, the dogs learned to associate the bell with food; an association that had no logic. Eventually, the dogs would also salivate when they heard the bell as they had been conditioned to expect that a meal would follow the ring.

Footage from the experiment is posted online.

John B. Watson

Classical conditioning

Psychologist John Watson (1878-1958) extended Pavlov’s work on classical conditioning by conducting research with young children. He believed children could learn anything under the right conditions. His key experiment involved teaching an 11-month old boy, Albert, to fear a rat by making a loud sound every time he reached for it. Albert was conditioned to associate the unpleasant sound with the rat. You can search for and view this experiment online.

B.F. Skinner

Radical Behaviourism

Psychologist B.F. Skinner’s (1904-1990) form of behaviourism was called radical to distinguish it from these other approaches. He conducted experiments with animals to develop his theory of operant conditioning. Contrary to theorists like Pavlov who created an association between a sound and an experience, Skinner was interested in using reinforcement (a positive consequence or reward) or punishment (a negative consequence) to encourage or deter the individual from repeating a specific behaviour. He researched with animals, placing them in specially designed “Skinner box” containing a small pedal. If the animal pressed on the pedal, it would receive positive reinforcement in the form of a treat, food, water, or some other incentive.  He could alter the schedule of reinforcement by offering them consistently or intermittently at specific intervals. However, Skinner found that once he removed the treat, the animal stopped pressing on the pedal. You can search for and view this experiment online.

Albert Bandura

Social Learning Theory

Psychologist Albert Bandura (1925-) contributed to our understandings about the role of modelling and imitation in shaping a child’s behaviour. His well-known “bobo doll” experiment involved having young children view a researcher hitting and punching the doll and then receiving either a reward or punishment. When placed in the room with the doll, each child was more likely to imitate the researcher’s behaviour if they had seen her receiving a reward. Through these types of experiments, Bandura was able to conclude that children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of someone they admired or a behaviour that was rewarded. You can search for and view this “Bobo doll” experiment online. Think about your own childhood experiences. Do you remember imitating a peer or adult? Were there any specific motivating factors?

Unfoldment Theory

Unfoldment theory was advanced by such theorists as Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel and revolved around the idea that children’s development unfolds naturally. This theory underpins the idea of free play as a means of allowing children to direct their own activity according to their interests. Each theorist took a slightly different position on how this might look in the educational setting. Rousseau believed in active child-directed exploration and discovery within a teacher-created and controlled environment. Pestalozzi paid close attention to the learning environment and how teachers might enhance the children’s natural curiosity and generate an interest in learning. Froebel’s interpretation of this theory was consistent with this idea that teachers must create a supportive environment, but he also argued for more teacher oversight during play.

Can you think of ways a teacher might create a warm and supportive learning environment?

Friedrich Froebel

After a series of educational experiments informed by the ideas of Rousseau and Pestalozzi, teacher and educational theorist Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) conceptualized the first kindergarten. The children in his school engaged in a number of experiences to understand unity or the interconnectedness of the natural world. His program included gardening, singing, dancing, and play. He was the first to conceive of the circle time found in many programs today. Froebel carefully designed materials with increasing degrees of complexity which he referred to as gifts, as well as occupations which were experiences designed to support the children’s development. You can find images of these gifts online.

Johann Friedrich Herbart

Culture-epoch theory

In recapitulation theory, human development is seen to parallel the historical evolution of the species. Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) applied this notion to education in his culture-epoch theory and his followers considered child development to be a progression from “primitive” to higher abilities. As noted by Schultz & Schubert, this was the precursor to many of the theories that viewed development from an ages and stages perspective. Children are thus seen as somehow limited and deficient, evolving over time to become complete human beings.

(Source: http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/curriculumstudies/n97.xml)

Sigmund Freud

Psychodynamic Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the first theorist to examine the ways in which events in childhood, and particularly the manner in which unconscious conflicts are resolved, affect later developmental patterns. In his theory of psychosexual development, children are seen to pass through stages which correspond to the kinds of pleasures they seek to reduce tension. In the oral stage (birth to 1), the child’s erogenous zone is the mouth and urges are satisfied through sucking. The second stage, anal (1 to 3) relates to the anus and is expressed when the child withholds or expels feces. The phallic stage (3 to 5) involves seeking pleasure from one’s own genitals. The latency stage (5 to 12) is when the child suppresses attraction to a parent in order to focus on daily life. The final stage, genital (adolescence) involves sexual attraction and gratification with someone from outside the family. Issues later in life are perceived to stem from unresolved conflicts in these early stages.

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) was an American psychologist who developed his maturational theory after observing young children in a laboratory setting over a long period of time. He argued that child development is the result of a specific pre-determined biological plan that unfolds over time. That is, one’s genetic inheritance determines the pattern of development while neither experience nor environment play a specific role. He believed children should be encouraged to develop naturally without interference from adults.

Jean Piaget

Epigenetic Theory

Constructivism or Constructivist Approaches

In contrast to previous theories which saw intelligence as something fixed, Jean Piaget’s epigenetic theory contended that children gain new abilities as they mature and develop. He conceived of cognitive development as occurring in four stages: sensorimotor (birth to 24 months), preoperational (24 months to age 7), concrete operational (age 7 to 12), and formal operational (age 12 through adulthood). Piaget’s theory was called constructivist because children were seen to be little scientists who constructed knowledge through their interactions with objects and materials. Constructivist approaches to teaching attend to this idea by offering a carefully planned learning environment with choices of developmentally appropriate materials to support children’s explorations.

Educational theorist John Dewey (1859-1952) advanced the progressive education movement first through his theoretical insights and then by founding a laboratory school. Dewey’s (2009) Pedagogic Creed outlined some of the underpinnings of his progressive philosophy of education including the importance of education as both psychological and sociological. That is, the child’s own “instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point”, but must be situated within the social and historical context to interpret the meaning of these instincts (p. 34). He saw the educational institution and the curriculum as being informed by the child’s social life in the home and the community. In this way, the teacher could ensure continuity and bring past experience into new learnings. Experience, he believed, “takes up something from those which have come before and modifies in some way the quality of those which come after” (Dewey 1938, p. 35). He argued in favour of active learning where children engage in collaborative projects and activities and the teacher acts as a planner and facilitator rather than as a “boss.” Planning “must be flexible enough to permit free play for individuality of experience and yet firm enough to give direction…” (Dewey 1938 p. 58). Finally, school was to be a vehicle for “social progress and reform” in preparation for participation in a democratic society (Dewey 2009 p. 40). Democracy, in his view, enhanced the quality of human experiences and made them accessible and enjoyable to all (Dewey 1938).