Jean

Piaget
SWISS PSYCHOLOGIST WHO

DEVELOPED A THEORY OF

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

FOCUSED ON INTELLECTUAL

DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN.
1896-1980

Piaget's theories on learning

and development have

influenced

constructivist learning theories, child-

centered pedagogies, and particularly

a propensity for passive, background

roles for teachers in children's

education.

According to Piaget's

theory

the accommodation and

assimilation of cognitive

processes could not be sped up

by instruction. Most interactions

were useless at influencing

cognitive change unless they

were placed at the proper level

between assimilation and

accommodation and carefully

built upon the student's prior

knowledge.

He suggested that

a teacher’s key role is to encourage

students to think critically by giving

them engaging learning opportunities

and tools.

His approach has

impacted

ideas about individualized

instruction, student-centered

learning, formative evaluation,

active learning, discovery

learning, and peer interaction.

(Hargraves, 2021).

Reference
Hargraves. (2021, March 17). Piaget’s theory of education - THE EDUCATION

HUB. THE EDUCATION HUB.

 Lev

Vygotsky
SEMINAL RUSSIAN

PSYCHOLOGIST BEST

KNOWN FOR HIS

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY.
1896-1934

Vygotsky's theory has been

utilized to focus on a collaborative and

interactive environment of teaching and

learning in which the students are being

able to learn via social interactions with

peers and with teachers. (Hargraves,

2021).

In order for the

curriculum to be

developmentally

appropriate,

according to Vygotsky, the

teacher must prepare lessons

that cover both what kids can

do on their own and what they

can learn from other people.

(Karpov & Haywood, 1998)

He considered that

developing a child's learning abilities, or

their capacity to think logically and

creatively, plan and carry out their ideas,

and convey their understanding in a

variety of ways, is what true education is,

rather than merely the study of specific

facts and skills. (Burns, 2017)

His theory found that

collaborative learning, imitation, and

guided learning all played a major

part. The basis of the Cultural-

Historical Theory is the idea that child

development is the result of

interactions between a child and the

social environment around them.

(Herbert, 2021)

Reference
Hargraves. (2021, March 17). Vygotsky’s philosophy of education - THE EDUCATION HUB. THE

EDUCATION HUB.
Herbert, L. (2021, August 20). The Lev Vygotsky Education Approach - London School of Childcare

Studies. London School of Childcare Studies.

Burns, K. (2017, May 27). Viva Vygotsky! — Key to Learning @Home. Key to Learning

@Home.
 Jerome

Bruner
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST
1915-2016

American psychologist,

Jerome Bruner

made significant contributions to

educational psychology's cognitive

learning theory as well as human

cognitive psychology.

Bruner proposes that

by employing a coding system

to organize and categorize

information, students develop

their own knowledge. He

argued that learning a coding

system by experience rather

than being informed by a

teacher is the most effective

way to do it. (Mcleod &

Mcleod], n.d.)

His learning theory

places a strong emphasis on

forms of representation, and

he also popularized the

concepts of spiral curriculum

and discovery learning.

He also investigated

how children perceive things,

coming to the conclusion that kids'

own values have a big impact on

how they perceive things.

Reference
Burns, K. (2017, May 27). Viva Vygotsky! — Key to Learning @Home. Key to

Learning @Home.
Child Development Theories: Jerome Bruner. (2016, April 24). First Discoverers.
Jerome Bruner | American psychologist. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica.
 Burrhus

Frederic

Skinner
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST,

BEHAVIORIST, AUTHOR,

INVENTOR, AND SOCIAL

PHILOSOPHER.
1904-1990

In his philosophy and writing,

Skinner had an impact on both

psychology and education.

According to Skinner,

education serves two main

goals: the first one is to

educate pupils on a variety of

verbal and nonverbal

behaviors, and the second

one is to motivate students

to show an interest in

instructions.

Through the use of two

concepts—prompting

and fading,

Skinner invented the idea of almost

errorless learning.

The proper or intended

response was

constructed using prompting, and

the gradual removal of stimulus

support was known as fading. Both

methods were applied to

encourage effective learning.

Reference
(A Hypertext History of Instructional Design, n.d.)
 John

Flavell
AMERICAN DEVELOPMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGIST

SPECIALIZING IN CHILDREN'S

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
1928

John Flavell did a lot of

research on the child's

theory of mind and

metacognition.

His research on how toddlers learn to

distinguish between appearance and

reality is among his most well-known

contributions to the field.

He argues that

learning is enhanced when

students learn to reflect on

their own thinking and

deliberately use techniques to

enhance their capacity for

deductive reasoning and

problem-solving.

Knowing when and how to

learn best

is what a metacognitive thinker is and

uses techniques to get around learning

obstacles.

Metacognition can be

defined very simply

as the aft of thinking about

thinking, or, to put it more fully, as

developmental psychologist John

Flavell put it: “Metacognition

refers to one's knowledge

concerning one's own cognitive

processes or anything related to

them, e.g., the learning-relevant

properties of information or data.

(Brame, n.d.)

Reference
John Hurley Flavell. (2023, January 27). American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Metacognition. (n.d.). Metacognition.
Brame, C. (n.d.). Thinking About Metacognition. Vanderbilt University.
 Sigmund

Freud
AUSTRIAN NEUROLOGIST

AND THE FOUNDER OF

PSYCHOANALYSIS
1856-1939

Freud's endeavor to create

scientific psychology was his

greatest contribution.

His understanding of the emotional

underpinnings of unconscious motives

has important implications for educational

theory.

The scientific

research of Freud

helped us understand the

unconscious level of the

human mind. "One of Freud's

greatest contributions to

psychology was his realization

that the unconscious

motivations are emotional in

nature." (Karen Horney. New

Ways in Psychoanalysis)

In psychosexual

development theory,

Freud emphasizes the events and

experiences that children should go

through while still very young.

According to Sigmund,

children should experience

desires during the learning and

development stages. If these

desires are not satisfied, adult

children may develop fixations.

(Mutinda & (Autor:in), n.d.)

Reference
Mutinda, A., & (Autor:in), A. M. (n.d.). GRIN - Learning and Development Theories and

Applications. Learning and Development Theories and Applications - GRIN.

 Erik

Erikson
GERMAN-AMERICAN

DEVELOPMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGIST AND

PSYCHOANALYST
1902-1994

Erikson made significant

contributions to

early childhood education, including

serving as Boston's first psychoanalyst.

He aided in the

improvement of

parents' and educators'

understanding of how people,

particularly children, can

create their own identities via

the various life phases and

developments they undergo.

Numerous ways can be

found to

incorporate his idea of psychosocial

development into the classroom.

Erikson created his phases based on a

person's social interactions, and as a

result, some of them incorporate

classmates and teachers in a school

environment.

Conflicts arise during

each stage and are handled through

social interactions and care. First,

the initiative vs. guilt stage, where

kids start taking initiative and making

decisions, occurs for kids between

the ages of three and six. This can

be encouraged in the classroom by

giving students the chance to make

decisions.

Reference
Mutinda, A., & (Autor:in), A. M. (n.d.). GRIN - Learning and Development Theories and

Applications. Learning and Development Theories and Applications - GRIN.