CYP Core unit 3.1 Assessment Criteria 2.3: Theories and Theorists Please write down three key points for each theorist and give an example of how it is put into practice in your setting. SKINNER – Operant Conditioning 1. Skinners theory is based on the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behaviour. 2. Changes in behaviuor are the result of an individual's response to events that occur in the environment. 3. Reinforcement is the key to Skinners theory. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response Example in Setting: All the children have targets for when they are writing, it might be to use capital letters and finger spaces, when they achieve their target the get to colour in a picture and once …show more content…
VYGOTSKY – Social Development Theory 1. Children learn in stages and need to develop naturally. 2. Social interaction plays a fundamental role in cognitive development. 3. He saw children as 'apprentices' learning and gaining understanding from others. Example in Setting: children learn the word sounds or phonemes and practice these, then they can put them together to make words. Bruner – Modes of Thinking 1. believed that a child's social environment and the way they interact with others was very important in their learning. 2. saw that as a child develops they use different ways of representing the things around them. 3. a child starts by using its body to express themselves, then they draw pictures and finally they use words to describe things and express themselves. Example in Setting: Children start drawing simple pictures but as their vocabulary and knowledge increases they can draw more complex pictures and label them accordingly. MASLOW – Hierarchy of Needs 1. Was a humanist who stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfilment and change through personal growth. 2. Believed that the lower level of needs has to be mastered before the others can be achieved. 3. Everyone can reach the top level of needs, but many can not get there due to life experiences Example in Setting: Children need to know the sounds of the letters before they can put them together to make words, once they know the sounds they can put them together
Skinner’s theory is based on the assumption that children learn by being active in the learning process . They use their senses to explore situations before drawing conclusions about them.
Behaviourists like Skinner believed that the principles involved in these learning processes were applicable to people and underpin complex human behaviour. Skinner proposed that behaviour changes as a result of its consequences and that behaviour is also reinforced by reward. Behaviour that is reinforced will also increase in frequency Skinner suggested. Similarly, he argued, negative reinforcement works in the same way as positive re inforcement. For example, if a loud noise is made every time a rat pokes its nose through its cage, the rat would stop doing it. He promoted the idea that as humans are just another species, giving praise for desirable behaviour in a child would reinforce that behaviour in the same way that getting food by pressing a lever in a box would reinforce behaviour in a rat.
When given the choice of seven activities all three of the children, aged two years old, went straight for the sandpit to draw letters in the sand with thick and long sticks. The children doing the activity love to draw by making shapes and different movements with a variety of implements, for example paint, colouring pencils or chalk, which is similar to writing in the sand in many different ways. This means spelling out the letters in the sand can be used as a way of stimulating interest in writing.
According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s
A fundamental tenet of Skinner's radical behaviorism is that the probability of a behavior is related directly to the nature of the environmental consequences that follow performance of that behavior. From this basic tenet he derived a set of procedures for modifying behavior by a method called operant conditioning. Specifically, behavior is strengthened, or increased in frequency, when followed by either a positive consequence (positive reinforcement) or removal of a negative consequence (negative reinforcement). Behavior is weakened, or decreased
Children at the age of 3 ask ‘what and why ‘ questions frequently. They enjoy stories and rhyme. Longer sentence begin to be used and they can count to 10 and sort out certain object in to different groups for example size.
Thereby, Skinner produced experiments whereby rats would navigate through mazes to achieve the goal of a box containing food. His interest was the behaviour of the rat, taking the right turn to achieve the desired result, food. To begin with the rats would take the wrong turn but with experience, they became more skilful. The rats learning behaviour was measured in two ways, firstly the length of time it took from start to end and secondly, the reduction in errors. This was a lengthy experiment which led Skinner to produce ‘the Skinner box’. Whereby, rats learnt to press a lever and pigeons learnt to peck a key in order to attain food, also known as behaviour shaping. This experiment lacks ecological validity as the animals are kept in a controlled environment which is dissimilar to their natural habitat. However, the results which were attained could not have been possible in natural circumstances. Skinner wanted to observe if behaviour could be learned through reaching a desired outcome such as positive reinforcement which needed to be
And those children represent their knowledge in a variety of ways. It is based on recognition of the individual and social nature of learning and the essential role of language in mediating thought, communication,
As children get older egocentric thinking will begin to dominate in a non-logical and non-reversible way, and this will give a more developed imagination and will improve memory. The child grows into adolescents and the operational stage of cognitive development with the use of symbols and abstract concepts grows and shows more
Skinner created the theory of Operant Conditioning as he believed that all behaviour can be controlled by rewards or reinforcement. This is very different from Pavlovs theory of Classical Conditioning as Skinner is trying to control voluntary behaviour. This is done by giving the subject a positive or negative reaction to an action with the theory that a negative response will discourage the subject to repeat the action. A good example of this is house training a dog, as the dogs natural reaction is to relieve itself, however it must be taught to wait until it is outside. The more the dog waits until he is outside, the more praise he receives therefore it is less likely to wish to instigate a negative reaction by relieving himself inside the house.
Piaget claims that before the beginning of this stage, children 's ideas about different objects, are formed and dominated by the appearance of the object. For example, there appears to be more blocks when they are spread out, than when they are in a small pile. During the Concrete Operational Stage, children gradually develop the ability to 'conserve ', or learn that objects are not always the way that they appear to be. This occurs when children are able to take in many different aspects of an object, simply through looking at it. Children are able to begin to imagine different scenarios, or 'what if ' something was to happen. This is because they now have more 'operational ' thought. Children are generally first able to conserve ideas about objects with which they are most comfortable. Once children have learnt to conserve, they learn about 'reversibility '. This means that they learn that if things are changed, they will still be the same as they used to be. For example, they learn that if they spread out the pile of blocks, there are still as many there as before, even though it looks different!
Two prominent researchers, B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura, have developed theories which provide differing perspectives and explanations regarding the learning behavior of individuals. The purpose of this writing is to explore the theoretical perspectives of Operant Conditioning Theory developed by B.F. Skinner and Social Learning Theory developed by Albert Bandura. An overview of both theories is presented, followed by a discussion of their similarities and differences.
Things need to be seen or manipulated to be understood, students in this stage of development display an increasingly accurate perception of reality and a decline in magical thinking, memory is improving and new skills in problem solving are emerging. They demonstrate creative, analytical and flexible thinking.
Skinner believed that classical conditioning was limited to behaviors that are reflexively elicited. An operant describes behaviors that are "operate upon the environment to generate consequences." Reinforcement follows an operant and increases the likelihood of the operant being repeated.