Understanding Learning Theories: Behaviorism, Cognitive Constructivism, Social Constructivism
If I am going to teach my child, I want to do it right. Learning about teaching in college, I thought the knowledge would not only feed me, but it would be useful for my child. I drifted back and forth between a career in education and industry business. Some of this useful knowledge became hazy in my memory, but I think this blog is a great way to recall and share with those dads in need.
Theory
noun. A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.
It might be an intimidating word but fear not. As a parent, you don't have to deep dive into the world of educational psychology or educational science. All you want to know is how to help your child learn better starting at an early age. In this blog post, we will take a look at the fundamentals of three learning theories and how this might help your child: Behaviorism, Cognitive Constructivism, and Social Constructivism.
Why It Matters
It had never occurred to me that I felt a need to name a phenomenon that seemed to happen naturally. Learning was one of those. We call it "discovery", "mistake", "achievement", or many other names. These "theories" are just a collection of repeated incidents of learning that seem to have a pattern. But they're based on trustworthy data accumulated over many years. These are not THE TRUTH. Each theory takes a perspective in learning. So, you can agree with some parts of one theory but not the others. It depends on our own experiences, cultural background, education we were exposed to, etc. So, just know where they are coming from and how we can effectively use them to better our children's development.
Words You Need to Know
Knowledge: What your child learns. It could be a fact, letter, word, action, pattern, color, etc.
Learning: Process of gaining and sustaining knowledge.
Motivation: Internal or external drive to learn.
Pedagogy: Teaching method
Behaviorism
A learner learns through a passive absorption of knowledge presented to him or her. Repetition and positive reinforcement. Something that we saw a lot in our classrooms. The teacher presents the lesson, and students copy it to their behavior.
Cognitive Constructivism
A learner learns by connecting the dots. New knowledge is connected to the pre-existing ones. Hands-on activities and discoveries. You can simply think about how one can learn through playing with Lego. (In fact, this became the basis for Lego Education)
Social Constructivism
A learner learns through social interaction and collaboration. Group projects and Peer Tutoring weren't just your teachers being lazy. Some people learn better when they have other people working with them.
Conclusion
As I play with my daughter, I see her learning new things every day. Her thing today was holding her hands together. I didn't have to judge if it was behaviorism-based or cognitive constructivism-based learning. The key was that she learned and got better with her motor skills. Now that she knows how to hold her hands, I can build on that knowledge and give her a toy to hold with both hands (Cognitive Constructivism approach). There will be days when she copies what I say because I give her a hug every time she attempts to copy me (Behaviorism).
If you want your child to take one extra step, you want to help him or her without disturbing the playing time. You can pick one of the theories to find the most effective way of doing it. You can make more educated choices tailoring the approach to your child's individual needs and preferences.