Child Development and Learning · 13 min read
Theories of Development and Learning
This chapter covers Competency I.A. It summarizes the theorists named most often on early childhood exams, explains each theory's key terms, shows what each looks like in a classroom and points out how test questions typically use it. Many items describe a teacher's action or a child's behavior and ask which theory it best reflects, so focus on the terms that distinguish one theory from another.
Jean Piaget: Cognitive Constructivism
Piaget proposed that children actively construct knowledge by interacting with the physical world. Children build schemas (mental frameworks). When new information fits an existing schema, the child assimilates it. When it does not fit, the child experiences disequilibrium and must accommodate by changing the schema or creating a new one. Equilibration is the process of restoring balance.
Worked Example: A toddler who knows "dog" sees a cat and says "doggy." Later, an adult explains that it is a cat and points out its meow and pointed ears.
Calling the cat a dog fits the new animal into the existing schema: assimilation.
The child's confusion when the animal meows instead of barks is disequilibrium.
Creating a separate "cat" category is accommodation.
Result: The sequence shows assimilation, then disequilibrium, then accommodation.
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
| Stage | Approximate Ages | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Sensorimotor | Birth to 2 | Learns through senses and actions; object permanence develops; deferred imitation near the end |
| Preoperational | 2 to 7 | Symbolic thought, language and pretend play; egocentrism; centration; lacks conservation; animism |
| Concrete operational | 7 to 11 | Logical thought about concrete objects; conservation; reversibility; classification and seriation |
| Formal operational | 11 and up | Abstract and hypothetical reasoning |
Key preoperational terms appear often because most children in the 5533 age range are preoperational.
Object permanence, the understanding that objects still exist when out of sight, begins to appear around 8 months and is fully developed near the end of the sensorimotor stage. Peekaboo delights infants partly because of this developing understanding.
In the classroom, Piaget's ideas look like hands-on materials, discovery, open-ended questions and a teacher who arranges experiences that create productive disequilibrium. A Piagetian teacher does not try to "teach" conservation to a four-year-old through explanation alone.
Exam Tip: When a question shows a child insisting that a cookie broken in pieces is "more cookie," the term being tested is conservation (and centration). When it shows a child who thinks others see what she sees, the term is egocentrism.
Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky argued that learning is fundamentally social and cultural and that it leads development. Children learn through interaction with more knowledgeable others (MKOs), who may be adults or more skilled peers, and through cultural tools, especially language.
Piaget and Vygotsky Compared
| Point | Piaget | Vygotsky |
|---|---|---|
| Source of learning | Individual exploration of the physical world | Social interaction within a culture |
| Role of language | Reflects thought | Shapes and drives thought |
| Development and learning | Development comes first and sets limits on learning | Learning leads development |
| Talking to oneself | Egocentric speech | Private speech for self-regulation |
| Teacher's role | Arrange materials for discovery | Scaffold within the ZPD |
Common Trap: Discouraging children from talking to themselves during a hard task is inconsistent with Vygotsky. Private speech increases when tasks are difficult and is a sign the child is regulating his own thinking.
Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Theory
Erikson described eight stages across the lifespan, each centered on a psychosocial crisis. The first four apply to early childhood and the early grades.
Erikson's Early Childhood Stages
| Stage | Approximate Ages | What Supports a Positive Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Trust vs. mistrust | Birth to about 18 months | Consistent, warm, responsive caregiving; needs met promptly |
| Autonomy vs. shame and doubt | About 18 months to 3 years | Safe choices, self-help opportunities, patience with toileting and mistakes |
| Initiative vs. guilt | About 3 to 5 or 6 years | Freedom to plan, start activities, ask questions and pretend; avoid harsh criticism of ideas |
| Industry vs. inferiority | About 6 to 12 years | Opportunities to master skills and experience competence |
In the classroom: primary caregiving and continuity of care build trust in infants; letting toddlers choose between two snacks and pour their own water builds autonomy; letting preschoolers plan projects and lead play builds initiative.
Exam Tip: Erikson's stage names hold the answer. A toddler who insists "Me do it!" is in autonomy vs. shame and doubt. A four-year-old who announces a plan to build a castle with a moat and recruits friends is showing initiative.
Urie Bronfenbrenner: Ecological Systems Theory
Bronfenbrenner placed the child at the center of nested systems that interact to shape development. He later called his model bioecological to emphasize the child's own biology and proximal processes.
Bronfenbrenner's Systems
| System | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Microsystem | Settings where the child directly participates | Family, classroom, child care, neighborhood playground |
| Mesosystem | Connections between microsystems | Parent-teacher conferences; home-school communication |
| Exosystem | Settings that affect the child but where the child does not participate | Parent's workplace and schedule, school board, local social services |
| Macrosystem | Broad cultural values, laws, economic conditions and beliefs | Cultural beliefs about independence; national child care policy |
| Chronosystem | Changes over time, in the child and environment | A divorce, a move, a new sibling, a historical event |
Common Trap: The mesosystem is not a place; it is the relationship between two microsystems. A question about a family and teacher sharing a daily communication notebook is about the mesosystem. A parent losing a job is an exosystem influence.
Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow arranged human needs in a hierarchy: physiological (food, water, sleep), safety (physical and emotional security), love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Lower needs generally must be met before a person can focus on higher ones. In early childhood, Maslow explains why a hungry, tired or frightened child is not ready to learn and why programs provide breakfast, rest and predictable routines before expecting engagement.
Exam Tip: If a scenario describes a child who arrives hungry and cannot focus, the theory-based first step is meeting the physiological need (offering food), not a behavior plan.
B. F. Skinner and Behaviorism
Behaviorists explain learning through observable behavior and its consequences. Pavlov's classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with a response-producing stimulus. Skinner's operant conditioning explains how consequences change the likelihood of behavior.
Operant Conditioning Terms
| Term | Definition | Classroom Example |
|---|---|---|
| Positive reinforcement | Adding something pleasant to increase a behavior | Specific acknowledgment when a child hangs up his coat |
| Negative reinforcement | Removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior | A child learns to ask for a break because the hard task is removed when asked |
| Positive punishment | Adding something unpleasant to decrease a behavior | A reprimand (not recommended as a primary strategy) |
| Negative punishment | Removing something pleasant to decrease a behavior | Losing a turn with a toy |
| Extinction | Stopping the reinforcement that maintained a behavior | Planned ignoring of attention-seeking whining |
| Shaping | Reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior | Acknowledging a child for sitting one minute, then two, then five |
Common Trap: Negative reinforcement is not punishment. "Negative" means something is taken away, and "reinforcement" means behavior increases. When a teacher stops nagging once a child begins cleaning up, the child's cleanup is negatively reinforced.
When extinction begins, behavior often gets worse before it improves. This temporary increase is called an extinction burst, and it is a reason to stay consistent.
Albert Bandura: Social Learning (Social Cognitive) Theory
Bandura showed that children learn by observing and imitating others (observational learning or modeling), even without being reinforced directly. In his Bobo doll studies, children who watched an adult hit an inflatable doll were more likely to act aggressively toward it. Learning requires four processes: attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. Vicarious reinforcement occurs when a child sees another child rewarded and becomes more likely to copy the behavior. Bandura also introduced self-efficacy, a person's belief in his or her ability to succeed, and reciprocal determinism, the idea that the person, behavior and environment influence one another.
In the classroom: teachers model the behaviors they want (saying "please," taking deep breaths, cleaning up), point out peers' positive actions and use puppets or peer models.
Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth
Bowlby proposed that infants are biologically predisposed to form attachments with caregivers, who provide a secure base for exploration and a safe haven in times of distress. Through repeated interactions, children form an internal working model, a mental expectation of whether others will be responsive and whether they themselves are worthy of care.
Ainsworth measured attachment with the Strange Situation, a series of brief separations and reunions with a caregiver and a stranger.
Attachment Patterns
| Pattern | Typical Behavior |
|---|---|
| Secure | Explores with caregiver present; may be upset at separation; seeks and is comforted by caregiver at reunion |
| Insecure-avoidant | Shows little distress at separation; avoids or ignores caregiver at reunion |
| Insecure-resistant (ambivalent) | Very distressed at separation; at reunion seeks contact but resists it, difficult to soothe |
| Disorganized (added by Main and Solomon) | Confused or contradictory behavior, such as approaching with face turned away; often linked to frightening caregiving |
Exam Tip: Programs apply attachment theory through primary caregiving (one teacher responsible for a small group of infants), continuity of care (keeping children with the same caregiver over time), small group sizes and responsive routines.
Arnold Gesell: Maturational Theory
Gesell believed development unfolds mainly according to a biological timetable. He observed many children to create age norms and introduced the idea of readiness, the notion that children should begin certain learning when maturation allows. His work underlies developmental norms and many milestone checklists.
Common Trap: Gesell's view is sometimes used to justify "redshirting" or holding children back until they are "ready." Current practice treats readiness as something schools and families support, not simply something children must wait for.
Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences
Gardner proposed that intelligence is not a single general ability but several relatively independent intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist. Teachers apply the theory by offering multiple ways to explore a topic, such as songs, movement, building and outdoor investigation.
Exam Tip: Gardner's theory is not the same as "learning styles." The exam may reward an answer that uses varied activities to engage different strengths, but research does not support matching instruction to a single preferred style.
Maria Montessori
Montessori, a physician, developed an approach built on the prepared environment: orderly, child-sized and beautiful, with materials on low, open shelves. Key ideas include the absorbent mind (young children take in their surroundings effortlessly), sensitive periods (windows when children are especially receptive to certain learning, such as order or language), self-correcting (autodidactic) materials such as cylinder blocks that fit only one way, practical life activities (pouring, buttoning, sweeping) and mixed-age classrooms. The teacher is a guide who observes and introduces materials rather than lecturing.
John Dewey
Dewey led the progressive education movement. He argued that education should be based on children's interests and real experiences, that children learn by doing, and that schools should be democratic communities that prepare children to participate in society. Project-based learning, integrated thematic units and classroom meetings reflect Dewey's influence.
Friedrich Froebel
Froebel founded the first kindergarten ("children's garden"). He emphasized play as the highest expression of a child's development and designed a set of educational materials called gifts (such as wooden spheres, cubes and blocks) and occupations (activities such as weaving, folding and clay work). Modern unit blocks and circle time trace back to his work.
Noam Chomsky: Nativist Theory of Language
Chomsky argued that humans are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), an innate capacity for language that includes a universal grammar. Evidence includes the speed with which children learn complex grammar, the similarity of language stages across cultures and children's creative errors such as "goed" and "foots," which they could not have learned from imitating adults.
Common Trap: Behaviorist (Skinner) explanations of language emphasize imitation and reinforcement. If the question highlights a child producing a form no adult says, the theory being supported is Chomsky's.
Information Processing Theory
Information processing theorists compare the mind to a computer: information enters through the senses, is attended to, is held and manipulated in working memory, and is encoded into long-term memory for later retrieval. Young children's limited attention span and working memory explain why short, concrete, repeated experiences work best. Executive function, which includes working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, develops rapidly from ages 3 to 5. Games such as Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says strengthen inhibitory control.
Theories at a Glance
Theorist Quick Reference
| Theorist | Signature Terms | Classroom Look |
|---|---|---|
| Piaget | Schema, assimilation, accommodation, conservation, egocentrism | Hands-on discovery |
| Vygotsky | ZPD, scaffolding, MKO, private speech | Guided support, peer collaboration |
| Erikson | Trust, autonomy, initiative, industry | Choices, self-help, freedom to plan |
| Bronfenbrenner | Micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, chronosystem | Strong home-school links |
| Maslow | Hierarchy of needs | Meet basic needs first |
| Skinner | Reinforcement, extinction, shaping | Specific acknowledgment, planned ignoring |
| Bandura | Modeling, vicarious reinforcement, self-efficacy | Teacher and peer models |
| Bowlby and Ainsworth | Secure base, internal working model, Strange Situation | Primary caregiving |
| Gesell | Maturation, norms, readiness | Milestone checklists |
| Gardner | Multiple intelligences | Varied entry points |
| Montessori | Prepared environment, sensitive periods, self-correcting materials | Child-sized, ordered materials |
| Dewey | Learning by doing, democracy | Projects, class meetings |
| Froebel | Kindergarten, gifts and occupations | Blocks, play-based learning |
| Chomsky | LAD, universal grammar | Rich language input |
| Information processing | Attention, working memory, executive function | Short tasks, self-regulation games |
Key Takeaways
Piaget: children construct knowledge through assimilation and accommodation; preschoolers are preoperational (egocentric, centered, nonconserving).
Vygotsky: learning is social; teach within the ZPD with scaffolding, and value private speech as self-regulation.
Erikson's stage names (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry) usually reveal the answer in behavior scenarios.
Bronfenbrenner's mesosystem is the connection between settings; the exosystem affects the child indirectly.
Negative reinforcement increases behavior by removing something unpleasant; extinction may produce a temporary burst.
Match signature terms to theorists: secure base (Bowlby), Strange Situation (Ainsworth), LAD (Chomsky), prepared environment (Montessori), gifts (Froebel).
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