Cognitivism And Constructivism

This assignment’s compilation serves the purpose of critically discussing the importance of primary school educators’ ability to understand theories of child development and their use within Intermediate phase education. Children perceive information in altered manners at particular stages of their development; this will be discussed further in this essay. Theories include Behaviourism, Constructivism and Cognitivism. It is imperative for educators to be aware of the theories that are applicable to the children they interact with, thus allowing them to provide information and activities for the learners in numerous manners to aid their development.

The Behaviourists believed that our behaviour is shaped by the environment. Within the Behaviourist

It encourages learners to build their own knowledge in order to gain understanding that they may not receive when actively listening in class or reading from a prescribed textbook. “Explains why students do not learn deeply by listening to a teacher, or reading from a textbook” (Roy, 2017). The main theorists that propose Constructivism are John Dewey, Maria Montessori and David Kolb. Constructivism encourages learners to explore the world around in efforts to gain knowledge on particular subjects, thus forming what is known as Discovery Learning in opposition of the children learning passively. An example of a Constructivist activity that may be executed in the classroom is experimentation. In a Natural Science lesson, the teacher may allow the children to perform individual experiments and allow them to present their findings to the class. This allows the children to observe a reaction in order to gain better understanding of the concept they have been presented with. Working individually will encourage the child to form his or her own concepts based on what they have witnessed and discovered through their experiment. Another example would be taking the children on an excursion. In a Social Sciences context, a trip to the local museum may be arranged. The children will be able

It provided relevant activities or examples where the educator may apply the theory within their own classroom to encourage development using each theory. It is imperative for the teachers to understand these theories in order to approach situations, in their classrooms, effectively and practice the encouragement of development within their students as each learner perceives information uniquely. They embolden the teacher to use various activities wherein children can participate in order to gain further understanding of conceptions that they are faced with. This countenances for effective teaching methods that can be executed within the classroom and provides the educator with sufficient knowledge and understanding of their