Learning about Forces and Magnets in Key stage 2 (7 – 11 year olds) Introduction When we study how children learn and develop we must take into account an ongoing debate; nature/nurture. This debate questions if it’s our genes taking on a role in our behaviour and how we learn or if the environment which we’re raised in. [Simply Phycology, 2014] The way a child develops is affected by numerous factors and processes; these must be taken into account when designing learning experiences. The types of factors involved are: Genetics & maturation (genetically programmed development,) learning and child reading. A simple way to understand it is; a child acquires a genotype at the moment of conception, this shapes their development during childhood …show more content…
This includes both the learning theory and social learning theory. Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) was a very influential psychologist, and he was the founder of the ‘behaviourism’ theory. Skinner believed the best way to study behaviour is to look at the causes of action and consequences; this inspired Skinner to develop his theory of ‘Operant Conditioning.’ [Learning Theories, 2014] This theory has three key parts: Neutral Operant’s responses from either the environment, which either increase or decrease the chances of a behaviour being repeated. For example, if a child in class starts crying; or always has stomach ache and the teacher gives the child her time and attention every time, this increases the chance of that behaviour being repeated. Reinforces these are responses again from the environment which increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated. These can either be positive or negative. - Positive a positive reinforcement maybe a reward, simply verbal praise or giving a child a sticker. For example, relating back to the “file and sort” task, if a group of children correctly do this task, the teacher may reward the