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Learning processes

Reflective Teaching offers an account of three major approaches to the study and understanding of children’s learning – behaviourism, constructivism and social cognition. These ideas are often covered in most introductory texts on learning, however, direct study of original texts is always worthwhile and some suggestions are offered below:

For some classic behaviourist work see:

  • Skinner, B. F. (1953) Science and Human Behaviour, New York: Macmillan.
  • Gagné, R. M. (1965) The Conditions of Learning, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

For Piaget’s classic constructivist work, see:

  • Piaget, J. (1926) The Language and Thought of the Child, New York: Basic Books.
  • Piaget, J. (1950) The Psychology of Intelligence, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

A comprehensive introduction to Piaget's work is:

  • Ginsberg, H. and Opper, S. (1969) Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development, New York: Prentice Hall.

However, for an important critique of Piagetian theory see:

  • Donaldson, M. (1978) Children's Minds, London: Fontana.

Most theories of social cognition can be traced back to the work of Vygotsky:

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1962) Thought and Language, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
  • Daniels, H. R. J. (2008) Vygotsky and Research. Abingdon: Routledge.

Others, including Bruner, offer key insights into the significance of learners’ cultural and social contexts in influencing understanding:

  • Bruner, J. (1990) Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Reading 11.1)

Two important books with an emphasis on socio-cultural factors are those by Rogoff and Wenger. Wells and Claxton present international perspectives on the ideas and challenges raised by a socio-cultural perspective of learning, in a modern world that is characterised by complexity and uncertainty:

  • Rogoff, B. (1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking, New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wells, G. and Claxton, G. (Eds) (2002) Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Socio-Cultural Perspectives on the Future of Education, Oxford: Blackwell.

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