Approaches to Learning (Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism)

About this chapter

Approaches to Learning opens with the Surface, Deep and Strategic approaches a learner brings to a task, then walks through the four major schools of learning theory that shape primary classrooms: the Behaviouristic approach (Pavlov's classical conditioning with neutral, unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and his processes of generalisation, discrimination, extinction and spontaneous recovery; Skinner's operant conditioning, Skinner Box, the law of effect, positive and negative reinforcement, programmed instruction and teaching machines), the Cognitive approach (learning as change in cognitive structure through differentiation, generalisation and restructuration; Piaget's processes of assimilation, accommodation, equilibration and adaptation; the four stages — sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational), the Social Learning approaches (Bandura's social learning theory and Vygotsky's social-constructivist view that every function appears first on the social level and later inside the child), and the Humanistic approach (Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Rogers's child-centred view). CTET Paper 1 regularly tests Pavlov-Skinner terms, Piaget's stages and processes, Vygotsky's ZPD line and Maslow's pyramid as single-fact and applied items. The four tests — Practice 15, Quiz 15, Hard 15, Mastery 30 — cover every named theorist, every key term and every classroom implication at CTET depth and difficulty.