Behaviorism Vs Constructivism Essay

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This essay will be discussing two different theories of learning; Behaviorism and Constructivism. Watson and Skinner, two major theorists of the behaviorist theory tried to prove that human behavior could be controlled and foreseen. Both Skinner and Watson investigated how learning could be affected by a change in ones environment. However, the constructivist theory viewed learning as an exploration of meaning. Piaget and Vygotsky, two of the major advocates for Constructvist theory, both explored factors that could help figure out how children understand learning at different stages in their lives.
These theories give insight to the differences, yet also the links in learning, particularly in relation to how children gain their learning, and how their behavior may be affected.

The learning theories presented; Behaviorism and Constructivism originated from two deep thinking schools of thought, which has lead to influence educators’ view in learning and teaching. Two of the major advocates of behaviorism were Skinner and Watson. They explored how children’s learning could be affected by changes in the environment that they learn in, and attempted to prove that children’s …show more content…

(WGHB, 1998) Skinner had no interest in understanding how the human mind functioned. Skinner and Watson were only interested in how human behavior is affected by external factors.
Whereas the Constructivist theory is based around the cognitive development, how thinking and knowledge develops within the different age groups, lead by psychologist’s Piaget and Vygotsky. These two theorists and their research of cognitive development provided the basis for

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