Prominent Educational Theorists

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Russian Psychologist.
Social Development Theory ( socialization affects the learning process of an individual) meaning
to say, consciousness-awareness is the result of socialization.
3 Major Concepts: 1. Role of the Social Interaction in Cognitive Development
2. More knowledgeable Other (MKO) anyone who has better
understanding
3. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) what the learner can do w/out
the help from other individual
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Austrian Neurologist.
Psychoanalytic Theory ( personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental
structures:
1. Id “instincts”
2. Ego “realistic part”
3. Superego “Morality”
He believes that these structures are changed overtime as the person grows. He maintains these
conflicts progress by 5 basic stages.
1. Oral stage “birth to 1 yr” mouth
2. Anal Stage “1 to 3 yr” bowel and bladder control
3. Phallic stage “3 to 6 yrs”genitals
4. Latent stage “6 to puberty” Libido inactive
5. Genital stage “puberty to death” maturing sexual interacts
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
American Psychologist.
Hierarchy of Needs ( comprises a five-tier model of human needs)
1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Love and Belonging
4. Esteem
5. Self-Actualization
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Swiss Psychologist.
Cognitive Development Theory ( how a child constructs a mental model of the world)
3 Basic Components:
1. Schemas-building blocks of knowledge
2. Adaptation processes: a. Equilibrium
b. Assimilation
c. Accomodation
3. Stages of Cognitive Development
a. Sensorimotor (birth to 2 yrs)
b. Preoperational (2 to 7 yrs)
c. Concrete Operational (7 to 11 yrs)
d. Formal Operation (12 up)
Sensorimotor stage (ability to form a mental representation of an object)
Preoperational (children can think things symbolically)
 Concrete Operational (major turning points of childs cornitive development
because this starts the logical and operational thought that conserve numbers)
Formal Operational ( begin to develop abstract concepts and logically test
hyphothesis)

Eric Erickson (1902-1994)

German-American Developmental Psychologist.
Psychosocial Theory (identifies a series of eight stages that a healthy developing individual
should pass through from infancy to late adulthood)
8 Stages of Psychosocial Development
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (0 to 2 yrs)
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (2-3 yrs)
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (4-5 yrs)
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (6-11)
5. Identity vs. Confusion (adolescence)
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood)
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood
8. Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood)

Benjamin Samuel Bloom (1913-1999)

American Educational Psychologist.
Mastery Learning Theory (the focus of instruction should be the time required for different
students to learn the same material)
Key Elements:
1. Specifying what is to be learned and how it will evaluated
2. Allowing students to learn at their own pace
3. Assessing student’s progrgess and providing feedback
4. Testing if the final learning criterion has been achieved
He proposes 3 domains of learning
a. Cognitive-knowledge
b. Affective-attitude
c. Psychomotor-skill
Bloom’s Taxonomy (classification of the different objectives and skills that educators set for
their students)
Namely: knowledge-comprehension-application-analysis-synthesis-evaluation

Jerome Bruner (1915-2016)

American Cognitive Theorist.
Spiral Curriculum (complex topics can be taught to young children if structured and presented in
the right way) Reinforcing info overtime
Three Modes of Representation (the way knowledge is stored in memory)
1. Enactive (age 0-1 yr) “action-based”
2. Iconic (age1-6 yr) “Image-based”
3. Symbolic (age7+yrs) “Language-based”

Howard Gardner (1943-Present)

American Developmental Psychologist.
Multiple Intelligences Theory (differentiates human intelligence into specific modalities)
8 Intelligences
1. Verbal-Linguistic (Word Smart)
2. Logical-Mathematical (Logic Smart)
3. Musical (Music Smart)
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic (Body Smart)
5. Visual-Spatial (Picture Smart)
6. Interpersonal (People Smart)
7. Intrapersonal (Self Smart)
8. Naturalistic (Nature Smart)