Developmental Learning

"To treat everyone the same is to treat them unequally

-Dr . Mel Levine , Co-Chair and Co-Founder , All Kinds of Minds

Introduction

Current discourse into human development and learning seeks to motivate teachers , health and social care workers to develop their own theories of learning , and to evaluate such theories within the classroom using an evidence-based approach (Bigge , Morris Shermis , 1998 . This aims to encourage education facilitators across disciplines to draw on learning theories to enhance their understanding of students /participants , and to foster an experimental attitude toward modifying delivery methods

to optimize the learning experience of teenagers . It is clear that the discipline of psychology is essential to further the understanding of developmental , learning and teaching processes

Firstly , a critical review of the two major developmental learning theories will be presented , these being the behavioral model and the social construction model . Secondly , a proposed research design for a substance abuse prevention workshop for teenagers will be presented , with reference to the theories critiqued . Finally , a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of this and demonstrate the viability of using a social construction model to approach learning interventions for teenagers

Review of Developmental Learning Theories

The Behavioral Model

Bigge and Shermis (1998 ) identify the two major learning theories of relevance to current education as being the behaviorist and the cognitivist schools of thought . The behaviorists focus on observable behavior and reduced the learning experience to a process of stimulus and response . This psychology approach to learning was adopted in the USA during the early 1900s , when science and technology were experiencing a time of accelerated growth . Hence , the concept of studying measurable , objective , human behaviors aligned with current values of a modernized society embracing standardized production methods . For the extreme behaviorist , all human behavior can be understood through the processes of conditioning , these being classical and operant in form

Skinner (1938 ) pointed out that a positive , negative or neutral consequence following a behavior influenced whether a particular behavior was repeated in the future , or if it was not . So , a person learns new behaviors , or is able to modify existing behaviors , as a function of environmental events that either reward or punish that behavior . In this way , Skinner 's learning theory is a move away from the traditional behaviorist approach of stimulus and response , as he differentiated between types of responses . When a response was elicited by a known stimulus is considered to be associated with the known stimulus . Alternatively , responses that do not require a specific stimulus , which he termed operants , are independent of the stimulus Skinner emphasized that it was the operant response that could be strengthened or weakened by use of personal , social or environmental rewards or punishments respectively

Skinner 's principles advocated the idea that learning could be `programmed ' which fit with the 1960s initial explorations into computer aided instruction . All that was required was for the student to practice , and to be provided with the ideal reinforcement (i .e , reward or punishment . Students were...