Early Childhood Theorists

Piaget

believes there are Four stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Vygotsky

Teacher scaffolds children's learning during the Zone of Proximity

Dreikurs

Children have goals for misbehavior

Gardner

Theory of multiple intelligences

Froebel

Father of kindergarten. Believed play was learning, introduced block play

Montessori

Believed that learning should be child-directed; used materials from nature.

Erikson

Believed that psychosocial development happens through stages of crisis

Freud

Believed that behavior was mostly a result of unconscious processes. Believed that personality is develped through psychosexual stages.

Bloom

believed that children need to be challenged with higher level thinking

Maslow

believed that children's physiological needs must be met before learning occurs

Skinner

a behaviorist that believes children's behavior can be conditioned through positive and negative reinforcement.

Bandura

Believed the children can learn through observation and watching violence leads to agression

Dewey

started the first public school and believed in experiential learning