Progressive+and+Social+learning

Bandura and Dewey*

One type of social-cognitive learning theory is observational learning. In this type of learning, someone copies what the other person does to figure out how to do something. Albert Bandura's experiment sought out to prove how much of an impat observational learning can have on children. On the experiment, the children were shown a film, where a man is agressive and receives toys. In turn, the children copied the aggressive behaviors after being shown the film. In Bandura's theory, children learn by looking at how someone does something, then by doing it.

People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. “Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (Bandura). Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.

Dewey beleived that children learn best by doing things along with others. He believes that children should be taken to places to learn how something is done. They could also act out plays to learn about certain subjects. A criticism of this theory is that is unrealistic. All of the teachers have to be didicated to teach, and the students all interested to learn. It is believed that this kind of learning takes away standards, causing students to become lazy. -Bandura believes that children learn better from watching then performing the act afterwards.  -In Dewey’s theory we see the children learning form trial and error. The children learn from others and watching. -This is an example of how children learn according to Dewey and Bandura’s theory: the older child is demonstrating how to play with the blocks and the younger child is watching and doing.