Environmentalist Theory

Theorists like John Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Lbert Bandura contributed greatly to the environmentalist perspective of development. They believe that the childs environment plays a part in how the child learns and the behavior that they develop. Human behavior, development, and learning are thought of as reactions to the environment. And this perspective has shaped many families, schools, and educators to assume that young children do in fact aquire new knowledge by reacting to their surroundings.

We agree that human behavior and development is very closely related to your environment and how you learn. Depending on the environment you were raised in your learning habits will be different and will cause you to react in a different way to your surroundings. We also think that the better learning environment that is available to the child, the more efficiently they will develop through natural stages of growing up.

Different Stages of Learning:
Kindergarten readiness; according to these environmentalists is the age when young children learn to respond appropriately to the school environment. The ability to respond positively to this environment is completely necessary in order for children to develop certain habits in school. Such as participating actively in class discussions and activities, following instructions, listening, etc. A study found that children learn best through rote activities, which includes reciting the alphabet over and over, copying letters, and tracing numbers. When children are unable to respond in the appropriate way to school and the classroom, they are often labeled as having a learning disability.




http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/childdevtheory.htm
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea7lk18.htm