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Who are a few of the greatest Theorists in history? Here are a few examples!
 * Piaget
 * Vygotsky
 * Erikson
 * Kohlberg
 * Rousseau
 * Montessori
 * **Read on to learn more about these theoists** [[image:Piaget.jpg align="center"]]
 * Jean Piaget**


 * Background**
 * Piaget was born on August 9, 1896 and lived to be eighty-four years old. He passed away September 16, 1980. He began his researching career early (at age eleven) by writing a paper on an albino sparrow. He went on to receive his Ph.D in the subject of Zoology. After this, he switched his direction to psychoanalysis where he began studying by working for a year in a boys’ institution. An interesting fact is that while studying and developing his cognitive theory, he even studied his three children.

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 * Theory**
 * Piaget developed a theory about development. Piaget would observe children while they would do activities. He also listened to what the children would say to him and talked with them in order to observe them as a cognitive theorist and not a behavioral theorist. Piaget used stages in order to differ between the different developmental stages. Stage one is sensori-motor and occurs from when a person is born until a person is two years old. The second stage is the pre-operational stage and takes place from age two to age seven. Stage three is the concrete operational stage and this stage takes place from when a person is seven until a person is eleven years old. The fourth and final stage of Piaget’s theory is the formal operational stage that takes place from age eleven on. According to Piaget, everyone has the same developmental stages and moves in order of the stages.


 * Classroom Application**
 * When a person understands Piaget’s moral development theory, he or she will know what is occurring developmentally for students based on their age. This way teachers will be able to adapt their teaching to how the students will best learn during each stage.

This website was useful because it gave a background about Piaget rather than his theory. It was neat to learn that when he started he was studying Zoology. This site was useful because it helped me to understand the stages of Piaget’s theory. It provided a chart about the stages also. It also gave a lot of useful information about different key words that go with Piaget’s theory such as assimilation and accommodation and schemata. This site was very useful because it breaks down the different aspects of Piaget’s theory. This site would be useful for a person who is not extremely comfortable with psychology because the site explains things in a way that is understandable to general people. ||
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 * [[image:lev.jpg width="221" height="291" align="center"]]
 * Lev Vygotsky**


 * Background**
 * Lev Vygotsky was born on November 17, 1896. He lived to thirty-eight and passed away on June 11, 1934. In 1917 Vygotsky received a law degree from Moscow State University. In fact, his study of psychology did not begin until 1924. Within a ten year span Vygotsky published six books on various topics in psychology. These topics were topics such as language development, psychology of art, and child development. He also developed a sociocultural theory besides his zone of proximal development theory.


 * Theory**
 * Vygotsky’s theory consists of four basic principles. One principle of the theory is that children are able to construct their own knowledge. Another principle is that when a person learns, it can lead his or her development. A third principle is that language has a huge role in a person’s mental development. The final principle is that one’s development cannot be separated from a person’s social context. Another theory that Vygotsky developed was the zone of proximal development. Basically, this theory states that a child will be able to accomplish a difficult task that he or she cannot do on his or her own if he or she has the help of a person who is more skilled in the area.


 * Classroom Application**
 * These theories can be used in the classroom because it helps a teacher to understand what a child needs in order to develop and what will help a student to develop to the best of his or her ability. Also, the zone of proximal development can be used in order to implement scaffolding into the classroom. Students will receive a lot of assistance in the beginning of their development and the assistance will slowly be taken away until a student is able to perform a task on his or her own.

This site was useful because it gave a lot of background information about Vygotsky. It also gave evidence that Vygotsky had a diverse background in his education. This site was useful because it helped to break down the zone of proximal development. It also had a video and an interactive chart that were very useful. This site was useful because it provided a slideshow that explained each of the four principles of Vygotsky’s theory in depth. ||
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 * [[image:Erikson4.jpg align="center"]]
 * Erik Erikson**
 * Background**
 * Erikson was born on June 15, 1902. He lived to be ninety-two and passed away on May 1, 1994. Erikson was raised by a man who his mother married after he was born. Erikson found out that the man raising him was not his biological father and this inspired him to study the formation of identity. Erikson moved to America in 1933 where he had a teaching position at Harvard University.
 * Theory**
 * Erikson was very focused on identity and therefore his theory focused mainly on identity. He states that a person’s identity is based on his or her social interaction. Erikson’s theory is divided into eight stages. Stage one is the stage of trust versus mistrust which occurs during infancy which is from birth to a year and a half years old. Stage two is autonomy versus shame and doubt which occurs during early childhood which is between the ages of one to three. The third stage is initiative versus guilt which occurs during the play age when a child is between the ages of three to six. The fourth stage is industry versus inferiority and this stage is during the school age when a person is between five and twelve years old. Stage five is identity versus role confusion and this stage occurs during a person’s adolescence which is between the ages of nine and eighteen. Stage six is intimacy versus isolation and occurs during young adulthood when a person’s age ranges between eighteen an forty. The seventh stage is generativity versus stagnation during adulthood when a person is from thirty to sixty-five years old. Finally, stage eight is integrity versus despair which occurs during mature age and a person is fifty years of age or older.


 * Classroom Application**
 * This can be made useful in the classroom because when teachers understand the stages that students are going through while he or she is teaching them, then he or she not only can help them to learn to the best of their ability but also help them to develop as people and to create their own individual identity.

This site was useful because it provided a biography of Erikson and gave good background information about why he studied what he studied and what his motivations were. This site was useful because it explained each of Erikson’s steps of his theory and helped to elaborate on what each stage contains. This site was useful because it had a chart of all of Erikson’s stages and helped to break down the theory in order for a person to be able to look at the information in a new way instead of reading it in paragraph form. ||
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 * [[image:kohlbeg.jpg align="center"]]
 * Lawrence Kohlberg**
 * Background**
 * Kohlberg was born on October 25, 1927 and lived to be sixty years old. He passed away January 19, 1987 after he committed suicide by walking into the Atlantic Ocean. He studied at the University of Chicago where he earned his bachelor’s degree in one year. In 1958 he earned his doctorate degree, also from the University of Chicago. Throughout his career he worked at Yale, The University of Chicago, and Harvard. Kohlberg became interested in moral development when he was studying for his doctorate degree, so it was not his initial interest.
 * Theory**
 * Kohlberg studied Piaget’s theory of moral development, but he decided that the ideas of the theory should be more in depth. In order to go off of Piaget’s stages of thinking, Kohlberg developed a model that contained three different levels and each level contains two stages. By developing these new stages, Kohlberg is demonstrating that each person is an individual in his or her moral development. Level one is the pre-conventional stage. This level contains stage one which is the heteronomous morality where a person will follow the rules that are set out for him or her. Stage two in level one is the stage of individualism an instrumentalism. A person in this stage has his or her own interests that are rarely varied, but the person is also aware of other peoples’ interests. Level two is the conventional level which contains stage three and stage four. Stage three is the mutual interpersonal stage where a person strives to be seen as “good” by following rules and trying to meet expectations. Stage four is social system and conscience where a person will do what he or she thinks that he or she is supposed to do in order to keep things flowing as they are supposed to. Level three is the post-conventional level which contains stages five and six. Stage five is the stage of social contract where a person follows rules but realizes that he or she is able to bend them a little bit. Finally, stage six is the stage of universal ethical principles and a person creates his or her own set of morals that he or she follows.




 * Classroom Application**
 * This can be put to use in the classroom because it helps a teacher to understand that people undergo maturation of development at different rates. It lets a teacher know that he or she should be understanding of his or her students and work with them at the level that they are.

This site was useful because it gave a good biography of Kohlberg and gave information about his life and what he did in his career. This site was useful because it explained each of the levels and stages of Kohlberg’s moral development theory. This site was useful because it provided another explanation of the stages and levels and also gave an illustration to help understand the stages in a new way. ||
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 * [[image:rousseau.jpg width="240" height="282" align="center"]]
 * Jacques Rousseau**
 * Background**
 * Rousseau was born June 28, 1712. He lived to be sixty-six and passed away July 2, 1778. Rousseau attended a school where he was punished often and this developed his hatred for authority. He attempted a career in music and wrote for the opera but was more focused on his political theories that focused on social reform.


 * Theory**
 * Rousseau’s theory focused a lot on nature. He believed that the reason people become corrupt and unhappy is not because of how he or she develops, but because of his or he social surroundings and that people need to be in natural surroundings to develop into who he or she is really meant to be.


 * Classroom Application**
 * This can be put to use in the classroom because teachers will understand that students may be developing and forming an identity that is almost false because he or she is developing based on his or her social surroundings. It is important for teachers to help students to become whoever they want to be and it should be because he or she wants to and not because of his or her surroundings.

This site was useful because it gave a good biography of Rousseau and helped to develop background information of his life This site was useful because it gave a ton of information about Rousseau’s theory and gave the stages of his theory with explanation. This site was useful because it helped to break down Rousseau’s theory and also analyzed his theory into eight different factors. ||
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 * [[image:montessori.jpg width="221" height="303" align="center"]]
 * Maria Montessori**
 * Background**
 * Montessori was born August 31, 1870. She lived to be eighty-two and passed away on May 6, 1952. Montessori became a compassionate person through the teaching of her mother because her mother had her knit for the poor every day. She continued this compassion in her students and she called these practices “exercises of practical life.” She was the first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy. Her ambition to study medicine was difficult to go after because of society’s views of women at the time.


 * Theory**
 * The Montessori Method works by allowing children freedom to learn. Students are given freedom and thus learn to have self-control. The students work is their own reward and they are not given much else for a reward. This use of schooling was fading for a while but it is coming back into use today. The students learn many practical skills such as math, learning things about their senses, music, and many other subjects. Also, since the students are left to work at their own pace, learning becomes fun instead of stressful for a student.


 * Classroom Application**
 * This can be useful in the classroom because it makes learning fun for students. School becomes very stressful and allowing students to work at their own pace can be helpful. Students who are “behind” in learning can take more time to master a skill and students who are “ahead” in learning are able to work ahead and move on as they accomplish skills and tasks.

This site was useful because it gave a biography of Montessori and also told about her difficulties studying as a woman during her time period. This site was useful because it gave more information about Montessori herself and also gave information about the Montessori Method.
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 * This site was useful because I was able to look at today’s Montessori Schools and look around on their website. ||