Social

Learning: Comparing Social Cognitive Theory and Social Constructivism

Social Theories

Social cognitive theory explains learning as a result of viewing consequences and
adjusting current perspectives into new ways of thinking. Current perspectives are
adjusted due to positive or negative consequence that the individual forms.
Learning can be enactive, that is, based on experience, vicarious meaning through
others experiences, or latent which means that an individual can learn at a specific
time but may not display the learned information until later. This means that
learning is cognitive. Behaviors do not need to be displayed in order to assume that
learning has taken place. A leading theorist in social cognitive theory is Alfred
Bandura. Bandura explored modeling and performed many experiments to
understand the principles that contribute to social cognitive theory. One of his most
famous experiments, the Bobo doll experiment, split up children into three groups
and had them watch a video of an aggressive model hitting a doll, a non-aggressive
model, and then a control group. The group with the aggressive model that was
rewarded for their behavior made far more imitative aggressive responses than
those who were in the non-aggressive or control group. This shows how social
learning can be. We shape our own actions, and even thoughts, on how we assume
we will be most successful in the world, and this can be based off of how we see
other people dealing with life. Social cognitive theory set the stage for social
learning and allowed other theories to follow in its place.

One of these theories was social constructivism. Unlike social cognitive theory,
social constructivism focuses on how the individual constructs knowledge
cognitively with the help of others. Yet like social cognitive theory, social
constructivism focuses largely on the fact that learning should be social and have
people working together to create knowledge. Furthermore, learning is cognitive
and does not always require a change in behavior. Lev Vygotsky is a well-known
theorist who worked on social constructivism. He created the zone of proximal
development that showed how an individual could move past their actual
developmental level with the help of others and venture into their potential
developmental level. There will still always be some knowledge out of reach. The
key to learning with the zone of proximal development is to be in the potential
developmental level and keep adjusting as development occurs so that there is
always balance between boring and too difficult. Vygotsky also emphasized the
importance of language in his work. Language is what makes it possible for people
to work together on a specific task. It helps us understand cultural tools like books
and artifacts that also help us each our potential developmental level. Language also
helps us form our thoughts. Through language, we internalize information; we
become able to think about the new knowledge that we have constructed.
Vygotskys theory is still relevant today and has been expanded on since his death.
Professionals often use the term scaffolding to describe the help given to an
individual learning something new. It begins with the helper giving more support in
the beginning and letting the learner have more responsibility for the task as he/she
gains confidence in what they are performing. Eventually, they will be able to
perform the task on their own. Social constructivism was a great extension of social
cognitive theory, and by putting both theories together we can find a way to help
individuals learn and construct their own knowledge through the social interaction
that school is based on.

Discussion

Our education system is based on Vygotskys zone of proximal development. We use
educators to help students reach their potential developmental level through
scaffolding and modeling and other forms of teaching. Yet, issues arise when we
take a closer look at how schools are operating. As a future special educator, I will
use this discussion to look at some issues our schools face today pertaining to
special education and why they should be changed according to the social cognitive
and social constructivist theories.

The theories agree that learning should be social. School is based on social
instruction and educators often serve as models to help students reach their
potential developmental level with the zone of proximal development. Models are
better followed if they are perceived similar to the student, competent, or have
status. Teachers act as live models working to demonstrate how to complete a task.
Students often learn through observation and scaffolding, but the most important
aspect of the learning that occurs is that it is social. Learning in schools almost
always requires an interaction with the teacher. When it comes to special education
classrooms, this is often more so due to learning disabilities that make reading
difficult. So why are 80% of educators white when minorities are overrepresented
in special education classrooms. These students may not identify with their model,
making it harder form them to learn. And why are there so many lecture-based
classes? Students need to be able to work together to create knowledge, and interact
in a way that allows for enactive and vicarious learning. This is a lot easier when
children are put into small groups that allow them to become each others models
and help reach a higher developmental level. This will also give them perceived
similarity, as they will all be students.

Social theories agree that behavior does not need to change in order for learning to
occur. They claim that formal schooling is not required for learning to occur as well.
I want to go further than that and say that formal schooling may actually inhibit
some learning from occurring based on the No Child Left Behind Policy and the
recent increase in standardized testing. Standardized testing is merely a
measurement tool for a students actual developmental level. Students with special
needs are required to prepare for and take these tests with the knowledge that they
wont pass. Instead of focusing on areas within the zone of proximal development,
time is devoted to the reading, English, math, and science that will show up on the
test. Social cognitive theory discusses the triadic reciprocality that involves the
interactions between the individual, the environment, and their behavior. Social
Constructivism adds another factor, a social factor.

Our school system is so complex that it is impossible to achieve perfection.
Perfection lies outside of the potential developmental level. But I believe that if we
work together to fix some of the issues in our schools, we will be able to leap past
the actual level we are at and make potential progress.