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Philosophical, Historical And Sociocultural Influences

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Question III-B: Explain the philosophical, historical, and sociocultural influences on contemporary educational theory and practice. As educators, we have our own ideas about teaching and learning but we still have pioneer mentors who contribute to the development of our teaching philosophy. These pioneers developed constructive ideas about schools, curriculum, and the methods of instruction we continue to use in today’s classrooms (Ornstein, 2008). It is crucial that we understand the philosophical, historical, and sociocultural influences as we develop curriculum that is relevant and applicable in today’s educational settings. There are many pioneers who have shaped today’s classrooms, but several have been significant contributors. …show more content…

According to Piaget, intelligence develops in four stages beginning at birth with the sensorimotor stage and ends with the formal-operational period in early adulthood (Ornstein, 2008). During this first stage children explore their immediate environment by using their senses to construct simple concepts of space and time. As they move through the four stages of development children will constantly be reconstructing and repatterning their view of reality (Ornstein, 2008). Once they have completed the last stage, they will be able to understand and interpret space, historical time, and multiple cause-and-effect relationships; they will also be able to construct possible plans of action based on multivariate thinking (Brainerd, …show more content…

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