Free Education Theories Essay Examples & Topics

Free Education Theories Essay Examples & Topics

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636 samples

Education theory doesn’t refer to just one single approach. Instead, it is an umbrella term that encompasses many ideas that developed over dozens of years. People are diverse and complicated creatures. The ways we learn are just as different as we are. We try to study these ways to understand the purposes and applications of education.

We use education theories for several reasons. One of them is to understand how the world around us functions, thereby realizing how we, as people, function. Another is to use them as the basis for improvement. Recognizing the process of learning allows theorists to come up with better approaches for the future.

In this article, our team aims to help you write your education theories essay. It is not a simple topic, so we have taken a look at the main schools of thought for you. We also came up with a few examples of education theorists. On this page, you will find topics for your essay and some excellent samples as well.

Learning Theories in Education

There exist five main learning and teaching theories. These are the methods of teaching that are used in the process of education. Below, we have tried to simplify these education theories and models for you. We hope that reading through these will give you an idea for your essay.

The main theories of education are:

  • Cognitivism.

The cognitive learning theory focuses on people’s mental processes and their connection with the environment. Students should understand how they think and how it impacts their behavior. Thus, they have more control over their learning. Jean Piaget, one of the first proponents, looked at how external and internal elements impact learning. John Seely Brown took these ideas one step further. He began exploring cognitivism in relation to technology.

  • Humanism.

The focus of the humanistic theory is the person. Learning is the natural process that leads to self-actualization. Abraham Maslow illustrated these ideas in his famous Hierarchy of Needs. Similarly, John Dewey emphasized the need for highly individualized approaches to the education of every individual.

  • Behaviorism.

Behaviorist learning process theory claims that external forces constantly influence how a person acts. This idea became a basis for the development of positive reinforcement. It argues that rewarded behaviors are more likely to repeat. The thought was further studied by B.F. Skinner. However, Albert Bandura researched the more social side of behavioral theory. He claimed that children could learn simply by observing the actions of others.

  • Constructivism.

Our experiences shape who we are as people and the ways we learn. The constructivist theory dictates that we connect new information with our past and use it to create new meaning. Thereby, Lev Vygotsky developed the idea that learning is different from culture to culture, rather than being universal. Jerome Bruner also advocated for constructivism. He stated that the best way to learn is through trial and error.

  • Connectivism.

First developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes, the theory of connectivism is the most recent on the list. It is a concept closely tied with technology as it is now an integral part of our life. Connectivism says that learning can happen in online spaces. It relies on students combining and sharing their knowledge. The connectedness that became an essential part of the 21st century gives us more opportunities for education.

13 Great Educational Theory Topics

As you have noticed, there is a lot to say about education theories. You can talk at length about particular approaches. Or you can discuss the schools of thought in general. We want to make your job easier. Thus, you can check our ideas or use our topic generator.

Over here, we have listed some interesting topics for you to consider:

  1. The role of early childhood in the principles of constructivist theory.
  2. How do modern education theorists promote cooperative learning techniques?
  3. The development and application of Skinner’s Operant Conditioning in the classroom.
  4. Pros and cons of sex education from the perspective of educational learning theory.
  5. Discussing differences between the major theories of learning.
  6. An examination of the application of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory.
  7. Is it possible to design a universal learning plan? A comparison of constructivist and cognitivist perspectives.
  8. The sociology of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory.
  9. Assessing the differences between children and adult education theories.
  10. Critical analysis of the relevancy of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in a classroom environment.
  11. The impact of Pavlov’s conditioning on the psychology and health of subjects.
  12. How do contemporary education theorists promote motivation in online classrooms?
  13. A critical exploration of the efficacy of the Wilson Reading System.

Thank you for reading! We hope that this article will be useful to you in writing your paper. You may now proceed to our collection of the theory of teaching essay examples below. Use our online text summarizer to save yourself some time!

636 Best Essay Examples on Education Theories

The Pros and Cons of Sex Education in Schools

The reasoning behind this is that the role of sex education is not to instruct children not to have sex but rather to provide comprehensive and inclusive education on sex.
  • 4.8
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  • Words: 1528

Sex Education – Importance and How to Teach

Information on abortion is also important as it elaborates the negative effect of abortion and how to practice safer sex in order to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.
  • 2
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Girls Doing Better Than Boys in Education

The aim of education is to expand the ability of people to know clearly how they can relate with others and to bring together their expression for the improvement and growth of the society.
  • 2.3
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  • Words: 577

Learning Theories of Kolb, Schön, and Gibbs

Finally, Gibbs' theory of reflective learning provides a five-step model which can be utilized to analyze a past event and improve the outcomes of similar situations in the future.
  • Pages: 8
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Should Colleges Stop Providing Athletic Scholarships?

This essay had set out to show that sports-scholarships are negatively influencing the academic purposes that colleges were set up for. The essay then progressed to give the reasons for banning of sports scholarships.
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Are Children Smarter Because of the Internet?

In a study conducted regarding the influence of the Internet on children from low income families, it was indicated that children who had access to the Internet recorded high scores compared to those who had [...]
  • 4.3
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  • Words: 2227

The Importance of Arts Education

In the western world, arts subjects have been neglected and pushed to the periphery of the academic field in favour of the sciences.
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  • Words: 2225

Final Exams in a School

The importance of exams is that students of English are motivated to learn English as there are clear goals. The exams are also similar to the activities of the students.
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  • Words: 758

Good School’ Definition and Aspects

Despite this, it is important to note that there are fundamental qualities that a good school should poses. Therefore, despite the fact that school is where learners go to sharpen their academic skills, a good [...]
  • 5
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  • Words: 610

Moral Values in Education

Schools are relied upon by the community and parents to instill and reinforce moral values among students. Those people who support the argument that schools should teach morality are of the view that it is [...]
  • 4
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 842

Why Homework Is So Important

Homework and holiday assignments are the most common tasks that students are given when they are not in school to enhance their learning.
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School Uniform and Maintenance of Discipline

Some prefer to implement the use of school uniform citing various benefits such as improvement of discipline in schools while others see the whole issue of school uniform as a cover up of failed social [...]
  • 4
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School Is Bad for Kids and Here’s Why

Schools are therefore not the only forum through which children can be socialized and it is possible to form a harmonic society without the presence of schools. To reinforce this assertion, this paper has demonstrated [...]
  • Pages: 5
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Freudian’s Concept of Education

Therefore, the problem of teachers using psychoanalytic theories often lies in the lack of understanding that the manifestations of the unconscious in a child are not a sign of adequate education.
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  • Words: 1455

Piaget’s Philosophy in HighScope Educational Model

The philosophy developed by Jean Piaget is one of the most important developmental frameworks based on the principles of the cognitive development, and this theory is selected for the discussion in the paper.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

How a Student Should Study For a Test

They need to review how they study to ensure they use methods that expose them to different perspectives that uncover more ideas related to subjects they are studying.
  • 1
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 832

Communicative Language Teaching

Brown stated that the role of the tutor is to enhance communication among the learners and between the learners and the texts and the learning activities.
  • 5
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3316

Classroom Behaviour Management

According to Lewis, Roache, and Romi, the ability of a learner to grasp the concept that is passed by the teacher heavily relies on the ability of that particular teacher to manage the behaviour of [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1960

The Forest School Theory by Marlene Power

In the context of the play scenario, the forest school approach would likely applaud the play scenario, given that the child was given the freedom to explore, test out what works and does not with [...]
  • Pages: 2
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Teaching Approaches by Dewey, Montessori and Vygotsky

The questions for the discussion between the three foundational educators will concern the meaning and importance of the environment for the learning process and the role and goal of the school curriculum.
  • Pages: 5
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Separation Between Girls and Boys in the Classroom

The right age for the separation of the sexes in the primary or high schools There are various schools of thought on the issues that appertain to the age limit that is recommended for separation [...]
  • 1
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 3093

Birth Order and Academic Performance

If a child is in the middle, they may have a hard time finding their place in the world. Birth order has also been suggested to have a substantial impact on cognitive development because of [...]
  • Pages: 15
  • Words: 4063

Classical Conditioning

By definition, classical conditioning is the "pairing of an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response". Extinction is the process by which a conditioned response is lost due to lack of [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1046

Skinner’s, Pavlov’s, and Bandura’s Experiments

According to the psychologist, the "likelihood of future behavior is determined by the consequences of past behavior". The last type of reinforcement proposed by Skinner is punishment, an unpleasant experience that decreases the likelihood of [...]
  • Pages: 4
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Eclectic Theory of Learning

The actions of parents can be viewed as a stimulus which gives rise to the response of a learner. Apart from that, it is possible to examine the application of constructivism because this learning theory [...]
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Analysis of the IDEA Proficiency Tests (Pre-IPT)

The results of the present tests provide the demonstration of the linguistic skills of the concrete child and indicate the different level of capability of the native, limited and non-native English speakers.
  • 3
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  • Words: 1067

Practical Life Classes & Exercises

It is important to make sure that children use buttons of the right color and size. A shell washing activity is important as it contributes to the development of motor skills and children's independence.
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Flipped Classrooms’ Advantages and Disadvantages

In addition, the tests enable lecturers and teachers to evaluate the ability of each students and reference accordingly. For example, availability of internet outside the classroom setting is mandatory for students and teachers to access [...]
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Standardized Tests

Formal education is not just a platform for the understanding of society and life at large as it is also a place for people to learn about themselves, who they are, love and eventually help [...]
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Importance of Educational Management Essay

This paper therefore explores the most fundamental components of educational management; components that help determine what educational management is via scrutinizing how education management has transformed over the years and discussing the impact of education [...]
  • Pages: 4
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Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools

Namely, the authors offer moving the attention from the techniques used and the learners' perception and capabilities to the cognitive processes of the teachers the mechanisms that are responsible for their reflection on the experiences, [...]
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Standardized and Nonstandardized Assessments

The major difference between standardized and nonstandardized assessments lies in their sizes: standardized assessment allows to evaluate student abilities in different schools and even states, and nonstandardized assessment is aimed to check the level of [...]
  • 1.5
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 606

The 1988 Education Act

In spite of the 1994 Act which gave control and direction to the Secretary of State, local authorities had the job of administering schools and higher education institutions, hence empowered with the discretion in formulating [...]
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2666

Jamaican Ministry of Education: Assessment in Education

The purpose of the revised NSC is to promote a smooth transition from one level to the next, clarify the expectations for each grade, eliminate redundant content, and make sure that students are well-equipped to [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1680

Stroop Experiment: Congruent and Incongruent Words

The core aim of the Stroop experiment was to reveal the differences in perception of congruent and incongruent words. First, the paper focused on the research plan involving such aspects as hypotheses and methods where [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1903

Philosophy of Education by Nel Noddings

One of the most important and frequently addressed concepts of educational philosophy of the present days is the concept of the relationship between social and cultural diversity in the contemporary world and the changes it [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1148

Your Image of the Child by Loris Malaguzzi

As such, adults around her have the responsibility to cooperate with one another to provide her with a stimulating environment conducive to her learning so her talents, skills and knowledge are optimized to be the [...]
  • 5
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1593

“Idiot Nation” by Michael Moore

Moore feels that most people in the country may be idiots because of the poor educational standard in schools and colleges as also in view of their lack of motivation and gratitude.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 806

Education and Schooling from Several Perspectives

The position of the researcher is that the primary purpose of schooling, based on the position of the researcher, is to have a standardized approach of passing a set of skills and knowledge to a [...]
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2772

Educational Partnerships Assessment

The basic principles when planning educational partnerships include the creation of an action plan, location of potential partners, and the determination of the type of involvement.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1161

Importance of Group Discussion

At this stage, it was important for the students to choose the group leader and the group secretary. In the discussion, each of the group members had to play an active role in contributing to [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 623

Sensorial Rationale in Montessori System

At that, the basic principle of the sensorial teaching is to encourage the child to self-learning and self-development. The peak of the movement period is accounted for three years, and the child is to be [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1947

Conducting Research: Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the major advantages of conducting research is the chance to participate in a broader discussion of particular issues. It is necessary to note that the disadvantages do not belittle the importance of conducting [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 997

The Value of Education

The main goal of this paper is to discuss the key aspects of the education system in the United States and highlight its value.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 848

What Is the Purpose of Education?

However, the controversial nature of education is described not only in the meaning of the word. The aim of education is connected with the reasons to have it.
  • 5
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1935

A Plan for Effective School Leadership

The authors argue that the 21 responsibilities can be found from a team of leaders instead of relying on the school principal to provide all leadership.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1693

Instructional Design Development

This implies that the teacher must create a design which satisfies the need of the non-disabled students as well as the disabled ones. Applying multimedia is the key principle that has been used in the [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 647

Cornell note taking system

The model was meant to aid students in the University by simplifying the study process. This keeps the facts in the notes fresh in the mind of students.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 554

How to Enhance Listening Skills

The efforts aimed at enhancing listening skills work by the principle of eliminating, or rather reducing the challenges that go hand in hand with listening; that is, the factors that hinder effective listening.
  • 5
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1083

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

The paper will look at the applicability of the instrument for assessing the cognitive abilities of children giving special attention to how the freedom for distractibility index is applied.
  • Pages: 20
  • Words: 5475

Achieving Academic Excellence

The last, but definitely not the least, college education will teach me the art of communicating my ideas in a coherent and convincing manner.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 581

Learning Skills Enhancement

When using the tutorials, the learner will be expected to make notes based on the personal understanding of the concepts presented in the tutorials.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 841

Self-Directed Learning Competence

To be more exact, when I started learning and shaping the idea of my future career, I realized that in the epoch of information technology, being able to process data and pass it onto another [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 589

The Theory of Connectivism

The various theories of education and learning describe how learning occurs, the factors that shape learning, the importance of memory in learning, and how knowledge is transferred.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1727

Play-Based Assessment

According to the research that the authors conducted, the diversity in the objects used in play can be useful in learning activities, and in the evaluation of how children respond to different environments.
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2690

The Role of the Assessment in Education

The objective of formal assessment is to establish and evaluate systematically each student's response of the theme in respect to the instructions given.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 539

Personal Reflections for the MBA Distance Learning

I was able to concentrate on various subjects, complete assignments, and liaise with different instructors throughout the learning process. The approach made the learning process desirable and capable of supporting my aims.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1407

Maria Montessori’s Philosophy and Practical Life

The philosophy of the Montessori Method is based on a relationship triangle between the child, the environment, and the teacher. So deviant behavior is not the fault of the child, but rather of the environment [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1715

Philosophies and Theories of Education

Also, instruction should focus on social life issues and recognize student capabilities as well as the different learning styles of students in schools.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2049

Intellectual Disability Considerations

The best way to help an intellectually disabled individual is through developing interest in learning more about what intellectual disability entails.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 639

Learning Theories: Comparative Perspective

The teacher is the source of knowledge and the learner is the recipient. The role of the teacher is to reduce threats in the learning environment and make it challenging.
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2486

School Is Bad for Children

The current system of education is very different from the ancient system, because unlike the ancient one, it does not give school children the opportunity to develop hobbies.
  • 5
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1629

Clinical Supervision to Instructional Supervision

Blumberg, A.advances that the evolution of clinical supervision to instructional supervision saw the development and the recognition of the critical links across the aspect of supervision, staff development, and evaluation as well as the integration [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1506

The No Child Left Behind Act Critique

In spite of the benefits and advantages expected by children, schools, and the states, NCLB becomes a real problem for modern society and children, lower educational achievements and progress of students.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1158

Meaningful Learning and Schema Theory

The theory explains that meaningful learning should occur in a familiar context to ensure students understand the meaning and application of concepts.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 672

The No Child Left Behind Act

While the responsibility for the performance of schools remains in place, and the interventions for the underperforming entities must be implemented, both the standards for testing and the character of interventions are now decided by [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1108

Professional Learning Communities: Teacher Collaboration

The author admits that the result of the standardization and closer attention towards the performance of educators was the appearance of collaborative unions of the teachers created with the purpose of the exchange of knowledge [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1350

Education System That Encourages Creativity

Because of the recent issues regarding the solution of non-standard economical and financial tasks, the need to spur creativity in people has emerged, which can be solved by teaching creativity in schools; however, the given [...]
  • 5
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 844

College Pressures

Just like in the 70s, college students of today face 'economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure and self induced pressure'. It is hypothesized that while parental pressure was high in the 1970s, economic pressure and [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 838

Handbook ‘Good Study’ by Neil Burdess

The purpose of Burdess's Good Study is to present the most useful recommendations and guidelines for students in the brief form in order to provide them with the opportunity to concentrate on these hints while [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 900

Special Children and Their Special Needs

According to what the authors of the article said, the children with physical or mental impairments must not be considered as "special" or "not like the other children" in order to prevent the possible segregation [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 843

Aims of Academic Studies

The principal aims of academic studies are a professional conveyance of information and expertise, as well as the acquisition of a career.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 636

Class Size Matters

The increased accessibility of the teachers makes it easy for the learners to address the specific problems with the teachers that would improve the learning process.
  • 3
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1413

First English Textbook in Saudi Arabia

Lack of inclusion of teachers and learners in the development of EFL teaching materials in the KSA has resulted in poor relations between teachers and the materials.
  • Pages: 14
  • Words: 3739

Portfolio Assessment Process

Time records of reading and understanding a material can also be used to measure the competency of a student. Testes such text can be achieved by developing portfolio that assesses ability of the student to [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 555

Division for Early Childhood

The specialization of the Division for Early Childhood is contribution to the effective organization and adjustment of the learning process for children with special needs from their birth to age eight, as well as informational [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 678
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