education theory
How teaching works
Education theory is the body of ideas, principles, and frameworks that attempt to explain how learning happens and how teaching should be conducted.
It encompasses questions about curriculum design, student development, classroom management, and the purposes of schooling itself.
Theorists like Dewey, Piaget, and Montessori have shaped how educators think about everything from childhood cognition to democratic participation: Her education theory emphasized learning by doing.
- behaviorismPsychology studying observable conduct
- cognitivismTheory prioritizing mental processes
- constructivismActive knowledge-building theory
- cultural capitalPrestige from education and taste
- praxisCustomary action or application
backward design · epistemology · humanism · pragmatism · existentialism · hidden curriculum · formative assessment · tabula rasa · blank slate · growth mindset · philosophy · social mobility · cooperative learning · developmental psychology · idealism · ethics · instruction · classroom
education theoryteaching practice
Supervised classroom training for educators
classroom instruction · fieldwork · student teaching · practicum · clinical experience
education theorylearning by doing
Acquiring skills through practice
street smarts · school of hard knocks · autodidacticism · tacit knowledge · apprenticeship