Young children’s approaches to learning: a sociocultural perspective

Recognising school readiness as a national priority, the National Education Goals Panel identified the development of young children’s approaches to learning as essential for achieving readiness. Approaches to learning include inclinations, attitudes, and learning styles. Despite wide agreement that learning approaches are critical for school success, our understanding of factors that influence children’s use of approaches in the classroom is limited. Based on the perspective of sociocultural theory, this study contributes to our understanding of approaches to learning in the classroom context by addressing two questions: Are children’s learning approaches affected by the activity they engage in? Do children’s learning approaches show evidence of development based on school socialisation as they advance in grade level? Sixty-one children from pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and second-grade classrooms participated in the study. For each child, five approaches to learning were measured through observation of their participation in six classroom activities. Results indicate that the approaches to learning children used varied in relation to activity and developed as children advanced in school. Discussion of results focuses on the variability in children’s learning approaches in different learning contexts. Implications for curriculum design and instructional strategies are integrated with the discussion.