Social and Sociocultural Learning Theories

Social and Sociocultural Learning Theories groups accounts holding that learning happens through interaction with other people, a community of practice, or a cultural and social context, rather than through solitary information processing or solitary hands-on construction. Belongs here: Social Learning Theory, Albert Bandura's account of learning through observing and modeling others; Situated Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship, which locate learning inside a community of practice guided by more expert members; Instructional Scaffolding and Zone of Proximal Development, Lev Vygotsky's account of the gap between what a learner can do alone and with guided support; and Connectivism, which extends the social account of learning into networks of people and digital nodes. Does not belong here: a theory centered on an individual learner's own information processing, grouped under Behaviorist and Cognitive Processing Theories, and a theory centered on a learner building an artifact alone, grouped under Constructivist and Situated Learning Theories, even where scaffolding and community and hands-on building are often practiced together.