2. Key Theories of Youth Development

Youth development can be approached from many perspectives. In this section, you will be introduced to key theories of child development. In particular, we focus on:

• Piaget’s cognitive development theory

• Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

• Papert’s theory of constructionism

• Bandura’s social cognitive learning theory

• Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of development

• Erikson’s psychosocial theory of human development

You can draw on these theoretical perspectives to guide the design of your youth-centered programming and services.