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Bank Street Approach

📚 Education By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: the Bank Street approach holds that children's cognitive, emotional and social development unfold together through interaction with people and environment.
Contents
  1. 1. Background
  2. 2. Principles
  3. 3. Curriculum
  4. 4. The teacher's role
  5. 5. References

Background

It began with the Bureau of Educational Experiments founded by Lucy Sprague Mitchell in 1916, drawing on Dewey's progressive education, psychoanalytic views of emotion and the developmental theories of Piaget and Erikson. Barbara Biber and colleagues later named it the developmental-interaction approach.

Principles

  • Development is staged but varies in pace among children.
  • Cognition and emotion develop together.
  • Children learn by actively engaging with their environment.

Curriculum

An integrated curriculum centered on social studies links field trips, block building, art and language, such as visiting a local market and then building and writing about it.

The teacher's role

Teachers observe, prepare the environment to fit interests, offer emotional support and ask questions that extend thinking.

References

  1. Mitchell, L. S. (1934). Young Geographers. John Day.
  2. Shapiro, E., & Biber, B. (1972). The education of young children: A developmental-interaction approach. Teachers College Record, 74(1), 55-79.
  3. Biber, B. (1984). Early Education and Psychological Development. Yale University Press.
  4. Nager, N., & Shapiro, E. K. (Eds.). (2000). Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy: The Developmental-Interaction Approach. SUNY Press.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

Find more reports · Search '뱅크 스트리트 접근법' on CampusDown →
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget's theory of cognitive development explained: schema, assimilation, accommodation, equilibration, the four stages, comparison with Vygotsky, criticisms, and report examples.📚 EducationBandura's Social Learning TheoryBandura's social learning theory explained: observational learning, vicarious reinforcement, reciprocal determinism, self-efficacy, the Bobo doll experiment, criticisms, and report examples.📚 EducationSkinner's Operant ConditioningSkinner's operant conditioning explained: reinforcement and punishment, schedules of reinforcement, shaping and extinction, the law of effect, criticisms, and report examples.📚 EducationVygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) explained: sociocultural theory, mediation, private speech, scaffolding, comparison with Piaget, criticisms, and report examples.📚 Education

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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.