Theories of Adolescence in Spellbound

Theories of Adolescence in Spellbound

In the movie Spellbound, viewers are taken through the lives of eight pre teens and teens as they study their way up to the National Spelling Bee. All the children are at middle childhood and have developed concrete operational thought. Contestants have their own cultural background, which influence their study habits. These young contestants have all come from different upbringings, but each one show similar characteristics based on Piaget's cognitive development and Vygotsky's sociocultural theories.

From practicing words in the dictionary to spelling long words out with scrabble letters, each speller has just 'completed' the concrete operational stage from Piaget's theory. As they are going into the formal operational stage, they take on more strict study habits to make it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. One of the spellers uses assimilation of cognitive equilibrium, by associating words with one of her best friends. Another speller uses his computer to help aide his information processing (Berger, 2008, p. 47).

Through unique upbringings and cultural backgrounds each speller, according to the sociocultural theory introduced by Vygotsky, people always learn in the same way. One speller comes from a traditional India family. His father had him study at least seven thousand words a day as well as with language instructors, while another speller used flash cards or had only studied a few weeks prior to a regional spelling bee. In the zone of proximal development, it states that a learner whom is close to fully understanding the concepts, but still needs help (from parents or teachers) to acquire the proper spellings of words. Some people learn better through appearance, while others, through hearing (Berger, 2008, p. 49).

Each of these spellers was exposed to different things in the course of preparing for the National Spelling Bee. Some used very complex methods of studying, others used a much more lax tactic, with both proving to be successful. As a whole, all of the spellers had shown similar characteristics of Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories.

Reference Page

Berger, K. (2008). The Developing Person Through the Lifespan. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.