Jean Piaget Vs Vygotsky

In current educational psychology, both the works of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have become prominent in an understanding of developmental cognition in childhood (Duchesne, McMaugh, Bochner & Karuse, 2013, p. 56). Their theories are complimentary and provide a more rigorous comprehension of childhood development (Shayer, M., 2003, p. 465). Their varying principles are applicable to many situations concerning the development of children. The focuses of Piaget and Vygotsky on the ways of childhood development differ. Piaget was focused on the four developmental stages of cognitive growth in his Theory of Cognitive Development, whilst Vygotsky’s principles were based on development in a societal manner with his

The teacher could place two cups that have the same amount of liquid in the cups but because one of the cups is taller than the other the child is going to think the taller glass has more liquid in it. The third stage is the concrete operational stage which occurs during ages seven to eleven. The term concrete operational means the child can reason only about tangible objects presents. So the child can conserve and think logically but only with practical aids. Thinking becomes less egocentric with increased awareness of external events. The fourth and final stage is the formal operational stage which occurs during ages eleven to fifteen. This stage focuses on hypothetical thinking and scientific reasoning. Piaget believed that only children can learn when they are ‘ready’ to learn. He also believed that development couldn 't be ‘sped up.’ Piaget believed that children learned through the resolution of disequilibrium (self discovery, active participation). He believed that teachers should ‘bend’ to children’s needs, provide an appropriate environment, promote self discovery, exploratory learning, self-motivated learning, and set challenges to existing schemes.

Vygotsky may have overplayed importance on social influences because he suggests that child’s cognitive development occurs through social interactions, for example children do internalisation of problem solving via mutual interactions. However, if social learning is the essence of cognitive development then learning would be a lot faster than it is. Thus Vygotsky ignores the biological aspects that aid or restricts the cognitive development such as the development of brain and maturation. Therefore Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is different to

As a problem presents itself, children will verbally work through the steps to solve it. This ‘private speech’ is a vital part to cognitive development, according to Vygotsky. This private speech gradually progresses into thinking as children become more proficient. He was also a proponent for scaffolding which is a process in which a new task is given and direct instruction is given then gradually taken away as the child learns. Both psychologists believed that children learn and develop through action but in different ways; Piaget felt it was through personal, self action while Vygotsky felt is was through social interaction, internalization and vocalization. Vygotsky and Piaget realized that social factors play a part in cognitive development but in different ways; According Piaget, self processing within a child leads to social processing while Vygotsky felt the opposite- social processing leads to self processing. Lastly, both came to the conclusion that by internalizing information, children transform it into knowledge and mental growth.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development was one of the first steps in understanding how children become who they are as adults. In early childhood, children begin to understand symbols and representations (Berk, 2014, p. 227). Their learning shifts from sensing the world as in the sensorimotor stage to trying to find commonalities like symbols. According to Berk (2014), Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory focused on “social context of cognitive development” (p. 234). Vygotsky incorporated social context and social interactions into childhood development; in other words, who, how, and what children interact with in their everyday social environment contributes to their mental and emotional development. When it comes to both of these cognitive theories, there are many similarities and differences between Piaget and Vygotsky.

While Piaget preferred to study the evolution of though in stages, Vygotsky was curious about what stimulated thought (Belsky, 2016). Vygotsky’s approach thus had a focus on cultural influence which can be considered contradictory to Piaget’s idea of having universal stages for cognitive development. It is for this reason that Vygotsky’s theory may be more applicable to different cultures, such as those with intellectual disabilities, as it allows for an individual to develop at their own pace rather than offering a universal stage process such as Piaget’s theory. It is also interesting to note that Vygotsky’s theory has a deeper focus on a child’s information processing rather than exploring, as it examines the fundamental processes of attention, memory and

The debate about who has the most accurate theory ,Jean Piaget or Lev Vygotsky. has been ongoing for many years. Both theorist have very supportive and reasonable theories concerning child development, but the differentiate along the lines of how how children process information through attention ,memory, and strategies.( Santrock 2011,p.50) Jean Piaget theory states that children development depends on their experiences and thoughts (schemas) as they grow up . While Vygotsky believed that development of child depends on experiences and assistants with others in the world.

Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. In this essay on cognitive development I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analysing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge. (Flanagan 1996 P.72). I will then go onto evaluate the usefulness of these theories in understanding a child's development.

Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky is psychologist that has different theories on the development of infants and young children.

The essay is going to introduce short overviews of Piaget (1926) and Vygotsky’s (1978) theories to indicate their different approaches when considering cognitive development. Piaget (1926) developed a constructivist theory which is the basis for the other cognitive development theories that followed. He proposed the definition of schema which refers to children’s construction of shaping their thought and actions through the set of cognitive processes as assimilation, disequilibriums and accommodation. When encountering new experiences, children try to interpret them in terms of known cognitive schemas. In case of failing, they need to adjust their interpretation to the reality (Schaffter & Kipp,8th ed). Based on his assumptions, Piaget (1926) proposed that child as a lone individual progress through four main stages of cognitive development. On the other hand, Vygotsky (1978) presented sociocultural theory. Vygotsky (1978) concentrated on the social interaction between child and adult considering

Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget are known in the educational world. Vygotsky and Piaget were developmental psychologists who had many of the same views and beliefs, but at the same time had opposing views. According to Jean Piaget “cognitive development was a repetitive reorganization of mental processes that derived from biological maturation in addition to environmental experiences’’ (McLeod, S. A. (2015). The child is able to grasp what is happening in the world, they are then able to distinguish what they have already learned as well as what they will discover. On the opposite side of this, Vygotsky had believed that the “socio-cultural environment is

Piaget *Missing Works Cited* Piaget work has received world wide acclaim and recognition , as well as having a positive impact in areas such as education and social curricula. Though he had made an impact on understanding of the child cognitive development , his theory of cognitive development has suffered a great deal of critics that it neglects the social nature of human development.(Hook, Watts and Cockroft ,2002).So the following essay will discuss on whether this critic is valid or not based on detail discussion of Piaget theory. The theory of Vygotsky shall also be discussed to prove that indeed social factors play a role .

What the child does with some assistance today, is what the child will do independently tomorrow. Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories are best known for their insights into the development of thought processes. Piaget places thinking at the center of child development, Vygotsky's work was concerned with the development for thinking. While Piaget emphasizes the role of the child's interactions with physical objects in developing mature forms of thinking. Vygotsky focuses on the child's interactions with people. Piaget views the child as in "independent discoverer", who learns about the world on his own.

Next, the "pre-operational stage" is the second stage of Piaget’s theory. This stage lasts from around 2 - 7 years. In this stage, Piaget proposed that a child fails to understand the concept “conservation” - the belief that things remain constant in terms of number, quantity and volume irrespective of variations in appearance. In experiments to test number conservation, Piaget showed the child two sets of checkers, which had exactly the same number of checkers in each set. He then changed one of the checker sets, keeping the same amount of checkers in it, so that it was only different in appearance. When the experiment ended, the results showed that the children believed that the sets were of different quantity, thereby, proving Piaget’s theory factual. (Piaget 1952)

His thinking was influenced by Piaget, and Vygotsky actively tried to initiate a dialogue with Piaget about certain points of disagreements” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2009, p.101). Vygotsky believed a child’s cognitive development was gained through the interaction of one’s culture, as well as language, which is what prompted his theoretical perception development known as Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. “Vygotsky’s promising life was cut short in 1934, when he succumbed to an attack of tuberculosis. In Vygotsky, we have another example of a truly great mind whose ideas have inspired the work of many students of cognitive development” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2009, p.101).