Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotskys Theories on Cognitive Development

denim Piaget and Lev Vygotskys Theories on Cognitive Development match to Meece (2002), Piaget and Vygotsky were some(prenominal)(prenominal) prominent scholars of cognitive using theories. Piaget was a biology, psychology and philosophy scholar while Vygotsky commencement exercise received a gradation in law, hence a degree in psychology. Even with two very different backgrounds, both scholars took a constructivist move up to their research in cognitive growth as they believed, kidskinren mustiness construct their give deduceings of the world in which they live (p. 121). This idea has been debated and discussed for years. Piaget and Vygotsky were two prominent scholars within the realm of cognitive growing. Their theories of cognitive maturement frivol away a leak been influential in the breeding of theories of program line.In Jean Piagets research, his main conclusion was to answer the question, How does knowledge grow? (Silverthorn, 1999). He did this through genetic epistemology which is the guinea pig of cognitive development in baby birdren. gibe to Meece (2002), there be intravenous feeding major cognitive represents in a pip-squeaks cognitive development sensorimotor, pre trading trading operations, cover operations and formal operations. A childs thought exhibit is different from separate developmental compass points and each of the stages has its own importance. Piaget believed that a child could non pass over a stage beca utilise each one is necessary in the process of cognitive development. In accordance with Meece (2002) and f sympathizeing.com (2006) the four stages ar described as such(prenominal)Sensorimotor stage (birth 2 years old)The child, through somatogenetic fundamental interaction with his or her environment, frames a set of concepts about reality and how it works. This is the stage where a child does not know that sensible objects remain in existence compensate when out of sight (object perman ence).Preoperational stage (ages 2-7)The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs cover physical situations.Concrete operations (ages 7-11)As physical experience accumulates, the child starts to conceptualize, creating logical structures that pardon his or her physical experiences. Abstract problem solving is in any case realizable at this stage. For example, arithmetic equations hobo be solved with numbers, not incisively with objects.Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15)By this point, the childs cognitive structures atomic number 18 like those of an enceinte and include conceptual reasoning. (p. 1)In Piagets research, these four stages are rather concrete. But, umteen current researchers do not completely agree with the exactitude and universality of these stages.Piaget to a fault refers to three different types of knowledge. Physical knowledge is knowing the attri onlyes of objects such as their number, color, size and shape (Meece, 2002, p. 12 2). Logio- mathematical knowledge involves the mental construction of relationships (p. 122). societal knowledge is derived in part through interactions with others (p. 123).Piaget foc utilize on potpourri and relations, spatial relationships, era, movement, chance, number, conservation and measurement in concrete stages (Genetic Epistemology, 2006). Lev Vygotsky was more touch on with how a child interacts with his culture and society (Meece, 2002). Piaget viewed knowledge as by the piece constructed while Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as companionablely co-constructed between tidy sum as they interact (p. 155).Vygotsky believed that children are born with elementary mental abilities such as perception, attention and memory (Meece, p. 156). As children develop and interact fondly with their culture and society, these innate characteristics are further developed. According to Vygotsky, one of the approximately master(prenominal) parts of cognitive development is linguistic communication. Within this possibility, language occurs in three stages social spoken communication, egocentric diction and inner speech. Social speech is just that speech for the purposes of communicating. Egocentric speech is more intellectual and children use this by speaking out loud to themselves. Inner speech is utilise by children to think in their heads about the problem or undertaking at hand, instead of oralizing their thoughts in order to decide what to do next.According to the website funderstanding.com, the regularize of proximal development explains that, a difference exists between what a child can do on his or her own and what the child can do with table service from knowledgeable peers or adults (p. 1). For example, a young child whitethorn not be able to put together a interlocking puzzle by himself, but with the help of an older child or another adult, the young child could put together the puzzle correctly.both Piagets and Vygotskys theories of cognitive development provide foundations for constructivist approaches to pedagogics and bringing (Meece, 2002). Each of their theories touch qualitative changes within a childs cognitive process. They also have the corresponding goal within the classroom, creating for scholars a community of attainment.Even though both theories have a common goal, each of them has a different approach when dealing with children and education. For instance, Piagets theory can help educators understand how children react and see to it according to their age while Vygotskys theory can help understand the use of society in childrens education.Piaget was a scholar of natural skill who happened to discover a way to explain how children acquire knowledge as they develop in age. Piagets theory can be directly think to his traditionalistic background as he tries to explain the major transformations that children go through while acquiring knowledge. Piaget strongly believed that each age ag cl assify varied significantly not only in the individual and group aspect, but also in the heathen aspect as well. The stages that he created are the following Sensorimotor, Preoperations, Concrete Operations, and Formal Operations. All of these stages are met when children assure objects. This treatment allows the creation of mental representation of the world and it allows two-way interaction with the environment. Essentially, the goal is to allow a child the ability to create and understand his world in a logical way.All of these stages result from the childrens manipulation of objects that lets them create a mental representation of the world and act on and influence the environment they live in (and vice versa), so that learners little by little forego illogical ways of thinking.Piagets theory is about including spontaneous experimentation in a single and group basis, so that students can build their own understanding based on the experiences that they have. By setting up t his system, the children are not only limited to the classroom setting, but they are more alert of their surroundings. This method leads them to learn about self-correction, self-instruction, and self- demand because of its hand on experience approach. According to Piaget, the growth of knowledge is a progressive construction. Childrens logic and modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults (Jean Piaget Society, 2006), believing that the learnedness of knowledge is a process of continuous self-construction (Silverthorn, 1999).In order to guide the cognitive development following Piagets theory, the educator should organize the class time with spontaneous mental activities to let learners develop their own ideas and to construct a healthy learning environment. To achieve this, Piaget encourages appriseers to provide a role for social interaction and communication by presenting appropriate substantives, drills, so that children can actively learn how to confront their physical and social world by life story their own experiences.According to Marcy Driscoll (1994), there are three basic instructional principles on which Piagetian theorists generally agreePrinciple 1 The learning environment should support the activity of the child (i.e., an active, discovery-oriented environment)Principle 2 Childrens interactions with their peers are an weighty source of cognitive development (i.e., peer teaching and social negotiation) (Driscoll, 1994).Principle 3 Adopt instructional strategies that make children aware of conflicts and inconsistencies in their thinking (i.e., conflict teaching and Socratic dialog)All of these principles are meant to be apply in such a way that children can tie and continue to build upon previously acquired knowledge. It is important and necessary that teachers play the role of facilitators and encourage dialog among students about things that they have discovered themselves, so that learning become an automati c and enjoyable process.Piaget has inspired major curriculum reforms, several(prenominal) of his major contributions to education are (Meece, 2002)Knowledge must be actively constructed by the child.Educators should help children learn how to learn.Learning activities should be matched to the childs level of conceptual development.Peer interactions play an important role in the childs cognitive development (p. 169).Although this method seems beneficial, the financial cost and time-consumption that is involved during the set-up cause this method to be less influential.When compared with Piagets theory, Vygotskys theory places a stronger emphasis on social interactions. According to Vygotsky, knowledge is not individually constructed, but co -constructed between people. For Vygotsky, language and communication play the most important role of cognitive development his primary concern dealing with nature, evaluation and the transmission of human culture.Vygotsky identify three stages in childrens use of languageLanguage is primarily used for communication (social speech).Children begin to use egocentric or private speech to regulate their own thinking.Children use inner speech or verbal thoughts to guide their thinking and actions.For Piagets theory, language did not play such an important role in childrens development however for Vygotskys theory speech is an highly important developmental phenomenon as he believed that children learn through conversations with adults as the need to communicate with them presses the child to seek for the adult meanings of things that are utter (Mason Timothy, 2006). So learning becomes a result of mature thinking and demeanour due to socio-ethnical experiences. For instance, Vygotsky encourages cooperative process of learning between teachers and students in the termination of social events in the classroom.Vygotskys term Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) was used to refer the difference between what children can do on the ir own, and what they could do with the assistance of others (Meece, 2002). The ZPD indicates what a childs level of mental development is at a particular time (Galant, 2006). Vygotsky assumed that interactions with adults and peers in the zone of proximal development help children move to higher levels of mental functioning (Meece, 2002).Vygotsky believed that interactions with adults and peers in this zone helped children move to higher levels of mental functioning within the classroom. Vygotskys approach challenges traditional teaching methods, as he emphasizes the significance of cooperative thinking that rejoinder place in the decision making process. This involves having students paired together or in small groups in which the teachers task is to focus on maintaining students motivation in order to pursue the instructional goal.Vygotskys theory is about channelize discovery by having the teacher offer, intriguing questions to students and having them discover the answers thr ough interrogatory hypotheses. The students are engaged in the discovery process however, they are unsounded receiving assistance from a more knowledgeable source (Sample, 2006).According to Meece (2002), some of the major Educational Contributions of Vygotskys theories areRole of private speech in cognitive development.The importance of guided participation and scaffolding.The role of peer interactions in cognitive development (p. 159-161).This method is helpful because it encourages constant peer review. However, if not handled properly, it can bring up a common problem that students and teachers oft face. This disadvantage would be when groups rely on one member to do all the work.Meece (2002) explains that Piagets cognitive development theory is based on a childs innate ability to productively think on their own. This cognitive ability allows them to move to the next cognitive stage as they mature biologically and adapt to their environment. Children assimilate and accommodat e their current schema, or mental constructs, to see the new information presented in the classroom. Cognitive development and social interaction feeds intellectual activity and learning. The classroom methods of instruction should match the level of cognitive development, facilitating the advancement to the next stage of cognitive development.The level of cognitive development for early childhood learners (2-7 years) is described by Piaget as the preoperational stage (Meece, 2002). At this stage intuition and language develop. Examples of instructional tools Piaget would recommend to describe objects they are experiencing include concrete props, symbols, and visual aids such as drawings, habit of models or examples, lessons about the childrens world and their experiences, less paper-and-pencil tasks and more hands on learning, back-and-forth conversations with peers to develop skills for the next stage, and field trips.According to Piaget, logical and mental operations are part o f the cognitive development of children in the elementary give instruction years (7-11 years). A childs thinking becomes less rigid and more energizing during this stage. Piaget called this stage the concrete operations stage (Meece, 2002). Huitt (1997) mentions these instructional tools that follow this theory concrete props such as three dimensional information models, lab work with minimal steps, brief and well organized lectures, consociate existing instruction into previously learned material, word problems in math, and problems which conduct logic and analysis to solve. The Math Forum at Drexel University (2006) explained math education using a Piagetian theoryStudents need to construct their own understanding of each mathematical concept, so that the primary role of teaching is not to lecture, explain, or other attempt to transfer mathematical knowledge, but to create situations for students that will foster their making the necessary mental constructions. A critical as pect of the approach is a decomposition of each mathematical concept into developmental steps following a Piagetian theory of knowledge based on observation of, and interviews with, students as they attempt to learn a concept (para.1).Piagets final stage in his theory of cognitive development covers the 12 year old and up group. This stage is called the formal operations stage. Huitt Hummel (2003) describe this stage as characterized by a transmute in thinking from the real to the involvement of abstractions and reflections. In this stage, intelligence is show through the logical use of symbols reachd to abstract concepts. Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations many people do not think formally during due date (page 1). Huitt (1997) suggests classroom practices such as these to best use Piagets theory concrete operations stage type graphs on a more manifold scale, ask st udents to explore hypotheticals as they explore other worlds or obscure issues, encourage students to describe opposing viewpoints, have students describe how the solved the problem, teach broad but curriculum related concepts, and use materials and ideas relevant to the students to broaden their perspectives.Meece (2002) explains that Vygotsky did not believe an individuals thinking structure as innate, but cultural and social in origin and influence. Social and cultural interactions with knowledgeable peers and adults burn down cognitive development while improving the elementary thinking skills of the child (perception, attention, memory) to a higher level. Vygotsky might suggest Reciprocal Teaching in the classroom. This involves guided participation by a knowledgeable adult with the students at long last taking over the learning activity.Egocentric speech was favored by Vygotsky. This is the thinking aloud speech children sometimes use to work through a problem. Vygotsky wo uld not only encourage students to use this speech, but would constitute its use in practical settings. Collaborative learning activities would also be emphasized in the Vygotsky classroom. Learning is facilitated with meaningful discussions among students in a collaborative learning setting. Especially valuable are discussions with knowledgeable peers. Knowledgeable peers and teachers foment a student beyond the students current capabilities, a place the student would not have achieved otherwise.It is absolutely possible to constitute parts of both Piaget and Vygotskys theories in the classroom. Both theorists take a constructivist point of view and also believe that students are not passive in their knowledge (Meece, 2002). It is important for the teacher to be important organizers, stimulators, guides, and supporters of learning (p. 168). Piagets theory suggests that students need a curriculum that supports their cognitive development by learning concepts and logical steps. He also suggests that children are only capable of learning special material in specific stages of cognitive development. Vygotsky would suggest more peer and cultural interactions in the classroom (funderstanding.com, 2006). He also believes that knowledgeable adults can help children learn even if they are not at the specific stage as Piaget suggests (Meece 2002). It is possible that while children are learning about concepts and logic, they can also interact with their peers and other adults by working on projects that relate the two together. It seems as though children may show some signs of specific development at specific times, but with help they can also excel at tasks they may not be able to do without help of others. Piaget and Vygotsky have differing views on cognitive development, but it is possible to incorporate parts of both theories when thinking about teaching strategies. Teachers must take into consideration the social and cultural background of the student before preparing the lesson plan. victimization Piagets theory, the student must be at the correct stage of development in order use and understand the knowledge at hand. But, Vygotsky says that even if the child is not at the correct stage of development then a knowledgeable adult or teacher could influence the child and help him get to a level beyond what his level would otherwise indicate.