Piaget and Vygotsky
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive DevelopmentDemonstrations of Piaget's stages of development.
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Stages of Piaget's Stage Theory:
Sensorimotor. The sensorimotor stage starts from birth and lasts until about stage two. In the Sensorimotor stage, infants can understand the world better through the information they take in. This can be done through their senses and actions. Preoperational. The preoperational stage starts from age two to around age seven. During the preoperational stage, the toddlers can not yet think logically and their thinking is egocentric. Which means they are very "self-oriented." Concrete Operations. The concrete operations stage starts from age seven to around age twelve. During the concrete operations stage, children and adolescents are now thinking logically but also concrete not abstract. Formal Operations. The formal operations stage starts from around age 12 and continues to grow and develop. During the formal operations stage adolescents can think logically as well as abstractly. |
During the sensorimotor stage, Piaget introduced something called a schema. This happens when infants understand the world through their actions. He also believed in object permanence where the infant can now understand that objects can exists. This can be described by an infant recognizing a circle is a circle and a ball is a ball not a circle.
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During the preoperational stage, Piaget uses a word called egocentrism. He believed that children have a hard time understand a persons point of view. This can be described a child's ability to show selfishness through not sharing their toys.
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Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development |
Lev Vygotsky, although a cognitive theorist, he is different form Piaget. He developed his sociocultural theory that takes a very experienced person and translates information to a less experienced person. His three ways to do this were the Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding, and Private Speech.
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The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), is defined as the difference between a child who can do things independently and a child who can do things with guidance of an adult or peer. As Lev Vygotsky was working with children who were physically and mentally impaired, he began to develop the ZPD as a way to help mental abilities. This ultimately tests if a child is mentally "readiness" and a child's actual level of achievement.
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Scaffolding is defined by what the adult or more experienced person does to help the child move through the ZPD to fully independent achievements. Scaffolding can also be described through a child learning how to tie their shoes. Through different ages, the more experienced person/adult changes how they teach the child. This can really help the child learn quickly.
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Private Speech is a key part of Vygotsky's theory. As previously mentioned, scaffolding is for the adult or more experienced person, but private speech is for the actual child who is learning. Through research Vygotsky and other cognitive theorists have concluded that the more difficult the task, the more the child talks to oneself.
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Information Processing is a very important aspect to cognitive theory. Information processing focuses on the attention of the child, the memory and how much they are learning, and using the executive function to carry out specific tasks to reach a goal. During information processing, the child is learning how to use the information given and develop a way to use it in their life.
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Comparison |
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are well known to the cognitive development world. They are rather different thought. Piaget believes a child development happens in stages, whereas Vygotsky believes development is continuous. As for the role of knowledge, Piaget and Vgotsky are polar opposites. Vygotsky believes this has very little role in a child's development yet Piaget believes the environment interacts with the genetic development (i.e., nature vs. nurture).
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