Child Psychology Assignment- Autumn Term (Elaine Yuen-Tuesday Class) Examine Piaget s and Vygotsky s theory of cognitive development

and how it relates to today s teachings. Cognitive development is the increase in capabilities as a learner. Cognitive development theory attempts to clarify how humans acquire and assemble knowledge by themselves. In fact, the first methodical theory of cognitive development was suggested by Jean Piaget, but there are other main theoretical approaches to cognitive development as well, such as the one by Lev (Leo) Vygotsky. Apparently, Piaget approached cognitive development from a biological and nature perspective. His theory focuses on the organisation of intelligence and how it changes as children grow. On the other hand, Vygotsky approached the development of cognition from an environmental and nurture perspective. His theory focuses on the social process and he defines intelligence as the capacity to learn from instruction. This leads to major dissimilarities in their theories regarding the manner people learn and also the significance of language on cognitive development. This essay is divided into two parts. Firstly, it focuses on the discussion about the differences as well as the similarities of Piaget s and Vygotsky s theories. Then, the impact both men s theories have had on education and how they have been applied to education are discussed after that. Both Piaget and Vygotsky were influenced by the evolutionary implications of Darwin s theory. In fact, Butterworth & Harris (1994) consider that both men s theories share the assumption that development occurs in stages, although they differ in their main focus . According to them (1994), Piaget s theory is most concerned with the mechanisms of intellectual development and the acquisition of knowledge. Nevertheless, Vygotsky s main contribution was on human understanding of the way in which culture influences development, through language, environment and material structure of society. Also, Cole & Cole (1993) show that Vygotsky has categorised his theories of cognitive development into six stages, which are affiliation, play, learning, peer, work and theorising. These stages usually start at birth and continue throughout adulthood. Similarly, Piaget believed that cognitive development is classified into four main stages, which are sensory motor, pre-operational, concrete-operational and formal-operational. However, his theory suggests that development has an end point in goal, therefore all these stages terminate when children reach their adulthood. From this point, there are two problems to be considered when examining these stages. Firstly, there is the validity of the ages put to them along with the fact that perhaps not every person would reach the formal-operational stage. Secondly, Piaget s theory would suggest that human beings did not continue to develop through adulthood. In reality, human beings do develop and change continuously both physically and cognitively as people learn new skills and acquire new knowledge throughout life. In contrast, Vygotsky believed that development is a process that should be analysed, instead of a product to be obtained. Nonetheless, Driscoll (1994) and Hausfather (1996) argue that according to Vygotsky, the development process that begins at birth and continues until death is too complex to be defined by stages . Next, Piaget believed that cognitive learning is a product of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is a practice of interacting with an object or an event in a way that is consistent with an existing schema. According to him, schemas are what is learnt by children and are organised into a plan. While for accommodation, it can be observed when a child comes across a new object, he/she places that object into an existing schema, modify it or form an entirely new schema for the object. With these, Piaget believed that children are active learners as they always produce new schemas

and challenge the world around them. Alternatively, Vygotsky outlined another technique which is internalisation and the social nature of thinking. He considered that cognitive learning was a social event that through language and interaction with other children, adults or objects, children would begin to learn about and challenge their environments. In essence, the primary theme of Vygotsky s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the cognitive development. He claimed that
Every function in the child s cultural development appears twice; first, on the social level, and later on the individual level, first between people (interpsychological)and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory and to the formation of concepts . (Vygotsky, 1978:57)

Furthermore, Rogoff (1990) stated that Vygotsky s view is the reverse of how Piaget saw things initially. Piaget s idea of the child as the scientist is replaced by the idea of the child as an apprentice , who acquires the culture s knowledge and skills through graded collaboration with those who already possess them. In addition, scaffolding which means support from people, peer group or school is also an important aspect of Vygotsky s views. It is vital especially for parents as they play a large part in their children s scaffolding process. Another difference between Piaget and Vygotsky concerns their views on the relationship between language and thought. Vygotsky saw a much closer relationship between the acquisition of language and the development of thinking. He gave greater prominence to the importance of social interaction in development, especially as it influenced language and thought. On the contrary, Piaget (1923) disregarded the importance to language in the development of thought. He claimed that early language is egocentric and communication depends on the degree of cognitive development. For example, he suggested that a pre-operational child fails to take into account the other person s view and as a result, the early conversations of children have more of the quality of monologues than of dialogues. Therefore, only with cognitive development does speech take on a genuinely communicative function. However, Vygotsky disputed that language is communicative from the beginning. He proved his theory by carrying out an ingenious test. He compared the amount of egocentric speech when hearing preschool children together, with the amount of speech produced when the hearing child is placed in a room with a group of deaf-mute children. Under these circumstances, the hearing child has little chance of communicating and Vygotsky found that the rate of egocentric speech decreased significantly. This result would not be expected if speech had been intended by the child simply as a monologue. Piaget believed that egocentric speech reflects an inability to take the perspective of others and plays no useful role in development. Whereas Vygotsky believed that egocentric speech is an important developmental phenomenon, which helps children to organise and regulate thinking. Vygotsky has a point, pre-school children believe what they are told by others, and so this must mean that they listen to other people s views, but maybe they do not have the ability to compare different views on the same subject. For instance, children are told about Santa Claus from a young age of his existence by family and friends. If a person challenged this belief before they are at an age where they can rationalise, they would totally dismiss this, no matter how strong the person s argument was. Next, the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky have been very well-known in the field of education. Although Piaget did not focus much on the usefulness of his theory for educational practice, many people working in education have done precisely that. The Plowden Report (1967; as cited in Blenkin & Kelly, 1981) suggested that some of

Piaget s ideas should be used in schools. There are three main ways in which Piagetian theory has been applied in education. Firstly is the concept of readiness, according to Piaget, what children can learn is determined by their current stage of cognitive development and more specifically, children can only deal successfully with tasks that make use of the various cognitive structures and operations they have already mastered. Secondly is the curriculum, Piaget put great emphasis on mathematical and logical principles, but of crucial importance is the notion that the learning material must not be too complex and far removed from the child s existing schemas. Finally, teaching methods, Piaget claimed that children learn best when they engage in a process of active self-discovery and discovery learning. Smith & Cowie (1991) claim that
Children apply the processes of assimilation and accommodation to their active involvement with the world around them. This is central to Piagetian views of the educational process, to set intrinsically motivating tasks and provide learning opportunities that create disequilibrium. Teachers must recognise that each child needs to construct knowledge for itself, and that a deeper understanding is the product of active learning .

Meanwhile, Vygotsky s theory shares some similarities with Piaget s but differs radically in its treatment of language and its influence on thinking. Vygotsky agreed with Piaget s view that children do not think like adults and applauded the fact that Piaget did not simply set out to discover what children could not do in comparison with adults (unlike most child psychologists before him), but sought to find out what they could do. However, where Piaget views young children s play and talk as a manifestation of a natural desire to manipulate and assimilate the physical world, laying down the sensory-motor and intuitive foundations for mathematical and logical operations, Vygotsky sees it as a product of social experience and evidence for the emergence of intellectual self-control. He believed rather than teachers playing an enabling role, the teacher should guide the children in paying attention, concentrating and learning effectively. Vygotsky argued that teaching methods should be a didactic approach rather than by experiment and experience. Sutherland (1992) said by doing this, teachers scaffold children to competence . Vygotsky believed that learning was most effective when it occurs within the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This refers to the range of tasks a child can perform with help from a skilled individual and not yet on their own functions that have not yet been matured. Vygotsky suggested that this promoted cognitive growth because a child has to work out a problem orally and in turn it is stored better in the memory. Vygotsky also thinks collaborative learning or peer tutoring essential. According to Vygotsky, it is important for those involved in educating children to focus on the children s ZPD. It could be argued that the ideal tutors are children who are slightly older and more advanced than the children being taught. They should also remember the limitations in their own knowledge and understanding at that age or stage of development. In fact, peer tutoring has become increasingly used in schools. And, today there is a project in Medway, which uses mentors in a few colleges and schools. The mentor passes on skills, directs students and helps them in areas of difficulty. This project has been used effectively and successfully in other areas so it gives credibility to Vygotsky s view.

In conclusion, it is seen both Piaget and Vygotsky agree that a child must mentally construct knowledge. However, Vygotsky placed stronger emphasis on the role of social interaction in this construction process. Piaget believed that development precedes learning but Vygotsky believed that learning pulls development. In term of readiness , Piaget believed that children s readiness for learning is defined by their existing level of competence and knowledge. Whereas Vygotsky, argued that instruction should be directed towards the child s potential level of development, the level of

competence they can demonstrate with the assistance and guidance of others. Finally, Piaget believed that egocentric speech reflects an inability to take the perspective of others and plays no useful role in development, but Vygotsky believed that egocentric speech is an important developmental phenomenon. It helps children to organise and regulate thinking. While in fact, there is a place for both views in the practical applications in education. Overall, it is important to note that not all children are the same and everyone learns differently. Therefore, it should be a matter of looking at the individual and finding a teaching method that works best for them. Indeed, both theories are of equivalent importance. Bibliography Blenkin, G. M. & Kelly, A. V. (1981). The Primary Curriculum. London: Harper and Row. Butterworth, G. & Harris, M. (1994). Principles of developmental psychology. London: LEA. Cole, M. & Cole, S. R. (1993). The development of children (2nd ed.). New York: Freeman. Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon. Hausfather, S. J. (1996). Vygotsky and schooling: creating a social context for learning. Action in Teacher Education 18(2), 1-10. Piaget, J. (1923). The language and thought of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Piaget, J. (1973). The child s conception of the world. London: Paladin Books. Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in Thinking. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, P. K. & Cowie, H. (1991). 'Learning in a Social Context' in Understanding Children's Development. Oxford: Blackwell. Sutherland, P. (1992). Cognitive Development Today: Piaget and his Critics. London: Paul Chapman Publishing. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, p. 57.