Piaget vs. Vygotsky Review the content from chapter 9 in your textbook (and any
ID: 3489246 • Letter: P
Question
Piaget vs. Vygotsky
Review the content from chapter 9 in your textbook (and any other external resources you might find helpful) about Piaget and Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development in early childhood.
Design a learning experience for a child that is based on Piaget's theory of preoperational intelligence. This activity should represent what you know about how children learn from Piaget's perspective. Describe your activity in 1 paragraph. 2.5 points
Design a learning experience for a child that is based on Vygotsky's theory of social learning. This activity should represent what you know about how children learn from Vygotsky's perspective. Describe your activity in 1 paragraph. 2.5 points
In a final paragraph, compare and contrast Piaget and Vygotsky's theories. Describe how each of your activities accommodates each theory. Be sure to reference textbook or external information and provide a page number citation or web link. 5 points
Explanation / Answer
Piaget's theory of cognitive development was purely a constructivist view with suggested that people construct their own knowledge and understanding of the world around them by using what they already are aware of to interpret and make sense of newer experiences. Our interaction with the environment is governed by three processes, namely: organization, adaptation and reflective abstraction. Organization refers to the tendency of humans to organize everything, not only consciously but even unconsciously such as in case of bodily processes. For instance, in considering physiology of the human body wherein cells form tissues, tissues further form organs, which make organ systems and such systems make the human body in its entirety. Adaptation is the tendency to adjust in one's environment which may be highly dynamic in nature. Therefore, especially in case of mental representation whereby multiple sources of environmental stimuli may be available, the brain is highly adaptive & flexible. This is to say that it makes meaning of newer experiences in light of old concepts already formed, discards primitive & non essential information on the basis of reasoning, and adapts and assimilates new data as a result. Reflective observation is in fact the ability to think and make meaning of experiences that occur in our lives.
Piaget's preoperational stage occurs between 2 to 7 years of age. Language starts developing during this stage in the child's life and she/he starts thinking in words. The understanding that words represent objects has developed and the child starts following the same while rapidly picking up such information from her/his environment. The child stil lacks logic, reasoning ability and mental operations. Also, the may undergo what we call 'egocentrism' wherein the child lacks the understanding that others may perceive the world differently as they do. They may lack the understanding of relational terms like heavier, smarter, etc. Other than this, the concept of conservation is still undeveloped in a child at this stage. This means that despite the change in outward appearance, certain objects don't change in their physical attributes.
Learning experience for a child in alignment with Piaget's theory of preoperational intelligence:
The child can be made to play with clay, play dough, water, paints and paper in order to encourage free play. It may be observed how they engage in self directed speech in order to make themselves understand their own play. This also assists in the process of language development. The child may make objects from his environment that he may have seen or related to concepts that are already developed. He may also name them and know their function since mental representation has already begun developing by the time. Water, if transferred to a different container of a different shape may make the child feel that it has reduced in quantity since 'conservation' is not yet understood. However, the creation of the child may be followed by some sort of pretend play or make velieve play which is typical to children of this age and which also play an essential role in development of social skills.
Learning experience on the basis of Vygotsky's perspective on cognitive development:
Vygotsky had introduced the concept of zone of proximal development which was essentially the difference between what a learner can do without help versus what a learner cannot do unaided. Therefore, this meant that exploration and an active role of the learner in his process of learning was crucial for concepts to develop and cognitive growth to take place. Certain skills can be inculcated simply by providing scaffolds (appropriate cues when needed) to the child.
Activity: The child can be given pictures of animals that are rare and she/he may not be aware of. The child may then be asked to identify the names of the animals (such as rhino, dinasaur, etc.) Once the child isn't able to do so, scaffolding may be given in terms of asking the child what it looks like. Due to the common characteristics of animals, they be classify them into this category and the child may then be encouraged by giving more cues (such as this one is now extinct and are no more found- you must have heard about finding of their fossils or remains). This way, by providing scaffolds, the child may be able to recall their earlier experience and a relatively permanent learning may now take place. A learning that takes place merely by help and facilitation, rather spoon feeding and instructionally is more likely to retained for a longer period of time. This is in alignment of Dewey's view of looking at education in its truest sense.
Although Piaget and Vygotsky had similar views about learning, they differed in significant ways in their approach to define cognitive processes. Piaget saw learning taking place in stages while Vygotsky saw it as a culmination of social interactions in her/his environment. Piaget described the processes of adaptation, assilimation and desire for cognitive equilibrium where Vygotsky saw cognitive learning as a result of one's own drive to make meaning of the world around. This relates to the fact that he accepted the role of culture in the life of a child during his developing years. The role of scaffolding leading to own initiated learning was suggested by Vygotsky. The role of student is to manipulate objects on his own (like in case of free play suggested in the activity above) for learning to take place, whereas in case of Vygotsky interaction with the peers, facilitators and other social interfaces play that role. This is visible in the activity whereby scaffolds are provided by the facilitator to encourage the child's learning.