Evaluating The Contributions Of Piaget And 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

Since the early 1900’s psychologists have developed theories about how the human brain develops and how humans learn. Cognitive development is the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood (Wells, 2011). There are many factors that play vital roles in how we learn, some of which are intelligence, reasoning and memory.

Cognitive Development refers to the construction of the thought process that includes problem solving, remembering and the ability to make decisions, from childhood up to the adulthood stage. Cognitive/Intellectual Development is the ability to learn, reason, and analyze the fact that a process begins from infancy and progresses as the individual (Educational Psychology). Cognitive Development contains events that are logical, like thinking and remembering. Some factors remain the same throughout many of the theories on cognitive development. All theorists agree that people go through specific steps and/or

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.

Piaget studied the thinking and logic of children and he believed that children had different logic to adults. Piaget started his theory by observing and studying his own children and concluded that children learn and build their ideas on what they see and experience, not by what they are taught. The more the children see and gain in experience the more their schemas would change and develop as they add new information.

Cognitive development is the way a child sees, thinks and gains understanding of the world through interaction, influence, learned and genetic factors. There are four areas of intelligence and child brain development. They are: biological approaches to intelligence, cognitive succession of stages, knowledge, and intellectual ability.

There are many theories of child development largely because many different people have studied the field for many years. Each theory has their different factors; biology, sociology, genetics, environment, and relationships are just a few of them. “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it. ”! (Psalms 139:14).  One might ask the question: "If theories are so useful, why do we need so many?"  Having a multitude of theories allow us to see how children develop from a variety of

Cognitive development can be defined as a field of study in neuroscience and psychology revolving around the growth of the brain (Schacter & Woods 2009). This development is the evolution of skills such as, information processing, perceptual skills, conceptual resourcing, language knowledge and other brain development traits (ibid).

Many theorists and researchers have debated (and continue to debate) whether cognitive development is a continuous or discontinuous processUntitled (Crowley, 2014). Do cognitive processes advance with age (continuous) or is a child required to reach one stage of development before they can advance to the next (discontinuous)?

Cognitive development is very important throughout the stages of life. It is very important to how we function and think as individuals. In order to be successful academically and physically, we as human beings have to crawl before we can walk. So it is a step by step process that starts from prenatal development.

The ability to think is what distinguishes humans from other living beings. A human’s capacity to create, plan, organize, distinguish, use judgement, imagine, and speak are all elements of thinking. Cognitive development explains the progression of thinking, specifically critical thinking, throughout the lifespan. During childhood, the brain, particularly the areas of the brain that control cognition, are bursting with connections and changing continuously. Between childhood and adolescence, the capacity to think develops enormously and changes drastically.

Cognitive development is the childs brain process of how they learn to develop physically (sit up, stand etc.) as well as speech in early years, through to problem solving, thought processes and learning as the child grows and develops.

It is especially interesting to further understand how each of the ways of development intertwine with each other. The brain with the neural development and the actual physical growth can affect the cognitive development as human development as a whole does not simply grow separately. While there is one set of ideals for growth, there are many factors that differ from person to person, such as gender, ethnicity, genetic history, as well as environments raised in. All of these factors contribute to human development. Yet, with development being very individualised, it is especially interesting how overtime these infants, toddlers, and children, are capable of further growth, with the eventual becoming adults. This growth in the younger years affects the growth in the later

There are a number of theorists that have ideas, charts, and graphs about how a child develops. Many are used today to determine when a child is mature, when they can feel emotion, and other important factors to which there are no strict textbook answers for. Piaget and Vygotsky are two theorists that offer theoretical perspectives on how a child develops.

In the world of psychology, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are considered to be very prominent figures in the area of cognitive development. Both of these men considered themselves a constructivist, which entails a viewpoint that is concerned with the nature of knowledge. In their lifetime, both of them made contributions in the area of education and even after death, their theories still influence teaching methods. The purpose of this paper is to show some similarities as well as differences in the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and what can be gained by having a better understanding of their theories.