Socio Cultural Theory And Piaget 's Cognitive Development Theory

In Vygotsky’s sociocultural development theory, social interaction plays an important role in the process of cognitive development, which is different then Piaget’s understanding of child development. Vygotsky believed children are active knowledge

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

As a problem presents itself, children will verbally work through the steps to solve it. This ‘private speech’ is a vital part to cognitive development, according to Vygotsky. This private speech gradually progresses into thinking as children become more proficient. He was also a proponent for scaffolding which is a process in which a new task is given and direct instruction is given then gradually taken away as the child learns. Both psychologists believed that children learn and develop through action but in different ways; Piaget felt it was through personal, self action while Vygotsky felt is was through social interaction, internalization and vocalization. Vygotsky and Piaget realized that social factors play a part in cognitive development but in different ways; According Piaget, self processing within a child leads to social processing while Vygotsky felt the opposite- social processing leads to self processing. Lastly, both came to the conclusion that by internalizing information, children transform it into knowledge and mental growth.

The first theory is created by Piaget. It is experience-based. Development depends on stage of children's development and their age. A good example illustrates Piaget's theory is instance with a pepper. Namely, a child who whole life eats a pepper in a red colour has no idea that pepper in green and yellow colour also exists. Thus, it is particularly important to extend kids' experience.

Piaget (1936) was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development; contributing a theory of child cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities (McLeod, 2009). Analysing of this information indicates that Piaget undertook multiple educational studies, which undoubtedly helped with the creation of his theory. Questions could be asked in relation to this theory, for example, what were the specifics of these theories and how do they support child development? The theory can be implemented into teaching practices however there maybe strength and weaknesses as a result.

Vygotsky also introduced his theory of internalisation, one of the main concepts that differentiated from that of Jean Piaget (Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. 2016. P.103). The theory of internalisation put forward by Vygotsky is an idea that suggests an individual is able to observe and internalise the ideas and processes of their surroundings as they partake in social interaction defined as, “new ways of thinking” (Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A.,2016p.103). During social interaction the individuals thinking is successively transformed by interaction with others, similarly to the concept developed by Piaget, Vygotsky also characterised children as “active agents in their development”. (Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A.,2016p.103). As explained by

Vygotsky’s ideas about how mental abilities develop, on the other hand, show us how important and necessary the social and cultural context are to developing each child’s mental abilities. Lev Vygotsky (1978) strongly believed that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." He and

Scaffolding means changing the level of support.(pg52) This refers to a student learning something and getting direct instruction but over time as the student's understanding increases the guidance decreases. Language and thought are also two important parts of Voygotsky's theory.Speech is not only for social communication, but also to help children solve task.According to Voygotsky children use private speech at first to help regulate themselves. (Santrock 201,p.52) Eventhough Paiget disagrees with a child talking to themself and felt that it was immuture, Voygotsky theory supports and states that private speech plays a positive role in children's development.Voygotsky believed that children development develop in this order : affliction, play, learning, and peer. He also took it beyond teenage years and said that adults are learning through work and being active in the

171).” This, in other words, is when a child cannot completely perform a task independently but can do it with a bit of assistance from a more competent figure. This zone of proximal development is something I experience with Blair. At two years old she has got to pick out her tooth and hairbrush, but she still needs a bit of help with both operations. Another idea that Vygotsky believed in was the method of scaffolding. This is known as the support for learning and problem solving that encourages independence and growth (Feldman 2012). For example, sometimes Blair has a tough time communicating using her words. I often encourage conversation by asking questions that instigate more of a response from Blair. This helps her grow in her communication and is good practice for her. Cognitive development was viewed by Vygotsky as the product of social interactions. He focused on the social aspects of development and learning instead of concentrating on individual performance.

Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory states that children go through four stages of cognitive development as they actively construct their understanding of the world. Stage one of this theory, or the sensorimotor stage, infants of the age newborn through two years construct an understanding of the world by sensory skills (hearing and seeing) with physical actions. This for example could be a simple game of peak-a-boo. Skye, the infant in the video clip, giggles at his mother playing the game. According to Piaget’s theory, young infants do not know what happens when object go out of sight. During the first year, infants learn that objects have life of their own, even when not visible. This is known as object permanence. Mya knew to look

According to Piaget (1929, 1954, 1963), the process of adaptation helps us to understand how a child constructs his/her world. Taking Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development with particular focus on the Sensori-Motor stage of development, I am going to discuss how understanding this stage might influence me when working with a baby as a nursing student in the future.

Vygotsky  he focuses on the social dimension of the child and in the importance of language during child’s infancy. Language is seen as a tool that allows the child to do things and organise information through the use of words as symbols. During early years, children talk to themselves while they are playing (private speech). As children get older they speak less and less aloud, and differentiate between social speech and inner speech. This is called internalisation. This implies a transformation, the interpersonal talk during doing something, later becomes intrapersonal mental action by one individual.

Piaget, Erikson, Skinner and Vygotsky all have similarities and differences within their approaches in regards to cognitive development. Firstly, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes the changes in logical thinking of children and adolescents. Piaget suggested that children proceed through four stages that are based on maturation and experience. Piaget managed numerous intelligence tests to children and this led to him becoming interested in the types of faults children of different ages were most probable to make. Piaget hypothesized that cognitive development proceeds in four genetically determined stages that always follow the same sequential order (Developmental and Learning Theories, 2011). The four stages in Piaget theory are the Sensorimotor stage (infancy), the Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood), the Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence), and the Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood). Furthermore, Piaget’s theory is guided by assumptions of how learners interact with their environment and how they integrate new knowledge and information on existing knowledge. In brief, Piaget proposed that children are active learners who build knowledge from their environments and they learn through assimilation and accommodation, and complex cognitive development occurs through equilibration (Developmental and Learning Theories, 2011). Piaget also believed that the interaction with physical and social

Adolescence (12-18 years of age) stage in human development is the period between puberty to legal adulthood. During this transitional stage physical, emotional, intellectual, social and psychological changes occur. This essay will discuss about some transition on socio-cultural and cognitive aspects as well as two normative and a non-normative events occurring during this stage. Erikson’s theory of social development and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has been used in this essay to discuss the transitional aspects of the adolescence. This essay further discusses about self identity and self esteem and their impact and various aspects contributing to the nursing standards for practice.

What are the major challenges to Piaget's theory of cognitive development and what aspects still have value?