Term Paper on "Cognitive Development"

Term Paper 4 pages (1192 words) Sources: 7 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Cognitive Development

The objective of this work is to compare and contrast Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development and Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Development. Additionally this work will provide specific examples of how teachers can incorporate each of these theories in the classroom."

To Jean Piaget, the most vital element in the individual development of cognition of a child was based on interacting among his own peers and that this interaction results in conflict on the cognitive level. Piaget held that children were not as challenged in their interactions with those considered their peers, as they would be when among adults. Vygotsky's assertion was that a child learns best among peers who are more skilled which provides the child with a scaffold comprised of intellect and experience and through this; the child is able to complete tasks much more complex than they would be capable of on their own. DeVries (nd) writes in the work entitled: "Vygotsky, Piaget, and Education: A Reciprocal Assimilation of Theories and Educational Practices" which incidentally is a comparison of Vygotsky and Piaget, that she was for quite a long time "unable to see Vygotsky as a constructivist." She relates that those who have read Vygotsky in Russian challenge this and state that he certainly is a constructivist and states that evidence supporting that Vygotsky is indeed a constructivist "comes principally from his theory of the dialectic." (DeVries, nd Otherwise DeVries states that Vygotsky sounded like Piaget in the statement of:

any new form of cultural experience does not simply come from outside independently of the state of the organism at a given point of development. The fact is that the organism that is mastering external influences masters a number of forms of behavior or assimilates these forms depending on its level of mental development...these external materials are reprocessed and assimilated in the organism." (1981; 169)

I. PIAGET: STAGES of DEVELOPMENT

Piaget stated: "To know an object or a happening is to make use of it by assimilation into an action schema. Human beings know the world in selective ways - if a stimulus cannot be incorporated into an action schema, it will remain outside the domain of knowledge."

It can be understood then that a child constructs knowledge in a process that is active. From this view as the child internalizes the actions they become ideas and are neither completely mental nor completely cultural but are ideas that spring from the interaction of the child with the world around them. Piaget views the child as moving through specific stages. The first stage is the stages referred to as reflexes stage from birth to six weeks of age. The second stage if the stage in which the child is six weeks to four months of age when the child acquires habits suck as thumb-sucking. The third stage is from age four months to age 8 months in which the child learns that he can affect his environment. The fourth stage is age 9 to 12 months in which the child learns coordinated secondary circular reactions. The fifth stage is age 12 to 18 months in which the child learns to apply established means to an end. The six stage is one in which the child learns symbolic representation.

II. VYGOTSKY: STAGES of DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky held that a child developed in stages as well however, Vygotsky did not fix the stages of development as he described "leading activities" that can be thought as typical of specific ages which intellectual development is organized around. The stages of development posited by Vygotsky are those as follows… READ MORE

How to Reference "Cognitive Development" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Cognitive Development Term Paper

Cognitive Development

The Bank Street Head Start program claims to develop its teaching methods and curriculum around "the activities of daily living." Their approach is called "developmental-interactive" and is strongly… read more

Term Paper 2 pages (551 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Cognitive Development in Toddlers Interrelationship Between Motor Skills and Task Performance Research Proposal

Cognitive Development in Toddlers

Summary of existing research, including your own.

Cognitive ability in toddlers is far more remarkable than we give them credence for. Building on the previous research… read more

Research Proposal 4 pages (1552 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Cognitive Development in Toddlers Individual Differences in Locomotor Ability Research Paper

Cognitive Development in Toddlers: Individual Differences in Locomotor Ability

Cognitive development in toddlers: Exploring individual differences in locomotor ability

Toddlerhood is a crucial stage in human development that warrants much… read more

Research Paper 5 pages (1681 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Cognitive Development We Conducted Our Research Term Paper

Cognitive Development

We conducted our research on a male toddler, aged 12 months, whose mother is 25. The boy was born premature and with Down's syndrome. We believe that the… read more

Term Paper 1 pages (391 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Cognitive Development Theories Term Paper

Cognitive Development

According to Kendra Van Wagner, Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning incorporates six levels, with two stages each. The first level, preconventional morality, focuses mainly on the needs… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1736 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA Topic: Sociology / Society

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>