Term Paper on "Compare and Contrast Vygotsky's and Piaget's Theories of Cognitive Development"

Term Paper 3 pages (1066 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Vygotsky and Piaget

Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget were both born in 1896. Piaget was originally trained in biology and philosophy. Vygotsky received a law degree from Moscow University and studied literature and linguistics. He wrote a book on the psychology of art and received a Ph.D. It is said he created the social development theory of learning as he began to work in psychology shortly after the Russian revolution. The theories prevalent in Russia at that time were cooperative learning and the sacrificing of one's own goals and successes for the betterment of society. The success of one individual was considered the success of the group instead. History and background were supremely important in the understanding of a culture. Vygotsky, influenced by this way of thinking, proposed that social interaction strongly influenced cognitive development. An individual's development, therefore, is a result of his or her culture and social interactions with parents and those older and wiser, who share the knowledge of the culture (Driscoll, 1994).

Learning

Vygotsky's approach is termed "sociocultural." He approached development differently from Piaget. Piaget believed that learning through discovery and supporting the interests of the individual are important techniques for the development of the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Piaget's theory proposes that development of the child's interests should be enhanced, as the child develops biologically. His theory has a cognitive thinking endpoint as a goal. Vygotsky's theory applies mainly to mental development, and mental abilities and rational abilities are analyzed and developed instead of viewed as a product to be obtained. Vygotsky's development process begins at birth and has no stages, as it is too complex to be defined, but eventually reaches the ZPD (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996).

Factors that Influence Learning

Vygotsky believed that social learning actually leads to cognitive development and that this process of development was dependent on social interaction and lasted a lifetime. Vygotsky describes ZPD as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, while Vygotsky focused on the "connections between people and the cultural context in which they act and interact in shared experiences" (Crawford, 1996), Piaget focused on guidance and encouragement of the development of the individual.

Role of the Learner

Vygotsky believed a student can perform a task that could not be achieved alone with the guidance of an adult or with the help of a peer. He called speech and writing cultural tools that humans use to reconcile their social environments and that children used these tools to communicate needs. Piaget saw children using egocentric speech in the preoperational stage and said it disappeared in the concrete operations stage, while Vygotsky viewed egocentric speech as a transitional stage from social speech to internalized thinking. (Driscoll, 1994).

Role of Physical Environment

Both believe that the student develops in the environment surrounding them, but while Vygotsky believed that the social environment was more important than anything else in the education of the mind, Piaget stressed that the individual learns by interacting with the environment, whether there is someone there… READ MORE

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