KNOWLEDGE AND MEANING ARE CONSTRUCTED BY THE INDIVIDUAL EMMANUEL KANT KNOWLEDGE AND MEANING ARE CONSTRUCTED BY THE INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTIVISM INDIVIDUALS INTERPRET SENSORY INFORMATION AND CONSTRUCT PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL MEANING IT IS THE MEANING OF OUR EXPERIENCES, AND NOT THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE OBJECTS, WHICH CONSTITUTES REALITY

COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTALTHEORY JEAN PIAGET COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTALTHEORY “A STUDENT WHO ACHIEVES KNOWLEDGE THROUGH FREE INVESTIGATION AND SPONTANEOUS EFFORT WILL BE ABLE TO RETAIN THAT KNOWLEDGE AND WILL HAVE ACQUIRED A METHODOLOGY THAT CAN SERVE FOR A LIFETIME.”

“The central fact about psychology is the fact of mediation.” Lev Vygotsky

COGNITIVE CONFLICT ACTIVE AGENCY Adaptation Disequilibrium Biological Factors Environmental Factors BEHAVIOR Cognitive Development MEDIATING MECHANISMS Individual as active agent -emphasis on interpretation of information and on construction of meaning Developmental stages COGNITIVE CONFLICT ACTIVE AGENCY

WHAT CRITICAL ELEMENTS SEEM TO BE DE-EMPHASIZED IN PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT?

2. CRITICAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE 3. IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED LEARNING 1. HUMAN LEARNING CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD INDEPENDENT OF THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FORCES THAT INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS** 2. CRITICAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE 3. IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED LEARNING

The development of mind is the interweaving of biological development of the human body and the appropriation of the cultural/ideal/material heritage which exists in the present to coordinate people with each other and with the physical world. Lev Vygotsky from: Beyond the Individual-Social Antimony in Discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky, by Michael Cole and James Wertsch

SOCIAL-HISTORICAL THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT LEV VYGOTSKY SOCIAL-HISTORICAL THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS ARE CRITICAL TO LEARNING INDIVIDUALS CREATE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS TO LEARN AND TO MASTER THEIR BEHAVIOR

BEHAVIOR Mediating mechanisms Social Process Cultural influences Development Biological Factors Environmental Factors with emphasis on Sociocultural factors Mediating mechanisms Social Process Instruction (Zone of Proximal Development) Cultural influences - Tools and signs - Cultural artifacts - Language

THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT “ . . . is the distance between the actual developmental 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” Lev Vygotsky, 1935

POTENTIAL LEVEL ACTUAL LEVEL LEARNING ZPD INSTRUCTION

POTENTIAL LEVEL ACTUAL LEVEL ZPD

SOCIAL (Cultural) MEDIATION Biological Factors Environmental Factors with emphasis on Sociocultural factors BEHAVIOR Development Cultural influences - Tools and signs Mediating mechanisms Social Process Instruction (Zone of Proximal Development) SOCIAL (Cultural) MEDIATION

VYGOTSKY PIAGET CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN and 1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IS PRIMARILY A FUNCTION OF SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION Adult-child interaction INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTION Active agency . . . but see Cole and Wertsch’s Beyond the Individual-Social Antimony in Discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky

CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VYGOTSKY PIAGET and 2. ROLE OF LANGUAGE AND PRIVATE SPEECH LANGUAGE CRITICAL - EGOCENTRIC SPEECH BECOMES THOUGHT THAT IS SELF-REGULATING COGNITION CRITICAL -EGOCENTRIC SPEECH DISAPPEARS AS SOCIAL SPEECH DEVELOPS COGNITION MEDIATES LANGUAGE ONCE LANGUAGE DEVELOPS, COGNITION IS LANGUAGE

HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT I THINK UNLESS I HEAR WHAT I SAY? Dean Acheson

CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VYGOTSKY PIAGET and 3. HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN BEST? SOCIAL INTERACTION INSTRUCTION DEPENDENT ASSISTED LEARNING (ZPD) SCAFFOLDING COGNITIVE SELF-INSTRUCTION - guided by inner speech INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTION STAGE DEPENDENT SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-INITIATED** EXPERIMENTATION INDEPENDENT MASTERY EXPLORATION, DISCOVERY INTERNAL SE LF-REGULATION

CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VYGOTSKY PIAGET and 1. PARADIGMATIC CONSISTENCY SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM with an ever so slight lean toward nurture COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTIVISM with an ever so slight lean toward nature

CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VYGOTSKY PIAGET and 2. FOUNDATION OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SOCIOCULTURAL MEDIATION HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS IS AN INTERMINGLING OF BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS -“THE NATURAL AND THE CULTURAL” - THAT FORM A SINGLE LINE OF SOCIOBIOLOGICAL FORMATION OF PERSONALITY GENETIC EPISTEMOLOGY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS AN INTERACTION BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT PRIMARILY MEDIATED BY AN INDIVIDUAL’S ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING

CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VYGOTSKY PIAGET and 3. SOCIAL INFLUENCE ON LEARNING THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED LEARNING TO REACH THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL EXCHANGE DURING THE PROCESS OF EQUILIBRATION DeVries, R. (1997). Piaget’s Social Theory, Educational Researcher, 26(2), 4-17. Link to detail

Piaget’s Cognitive Periods and Approximate Ages Table 2.2 1. The Sensorimotor Period-Birth to 18-24 months 2. The Preoperational Period-2 to 7 years 3. The Concrete Operational Period-7 to 11 years 4. The Formal Operational Period-over 11 years 3

Piaget on Language and Thought Table 2.4 Outstanding Language Equivalent Period (age in years) Characteristics Sensorimotor (0-2) Preoperational (2-7) Concrete Operational (7-11) Formal Operational (over 11) 1. Egocentrism 2. Organization of reality by sensory and motor abilities 1. Increasing symbolic activity 2. Beginnings of representation 1. Reversibility 2. Conservation 3. Seriation 4. Classification 1. Development of logico- mathematical structures 2. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning Language absent until final months of period 1. Egocentric speech 2. Socialized speech 1. Beginnings of verbal understanding 2. Understanding related to concrete objects 1. Language freed from the concrete 2. Verbal ability to express the possible 4

Vygotsky’s Theory-Basics Concept of development The social origin of mind Speech and development 5

Vygotsky and Stages of Language Development Preintellectual speech Naive psychology Egocentric speech Inner speech 6

Key Differences Between Piaget and Vygotsky Table 2.5 Perspective Basic psychological mechanism Language Learning Problem solving Individual child constructs view of world by forming cognitive structures -“the little scientist” Equilibration-child acts to regain equilib- rium between current level of cognitive structures and external stimuli Emerges as cognitive structures develop Assimilation and accommodation lead to equilibration Child independently searches for data needed to change cognitive structures, thus enabling child to reach solution Child’s cognitive development progresses by social interactions with others (“social origins of mind”) Social interaction, which encourages devel- opment through the guidance of skillful adults Language begins as preintellectual speech and gradually develops into a sophisticated form of inner speech; one of the main forces responsible for cognitive develop- ment Learning results from the interaction of two processes; biological elementary processes (such as brain development), plus sociocultural interactions Two aspects of problem solving: 1. Key role of speech to guide “planful” behavior; 2. Joint efforts with others 7