Theories of Development Piaget and Vygotsky Edwin D. Bell Winston-Salem State University

Topics Aspects/issues of development Piaget Vygotsky

Human Development Refers to how and why people grow and adapt, and change over the course of their lifetimes. One of the first requirements of effective teaching is that teachers understand how students think and how they view the world.

Issues of Development Nature vs nurture – is development predetermined at birth, by heredity and biological factors, or is it affected by experience and other environmental factors. Continuous and discontinuous theories – how change occurs. Most developmental psychologist believe that nature and nurture combine to influence development, biological factor play a stronger role in some aspects of development, such as physical development, and environmental factors playing a stronger role in others, such as moral development. The continuous theory of development suggests that at a fairly early age, children are capable of thinking and acting like adults, given the proper experience and education. Continuous theories emphasize the importance of the environment Discontinuous perspective assumes that children progress through a set of predictable and invariant stages of development. Discontinuous theories (see page 31 in Slavin (2006) Discontinuous theories of development focus on inborn factors rather than environmental influences to explain change over time. Environmental conditions may have some influence on the pace of development, but the sequence of developmental steps is essentially fixed.

Piaget’s Basic Assumptions Children are active and motivated learners, i.e., they naturally curious about their world (Ormrod, 2008). Children construct knowledge from their experiences (constructivism) Iteractions with the physical and social environment is critical for cognitive growth (Ormrod, 2008)

Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development Constructivism Schemes (schemata) – patterns of behavior and thinking. Adaptation/learning is the process of adjusting schemes to the environment by means of assimilation and accommodation Ormrod, 2008, Slavin, 2003).

Assimilation Is the process of understanding a new object or event in terms an existing schema Ormrod, 2008)

Accommodation Is modifying an existing scheme in light of new information, or Creating a a new scheme (Ormrond, 2008)

Equilibration Situations that cannot be handled by existing schemes produce a disequilibrium. Restoring balance is called equilibration. According to Piaget learning depends on this process (Slavin, 2003).

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor – Birth to 2 years Preoperational – 2 – 7 years Concrete operational – 7 –11 years Formal operations – 11 years to adulthood (Slavin, 2003) Sensorimotor – formation of concept of “object permanence” and gradual progression from reflexive behavior to goal-oriented behavior. Symbolic thought emerges in the latter part of the second year (Ormrod, 2008) In the early part of preoperational language develops rapidly, but is limited by preoperational egocentrism, i.e., the inability to see things from another’s perspective Preoperational – development of the ability to use symbols to represent objects in the world. Thinking remains egocentric and self-centered. Concrete operations improvement in the ability to think logically. New abilities include the use of operations that are reversible. Thinking is decentering is less restricted by egocentrism. Thinking is decentered, and problem solving is less restricted by egocentrism. Conservation consistently emerges, but abstract thinking is not possible. In the formal operations stage, abstract and purely symbolic thinking possible. Problems can be solved through the use of systematic experimentation. Formal operations

Issues of Piaget’s Stages of Development reflexes – inborn, automatic responses to stimuli. object permanence – the fact that an object exists even if it is out of sight. Conservation – the concept that certain properties of an object remain the same regardless of changes in other properties (Slavin, 2003)

Vgotsky’s View of Cognitive Development It is based on two key ideas: Intellectual development can only be understood in terms of a child’s historical and cultural context. Development depends on the sign systems that individuals have available to them; e.g., the culture’s language, writing system, or counting system (Slavin, 2003).

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions Adults convey to children through conversation how their culture interpret and responds to the world. Every culture transmits physical and cognitive tools for daily living. Thought and language become increasing interdependent in the first years of life (Ormrod, 2008).

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions (continued) Complex mental processes begin as social activities, children transform the processes that they use in social activities into their own internal mental activities (Internalization). A child can perform more challenging activities when they have assistance from a more competent person (Ormrod, 2008).

Similarities and Differences to Piaget In contrast to Piaget Vgotsky believed that cognitive development is strongly linked to the input that children receive from others. Similar to Piaget, Vgotsky that the development of the sign system was invariant for all children (Slavin, 2003)

How Development Works Vgotsky’s theory suggests that learning precedes development … learning involves the acquisition of signs by means of instruction and information from others. Development involves the child’s internalizing these signs so as to be able to think and solve problems without the help of others. … self-regulation (Slavin, 2003, p. 44)

Private Speech Turns shared knowledge into personal knowledge You can observe children talking to themselves Later that private speech become silent and can be very useful in learning complex tasks (Slavin, 2003)

Zone of Proximal Development This is where learning occurs Tasks that children cannot accomplish by themselves, but could do with the help of adults or peers (Slavin, 2003)

Scaffolding “Typically, scaffolding means providing a child with a great deal of support during the early stages of learning and then diminishing support and having the child take on increasing responsibility …( Slavin, 2003, pp. 45-46)

Implications of Vygotsky Cooperative Learning among groups of students with differing levels of ability Emphasis on students taking more and more responsibility for their own learning

References Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 6th. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson. Merrill, Prentice-Hall. Slavin, R. (2003). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice and Practice, 7th. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.