Vygotsky's Cognitive Development Theory Analysis

According to Vygotsky, the basis for learning lies within social interaction and communication. It is when a child is able to communicate, either verbally or non-verbally, that they understand the world around them through copying and internalizing new concepts. An example of this is what Vygotsky called cooperative or collaborative dialogue, when a “more knowledgeable other” assists the learner with a task. Although it sounds like a relatively basic idea, other psychologists at the time, notably Piaget, placed the source of learning within the person and not related to the people around them. As Orlando Lourenco illustrated in the article “Piaget and Vygotsky: Many resemblances, and a crucial difference,” the key difference between the two leading psychologists of the early twentieth century was the importance of the surroundings of the child. Piaget believed that children are born with the innate skills to acquire language; whereas, Vygotsky supported the belief that it was the community that teaches a child language (Lourenço,

The first theorist introduced is Piaget and his theory was based on “the understanding of how children and adolescents think and learn” (198). The second theorist introduced is Vygotsky and his theory was influenced by Karl Marx’s proposal “that historical changes in society have significant impact on how people think and behave” (215). Piaget used a clinical method, in order to seek his theory of cognitive development. This allowed Piaget to understand how children and adolescents learn. On the other hand, Vygotsky used tangible items like stories, paper, and writing utensils to determine how the society would move forward. An educational difference from Vygotsky is that parents, teachers, and other adults has having an impact on how children learn and grow. However, Piaget found that

Differentiation, with respect to instruction, means tailoring it to meet individual needs of the students. Teachers can differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction. Teachers differentiate the four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile. (Tomlinson 2000).

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory encompasses the view that values, beliefs, skills and traditions are transmitted from one generation to the next. He, unlike behaviorist theorists, emphasized that family, social interaction, and play are primary influences in a child’s life (Gordon & Browne, 2013). The social environment at home has a profound impact on how children develop. Children learn whether to trust or

One of the most well known theories in cognitive development is Piaget 's theory. The psychologist Jean Piaget theorized that as children 's minds development, they pass through distinct stages marked by transitions in understanding followed by stability. Piaget describes four different stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operation, and formal operations. Each stage describes the thinking patterns of a child depending on his or her age. In order to compare the thinking processes of a three-year old and a nine-year old using Piaget 's theory, you must compare two sequential stages of cognitive development: preoperational and concrete operations.

Lev Vygotsky's, cultural-historical theory of cognitive development is focused on the role of culture in the development of higher mental functions, such as speech and reasoning in children. His theory is sometimes referred to as having a sociocultural perspective, which means the theory emphasizes the importance of society and culture for promoting cognitive development. He emphasized the role of social interactions and culture in development. And he believed that adults in a society foster children's cognitive development in an intentional and systematic manner by engaging them in challenging and meaningful activities.

This article aims to explore Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory. Piaget explicated people fundamentally improve their thinking in stage at distinct periods. In terms of Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory, it is inevitable to investigate the correlation between social interaction and individual cognitive development, the role of cultural tools in mental process, and the zone of proximal development(ZPD).

There are two theorists associated with cognitive development; Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believes that things children learn and do are organized as schemes, groups of similar actions and thoughts are repeated in response to the environment. Vygotsky believes that thoughts and language are separate functions for infants and toddlers. This is important for me to know because when teaching my first graders using Piaget’s belief that children curiosity to adapt to their environment, will help me in setting up my classroom so as to provide the friendliest environmental atmosphere. Another useful belief of Piaget that I intend to use, is by exploring and manipulating physical objects, children gain a relationship with their physical environment. I agree with and will use Vygotsky belief that language is a way for children to exchange ideas with adults and their peers and that it is vital for cognitive development. Also Vygotsky theory that I found useful is that social activities provide the seeds from which complex cognitive processes can

Cognitive development is a process which enhancing the ability of learning. The cognitive theories emphasize on conscious thoughts which highlight the mental aspects of development such as logic and memory. The primary factors of cognitive theories is the structure and development of the individual’s thought processes and the means of these processes can effort the person’s understanding of the world. Therefore, the cognitive theories study on how this understanding, and the expectations it creates, can affect the individual’s behavior. There are three types of cognitive development theories in human which are Piaget’s Cognitive development theory, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive theory and Information-Processing theory. (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). All of them focus on the development of complex thinking skills.

Learning theories are used every day in classrooms all over America, educational theorist Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Benjamin Bloom and Jerome Bruner introduced constructivism and social constructivism theories (cognitive development, social development, and developmental). The theories developed by Vygotsky, Piaget, Bloom, and Bruner share similarities and differences, and throughout the years have been compared for educational discoveries. Learning theories are extremely important for educators, because learning is an active process.

Most of this theory is started by Lev Vygotsky, who was born in Russia in 1896, but unfortunately he died at early age of only thirty-eight. He graduated from University of Moscow, after graduation, he taught literature in secondary school, which experience intensified his interest in how children learn. Most of important parts of Vygotsky theory consist of Scaffolding, MKO (more knowledgeable others), ZPD (zone of proximal development) and Role of Language. Scaffolding means to learn with help and support of others, like parents, tutors, or even peers who know more. These helpful people are called MKO, more knowledgeable others. ZPD is zone of the proximal development. Vygotsky divided children’s knowledge into three sections, respectively are what they can do, what they cannot do and ZPD. Here ZPD is the linking between “can do” and “cannot do”. I t means the potential learning area where children and reach with scaffolding of MKO. The significant part of Vygotsky theory is that he consider not only about children’s mental development, but also the external affection on mental function, which Piaget had missed out. Besides the above concepts, Vygotsky points out that language plays a key role in children’s thought forming. He believes thought is result of language

Conversely, Vygotsky disputed that the culture in which a person lives also plays a substantial part in cognitive development. Vygotsky believed that a child’s cognitive development was stimulated by the interaction of the child and its social environment (Vygotsky, 1987). Vygotsky also believed that children’s use of speech also influenced their cognitive abilities (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2010). Vygotsky stated that language was the basis for cognitive development, including the ability to remember, solve problems, make decisions and formulate plans (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2010). Studies have shown that children who use speech when met with difficult tasks are more focussed and show better improvement in cognitive performance then those who are less talkative (Behrend et al., 1992). While Piaget argued for a purely maturational outlook on children’s cognitive development, Vygotsky assigned superior significance of sociocultural influences such as interactions with other people and language (Martin, Carlson & Buskist,

Cognition is a process where different aspects of the mind are working together that lead to knowledge. Piaget’s cognitive development theory is based on stages that children go through as they grow that lead them to actively learn new information. Cognitive change occurs with schemes that children and adults go through to make sense of what is happening around them. The change that occurs is activity based when the child is young and later in life correlates to mental thinking. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development start from birth to adulthood and it begins with the sensorimotor stage, a child from birth to the age of 2 years old learns and thinks by doing and figuring out how something works. The second stage is the preoperational stage and in this stage children from ages 2 through 7 years are developing their language and they do pretend play (Berk, 2005, p.20). Concrete operational is the third stage and children ages 7 to 11 years old lack abstract but have more logic than they did when they were younger. The last stage is formal

Cognitive development refers to the growths and changes that occur in an individual’s cognitive abilities, that is, their intelligence and mental abilities, and how and why they think. (Gleitman, Gross & Reisberg, 2011) These changes never stop, they continue from birth right up into adulthood and old age. While in later years this development can be detrimental (ie, a diminishing of these abilities), in childhood, cognitive development is an improvement in how the child sees, thinks about, and interacts with the world. This essay will examine the cognitive abilities that emerge and are present in children between the ages of 7 - 11, often referred to as middle childhood.

The development of mind is called cognitive development it means that a part of brain is used for recognising, reasoning, knowing, and understanding. It may also involve what a person knows and the ability to understand, reason and solve problems and also the person’s memory, concentration level, attention level, perception, imagination and creativity. A child’s cognitive development can be promoted by engaging them in quality interactions on everyday basis like talking and naming commonly used objects, by letting them to explore new toys, reading stories and books, singing and most importantly answering there ‘why’ questions all time.