Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Approach To Cognitive Development
Introduction
As children begin to grow, they start to make sense of the world around them. Cognitive development in children and adolescents is a topic highly researched by psychologists as it underpins all other aspects of development such as language, communication and comprehension. There has been much debate with regard to cognitive development because of the many varying theories on the topic, the most popular being the works of Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory, although highly respected has shown many shortcomings of which Vygotsky’s approach seems to fill in the gaps by emphasizing rather than neglecting the role of social interaction and mediated learning (Harwood et al., 2008).
The Sociocultural Approach
Vygotsky’s
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There are 2 concepts children acquire while developing intellectually, namely scientific and spontaneous concepts (Karpov, 2005).
Karpov (2005, p.171) notes that spontaneous concepts arise from the “internalization” of everyday experiences without organized teaching. Karpov (2005) states that scientific concepts are attained through organized teaching by learners knowingly, according to a specific structure embody the general experience of all humanity that is static in science.
Scientific concepts change student’s everyday life understandings (spontaneous concepts) into more logical and conscious knowledge, allowing learners to reason and understand theories that govern everyday life (i.e. newton’s law of gravity, Archimedes law etc.). The development of scientific concepts facilitates children’s problem solving abilities, thus results in more self-regulated thinking based on past experience. Near the end of middle childhood, increased use of more theoretical knowledge allows the child to think at a more logical level (Karpov,
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775 Words | 4 PagesAccording 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.
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807 Words | 4 PagesJean Piaget, known for his interest in the Epistemology in children is seen as the pioneer of Developmental Psychology. Piaget 's Cognitive development theory led to a great deal of research work in the field of educational philosophy . But in the discipline of Psychology, every theory has been faced with a counter theory or an alternative. So is the case with Piaget 's theory. Lev Vygotsky, a soviet psychologist came up with the socio-cultural theory, which is another strong theory emphasizing child development and is seen as a major counter theory to Piaget 's work (Saul McLeod, 2004).
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1038 Words | 5 PagesPiaget and Vygotsky provide their distinct differences in their theories; however they share many similarities. These two theorists expanded their beliefs in how they thought a child would progress throughout the years of growing. This brought many different opinions as well as some advantages to each of their theories. Some of the differences between the two theorists are derived from the theoretical experiences and language, culture, and education. Piaget and Vygotsky both shared a common knowledge from either having training or background as biologists.
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