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Similarities and differences between vygotsky and piaget
Similarities and differences between vygotsky and piaget
Similarities and differences between vygotsky and piaget
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Theories of learning development
There are three main developmental theories of learning that are currently worked with in the area of special educational needs. These are considered to be ‘constructivist’ theories of learning.
What is constructivism?
Constructivism is effectively ‘child-centred development’ that places the acquisition of knowledge and learning as an active and ‘building’ process, where learners use what they already know to learn new things, and infer new knowledge based on their interaction with new experiences outside themselves, using information and ideas from within themselves, or already obtained. In other words, knowledge is considered to be socially constructed because it is obtained in partnership between new experiences
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Teachers act as a facilitator, as pupils are freer to guide their own learning based on their individual needs, interest and abilities. This idea is contradictory to that of teacher-centred learning, which is characterised by the teacher deciding for the students what they need to learn and how they will do so.
Psychologists Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, all advocated a more child-focused approach to learning, which was further developed by practitioners such as Montessori.
Constructivism is the base of much educational practice at the current time, although many teachers may not be aware of the theories themselves. It is, however, useful for understanding the way in which a child may progress educationally, which is important when supporting a child to succeed. Constructivism can also be very useful for helping to identify the next stages of progress for the individual, and can also help to identify when success has been attained. In addition, child-centred learning is said to improve motivation, peer collaboration, and behaviour in the
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Accommodation, on the other hand, occurs when a child changes the schema in order to accept the new information. An example of this is the idea of categorizing and labelling. To start, a young child may think that all four-legged animals are dogs, based on an adult pointing to a four-legged animal and saying, “dog”. Later, the same child would adjust their schema when they realize that some four-legged animals are called cats, cows, horses, etc.
A key concept in Piagetian theory was that of the construction of knowledge, which he believed children achieved through a trial and error interaction with their surroundings (similar to Dewey). He viewed the child as a quasi-scientist that would carry out experiments to discover things about the world. Like Vygotsky, Piaget also saw an importance in peer collaboration, as it forced children to view things from other perspectives and allows them to discuss ideas with peers at the same intellectual level and stage of development.
Throughout Piaget’s studies he focuses on how children develop intellectually as well as perceive the world around them. His ultimate goal was to shed light on young children’s development in which he grouped into stages to help encourage developmentally appropriate activities. Piaget’s wanted to make sure that as educators each child was being taught within their realm of knowledge and environmental appropriate settings. Through his teaching young children are being taught by hands on experiences that includes regulated time of structured teaching, self-selected activities, physical activities and proper rest time.
Educators produce a wide variety of experiences, perceptions, prospects, learning and abilities to their education (DEEWR, 2009, p. 9). In my career and through my studies, my philosophy and pedagogy have been closely linked with the constructivist theory from Piaget. Being able to focus on a child’s interests and creating learning activities that are implemented as fun is a big part of my motivation as an educator and teacher. The educational environment needs to sustain every single child along with inspiring significant work that can result in more advanced thinking (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 225). Following Piaget’s ideas while implementing the EYLF has made for a simple straight forward way of supplying quality learning experiences for children from birth to 12 years old and it has helped me widen the scope of each experience to allow for multiple levels of developmental stages. Using a constructivist approach to learning allows for the breaking down of the experience as a whole into smaller parts which brings the focus around to the process of learning (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 667). Overall I believe Piaget’s Theory to be one of the most important influences in modern teaching, allowing scaffolding of learning in a place that that
Another major difference seen in Lourenco’s (2012) article is that Piaget felt that instruction lead to memorization and not a functional understanding. Piaget felt that we keep children from understanding something completely when we teach them something they could have discovered on their own. Concepts are formed naturally and scientific concepts are not gained by a teacher. Vygotsky on the other hand found that children did better with guidance form an adult. He felt that scientific concepts are gained from teachers and that the child-adult relationship promoted development. In his theory the adult or higher-functioning peer plays an important role in the child’s development and knowledge. Whereas Piaget’s theory looks at social relationships as two equal peers, Vygotsky’s theory looks at an authority based
Piaget’s theory is developed from the idea that the child constructs their knowledge individually whereas Vygotsky argued that children develop tools of learning by communicating with more knowledgeable others (O. Lourenco 2012). Piaget suggested that children develop through a series of four stages in their thinking – the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages each of which causes broad changes in the child’s intelligence structure and their logic (reference). These four structures are mental operations which are applied to anything in the child’s world these mental operations are referred to as schemas which grow and change from one stage to the next (book). Vygotsky had very different idea on this subject although they both agreed that the child is the active constructor of their own knowledge
This practise of effective teaching and learning has relatively new in classrooms but has already made a great difference in the students’ abilities and interests both in and out of their studies. Constructivist teaching recognises and validates the student’s point of view rather then the necessity of a correct answer. The child is then able to reassess their knowledge and understandings, which in turn boosts self-esteem and confidence. It also encourages children to be involved in classroom activities by self-questioning, seeking answers, comparing situations and establishing links between different ideas. This is possible as constructive learning is transferable between different ideas. (Tutorial Notes, 28th July, 2004)
During this semester in the course human development and learning, the class has been learning about a range of ways that children develop and learn. This also develops the understanding of the human growth process in terms of different learning styles and what teaching strategies can be used. Learning about a child’s learning in primary school is vital in being able to successfully develop a range of strategies to benefit both student and teachers learning. Communication strategies to support learning, strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in learning, and organisation of the classroom and providing directions to learners managing challenging behaviour are all significantly important to uphold in
Piaget argued that cognitive development is based on the development of schemas. This refers to a psychological structure representing all of a person’s knowledge of actions or objects. To perform a new skill which the person has no schema, they have to work from previous skills that they have. This is called assimilation, where they have pulled previous schemas together then adapted and changed them to fit their task through accommodation.
Children’s from this stage remain egocentric for the most part but to begin to internalize representations. (Piaget, 1999). Concrete operational stage is children to age seven to eleven. They develop the ability to categorize objects and how they relate to one another. A child’s become more mastered in math by adding and subtracting. If a child eat one brownie out of a jar containing six. By doing the math there would be 5 brownies left by counting the remaining brownies left in the jar because they are able to model the jar in their
Taking into consideration and being sensitive to the possibility that students may have different meanings for the same word, or different words for the same meaning, where students may expect everyone to understand the words they have invented. In the first stage, children will undergo the process of assimilation where they will be using their existing schema to handle a new situation or something new when felt. In the second stage, they will go through the accommodation process in which if their existing schema does not work, it will be ‘upgraded’ or changed with newly acquired knowledge. During the third stage of adaptation process, they will go through the stage of equilibration when external pressure from knowledge acquired is being used to modify prior knowledge.
Piaget and Vygotsky’s biggest differences is their assessments of a child’s progression of development. Piaget believes that development is individual; Vygotsky believes development heavily relies on social aspects. Piaget insisted that learning happens after development, while Vygotsky believed that learning takes place before development can occur. Piaget’s theory has four phases; Vygotsky assumed there were no set stages, only three components. Piaget and Vygotsky both believe that development can be a result of a cognitive conflict. They agree that children are active learners; children learn quickly and development declines with age. In both theories, teachers serve as facilitors and guides.
Constructivism is a method that says students learn by building their schema by adding to their prior knowledge by the use of scaffolding (Rhinehart Neas). Because the students are basically teaching themselves new information, the teacher is there mainly for support and guidance for the students.
One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.
Social interaction takes place mainly to move a young child away from egocentricism. In addition, Piaget stated that a child either held the mental structure for conservation, for example, or he did not. And also as part of their cognitive development, children develop schemes, which are mental representations of people, objects, or principles. These schemes can be changed or altered through what Piaget called assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the information we already know. Accommodation involves adapting one's existing knowledge to what is perceived. Disequilibrium occurs when new knowledge does not fit with one's accumulated knowledge. When one reaches what Piaget called equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation have occurred to create a new stage of development.
Some may consider his theory to be way too complex, because the terminology he uses is difficult to understand. But his work truly shows his devotion to understanding the forces that shape the child’s development. His theories have greatly impacted the way society views and observes children’s behaviors to their environment. Through his composite and unconventional way of approaching situations, his distinctive clinical method created the field of developmental psychology. Even through his struggle Piaget continued to engage in questions of method, throughout his first era of exploration. His work brought about theoretical concerns and a powerful attention to the logical discussion between adult researchers and children of various ages. Piaget’s method continues to mold development research and theory to this day (Mayer,
Jerome Bruner, a constructivist, suggested three stages of cognitive growth. One of them is the iconic stage. He stated that when new information is presented, it is useful to provide a visual image and this can be true at any age. Learners will grasp complicated concepts more easily if they have an illustration. That’s why it is important to have diagrams and pictures when giving instructions. In his philosophy of constructivism, he emphasized that children learn first through experience and through physical interaction with concepts. Teachers need to provide experiences in contexts that motivate the child to learn. This is referred to as readiness. All instruction needs to be structured in such a way that the child can grasp it easily. Bruner calls this spiral organization. And, instruction needs to be designed so that it fills in the gaps in the child’s knowledge or so that the child can extrapolate from it. Bruner refers to this as going beyond the information given (Kearsley,