Question

What are some similarities and differences between Piaget’s and Vigotsky’s theories?

Answer 1

Jean Piaget, believed that every individual goes through four stages in life that shapes their cognitive development. The four stages being; sensorimotor stage (0-2 years), preoperational stage(2-7 years), concrete operational stage(7-11 years) and finally the formal operational stage(11-adulthood). An individual at birth, in the first stage of cognitive development only relies on his reflexes. It is during the course of time that he learns to imitate actions. It's during this stage that he assimilates and accommodates new information which reflects in his thinking process. It is in the second stage of development, preoperational stage, that a child learns to use language, symbol and gestures for cognitive development. At concrete operational stage an individual is egocentric, It does not mean that he/she is selfish but they focus only on their feelings and thoughts and feel that everybody else around them feel and think the same way. The final stage of cognitive development is the formal operational stage where an individual is capable of making logical decisions and solving abstract problems in a more systematic and logical way.

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, developed a whole new perspective on learning in young individuals. He introduced the concept of Sociocultural aspect in learning. The sociocultural perspective emphasizes on the importance of the cultural background of a child that shapes his cognitive development. Kid's in Brazil who have never been to a school, who purchase and sell candy's for a living are capable of carrying out intricate and complicated mathematics to make profits. They did not have to go to a regular school to learn mathematics, but during their interaction with their society, they assimilated information which shaped their cognitive process. Vygotsky in his theory believed, the development first takes place at a social level and then on an individual level. When the child interacts with his immediate society, he internalizes the information received which contributes to the cognitive development of a child.

A child is capable of learning on his own. However, he may be in need of assisted training. Assisted training is guiding or supporting the child in the initial stages of learning, but can be decreased or diminished with time as a child begins to get independent. Helping with classroom work, providing with clues for answers, encouragement at the right time, breezing through steps of complicated problems and etcetera are a few ways of assisted training.

A child is at very point capable of learning and solving problems on their own. They just need little clues, additional information, prompting to help them recollect and solve the problem on their own. Sometimes, they may be just stuck. They are not incapable of solving any problem on their own but they need a little assistance to be able to motor through. The Zone of Proximal Development, is an area where the child cannot solve the problem alone, but does great with a little additional help from the parent, teacher or even a more advanced peer. The child can be guided and supported by a teacher or an adult when he is unable to slove a problem on his own. The teacher can make activities a lot more fun to promote learning by dividing the students in groups and assigning problems which need to be solved with the help of each other. This is fun for a child as well as learning takes place.

Piaget and Vygotsky, both emphasized on cognitive development of a child. They reckoned that a child is a curious little being making sense of the world through his cognitive processes. A child sometimes learns on his own through trial and error methods and other times needs assistance from adults to help him solve problems. They are little capable beings who continue to learn and do not stop learning even as an adult. Cognitive processes develop early in a child, but it does not end in adulthood. It continues to process information as and when an individual comes across new material. Development is a lifelong process.