Comparing Theorists: Piaget v.

Vygotsky
06:43:00

20/01/2016

This essay compares and contrasts the theories of two very well known theorists, Jean

Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, and their relation to learning and cognitive development. I will explain
in detail the various stages and how it relates to child development, today and in the past.

Lev Vygotsky made major breakthroughs in child development, and his theories are still

referenced today. He began as a Russian psychologist and was born on November 17, 1896.
His theories centered around the ideas of social interaction and imaginative play,
which he believed greatly contributed to the cognitive development process in
children. His primary view was that children learn the most from the social
interactions they have with other children around them as well as adults. Specifically
skilled tutors, teachers and parents. Children observe, then emulate and internalize
what others around them do and apply them later in the future. Vygotsky called this
collaborative or cooperative dialogue. His secondary view was that imagination
plays a vital role in a childs cognitive development and overall life. It was said that it
helped them develop meaning and make sense of the world around them, as well as
developing thinking and language skills.
Vygotsky was also well known for his concept of the zone of proximal development
and scaffolding. This relates to the difference between what a child can achieve
independently and what they can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a
skilled partner or teacher. For example, a child has no clue what and how to do a
jigsaw puzzle without the help of a parent or teacher. Doing this will allow the child
to develop the skills on their own, increasing their mental function. Interaction with
peers can be a very effective tool for this area as well, seeing as they learn from
children around them.
Lastly, Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions, for
communication purposes. According to his theory, it plays 2 critical roles in cognitive
development.
o 1.) It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.
o 2.) Language itself becomes a very powerful tool of intellectual adaption.
o There are 3 forms of language: social speech which is external communication
used to talk to others (2+), private speech which is directed to the self and
serves as intellectual function (3+) and private speech-which goes
underground diminishing in audibility and is transformed into silent inner
speech (7+).

Jean Piaget was very different from Vygotsky in his background and methods. He was a

developmental biologist who devoted most of his time to observing and recording the intellectual
abilities of infants, children and adolescents. His theories showed the stages of development to
be related to major developments in brain growth. He agrees with Vygotsky, in that infants are
born with basic materials for intellectual development. Although he focuses on motor reflexes
and sensory abilities. Another point they agreed on was that children are curious and actively
involved in their own learning and development of new understanding. Piaget, however
emphasizes self initiated discovery as opposed to social contributions as theorized by Vygotsky.
Piaget was well known for his 4 tier system, which described the characteristics of
each stage of child development.
o Stage 1 Sensorimotor (Age 0-2): The child learns by doing (see, touch,
hear). This is also known as direct sensory & motor contact. They also have a
basic understanding of cause and effect relationships. Object permanence and
separation anxiety can occur at this stage.
o Stage 2 Preoperational (Age 2-7): The child uses language and symbols,
including letters and numbers, to represent objects but does not reason
logically yet. At this stage, the child is egocentric, thinking only of oneself
without regards for others around them.
o Stage 3 Concrete Operations (Age 7-11): The child demonstrates a mature
understanding of cause and effect relationships, and can begin to think
logically about concrete objects. For example, beginning to add & subtract.
Thinking at this stage is still concrete.
o Stage 4 Formal Operations (Age 12+): The individual demonstrates
abstract thinking, including logic, deductive reasoning, comparison and
classification.

Although the two famous theorists are very different in their views and background, they

share similar interests, being children of all ages and stages. They studied how they learned,
grew and communicated with others for years as they developed their theories. They are now
studied and referenced in childhood education, for obvious reasons as described in my essay. I
hope this was informative in summary, thank you for reading.

20/01/2016 06:43:00