Cognitive Theory And Socio-Cultural Theory

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.

Evaluate Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural theory in educational practice. Lev Vygotsky was a famous Russian psychologist, who even though died at the age of 38, revolutionized developmental psychology and the field of educational psychology. Vygotsky’s theories were known for being ingenious as well as an inspiration to other psychologists for their subsequent research. Over the years, Vygotsky’s works were used as groundwork for various research and study in cognitive development and was proclaimed as the ‘Mozart of psychology’ by the scientist, Toulmin (Dolya, 2010). Further, Vygotsky noted the state of educational crisis that was ongoing because of the distinct division between instruction and the student’s psychological processes.

According to Piaget there are four stages of intelligence. They are as follows: the Sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years of age. In this stage Piaget states that the child is able to objects and stimuli but lack an internal representation of the outside world. The Preoperational stage from ages two to seven in which the child is able to use language to communicate, they also have the ability to think in images and draw those images. The Concrete Operational stage from ages seven - eleven is where the child should be using logical reasoning and is able to think in multiple dimensions.

Theories of these two cognitive psychologists have been compared and contrasted on different levels. This essay will look into the differences and similarities between their theories. These two psychologist 's theories differ from each other in numerous ways. To begin with, Jean Piaget 's cognitive development theory proposes that children adapt to their environment by actively constructing knowledge as they perceive and explore their surroundings. His theory comprised of four stages of development.

Also, they both had some interest in philosophy. Their views help enhance the similarities and differences providing in their theories. 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).

(Chapter 10: Vygotsky’s ​Social-Historical Theory of Cognitive Development). Ivic, I. (1994). Lev S. Vygotsky. Prospectus: The Quarterly Review of ​Comparative Education.

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.

Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

Vygotsky maintained that speech is a major psychological tool in the child's development of thinking. As children age and develop, their basic speech becomes increasingly complex. However, Jean Piaget holds somehow different ideas. His theory of cognitive development,which is guided by the hypothesis of how people interact with their surroundings and how they acquire new knowledge and intellectual into existing knowledge,described and explained the changes in the logical thinking of children and adolescents. Still, both of Piaget and Vygotsky assumed that the crucial role played by cognitive development in the psychological development of people can not be ignored.

Cognitive Learning Theory suggests that the different methods regarding learning can be elucidated by scrutinising the mental progressions first. Unsuccessful cognitive processes provide effects in learning complications that can be perceived anytime during the period of an individual. Piaget’s theory Piaget’s theory of cognitive development contains of four stages of intellectual development.

Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3) The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age 2. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and handling objects.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who regarded cognitive development as a maturational process (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2010). Piaget constructed his conclusions through the observation of his own children and children at his Centre of Genetic Epistemology in Geneva. Piaget observed that children depend on an altered type of thinking when compared to the way in which adults think. A child’s thinking is qualitatively different than an adult’s thinking. Through his study, Piaget found that children of a similar age are inclined to behave in a similar manner and make similar mistakes when problem-solving.

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). In light of Piaget’s theory, there are four elements proposed to elaborate people gradually endeavor to interpret and interact with the world. To be precise, biological maturation, activity, social experience, and equilibration impinge on the development of thinking (Piaget,1970).

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development 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

Theories that as future educator will need to be understood and explored. Some if not all these theory’s will be used in the classroom. Vygotsky, Piaget, Bruner, and Bloom all set out to establish a foundation for education, whether through building skills such as pre-reading, language, vocabulary, and numeracy. It becomes the educators job to implement theories into the classroom for children's cognitive development. The theorist discussed in this paper, have had made a profound effect on