Jean Vygotsky And Piaget Cognitive Theory

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Jean 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). 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. Namely the sensory stage, Preoprational stage, Concrete Operational stage. These stages trace a child 's development from Infancy to adulthood. He suggested that experience and maturation help them get over every stage. (Berk,2013). Whereas Lev Vygotsky 's Socio-Cultural theory assigns the key role to social interaction (Berk, 2013) particularly interaction with parents and teachers who

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