VYGOTSKY Cognitive Development

VYGOTSKY

Russian psychologist,

Where Piaget saw the child as a scientist (independent learner)

Vygotsky saw the child as an apprentice (learns from others)

Vygotsky focused on the importance of two major influences on children’s development of understanding:

social interaction language

Hello

SIMILARITIES TO PIAGET

Like Piaget, Vygotsky saw children as curious, problem-solving beings who play an active part in their own development.

DIFFERENCES

Where he differed from Piaget was in his view of the importance of the role of others, more knowledgeable people in children’s development.

Vygotsky argued that although children can acquire some concepts through their own unaided play, they acquire the mechanisms of thinking and learning as a result of the social interactions between themselves and the adults around them

ACTIVITY

Discuss with the person next to you: What is more helpful for cognitive

development? Social or individual learning? Give an example of each of this two types of

learning.

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENTZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT An idea central to Vygotsky’s theory is the zone

of proximal development (ZPD): This is the area between the child’s actual

developmental level and the potential level which could be achieved with the help of adults or more experienced peers.

Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction

PROXIMAL

Proximal means what comes next:

the idea is that a child is only able to take the next step in their cognitive development if another person (typically an adult) supports and prompts them to do so. This sort of assistance has been called scaffolding

SCAFFOLDINGScaffolding: support and

prompting, usually provided by an adult, which helps a child achieve cognitive tasks they could not achieve alone.

An important aspect of scaffolding is that there is a gradual withdrawal of support as the child’s knowledge and confidence increase.

QUOTES Vygotsky’s view:

“…what a child can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow.” (Vygotsky, 1978)

Contrast with Piaget:“Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand, that which we allow him to discover for himself will remain with him visible for the rest of his life.” (Piaget,1972)

ACTIVITY

In groups of 3-4, or if you prefer individually, invent two activities for children to learn how to add or substract.

One activity must be planned using Piaget´s theory as a baseline and the other using Vygotsky’s

Issue Piaget’s view Vygotsky’s view

Source of cognitive development

Cognitive development is driven by an inbuilt tendency to adapt to new experiences

Cognitive development is driven by social interaction experience within a culture

How children learn Child learns through activeself-discovery - a mainly solitary process of adaptation of schemas

Child learns through instruction and guidance - results from social experience

Role of instruction Child will only learn when ready

Cognitive development can be accelerated - increases scope of cognitive development, by enabling learning

Language and thought Language develops as a result of cognitive development. Outward monologues are meaningless and egocentric speech is incidental to thought

The ability to use language is the key to cognitive development. Outward monologues direct thinking and later become internalised as thought.