Piaget and Vygotsky: theories of cognitive development

Theories

Comparing the Theories of Piaget and Vygotsky

Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky were both born in 1896 in Switzerland and Russia, respectively. Both men were born at the turn of the 20th century, one of the greatest and most prolific centuries in modern history. Both men were profoundly instrumental in shaping the perspectives and practices regarding education, socialization, and human development. The paper will examine the theories of each gentlemen, offering a comparative analysis and assessment of some of the greater concepts or schools of thought. The paper will additionally offer insight as to the value of incorporating their theories in the classroom as part of the teaching practice. Piaget is more known for Developmental Psychology, Constructivism, and Epistemology, while Vygotsky is more known for Cultural-historical psychology, and the Zone of Proximal Development. While individually distinctive, there is some conceptual overlap, as well as overlap in their intentions to improve the human condition and/or experience.

Piaget was a revolutionary thinker with regard to the cognitive development of children specifically. He believed that education was key to the improvement and/or the degradation of society. He pioneered research that demonstrated critical differences in the thinking patterns of children, which he further developed into theories in areas such as genetic epistemology, figurative thought, and various models of development.

Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of cognitive child development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities. Before Piaget's work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults. (McLeod, 2012)

His theories are important to use in the classroom because they respect & acknowledge intellectual differences and not necessarily inferiorities between children and adults. With use of some of his theories, teachers may produce results in their students because they cater their teaching practices to the differences in intellectual development depending on the age of their student.

Vygotsky's major written works were composed over approximately a decade and consist of six volumes. His lifetime was not as long as Piaget's, not even reaching age 40 before death, yet his popularity was great and he was well-known during his brief lifetime. He made innovations in areas regarding the psychology of art, psychology methodology, methods of learning, and interpersonal communication. He was much more of a socioculturalist.

Vygotsky is best known for being an educational psychologist with a sociocultural theory. This theory suggests that social interaction leads to continuous step-by-step changes in children's thought and behavior that can vary greatly from culture to culture…development depends on interaction with people and the tools that the culture provides to help form their own view of the world. (Gallagher, 1999)