Section 1: Introduction
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have contributed to laying the foundation for psychological theories and research that account for cognitive development from childhood to adulthood. The two psychologists developed distinct theories concerning development in children that included diverse subjects from multiple perspectives. Piaget's concept of cognitive development describes the relationship between a child's growth and biological maturation concerning the natural interaction environment. However, Lev Vygotsky approached the same subject with a different point of view that emphasized the impacts of social interactions during cognitive development. Vygotsky observed that community has a significant role in enhancing the “making of meaning.”
Piaget's desire to conduct cognitive development research emerged in the 1920s while working at Binet Institute. The wrong responses children gave to questions that needed rational thinking intrigued Piaget, who observed that the incorrect answers manifested essential distinctions between children's and adults' thinking ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Piaget’s contributions to cognitive development study include the hypothesis of a child’s cognitive growth, detailed observational cognition studies, and tests that revealed diverse cognitive abilities. The main objective was to evaluate children's processes to count and grade IQ through solving or spelling problems in learning.
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Nevertheless, Vygotsky's theory argued that learning is universal and a prerequisite to improving culturally organized human mental function. This concept drifted away from preceding Piaget’s ideology that suggested Children’s development must come before they start learning ( Mcleod, 2020 ). More precisely, social learning precedes development according to Lev Vygotsky’s argument. Unlike Piaget, Lev introduced the socio-cultural subject to the study of cognitive evolution. The main contribution in Vygotsky's perspective involved socio-cultural factors during children's learning as they developed. The Vygotsky concept indicates that a single principle cannot describe the development process. Individual development requires reference to the cultural and social elements embedded within societies. Essentially, social and cultural processes influence higher psychological thinking in a person.
Section 2: Comparison of the Two Approaches With Regard To Motivation
The two psychologists developed concepts that revealed students are extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to learn. According to Piaget, schemas form the building blocks that enable individuals to create a psychological representation of the universe. Schema described a repetitive and cohesive activity series that comprise component actions tightly governed and interrelated by a common purpose ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Specifically, schemas refer to knowledge "units" interconnected to various natural world features, including abstract concepts, actions, and objects. Piaget related the development of an individual’s psychological processes to the increase in the complexity and number of schemata that one had learned. Remarkably, the theory referenced intrinsic motivation in people that drives them to accumulate knowledge required in performing actions.
Additionally, the ideology hypothesized that children's existing schemata could perceive the world around them, providing a state of mental balance – equilibrium. Piaget emphasized the significance of intrinsic motivation during cognitive evolution, arguing that it interconnected psychological imaginations of the universe, which individuals use to discern and react to circumstances ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The presupposition in this ideology holds that these psychological pictures stored in the memory help people when necessary. For instance, an individual may receive a schema about taking a drink. The schema involves recorded behavior patterns that include reviewing a set menu, requesting a drink, drinking, and paying the required bill. The schema routine serves as an example of stored "scripts" in people's memories that motivate them to take action. Notably, innate reflexes are essential during the cognitive development and learning process of a child.
Similarly, Vygotsky agreed with Piaget's concept that infants have preinstalled abilities and materials necessary for intellectual growth. While Piaget concentrated on sensory capacity and motor impulses, Lev Vygotsky described the intrinsic factors as memory, discernment, sensation, and concentration ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Further, Vygotsky links the intrinsic factors to outside elements, including interactions with the socio-cultural surrounding. The interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic elements enhances practical and sophisticated psychological strategies that Vygotsky describes as higher mental processes.
Moreover, Vygotsky argues that children’s memories possess restricting biological factors that limit their thinking. However, social and cultural features influence the type of memory people to develop. For example, some societies use note-taking to develop memory; however, pre-literate cultures embrace other methods like carrying beads, repeating names, or tying knots ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Vygotsky describes such culturally determined strategies as intellectual adaptation tools that provide children with basic mental processes. Therefore, the concept holds that extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence cognitive functions by connecting motor reflexes and sensory abilities with cultural values, beliefs, and intellectual adaptation tools. Essentially, the cultural tools used to develop intellectual processes vary from society to society.
Section 3: Comparison of the Two Approaches With Regard To Connecting New Knowledge
Jean Piaget perceived intellectual development as the process of adjustment or adaptation to the natural environment. The adaptation process occurs through assimilation, equilibration, new situation, disequilibrium, and accommodation ( Mcleod, 2020 ). According to Piaget, assimilation involves utilizing existing information to deal with new situations or objects. In cases where existing knowledge is ineffective, the memory uses the accommodation process to make the necessary adaptation required to deal with new conditions or objects. Remarkably, Piaget’s concept implies that new knowledge depends on what students already understand.
In addition, Piaget observed that equilibration is a force that influences development during knowledge adaptation. Cognitive development moves along the equilibration stage when the child's schema deals with the new knowledge through assimilation. Nonetheless, a dissatisfying state of disequilibrium happens when the child fails to relate existing information to new intelligence ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The equilibration force influences the learning procedure as people avoid frustration by restoring balance by seeking and mastering new intelligence through accommodation. After acquiring new knowledge, the assimilation stage will utilize the embraced intelligence until another challenge requires adjusting to new information. Therefore, Piaget argues that children primarily seek new knowledge using individual efforts to embrace situations or objects.
Vygotsky concurred with Piaget's hypothesis that children use active methods and curiosity to develop and discover new understandings through the individual learning process. Despite the similar concept, Vygotsky improved the theory by emphasizing the impacts of cultural and social influences, while Piaget focused on self-initiated development ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The ideology holds that essential learning happens through interactions with an experienced tutor. The principal objective in using tutors is to provide verbal directives and model behavior during children's growth. Vygotsky described the process as collaborative or cooperative discourse. The children seek to perceive instructions or actions issued by the tutors (the teacher or parent) then manifest the knowledge, utilizing it to regulate or guide their performance.
For instance, a young boy receives his first monopoly game. Alone, the boy finds it challenging to master the economic themes involved in the challenge. The mother sits with him to demonstrate and describe basic principles, including trading and buying properties then developing them into hotels and houses. The multi-player game provides the boy with the inspiration to challenge opponents to drive them bankrupt. The mother gives the boy room to work independently as he masters the basic principles involved. Eventually, Vygotsky’s theory produces two principles that include MKO and ZPD.
Unlike Piaget’s theory, Vygotsky believed that cognitive development required guidance to improve with time. Children who work alone to acquire new intelligence take longer than guided children who show drastic improvements following guidance from a tutor. The MKO, More Knowledgeable Other, describes a tutor or any source of information, including the internet, that has a higher perception of a particular concept, process, or task ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The MKO then provides the child with information that helps them develop cognitive understanding. The ZPD, Zone of Proximal Development, distinguishes what a child can accomplish through encouragement and guidance and what a child can attain independently ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The boy could not solve the monopoly game alone; the mother's encouragement provided the necessary skills required in the game. Vygotsky observes that the ZPD area provides sensitive guidance or instructions that allow children to enhance individual skills influencing higher mental processes. Notably, children relate new behaviors from preceding learned activities influencing higher psychological functioning. Therefore, Vygotsky proved that guided children learn faster than when working alone.
Section 4: Comparison of the Two Approaches With Regard To Differentiating Instruction
Vygotsky’s theories on language and communication indicate that cognition development differentiates instructions. Lev Vygotsky observed that language maturity depends on social and cultural interaction for communication purposes. More precisely, Vygotsky believed that language has significant influences on cognitive evolution. First, language provides the primary method that allows children to receive information from higher knowledgeable sources ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Second, language provides a powerful instrument of intellectual development. Further, Vygotsky differentiates three forms of languages. Social speech provides communication modes that allow discussions with other people (develops during the second year). Private speech, typical in the third year, relates to the self where it serves as an intellectual instrument. Finally, private speech shrinks inaudibility related to a self-automated process that transforms to silent inner communication, expected at the age of seven. Essentially, instruction distinction develops according to the age of students as they develop.
Vygotsky's argument on instruction perception indicates that there are various approaches to directives according to development progress. According to Vygotsky, language and thought are initially different systems earlier and combine in the third year ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Thought and speech become interdependent during this development period. Speech becomes representational character while speech becomes verbal. At this phase, the internalized monologues transform into an inner speech where it plays a vital role as the internalized language influences cognitive growth. However, Vygotsky generalized the language development phase without indicating various approaches according to the age of students.
Unlike Vygotsky, Piaget outlined four stages during cognitive growth that explain the developing sophistication of a child’s perception. The four phases include:
The sensorimotor phase
Preoperational phase
Concrete operational phase
Formal operational phase ( Mcleod, 2020 ).
Piaget emphasized environmental interaction and biological maturation, while Vygotsky focused on social interactions when differentiating instructions. Although children hardly miss the four stages, there are distinctions in the rates at which an individual progresses through the phases. Remarkably, Piaget never outlined specific stages that children reached a particular age; however, he indicated the ages of normal development according to an average child.
The first development stage involves the sensorimotor process from birth to the second year of growth. Object performance, perceiving objects seen or concealed, is the paramount attainment during this phase. The process requires the capability to create psychological representations of the perceived objects. The preoperational phase is the second phase between two and seven years, where children perceive things symbolically at this stage ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The infant has challenges taking others' viewpoints, as the thought process is egocentric. The concrete operational phase marks significant cognitive growth as children develop logical thinking or the operational thought process. At this stage, Piaget believed that children could think through situations internally rather than trying things physically. Piaget argues that the final stage, the functional operational phase, starts at about eleven years lasting into adulthood. During this period, individuals develop the capacity to perceive abstract ideas and rationally test postulates. Conclusively, Piaget and Vygotsky had distinct views concerning instructions where Vygotsky believed social interactions influence thought processes, while Piaget argued that biological maturity influences thought processes.
Section 5: Comparison of the Two Approaches With Regard To Multiculturalism
Besides disagreeing on the importance of functions of private speech, Piaget and Vygotsky also provided opposing viewpoints on relations between multicultural situations and private speech development. Vygotsky’s concept suggests that learning depends on private speech based on cultural backgrounds ( Mcleod, 2020 ). According to Vygotsky, private speech influences children to engage in self-conversations like adults who influence achievement through encouragement. Private speech uses language to self-regulate character; therefore, language accelerates perception and thought process. Vygotsky believed that individuals who practiced private speech develop competent social skills. Therefore, the concept suggests that learning during cognitive development is culturally dependent as children adopt self-speech from adults.
Furthermore, Vygotsky notes that engaging in private speech acts as an instrument that develops cognitive processes, including improving imagination, enhancing conscious awareness, and overcoming challenging obstacles. Children utilize private speech during intermediate challenging tasks as they seek to self-regulate through verbally organizing and planning their thoughts ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The content and frequency of private speech then link to the performance or character of an individual. Further, Berk supported the theory that private speech guides or explains children’s activities. Berk emphasized Vygotsky's argument by noting that children regularly participated in private speech when performing complex tasks alone and higher knowledge sources were unavailable. However, unlike Vygotsky, Berk argued that private speech develops similarly in individuals regardless of social and cultural factors.
Nonetheless, Vygotsky observed that private speech develops as a product of the cultural environment. Vygotsky supported this theory by arguing that self-speech and social interactions have positive relations adopted from stimulating environments. For instance, children from developed socioeconomic backgrounds begin internalizing and utilizing self-speech earlier than those from underdeveloped backgrounds ( Mcleod, 2020 ). According to Vygotsky, the use of private speech reduces as individuals grow older. The development of ontogenetic, where children can engage in an inner speech to self-regulate character, influences the deviation in private speech. Specifically, a child's private speech peaks between three and four years old and decreases at seven years, gradually fading out at the age of ten, where most children internalize information. Vygotsky opposed Piaget's theory that private speech reduces due to socialization, arguing that it combines with verbal thought or inner speech.
Section 6: Comparison of the Two Approaches With Regard To Technology in the Classroom
Lean Piaget’s theory did not provide detailed information relating to education; however, researchers have described features from Piaget’s concept that can influence learning and teaching. The concept focused on discovery learning that describes the learning activities through actively exploring ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Discovery learning provided the fundamental foundation for transforming the primary education curriculum. The main themes expressed in a research report included flexible curriculum, making play a prerequisite in children's learning, individual studying, utilizing the environment, the significance of evaluating children's progress, and enhancing learning by the discovery ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Additionally, Piaget's theory focused on biological stages and maturation, making ‘readiness’ an essential element concerning the concepts taught in school. Piaget noted that various stages of cognitive development influence the introduction of specific knowledge during a child's growth.
According to Piaget, accommodation and assimilation require active learners, as problem-solving skills require individual discovery. Therefore, learning needs children-centered mechanisms and active detection learning techniques. The role of technology or teacher involves facilitating learning in preference to direct tuition ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The theory encourages teachers to utilize the following strategies during teaching sessions:
Encourage learning process rather than achieving the product.
Utilize active strategies that need reconstruction and rediscovering of ‘truths.’
Guide children to learn from peers through individual and collaborative activities.
Teachers should create disequilibrium among children and devise circumstances that provide challenging tasks.
Investigate children's development to enhance necessary tasks according to the development stage.
Notably, Piaget's concepts did not explicitly discuss technology in learning and teaching but encouraged such measures to facilitate the learning process.
Vygotsky emphasizes the use of technology in the contemporary environment for collaborative learning, arguing that individuals have varying levels of perception. Therefore, advanced peers, tutors, and technology support less developed members within the ZPD. Technology serves as a higher source of information in the ZPD since it has a higher perception of concepts ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Like Piaget, Vygotsky indirectly emphasized on discovery learning process where he argued that ‘reciprocal learning’ enhances learning ability through texts. Students and teachers collaborate in this method to enhance four critical skills: predicting, clarifying, summarizing, and questioning. Like Piaget's method, here the teacher's responsibility diminishes over time. Further, Vygotsky's strategies coincide with Piaget's theory where they encourage 'apprenticeship' and 'scaffolding' where advanced peers or a teacher helps to arrange or structure tasks necessary for learning.
Section 7: General Summing Up Including the Pro and Cons of Each Approach with Some Research Evidence to Support Your Views
Lev Vygotsky's theories have not experienced similar intensive scrutiny as Piaget's work, as the work was time-consuming during the translation process from Russian. In addition, Vygotsky's socio-cultural concept does not provide many hypotheses to evaluate, like Paget's perspectives, making refutation challenging ( Mcleod, 2020 ). The main criticism involves the presumption that Vygotsky’s work is appropriate to all societies. However, Rogoff disagrees with learning activities having universal cultural characteristics arguing that scaffolding concepts may not work in some cultures. Scolding depends on verbal directives and may be inappropriate in some cultures and forms of learning. Indeed, practice and observation may provide appropriate learning methods in some instances.
Unlike Vygotsky, Piaget's concepts have provided an enormous influence on developmental psychology. He influenced people's ideas concerning the perception of children's environments and learning techniques. The ideas laid the foundations for contemporary research that has enhanced individuals’ discernment about cognitive development ( Mcleod, 2020; Cherry, 2019 ). Some of the critics toward Piaget's work include stages of development, with some studies showing that about 60% of students often perform poorly at formal operation challenges. At the same time, only a third of people achieve the formal operational phase. Research has shown that reaching the formal operational phase is not a guarantee. Moreover, Bruner and Vygotsky preferred to perceive development as a constant process.
Another limitation in Piaget's work disapproves of the universal biological maturation and cognitive development phases that neglected the impacts of social and cultural settings on children's growth. McLeod (2020) cites research conducted in remote regions from the Australian desert that involved 8 to 14-year-old Aborigines. McLeod holds that the study tasked the children with spatial awareness and liquid conservation challenges where the children perceived conservation later between 10 and 13 years old instead of Piaget's 5 and 7 years ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Nevertheless, he observed that Aboriginal children developed spatial awareness earlier as compared to Swiss Children. Therefore, such research indicates that maturation does not purely influence cognitive growth but social elements too – spatial awareness is essential among nomadic societies. According to Vygotsky, social interactions with cooperation from more skillful tutors influence a child's learning process.
Furthermore, Piaget studied colleagues’ children from Geneva and his children to extrapolate universal principles concerning intellectual growth in children. Therefore, the sample was limited and small, composed of a high socioeconomic class, raising concerns about the generality of the data ( Mcleod, 2020 ). Besides, psychologists like Vygotsky and Bruner found the schema concept incompatible. Behaviorism theory refuted schema perception as it describes internal processes that cannot allow objective measurement methods. Therefore, Piaget's subjective and clinical methods produced biased interpretations as they focused on data from interviews and observations.
However, Piaget's qualitative development methods had significant effects on education. While Piaget did not particularly direct his research toward educational purposes, many researchers have developed educational programs using levels of development to prepare children. Additionally, several instructional methods have developed from Piaget's theories, including the use of supportive environments, peer teaching and use of social interactions, and helping children perceive inconsistencies and fallacies in their thought process. Conclusively, Piaget’s work has pioneered a clinical strategy that conducts intensive interviews to evaluate the thought process despite the imperfections in research methodologies.
References
Cherry, K. (2019, August 2). Piaget's stage theory on cognitive development . Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/support-and-criticism-of-piagets-stage-theory-2795460
Mcleod, S. (2020). Lev Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory . https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Mcleod, S. (2020, December 7). Jean Piaget's Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development . Study Guides for Psychology Students - Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
