EMMANUEL KANT
KNOWLEDGE AND
MEANING ARE
CONSTRUCTED BY THE
INDIVIDUAL
CONSTRUCTIVISM
INDIVIDUALS INTERPRET SENSORY
INFORMATION AND CONSTRUCT PERSONAL,
SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL MEANING
IT IS THE MEANING OF OUR EXPERIENCES, AND
NOT THE ONTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE
OBJECTS, WHICH CONSTITUTES REALITY
JEAN PIAGET
COGNITIVEDEVELOPMENTAL
THEORY
“A STUDENT WHO ACHIEVES KNOWLEDGE THROUGH
FREE INVESTIGATION AND SPONTANEOUS EFFORT WILL
BE ABLE TO RETAIN THAT KNOWLEDGE AND WILL HAVE
ACQUIRED A METHODOLOGY THAT CAN SERVE FOR A
LIFETIME.”
“The central fact about
psychology is the fact
of mediation.”
Lev Vygotsky
BEHAVIOR
Cognitive Development
Individual as active agent emphasis on interpretation
of information and on
construction of meaning
Biological Factors
Environmental Factors
MEDIATING MECHANISMS
Adaptation
Disequilibrium
Developmental stages
WHAT CRITICAL ELEMENTS
SEEM TO BE DE-EMPHASIZED
IN PIAGET’S THEORY OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT?
1. HUMAN LEARNING CANNOT
BE UNDERSTOOD
INDEPENDENT OF THE SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL FORCES THAT
INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS**
2. CRITICAL ROLE OF
LANGUAGE
3. IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED
LEARNING
The development of mind
is the interweaving of biological
development of the human body and the
appropriation of the cultural/ideal/material
heritage which exists in the present to
coordinate people with each other and with
the physical world.
Lev Vygotsky
from: Beyond the Individual-Social Antimony in Discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky,
by Michael Cole and James Wertsch
LEV VYGOTSKY
SOCIAL-HISTORICAL
THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS ARE
CRITICAL TO LEARNING
• INDIVIDUALS CREATE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS
TO LEARN AND TO MASTER THEIR BEHAVIOR
BEHAVIOR
Development
Biological Factors
Environmental Factors
with emphasis on Sociocultural factors
Mediating mechanisms
Cultural influences
- Tools and signs
- Cultural artifacts
- Language
Social Process
Instruction (Zone of
Proximal Development)
THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
“ . . . is the distance between the actual
developmental level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined
through problem solving
under adult guidance or
in collaboration with
more capable peers”
Lev Vygotsky, 1935
POTENTIAL LEVEL
ACTUAL LEVEL
INSTRUCTION
L
E
A
R
N
I
N
G
ZPD
POTENTIAL LEVEL
ACTUAL LEVEL
ZPD
BEHAVIOR
Development
SOCIAL
(Cultural)
MEDIATION
Biological Factors
Environmental Factors
with emphasis on Sociocultural factors
Mediating mechanisms
Cultural influences
- Tools and signs
Social Process
Instruction (Zone of
Proximal Development)
CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IS PRIMARILY A
FUNCTION OF
SOCIO-CULTURAL
INTERACTION
Adult-child interaction
. . . but see Cole and Wertsch’s
Beyond the Individual-Social
Antimony in Discussions of Piaget
and Vygotsky
INDIVIDUAL
CONSTRUCTION
Active agency
CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
2. ROLE OF LANGUAGE AND PRIVATE SPEECH
LANGUAGE CRITICAL EGOCENTRIC SPEECH
BECOMES THOUGHT THAT
IS SELF-REGULATING
COGNITION CRITICAL EGOCENTRIC SPEECH
DISAPPEARS AS SOCIAL
SPEECH DEVELOPS
ONCE LANGUAGE DEVELOPS,
COGNITION IS LANGUAGE
COGNITION MEDIATES
LANGUAGE
HOW CAN I KNOW
WHAT I THINK
UNLESS I HEAR
WHAT I SAY?
Dean Acheson
CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
3. HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN BEST?
SOCIAL INTERACTION
INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTION
• INSTRUCTION DEPENDENT
• STAGE DEPENDENT
• ASSISTED LEARNING (ZPD)
• SELF-DIRECTED,
SELF-INITIATED**
• SCAFFOLDING
• COGNITIVE SELFINSTRUCTION guided by inner speech
• EXPERIMENTATION
• INDEPENDENT MASTERY
• EXPLORATION, DISCOVERY
INTERNAL SELF-REGULATION
CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
1. PARADIGMATIC CONSISTENCY
SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIVISM
with an ever so slight
lean toward nurture
COGNITIVE
CONSTRUCTIVISM
with an ever so slight
lean toward nature
CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
2. FOUNDATION OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
SOCIOCULTURAL MEDIATION GENETIC EPISTEMOLOGY
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS IS AN
INTERMINGLING OF BIOLOGICAL
AND SOCIAL FACTORS -“THE
NATURAL AND THE CULTURAL” THAT FORM A SINGLE LINE OF
SOCIOBIOLOGICAL FORMATION OF
PERSONALITY
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS AN
INTERACTION BETWEEN
BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
PRIMARILY MEDIATED BY AN
INDIVIDUAL’S ACTIVE
CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING
CONCEPTUAL SIMILARITIES
BETWEEN
VYGOTSKY
and
PIAGET
3. SOCIAL INFLUENCE ON LEARNING
THE IMPORTANCE OF
ASSISTED LEARNING
TO REACH THE
ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT
THE IMPORTANCE OF
SOCIAL EXCHANGE
DURING THE PROCESS OF
EQUILIBRATION
DeVries, R. (1997). Piaget’s Social Theory, Educational
Researcher, 26(2), 4-17.
Link to detail
Piaget’s Cognitive Periods and
Approximate Ages
Table 2.2
1. The Sensorimotor Period-Birth to 18-24 months
2. The Preoperational Period-2 to 7 years
3. The Concrete Operational Period-7 to 11 years
4. The Formal Operational Period-over 11 years
3
Piaget on Language and Thought
Table 2.4
Outstanding Language
Equivalent
Period (age in years)
Characteristics
Sensorimotor (0-2)
1. Egocentrism
2. Organization of reality by
sensory and motor abilities
Language absent until final
months of period
Preoperational (2-7)
1. Increasing symbolic activity
2. Beginnings of representation
1. Egocentric speech
2. Socialized speech
Concrete Operational (7-11)
1. Reversibility
2. Conservation
3. Seriation
4. Classification
1. Beginnings of verbal
understanding
2. Understanding related to
concrete objects
Formal Operational (over 11) 1. Development of logicomathematical structures
2. Hypothetico-deductive
reasoning
4
1. Language freed from the
concrete
2. Verbal ability to express
the possible
Vygotsky’s Theory-Basics
5

Concept of development

The social origin of mind

Speech and development
Vygotsky and Stages of Language
Development
6

Preintellectual speech

Naive psychology

Egocentric speech

Inner speech
Key Differences Between Piaget and
Vygotsky
Table 2.5
Piaget
Vygotsky
Perspective
Individual child constructs view of world
by forming cognitive structures -“the little
scientist”
Child’s cognitive development progresses
by social interactions with others (“social
origins of mind”)
Basic
psychological
mechanism
Equilibration-child acts to regain equilibrium between current level of cognitive
structures and external stimuli
Social interaction, which encourages development through the guidance of skillful
adults
Language
Emerges as cognitive structures develop
Language begins as preintellectual speech
and gradually develops into a sophisticated
form of inner speech; one of the main
forces responsible for cognitive development
Learning
Assimilation and accommodation lead to
equilibration
Learning results from the interaction of
two processes; biological elementary
processes (such as brain development),
plus sociocultural interactions
Problem solving
Child independently searches for data
needed to change cognitive structures,
thus enabling child to reach solution
Two aspects of problem solving: 1. Key role
of speech to guide “planful” behavior;
2. Joint efforts with others
7