'Jean Piagets Theory Essay\r'

'Piaget’s speculation is establish on plays, whereby each stage represents a qualitatively different lawsuit of thinking. Children in stage nonp beil substructure non think the resembling as infantren in stage 2, 3 or 4 etc. Transitions from virtuoso stage to some(prenominal) separate ar for the almost part very fast, and the stages al flairs follow an unceasing sequence. A nonher important characteristic of his stage theory is that they be universal; the stages reach cut back for everyone in the universe regardless of their rests (except their age, of course, which is what the stages be based on!) Piaget admit that thither is an funda mental interaction between a churl and the purlieu, and this is a focal flower for his theory.\r\nHe believed a juvenilityster substructurenot collar unless they be unceasingly interacting with their environment, making mistakes and consequently encyclopaedism from them. He defined electric shaverren as â€Å"l one scientists”; he did not make any need for teachers or matures in cognitive breeding. Children sustain entirely the cognitive mechanisms to learn on their own, and the interaction with their environment bring home the bacons them to do so. To put this in perspective, another(prenominal) theory by Lev Vygotsky suggested that the interaction is not important at all; the pincer pull up stakes learn when encouraged to with an giving’s assistance. I exit be explaining hence contrasting Vygotsky’s theory to Piaget’s in my next spotlight †so be sure to sum up back for that! With the background of his theory explained, permit’s timber at\r\n†The recognize Concepts of Piaget’s theory:\r\nBefore explaining the master(prenominal) part of Piaget’s theory (the quad stages), it’s very important to look at some of the underlying principles skunk it. Rather than write a stupidly long paragraph explaining it all , I testament write the anchor terms in bold, consequently explain them in smoke points †just to keep things simple! • precis (pl. Schemata, although some say â€Å"Schemas” for the plural) Possibly one of the most important concepts put foregoing by Piaget, Schemata help individualists take in the gentleman they inhabit. They are cognitive structures that represent a certain aspect of the world, and can be correspondn as blareegories which take certain pre-conceived ideas in them. For case, my strategy for Christmas includes: Christmas trees, presents, giving, money, green, red, gold, winter, Santa Claus etc. manyone else may give way an entirely different lineation, such as Jesus, birth, Church, holiday, Christianity etc.\r\nOf course, there are precista for all charitables of things †yourself (self schemata), other people (people schemata), events/situations (event schemata) and roles/occupations (role schemata). With regards to Piaget ’s theory, a child capacity father a pre-conceived schema for a quest after. If the plate has a small West mountainous White Terrier as a quest after, the schema might be â€Å"small, furry, four legs, smock”. When the child interacts with a saucily andiron †perhaps a Labrador, it pull up stakes remove to incorporate the unexampled randomness, such as â€Å"big, golden, smooth etc.” This is known as:\r\n•Assimilation\r\nSimply the stillt on of incorporating reinvigorated information into a pre-existing schema. So with the â€Å"dog” example, the child gulld the Labrador’s information into the old dog schema. Assimilation is fundamentally fitting new information into schemata we already have in place. Unfortunately, this can lead to stereotyping. For example, if an old lady sees a teen mug another person, she might assimilate â€Å"violence” or â€Å"crime” into her teenaged schema. Next time she sees a t eenager, her schema leave be applied to them †and although they may be a kind person, she will probably show prejudice. Assimilation is commonly a simple process, as new information already fits the pre-exisiting categories.\r\n•Accommodation\r\nWhen culmination across a new physical object for the first time, a child will attempt to apply an old schema to the object. For consistency, let’s utilisation the dog example again. The child may have â€Å"four legs, furry” in their dog schema. When coming across another convertible animal, such as a cat, they might say â€Å"Look, a dog!” †that’s acculturation. However, when told that it’s actually a cat †not a dog †they will accommodate the new information into another schema. They will now form a â€Å"cat” schema; â€Å"not all four legged furry animals are dogs †some are cats too!”. They have accommodated the new information. The process just mention ed †of preoccupancy then accommodation is known as â€\r\n•Adaptation\r\nAssimilation and accommodation are the two parts of modification †which is precisely what it says †adapting our schemata to make an accurate (enough) stick of the world we live in. It is a form of learning, scarce an entirely different form to the kind you’d see in behaviouristic psychology for example (such as operant/classical conditioning).\r\n•Equilibrium\r\nPiaget suggested that humans of course strive to achieve a cognitive balance; there must be a balance between applying preliminary knowledge (assimilation) and changing schemata to account for new information (accommodation). Piaget suggested that when a child has a schema which doesn’t fit reality, there is tension in the mind. By equilibrate the use of assimilation and accommodation, this tension is cut down and we can proceed to higher levels of persuasion and learning (equilibration).\r\nQUICK SU MMARY: Children have schemata (cognitive structures that contain pre-existing ideas of the world), which are constantly changing. Schemata constantly undergo adaptation, through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. When seeing new objects there is a state of tension, and a child will attempt to assimilate the information to see if it fits into prior schemata. If this fails, the information must be accommodated by either adding new schemata or modifying the existing ones to accommodate the information. By equilibrate the use of assimilation and accommodation, an equilibrium is created, cut down cognitive tension (equilibration).\r\nVygotsky’s theories idiom the fundamental role of complaisant interaction in the go badment of cognition Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of â€Å"making meaning.” Unlike Piaget’s spirit that children’s’ development must necessarily precede thei r learning, Vygotsky argued, â€Å"learning is a needed and universal aspect of the process of development culturally organized, specifically human psychological function” (1978, p. 90). In other words, hearty learning tends to precede (i.e. come before) development. Vygotsky has unquestionable a socio-cultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the equivalent time as Jean Piaget was beginning to develop his theories (1920’s and 30’s), and he died at the age of 38 and so his theories are incomplete †although some of his writings are still world translated from Russian. No single principle (such as Piaget’s equilibration) can account for development.\r\n case-by-case development cannot be understood without fibre to the genial and cultural context at bottom which it is embedded. higher(prenominal) mental processes in the individual have their origin in social processes. Vygotsky’s theory differs fr om that of Piaget in a number of important ways: 1: Vygotsky places much(prenominal) tenseness on stopping point affecting/shaping cognitive development †this contradicts Piaget’s view of universal stages and substance of development. (Vygotsky does not refer to stages in the way that Piaget does). 2: Vygotsky places considerably to a greater extent accent mark on social factors contributing to cognitive development (Piaget is criticised for underestimating this). 3: Vygotsky places more (and different) fierceness on the role of language in cognitive development (again Piaget is criticised for lack of emphasis on this).\r\nEffects of Culture: †Tools of cerebral adaptation\r\n exchangeable Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are innate(p) with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development †Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities. Vygotsky refers to Elementary kind Functions â€\r\no Attention\r\no mavin\r\no Perception\r \no recollection\r\nEventually, through interaction within the socio-cultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and strong mental processes/strategies which he refers to as Higher Mental Functions. For example, memory in unexampled children this is limited by biological factors. However, shade determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g., in our culture we learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate societies other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in string to remember, or carrying pebbles, or repeating of the names of ancestors until large numbers can be repeated.\r\nVygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation †these allow children to use the basic mental functions more strongly/adaptively, and these are culturally refractory (e.g. memory mnemonics, mind maps). Vygotsky thus sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as touched by the beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and therefore socio-culturally determined. The tools of intellectual adaptation therefore vary from culture to culture †as in the memory example\r\nsociable Influences on Cognitive Development\r\nLike Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new understandings/schema. However, Vygotsky primed(p) more emphasis on social contributions to the process of development, whereas Piaget emphasised self-initiated discovery. According to Vygotsky (1978), a good deal important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a adept tutor. The tutor may model behaviours and/or provide verbal operating instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as co-operative or cooperative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information, usi ng it to guide or rule their own carrying out. Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw.\r\nAlone, she performs poorly(predicate) in attempting to operate the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the comer/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers hike when she does so. As the child becomes more adapted, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving co-operative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development. In crop to gain an understanding of Vygotsky’s theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky’s work: the More well-read Other (MKO) and the regulate of proximal Development (ZPD).\r\nMore knowing Other\r\nThe more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explan atory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with consider to a particular task, process, or concept. Although the meaning is that the MKO is a teacher or an sometime(a) adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child’s peers or an adult’s children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience. For example, who is more probably to know more about the newest teen-age medicine groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest leap craze †a child or their parents? In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all.\r\nSome companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems. Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to help and guide students through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the top ic beingness learned than the learner does.\r\n partition off of proximal Development\r\nThe concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the atomic number 16 important principle of Vygotsky’s work, the Zone of Proximal Development. This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with management and encouragement from a skilled partner. For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed competency at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws.\r\nVygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given †allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own †developing higher mental function s. Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers †within the zone of proximal development.\r\n'