Piaget v. Vygotsky
Piaget vs. Vygotsky Both Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have had a huge impact on learning and teaching methods. Although they have different views on how children learn, they both suggest helpful methods of teaching. Piaget and Vygotsky both focus on the idea of constructivism. Constructivist theories believe learning includes real-world situations, language, interaction, and collaboration with others. Piaget believed in cognitive constructivism and Vygotsky believed in social constructivism. They both had logical ideas with some similarities, but their theories also differed. First off, Piaget was a strong believer in cognitive constructivism and offered that children learn with schemes, accommodation, and assimilation. He also suggested that learner go through stages of learning. These include the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. The sensorimotor stage occurs before the age of 2 and includes learning through movement and senses. Towards the end of this stage, children begin to develop object permanence. Between the ages of 2-7, the child is at the preoperational stage. At this age, children are not able to think about their actions and believe everyone has the same viewpoint as themselves. They also pick up the idea of conservation at this stage. Next is the concrete operational stage which happens between 7 to 11 years of age. By this time, children have intelligence based on logic and concrete references. Eleven years and up is considered the formal operational stage. During this stage, abstract thinking really takes off and a child can think about probabilities and analogies. An example of a classroom that involves Piaget’s cognitive constructivism theory would include challenging activities for the children such as simulations, field trips, and model building. Overall, his theory includes providing a child with knowledge that is meaningful and relatable. On the other