vygotsky

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Vygotsky vs Piaget : theoretical perspectives

Jean piaget developed a constructivist theory with the assumption that humans generate knowledge and meaning from interactions,Mind is constructed through interaction with the environment;

what is real depends on the development of one’s knowledge

How does Piaget describe developmental change?

Development occurs in stages, with a qualitative shift in the

organization and complexity of cognition at each stage

Children are not slower or less knowledgeable than adults – they

simply understand the world in a qualitatively different way

*Key point – The stages are said to form an invariant sequence

The mechanisms of cognitive development

are organization ( inteernal structures of thought)

Adaptation ( Interaction between the organism and the external

Structures or schemes are timeless, abstract, universal laws oftransformation and relations between objects (e.g., the mathematical

system of real numbers).

Assimilation: the incorporation of new experiences into existing

structures. New experiences are related to existing knowledge.

Accommodation: The changing of an old structure so that new

experiences can be processed

Schema: The action or strategy, either internal or external, to which

the child assimilates (but not the same meaning of ‘schema’ used in

cognitive psychology)

Vygotsky : On the other had

socio-cultural theory of development

tools and signs

Zone of proximal development