September 22nd, 2011

Piaget vs. Vygotsky

In yesterday's class we spent time discussing the contrast between Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, two developmental theorists. Towards the end of class we were asked to decide which of the two theories was closer to our personal views... I said both. In my opinion both theories have truth to them, but also have some aspects with which I do not agree. Here is a breakdown of the two theorists:

 Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on August 9, 1896. His father was a professor and his mother was a neurotic housewife, apparently that is what made him want to delve into psychology. In adolescence, Piaget became well known for his "papers", the people reading them however, thought he was an adult. This just goes to show that he was a brilliant man; even as a child he had the capacity to publish papers and be assumed an adult. Going into young adulthood Piaget studied to the extent that it actually made him sick, so he went off into the mountains to recover and "get away" for a bit. While in the mountains he had a lot of time to think, and I am sure he never truly stopped studying. So, when he came back to civilization he decided to write down his own philosophy, a "manuscript" of his beliefs. A major component to this philosophy can be seen in this quote by Piaget himself: “in all fields of life (organic, mental, social) there exist ‘totalities’ qualitatively distinct from their parts and imposing on them an organization.” I believe this is directly linked to his "ages and stages" theory of cognitive development, because it specifically uses the words "totalities" and "organization". To sum up Piaget in a couple of sentences would be a difficult task, but I will give it a try. Basically, he believed that children go through distinct stages at specific times in their development (sensorimotor 0-2, preoperational 2-7, concrete operational 7-11, and formal operational 11-death). He was a firm believer that all human beings would go through these stages in the order which he set out and within the time frames he allotted. However, there have been many objections to Piaget's theory due to factors such as mental retardation, or the opposite of that, being intellectually gifted.

Lev Vygotsky was born in Orsha, Russia, on November 17th, 1896. He was born to a non-practicing Jewish family, and was strongly influenced by his cousin, David. He graduated from Moscow State University in in 1917 and from there went to work at the Institute of Psychology where he delved deeply into ideas on cognitive development. He began to form his own theories as to how we, humans, learn from interaction with others. A central point in his theory can be seen in this quote by Vygotsky himself: “human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them.” I believe this is statement is the very heart of Vygotsky's theories, because throughout his career he focused on children's interactions with the world around them, and how such can factor in to how the child learns or what the child learns. Summing up Vygotsky will be just as difficult as summing up Piaget, but again, I will give it a try. Basically, he believed that it is not a child's age that determines where it should be developmentally, it is its enviroment and the quality of communication between the child and those around it. He also believed very strongly that those who are around the child should act as its role models, and help it to succeed through concepts such as scaffolding (providing support so that the child can achieve higher than it could on its own) and formative grading (giving feedback as to how well the child is doing in class but no concrete grade). However, like Piaget, there have been critisizms of Vygotsky's theories due to the fact that he claims "without language, there is no thinking", so in his mind people who play sports, dance, or do anything else that does not require talking are in fact not thinking at all.

MY OPINION:    as I have previously stated, I chose both. I do not think one is better than the other, nor do I think they are both terrible. There are aspects of both with which I agree, and aspects of both with which I disagree.

AGREE



1. I agree with Piaget that humans do go through developmental stages.

2. I agree with Vygotsky that a child's interaction with others greatly effects its development.

3. I agee with Piaget that each human being has its own distinct schema to which it adds knowledge.

4. I agree with Vygotsky that learning occurs along a developmental trajectory.

DISAGREE

1. I do not agree with either Vygotsky or Piaget that without language there is no thought.

2. I do not agree with Piaget that each person goes through each stage at the same time in life and at the same speed.

3. I do not agree with Vygotsky that there needs to be an "apprenticeship relationship" between a teacher and a student.

Once again, thank you to anyone who has been following my blogs!

Sincerely,

Natasha.