Jean Piaget is probably the most influential theorist in the cognitive development realm. His work has informed American educational practices since the early 1900s. Another key cognitive theorist in the realm is Lev Vygotsky. Interestingly, Vygotsky and Piaget were contemporaries (both were born in 1896), but for many years, Piaget’s theory dominated. The fact that Vygotsky died at age 37, while Piaget lived to be 84, might be part of that explanation. But Vygotsky’s ideas gained traction in the 1980s when educators began to question long held Piagetian ideas. Nevertheless, both theories are important to the study of cognitive development. In your initial post of 400 words minimum,
- Provide a brief overview of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s child and adolescent cognitive developmental theories.
- Compare and contrast these theories as they relate to child and adolescent development by identifying at least one commonality in the two theories and two major conceptual differences (Table 7.2 in your textbook will be useful here).
- Determine which of the two theories you most support and provide a rationale for your choice.
Requirements: 400 words
Answer preview
The similarity between both theories is that both believe that, as children grow, they develop skills as they learn increasingly complex information. For instance, they learn about different things during school learning, which helps them develop different skills. Also, specific abilities develop at a particular stage in their lives, while cognitive abilities develop in a sequence. Growth is a process, and children develop in a pattern from one development to the other. However, these two theories are different from each other. First, Piaget’s theory states that children learn through active participation (Babakr, Mohamedamin, & Kakamad, 2019). Different adolescence goes through different experiences, and so their minds develop depending on the experiences.
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