Comparing Vygotsky and Piaget
Brief Summary of the Theories of Piaget and Vygotsky
Piaget’s Theory
Piaget believed that as children grew, they went through specific stages. He proposed that cognitive development from infant to young adult occurs in four universal and consecutive stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations (Woolfolk, 2004). Piaget believed that when children developed, it was more of an autonomous process instead of a secondary consequence (Lourenco, 2012). According to Piaget, between the ages of zero and two, children go through the sensorimotor state. During this stage, children learn through movement and their senses are introduced to the world around them for the first time. Towards the end …show more content…
According to Lourenco (2012), “Piaget and Vygotsky share a stress on a developmental approach to understanding psychological processes and phenomena (p. 287). Piaget and Vygotsky both had a similar developmental perspective that in order to learn something new, children needed to have a primary understanding from something that they had previously learned (Lourenco, 2012). Both Piaget and Vygotsky also believed that children learned best through active learning. They both theorized that children should continually merge new information with information that they already know in order to continue to grow cognitively. Both psychologists also concluded that as children grow older, cognitive development slows. Both Piaget and Vygotsky talked about the importance of egocentricism. Vygotsky called this private speech. They stated that when children worked their own way through an activity by talking themselves through it, they are helping their cognitive development. When a child starts to engage in private speech, Vygotsky believed that it became self-regulating by nine years old (Woolfolk,
Brief Summary of the Theories of Piaget and Vygotsky
Piaget’s Theory
Piaget believed that as children grew, they went through specific stages. He proposed that cognitive development from infant to young adult occurs in four universal and consecutive stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations (Woolfolk, 2004). Piaget believed that when children developed, it was more of an autonomous process instead of a secondary consequence (Lourenco, 2012). According to Piaget, between the ages of zero and two, children go through the sensorimotor state. During this stage, children learn through movement and their senses are introduced to the world around them for the first time. Towards the end …show more content…
According to Lourenco (2012), “Piaget and Vygotsky share a stress on a developmental approach to understanding psychological processes and phenomena (p. 287). Piaget and Vygotsky both had a similar developmental perspective that in order to learn something new, children needed to have a primary understanding from something that they had previously learned (Lourenco, 2012). Both Piaget and Vygotsky also believed that children learned best through active learning. They both theorized that children should continually merge new information with information that they already know in order to continue to grow cognitively. Both psychologists also concluded that as children grow older, cognitive development slows. Both Piaget and Vygotsky talked about the importance of egocentricism. Vygotsky called this private speech. They stated that when children worked their own way through an activity by talking themselves through it, they are helping their cognitive development. When a child starts to engage in private speech, Vygotsky believed that it became self-regulating by nine years old (Woolfolk,