Free Essays on Jean Piaget

Comparison and Contrasts of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky This essay will seek to compare and contrast Jean Piaget’s and Lev Vygotsky’s theories on cognitive development of children. Information for this essay has been derived from the classroom text and also various internet resources that will be cited at the conclusion of the essay. Jean Piaget’s and Lev Vygotsky’s are two theorist who studied childhood development in the early 1900’s Although the two never met, their theories have many commonalities, but yet also have several differences. Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories are widely-known and still practiced today. There are three themes that Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories share: challenge, readiness, and in the importance of social interaction. The best example of challenge is exemplified in Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development. ZPD can be defined as the range of tasks one cannot yet perform independently, but can perform with assistance and guidance of others. Challenge appears more discretely in Piaget’s theory, but is still present. Piaget’s theory states that children develop more sophisticated knowledge and thought processes only when they encountered phenomena they cannot completely understand. This creates what Piaget refers to as disequilibrium, a sort of mental discomfort. This prompts the child to attempt to make sense of what they have observed by replacing, reorganizing, and better integrating their schemes. This is called accommodation. Readiness is another theme that appears in both theories. Growing children are not cognitively ready for all experiences. According to Piaget, children can accommodate to new objects and events only when they can also assimilate them into their existing schemes. Thus meaning there must be an overlap of "new" and "old". Piaget also argued that children cannot learn from an experience until they have begun the trans... Free Essays on Jean Piaget Free Essays on Jean Piaget Comparison and Contrasts of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky This essay will seek to compare and contrast Jean Piaget’s and Lev Vygotsky’s theories on cognitive development of children. Information for this essay has been derived from the classroom text and also various internet resources that will be cited at the conclusion of the essay. Jean Piaget’s and Lev Vygotsky’s are two theorist who studied childhood development in the early 1900’s Although the two never met, their theories have many commonalities, but yet also have several differences. Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories are widely-known and still practiced today. There are three themes that Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories share: challenge, readiness, and in the importance of social interaction. The best example of challenge is exemplified in Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development. ZPD can be defined as the range of tasks one cannot yet perform independently, but can perform with assistance and guidance of others. Challenge appears more discretely in Piaget’s theory, but is still present. Piaget’s theory states that children develop more sophisticated knowledge and thought processes only when they encountered phenomena they cannot completely understand. This creates what Piaget refers to as disequilibrium, a sort of mental discomfort. This prompts the child to attempt to make sense of what they have observed by replacing, reorganizing, and better integrating their schemes. This is called accommodation. Readiness is another theme that appears in both theories. Growing children are not cognitively ready for all experiences. According to Piaget, children can accommodate to new objects and events only when they can also assimilate them into their existing schemes. Thus meaning there must be an overlap of "new" and "old". Piaget also argued that children cannot learn from an experience until they have begun the trans...