Piaget vs vygotsky

• issue: source of cognitive development

  • PIAGET: cog dev is driven by an inbuilt tendency to adapt to new experiences. schema, dis/equilibrium, assimilation, accommodation
  • VYGOTSKY: cog dev is driven by social interaction experience within a culture
• issue: concept acquisition

  • PIAGET: child learns through active self discovery, solitary process of adapting new schemas. discovery.learning, object permanence, conservation, abstract thinking
  • VYGOTSKY: child learns through instruction and guidance, results from social experience. scaffolding, role of expert, ZPD
• issue: role of instruction

  • PIAGET: child will only learn when ready. stages sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, formal operational
  • cog dev can be accelerated. increases scope of cog dev by enabling learning. mentors and classroom assistants
• issue: language and thought

  • PIAGET: lang develops as a result of cog dev. outward monologues are meaningless and egocentric speech is incidental to thought
  • VYGOTSKY: the ability to use lang is the key to cog dev. outward monologues direct thinking and later become internalised as thought
• vygotsky strengths

  • nomothetic vs idiographic: different cultures emphasis different skills and learning goals yet vygotsky's concepts of sensitive guidance, scaffolding and ZPD apply to all
  • unlike Piaget, vygotsky can explain the influence of the social environment on cog dev
• vygotsky limitation

  • difficult to test as it focuses on the processes rather than the outcomes of cog dev. Piaget's staged had test evidence for each - explain 4 tests briefly (sensorimotor blanket and ball study)
• vygotsky practical application

  • BRUNER took the concepts of scaffolding and peer tutoring and applied them to education
  • unlike Piaget, vygotsky can explain the influence of the social envrionment on cog dev
• vygotsky and Piaget similarities

  • there are strong similarities and it has been suggested that combining the two may be feasible