Chapter 6: Piaget and Vygotsky

Cognition

inner processes and products of the “mind” that lead to “knowing”

What mental processes does cognition include?

1. attending (attention)

2. remembering (memory)

3. fantasizing

4. symbolizing

5. reasoning

6. categorizing

7. problem solving

8. planning

9. creating

Schemes

set of similar actions or thoughts that are used repeatedly in response to environment

Accommodation

adjust existing schemes or develop a new scheme

Assimilation

process of responding to a new event in a way that is consistent with an existing scheme

Equilibration

leads to developing more complex levels of knowledge and thought

Key ideas of Piaget’s theory

1. Children are very motivated to learn

2. They will continuously learn from their experiences, and change their beliefs based on new experiences

3. Interactions with the physical environment and other people is critical

Piget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor

2. Preoperational

3. Concrete Operational

4. Formal Operational

5. Post-Formal Operational

Sensorimotor Stage

Birth - 2 years

Initially, behavior focuses almost exclusively on their own bodies, but eventually move to nearby objects

1st month (Sensorimotor)

reflexes

2nd month (Sensorimotor)

voluntary behaviors that they repeat

1st year (Sensorimotor)

behaviors mostly spontaneous and unplanned

Preoperational Stage

• Ages 2-7

• A child depends more on perception than logiv

• Symbolic thinking

• Language explodes

Symbolic thinking

• represent object/events manually

• can recall past events to envision future ones

• can tie memories together to create understanding

Substages of Preoperational Stage

1. Symbolic function

2. Intuitive thought

Symbolic function Substage

• Egocentrism

• Animism

Egocentrism

inability to view situations from another person’s perspective

Animism

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities

Intuitive Thought Substage

• Poor metacognition

• Centration

• Conservation (Numbers, matter, length, liquid)

Concrete Operational Stage

Ages 7-11

Children can…

• perform concrete observations, reason logically, and classify objects

• explain their reasoning

• know that people have perceptions and feelings different from their own

• know their views may not reflect reality

• still have trouble with abstract or hypothetical ideas

Formal Operational Stage

Begins around age 11 or 12 (puberty)

Children can…

• think logically about abstract and hypothetical ideas

• begin to develop scientific reasoning to identify cause and effect relationships

Things adolescents can do children can’t

1. Think about Possibilities

2. Think about Abstract Concepts

3. Metacognition

4. Multiple dimensions

5. Relativism

What is Metacognition?

thinking about thinking

Examples of Metacognition

1. “Plan-full” thinking

2. Introspection

3. Introspection - Egocentrism

Introspection

the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes

Introspection - Egocentrism

• imaginary audience

• personal fable

Multiple Dimensions

Understanding…

1. Probabilities

2. Other people’s perspectives

3. Sarcasm/Double meanings

4. Logic

   1. Deductive Reasoning

   2. Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

begin with general statement and examine possibilities to reach a specific conclusion

Inductive Reasoning

making broad generalizations from specific observations

Relativism

Seeing knowledge as relative, not absolute

Apply Piaget’s Theory

1. Encourage curiosity

2. allow time for play

3. experiment

4. probe for reasoning

5. present new situations (disequilibrium)

6. Group activates (Social interactions)

Vygotsky’s Theory: Sociocultural Theory

children think and understand primarily through social interaction

Sociocultural Theory

• memory aids

• completion only with help from an adult

• Internalization

• Mental processes

Internalization

the process through which social activities evolve into internal mental activities

Two kinds of mental processes

1. Lower mental functions

2. Higher mental functions

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth

Scaffolding

1. Demonstrate proper performance

2. Divide into simpler asks

3. Provide structure/guidelines to complete task

4. Provide technology to make task simpler

5. Ask questions to make children think

6. Keep children’s attention focused on relevant dimensions

7. Give feedback

Best practices for teaching

1. Use play to encourage active learning

2. Don’t always use whole group instruction

3. Allow opportunities to move

4. Allow plenty of time for social interaction

Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky

• cognitive processes in learning

• readiness in important

• challenges promote cognitive growth

• importance of social interactions