In addition, Piaget investigated egocentrism which involves children assuming that their way of thinking about things is the only way. He used the three mountains task to illustrate this idea. He showed four year olds three mountains of different heights and asked them to describe how the scene would look from different positions; the children chose their own view and failed to see that it would look different from different points. Piaget found that it was only when children reached the age of 6 and upwards that they were able to see that the view is different from other positions but they often chose the wrong view.
Stage three: The concrete operational stage takes place during the ages of 7 and 11. Thinking becomes much less dependent on perception and the child is able to carry out mental operations on the world. However they need to use props in order to understand how things work. Children are able to de-centrate, meaning they are able to take into account more than one aspect of an object or situation at any one time and they are able to conserve, this means that the child understands that although the appearance of something changes, the thing itself does not.
Piaget also investigated conservation during this stage by repeating the experiment with the liquid in the glasses and found that by the age of seven the majority of children could conserve liquid because they understood that when water is poured into a different shape glass, the quantity of liquid remains the same even though its appearance has changed.
As well as conservation he investigated number conservation and discovered that when a child was shown two rows of ten beads, one of which was white and the other brown, the child was able to understand that when the brown row was spread out there were not more white beads than brown.
Stage four: children enter the formal operational stage from the age of 11 or 12. Children are able to think internally without props. In other words they can manipulate ideas without need for examples as an aid for their understanding. They are able to think hypothetically i.e. they can see things from other peoples points of view, without having the need to experience the issue first hand and during this stage a child will approach problems in a structured and organised way in order to solve them.
The distinction between the concrete and formal operation stages was discovered during the transitive inference tasks were children were asked questions such as if Kelly is taller than Ali and Ali is taller than Jo, who is tallest? It was discovered that a child is now able to understand and follow abstract arguments without having to see concrete props to explain the argument.
Piaget also tested formal operational thinking by giving children the pendulum task, children were given a pendulum and a set of weights and asked to find out how the weight affects the swing of the pendulum, and Piaget found that the children investigated in a logical and systematic way.
The views of Piaget have been influential in education. Piaget’s principles can be used in a variety of ways. Piaget felt that the purpose of education was to help children construct their own understanding and become able to solve problems for themselves. Piagetian theory as been applied to what children can learn, according to Piaget what children are able to learn is determined by their current stage of cognitive development and it is limited to what they are ready to learn. Progression is reliant on a child’s readiness and no child is expected to learn beyond the cognitive stage as it is not possible.
In terms of how children should be taught Piaget believed that children learn best through self discovery and apply the process of assimilation and accommodation to their active involvement with the world around them and it is the teachers’ role to provide the right environment and to ask them questions and also to get them to respond to questions. The same idea applies to playgroups and to children playing with toys according to Piaget children will obtain the most benefit from playgroups and from playing with toys when they are in a process of self discovery.
Lastly, Piaget’s three main ways of how Piagetian theory can be applied to education stems from Piaget’s believes that cognitive development is dependent on children learning a range of operations, many ‘based on mathematical or logical principles because it is useful for children to study mathematics and logic as well as science subjects’ (simply psychology). However the cognitive structures that Piaget emphasises are limited for other types of learning such as learning foreign languages or history.
Moreover, his theories have been supported by a lot of research. His ideas may have been taken more rigidly than expected and Piaget was the first person to look at child cognitive development and because of his ideas others have looked into cognitive development.
However Piaget’s theory has been criticised for various aspects of his methods, one of which was the naturalistic observation. He observed his own children, which could have caused him to be biased in his findings, he also generalised and many of his ideas i.e. the sensorimotor and pre-operational stages are based on these observation. The tests may have been too complicated and artificial due to the fact that things were taken out of context such as pouring liquid from one cup to another. As well as this the tests may have involved demand characteristics- the child trying to guess what is expected of him/her and performing differently in accordance. Piaget’s use of interviews, informal experiments and observations may have lacked scientific rigour and his tests were unable to be generalised because very small samples were used and his theory was based on his discoveries.
Research has also suggested that children develop some abilities earlier than Piaget thought. In this case by applying his theory it could harm children by holding them back and cause long term implications in fact it may have implications on their future job prospects and it could even cause them to have a lack of confidence. Piaget may have concentrated on describing development rather than explaining it and some of his concepts were vague and some stages overlaped. In stead of focusing on abilities he may have focused on mistakes. Through his theories he neglected individual differences, neglected the role of language and the role of society after all, different social factors can depend on children’s development.
On the other hand Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was particularly interested in the relationship between being taught by adults and the child cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the same time as Piaget who was starting to develop his theories in the 1920’s early 30’s. Vygotsky died at the age of 38 so his theories were incomplete. Vygotsky’s theory is known as the social development theory.
Vygotsky developed a socio-cultural approach to cognitive. He believed that the social environment was just as important in a child’s cognitive development as biological maturation unlike Piaget who believes that children development must precede learning.
Compared with Piaget, Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture and how it affects and shapes cognitive development which contradicts Piaget’s view of universal stages. Significantly Vygotsky places more emphasis on social factors that contribute to cognitive development and also looks at and emphasises the role of language in cognitive development differently to Piaget.
Vygotsky believed there were three developmental stages:
Speech stage 1: between 0-3 year’s social speech controls the behaviour of others and simple thoughts and emotions are expressed.
Speech stage 2: at 3-7 years egocentric speech controls own behaviour but is spoken out loud, a bridge between social and inner speech.
Speech stage 3: from 7 years onwards inner self talk which directs behaviour and thinking. It is involved in all higher mental functioning, like ‘streams of consciousness’.
Vygotsky demonstrated the value of instruction by increasing the understanding of 7 and 9 year olds for scientific and everyday concepts. He assumed there would be more development because they would be shaped through direct instruction. Children were given sentences endings in because or although to see if they could finish them appropriately. They did better for scientific concepts.
Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with basic material/abilities for intellectual development. Vygotsky however referred to elementary mental functions in other words, things that children need and are born with, the basics are attention, sensation, perception and memory, which we all need in order to function with in society. Eventually through social interaction within the socio-cultural environment they develop into higher mental functions. Vygotsky also refers to ‘tools of intellectual adaptation’ these are culturally determined and allow children to use basic mental functions more effectively. Therefore cognitive functions are affected by beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person is born and the four basic tools needed to progress intellectually and culturally develop differently in different cultures.
Similar to Piaget, Vygotsky believed that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and in their discovery and development of new understandings. However Vygotsky placed more emphasis on the social contribution to the process of development compared with Piaget who emphasised on self-indicated discovery.
According to Vygotsky learning occurs through social interaction with a skilful tutor- a More Knowledgeable Other, who leads them through the elementary mental functions. The MKO could be a parent, teacher, or another child, even a computer. The MKO models behaviours or verbal instructions for the child. This is referred to as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child then seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the MKO then use the information to guide or regulate their own performance.
Shaffer (1996) gave an example of a girl who was given her first jigsaw. Alone she was unable to complete the jigsaw. Her father then sat with her and demonstrated and described some strategies i.e. finding all the corner pieces. He also gave encouragement. As the little girl became more competent, she was allowed to work independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction promotes cognitive development.
The second of Vygotsky’s principles was the Zone of Proximal Development. This relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently with guidance from the MKO. It is the job of the MKO to continually move the child through the ZPD; this is the area where the most sensitive instructions or guidance should be given, allowing the child to develop skills that they will then use on their own. Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as a way of developing skills. He suggested that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less able children develop with the help of more skilful peers within the ZPD.
In addition, he believed that by providing the appropriate assistance at the right time (scaffolding) it will help the child to achieve the task. Once the child can master the task the scaffolding can be removed.
Freud (1990) conducted a study in which children has to decide which item of furniture should be placed in particular houses of a dolls house. Some children were allowed to play with their mothers before attempting it on their own (ZPD). Others were allowed to work on their own (Piaget’s discovery learning). Freud found that that those who had worked with their mothers in the first instance showed greater improvement in their second attempt, done single handed. The conclusion to this study was that guided learning led to a greater understanding.
Vygotsky’s ideas are present in many settings today. It could be argued that his ideas fit in nicely with the present day role of education because there is a lot more formal teaching, less play and play has been removed from the classroom. Also learning has become much more intense over the years pushing children beyond their ‘so called’ abilities. The most evident use of Vygotsky’s theories is scaffold learning where a more experienced person offers support, encouragement and guidance to a student; this could be when a learner has difficulties with instructions or through general encouragement. – Generally called classroom assistants today. Children also learn from each other through collaborative learning- children of similar levels work together in groups and peer tutoring which involves a MKO child providing guidance to another child. This also encourages children to work and play with different groups of children.
Nevertheless, Vygotsky’s theories could be criticised for pushing children too hard it may be that some children don’t need to be in the zone of proximal development, they may need a break and by being forced into it, it may cause stress, depression, anxiety thus leading to poor mental health from being over stressed. Consequently, it may cause children to drop out of education and become alienated from it. It may also lead to low self esteem if a child always finds themselves in the learner position.
Assignment 4- Development Psychology