Stage 3 is the concrete operational stage and lasts for age 7 to 11. Children in this stage can use logical rules, but the understanding is limited because the child can only deal with the actual concrete world. For example they cannot cope with “Mary is taller than Susan, Susan is taller than Jane, who is the tallest?” However they can cope when the problem is put forward using dolls.
Stage 4 is called the formal operational stage, and is from age 11 onwards. In this stage the children are capable of abstract thought. If children are asked to conduct an experiment, they will use a systematic plan to conduct it. In contrast the concrete operational thinker would not have a plan, but use trial and error in order to come to a conclusion.
Vygotsky believed that cultural input was fundamental to development. He suggested that intellect consisted of elementary and higher mental functions. Elementary functions are innate capabilities such as attention and sensation. These will develop to an extent through experience, but cultural influences are required to transform them to higher mental functions. When Vygotsky referred to culture, he meant the vast body of knowledge, which is held by books and “experts” and he thought this knowledge is largely conveyed through language. Therefore adults can teach the basics that are learnt at early ages, as they are “experts” compared to the child, who has limited knowledge. As a result Vygotsky emphasised contact time with adults is important for a child’s development.
Vygotsky put forward four stages of development. The four stages were: vague syncretic stage; the children failed to use systematic strategies and showed little or no understanding of the concepts. The child used mainly trial and error. Complex stage; non-random strategies were used, but these strategies were not successful in finding the main features of each concept, which means some appropriate strategies were used but the main attributes were not defined. Potential conceptual stage; systematic strategies were used, but they were limited to focusing on one feature at a time, which means only one attribute can be dealt with at a time (e.g. fat). Mature concept stage; systematic strategies relating to more than one feature at a time were used, and led to successful concept formation, which means that a lot of attributes are able to be dealt with at one time (e.g. fat and tall).
Also Vygotsky put forward stages of development of language and thought. In this model there are three stages: pre-intellectual, social speech; language serves a social function, whereas thought is prelinguistic. Egocentric speech; language is used to control one’s own behaviour, but is often spoken aloud. Inner speech; self-talk becomes silent and the child also uses speech for social reasons.
Piaget and Vygotsky’s work have similarities; both believe that a child is born with innate capabilities, and both think one of them is sensory. There are four stages in each model, but these stages have few similarities. In stage one trial and error is a concept used in both to describe the child’s efforts for tasks. However the models then differ in their views.
Piaget’s ideas are based on experiments, which determined what stage the child is at, and the stages are determined by innate, maturational changes. Although the ages differ at when different stages are reached, the sequence does not change and the cognitive operations and structures defining a stage should form an integrated whole.
Whereas Vygotsky emphasised the notion that cognitive development depends largely on social factors. Vygotsky believed that “any function in the child’s development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears on the social plane, and then it appears on the psychological plane. The child can be thought of, as an apprentice, learning from social interaction from adults and older children, who have acquired more knowledge than themselves. This approach is very different from Piaget’s, where the emphasis is on the child learning from self-discovery.