The second of Piaget’s stages is the pre-operational stage, which takes place between the ages of 18 months -7 years, and is divided into two sub-stages. The pre-conceptual stage, which occurs between 18moths to 4 years, and the intuitive stage which takes place between the ages of 4 to 7 years. During this stage the use of internal images, symbols and language are especially important for the child’s continuing development of a sense of self awareness, however, at the same time the child’s world is fundamentally absolute and things are very much as they seem. The nature of the pre-conceptual child’s thinking makes it difficult for it to understand relative terms such as ‘bigger’ or ‘longer’, things tend to be ‘biggest’ or ‘longest’. The intuitive child does have this ability but remains limited in its ability to think logically and is unable to decentre. Centration is the inability to understand more than one perceptual factor at a time. A pre-conceptual child asked to divide balls that are ‘big and blue’ and those that red ‘small and red’ will either put all the blue (or red) balls together or all the big (or small) balls together irrespective of their colours or sizes.
The next stage is the concrete operational stage which lasts from seven to eleven years of age. It is at this stage that children that children demonstrate the use of logic when dealing with objects and events. Also, because children have begun to understand the concept of reversibility, which is the ability to mentally undo an action (Ford, 2004), they can complete tasks requiring logic such as conservation, which is the understanding that quantities such as mass remain stable even though their appearance might change. This stage also sees the child moving on from centration to decentration and focussing on the entire problem and not just part of it as seen in the pre-operational stage. (Walkup, 2004). Piaget also observed that it is during this stage that children begin to understand the concept of hierarchical classification.
Beyond eleven years the child is said to enter the final stage in cognitive development which is the formal operational stage. The formal operational thinker is able to use imagine and deliberate over objects and events which have never actually been encountered using a more adult form of logical and symbolic thinking and scientific reasoning. They can now form hypotheses and test them in a scientific manner (Ford, 2004)
Much has been said about the Piaget’s theories and the effect they have on early years teaching and learning. His approaches had great influence throughout the 1960’s, but have since been found to be inadequate in many ways when dealing with children, however Piaget’s work has greatly contributed to the idea of a child’s active role in their learning(Whitebread, 1996), and his work is still valued in the we understand how children think and learn. When Piaget’s ideas are used in the application to teaching and learning in the early years, the teacher role is to provide an environment that is rich in stimulation, enabling the child to explore for themselves. The Application of Piaget’s theories should include, the teacher providing the child with the opportunity to construct their own knowledge through their own experiences, use topics, relate something new to what the child already knows and in the use of construction kits and toys to provide the means to explore and learn the properties of objects (Walkup, 2004). We can see from the previous examples that Piaget’s approach can still be seen in our education system, and in teaching and learning in the early years.
Lev Vygotsky was born in Russia in 1896. He was an important theorist who started his career as a school teacher and then went on to become a psychology lecturer at a teacher training college. Vygotsky’s theories took a constructivist approach as did Piaget’s. But in some ways Vygotsky challenged Piaget’s conclusions. He claimed that is the result of social, not independent, learning. According to Vygotsky, as children learn, they engage in mutual dialogues with peers and adults, who assist them in their efforts. During these interactions, cognitive processes are socially, transferred to the child. Vygotsky constructed a theory in which the child and the social environment work together to shape cognition. Through Vygotsky’s studies, we can see how a child progresses through the stages of concept development and how adults, through the medium of language, provide support in a child’s learning, (Smith et al, 2003).
There are three underlying themes, which unify Vygotsky’s theory. The first being the importance of culture, which as mentioned before Piaget did not really consider, the second is the central role of language and the third is what Vygotsky calls the zone of proximal development or ZPD.
According to Vygotsky, in terms of development, the one thing that separates humans from other animals is our use of tools and symbols. As a result of these we create cultures. Our cultures grow and change as we develop, and become extremely powerful influences over us. They dictate what we have to learn, and the sorts of skills we need to develop. The next theme within Vygotsky’s theory is the central role of Language. Language is made possible because of our culture (tools and symbols). Social processes bring about the learning of language, and language ultimately makes thought possible. Therefore when a child is an infant, at the preverbal stage of development, his or her intelligence is a purely natural, useful capacity. As a child begins to develop so does their language, and as they begin to speak, their thought processes also begin to develop. At this stage, Vygotsky described three stages in the development of speech. The first being external speech, which occurs from birth to about 3 years old. This is where the child’s use of language is in response and aimed at the outside world (Walkup, 2004). The child uses speech to express simple thoughts and emotions for example crying, laughter and shouting. Following on from this, there is egocentric speech. This stage takes place between the ages of 3– 7 years old. This is when the child thinks aloud, for example, “I’m going to give dolly her tea now”. Children often talk to themselves, regardless of someone listening to them. Following on from this, there is inner speech, which occurs from around the age of 7. This is inner, soundless speech takes place in the head. This type of speech allows the child or adult to control their thinking and behaviour (Walkup 2004).
Finally is Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development or ZPD. Which is what is used to describe the area of functioning beyond the child’s current level to which the can progress to with the support of other’s. It is used to ascertain the distance between the child’s actual level of development and the level of potential development. According to Vygotsky, the potential for cognitive development is limited to a certain time span, which he calls the ZPD. Full development during the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult or peer guidance is far greater than what can be achieved alone, (Ford 2004). Vygotsky used the theory of scaffolding, within the ZPD which is the way in which adults and peers can help child understand a new concept or skill by supporting them. In order for scaffolding to be successful teachers need observe children regularly, (Garhart Mooney, 2000)
We can see that Vygotsky like Piaget, is a constructivist, but he moved away from Piaget’s view of development being based on internal factor’s and paid attention to the external factors that children experience, that impact their development. Vygotsky’s theories have had an impact on teaching and learning in the early years. His idea that culture, including a child’s family environment and education, impact the way in which children develop and learn. Therefore, the curriculum should be designed to allow children to be able to interact whilst working, through group work. Also, children should have the opportunity to play, which enables children to try out new skills and knowledge. Further to this children should receive appropriate help with activities they cannot do on their own and this should be identified through assessment. (Walkup, 2004) These methods are often seen in early years learning today, children often sit in groups in activities, they also have the opportunity to play and they are helped with activities which they can not do by themselves, their level of ability often being found out through assessment. Also, Vygotsky felt that teacher’s observation of children is very important, and this is something that is still seen as important today.
Both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories are applied within the educational system today which reflects the importance of their theories. It is clear that we can observe much from both Piaget and Vygotsky who both emphasised that the child is an active learner. We can also see that the strengths of one theorist complement the weaknesses of the other. In both cases their ideas do still have an influence in how teaching takes place in the early years today, through Piaget’s theory that children should interact with their environment and through Vygotsky’s theory that a child’s culture has an important impact on their development, and that social interaction is an important way to enable them to learn and develop.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ruth M. Ford (2004) Thinking and Cognitive Development in Young Children Trisha Maynard and Nigel Thomas (Ed) An Introduction to Early Childhood Studies, Sage, London.
Anne Greig (1998), Play, language and learning, Jayne Taylor and Margaret Woods (Ed) Early Childhood Studies: An Holistic Introduction(1998)
Carolyn Meggitt, Gerald Sunderland ( 2004) 3rd, Child Development an Illustrated guide, Heinemann, Child Care, Bath, England.
Carol Garhart Mooney Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky. (2000) Redleaf Press, USA
Peter K. Smith, Helen Cowie, Mark Blades (2003) 4th, Understanding Children’s Development, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, England.
Penny Tassoni Karen Hucker (2000) Planning Play and the Early Years, Heinemann Childcare, Bath England
Vivienne Walkup (2004) How Children Learn, Iain MacLeod-Brudenell (Ed) (2004) Advanced Early Years Care and Education, Heinemann, Bath England
David Whitebread 1999 (3rd) Teaching and learning in the Early Years, Routledge, London.
