Piaget vs. Vygotsky

The theory of cognitive development is defined as the development of the ability to think and reason. There are many theorists who have studied cognitive theories and the most famous is Jean Piaget. Cognitive development covers the physical and emotional stages of a child. The basic premise for cognitive development is to show the different stages of the development of a child so you can understand where the child might be in their development. Understanding cognitive development will better prepare the teacher when it comes to dealing with children and how to handle situations. The way children learn and mentally grow plays a central role in their learning process and abilities. When the teacher knows about the development of children then they can help with the development of each individual child on both the physical and emotional level. It will also allow the teacher to better relate to the child and understand what they are thinking. The two theorists I will be discussing are Jean Piaget and Lev Semionovich Vygotsky. Both Piaget and Vygotsky were regarded as constructivist. On the web site www.fundstanding.com is says that “Constructivism is a philosophy of learning that states by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences”. Theories of learning are based on ideas that are called constructivist theories of learning. This theory states that students learn by fitting new information together with what they already know. Both of them also believed that the boundaries of cognitive growth were established by societal influences and that egocentric speech is an important part of their cognitive development. The key ideas of Piaget 's and Vygotsky 's theory differ. Piaget believed that