Child 's Development Through the Theory of Vygotsky Awad al Bahri Utah Valley University The period of childhood is the most significant in the establishment of human beings as mature, independent and socially active people. Thus, no wonder that children 's psychological development was thoroughly studied by such psychologists as Piaget, Freud, Vygotsky and many more. All of them have seen their own principles of development and pointed the key topics and elements that influenced the most. Why is it so important to explore the childhood development? Multiple researches and evidences show that the brain is especially sponge like during the first few years of growing up. This is the time, when kids …show more content…
Being surrounded always by people and tutors is a great benefit for kids, as it gives a hint and speeds up development, according to the recent researches and the theory of Vygotsky. His theory is actively applied in reciprocal teaching, which is used to improve student 's abilities to learn from text – theater performance is a great example as well. This method includes children in learning and practicing such skills as clarifying, questioning, predicting and summarizing. The role of the teaches is getting weaker and weaker through time. The other method is called scaffolding when a tutor helps to organize a question and make a system out of it, so the kid or a student can work on it easier and get a positive result. Teamwork plays a great role in the theory of Vygotsky, as it was in the pretend games as well. According to the scientist it would be more effective to have students of different abilities in one class, so the more advanced could help those who need help. During the performance rehearsals we experienced the same routine, the only difference was that we were helped by the teacher himself. Usually the kid is examined as a sort of object, who is like a toy in the hands of adult, who teaches the kid and provides positive and negative experiences, but Vygotsky managed to see a kid like an independent active person who can actually actively influence the adult, and it happens every often that a kid controls a mature person even more than adult controls a
As every child grows up in a different environment, not all have a safe one to grow up in and as a result everything that surrounds them becomes apart of the clarity that their mind incorporates and becomes apart of that child 's behavior of way. In terms of brain development children or teens often listen, and see what is around them, it is also said, by researchers of the National Institute of Health, that in recent studies that were made that in teen years massive loss of brain tissue...
There are few fields within the child development science. One of them is represented by the psychoanalytical theory, which looks at the child emotional development within the context of social interaction and early attachments. This framework is called psychosocial as it looks on the emotional and social aspects. Running in parallel and influencing each other there are two more main areas, cognitive and physical. Although I am focusing on the aspects of the psychosocial development, it is important to remember that all these areas are being affected one by the other, where the development of the emotional skills plays central role in a regular development of cognitive and physical skills.
For example, all six of the sub-stages within the sensorimotor period are outlined extremely thoroughly. Along with this valuable information, many other authors are cited as their information on neuroscience and knowledge about young brains especially is mentioned in detail. Following this information, the authors related these points back to the thesis made in the beginning of the article. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development explains the many stages a developing mind encounters, which includes the sensorimotor stage which is , as mentioned above, is outlined in great
It has been proven that a child’s early years are the peak at which the mind can bend and shape, creating the foundation for a life. We know now that even before birth, the mind is a delicate matter that if improperly taken care of could alter a person’s entire life. Nourishment and stimulation before and after the birth of a child mold’s the brain in its most malleable state. Medical and scientific institutes paired with parenting information organizations have made information readily available for parents, childcare providers, and students to advise them of the importance of childhood brain development. This information is not only critical for the child, but for the person they will become in the future.
Vygotsky placed much more emphasis on language that Piaget (book). Vygotsky’s theory focuses on the role of interpersonal processes and the role of the child’s community and culture which provide a framework from which the child’s construction of meaning develops (book). Although Vygotsky stressed that the process must be in in the context of the child’s culture and the tools available within that culture. Vygotsky was always especially interested in cognitive processes which underline understanding which has led to the concept of shared understandings that occur when people communicate with each other. Vygotsky argued that through the use of language formed through social interaction a child can develop as a thinker and a learner (book). As a conscious individual people could not accomplish very much without the aids and tools within their culture such as language (book). Piaget argued that language was strongly influenced by the underlying cognitive structures within the individual child (book). They also disagreed on the egocentric speech of children. When observing children Piaget concluded that half of the mistakes children made was down to egocentric speech which he argued showed that children have not tried to communicate with another or adapted so others can understand them he also argued that young children did not seem to care if anyone else could understand them and
Theorists such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Lawrence Kohlberg have studied and documented information about the stages of childhood development. The three main stages of childhood development are early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. Each stage contains developmental behaviors and characteristics of different age groups. However, the childhood development stage that this paper is focus on is the middle childhood stage. During this phase in a child’s life, they go through a variety of changes. Such changes include; physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes. According to this course text, HDEV (2010), middle childhood comprises children between the ages of 6 to 12 years. In addition, in relation to the information that is presented in this text about the
This reading reminded me about how Vygotsky’s theory is mostly based on the interactions and influences help children to learn. I really do believe this theory is very accurate, because students can learn from each other. If a teacher is having trouble explaining a complex topic to a student, another student can explain it in more relatable way. Also, I was fascinated when I read about what cultural tools, were and how they related to Vygotsky’s beliefs. Learning about what cultural tools were, helped me to broaden my understanding of how crucial cultural tools are to student’s learning process. Also, the chapter did a great job of elaborating on how these tools can help to advance and grow in the understanding of student’s thinking process. Another aspect of this reading that interested me was the elaboration on private speech and the Zone of Proximal Development. Each of the definitions displayed help me to advance my own thinking on what it was and how it is used in regards to the education of students. The description of what private speech and how it is basically the inner narration of their thinking process helped me to understand how this aspect can help with students learning. Also, the Zone of Proximal Development helped me to make a connection to both what is and how it relates to private speech as well. The Zone of proximal development plays a crucial role in the
Papalia, Diane E, Sally W. Olds, and Ruth D. Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. The author is a child development and psychology professor. This is an anthology with strictly objective information. The content is broken down into physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developments of different stages of childhood.
The first two years of a humans life are bursting with biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development. In the first few weeks after conception to two years after birth a child’s brain experiences more growth than any other organ in the body. During the first two years of a child’s life the brain is very plastic and malleable. In order for children to continue down a path of success and learning there are certain experiences a child must have in order to develop normally. The First Two years of a child life is responsible for the foundation that is layed.
Four years later in 1917, Vygotsky graduated from Moscow University and landed a job as a literature teacher at one of the local secondary schools in Gomel, Russia. He would continue his work as a teacher from 1917-1924, when he resigned to accept a job at the local teacher’s college. There, one of Vygotsky’s responsibilities was to teach courses in psychology, which is what sparked his interest in psychology, specifically cognitive development of children. During 1924, Vygotsky met a man by the name of Alexander Luria who worked at Moscow’s Institute of Psychology (MIP). Impressed by Vygotsky’s work, Luria offered him a job working at MIP, which allowed him the opportunity to work and study the cognitive development of children and adults suffering from numerou...
Theories of child development have been researched and published over the years. These researches have been done by popular theorists four of whom are Piaget (1896 –1980), Vygotsky (1896 –1934), Ausubel (1918 –2008) and Kohlberg (1927 –1987). First and foremost let me define the term theory. A theory is a collection of related statements; the principal function of which is to summarize and explain observations. It is in a sense an invention designed to make sense of what we know or suspect. Developmental theory on the other hand is a systematic statement of principles and generalizations that provides a coherent framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow older. The writer in her essay will outline two theories of development Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget who spoke about the moral and cognitive development respectively.
Gredler, M. (2012). Understanding Vygotsky for the Classroom: Is It Too Late?. Educational Psychology Review, 24(1), 113-131. doi:10.
The similarities in the theories, including the development perspective and dialectical approach, are very complex and focus upon the fundamentals of each theory. The differences in each theory make them very unique, including the autonomous and heteronomous approaches for each respective theory. The four cognitive stages of Piaget’s theory, including sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations, provide a clear, effective progression of an individual’s development path from infancy to adulthood. This is very unique to Piaget’s theory and is utilized immensely in academic studies of psychology. The fundamental aspects of Vygotsky’s theory, including cultural and historical factors contributing to the individual’s development is also very unique and is regularly utilized in academic studies. Without the research that each theorist conducted and presented, the psychology studies that we know today would not be the same. The work of both respective theorists will continue to be utilized in academia and in psychology for many years to
In the developing stages of a child, psychological factors play a huge role in th...
Shaffer, D., Kipp, K., Wood, E., & Willoughby, T. (2010). Developmental psychology childhood and adolescence. (3rd ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth