Two Great Men Jean Piaget Analysis

Two Great Men Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s (Cherry, 2017). According to Cherry, Piaget became a published author at the young age of 11 years old. His initial formal training came as he worked as an assistant for Albert Binet and Theodore Simon. He developed a great interest in child development as he observed his niece and nephew. As he watched them grow, he formalized the opinion on their growth. Through observation, he noticed their intelligence increases as they get older and have experiences. Based on this, he was able to determine young children are just as intelligent as adults. They both just think differently. Piaget formalized his research to categorize child development into four stages: The Sensorimotor

The children learn through sensory play and discovery through inquiry. The Preoperational Stage is from ages 2 years to 7 years. They learn through pretend play and formulating their own opinion of the world. The Concrete Operational Stage is from ages 7 years to 11 years. Children begin to think independently and take others views into consideration. Finally, you have The Formal Operational Stage for ages 12 years and up. These teenagers begin to think abstractly and use deductive reasoning. Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist born in the 1800s. He is considered the founder of social theory. All of his research supports a child’s learning through social interactions and cultural influences. Social learning comes before cognitive and critical thinking. The thinking begins to differ from culture to culture. The children benefit from guided instruction from a peer or teacher. The teachers are essential in this pathway of learning because they will guide as well as drive the instruction. The learning is primary and the development is secondary.
Great Minds Think

Piaget believed a child is unable to understand until they progress through with age appropriately. Vygotsky in contrast believed a child could receive assistance or with proper scaffolding could attempt to participate in problem solving. The approach to providing instruction is different as well. Piaget thought the child could discover independently through play and discovery. While Vygotsky stated a child could have learned though guided instruction. This is similar to Accountable Talk, where the teacher can ask assessing and advancing questions to move instruction. Although the students are learning through discovery, they are being guided and pushed by the teacher with quality questioning. In contrast, Piaget believed in productive struggle where the child struggles through as they are attempting to figure out a solution