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Contributions Of Piaget And Vygotsky's Cognitive Development

analytical Essay
1707 words
1707 words
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Despite of the fact that Piaget (1969)'s theories are not that updated, his contributions to the field still manage to influence many human development experts. He divided children's cognitive development into four stages. There are specific mental and physical abilities that kids get to master as they go along their natural learning process. Piaget described children as natural scientists who assimilate knowledge of the world by interacting with their surroundings. These interactions not only boost children's intelligence but foster language acquisition as well. Piaget's cognitive development stages are as follows: from birth to two years of age (sensor-motor stage), from two to seven (pre-operational stage), from seven to twelve (concrete …show more content…

In this essay, the author

  • Analyzes how piaget divided children's cognitive development into four stages, describing them as natural scientists who assimilate knowledge of the world by interacting with their surroundings.
  • Explains that the pre-operational stage is where children master their verbal skills in a logical and an operational way. these mental processes enable them to analyze and describe what they perceived with their five senses and recall previously acquired vocabulary.
  • Explains that vygotsky supports piaget's theory by stating that children play an active role on their cognitive and linguistic development.
  • Explains that several laws regarding early childhood in colombia and social institutions such as the national ministry of education (men), the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organizations (unesco), and the world health organization (who) present different perspectives.
  • Explains that the men defines early childhood as the period where children acquire their mother tongue and establish the basis that will guarantee a better quality of life.
  • Argues that it is inappropriate to divide early childhood into separate milestones. the ministry alleges that everyone should consider human development from a different perspective.
  • Explains that it's difficult to establish a marked line between stages when talking about earlychildhood. every single child has his/her own pace and some abilities are constructed step by step.
  • Explains that unesco defines early childhood as the stage where kids achieve high levels of brain development by establishing their cognitive, linguistic, and social foundations that serve as base for their lifelong learning.
  • Analyzes how unesco recognizes the existent discrepancies between kids belonging to high and mid socioeconomic backgrounds to the lower ones.
  • Argues that the world health organization (2008) settles early childhood development as a vital turning point, where all that is acquired will have an impact for the rest of kid's lives.
  • Analyzes how irwin et al. and the who confirm how crucial it is for a country to invest on its citizen's early childhood development.
  • Explains that irwin et al. do not explicitly credit those investigations on their article, but they emphasize their early childhood related findings. the environment plays a crucial role on the skills' development of children.
  • Concludes that early childhood is an essential time for children development, since it is where they acquire multiple cognitive, personality, social, and language competences.

Furthermore, Vygotsky declares that knowledge is constructed by social interactions with people who surround the child. The author also presents the concept of “zone of proximal development” as the distance between what children do without any supervision and what they are not able to achieve unless a more knowledgeable person guides them through it. In other words, the zone of proximal development refers to activities children cannot do, though they manage to fulfill with certain level of difficulty by following their better skilled fellows' suitable guidance. In the educational field, teachers play an essential role on their learners’ developmental process. Educators serve as models and provide a vast range of learning opportunities that enable their students reach their next level of development and become more autonomous each …show more content…

10th guide - Desarrollo Infantil para la Primera Infancia (2009) that early childhood refers to the period from starting at birth up to five years of age. It is a period where children acquire their mother tongue and establish the basis that will guarantee a better quality of life henceforth. In addition to that, they state how fundamental it is to ensure proper care during this stage. The knowledge acquired during this period of time will be remembered for life; thus, what people do not achieve during this time will become an obstacle that will cause children to be less competent in the future. “The National Ministry of Education assumes the educational policies, within the framework of the proper care to early childhood, as a great challenge and an obligation for the State, the society, and the family” (MEN, 2009, p.13). Hence, its main intention is to execute egalitarian educational methodologies regardless children’s racial, physical, or social condition where preschoolers from the public sector can access the same education and guidance provided by teachers with whom they share their daily life with. This way, by the creation of meaningful learning areas, children can spark their own knowledge through arts, ludic, reading, invention, imagination and movement; empowering their knowledge to foster a more competent society

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