Examining Educational Theorists and Current Practice Today

1838 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Jean Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development

Examining Educational Theorists and Current Practice Today

Abstract

This paper names three educational theorists, Benjamin Bloom, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky, and seeks to examine their most well-known theories. These are namely, Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. Each theory is briefly explained and then compared and contrasted with the other theories. Lastly, the author reflects on the practical application of these theories in a classroom setting, discussing how these philosophies fit into the author’s current practice.

Can anyone with a thought, idea, or theory about a topic be considered a theorist? Those who are formally named as theorists in educated circles seem to be people who have spent time pondering a particular subject, topic, or issue and then shared his or her thoughts with others of that field, eventually following up with testing and publication. In that same vein, are not those who study and work in those fields, albeit perhaps unpublished and unrecognized, pondering the inner workings of that field also considered theorists? When it comes to education, there are those who through publication have shared their theories regarding its purposes, processes, effects, etc, and then there are those who perform its’ necessary tasks daily. The latter learn about the former as part of undergraduate courses in education but are seldom asked to carry out these theories farther than a pencil-paper test. This graduate level course has asked, in the form of this paper, for students who are at work in the field of education to re-examine several of these theorists, comparing and contrasting their pu...

... middle of paper ...

...onal Bureau of Education. Vol: XXX, No. 3. www.ibe.unesco.org/Internaional/Publications/ThinkersPdf/bloome.pdf

Gallagher, C. (n.d.) Psychology history: Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky http://fates.cns.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/vygotsky.htm

Major categories in the taxonomy of educational objectives (Bloom, 1956). http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/bloom.html

MIA: encyclopedia of marxism: glossary of people: vy (Vygotsky, Lev.). www.marxists.org/glossary/people/v/y.htm

Presnell, F. (n.d.) Psychology history: Jean Piaget. http://fates.cns.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/piaget.htm

Schutz, R. (2002, March). Vygotsky and language acquisition. www.sk.com/sk-vygot.html

Smith, L. (2000, November). A brief biography of Jean Piaget. The Jean Piaget Society: society for the study of knowledge and development. www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html

Show More
Related

  • Erikson's Theory Compare And Contrast

    2118 Words  | 5 Pages

    Piaget’s theory is consistent and has contributed to how we think about education. The theory supports the child’s need to explore and to practice trial and error in the process of learning (Mooney, 2000, p. 62). Piaget’s theory is weakened by his lack of rigorous scientific research methods and the lack of diversity by using his own children as test subjects. Piaget’s instructions for his tests were complicated and limited the possible outcomes (Lourenco & Machado, 1996,

    Read More

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), originally associated with combat, has always been around in some shape or form but it was not until 1980 that it was named Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and became an accredited diagnosis (Rothschild). The fact is PTSD is one of many names for an old problem; that war has always had a severe psychological impact on people in immediate and lasting ways. PTSD has a history that is as long and significant as the world’s war history - thousands of years. Although, the diagnosis has not been around for that long, different names and symptoms of PTSD always have been. Some physical symptoms include increased blood pressure, excessive heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, nausea, diarrhea, problems with vision, speech, walking disorders, convulsive vomiting, cardiac palpitations, twitching or spasms, weakness and severe muscular cramps. The individual may also suffer from psychological symptoms, such as violent nightmares, flashbacks, melancholy, disturbed sleep or insomnia, loss of appetite, and anxieties when certain things remind them such as the anniversary date of the event (Peterson, 2009).

    Read More

  • Chimpanzee Politics: Power And Sex Among Apes By Franz De Waal

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Franz De Waal’s book Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes, social interactions between the chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in Holland are examined. De Waal spends time observing the lives of these animals and comparing them and their ‘culture’ to human culture. The book follows a power struggle between the three dominant male chimps, Yeroen, Luit, and Nikkie. The book does not exclude female chimps and talks about how they influence the role the alpha males play.

    Read More

  • Essay On Transcendentalism

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    His writings were the exact bases of transcendentalism, which is becoming one with nature because he put the theory of living as a transcendentalist to actual life. He published Walden, which was written in first person about his 2 year experience living in a cabin that he built in the wilderness. Walden expressed the story of how Thoreau moved to the open wilderness to become one with nature in order for him to find out everything about himself. He survived off the land by only using things that nature supplied him with. He begins to see that nature is superior than the society he lived in. He learns how to live in a place that is just a place for him to be able to sit, and he begins to question what the real necessities that people need to survive are? Walden put many things into perspective, which Thoreau shared because he wanted to people to understand the true meaning for living and in order for people to understand they need to seek the natural state of life. He valued simplicity, not bounding their life to material

    Read More

  • Jean Piaget Analysis

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    A well-known psychologist, Jean Piaget is most famous for his work in child development. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget presents four stages of mental development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Piaget explains the adaptation processes that allow transition from one stage to the next. He also emphasizes the role of schemas as a basic unit of knowledge.

    Read More

  • Comparative Analysis of Piaget and Vygotsky's Theories

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Piaget versus Vygotsky: Similarities and Differences This paper explores the ideas of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Exploring their philosophies and how they impact us today. The two scholarly articles show similarities and differences in their works and explore what they each mean. Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two of the most influential philosophers in the field of cognitive development.

    Read More

  • Child Psychology And The Development Of Child Development

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    He developed his own laboratory and spent years recording children’s intellectual growth. Jean wanted to find out how children develop through various stages of thinking. This led to the development of Piaget four important stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage (birth to age two), preoperational stage (age two to seven), concrete-operational stage (ages seven to twelve), and formal-operational stage (ages eleven to twelve, and thereafter).

    Read More

  • Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Framework: The Early Years Learning Framework

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Early Years Learning Framework allows educators to draw on a wide range of perspectives and theories which gives educators the ability to challenge traditional ways of teaching young children. One of the Theorists that underpins the EYLF document is Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory is based on the belief that early cognitive development occurs through processes where actions prompt our thought process and this in turn influences our actions next time round. Piaget was of the belief that a child’s cognitive development follows a fixed process of four stages that are the same for all children. The four stages are as follows; Stage one is the Sensori-Motor stage (0-2 years). This is the stage where the child is beginning to learn about the world

    Read More

  • Biography of Jean Piaget

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Smith, L. (2000, November 1). A Brief Biography of Jean Piaget. . Retrieved May 16, 2014, from http://www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html

    Read More

  • Essay On Vygotsky's Theory Of Cognitive Development

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are five ways in which Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. The very first way that teachers can use these theories to teach constructively is by providing scaffolded instruction within the ZPD for their students (292). In other words, a teacher must be able to assist children in achieving a goal that may be slightly too difficult for them to reach alone. An example of this would be if a teacher had decided that her class should do an experiment on how well plants grow based on the amount of water they receive, she could challenge her students to make a hypothesis about what they think will happen. This teacher could allow her students to individually plant their seeds and then guiding her students to predict or hypothesize what they believe will happen if one plant gets more water than another. This example directly correlates with Vygotsky’s idea of ZPD because

    Read More

  • Jean Piaget Learning Theory

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jean Piaget is a Switzerland psychologist and biologist who understand children’s intellectual development. Piaget is the first to study cognitive development. He developed the four stages of cognitive development: the sensori-motor stage, preoperational stage, the concrete operational and the formal operational stage. Piaget curiosity was how children cogitate and developed. As they get mature and have the experience, children’s will get knowledgeable. He suggested that children develop schemas so they can present the world. Children’s extend their schemas through the operation of accommodation and assimilation.

    Read More

  • Jean Piaget And Lev Vygotsky's Cognitive Development

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jean Piaget was an individual constructivist. According to Piaget, a child’s cognitive structure helps the child understand the world around him. This structure develops into complex mental activities. He believed that childhood plays an important role in the growth of intelligence and a child learns through doing and exploring. Piaget believed that hands

    Read More

  • Piaget Theory Essay

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    “{No theory of cognitive development has had more impact than the cognitive stages presented by Jean Piaget. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, suggested that children go through four separate stages in a fixed order that is universal in all children. Piaget declared that these stages differ not only in the quantity of information acquired at each, but also in the quality of knowledge and understanding at that stage. Piaget suggested that movement from one stage to the next occurred when the child reached an appropriate level of maturation and was exposed to relevant types of experiences. Without experience, children were assumed incapable of reaching their highest cognitive ability. Piaget's four stages are known as the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

    Read More

  • The Critique of Piaget's Theories

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Critique of Piaget's Theories Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was a constructivist theorist. He saw children as constructing their own world, playing an active part in their own development. Piaget’s insight opened up a new window into the inner working of the mind and as a result he carried out some remarkable studies on children that had a powerful influence on theories of child thought. This essay is going to explain the main features and principles of the Piagetian theory and then provide criticism against this theory. Cognitive development refers to way in which a person’s style of thinking changes with age.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

    1757 Words  | 4 Pages

    One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.

    Read More

More about Examining Educational Theorists and Current Practice Today

Open Document