CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Child Development: Vygotsky, Piaget and Bruner

Child Development: Vygotsky, Piaget and Bruner

Introduction

Early childhood is an important phase of the lives of people and requires a lot of understanding of how children need to be cared. Children undergo rapid growth both biologically as well as mentally in these years and for the understanding of these developments many theorists have proposed different theories. There has been a lot of debate and discussion surrounding the development of children. Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Erikson and Bruner are some of the theorists who have provided insights about various child development phenomena that take place. These theories can then be applied for planning strategies related to early childhood education. The essay considers the theories of two traditional theorists—Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, and a current theorist Jerome Bruner and compare and contrast them to find similarities and differences in their proposed theories. This also helps in a deeper understanding of the theories and perspectives in child development and care.

Holistic development of a child

There are mainly five developmental domains of childhood development. Physical, social, emotional, language development and cognitive skills are those domains in which development takes place in a child. A holistic approach of childhood development seeks to simultaneously address all these domains and regard the growth and development of a child as a whole. All these dimensions are since inter-dependent; this approach helps in giving a better understanding of the actions of the child and the reasons behind the things they do. Hence if a child progresses in one area, progress in all other areas can also be seen (www.bestchance.gov.bc.ca). In this progress different theorists have identified the role and influence of different aspects. Role of elders such as teachers and parents and the role of environment are two of the factors that are considered to be most deterministic in the early childhood development with many theorists such as Vygotsky and Bruner emphasizing it while Piaget has proposed observation and schema as the major contributors in the learning process.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Jean Piaget is considered as among the pioneers of studying the cognitive development in a systematic manner. His contribution in relation to child development has been in many directions and serves as useful theories for child care. His theory of cognitive development in children and its observation in detail along with tests to identify abilities found in children can provide useful insights for developing strategies for child care.

Before Piaget, children were considered to be less competent as compared to adults when it came to thinking but Piaget showed that the difference lies in the way each thinks. In clearly defined stages of development with each having some difference from the other and showing a gradual increase in the exhibition of behaviour, concept or idea. For Piaget, cognitive development is a progressive process with environment playing a significant role in the process. Apart from the stages of development that he presents, it is the schema that is considered an essential component in the ...