PEDAGOGY

Compare and Contrast the Theories Piaget and Vygotsky How Have their Ideas been Influential on Early Childhood Curricula and Pedagogy



Compare and Contrast the Theories Piaget and Vygotsky How Have their Ideas been Influential on Early Childhood Curricula and Pedagogy

Introduction

Learning and development are the concepts that are always attached with the human being. There are various theories and concepts have been put forward by many theorists and philosophers. The psychology of child development and learning has two main exponents whose work and studies are still valid today: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Contribution of these two psychologists occupies immense importance in the field of child development and learning. This paper also revolves around the same phenomenon of learning and discusses various aspects and theories put forward by Vygotsky and Piaget.

Piagetian Theory

In Piagetian theory of childhood cognitive development, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their surroundings (Berk, 2000). Piaget asserts that development takes place in stages and is uniform across individuals regardless of social environment.

Sensorimotor stage

This stage takes place between birth and age two, as children begin to understand the information his senses and his ability to interact with the world. During this stage, children learn to manipulate objects, but cannot understand the permanence of these objects if they are within the range of an individual's senses. That is, once an object disappears from view of the child cannot understand that there is still the object (or person). For this reason they find it so compelling and surprising game that many adults play with their children, consistent in hiding his face behind an object such as a cushion, and then return to "appear." It is a game that also contributes to learn object permanence, which is one of the greatest achievements of this stage: the ability to understand that these objects continue to exist but cannot see them. This includes the ability to understand that when the mother leaves the room, come back, which increases their sense of security. This capability is usually acquired by the end of this stage and represents the ability to maintain a mental image of the object (or person) without noticing.

Preoperational stage

It starts when you understand object permanence, and extends from two to the seven years. During this stage, children learn how to interact with their environment in a more complex by the use of words and mental images. This stage is marked by self-centeredness, or the belief that all people see the world the same way a child does. They also believe that inanimate objects have the same perceptions that they and you can see, feel, hear, etc.

A second important factor at this stage is the Conservation, which is the ability to understand that the amount does not change when the shape changes. That is, if the water in a short, wide glass is poured into a tall and thin, children at this stage believe that the glass contains more water higher only because of its ...