The Theories of Jean Piaget vs. The Theories of Lev Vygotsky

143 Pages·2014·9.78 MB·English

• Philosophy of Education Statement
• Domain I (The Learner and Learning)
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 1: (Learner Development)
• Artifact for Standard 1: The Theories of Jean Piaget vs. The Theories of Lev Vygotsky
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 2: (Learning Differences)
• Artifact for Standard 2: Shape Up
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 3: (Learning Environments)
• Artifact for Standard 3: Vertebrates & Invertebrates: Life Cycles & Adaptations

• Domain II (Content Knowledge)
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 4: (Content Knowledge)
• Artifact for Standard 4: Static Electricity
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 5: (Application of Content)
• Artifact for Standard 5: Native Americans

• Domain III (Instructional Practice)
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 6: (Assessment)
• Artifact for Standard 6: Inference Lesson
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 7: (Planning For Instruction)
• For Elementary Literacy
• Artifact for Standard 7: Life Cycle of A Frog
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 8: (Instructional Strategies)
• Artifact for Standard 8: Science Unit Plans (Fourth Grade)

• Domain IV (Professional Responsibility)
• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 9: (Professional Learning and Ethical Practice)
• Artifact for Standard 9: Observed Inference Lesson Reflective & Observed Shape Up
Lesson Reflective

• Rationale for Artifact for Standard 10: (Leadership and Collaboration)
• Artifact for Standard 10: Case Study
Philosophy of Education

The purpose of education is to pass fundamental and essential knowledge on to
others. Education is indispensable for the human race to further perpetuate its growth for
the future. Without education and learning, we're not moving forward; if we're not moving
ahead, we're moving backward.
In order for education to be advantageous, it starts with an effective instructor. An
effective educator is one that first possesses the required knowledge needed to pass on to
his/her students. If a teacher does not fully understand what is required to be taught, it is
probable that the concepts being conveyed to students will not be fully correct in its
translation to students; and therefore, the students will suffer.
The other vital component of a successful educator is one that possesses great
organizational skills. The act of educating can be a daily juggling act of teaching concepts,
while managing various student abilities, and contending with differing behavioral issues.
It is also very important for an educator to have the ability to teach concepts in more
than one way. It is imperative that a teacher be able to teach concepts in multiple ways
because not everyone learns in the same manner, and it is important for educators to
recognize that learning can take place in different ways. Educators need to be able to
identify various learning types in their classrooms, and they need strategies to teach the
information that is required of them to diverse types of learners.
While it is extremely important for a child's body to be exercised, one could argue
that it is more important for a child's brain to be challenged through education than for
his/her body to be exercised. It is essential that children's minds be expanded through all
forms of education, and that starts with an effective, organized, and prepared educator.
It is the teacher's obligation that his/her students go home each day smarter than
when they first walked through the classroom door. If a teacher can successfully obtain that
goal, that teacher has now become an educator. Most anyone can "teach" someone through
the act of telling him/her something that he/she didn't know beforehand; however, when
the person being taught has acquired more knowledge with the help of his/her teacher, that
instructor has now become an educator.

Standard 1: “Learner Development”

• The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of
learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic,
social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally
appropriate and challenging learning experiences.

Name of Artifact One: The Theories of Jean Piaget vs. The Theories of Lev Vygotsky
Date: November 20th, 2008
Course: EDI 601: Social Foundations of Education

Rationale: The artifact I have chosen to demonstrate my knowledge of Standard 1 is a paper
I wrote during the Fall 2008 semester while I was taking the course, “EDI 601: Social
Foundations of Education” at LIU Post in Brookville, NY.

This artifact describes the educational philosophies of two constructivists, Jean Piaget and
Lev Vygotsky, and it contrasts both of their ideas regarding the rate at which children learn
and mature, whether it be through natural development and/or through social interactions.

Piaget’s theories are all based on scientific information and schematic ideas. One of Piaget’s
most important theories is his theory on the four developmental stages each child goes
through in his/her developmental process. Vygotsky’s vast work on cognitive development
caused him to have a belief that learning mainly takes place on a social level. He believe
that it is essential for a person to first learn socially, and later use that knowledge to further
understand a topic on an individual level. Vygotsky also believed that one’s use of cultural
tools, such as language, numbers, and symbols constricts our thinking.

This artifact relates to Standard 1 because it explains two different schools of thought
regarding how children learn, and it reminds me that my students will need to be taught
lessons and concepts in various ways that are beneficial to each of them based on their
developmental and social levels.

Understanding these two theories of how children learn, affords me the ability to better
educate my students with the knowledge that my students may be at different intellectual
levels through natural development and/or through their social interactions. While I am
teaching my students, I will now be aware of the fact that children learn and mature at
different rates, and I will be cognizant of this information while I am educating my students.
I will be aware that not all students of the same age have the same intellectual abilities of
other children at the same age, while others may not have the same cognitive abilities based
on their surroundings of other children the same age.
Daniel Bod
EDI 601
November 20th, 2008

The Theories of Jean Piaget vs. The Theories of Lev Vygotsky

Constructivists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are both regarded as two of the most
influential theorists on educational development among children. While both of these two
scientists grew up in the early twentieth century and did most of their work at the same
time, each of these two men arrived at two separate theories. While each of these two
men’s theories is different in design, each one’s theories have some similarities with the
other one’s theories and vice versa.
Jean Piaget was a philosopher in Switzerland, in the early 1900s and spent his time
working with children, and trying to better understand how children learn. Piaget’s theories
are all based on scientific information and schematic ideas. One of Piaget’s most important
theories is his theory on the four developmental stages each child goes through in his/her
developmental process. The first of the four developmental stages Piaget identified is called
the “Sensorimotor Stage,” which is described as a time in which children are egocentric, and
cannot perceive the world from any point of view, other than their own. This stage is one in
which he believed all children are in while they are infants, (generally) from the time they
are born until the time they are two years-old. Piaget conducted experiments to observe
how infants responded to “object permanence.” “Object permanence” is the term used to
describe the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.
Piaget’s experiments consisted of infants being shown a toy or a pleasing object, and then
the objects of toys were hidden beneath a blanket. Some of the babies had an awareness
that the items had not simply vanished around the age of eight months-old, during the
sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. The next stage Piaget theorizes is the
“Preoperational Stage.” This stage focuses on children from around age two to age seven
and suggests that children are still egocentric, they develop semiotic functioning, and they
are not yet logical thinkers. It is during this time that children develop language skills and
they can identify items with words and images. The third stage of the four stages of
cognitive development that Piaget called, “Concrete Operational,” is a stage that most
seven year-old children to eleven year-old children reach, and is characterized by the
appropriate use of logic. This stage finds that children are able to sort objects according to
their classifications, as well as to classify items based on their characteristics. Children in
this stage will also be able to see items from more than one perspective. For example, if a
child that has reached this stage is given a row of five quarters spread over twelve inches,
and later a row of five quarters spread over twenty-four inches, this student will be able to
deduce that, although the quarters suddenly take up more space, it is still the same amount
of quarters as before. Toward the end of this stage, Piaget said that children begin to lose
their egocentrism. The final stage of Piaget’s developmental theory is called the “Formal
Operations” stage. Adolescents and young adults will find themselves in this stage. This is
the most advanced stage that Piaget has identified and says that people in this stage have
the ability to reason about abstract concepts such as friendship, love, morality, and justice.
In contrast to Jean Piaget’s theories, Lev Vygotsky, a Russian-born psychologist in the
early 1900s, had more of a sociocultural theory on how he believed children learn.
Vygotsky’s vast work on cognitive development caused him to have a belief that learning
mainly takes places on a social level. He believed that it is essential for a person to first
learn socially and later use that knowledge to further understand a topic on an individual
level. Vygotsky also believed that one’s use of cultural tools, such as language, numbers,
and symbols constricts our thinking. Vygotsky’s main belief was that children learn best
when they have social support and that learning comes before development, which is in
strong contrast to the beliefs of Piaget. Vygotsky’s work discussed children learn better
when they are taught using a “scaffolding method.” While not identified until the 1950s, the
practice of “instructional scaffolding” (which originated from Vygotsky’s scientific findings)
says that students have a better understanding of skills and concepts when they are taught
with a foundation and with support all throughout a lesson. These supports are introduced
when a lesson is first being introduced to a student and they can include resources,
templates, guides, and personal accounts. Once these initial “scaffolds” are applied, the
student has a foundation on which he/she can build his/her knowledge and as the student
becomes more informed and comfortable with a concept, these “scaffolds” can begin to be
removed until all are gone and the student’s knowledge is independent from any
“scaffolds.” In addition, Vygotsky’s theories also spoke about a “co-constructed process,”
whereby a group of students would interact and negotiate (usually verbally) to create an
understanding or to solve a problem.
Vygotsky believed strongly that children learn best when they are in a social setting
and have the collaborative help of others to expand on their own prior knowledge. When
students are placed in a group setting, the other members of the group are part of the
“scaffold” and are there to help one another with the understanding of a concept. Once the
other students in the group are removed, the individual student will be able to use their new
found knowledge to help with the understanding of the taught concept. He believed that a
child can solve a problem with the right amount of “scaffolding.”
A major part of Lev Vygotsky’s theories on social learning is a concept he developed
called “Zone of Proximal Development.” The “Zone of Proximal Development” refers to the
happy-medium between what a student can do independently versus what the student can
do via assistance. He believed that the most helpful social interactions were the ones with
people who are more capable or advanced in their thinking.
While Piaget’s theories say that learning is constrained by development, Vygotsky’s
theories say that learning pushes development. Piaget said, “Learning is subordinated to
development and not vice versa.” While, in contrast, Vygotsky said, “Organized learning
results in mental development and sets in motion a variety of developmental processes that
would be impossible apart from learning.” He also contrasted Piaget’s theories when he said
he believed “…learning to be an active process that does not have to wait for readiness. It is
a tool in development.” While Vygotsky believed in social interaction as the way people
learn best, it was Piaget that believed strongly that children have to be cognitively ready to
learn and that they learn on an individual basis, by age and maturity level.
Piaget’s theories have an “Inside-Out” approach to them. Piaget believed that it was
the child that learned more and had better cognitive capabilities as he/she reached stages
introduced by Piaget. In vast contrast, Vygotsky had an “Outside-In” approach to the way in
which he believed children learned. He believed that while children gain more knowledge as
they grow older, it is the social interactions children have that have the greatest effect on
their cognitive development.
While the two theorists of cognitive learning had very separate viewpoints, their
beliefs were also similar in certain instances. For example, they both believed that a child’s
environment played a role in the learning process, and they both believed that a child’s