Comparison of Piaget and Vygotsky Theories

Jean Piaget (August 1896 – September 1980) Cognitive theory – Leading up to Piaget’s theory, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults. The legacy of Jean Piaget to the world or early childhood education is that he fundamentally altered the view of how a child learns. He concluded that children are allowed to make mistakes often to go on to discover their errors and correct them, or find new solutions. During this process, children build their own way of learning. He put emphasis on the importance in the process of maturing and providing a stimulating environment for children to explore, and that children are active learners. Piaget believed that children’s motivation to learn comes from their natural curiosity about the world (Mooney, 2000). Early childhood education often focuses on learning through play; Piaget felt this was a crucial aspect of learning as a child. Piaget also believed that children’s thinking passed through four separate stages and changed qualitatively in each of these stages. Piaget’s four stages are:

❖ Sensory – motor stage – This stage is from birth to 2 years old. During this stage children are using their physical or motor skills and their senses to explore their world and develop their cognitive understandings.

❖ Pre-operational stage – This stage is from 2-7 years old. In this stage, according to Piaget, children are “illogical” thinkers, and rely less upon their senses and physical exploration. Children become able to think in symbolic terms, to form ideas from words and symbols.

❖ Concrete operations – This stage is from 7 to 12 years old. This stage in middle childhood, children are beginning to be able to demonstrate much greater logical thinking, needing concrete materials to help them reach the correct conclusions. Children have absorbed more experiences of the world, and now are becoming able to use their imagination to create logical reasoning...