Vygotsky

Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that social and cultural cognition learning proceeds developmental and he did not categorise the developmental stages. Vygotsky believed that a child's learning is affected by their knowledge of their social community, and language is the fundamental part of gaining this knowledge.

Vygotsky also suggested that language plays a huge role in cognitive development. He thought it was cruicial because a great deal of mentoring relies on talking and listening. Both Piaget and Vygotsky noticed that pre-schooled children tend to talk to themselves. Piaget regarde this a egocentric babble. Vygotsky called this private speech. He believed that children use private speech to regulate their behaviour and internal experiences. It is also used to plan..

Vygotsky believed that children need instruction in order to learn, and can do more with the help and guidance of a more experienced person, which is a distinct contrast to Piaget's view that children learn vastly from their environment.

Vygotsky defined intelligence as “the capacity to learn from instruction”, and used the term MKO (more knowledgeable other) in reference to the person delivering instruction. He also used the term ZPD (zone of proximal development) which is the distance between what a child can do with, or without the assistance from the MKO. Vygotsky believed that the MKO provide scaffolding, which involves supporting the child as they develop new concepts, and gradually then removing the support as they progress, so that the child can complete the task independently.

Example: A mother could act as a scaffold for their child who is learning to walk. Initially, they could hold both of the child's hands, and gradually readjust the support as the child's capabilities to walk independently progress. The scaffolding should finally result in the child learning the ability to perform the task without any assistance.