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Cognitive Development 2

CONTINUED from lastweek

Evaluation of Piagets

theories Contrast with a socio-

cultural approach: Vygotskys theories

What can maturational andsocio-cultural theories tellus about development?

PROFESSOR KAREN PINE


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Post-Piaget

Since Piaget researchers have modified some of hisexperiments: Changing the way questions are asked

Using more familiar scenarios

Making them more meaningful for the child

They have shown that his findings can be replicated butyounger children can achieve greater success with modifiedversions of the tasks (Beilin, 1978)

Little evidence for his stages, with development now believedto be more gradual than stage-like (Flavell, 1992)

Childrens abilities shown to relate to experience and culture(Fahrmeier, 1978: Hausa tribe children do not receive formaleducation - cannot conserve until 11 years of age).


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Hughes (1976) adapted the Three Mountains Task to make it more familiar to youngchildren and found less egocentrism: even 4 year olds could adopt anothers viewpoint.


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McGarrigle & Donaldson (1974)

Donaldson thought the child might be confusedby the standard conservation experiment andthink there is a link between changing the display

on the conservation task and the question asked. The child could think the experimenter is

expecting a different answer after changing thearray and asking Are they the same? the second

time. What if it wasnt the experimenter who muddled

up the display, but someone else?


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Light, Buckingham and Robbins (1979) provided a reason for switching the beakers (a chippedone) and found younger children could conserve quantity.


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Evaluation of Piagets Theory1. Criticisms (VIDEO)

Methodology Clinical interview, case studies. No actual data. Cross sectional rather

than longitudinal studies.

No evidence for his cognitive structures

Underestimation of earlier stages In the right social context the child emerges as more confident than

Piaget had suggested. Manipulation of the way tasks are presented shows children can pass

them at an earlier age

Overestimation of later stages

Formal operational thinking achieved in a more haphazard and gradual

way than Piaget thought Shayer et al (1976) found only 30% of 16 year olds in UK used formal

operational thinking on the pendulum task

Idea of domain general stages questioned

Did not pay great attention to influence of social world


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Evaluations of Piagets Theory2. Positive outcomes

Piaget drew attention to the active role of the child in itsdevelopment, no longer viewed as a passive recipient ofknowledge

His tasks were imaginative and extensive and his theory

the most comprehensive account of cognitive growthput forward

Dealt with a wide range of childrens thinking and allages

Influenced educators - discovery exploratory child-centredlearning to adapt to the child (not the child to the adult)

Much more research generated from his ideas and has had ahuge impact on developmental and educational psychology.


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Key ideas relating to cognitive

development

Maturation- Piagets view of a sequences of stages that all children went through in a fixed order

at certain ages.

- Cognitive development is in part genetically constrained and cannot be accelerated

Constructivism Piaget believed the childs knowledge base is constantly being revised and

restructured in the light of experiences. Vygotsky also thought the childconstructed their own knowledge base, but through interactions with peopleas well as objects.

Nativism

Unlike Piaget nativists e.g. Fodor/ Chomsky argue that the cognitive system isfixed and composed of highly constrained input modules which change littlewith age and experience.

Domain General change Piagets idea that cognitive change occurs across all domains, whereas others

(e.g. Karmiloff-Smith) believe change can be domain specific. Her approachcombines constructivism and nativism.


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Vygotsky 1896 - 1934

Russian psychologist who said that

development cannot be separated from itssocietal and cultural context.

Also a contructivist theory of development butlanguage and interaction with others plays a

more central role.KEY IDEAS:

Children develop and learn with the help of adults- by joining

in and sharing an activity with a more experienced partner

(who provides scaffolding).

The social worlddetermines the structure and pattern ofinternal cognition (not cognitive structures as Piaget believed).

There are no stages of development but, with age and

guidance, an increase in the childs Zone of Proximal

Development:


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Vygotsky:Zone of Proximal Development

ZPD = Independent performance +Assisted performance


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Vygotskys ZPD

Other people help child to optimise their ZPD through scaffolding -prompting the next step, guiding and supporting the childs efforts,stretching the childs skills.

Scaffoldingis the way another provides temporary support for learning and problemsolving, e.g. through clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down

into steps or providing an example.

McNaughton & Leyland, (BJDP, 1990) found most mothers do this naturallyChildren whose mothers scaffold are better problem-solvers (Behrend et al, 1992)

Children learn best when stretched to do something new but still withintheir ZPD (Wertsch, 1979)

The child internalises knowledge learned in a social context,decontextualises it, then adult gradually withdraws support until child ableto take over the activity alone

Has had a strong influence on educational practice (peer learning)

See http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~group4/
http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~group4/http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~group4/


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Rogoff (1990,2002) applies Vygotskystheories to an educational environment:

- stresses the importance of communities of learning that foster collaborativerelationships between the adult and the child.

- the role that language plays in mediating learning and how this learningbecomes internalised and is then translated into action in other times andplaces.

- the significance of guidance (as opposed to direct teaching) which can beexplicit and clear, or tacit and implied.

- the space in which learning takes place: either proximal, close or distal, andgradually at more distance from the learner.

Children take part in the activities of their community, engaging with otherchildren and with adults, in routine and tacit situations, as well as explicitcollaboration (both in each other's presence and in otherwise sociallystructured activities).Support for Vygotskys socio-cultural approach comes from findings that

children raised in non-stimulating environments suffer developmentally.


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Piaget and Vygotsky

Piaget reasoned that children pass through a series of stages of

intellectual development before they are able to reason and think logically.

Teaching therefore is only effective if the child is ready to assimilate thenew ideas or experiences.

Piaget emphasised the key role that action played in childrens learning.

Vygotsky placed more emphasis on the role of language, and of directintervention and help by others who are more skilled in a task.

Vygotsky saw language and private speech as a tool for thought,helping children to guide and organise their behaviour. Piaget saw privatespeech as evidence of egocentrism.

Piaget did not rule out social interaction as having a role it could forcecognitive conflict, for example, so that children might progress their

understanding in a collaborative context. For Vygotsky it was critical.


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Reflecting on Cognitive Development

.

What have Piaget and Vygotskys approaches (onematurational, one socio-cultural) told us about

cognitive development?

How well does each stand up to criticism?What are the similarities and differences in their

theories?

Are they still relevant today? Turning point questions

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