Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Introduction
PIAGET is NOT THE ONLY RESEARCHER who has PRODUCED THEORIES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT in children.
LEV VYGOTSKY (1896-1934) IS arguably THE GREATEST RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGIST of
all time and one of the greatest psychologists of any country (Sternberg, 1990)
Born in the same year as Piaget, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 but not before HE
had MADE A CONSIDERABLE and LASTING CONTRIBUTION TO PSYCHOLOGY.
VYGOTSKY ANALYSED MANY STUDIES FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES and
DEVISED HIS OWN METHODS OF INVESTIGATING THOUGHTS among children,
adolescents, and adults IN THE SOVIET UNION.
AMONG THESE ARE what have subsequently become known as VYGOTSKY’S BLOCKS,
A TESTING INSTRUMENT FOR CHILDREN WHICH MEASURES WHETHER THEY
HAVE MASTERED A CONCEPT, RATHER THAN MEMORISED A WORD FOR IT.
His MAJOR WORKS were first published IN THE 1920s and 1930s but were NOT
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH UNTIL THE EARLY 1960s, but SINCE THEN they have
been VERY INFLUENTIAL.
Do Vygotsky and Piaget agree?
Vygotsky and Piaget agree that development doesn’t occur in a vacuum
Knowledge is constructed as a result of the child’s active interaction with the environment
, How does Vygotsky’s theory differ from Piaget’s?
1. Vygotsky and cognitive development within a social and cultural
context
For Piaget:
The environment is essentially asocial, so his account is described as constructivist
Action is individual with the child’s deeper knowledge coming from:
The children finding out for themselves through their interaction with play materials and
discovery learning
For Vygotsky:
Cognitive development depends v very largely on social factors. He is a social constructivist.
Vygotsky’s aim was to explain how the higher mental functions (reasoning, understanding,
planning, remembering) arise out of children’s social experiences
How did he do this?
He did this by considering human development in terms of three levels
THE CULTURAL
THE INTERPERSONAL
THE INDIVIDUAL
Cultural level
Children do not need to reinvent the world anew (as Piaget believed)
They can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of previous generations
The child inherits cultural tools
What are cultural tools?
These can be;
o Technological (clocks, bicycles, and other physical devices)
o Psychological (concepts and symbols, language, literacy, maths, and scientific
theories)
o Values (speed, efficiency, and power
Computers are a major and relatively recent – cultural tool
Introduction
PIAGET is NOT THE ONLY RESEARCHER who has PRODUCED THEORIES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT in children.
LEV VYGOTSKY (1896-1934) IS arguably THE GREATEST RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGIST of
all time and one of the greatest psychologists of any country (Sternberg, 1990)
Born in the same year as Piaget, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 but not before HE
had MADE A CONSIDERABLE and LASTING CONTRIBUTION TO PSYCHOLOGY.
VYGOTSKY ANALYSED MANY STUDIES FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES and
DEVISED HIS OWN METHODS OF INVESTIGATING THOUGHTS among children,
adolescents, and adults IN THE SOVIET UNION.
AMONG THESE ARE what have subsequently become known as VYGOTSKY’S BLOCKS,
A TESTING INSTRUMENT FOR CHILDREN WHICH MEASURES WHETHER THEY
HAVE MASTERED A CONCEPT, RATHER THAN MEMORISED A WORD FOR IT.
His MAJOR WORKS were first published IN THE 1920s and 1930s but were NOT
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH UNTIL THE EARLY 1960s, but SINCE THEN they have
been VERY INFLUENTIAL.
Do Vygotsky and Piaget agree?
Vygotsky and Piaget agree that development doesn’t occur in a vacuum
Knowledge is constructed as a result of the child’s active interaction with the environment
, How does Vygotsky’s theory differ from Piaget’s?
1. Vygotsky and cognitive development within a social and cultural
context
For Piaget:
The environment is essentially asocial, so his account is described as constructivist
Action is individual with the child’s deeper knowledge coming from:
The children finding out for themselves through their interaction with play materials and
discovery learning
For Vygotsky:
Cognitive development depends v very largely on social factors. He is a social constructivist.
Vygotsky’s aim was to explain how the higher mental functions (reasoning, understanding,
planning, remembering) arise out of children’s social experiences
How did he do this?
He did this by considering human development in terms of three levels
THE CULTURAL
THE INTERPERSONAL
THE INDIVIDUAL
Cultural level
Children do not need to reinvent the world anew (as Piaget believed)
They can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of previous generations
The child inherits cultural tools
What are cultural tools?
These can be;
o Technological (clocks, bicycles, and other physical devices)
o Psychological (concepts and symbols, language, literacy, maths, and scientific
theories)
o Values (speed, efficiency, and power
Computers are a major and relatively recent – cultural tool
