psychlotron.org.uk
What does Piaget tell us about how children’s
cognitive abilities develop?
According to Piaget
• To what extent do you agree with this
view?
psychlotron.org.uk
• Children are little scientists who develop
cognitively by acquiring schemas about
the world through discovery learning
psychlotron.org.uk
• Are there things a child needs to learn
about the world that cannot simply be
discovered?
• Outline the main points of Vygotsky’s
theory of Cognitive Development
• Define and explain the concepts of
scaffolding and the zone of proximal
development (ZPD)
• Consider the role of socialisation on
cognitive development
psychlotron.org.uk
Today you will…
• Russian psychologist,
contemporary of
Piaget but his work
not published in
English until after his
death in 1934
• Believed that Piaget
ignored the role of
culture on cognitive
development
psychlotron.org.uk
Lev Vygotsky
• Cognitive development involves the active
internalisation of problem-solving
processes as a result of mutual interaction
between children and others
• Children learn how to think through their
interactions with others
• Where Piaget saw the child as a scientist,
Vygotsky saw the child as an apprentice
psychlotron.org.uk
Vygotsky’s Theory
Zone of Proximal Development
• In one of your subjects/hobbies/interests,
think of…
psychlotron.org.uk
– One thing you can do well on your own
– One thing you can do if someone helps you
– One thing you can’t do at all
• The gap between what a child can do on their own
and what a child can do with support
• The child will not be able to take the next step in
their development unless they are supported in the
ZPD
• This support is known as scaffolding and is seen
as the main role of adults/teachers
psychlotron.org.uk
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Zone of Proximal Development
• Vygotsky’s view:
“…what a child can do with assistance today
she will be able to do by herself tomorrow.”
(Vygotsky, 1978)
“Every time we teach a child something, we
keep him from inventing it himself. On the
other hand, that which we allow him to
discover for himself will remain with him
visible for the rest of his life.” (Piaget, in
Piers, 1972)
psychlotron.org.uk
• Contrast with Piaget:
• Assign yourselves the roles of child, parent and
psychologist
• The child will be given a toy to play with for three
minutes
• Parents should get involved with their child’s
play in any way they feel appropriate
• Psychologists need to observe interactions and
record details of how the parent supports the
child’s play
psychlotron.org.uk
In groups of three…
psychlotron.org.uk
• Is there a ‘best’ way for parents to provide
support to their children when they are
learning something new?
Levels of Parental Support (Wood &
Middleton, 1975)
–
–
–
–
–
Parent demonstrates
Parent prepares
Parent indicates
Parent gives specific instructions
Parent gives verbal prompt
psychlotron.org.uk
• 4 yr olds give wooden blocks to fit together
• Building task too difficult for child to complete
alone
• Interactions between children and parents
observed in different levels of support:
Support for Vygotsky?
• Were children in this study actually
acquiring a new concept?
psychlotron.org.uk
• Do Wood & Middleton’s results support the
idea that children learn cognitive
concepts through the support of more
advanced others
Hatano & Inigaki (1992)
• Suggested a distinction between:
• routine knowledge
– learning of a context-specific skill
– acquisition of general cognitive principles
which are transferable to a range of different
contexts
psychlotron.org.uk
• conceptual knowledge
psychlotron.org.uk
• According to Vygotsky, what factors do
you think might influence a child’s
development and understanding of false
beliefs?
• Would family structure be important?
• Children in Crete & Cyprus (Lewis et al, 1996),
Japan & England (Ruffman et al, 1998) tested
on the false belief task
• If a child knows something to be true, do they
understand that someone else might hold a false
belief which will influence their behaviour?
• Children with larger families, and specifically
older siblings are likely to develop this
understanding more quickly (Lewis et al, 1996;
Ruffman et al, 1998)
psychlotron.org.uk
X-cultural support?
Language & thinking
– Children acquire language through social
interaction that they then use to structure and
organise their own thinking and problem
solving
– Self talk eventually becomes (mostly)
silent/internal
psychlotron.org.uk
• Vygotsky believed that thinking is
structured by language
Homework
Looking at the top tips for teachers leaflet
produced over the summer:
1) How well does it offer advice to teachers? Is it
informative but accessible?
2) How does the commentary explain the advice?
Is there a clear understanding and application
of Piaget’s theory?
3) Are there any problems with the advice? What
would Vygotsky think? Write a critique from his
point of view.
psychlotron.org.uk
•