Which developmental psychologist believed that the nature of the partnership between children adults and peers is determined through cultural?

Here, we take a closer look at Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, two of the most influential figures in the history of early childhood education whose influence is still felt today.

Key points

• Piaget believed that children experienced four developmental stages.
• Consider the similarities and differences between Piaget and Vygotsky – they were both constructivist in their theories about how children learn.
• Collaboration between learners and being able to learn cooperatively with others is at the centre of Vygotsky’s approach to children’s learning and successful development.

Note: This article was first published in the December 2007 edition of eye

In the third of this series on early years pioneers, we look at the work and influence of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, two psychologists whose work has had far reaching influence around the world.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Jean Piaget was born, lived and studied in Neuchatel, in Switzerland. During his educational career, Piaget graduated as a scientist and gained a doctorate. During this time he was a prolific writer and published many academic papers and articles that disseminated his research ideas and findings.

Piaget was a biologist who was interested in epistemology – the study of knowledge; essentially studying how human beings construct their knowledge and ‘knowing’. He also studied psychology, which clearly influenced his research and future writing about child development.

Piaget understood that acquiring knowledge, especially for young children involved the processes of learning and development. His interests led him to observe his three children and to systematically (through observation) record the behaviours, tendencies and patterns of learning the children demonstrated as they lived, worked and played.

Working alongside Alfred Binet in Paris, observing the intelligence testing of young children and talking to them about their own ideas and concepts, enabled Piaget to gain many insights into children’s learning. At that time intelligence was seen as something that could be measured; a person’s overall mental operations/capacity could be tested. However, intelligence is more complex than these early tests suggested and involves a whole range of processes, such as listening, speaking, reasoning, problem solving, thinking, remembering and learning.

Piaget was interested by the ways in which children would find incorrect, but also different answers, to the questions they were asked and this inspired him to formulate his theory of cognitive development. After working in Paris, he moved to Geneva where he conducted further research.

The importance of Piaget’s work continues to influence developmental psychology, early childhood education and care throughout the world. His contribution has been essential to our understanding of how young children learn and develop, particularly in Western culture.

His research, and its application to early years practice, underpins, rather than dominates, modern early childhood education; other researchers and practitioners have progressed the ideas and theories of cognitive/intellectual development over time, and some, such as Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner also appear in this series. Important contemporaries, such as Chris Athey (schema theory) and Barbara Rogoff (guided participation/apprenticeship model) are also using Piaget’s research as the basis for their own current theories.

Practical activities that reflect Piaget's approach:

• Understanding the World: In character
  
• Understanding the World: Swirl by Swirl

The constructivist approach

Piaget was fascinated by the ways in which children constructed their knowledge, and through his research into cognitive development, which involved a series of experiments and interviews with children, Piaget established his theory about the progress and sequence of learning in young children to adulthood.

Piaget’s theory was constructivist – he saw children as actively constructing their understanding of the world, for themselves, and as being active seekers of solutions to problems. Early childhood professionals recognise the importance of child-initiated activity as being essential for meaningful learning and development. is ‘learning through experience’ is often called ‘discovery learning’.

Therefore, new concepts, knowledge and understanding are integrated into existing concepts, which become more complex and sophisticated. This can be considered a ‘stage theory’ because it outlined a pre-determined set of stages that children pass through towards mature intellectual development.

Piaget believed that children’s thinking emerged through infancy and that each new experience or challenge assisted in the process as part of the interplay between nature (genes) and nurture (environmental influences, such as experience, materials and opportunities).

However, Piaget believed that children had to have reached a certain stage in their development before they could build towards the next set of ideas or concepts. Each stage grows out of an earlier one and involves a reconstruction, or transformation, of earlier knowledge. This leads to the child having a novel perspective on their world and the possibilities in it. Piaget believed that children pass through the following four stages in the same order:

• Sensorimotor stage (birth to two-years-old).
• Pre-operational stage (two to seven-years-old).
• Concrete operational stage (seven to 11-years-old).
• Formal operations stage (11-years to adulthood).

In short, they represent children’s capacities in cognitive skills and learning at different points in their developmental journey. The progress that each child makes through each stage will be dependent on their ability, and the mutual interaction between people and the environment.

Critics of Piaget’s approach suggest that there is not enough emphasis on social interactions and the emotional aspects of thought in relation to play. Additionally, the idea of developmental stages can be misleading because development is usually described as being fluid, and influenced by both cultural and environmental change. His research methodologies have also come under scrutiny in recent years given the advancement in research techniques and in our understanding of child development.

Play is a key tenet of Piaget’s cognitive development approach. This reinforces the importance of stimulating play environments that allow children to follow their own interests. Being allowed to experiment and explore through play provides children with the opportunities to construct knowledge. It also creates situations where meaningful interactions between peers and adults can take place.

Piaget knew that practitioners who were adept at using observation could analyse children’s responses to their learning experiences, which, in turn, would give them an insight into the child’s perspective of the world. Ultimately, Piaget’s work was inspired by his interest in, and desire to discover, how children learn and how they think about the world.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who established one of the major theories of cognitive development and has influenced contemporary educational thinking, both in the United Kingdom and across the world.

Vygotsky wrote many papers and books, although his writings and ideas were only translated into English in the latter part of the last century. e scope extends from the development of language and thought to the social and cultural processes in children’s learning – including those with disabilities – to his findings regarding teaching approaches. His influence is felt today in the fields of developmental psychology, education, health and social care.

There are similarities between the approaches of Piaget and Vygotsky – they are both constructivists.

Piaget focused on the child as an individual, constructing their knowledge and understanding in a personal way. Vygotsky also saw development as being rooted in social relationships that provide a framework for learning through dialogue and instruction.

Key to his theory is the role of language and instruction, and of cognitive development. Piaget neglected the role of language, although he did acknowledge its relationship to thought and for expressing the concepts that were being developed.

For Vygotsky, intelligence is the capacity to learn through instruction – the role of culture is important in this process. This has implications for early years educators, whether you are teaching children in the foundation stage, in a reception class, or with younger children in nursery, because practitioners can consider how the communication between adults and children influences development.

The social and cultural influence of the environment are central to children’s cognitive development because the social context is an ongoing stimulus for learning. These can be interactions with carers, parents, extended families and significant others in the community, but also other children, like siblings and peers. This theory can be mirrored in Bronfennbrenner’s ecological theory (1979) where social and cultural systems are also seen as a key mechanism for child development.

Children actively construct meaning through the social and cultural activities taking place within the nursery/school or community. This process occurs, therefore, in context rather than in isolation.

The zone of proximal development

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development includes the key concept of internalisation. He argued that children internalise knowledge as part of a gradual process, essentially through the social interactions with others, and particularly between adults and children.

For Vygotsky, the ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) describes the gap between what the child can achieve alone and what they can accomplish with the help of a more able adult or child. This theory supported his belief that the ability to learn through instruction is essential for cognitive growth and is located at the core of human intelligence. Vygotsky believed that everyone has both an actual level of developmental and a ‘zone of proximal development’.

In contrast, Piaget saw the child as being at a particular point in a stage to learn. Children as learners, in the broadest sense, are able to develop through shared social experience because learning itself is a social activity. Early childhood professionals will recognise the benefits of peer play and group work where ‘more able’ children can share their ideas and instruct the less experienced child.

The more experienced child can also benefit in this process – by expressing something publicly (externalising) they clarify, and add depth to, their knowledge. is also increases children’s social and language skills. For Vygotsky, the child’s ability to learn from others was more important to their development rather than how much knowledge is acquired.

Vygotsky stressed the importance of language in the development of thinking and abstract thought – this includes the labelling process attached to emerging concepts. Language provides a way of constructing the world, it is not just about the labels we apply to it because our individual constructions are saturated with personal meaning. Language can enable fuller expression of ideas and feelings.

Practical activities that reflect Vygotsky's approach:

• Communication and Language: Listen to this!
  
• Communication and Language: A question of taste

Language acquisition underpins the development of thinking and learning in social relationships with others. Children learn to interpret, become aware of, and ‘make sense’ of situations – problem solving – through speech and actions. Children are exposed to different ways of thinking about the world through talking with their peers, and also with interested adults who can guide or scaffold their emerging potential.

Vygotsky believed that play and the imagination were vehicles for learning, and for the holistic development of the child. The emphasis given to social and collaborative activities can be demonstrated through play experiences. Practitioners can turn the theory into practice by:

• Matching play and learning tasks to children’s interests and current development, and planning a child-centred curriculum.
• Using observation to identify the ZPD for a child and respond with interactions that scaffold children’s learning.
• Assisting children in their emerging view of the world they inhabit.
• Observing the potential development and current needs of children.

Reading list

Athey C (1990) Extending thought in Young Children. Paul Chapman Publishing: London

Mooney C G (2000) Theories of childhood: an introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erickson, Piaget and Vygotsky. Redleaf Press: St Paul, Minnesota, USA

Pound L (2005) How children learn. Step Forward Publishing Ltd: London

Piaget J, Inhelder B (1969) The Psychology of the child. Prentice-Hall: Washington DC, USA

Rogoff B (1990) Apprenticeship in thinking. Oxford University Press: Oxford

Vygotsky L (1978) Mind in Society. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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