Educational Psychology, Piaget and Vygotsky Theories

This essay will analyse and explore how teachers can help students to develop intellectually. Significant theories in learning development include Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (McInerney, 2015). Piaget’s cognitive development theory focuses on structuralism and constructivism and deals with the nature of knowledge and how humans acquire, construct and use it. Vygotsky’s social development theory on the other hand has a strong emphasis on the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition. Both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories in learning development accompanied by a range of recent journal articles, the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Nswteachers.nsw.edu.au) and information from McInerney’s Educational Psychology (2015) textbook offer multiple angles and knowledge on how teachers can support students to develop intellectually.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development emphasises structuralism and constructivism in the stages of children’s intellectual development. Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has duel and complementary perspectives that are termed as constructivism and structuralism (McInerney, 2015). Piaget’s theories have a major impact on the model and practice of education as it has helped create a view where the focus of attention is on the idea of developmentally appropriate education. Piaget has constructed a four stage list of intellectual development based on evidence drawn from his experimental observations and clinical interviews with children. The school transition period from upper primary to early high school as mentioned by Piaget (McInerney) encompasses the concrete-operational stage and the formal-operational stage of intellectual development. In (McInerney) Piaget states that children should be actively engaged in the

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