Human Development

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & LEARNING

Cognitive development is defined as development of the ability to think and reason (University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, 2006).   Both hugely significant, Jean Piaget and Lev Semionovich Vygotsky were donors to the cognitive development element of Psychology. Playing a dominant role in the way children learn and mentally grow is their learning processes and abilities. Teachers allow themselves to better adhere to the different needs of each child by understanding the advancement of cognitive development.
Piaget and Vygotsky were regarded as constructivists. Constructivism is an avenue to teaching and learning established on the assumption that cognition is the result of "mental construction". It can be understood as this; students take what they already know and take new information and fit it together to learn. Constructivists believe that learning is affected by the context in which an idea is taught as well as by students' beliefs and attitudes (Hawai'i Department of Education E-School, 1996). One aspect where Piaget and Vygotsky agreed was that the boundaries of cognitive advancement were started by societal influences. The views about educating children and constructivist teaching practices had many similarities between the thoughts of Piaget and Vygotsky. They both agree that students learn by fitting new information with the information that they already know. They also affirm that learning is affected by the framework in which an idea is taught, as well as by beliefs and attitudes because the boundaries of cognitive growth are based on societal influences. They also agree that children's speech occurs in noticeable stages and is an important part of their cognitive development. In the cognitive development , they both also listed play as being an important aspect to look at in the child. Regrettably, the similarities between Piaget and Vygotsky end here.
The key components of Piaget and Vygotsky theories... [continues]

Read full essay