Piaget and Vygotsky

J. Piaget

He was s Swiss psychologist

He is the author of the 4 stages of cognitive development

He suggested that there are 4 stages of mental development, and that we all move through theme, since we born

Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7

Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11

Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

He believed that children were like little scientists, because the explore the world, and are curious with all the things they see

children added more new knowledge by their own interaction with the world

L. Vygotsky

He was a Russian psychologist

He is the author of the sociocultural theory

He suggested that children learned with other children, in a society, where there are some children with more knowledge who are going to help the ones who has less knowledge to get more

social interaction

Children have to interact with their peers

More knowledgeable other

A person with more knowledge than children, in this case the teacher.

Zones of proximal develpment

Learning occurs in this stage, this is the distance between students who solve problems with guidance and the ones who solve them alone.

Main differences

The sociocultural context has little emphasis

His theory has cognitive constructivist

it has strong emphasis on stages of development

Support children to explore their world and discover knoledge

The sociocultural context has strong emphasis

His theory has social constructivist

There are no genral stages of development proposed

Establish opportunities for children to learn with the teacher and more skilled peers