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Compare and Contrast (Piaget & Vygotsky)

What do you see in the image above? This is fairly familiar to most educators, scientists, and mathematicians. A Venn diagram is often useful for taking two separate concepts and finding something that is similar between the two. In high school physics it is often used to link the horizontal components and the vertical components of projectile motion. The only thing in projectile motion that is common for the horizontal and vertical components is the time spent in flight. A fairly objectivist use of the Venn diagram. Looking specifically at the diagram you might say that it is constructed of two overlapping circles. Others might suggest that there are three distinct shapes that are connected. You could also say that the circles are interwoven and not overlapping as that might suggest that one side is more important that the other side. Others of us, the pragmatists will say that it is a Venn diagram.

1. Cognitive Constructivism by Jean Piaget

Piaget's main idea on constructivism has to do with the individual and how it constructs knowledge. Piaget's theory proposes that humans cannot be given information in which they must understand and use; instead humans must construct their own knowledge. Children's perspectives are constructed through the process of assimilation and accommodation when going through four different stages of development.

Piaget's Four stages of Development 1. Sensorimotor Stage i. ages 0-2 years old ii. children begin to discover their own environment through their own senses, physical activity, and then language 2. Preoperational Stage i. ages 2-7 years old ii. children develop their own language skills but still cannot grasp the thoughts of others iii. symbolic function ~ children begin to distinguish pictures or symbols for different objects iv. intuitive thought ~ children ask all kinds of questions about everything 3. Concrete Operational Stage i. ages 7-11 years old ii. children begin to replace intuitive thought with their own logical reasoning 4. Formal Operational Stage i. ages 11-adulthood ii. start to use higher levels of thinking

Piaget's constructivism theory includes assimilation and accommodation, which children go through as a search for balance or "equilibration." Equilibration occurs when children move from one stage to another. As they move from stage to another children are trying to make sense of the data or information they are receiving. Assimilation is when children bring in new knowledge to their own ideas. Accommodation is when children have to change their ideas to "accommodate" the

new information. Piaget's theory all have to do with the children's ability to construct cognitively or individually their new knowledge within their stages and resolve their conflicts. Overall, Piaget's cognitive constructivism theory incorporates the importance of understanding what each individual needs to get knowledge and learn at his or her own pace ( Powell & Kalina, 2009).

2. Social Constructivism by Lev Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky, the founding father of social constructivism believed in social interaction and that it was integral part of learning ( Powell & Kalina, 2009). According to Vygotsky, social constructivism is based on the social interactions a student in the classroom along with a personal critical thinking process. Vygotsky's theory involved cognitive dialogue, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) social interaction, and culture and inner speech.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) ZPD is a zone where learning happens when a student is helped in learning a concept in the classroom learners learn more effectively when they have others to support their learning scaffolding is an assisted learning process that gets the child to the next level of understanding o in scaffolding a "getting it" moment will occur for each student o for example, a child will be ask to perform a task that has some meaning to the child and with the right amount of assistance the child will complete the task Cooperative Learning students should work with other students internalization occurs more effectively when there is social interaction Overall, Vygotsky's social constructivism theory incorporates the importance of scaffolding and cooperative learning. A child will achieve its goals when a classroom is designed around this theory.

Comparing Cognitive and Social Constructivism