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this vedio describes different stages of development

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Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

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https://www.parentingforbrain.com/what-is-montessori/

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The Montessori method of education has been around for over 100 years, and is currently used in over 5,000 schools in the United States alone, including 300 public schools and some high schools. In some studies, this educational approach seems to improve children's outcomes more than other programs, but other studies show similar or even worse outcomes. In this article, we will examine "what is Montessori", the different aspects of this educational method, whether it is better or worse than traditional schools, and what to look for when selecting a preschool for your toddler.

What Is Montessori Education

Montessori is an education philosophy developed by Italian physician Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s. It is characterized by multi-age classrooms, specially designed learning materials, child-led learning, collaboration, the absence of grades and tests, and small group or individual instructions.

Montessori learning occurs in a prepared environment with practical life activities that support learning through action. Students can choose from these activities freely. Montessori materials are designed to provide corrective feedback so that the students can learn and correct themselves.

Maria Montessori, one of the first female Italian doctors, used her sensorimotor technique developed while working with mentally disabled children to help developmentally normal children from low-income families. In 1907, she founded the first Montessori Children's House (Casa dei Bambini) and served preschool-aged children in a housing project in Rome.

Within five years, classrooms based on this educational theory sprung up all over the world. Montessori gave up her career as a doctor and spent the next fifty years developing and refining the system. She also extended it to children in a higher age group in middle schools. Her methods for adolescents were still in development when she passed away in 1952.

The Montessori method

The Montessori model is different from traditional classrooms in many ways. Here are the characteristics of the Montessori learning process.

Mixed-age classrooms

Montessori classrooms are typically arranged by age groups based on three years: infants up to three years old, three to six, six to nine, and nine to twelve. Older students can lead and guide the younger ones when they are struggling. The younger students can benefit from peer learning and moving at their own pace.

Hands-on learning

The Montessori classroom environment is highly organized. In a typical classroom, there are shelves full of learning materials, not toys, which children can freely access to "work" with. They cover a broad range of educational topics and each one supports a specific aspect of child development. These classroom materials are designed in such a way that they can provide corrective feedback. Children can see their mistakes and correct them without a teacher's close supervision or help.

Freedom of choice

Montessori provides a child-led learning environment. Children can freely choose amongst the displayed working materials. They fall under tightly interconnected curricular areas that encompass sensory, language, mathematics, geography, culture, music, art, and practical life. These activities can help young children learn life skills, feel needed, develop a strong sense of self, and grow a sense of responsibility.

Interactive lessons in small groups

Lessons are interactive. Montessori teachers guide the small groups in collaborative play which naturally encourages social interaction and promotes social skills development.

No extrinsic rewards because learning is fun

The educational system emphasizes learning itself as a rewarding activity because it is fun. Montessori students are not rewarded with gold stars on a chart, candy, or grades. Instead, they are self-motivated to learn and attain optimal development.

Montessori philosophy

Here are the 7 foundational Montessori principles.

Focus on the whole child

Montessori detailed her radical discoveries in her book, Education for Human Development, that her philosophy was more than just an introduction to new education methods, but also a transformation in attitudes about children. She focused on the development of the whole child rather than academic skills alone.

Children have an absorbent mind

Montessori believed that in the early years, younger children learned differently than older ones and adults. Young children take in everything around them unconsciously and through their senses. They learn best through action instead of lectures. A teacher in such a classroom is a role model because kids learn through observing and absorbing their behavior.

Children have a natural desire to learn

The child-focused approach assumes and nurtures children's natural desire to learn. It offers children freedom with limits to facilitate an early development of independence - both functional independence and intellectual independence - to form their personalities and a sense of self.

Sensitive periods in different stages of child development

Dr. Montessori believed that early childhood education was paramount because there were sensitive periods in which children were more receptive to certain stimuli and skill learning. She identified six such sensitive periods. During these times, children are particularly sensitive to order, language, walking, the social aspects of life, small objects and learning through senses.

Children learn through play

Children tend to learn through play. Students are therefore given long uninterrupted work periods that were tailored to their inner needs, rhythms, and tempo. Manipulating small objects is not only fun, but it can also promote a child's fine motor skills.

Children want to be independent

From the very beginning, children strive for independence in their natural development. The Montessori educator believed that the best way to help children achieve it is to show them the skills they need to succeed in everyday life. When children are given freedom within limits, they become independent learners and achieve active learning.

Peace education replaces authoritarian teaching

Montessori believed that education is a means of eliminating war in mankind. Children who do not automatically follow authoritarian teachers will not obey rulers when they encourage war. Peace education comprises of fostering independent critical thinking, imaginative problem solving, moral values of responsibility and respect, and peaceful conflict resolution.

Montessori Schools in the United States

In the US, because of the 2001 federal law known as No Child Left Behind, educators have begun to use more didactic teaching methods appropriate for older children in preschool settings. Children aged three to five are increasingly expected to sit still and listen to lessons without interacting in the traditional school setting.

The Montessori educational philosophy is a welcome change many parents have sought. Montessori believed that children were not passive receivers of knowledge and information. The active participation is critical in human growth and learning.

In addition, when Jeff Bezos, the former Amazon CEO and one of the richest people in the world, launched a Montessori-inspired preschool, parents paid attention.

Is it really better than traditional education

The Montessori approach to education incorporates several elements that are known to enhance learning and development. For instance, children who manipulate toys in order to simulate stories they have read show better memory, comprehension, and mathematical problem-solving abilities. Manipulating objects can also enhance a child's motor skills, such as motor coordination. Therefore, theoretically, students from such schools should benefit from better developmental outcomes.

Some studies have shown that preschoolers who attend these programs perform better in reading, vocabulary, social problem solving, math, and theory of mind.

However, despite the reputation of Montessori learning outcomes as being better and the theoretical reasoning behind them, researchers have found that different Montessori schools produce mixed and contradictory results.

Over the years, researchers have investigated the different impacts the Montessori curricula has on child development. They have identified several factors that could be responsible for the inconsistent results.

Implementation fidelity

Implementation fidelity refers to how well a program is executed compared to the original or ideal.

Two primary styles of instructions are found in American classrooms - a classic approach that adheres to Montessori's original program created based on the principles of child development, and a supplemented approach in which conventional school activities for children and extra materials are added to the core curriculum.

Studies show that high-fidelity or "classic" Montessori implementations are associated with better outcomes for children. They are usually affiliated with the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI Montessori), the organization Maria Montessori founded to carry on her work.

In the United States, very few programs follow the strict, original program. Any school can claim to use the Montessori method. As a result, a range of practices exist under the "Montessori" name, which is not trademarked. The American Montessori Society (AMS), America's largest society of its type, has also adapted the curricula to local culture by adding supplementary materials, which lowers implementation fidelity.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Socioeconomic status is known to be a significant predictor of students' outcomes.

Montessori's educational programs, which produced positive results, were originally adapted for children from low-income families in Rome. Studies have found that low-income and disadvantaged children who attend public Montessori schools do better on a variety of measures than their counterparts who attend traditional schools.

This is consistent with the finding that this type of preschool education can help reduce the performance gap in academic achievement.

However, some studies with children from middle-class families have found no differences in their performance.

Teacher-child interaction

In order for children to achieve, interaction with teachers at preschools is crucial. Explicit instruction, sensitive and warm interactions, responsive feedback, and verbal engagement/stimulation are associated with better outcomes in preschoolers.

Studies on the effectiveness of Montessori education rarely investigate these factors, which can significantly affect results. It is unclear whether these important characteristics are specified in the training of a Montessori teacher.

References

1. Lillard AS. Playful learning and Montessori education. American Journal of Play. 2013;5(2):157-186.

2. Montessori Jr MM. Education for Human Development: Understanding Montessori. Schocken Books; 1976.

3. Montessori M. The Absorbent Mind. Henry Holt and Company; 1995.

4. Zigler EF, Bishop-Josef SJ. Play under siege: A historical overview. In: Children's Play: The Roots of Reading. National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families; 2004:1-13.

5. Hamre BK, Pianta RC, Mashburn AJ, Downer JT. Building a science of classrooms: Application of the CLASS framework in over 4,000 US early childhood and elementary classrooms. Foundation for Childhood Development. 2008;30.

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The Montessori method of education has been around for over 100 years, and is currently used in over 5,000 schools in the United States alone, including 300 public schools and some high schools. In some studies, this educational approach seems to improve children's outcomes more than other programs, but other studies show similar or even worse outcomes.

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https://youtu.be/IhcgYgx7aAA

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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Dr. Patricia Colby

Head of School, Mountaintop Montessori, Charlottesville, VA

Experience a Montessori Classroom

Montessori classrooms are ideal workplaces, where children are engaged, energetic, exploring, social, and most of all, learning to take ownership of their own education. They're also unified communities in which each child understands the responsibility of being an individual student in the class while supporting the learning of others.

LOOK INSIDE THE MONTESSORI CLASSROOM

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Head of School, Mountaintop Montessori, Charlottesville, VA Montessori classrooms are ideal workplaces, where children are engaged, energetic, exploring, social, and most of all, learning to take ownership of their own education. They're also unified communities in which each child understands the responsibility of being an individual student in the class while supporting the learning of others.

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https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/pros_cons_montessori_education/

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What do Jeff Bezos and preschoolers have in common? Maybe not much at a surface level, but in 2018, the e-commerce king pledged $1 billion to fund low-income Montessori preschools. You may not have known it, but along with many of the tech giants who founded Google® and famous athletes, musicians, and activists, Bezos himself was Montessori educated.

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Exploring the Pros and Cons of Montessori Education

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Looking to learn more about what Montessori is and the potential pros and cons to taking this educational approach. Read on to explore this unique style of educational instruction.

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https://youtu.be/FcdwjOZk58Q

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Getting to Know the HighScope Preschool Curriculum

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The HighScope Preschool Curriculum is a part of HighScope's complete, research-based system of early childhood education and care.

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https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/articles/what-is-reggio-emilia-education

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When it's time for children to start their schooling, parents face big decisions almost immediately. Different educational philosophies are available beginning in preschool that will govern curriculum, teaching and testing in the classroom.

One that U.S. parents are almost sure to encounter is Reggio Emilia education, an Italian form of preschool that has gained popularity in the U.S.

"What struck me in Reggio Emilia was seeing how imagination was cultivated there, reinforcing ... the children's sense of the possible," Jerome Bruner, a well-known educational psychologist, wrote in the preface to "The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation."

Bruner's observation came on his first trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy, where the preschools were launched after World War II and still operate today. Many schools in the U.S. take inspiration from Reggio Emilia, offering a student-centered environment that encourages children to learn through experience, express themselves and play a role in directing their education.

"Young children are encouraged to explore their environment and express themselves through multiple paths and all their 'languages,'" Bruner wrote. "Children experiment ... in using spoken language, gestures, drawing, painting, building, clay and wire sculpture, shadow play, collage, dramatic play, music and emerging writing, to name but a few."

Reggio Emilia and Creativity

Stacy Salley-Proctor, lead infant and early childhood consultation specialist at Montclair State University, says the exploration and expression integral to Reggio Emilia are important to help children discover themselves."Since everyone learns differently, Reggio Emilia's varied ways of teaching open the door for children to discover how they best understand and learn," she wrote in an email.Bruner, who died in 2016, captured a scene of Reggio Emilia in action in his writing. "One day, in a Reggio municipal nursery school, I was observing some 4-year-old children and a teacher who were projecting shadows and making efforts to draw them," he wrote. "The (children's) concentration was absolute, but even more surprising was the freedom of exchange in expressing their imaginative ideas about what was making the shadows so odd, why they got smaller and swelled up ... (the teacher) behaved as respectfully as if she had been dealing with Nobel Prize winners."

An Emphasis on Documentation

Parents in the U.S. are used to testing that shows how students progress, and schools are generally happy to show how much children have learned. In Reggio Emilia preschools, "documentation of children's learning isn't to assess what they have learned, but to share the whole group's learning with the children themselves," Jen Lumanlan, host of the "Your Parenting Mojo" podcast, wrote in an email. "It is also shared with the school community, parents and the wider community."

Individual child growth and development, such as progress in language development.

Expected behaviors within groups, such as when playing with toys or eating together.

Curriculum-driven activities, such as field trips, presentations and celebrations.

Curriculum projects, such as learning about the life cycle of plants.

Work samples that meet learning standards.

Questions and answers about topics, such as classroom routines.

"The unique way children's work is displayed is the epitome of child-centered and child-focused," Sari Goodman, founder of The Parental Edge, which provides parent coaching and teacher training, wrote in an email.

"Display boards ... come entirely from the children's work, often accompanied by photos of the children engaged in the project and quotes dictated by the children to the teacher about their feelings, interpretations or explanations of their processes," she says.

Jennifer Dietrich, who had three children attend The Willow School, a Reggio-inspired school in Georgia, speaks fondly of the "huge" binder of art, photos and descriptions showing student activities.

"One page could be a photo collage with a writeup," she says. "'Today we did this walk and found acorns and this is what we talked about.' Another day could be, 'Here are photos where we played with puddles most of the day.' Every little thing my kid said would be in that book."

The Classroom Environment

While most preschools try to look nice, with colorful toys carefully arranged in bins, a wall of books and an alphabet chart on the wall, Reggio Emilia schools take this to a new level. The classroom environment is very important, so much so that they call it "the third teacher."

A quick search for Reggio-inspired classrooms on Pinterest shows brightly lit spaces, multiple textures, colorful art and wooden toys. Many of the rooms are beautiful, going far beyond standard preschool fare.

"The classrooms usually include areas you would normally find - dramatic play, book area, blocks, etc.," Teresa Cole, founder and director of The Willow School wrote in an email. "But the kids are not confined to keep materials where they 'belong.' There are no toys that have one specific purpose or that ring, ding or sing. You'll see lots of loose parts, art materials, clay ... everything is open to interpretation."

That interpretation is led by students and guided by teachers in discussions that often lead to exercises and small projects, which are then documented and shared.

Natalie Phillips, assistant professorial lecturer at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, saw healthy interaction as a teacher in a Reggio Emilia-inspired program. "I witnessed my preschool-aged students engage in regular dialog about their world, where they spoke about their families, environment and homes," she wrote in an email.

"Two students, and eventually 10, returned to fears about the dark, and the illuminating power of light," she says. "They discussed the source of natural light, the presence of artificial light and the necessity of darkness. These students used wooden blocks, rocks and flashlights to establish an elaborate nightlight system for the class to use during daily nap time."

Unstructured Curriculum

At a Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool, parents won't be handed a sheet stating everything their children will learn. Even the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, don't have a blueprint for exactly what to teach. Often called an "emergent" curriculum, it varies because it is led by children, with teachers actively seeking out their interests.

Adam Cole, music director at The Willow School, says he starts with a plan of songs and games. "However, I am always on the lookout for something," he wrote in an email. "If we do a song about being happy and a child says 'I feel sad,' we can change the song."

Skills often picked up in Reggio-inspired schools include working well in groups, problem solving, welcoming new experiences and exhibiting confident self expression.

"We can see in our son his confidence and caring for his classmates," Dietrich says. "He was encouraged to explore things he was interested in and it was an uplifting experience."

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When it's time for children to start their schooling, parents face big decisions almost immediately. Different educational philosophies are available beginning in preschool that will govern curriculum, teaching and testing in the classroom. One that U.S. parents are almost sure to encounter is Reggio Emilia education, an Italian form of preschool that has gained popularity in the U.S.

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Piaget's stages of development is a theory about how children learn as they grow up. It includes four distinct stages, each with different milestones and skills.

Jean Piaget was a renowned psychologist and cognitive theorist in the 20th century who focused on child development. His theories came from observing children and recording their development.

He brought attention to the idea that children are not just small adults, and he argued that the way they think is fundamentally different.

Piaget believed that children act as "little scientists," exploring their environment to gain understanding. He thought that children do this naturally, without any adult intervention. He put forth the idea of distinct developmental stages through which children learn language, memory, and reasoning.

This article explains Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, key concepts, and how people can use them to help children learn and develop.

Babies from birth to 2 years of age use their senses and bodily movements to understand the world around them, which is why this stage is known as the sensorimotor stage.

A newborn's first method of communication is through basic reflex actions such as sucking, flailing their arms, or shaking their head. They use their five senses of sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing to explore their surroundings and their body.

Infants gather information about these experiences, learning how different things make them feel. They also learn to tell the difference between people, objects, textures, and sights.

During this stage, children also start to understand the concept of cause and effect. They begin to remember that certain actions will have a specific outcome and use this to plan their actions in advance.

At around 6 months, they will begin to understand object permanence. This means the child knows that objects continue to exist even if they can no longer see, hear, or feel them.

When a child has object permanence, it means they can now form a mental image, or representation, of an object instead of only reacting to experiences in their immediate environment.

Examples

Certain behaviors can indicate that a child has developed some of the key skills from this stage. For example, a child who understands cause and effect may intentionally shake a rattle to make a noise or cry in order to gain attention.

A child who understands object permanence will:

know their caregiver is still there when playing games such as Peek-A-Boo

know a toy still exists even if it is hidden under a blanket

understand they or their surroundings are still there even if they cover their eyes

During this stage, children build on object permanence and continue to develop abstract mental processes. This means they can think about things beyond the physical world, such as things that happened in the past.

They also imagine and think symbolically, and they begin to display this ability through their language and behavior.

The five key behaviors children display during this period are:

Imitation: Children can now mimic another person's actions, even if the individual they are modeling is no longer in front of them.

Symbolic play: Children begin assigning characteristics or symbols to objects. They can project the properties of one object onto another. For example, they may pretend a stick is a sword.

Drawing: Imitation and symbolic play are both essential elements of drawing. It begins as meaningless scribbles and progresses to more accurate representations of objects and people.

Mental imagery: Children start to visualize a wide range of things in their mind. They may ask the names of objects frequently to establish associations between words and objects.

Verbal evocation of events: This means children can use words to describe and represent past events, people, or items.

The primary function of speech at this age is to externalize thinking, rather than for communication. Children may talk in a stream of consciousness and develop more sophisticated language skills as they move through this stage.

Piaget believed that children remain egocentric throughout the preoperational stage. This means they cannot understand that other people think in different ways to them or that events that take place are not always related to them.

Examples

Some examples a child is at the preoperational stage include:

imitating the way someone talks or moves even when they are not in the room

drawing people and objects from their own life but understanding they are only representations

pretending a stick is a sword or that a broom is a horse during play

imagining that they are a superhero or someone they admire

inventing an imaginary friend

Piaget theorized that at this stage, children further develop and master abstract thought and become less egocentric. They can now understand that events do not always relate to them and that others have different points of view.

Children also become able to apply logical, concrete rules to physical objects. However, they cannot yet do the same thing for abstract concepts.

The concrete operational phase centers around three elements:

Conservation and reversibility: Conservation the understanding that objects can change in size, volume, or appearance but essentially remain the same. Reversibility means that some things that have changed can return to their original state, while others cannot.

Classification: This means children can classify objects into groups and subgroups. For example, they can group objects based on color, shape, or similarities.

Seriation: Seriation is a child's ability to group objects based on height, weight, or importance. It is an essential concept to master, as children require this skill during math and science education.

Examples

Some signs a child has learned the skills from this stage include:

knowing that water has the same properties (e.g., wetness) even when it is in different vessels or has a different color

understanding that water can freeze and then melt again but that other changes are permanent

being able to organize crayons into groups based on their color

being able to sort their toys into order, based on their size or importance

In this final stage of cognitive development, children learn more sophisticated rules of logic. They then use these rules to understand how abstract concepts work and to solve problems.

The child can analyze their environment and make deductions. They can create theories about what is possible and what might happen in the future, based on their existing knowledge.

This is known as hypothetical-deductive reasoning. It is an essential part of the formal operational stage. It allows someone to consider "What if?" A person with this skill can imagine multiple solutions and potential outcomes in a given situation.

Examples

A child at the formal operational stage can think of numerous ways of solving a single problem, then choose the best option based on how logical or successful it is likely to be.

For example, if a child has to create a model of the solar system using materials they have at home, there are a number of ways they could use them. Thinking of several possibilities and then using the one that is the most logical or effective shows they have hypothetical-deductive reasoning skills.

Children at this stage can also examine and evaluate their own thoughts and actions. For example, if they argue with a friend, they can consider how their opinions or behavior might have contributed. They can then decide how to approach the situation.

The following sections explain several important aspects of cognitive development that Piaget proposes in his theory.

Schema

Piaget included the idea of a schema into his theory of cognitive development.

A schema is a category of knowledge, or mental template, that a child develops to understand the world. It is a product of the child's experiences.

For example, a child can develop a schema of a dog. Initially, the word "dog" only refers to the first dog they meet. However, over time, the word comes to represent and include all dogs. When a child puts this schema together, they may call every similar animal a dog before they master the category.

Schemas constantly grow and adapt as children gain new experiences, giving them the structure to acquire knowledge. Piaget suggested this occurs in two ways: assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation means a child uses a preexisting schema to understand a new situation. For example, if they meet a new breed of dog, they may include it in their schema for "dog," even if it looks different to dogs they have previously encountered.

Accommodation means a child adapts a pre-existing schema to fit a new experience or object. For example, if a child encounters a cat, they may add it to their schema for "dog" until someone explains that dogs and cats are different. They will then adapt their schema to this new information.

Equilibration

According to the theory, equilibration is what motivates children to continue through the stages of cognitive development.

When a child assimilates new knowledge, their worldview is inaccurate, so they are in a state of disequilibrium. This state motivates the child to accommodate new information and reach a state of equilibrium.

Piaget made many significant contributions to theories about child development, and many are still influential today. However, others have criticisms of his ideas.

Firstly, the way Piaget conducted his research would not meet the standard of research academics adhere to today. He tended to observe and interview small numbers of children in natural settings, rather than in study conditions. This meant that it was possible for the small sample size or the environment to create bias.

Additionally, he carried out his research in Western Europe and did not take into account the impact that different social and cultural practices might have on child development.

While some academics agree that there are developmental stages, they may not be as distinct or concrete as in Piaget's theory.

Research has demonstrated that some skills develop earlier than he believed. For example, a 2021 article notes that egocentrism appears to resolve much earlier than Piaget believed, at 4 to 5 years of age rather than 7 to 11.

Piaget's theory centers on the concept that children need to explore, interact, and experiment to gain information and understand their world. Based on this idea, educators and caregivers can help children learn by allowing them to:

use their senses to explore objects and sensations (e.g., through touch, taste, sight, smell, or hearing)

explore their physical surroundings themselves, within safe limits

learn by doing, even if they make mistakes

interact with other children who are at a similar stage of development or slightly higher

get answers to questions they have about the world

encounter new situations, objects, or challenges that create disequilibrium, as this encourages them to expand their knowledge

In later stages, word puzzles, problem-solving tasks, and logic puzzles help children's cognitive development.

If a child is not exhibiting the behaviors or skills set out in Piaget's theory at the exact ages he predicts, it is not necessarily cause for concern. However, parents and caregivers should speak with a pediatrician if they have any worries.

Piaget's stages of development is a theory that children go through distinct stages from birth to adulthood, with each stage bringing new skills and milestones as they develop their knowledge of the world.

Piaget believed that children develop through a continuous drive to learn and adapt schemas, which are mental templates that help them understand things. His ideas still have a considerable impact on child psychology and approaches to education.

However, there are criticisms of Piaget's theory, as well as alternative models of child cognitive development that also came from the 20th century, such as the ideas of Lev Vygotsky and Maria Montessori.

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Piaget stages of development: The 4 stages and tips for each

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Piaget's stages of development is a theory about how children learn as they grow up. It includes four distinct stages, each with different milestones and skills. Jean Piaget was a renowned psychologist and cognitive theorist in the 20th century who focused on child development. His theories came from observing children and recording their development.

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3. Schemas

Piaget claimed that knowledge cannot simply emerge from sensory experience; some initial structure is necessary to make sense of the world.

According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge are based.

Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world.

Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as: "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning."

In more simple terms, Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior - a way of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as "units" of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions, and abstract (i.e., theoretical) concepts.

Wadsworth (2004) suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be thought of as "index cards" filed in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information.

When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned.

When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium, i.e., a state of cognitive (i.e., mental) balance.

Operations are more sophisticated mental structures which allow us to combine schemas in a logical (reasonable) way.

As children grow they can carry out more complex operations and begin to imagine hypothetical (imaginary) situations.

Apart from the schemas we are born with schemas and operations are learned through interaction with other people and the environment.

Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development and described how they were developed or acquired.

A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed.

Examples of Schemas

A person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill.

This is an example of a schema called a "script." Whenever they are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation.

The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this - especially those used by infants. He described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate.

Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us.

For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a "sucking schema."

Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby's hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking.

4. The Process of Adaptation

Piaget also believed that a child developed as a result of two different influences: maturation, and interaction with the environment. The child develops mental structures (schemata) which enables him to solve problems in the environment.

Adaptation is the process by which the child changes its mental models of the world to match more closely how the world actually is.

Adaptation is brought about by the processes of assimilation (solving new experiences using existing schemata) and accommodation (changing existing schemata in order to solve new experiences).

The importance of this viewpoint is that the child is seen as an active participant in its own development rather than a passive recipient of either biological influences (maturation) or environmental stimulation.

When our existing schemas can explain what we perceive around us, we are in a state of equilibration. However, when we meet a new situation that we cannot explain it creates disequilibrium, this is an unpleasant sensation which we try to escape, and this gives us the motivation to learn.

According to Piaget, reorganization to higher levels of thinking is not accomplished easily. The child must "rethink" his or her view of the world. An important step in the process is the experience of cognitive conflict.

In other words, the child becomes aware that he or she holds two contradictory views about a situation and they both cannot be true. This step is referred to as disequilibrium.

Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.

To get back to a state of equilibration, we need to modify our existing schemas to learn and adapt to the new situation.

This is done through the processes of accommodation and assimilation. This is how our schemas evolve and become more sophisticated. The processes of assimilation and accommodation are continuous and interactive.

5. Assimilation

Piaget defined assimilation as the cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding. Overall beliefs and understanding of the world do not change as a result of the new information.

Assimilation occurs when the new experience is not very different from previous experiences of a particular object or situation we assimilate the new situation by adding information to a previous schema.

This means that when you are faced with new information, you make sense of this information by referring to information you already have (information processed and learned previously) and trying to fit the new information into the information you already have.

Examples

1. Imagine a young child who has only ever seen small, domesticated dogs. When the child sees a cat for the first time, they might refer to it as a "dog" because it has four legs, fur, and a tail - features that fit their existing schema of a dog.

2. A person who has always believed that all birds can fly might label penguins as birds that can fly. This is because their existing schema or understanding of birds includes the ability to fly.

3. A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father's horror, the toddler shouts "Clown, clown" (Siegler et al., 2003).

4. If a baby learns to pick up a rattle he or she will then use the same schema (grasping) to pick up other objects.

6. Accommodation

Accommodation: when the new experience is very different from what we have encountered before we need to change our schemas in a very radical way or create a whole new schema.

Psychologist Jean Piaget defined accommodation as the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated.

This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.

In order to make sense of some new information, you actually adjust information you already have (schemas you already have, etc.) to make room for this new information.

Examples

1. A baby tries to use the same schema for grasping to pick up a very small object. It doesn't work. The baby then changes the schema by now using the forefinger and thumb to pick up the object.

2. A child may have a schema for birds (feathers, flying, etc.) and then they see a plane, which also flies, but would not fit into their bird schema.

3. In the "clown" incident, the boy's father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown's, he wasn't wearing a funny costume and wasn't doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of "clown" and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of "clown".

4. A person who grew up thinking all snakes are dangerous might move to an area where garden snakes are common and harmless. Over time, after observing and learning, they might accommodate their previous belief to understand that not all snakes are harmful.

7. Equilibration

Piaget believed that all human thought seeks order and is uncomfortable with contradictions and inconsistencies in knowledge structures. In other words, we seek "equilibrium" in our cognitive structures.

Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).

Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation).

Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.

Equilibration is a regulatory process that maintains a balance between assimilation and accommodation to facilitate cognitive growth. Think of it this way: We can't merely assimilate all the time; if we did, we would never learn any new concepts or principles.

Everything new we encountered would just get put in the same few "slots" we already had. Neither can we accommodate all the time; if we did, everything we encountered would seem new; there would be no recurring regularities in our world. We'd be exhausted by the mental effort!

Applications to Education

Think of old black and white films that you've seen in which children sat in rows at desks, with ink wells, would learn by rote, all chanting in unison in response to questions set by an authoritarian old biddy like Matilda!

Children who were unable to keep up were seen as slacking and would be punished by variations on the theme of corporal punishment. Yes, it really did happen and in some parts of the world still does today.

Piaget is partly responsible for the change that occurred in the 1960s and for your relatively pleasurable and pain-free school days!

"Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research. Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the essential thing is that in order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself, he must re-invent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand that which we allow him to discover by himself will remain with him visibly".
Piaget (1972, p. 27)

Plowden Report

Piaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have explained how features of Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning.

Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice. For example, a review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on Piaget's theory. The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden Report (1967).

In the 1960s the Plowden Committee investigated the deficiencies in education and decided to incorporate many of Piaget's ideas into its final report published in 1967, even though Piaget's work was not really designed for education.

The report makes three Piaget-associated recommendations:

1. Children should be given individual attention and it should be realized that they need to be treated differently.

2. Children should only be taught things that they are capable of learning

3. Children mature at different rates and the teacher needs to be aware of the stage of development of each child so teaching can be tailored to their individual needs.

"The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children's progress - teachers should "not assume that only what is measurable is valuable."

Discovery learning - the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring - was seen as central to the transformation of the primary school curriculum.

How to teach

Within the classroom learning should be student-centered and accomplished through active discovery learning. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition.

Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of "readiness" is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught.

According to Piaget's theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development.

According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered.

Therefore, teachers should encourage the following within the classroom:

1. Educational programs should be designed to correspond to Piaget's stages of development. Children in the concrete operational stage should be given concrete means to learn new concepts e.g. tokens for counting.

2. Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.

3. Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end product of it. Instead of checking if children have the right answer, the teacher should focus on the student's understanding and the processes they used to get to the answer.

4. Child-centered approach. Learning must be active (discovery learning).
Children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to interact with the material instead of being given ready-made knowledge.

5. Accepting that children develop at different rates so arrange activities for individual children or small groups rather than assume that all the children can cope with a particular activity.

6. Using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing "truths."

7. Using collaborative, as well as individual activities (so children can learn from each other).

8. Evaluate the level of the child's development so suitable tasks can be set.

9. Adapt lessons to suit the needs of the individual child (i.e. differentiated teaching).

10. Be aware of the child's stage of development (testing).

11. Teach only when the child is ready. i.e. has the child reached the appropriate stage.

12. Providing support for the "spontaneous research" of the child.

13. Using collaborative, as well as individual activities.

14. Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.

15. Educators may use Piaget's stages to design age-appropriate assessment tools and strategies.

Classroom Activities

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years):
Although most kids in this age range are not in a traditional classroom setting, they can still benefit from games that stimulate their senses and motor skills.

2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years):

Role Playing: Set up pretend play areas where children can act out different scenarios, such as a kitchen, hospital, or market.

Use of Symbols: Encourage drawing, building, and using props to represent other things.

Hands-on Activities: Children should interact physically with their environment, so provide plenty of opportunities for hands-on learning.

Egocentrism Activities: Use exercises that highlight different perspectives. For instance, having two children sit across from each other with an object in between and asking them what the other sees.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years):

Classification Tasks: Provide objects or pictures to group, based on various characteristics.

Hands-on Experiments: Introduce basic science experiments where they can observe cause and effect, like a simple volcano with baking soda and vinegar.

Logical Games: Board games, puzzles, and logic problems help develop their thinking skills.

Conservation Tasks: Use experiments to showcase that quantity doesn't change with alterations in shape, such as the classic liquid conservation task using different shaped glasses.

4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years and older):

Hypothesis Testing: Encourage students to make predictions and test them out.

Abstract Thinking: Introduce topics that require abstract reasoning, such as algebra or ethical dilemmas.

Problem Solving: Provide complex problems and have students work on solutions, integrating various subjects and concepts.

Debate and Discussion: Encourage group discussions and debates on abstract topics, highlighting the importance of logic and evidence.

Feedback and Questioning: Use open-ended questions to challenge students and promote higher-order thinking. For instance, rather than asking, "Is this the right answer?", ask, "How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

Individual Differences

While Piaget's stages offer a foundational framework, they are not universally experienced in the same way by all children.

Social identities play a critical role in shaping cognitive development, necessitating a more nuanced and culturally responsive approach to understanding child development.

Piaget's stages may manifest differently based on social identities like race, gender, and culture:

Race & Teacher Interactions: A child's race can influence teacher expectations and interactions. For example, racial biases can lead to children of color being perceived as less capable or more disruptive, influencing their cognitive challenges and supports.

Racial and Cultural Stereotypes: These can affect a child's self-perception and self-efficacy. For instance, stereotypes about which racial or cultural groups are "better" at certain subjects can influence a child's self-confidence and, subsequently, their engagement in that subject.

Gender & Peer Interactions: Children learn gender roles from their peers. Boys might be mocked for playing "girl games," and girls might be excluded from certain activities, influencing their cognitive engagements.

Language: Multilingual children might navigate the stages differently, especially if their home language differs from their school language. The way concepts are framed in different languages can influence cognitive processing. Cultural idioms and metaphors can shape a child's understanding of concepts and their ability to use symbolic representation, especially in the pre-operational stage.

Curriculum Development

According to Piaget, children's cognitive development is determined by a process of maturation which cannot be altered by tuition so education should be stage-specific.

For example, a child in the concrete operational stage should not be taught abstract concepts and should be given concrete aid such as tokens to count with.

According to Piaget children learn through the process of accommodation and assimilation so the role of the teacher should be to provide opportunities for these processes to occur such as new material and experiences that challenge the children's existing schemas.

Furthermore, according to this theory, children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to interact with the material instead of being given ready-made knowledge.

Curricula need to be developed that take into account the age and stage of thinking of the child. For example there is no point in teaching abstract concepts such as algebra or atomic structure to children in primary school.

Curricula also need to be sufficiently flexible to allow for variations in the ability of different students of the same age. In Britain, the National Curriculum and Key Stages broadly reflect the stages that Piaget laid down.

For example, egocentrism dominates a child's thinking in the sensorimotor and preoperational stages. Piaget would therefore predict that using group activities would not be appropriate since children are not capable of understanding the views of others.

However, Smith et al. (1998), point out that some children develop earlier than Piaget predicted and that by using group work children can learn to appreciate the views of others in preparation for the concrete operational stage.

The national curriculum emphasizes the need to use concrete examples in the primary classroom.

Shayer (1997), reported that abstract thought was necessary for success in secondary school (and co-developed the CASE system of teaching science). Recently the National curriculum has been updated to encourage the teaching of some abstract concepts towards the end of primary education, in preparation for secondary courses. (DfEE, 1999).

Child-centered teaching is regarded by some as a child of the 'liberal sixties.' In the 1980s the Thatcher government introduced the National Curriculum in an attempt to move away from this and bring more central government control into the teaching of children.

So, although the British National Curriculum in some ways supports the work of Piaget, (in that it dictates the order of teaching), it can also be seen as prescriptive to the point where it counters Piaget's child-oriented approach.

However, it does still allow for flexibility in teaching methods, allowing teachers to tailor lessons to the needs of their students.

Social Media (Digital Learning)

Jean Piaget could not have anticipated the expansive digital age we now live in.

Today, knowledge dissemination and creation are democratized by the Internet, with platforms like blogs, wikis, and social media allowing for vast collaboration and shared knowledge. This development has prompted a reimagining of the future of education.

Classrooms, traditionally seen as primary sites of learning, are being overshadowed by the rise of mobile technologies and platforms like MOOCs (Passey, 2013).

The millennial generation, defined as the first to grow up with cable TV, the internet, and cell phones, relies heavily on technology.

They view it as an integral part of their identity, with most using it extensively in their daily lives, from keeping in touch with loved ones to consuming news and entertainment (Nielsen, 2014).

Social media platforms offer a dynamic environment conducive to Piaget's principles. These platforms allow for interactions that nurture knowledge evolution through cognitive processes like assimilation and accommodation.

They emphasize communal interaction and shared activity, fostering both cognitive and socio-cultural constructivism. This shared activity promotes understanding and exploration beyond individual perspectives, enhancing social-emotional learning (Gehlbach, 2010).

A standout advantage of social media in an educational context is its capacity to extend beyond traditional classroom confines. As the material indicates, these platforms can foster more inclusive learning, bridging diverse learner groups.

This inclusivity can equalize learning opportunities, potentially diminishing biases based on factors like race or socio-economic status, resonating with Kegan's (1982) concept of "recruitability."

However, there are challenges. While the potential of social media in learning is vast, its practical application necessitates intention and guidance. Cuban, Kirkpatrick, and Peck (2001) note that certain educators and students are hesitant about integrating social media into educational contexts.

This hesitancy can stem from technological complexities or potential distractions. Yet, when harnessed effectively, social media can provide a rich environment for collaborative learning and interpersonal development, fostering a deeper understanding of content.

In essence, the rise of social media aligns seamlessly with constructivist philosophies. Social media platforms act as tools for everyday cognition, merging daily social interactions with the academic world, and providing avenues for diverse, interactive, and engaging learning experiences.

Applications to Parenting

Parents can use Piaget's stages to have realistic developmental expectations of their children's behavior and cognitive capabilities.

For instance, understanding that a toddler is in the pre-operational stage can help parents be patient when the child is egocentric.

Play Activities

Recognizing the importance of play in cognitive development, many parents provide toys and games suited for their child's developmental stage.

Parents can offer activities that are slightly beyond their child's current abilities, leveraging Vygotsky's concept of the "Zone of Proximal Development," which complements Piaget's ideas.

Critical Evaluation

The influence of Piaget's ideas on developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child's world and their methods of studying children.

He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.

Piaget (1936) was one of the first psychologists to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a stage theory of child cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.

His ideas have been of practical use in understanding and communicating with children, particularly in the field of education (re: Discovery Learning). Piaget's theory has been applied across education.

According to Piaget's theory, educational programs should be designed to correspond to the stages of development.

Criticisms

Are the stages real? Vygotsky and Bruner would rather not talk about stages at all, preferring to see development as a continuous process. Others have queried the age ranges of the stages. Some studies have shown that progress to the formal operational stage is not guaranteed.

For example, Keating (1979) reported that 40-60% of college students fail at formal operation tasks, and Dasen (1994) states that only one-third of adults ever reach the formal operational stage.

The fact that the formal operational stage is not reached in all cultures and not all individuals within cultures suggests that it might not be biologically based.

According to Piaget, the rate of cognitive development cannot be accelerated as it is based on biological processes however, direct tuition can speed up the development which suggests that it is not entirely based on biological factors.

Because Piaget concentrated on the universal stages of cognitive development and biological maturation, he failed to consider the effect that the social setting and culture may have on cognitive development.

Cross-cultural studies show that the stages of development (except the formal operational stage) occur in the same order in all cultures suggesting that cognitive development is a product of a biological process of maturation.

However, the age at which the stages are reached varies between cultures and individuals which suggests that social and cultural factors and individual differences influence cognitive development.

Dasen (1994) cites studies he conducted in remote parts of the central Australian desert with 8-14-year-old Indigenous Australians. He gave them conservation of liquid tasks and spatial awareness tasks. He found that the ability to conserve came later in the Aboriginal children, between ages of 10 and 13 (as opposed to between 5 and 7, with Piaget's Swiss sample).

However, he found that spatial awareness abilities developed earlier amongst the Aboriginal children than the Swiss children. Such a study demonstrates cognitive development is not purely dependent on maturation but on cultural factors too - spatial awareness is crucial for nomadic groups of people.

Vygotsky, a contemporary of Piaget, argued that social interaction is crucial for cognitive development. According to Vygotsky the child's learning always occurs in a social context in cooperation with someone more skillful (MKO). This social interaction provides language opportunities and Vygotsky considered language the foundation of thought.

Piaget's methods (observation and clinical interviews) are more open to biased interpretation than other methods. Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of children, and from these, he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations.

Because Piaget conducted the observations alone the data collected are based on his own subjective interpretation of events. It would have been more reliable if Piaget conducted the observations with another researcher and compared the results afterward to check if they are similar (i.e., have inter-rater reliability).

Although clinical interviews allow the researcher to explore data in more depth, the interpretation of the interviewer may be biased.

For example, children may not understand the question/s, they have short attention spans, they cannot express themselves very well, and may be trying to please the experimenter. Such methods meant that Piaget may have formed inaccurate conclusions.

As several studies have shown Piaget underestimated the abilities of children because his tests were sometimes confusing or difficult to understand (e.g., Hughes, 1975).

Piaget failed to distinguish between competence (what a child is capable of doing) and performance (what a child can show when given a particular task). When tasks were altered, performance (and therefore competence) was affected. Therefore, Piaget might have underestimated children's cognitive abilities.

For example, a child might have object permanence (competence) but still not be able to search for objects (performance). When Piaget hid objects from babies he found that it wasn't till after nine months that they looked for it.

However, Piaget relied on manual search methods - whether the child was looking for the object or not.

Later, researchers such as Baillargeon and Devos (1991) reported that infants as young as four months looked longer at a moving carrot that didn't do what it expected, suggesting they had some sense of permanence, otherwise they wouldn't have had any expectation of what it should or shouldn't do.

The concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner (1966) and Vygotsky (1978). Behaviorism would also refute Piaget's schema theory because is cannot be directly observed as it is an internal process. Therefore, they would claim it cannot be objectively measured.

Piaget studied his own children and the children of his colleagues in Geneva to deduce general principles about the intellectual development of all children. His sample was very small and composed solely of European children from families of high socio-economic status. Researchers have, therefore, questioned the generalisability of his data.

For Piaget, language is considered secondary to action, i.e., thought precedes language. The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1978) argues that the development of language and thought go together and that the origin of reasoning has more to do with our ability to communicate with others than with our interaction with the material world.

Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own.

Whereas Vygotsky argues that children learn through social interactions, building knowledge by learning from more knowledgeable others such as peers and adults. In other words, Vygotsky believed that culture affects cognitive development.

These factors lead to differences in the education style they recommend: Piaget would argue for the teacher to provide opportunities that challenge the children's existing schemas and for children to be encouraged to discover for themselves.

Alternatively, Vygotsky would recommend that teachers assist the child to progress through the zone of proximal development by using scaffolding.

However, both theories view children as actively constructing their own knowledge of the world; they are not seen as just passively absorbing knowledge.

They also agree that cognitive development involves qualitative changes in thinking, not only a matter of learning more things.

FAQs

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Piaget's Stages: 4 Stages of Cognitive Development & Theory

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Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development outlines four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) in a child's cognitive development from infancy to adolescence.

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https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

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Vygotsky's Theory

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934, 1978) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly what has become known as sociocultural theory.

Vygotsky's theory comprises concepts such as culture-specific tools, private speech, and the zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky believed cognitive development is influenced by cultural and social factors. He emphasized the role of social interaction in the development of mental abilities e.g., speech and reasoning in children.

Vygotsky strongly believed that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."

Cognitive development is a socially mediated process in which children acquire cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is someone who has a higher level of ability or greater understanding than the learner regarding a particular task, process, or concept.

The MKO can be a teacher, parent, coach, or even a peer who provides guidance and modeling to enable the child to learn skills within their zone of proximal development (the gap between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance).

The interactions with more knowledgeable others significantly increase not only the quantity of information and the number of skills a child develops, but also affects the development of higher-order mental functions such as formal reasoning. Vygotsky argued that higher mental abilities could only develop through interaction with more advanced others.

According to Vygotsky, adults in society foster children's cognitive development by engaging them in challenging and meaningful activities. Adults convey to children how their culture interprets and responds to the world.

They show the meaning they attach to objects, events, and experiences. They provide the child with what to think (the knowledge) and how to think (the processes, the tools to think with).

Vygotsky's theory encourages collaborative and cooperative learning between children and teachers or peers. Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are effective educational strategies based on Vygotsky's ideas.

Scaffolding involves the teacher providing support structures to help students master skills just beyond their current level. In reciprocal teaching, teachers and students take turns leading discussions using strategies like summarizing and clarifying. Both scaffolding and reciprocal teaching emphasize the shared construction of knowledge, in line with Vygotsky's views.

Vygotsky highlighted the importance of language in cognitive development. Inner speech is used for mental reasoning, and external speech is used to converse with others.

These operations occur separately. Indeed, before age two, a child employs words socially; they possess no internal language.

Once thought and language merge, however, the social language is internalized and assists the child with their reasoning. Thus, the social environment is ingrained within the child's learning.

Effects of Culture

Vygotsky emphasized the role of the social environment in the child's cognitive development.

Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic abilities for intellectual development called "elementary mental functions" (Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities). These develop throughout the first two years of life due to direct environmental contact.

Elementary mental functions include -

Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes, which Vygotsky refers to as "higher mental functions."

Tools of intellectual adaptation

Each culture provides its children with tools of intellectual adaptation that allow them to use basic mental functions more effectively/adaptively.

Tools of intellectual adaptation is Vygotsky's term for methods of thinking and problem-solving strategies that children internalize through social interactions with the more knowledgeable members of society.

For example, memory in young children is limited by biological factors. However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop.

For example, in Western culture, children learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate societies, other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in a string to remember, carrying pebbles, or repeating the names of ancestors until large numbers can be repeated.

Vygotsky, therefore, sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as affected by the beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and, therefore, socio-culturally determined.

Therefore, intellectual adaptation tools vary from culture to culture - as in the memory example.

Social Influences on Cognitive Development

Like Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and discovering and developing new understandings/schema.

However, Vygotsky emphasized social contributions to the development process, whereas Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery.

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child.

Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) and then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their performance.

Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl given her first jigsaw. Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the corner/edge pieces, and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself, and offers encouragement when she does so.

As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this social interaction involving cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development.

To understand Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

More Knowledgeable Other

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, concerning a particular task, process, or concept.

Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Often, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.

For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents?

In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. To support employees in their learning process, some companies are now using electronic performance support systems.

Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through learning. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.

Zone of Proximal Development

The concept of the more knowledgeable other relates to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, the zone of proximal development.

This important concept relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.

Vygotsky consequently focuses much more closely on social interaction as an aid to learning, arguing that, left alone, children will develop - but not to their full potential.

He refers to the gap between actual and potential learning as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) - and argues that it is only through collaboration with adults and other learners that this gap can be bridged.

The zone of proximal development is the gap between the level of actual development, what the child can do on his own, and the level of potential development, what a child can do with the assistance of more advanced and competent individuals.

Social interaction, therefore, supports the child's cognitive development in the ZPD, leading to a higher level of reasoning. It is generally believed that social dialogues have two important features.

The first is intersubjectivity, where two individuals who might have different understandings of a task, arrive at a shared understanding by adjusting to the perspective of the other.

The second feature is referred to as scaffolding. Adults may begin with direct instruction, but as children's mastery of a task increases, so the adult tends to withdraw their own contributions in recognition of the child's increasing success.

For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed competence at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws.

ZPD is the zone where instruction is the most beneficial, as it is when the task is just beyond the individual's capabilities. To learn, we must be presented with tasks just out of our ability range. Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth.

As a result of shared dialogues with more knowledgeable others, who provide hints, instructions, and encouragement, the child can internalize the 'how to do it' part of the task as part of their inner or private speech. The child can then use this on later occasions when they tackle a similar task on their own.

Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher mental functions.

Vygotsky also views peer interaction as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.

Evidence for Vygotsky and the ZPD

Freund (1990) conducted a study in which children had to decide which items of furniture should be placed in particular areas of a doll's house.

Some children were allowed to play with their mother in a similar situation before they attempted it alone (zone of proximal development) while others were allowed to work on this by themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).

Freund found that those who had previously worked with their mother (ZPD) showed the greatest improvement compared with their first attempt at the task.

The conclusion is that guided learning within the ZPD led to greater understanding/performance than working alone (discovery learning).

Vygotsky and Language

Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions for communication purposes. Vygotsky viewed language as man's greatest tool for communicating with the outside world.

According to Vygotsky (1962), language plays two critical roles in cognitive development:

1. It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.

2. Language itself becomes a very powerful tool for intellectual adaptation.

Vygotsky (1987) differentiates between three forms of language:

1. Social speech, which is external communication used to talk to others (typical from the age of two);

2. Private speech (typical from the age of three) which is directed to the self and serves an intellectual function;

3. Private speech goes underground, diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is transformed into silent inner speech (typical from the age of seven).

For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age.

At this point, speech and thought become interdependent: thought becomes verbal, and speech becomes representational.

As children develop mental representation, particularly the skill of language, they start to communicate with themselves in much the same way as they would communicate with others.

When this happens, children's monologues are internalized to become inner speech. The internalization of language is important as it drives cognitive development.

"Inner speech is not the interiour aspect of external speech - it is a function in itself. It still remains speech, i.e., thought connected with words.

But while in external speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words dies as they bring forth thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings."
(Vygotsky, 1962: p. 149)

Private Speech

Vygotsky (1987) was the first psychologist to document the importance of private speech.

He considered private speech as the transition point between social and inner speech, the moment in development where language and thought unite to constitute verbal thinking.

Thus, in Vygotsky's view, private speech was the earliest manifestation of inner speech. Indeed, private speech is more similar (in form and function) to inner speech than social speech.

Private speech is "typically defined, in contrast to social speech, as speech addressed to the self (not to others) for the purpose of self-regulation (rather than communication)."
(Diaz, 1992, p.62)

Private speech is overt, audible, and observable, often seen in children who talk to themselves while problem-solving.

Conversely, inner speech is covert or hidden because it happens internally. It is the silent, internal dialogue that adults often engage in while thinking or problem-solving.

In contrast to Piaget's (1959) notion of private speech representing a developmental dead-end, Vygotsky (1934, 1987) viewed private speech as:

"A revolution in development which is triggered when preverbal thought and preintellectual language come together to create fundamentally new forms of mental functioning." (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005: p. 1)

In addition to disagreeing on the functional significance of private speech, Vygotsky and Piaget also offered opposing views on the developmental course of private speech and the environmental circumstances in which it occurs most often (Berk & Garvin, 1984).

Through private speech, children collaborate with themselves, in the same way a more knowledgeable other (e.g., adults) collaborate with them to achieve a given function.

Vygotsky sees "private speech" as a means for children to plan activities and strategies, aiding their development. Private speech is the use of language for self-regulation of behavior.

Therefore, language accelerates thinking/understanding ( Jerome Bruner also views language in this way). Vygotsky believed that children who engage in large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not use it extensively.

Vygotsky (1987) notes that private speech does not merely accompany a child's activity but acts as a tool the developing child uses to facilitate cognitive processes, such as overcoming task obstacles, and enhancing imagination, thinking, and conscious awareness.

Children use private speech most often during intermediate difficulty tasks because they attempt to self-regulate by verbally planning and organizing their thoughts (Winsler et al., 2007).

The frequency and content of private speech correlate with behavior or performance. For example, private speech appears functionally related to cognitive performance: It appears at times of difficulty with a task.

For example, tasks related to executive function (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005), problem-solving tasks (Behrend et al., 1992), and schoolwork in both language (Berk & Landau, 1993), and mathematics (Ostad & Sorensen, 2007).

Berk (1986) provided empirical support for the notion of private speech. She found that most private speech exhibited by children serves to describe or guide the child's actions.

Berk also discovered that children engaged in private speech more often when working alone on challenging tasks and when their teacher was not immediately available to help them.

Furthermore, Berk also found that private speech develops similarly in all children regardless of cultural background.

There is also evidence (Behrend et al., 1992) that those children who displayed the characteristic whispering and lip movements associated with private speech when faced with a difficult task were generally more attentive and successful than their 'quieter' classmates.

Vygotsky (1987) proposed that private speech is a product of an individual's social environment. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that there exist high positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech in children.

Children raised in cognitively and linguistically stimulating environments (situations more frequently observed in higher socioeconomic status families) start using and internalizing private speech faster than children from less privileged backgrounds.

Indeed, children raised in environments characterized by low verbal and social exchanges exhibit delays in private speech development.

Children's use of private speech diminishes as they grow older and follows a curvilinear trend. This is due to changes in ontogenetic development whereby children can internalize language (through inner speech) to self-regulate their behavior (Vygotsky, 1987).

For example, research has shown that children's private speech usually peaks at 3-4 years of age, decreases at 6-7, and gradually fades out to be mostly internalized by age 10 (Diaz, 1992).

Vygotsky proposed that private speech diminishes and disappears with age not because it becomes socialized, as Piaget suggested, but because it goes underground to constitute inner speech or verbal thought" (Frauenglass & Diaz, 1985).

Educational Implications

Vygotsky's approach to child development is a form of social constructivism, based on the idea that cognitive functions are the products of social interactions.

Social constructivism posits that knowledge is constructed and learning occurs through social interactions within a cultural and historical context.

Vygotsky emphasized the collaborative nature of learning by constructing knowledge through social negotiation. He rejected the assumption made by Piaget that it was possible to separate learning from its social context.

Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two levels. First, through interaction with others, then integrated into the individual's mental structure.

Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).

This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.
(Vygotsky, 1978, p.57)

Teaching styles grounded in constructivism represent a deliberate shift from traditional, didactic, memory-oriented transmission models (Cannella & Reiff, 1994) to a more student-centered approach.

Traditionally, schools have failed to foster environments where students actively participate in their own and their peers' education. Vygotsky's theory, however, calls for both the teacher and students to assume non-traditional roles as they engage in collaborative learning.

Rather than having a teacher impose their understanding onto students for future recitation, the teacher should co-create meaning with students in a manner that allows learners to take ownership (Hausfather, 1996).

For instance, a student and teacher might start a task with varying levels of expertise and understanding. As they adapt to each other's perspective, the teacher must articulate their insights in a way that the student can comprehend, leading the student to a fuller understanding of the task or concept.

The student can then internalize the task's operational aspect ("how to do it") into their inner speech or private dialogue. Vygotsky referred to this reciprocal understanding and adjustment process as intersubjectivity."

ZPD

Because Vygotsky asserts that cognitive change occurs within the zone of proximal development, instruction would be designed to reach a developmental level just above the student's current developmental level.

Vygotsky proclaims, "learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the viewpoint of the child's overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process" (Vygotsky, 1978).

Appropriation is necessary for cognitive development within the zone of proximal development. Individuals participating in peer collaboration or guided teacher instruction must share the same focus to access the zone of proximal development.

"Joint attention and shared problem solving is needed to create a process of cognitive, social, and emotional interchange" (Hausfather,1996).

Furthermore, it is essential that the partners be on different developmental levels and the higher-level partner be aware of the lower's level. If this does not occur or one partner dominates, the interaction is less successful (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996).

Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.

Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are effective strategies to access the zone of proximal development.

Reciprocal Teaching

A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theory is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students" ability to learn from text.

In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.

Reciprocal teaching allows for the creation of a dialogue between students and teachers. This two-way communication becomes an instructional strategy by encouraging students to go beyond answering questions and engage in the discourse (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996).

A study conducted by Brown and Palincsar (1989) demonstrated the Vygotskian approach with reciprocal teaching methods in their successful program to teach reading strategies.

The teacher and students alternated turns leading small group discussions on a reading. After modeling four reading strategies, students began to assume the teaching role.

The results showed significant gains over other instructional strategies (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996).

Cognitively Guided Instruction is another strategy to implement Vygotsky's theory. This strategy involves the teacher and students exploring math problems and then sharing their problem-solving strategies in an open dialogue (Hausfather,1996).

Based on Vygotsky's theory, the physical classroom would provide clustered desks or tables and workspace for peer instruction, collaboration, and small-group instruction. Learning becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.

Like the environment, the instructional design of the material to be learned would be structured to promote and encourage student interaction and collaboration. Thus the classroom becomes a community of learning.

Scaffolding

Also, Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development on learners is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.

A teacher's role is to identify each individual's current level of development and provide them with opportunities to cross their ZPD.

A crucial element in this process is the use of what later became known as scaffolding; the way in which the teacher provides students with frameworks and experiences which encourage them to extend their existing schemata and incorporate new skills, competencies, and understandings.

Scaffolding describes the conditions that support the child's learning, to move from what they already know to new knowledge and abilities.

Scaffolding requires the teacher to allow students to extend their current skills and knowledge.

During scaffolding, the support offered by an adult (or more knowledgeable other) gradually decreases as the child becomes more skilled in the task.

As the adult withdraws their help, the child assumes more of the strategic planning and eventually gains competence to master similar problems without a teacher's aid or a more knowledgeable peer.

It is important to note that this is more than simply instruction; learning experiences must be presented in such a way as to actively challenge existing mental structures and provide frameworks for learning.

Five ways in which an adult can "scaffold" a child's learning:

1. Engaging the child's interest

2. Maintaining the child's interest in the task e.g., avoiding distraction and providing clear instructions on how to start the task.

3. Keeping the child's frustration under control e.g., by supportive interactions, adapting instructions according to where the child is struggling.

4. Emphasizing the important features of the task

5. Demonstrating the task: showing the child how to do the task in simple, clear steps.

As the child progresses through the ZPD, the necessary scaffolding level declines from 5 to 1.

The teacher must engage students' interests, simplify tasks to be manageable, and motivate students to pursue the instructional goal.

In addition, the teacher must look for discrepancies between students" efforts and the solution, control for frustration and risk, and model an idealized version of the act (Hausfather, 1996).

Challenges to Traditional Teaching Methods

Vygotsky's social development theory challenges traditional teaching methods. Historically, schools have been organized around recitation teaching.

The teacher disseminates knowledge to be memorized by the students, who in turn recite the information to the teacher (Hausfather,1996).

However, the studies described above offer empirical evidence that learning based on the social development theory facilitates cognitive development over other instructional strategies.

The structure of our schools does not reflect the rapid changes our society is experiencing. The introduction and integration of computer technology in society has tremendously increased the opportunities for social interaction.

Therefore, the social context for learning is transforming as well. Whereas collaboration and peer instruction were once only possible in shared physical space, learning relationships can now be formed from distances through cyberspace.

Computer technology is a cultural tool that students can use to meditate and internalize their learning. Recent research suggests changing the learning contexts with technology is a powerful learning activity (Crawford, 1996).

If schools continue to resist structural change, students will be ill-prepared for the world they will live.

Critical Evaluation

Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's has, partly due to the time-consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work from Russian.

Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as many specific hypotheses to test as Piaget's theory, making refutation difficult, if not impossible.

Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas are culturally universal and instead states that scaffolding- heavily dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all cultures for all types of learning.

Indeed, in some instances, observation and practice may be more effective ways of learning certain skills.

There is much emphasis on social interaction and culture, but many other aspects of development are neglected, such as the importance of emotional factors, e.g., the joys of success and the disappointments and frustration of failure act as motivation for learning.

Vygotsky overemphasized socio-cultural factors at the expense of biological influences on cognitive development. This theory cannot explain why cross-cultural studies show that the stages of development (except the formal operational stage) occur in the same order in all cultures suggesting that cognitive development is a product of a biological process of maturation.

Vygotky's theory has been applied successfully to education. Scaffolding has been shown to be an effective way of teaching (Freund, 1990), and based on this theory, teachers are trained to guide children from what they can do to the next step in their learning through careful scaffolding.

Collaborative work is also used in the classroom, mixing children of different levels of ability to make use of reciprocal / peer teaching.

Vygotsky vs. Piaget

Unlike Piaget's notion that children's cognitive development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning precedes (i.e., come before) development.

Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in several important ways:

Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.

Unlike Piaget, who emphasized universal cognitive change (i.e., all children would go through the same sequence of cognitive development regardless of their cultural experiences), Vygotsky leads us to expect variable development depending on cultural diversity.

This contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages of development (Vygotsky does not refer to stages like Piaget does).

Hence, Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures.

Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development.

1. Vygotsky states the importance of cultural and social context for learning. Cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning within the zone of proximal development as children and their partners co-construct knowledge.
In contrast, Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge.

2. For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.
The importance of scaffolding and language may differ for all cultures. Rogoff (1990) emphasizes the importance of observation and practice in pre-industrial societies (e.g., learning to use a canoe among Micronesian Islanders).

Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development.

According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e., thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).

In Piaget's theory, egocentric (or private) speech gradually disappears as children develop truly social speech, in which they monitor and adapt what they say to others.

Vygotsky disagreed with this view, arguing that as language helps children to think about and control their behavior, it is an important foundation for complex cognitive skills.

As children age, this self-directed speech becomes silent (or private) speech, referring to the inner dialogues we have with ourselves as we plan and carry out activities.

For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.

According to Vygotsky, adults are an important source of cognitive development.

Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize.

In contrast, Piaget emphasizes the importance of peers, as peer interaction promotes social perspective-taking.

Behrend, D.A., Rosengren, K.S., & Perlmutter, M. (1992). The relation between private speech and parental interactive style. In R.M. Diaz & L.E. Berk (Eds.), Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation (pp. 85-100). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Berk, L. E. (1986). Relationship of elementary school children's private speech to behavioral accompaniment to task, attention, and task performance. Developmental Psychology, 22(5), 671.

Berk, L. & Garvin, R. (1984). Development of private speech among low-income Appalachian children. Developmental Psychology, 20(2), 271-286.

Berk, L. E., & Landau, S. (1993). Private speech of learning-disabled and normally achieving children in classroom academic and laboratory contexts. Child Development, 64, 556-571.

Cannella, G. S., & Reiff, J. C. (1994). Individual constructivist teacher education: Teachers as empowered learners. Teacher education quarterly, 27-38.

Crawford, K. (1996) Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics, (31),43-62.

Diaz, R. M., & Berk, L. E. (1992). Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham, Ma: Allyn && Bacon.

Frauenglass, M. & Diaz, R. (1985). Self-regulatory functions of children's private speech: A critical analysis of recent challenges to Vygotsky's theory. Developmental Psychology, 21(2), 357-364.

Fernyhough, C., & Fradley, E. (2005). Private speech on an executive task: Relations with task difficulty and task performance. Cognitive Development, 20, 103-120.

Freund, L. S. (1990). Maternal regulation of children's problem-solving behavior and its impact on children's performance. Child Development, 61, 113-126.

Hausfather, S. J. (1996). Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Contest for learning. Action in Teacher Education, (18),1-10.

Ostad, S. A., & Sorensen, P. M. (2007). Private speech and strategy-use patterns: Bidirectional comparisons of children with and without mathematical difficulties in a developmental perspective. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40, 2-14.

Piaget, J. (1959). The language and thought of the child (Vol. 5) . Psychology Press.

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. Oxford university press.

Saettler, P. (1990). The Evolution of American Educational Technology . Egnlewood, Co: Libraries Unlimited.

Schaffer, R. (1996) . Social development. Oxford: Blackwell.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In R.W. Rieber & A.S. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, Volume 1: Problems of general psychology (pp. 39-285). New York: Plenum Press. (Original work published 1934.)

Winsler, A., Abar, B., Feder, M. A., Schunn, C. D., & Rubio, D. A. (2007). Private speech and executive functioning among high-functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1617-1635.

Wertsch, J. V., Sohmer, R. (1995). Vygotsky on learning and development. Human Development, (38), 332-37.

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Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory Of Cognitive Development

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Lev Vygotsky's theory of child development, known as the sociocultural theory, emphasizes the importance of social interaction and cultural context in learning and cognitive development. Vygotsky proposed the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the gap between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable person.

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https://educationaltechnology.net/lev-vygotsky-sociocultural-theory-of-cognitive-development/

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Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian teacher who is considered a pioneer in learning in social contexts. As a psychologist, he was also the first to examine how our social interactions influence our cognitive growth. He was convinced that learning occurred through interactions with others in our communities: peers, adults, teachers, and other mentors. Vygotsky sought to understand how people learn in a social environment and created a unique theory on social learning. He determined that teachers have the ability to control many factors in an educational setting, including tasks, behaviors, and responses. As a result, he encouraged more interactive activities to promote cognitive growth, such as productive discussions, constructive feedback, and collaboration with others. Vygotsky also stated that culture was a primary determinant of knowledge acquisition. He argued that children learn from the beliefs and attitudes modeled by their culture.

See also: Andragogy Theory - Malcolm Knowles

Vygotsky had a groundbreaking theory that language was the basis of learning. His points included the argument that language supports other activities such as reading and writing. In addition, he claimed that logic, reasoning, and reflective thinking were all possible as a result of language. This led to the development of instructional strategies to support growth in literacy as well as a reassessment of the classroom setup. Teachers were to encourage leadership in the classroom, collaborative learning, and thoughtful discussions. With the exception of independent tasks, which were also included, the goal was to create purposeful, meaningful exchanges between students. The role of the teacher was to facilitate learning by directing the dialogue and confirming contributions in an effort to further motivate the students.

See also: Social Learning Theory: Albert Bandura

The primary role of the teacher in the educational context is to act as a facilitator for learning. Guided exchanges, comprehensive discussions, and the creation of an engaging community are valuable strategies for cognitive development. Many educators have incorporated Vygotsky's ideas of social connection and small group learning in the classroom in an effort to see more growth.

See also: Inclusive Teaching Strategies

Fundamentally, Vygotsky recognized that social settings and learning were closely entwined. Therefore one must identify and implement strategies that are effective in a social context. It is also important to note that the culture of each individual is created by their unique strengths, language, and prior experience. One of the ways that students gain knowledge is when they collaborate with their peers or mentors on activities that involve problem-solving skills and real-life tasks.

Cognitive Development and the Social World

Vygotsky maintained that the social world is not only the interactions between peers and their teacher but also consisted of outside influences within the community. Prior knowledge, such as learned behaviors at home, impact learning in the classroom environment. As such, Vygotsky outlined three main concepts related to cognitive development: (i) culture is significant in learning, (ii) language is the root of culture, and (iii) individuals learn and develop within their role in the community. Culture can be defined as the morals, values, and beliefs of its community members, which are held in place with systems and establishments. Acceptable attitudes and conduct are communicated by the use of language. Culture is shaped over time as the result of specific events, whose messages are then conveyed to its members. Vygotsky explained that culture consistently affects cognitive development by affecting human behavior. He wanted others to realize that there is a complex relationship between culture and human development. It is a cycle; at the same time that the culture is influencing an individual, that individual is in turn creating culture.

See also: Massive open online courses (MOOCs), Definitions

Vygotsky used the stages of childhood development to further explain the relationship between culture and learning. As a baby, you display elementary functions designed for your survival: crying, a sense of your mother's scent, and familiar voices. These displays gradually fade out as a result of external stimuli: imitating, consequences, and conditioning by others. It is replaced with problem-solving skills such as reflection, bargaining, and reasoning. This higher-level thinking is influenced by cultural factors. The values and beliefs of a community, including models of acceptable behavior, create pressure for others to adopt the preferred attitudes and protocol of that society. Etiquette is communicated orally and by example.

Language is the basis of Vygotsky's ideas on social interaction. The development of speech occurs in three stages: external, egocentric, and inner speech. External or social speech occurs from birth until the age of three. Babies use language to communicate their feelings, express their emotions, and share simple words. They use language to state their needs and also respond to their parent's speech. You can begin to see the social influence on behavior as early as this stage based on the reactions to their demands. Even though babies use language to control their needs, the people around them express approval or disapproval based on their behavior. This leads to cognitive development within the individual. The next stage, egocentric speech, occurs between the ages of three and seven. As they begin to rationalize internally their actions or behavior, children begin to talk to themselves. This inner speech helps them control their reasoning and organize their thoughts. They continue to interpret meaning from the reactions of others, further integrating the cultural beliefs into their own cognitive development. Without language, Vygotsky believed that we would be limited to a more primitive function. Language is ultimately the tool by which we communicate the desired behaviors and therefore enable the development of a society and its culture.

See also: ADDIE Model: Instructional Design

Similar to inner speech is the idea of internalization. Internalization should not be confused with introjection, which involves minimal participation from the individual themselves. It is the conditioning put forth by others, for example, the consequences or reactions toward a behavior. Internalization is where the cognitive development of an individual is influenced by society as they adopt the morals and ethics of a community for themselves. They begin to view their culture's beliefs as their own. Internalization should not be confused with socialization, where individuals develop attitudes due to a need to belong to a community and not the actual obligation to do so. In Vygotsky's theory, internalization was important to social development. We can observe key skills develop on the social level then again within an individual as they internalize cultural influences. External influences are adopted as intrapersonal characteristics throughout the internalization process.

See also: Kirkpatrick Model: Four Levels of Learning Evaluation

It is important to note that the education system influences the thoughts and belief systems of the children within. One's teachers and peers directly affect cognitive development by the language they use and the interpretations they offer of cultural events. While Piaget believed that a child builds a unique view of the world, Vygotsky suggested that others within a child's social circle influence their perspectives, values, and attitudes. Individuals are actively engaging within their learning environments, continuously analyzing the reactions of others and modifying their responses as they adopt or reject accepted standards as their own. Both learning and culture are depended on the other: individuals are constantly determining what is acceptable in society, and the environment is continuously confirming what would be considered appropriate behavior. Vygotsky states that it is the combination of cultural influences and genetics that create one's personality.

Secondly, Vygotsky specified that the conclusions should be made based on the behavior of a student in a social setting. He did not place emphasis on intelligence itself. Instead, Vygotsky proposed the idea of the zone of proximal development, which distinguishes between what a child is able to accomplish independently and what they achieve under close guidance from a teacher. He maintained that learning occurred in the presence of tasks specific to the child's current ability under the supervision of a more competent person. In order to capitalize on this growth, Vygotsky encouraged testing based on the social context. He disagreed with the notion of independent intelligence assessments, preferring to focus on the potential of each student within the learning environment. The zone of proximal development is affected by the unique attributes of each individual, including personality, self-regulation, and previous knowledge. As the zone of proximal development cannot be clearly defined, it is challenging to explain the link between social interaction and learning. It does, however, support the argument for a more student-centered education system as well as the many factors that can influence potential outcomes.

Criticisms of Vygotsky

1. Observation and testing

Vygotsky's theories have been heavily criticized for his lack of experimental tests. He relied widely on observation of his subjects to prove his findings as he believed that social interaction was a key factor to learning. His vague definition of social interaction, in which failed to state the best methods to engage with others, allowed the criticisms to continue even after his death.

2. Active participation in the acquisition of knowledge

While some philosophers assume that learning occurs naturally and fluidly, Vygotsky believed that leaners actively engage in the acquisition of knowledge. The criticism of Vygotsky's theory is that it does not account for the slower rate of cognitive growth in some children. Both genetics and passive experience are thought to play some role as well.

3. Societal Influences

Criticisms about the vagueness of his theories are not limited to just the acquisition of knowledge. Others were also critical about Vygotsky's theory of language, which stated that learning comes from cultural influences. Vygotsky minimized the role of genetics and instead highlighted socialization as key to language learning. Although it is possible that Vygotsky just never elaborated on his theory in his lifetime, some observations are detrimental to his work. Even with consistent social support, some children are never able to develop cognitively until a certain age. Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, conducted a systemic study of cognitive development that offers some answers where Vygotsky could not. Piaget observed that children's learning occurred in stages, and they needed to reach the next stage, or milestone before they could understand some concepts.

4. Lack of Cultural Relevance

Even assessing Vygotsky's theory as a whole proved to be problematic. Vygotsky's theory revolves around the idea that social interaction is central to learning. This means the assumption must be made that all societies are the same, which is incorrect. Vygotsky emphasized the concept of instructional scaffolding, which allows the learned to build connections based on social interactions. In reality, only some learning activities place an emphasis on language, while other skills are acquired instead with hands-on practice and observation.

5. Guided Learning: Zone of Proximal Development

One of the most important aspects of Vygotsky's theory is also criticized: the Zone of Proximal Development. It is viewed as an attempt to make Piaget's theories trendy by rewording his ideas and presenting them in an alternate way. The concept of the zone of proximal development is not well understood and is criticized as an "umbrella term" under which many models of cognitive development could fall.

Overall, Piaget's work has been more heavily scrutinized than Vygotsky's. This is due to the ambiguous nature of Vygotsky's theories, which make them difficult to test and measure. In addition to these challenges, Vygotsky's work needs to be translated from Russian, which is time-consuming in itself.

See also: Fully and Partially Online Courses: Definitions

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Lev Vygotsky - Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development - Educational Technology

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Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian teacher who is considered a pioneer in learning in social contexts. As a psychologist, he was also the first to

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https://youtu.be/R4DYmBC805g

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https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/pros_cons_montessori_education/

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What do Jeff Bezos and preschoolers have in common? Maybe not much at a surface level, but in 2018, the e-commerce king pledged $1 billion to fund low-income Montessori preschools. You may not have known it, but along with many of the tech giants who founded Google® and famous athletes, musicians, and activists, Bezos himself was Montessori educated.

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Exploring the Pros and Cons of Montessori Education

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Looking to learn more about what Montessori is and the potential pros and cons to taking this educational approach. Read on to explore this unique style of educational instruction.

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Preschools subscribe to many different theories and philosophies of education. You may hear some of the following terms used to describe schools you're considering. Familiarize yourself with the various styles to help determine which one is the best fit for your child. Each school may interpret the philosophy a little differently; what's most important is finding one that's a good match for your child - one that will make his first school experience a positive one that inspires a lifelong love of learning.

Montessori
Montessori is centered on establishing independence, self-esteem, and confidence while fostering learning at a child's own pace.

This self-paced education is accomplished by changing the role of adults in the classroom from teachers of a whole class into that of "guides," as they are often called, for the students as individuals. According to the American Montessori Society, guides have four principle goals, which encompass what the Montessori method hopes to achieve. The guide strives to:

awaken your child's spirit and imagination;

encourage his normal desire for independence and high sense of self-esteem;

help him develop the kindness, courtesy, and self-discipline that will allow him to become a full member of society;

help him learn how to observe, question, and explore ideas independently.

The guide may introduce a lesson to the class as a whole, but will then focus on working with students in small groups as they investigate topics on their own in a carefully prepared classroom environment. This individualized attention means children with special needs - whether they are gifted or delayed - often do well in a Montessori environment.

Waldorf
Waldorf programs strive to stimulate kids' bodies, spirits, and souls with a nurturing, homelike environment that engages all five senses. Rudolf Steiner, who founded the first Waldorf school in Germany in 1919, believed that small children learn best by imitation and their physical surroundings. Creative play is the most important means of learning in a Waldorf classroom, with a heavy dose of teamwork and togetherness. If your child attends a Waldorf school for many years, he will remain with the same teacher from preschool through 8th grade! The result is a deep, close relationship, one in which your child's needs are better understood from year to year.

Projects
The goal of these programs is to let children learn by experimentation, exploration, and collaboration. Teachers and their charges tie the work they do in the classroom to real-world experiences and lessons. They play with materials that inspire exploration and pretend play, such as blocks and art supplies, and take lots of community field trips.

In a projects-based program, children work independently. The teacher serves as a guide, providing advice or help when needed but largely standing back and letting the children decide how to handle a problem themselves. The children negotiate with their teacher about the rules and directions for the project and what they want to accomplish with it.

Community/Religious
Many child-care centers, community centers, and religious organizations offer preschool programs. These typically feature the classic preschool experience you might remember from your own childhood, with an emphasis on both socialization and pre-academic skills. If age-appropriate religious instruction is important to you, you'll want to consider one of these programs seriously.

These programs vary greatly depending on the philosophy of the director and teachers. They may include elements from several styles of programs (such asMontessori or Projects). To varying degrees, children will learn by playing and experimenting with language, toys, and art materials. Some schools may have a stronger emphasis on pre-academic skills and direct instruction, while others will offer a more hands-on curriculum.

Cooperative
If you can't afford a traditional preschool, or can't find one with a philosophy that meshes with your own, consider looking for or even founding a cooperative school. These parent-run programs are usually less expensive than other schools (because of the sweat equity that parents contribute) and allow participating families to help decide what kids will learn and how.

In a cooperative preschool, parents take turns doing everything from managing the finances to washing the windows to assisting in the classroom. Usually, a professional teacher oversees the classroom, but parent volunteers recruit and hire her, serve as her aides, and help develop the curriculum.

Reggio Emilia
Many experts have hailed the Reggio Emilia approach as an exemplary system for helping children develop strong thinking skills. The primary goal of this method is to create learning conditions that help children develop these abilities through exposure to all matter of expressive, communicative, and cognitive experiences. Four guiding principles work together to meet this objective:

Emergent curriculum: Topics for study are built on the interests of the children, determined by discussions with the class and their families, and by areas that fascinate many children, such as puddles and dinosaurs.

Projects: Children participate in in-depth studies of concepts, ideas, and interests. Such projects are often explained to the children as adventures, and can vary in duration from a week or two to the entire school year.

Representational development: Teachers present new ideas and concepts in multiple forms, such as print, art, drama, music, puppetry, etc. This variation is considered essential in making sure that all children (who have many different styles of learning) have the chance to understand what is being taught to them.

Collaboration: Groups both large and small are encouraged to work together to solve problems using dialogue, comparisons, negotiations, and other important interpersonal skills. Each child's voice should be heard within the group to promote the balance between a sense of belonging and a sense of self.

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Preschools subscribe to many different theories and philosophies of education. You may hear some of the following terms used to describe schools you're considering. Familiarize yourself with the various styles to help determine which one is the best fit for your child.

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https://www.highmowing.org/about/the-waldorf-approach

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The aim of Waldorf education is to develop each student's unique capacities, believing those capacities are how they will fulfill their lives in a future whose contours we can glimpse only vaguely.

Waldorf schools approach education as an art to be tailored to the developmental stage of the student and the ways the student experiences life:

When children learn best by imitation and routine, teachers create healthy daily rhythms and model worthy behaviors , with the goal of developing strength of will sufficient to carrying the child through adversities.

At the time of life when children respond most to stories and relationships, teachers anchor their lessons to those rewards, with the aim of developing healthy feeling lives.

As students develop abstract thinking and intellectual discrimination, daily lessons cultivate those qualities, for the purpose of developing lively, discerning intellects and ethical foundations.

Waldorf education integrates the arts in all academic disciplines at all ages, for involvement in the arts has been correlated to gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Music, dance and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about and tested. They are experienced.

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The aim of Waldorf education is to develop each student's unique capacities, believing those capacities are how they will fulfill their lives in a future whose contours we can glimpse only vaguely.

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https://www.supplydesk.co.uk/resource/pedagogy-profile-montessori-method/

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Amongst British parents, the Montessori method is one of the more widely-known 'alternative' educational pedagogies, and is used in over 22,000 schools worldwide.

The Montessori method is particularly prominent in early childhood and primary school education.

Developed by Italian educator and doctor Maria Montessori after extensive research with special needs children in the early years of the twentieth century, the method contains five basic principles.

The Five Principles

Principle 1: Respect for the Child

Respect for the Child is the major principle underlying the entire Montessori method. Montessori believed children should be respected (not common practice in the early twentieth century). Respect is shown for children by not interrupting their concentration. Respect is also shown by giving pupils the freedom to make choices, to do things for themselves, and to learn for themselves. Teachers model respect for all students as well as peaceful conflict resolution, and must learn to observe without judgement.

Principle 2: The Absorbent Mind

Montessori education is based on the principle that, simply by living, children are constantly learning from the world around them. Through their senses children constantly absorb information from their world. They then make sense of it because they are thinking beings.

Principle 3: Sensitive Periods

Montessori pedagogy believes there are certain periods during which children are more ready to learn certain skills. These are known as sensitive periods, and last only as long as is necessary for the child to acquire the skills. The order in which sensitive periods occur (i.e. a sensitive period for writing) as well as the timing of the period varies for each child. Through observation, Montessori teachers must identify sensitive periods in their students and provide the resources for children to flourish during this time.

Principle 4: The Prepared Environment

The Montessori method suggests that children learn best in an environment that has been prepared to enable them to do things for themselves. Always child-centred, the learning environment should promote freedom for children to explore materials of their choice. Teachers should prepare the learning environment by making materials and experiences available to children in an orderly and independent way.

Principle 5: Auto education

Auto education, or self-education, is the concept that children are capable of educating themselves. This is one of the most important beliefs in the Montessori method. Montessori teachers provide the environment, the inspiration, the guidance and the encouragement for children to educate themselves.

The Role of the Teacher

In Montessori education the role of the teacher is to guide children in their learning without becoming an obstacle, and without inserting themselves too much into the natural learning process. Therefore, the Montessori teacher is a facilitator, not a lecturer. Montessori teachers encourage children to learn by placing the pupils, rather than the teacher, at the centre of the experience. They provide learning materials appropriate to each child after close observation in the specially prepared learning environment. Teachers also demonstrate and model learning activities whilst providing freedom for the students to learn in their own way. Montessori teachers manage classroom behaviours by modelling ongoing respect for all children and their work, by observing and using sensitive periods, interests and abilities to plan activity, and by diverting inappropriate behaviour to meaningful tasks.

Multi-age classrooms

One of the more widely known features of a Montessori education is that of the multi-age classroom. Rejecting the notion all children of the same age develop and progress at the same page, Montessori schools believe multi-age classrooms enable children to work more productively at their natural pace. Montessori classrooms are typically set up in 3-year age ranges. Advocates believe this enable children to learn better social skills, and to develop academically, in a co-operative, non-competitive learning environment.

The Montessori classroom

Montessori believed that the learning environment (including teachers, experiences and the physical environment) may either positively or negatively impact upon auto education. Thus, Montessori classrooms are set up in such a way as to best facilitate and encourage learning. Practically, this typically includes the following considerations in classroom setup:

Minimising things that may over-stimulate and distract. Walls are painted in neutral shades, minimal objects and artworks are displayed.

The classroom is quiet, calm, uncluttered

Artwork is carefully chosen and displayed at children's eye level

Resources that appeal to all five senses (sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing) are used

The classroom is separated into different learning areas, with a place for everything

Use of natural and real-life (rather than pretend) materials and activities

Has sufficient space for children to move around without disturbing others

Provides sufficient storage for children to store personal items and project work in an orderly manner

Living plants

Secondary Schooling

The Montessori method described is most appropriate to early childhood and primary school education, which is where the method maintains its popularity. The secondary program for Montessori schools is generally based on the Erdkinder, a program created for 12-15 year olds. This program is designed to be taught on a working farm. Consequently, there has been far less uptake of this program by schools across the globe. There is no internationally recognised senior secondary Montessori program.

Some critics and parents express concerns that children who are not used to testing, grading and other forms of competition will struggle in a more traditional high school environment. However, advocates of the method point to research which suggests that children with a Montessori background are able to thrive in a more traditional education background when they reach secondary school, due to their skills in independent learning. Whilst more research is required, it is certainly widely recognised that quality and attentive early education can make a huge difference in the lives of children.

Will teaching in a Montessori school work for me?

Montessori teachers are in great demand. In many countries you will also need to have a recognised Montessori certification in addition to your teaching qualification to work as a Montessori teacher. Many Montessori teachers report significant job satisfaction. However, this is not a role that will suit everybody. In order to succeed as a Montessori teacher, it is important that practitioners genuinely believe in the philosophy. Try to gain experience in a Montessori school, to see the method in action. If there are parts of the method you feel may not suit you, you may still choose to incorporate elements of the Montessori method into your classroom.
By Kirsten Lopez Sources:
Early Childhood Education Today, by GS Morrison, 2009 edition, p.140-143
www.cbsnews.com/news/do-montessori-schools-have-an-edge/www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/montessori-schools www.montessori.org www.Montessori.org.au www.montessorianswers.com www.montessoritrainining.blogspot.com.au

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Pedagogy Profile: the Montessori Method - Supply Desk

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The Montessori method is particularly prominent in early childhood and primary school education. Developed by Italian educator and doctor Maria Montessori after extensive research with special needs children in the early years of the twentieth century, the method contains five basic principles.

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https://www.yonkerspublicschools.org/domain/2908

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What is Montessori Education?

Montessori is a method of education named after Dr. Maria Montessori. She was the first woman in Italy to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Because she was a doctor, Maria Montessori looked at education from a scientific level. She believed that education should prepare a person for all aspects of life. She designed materials and techniques that would promote a natural growth of learning in students. They are common to all Montessori classrooms. Working with these materials and techniques forms a pattern that children carry over naturally to reading, writing, and mathematics. Each skill is developed to interlock with another.

From The American Montessori Society:

The Montessori Method of education, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Dr. Montessori's Method has been time tested, with over 100 years of success in diverse cultures throughout the world.

It is a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment. It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child-physical, social, emotional, cognitive.

Montessori education offers our children opportunities to develop their potential as they step out into the world as engaged, competent, responsible, and respectful citizens with an understanding and appreciation that learning is for life.

Each child is valued as a unique individual. Montessori education recognizes that children learn in different ways, and accommodates all learning styles. Students are also free to learn at their own pace, each advancing through the curriculum as he is ready, guided by the teacher and an individualized learning plan.

Beginning at an early age, Montessori students develop order, coordination, concentration, and independence. Classroom design, materials, and daily routines support the individual's emerging "self-regulation" (ability to educate one's self, and to think about what one is learning), toddlers through adolescents.

Students are part of a close, caring community. The multi-age classroom-typically spanning 3 years-re-creates a family structure. Older students enjoy stature as mentors and role models; younger children feel supported and gain confidence about the challenges ahead. Teachers model respect, loving kindness, and a belief in peaceful conflict resolution.

Montessori students enjoy freedom within limits. Working within parameters set by their teachers, students are active participants in deciding what their focus of learning will be. Montessorians understand that internal satisfaction drives the child's curiosity and interest and results in joyous learning that is sustainable over a lifetime.

Students are supported in becoming active seekers of knowledge. Teachers provide environments where students have the freedom and the tools to pursue answers to their own questions.

Self-correction and self-assessment are an integral part of the Montessori classroom approach. As they mature, students learn to look critically at their work, and become adept at recognizing, correcting, and learning from their errors.

Given the freedom and support to question, to probe deeply, and to make connections, Montessori students become confident, enthusiastic, self-directed learners. They are able to think critically, work collaboratively, and act boldly-a skill set for the 21st century.

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Montessori Philosophy / What is Montessori Education?

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What is Montessori Education? Montessori is a method of education named after Dr. Maria Montessori. She was the first woman in Italy to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Because she was a doctor, Maria Montessori looked at education from a scientific level.

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https://www.waldorfeducation.org/waldorf-education

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Waldorf schools offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education. They integrate the arts in all academic disciplines for children from preschool through twelfth grade to enhance and enrich learning. Waldorf education aims to inspire life-long learning in all students and to enable them to fully develop their unique capacities.

Founded in the early 20th century, Waldorf education is based on the insights, teachings and principles of education outlined by the world renowned artist, and scientist, Rudolf Steiner. The principles of Waldorf education evolve from an understanding of human development that address the needs of the growing child.

Music, dance and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about and tested. They are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students cultivate their intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual capacities to be individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world.

Professors who have taught Waldorf students across many academic disciplines and across a wide range of campuses-from State Universities to Ivy League-note that Waldorf graduates have the ability to integrate thinking; to assimilate information as opposed to memorizing isolated facts; to be flexible, creative and willing to take intellectual risks; and are leaders with high ethical and moral standards who take initiative and are passionate to reach their goals. Waldorf graduates are highly sought after in higher education.

Teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child. This eliminates the need for competitive testing, academic placement, and rewards to motivate learning and allows motivation to arise from within. It helps engender the capacity for joyful life-long learning.

Waldorf education is independent and inclusive. It upholds the principles of freedom in education and engages independent administration locally, continentally and internationally. It is regionally appropriate education with hundreds of schools worldwide today. Waldorf education is truly Inspired Learning.

Preparing for Life - documentary on Waldorf education

"Waldorf education is not a pedagogical system but an art - the art of awakening what is actually there within the human being."
~ Rudolf Steiner

Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know. Joseph Weizenbaum, Professor Emeritus, MIT

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association of waldorf schools of north america

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Waldorf Education - Association of Waldorf Schools of North America

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Waldorf schools offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education. They integrate the arts in all academic disciplines for children from preschool through twelfth grade to enhance and enrich learning. Waldorf education aims to inspire life-long learning in all students and to enable them to fully develop their unique capacities.

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Maria Montessori Theory & Montessori Method -- Early Education

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3. Schemas

Piaget claimed that knowledge cannot simply emerge from sensory experience; some initial structure is necessary to make sense of the world.

According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge are based.

Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world.

Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as: "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning."

In more simple terms, Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior - a way of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as "units" of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions, and abstract (i.e., theoretical) concepts.

Wadsworth (2004) suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be thought of as "index cards" filed in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information.

When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned.

When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium, i.e., a state of cognitive (i.e., mental) balance.

Operations are more sophisticated mental structures which allow us to combine schemas in a logical (reasonable) way.

As children grow they can carry out more complex operations and begin to imagine hypothetical (imaginary) situations.

Apart from the schemas we are born with schemas and operations are learned through interaction with other people and the environment.

Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development and described how they were developed or acquired.

A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed.

Examples of Schemas

A person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill.

This is an example of a schema called a "script." Whenever they are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation.

The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this - especially those used by infants. He described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate.

Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us.

For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a "sucking schema."

Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby's hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking.

4. The Process of Adaptation

Piaget also believed that a child developed as a result of two different influences: maturation, and interaction with the environment. The child develops mental structures (schemata) which enables him to solve problems in the environment.

Adaptation is the process by which the child changes its mental models of the world to match more closely how the world actually is.

Adaptation is brought about by the processes of assimilation (solving new experiences using existing schemata) and accommodation (changing existing schemata in order to solve new experiences).

The importance of this viewpoint is that the child is seen as an active participant in its own development rather than a passive recipient of either biological influences (maturation) or environmental stimulation.

When our existing schemas can explain what we perceive around us, we are in a state of equilibration. However, when we meet a new situation that we cannot explain it creates disequilibrium, this is an unpleasant sensation which we try to escape, and this gives us the motivation to learn.

According to Piaget, reorganization to higher levels of thinking is not accomplished easily. The child must "rethink" his or her view of the world. An important step in the process is the experience of cognitive conflict.

In other words, the child becomes aware that he or she holds two contradictory views about a situation and they both cannot be true. This step is referred to as disequilibrium.

Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.

To get back to a state of equilibration, we need to modify our existing schemas to learn and adapt to the new situation.

This is done through the processes of accommodation and assimilation. This is how our schemas evolve and become more sophisticated. The processes of assimilation and accommodation are continuous and interactive.

5. Assimilation

Piaget defined assimilation as the cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding. Overall beliefs and understanding of the world do not change as a result of the new information.

Assimilation occurs when the new experience is not very different from previous experiences of a particular object or situation we assimilate the new situation by adding information to a previous schema.

This means that when you are faced with new information, you make sense of this information by referring to information you already have (information processed and learned previously) and trying to fit the new information into the information you already have.

Examples

1. Imagine a young child who has only ever seen small, domesticated dogs. When the child sees a cat for the first time, they might refer to it as a "dog" because it has four legs, fur, and a tail - features that fit their existing schema of a dog.

2. A person who has always believed that all birds can fly might label penguins as birds that can fly. This is because their existing schema or understanding of birds includes the ability to fly.

3. A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father's horror, the toddler shouts "Clown, clown" (Siegler et al., 2003).

4. If a baby learns to pick up a rattle he or she will then use the same schema (grasping) to pick up other objects.

6. Accommodation

Accommodation: when the new experience is very different from what we have encountered before we need to change our schemas in a very radical way or create a whole new schema.

Psychologist Jean Piaget defined accommodation as the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated.

This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.

In order to make sense of some new information, you actually adjust information you already have (schemas you already have, etc.) to make room for this new information.

Examples

1. A baby tries to use the same schema for grasping to pick up a very small object. It doesn't work. The baby then changes the schema by now using the forefinger and thumb to pick up the object.

2. A child may have a schema for birds (feathers, flying, etc.) and then they see a plane, which also flies, but would not fit into their bird schema.

3. In the "clown" incident, the boy's father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown's, he wasn't wearing a funny costume and wasn't doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of "clown" and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of "clown".

4. A person who grew up thinking all snakes are dangerous might move to an area where garden snakes are common and harmless. Over time, after observing and learning, they might accommodate their previous belief to understand that not all snakes are harmful.

7. Equilibration

Piaget believed that all human thought seeks order and is uncomfortable with contradictions and inconsistencies in knowledge structures. In other words, we seek "equilibrium" in our cognitive structures.

Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).

Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation).

Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.

Equilibration is a regulatory process that maintains a balance between assimilation and accommodation to facilitate cognitive growth. Think of it this way: We can't merely assimilate all the time; if we did, we would never learn any new concepts or principles.

Everything new we encountered would just get put in the same few "slots" we already had. Neither can we accommodate all the time; if we did, everything we encountered would seem new; there would be no recurring regularities in our world. We'd be exhausted by the mental effort!

Applications to Education

Think of old black and white films that you've seen in which children sat in rows at desks, with ink wells, would learn by rote, all chanting in unison in response to questions set by an authoritarian old biddy like Matilda!

Children who were unable to keep up were seen as slacking and would be punished by variations on the theme of corporal punishment. Yes, it really did happen and in some parts of the world still does today.

Piaget is partly responsible for the change that occurred in the 1960s and for your relatively pleasurable and pain-free school days!

"Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research. Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the essential thing is that in order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself, he must re-invent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand that which we allow him to discover by himself will remain with him visibly".
Piaget (1972, p. 27)

Plowden Report

Piaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have explained how features of Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning.

Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice. For example, a review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on Piaget's theory. The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden Report (1967).

In the 1960s the Plowden Committee investigated the deficiencies in education and decided to incorporate many of Piaget's ideas into its final report published in 1967, even though Piaget's work was not really designed for education.

The report makes three Piaget-associated recommendations:

1. Children should be given individual attention and it should be realized that they need to be treated differently.

2. Children should only be taught things that they are capable of learning

3. Children mature at different rates and the teacher needs to be aware of the stage of development of each child so teaching can be tailored to their individual needs.

"The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children's progress - teachers should "not assume that only what is measurable is valuable."

Discovery learning - the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring - was seen as central to the transformation of the primary school curriculum.

How to teach

Within the classroom learning should be student-centered and accomplished through active discovery learning. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition.

Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of "readiness" is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught.

According to Piaget's theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development.

According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered.

Therefore, teachers should encourage the following within the classroom:

1. Educational programs should be designed to correspond to Piaget's stages of development. Children in the concrete operational stage should be given concrete means to learn new concepts e.g. tokens for counting.

2. Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.

3. Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end product of it. Instead of checking if children have the right answer, the teacher should focus on the student's understanding and the processes they used to get to the answer.

4. Child-centered approach. Learning must be active (discovery learning).
Children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to interact with the material instead of being given ready-made knowledge.

5. Accepting that children develop at different rates so arrange activities for individual children or small groups rather than assume that all the children can cope with a particular activity.

6. Using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing "truths."

7. Using collaborative, as well as individual activities (so children can learn from each other).

8. Evaluate the level of the child's development so suitable tasks can be set.

9. Adapt lessons to suit the needs of the individual child (i.e. differentiated teaching).

10. Be aware of the child's stage of development (testing).

11. Teach only when the child is ready. i.e. has the child reached the appropriate stage.

12. Providing support for the "spontaneous research" of the child.

13. Using collaborative, as well as individual activities.

14. Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.

15. Educators may use Piaget's stages to design age-appropriate assessment tools and strategies.

Classroom Activities

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years):
Although most kids in this age range are not in a traditional classroom setting, they can still benefit from games that stimulate their senses and motor skills.

2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years):

Role Playing: Set up pretend play areas where children can act out different scenarios, such as a kitchen, hospital, or market.

Use of Symbols: Encourage drawing, building, and using props to represent other things.

Hands-on Activities: Children should interact physically with their environment, so provide plenty of opportunities for hands-on learning.

Egocentrism Activities: Use exercises that highlight different perspectives. For instance, having two children sit across from each other with an object in between and asking them what the other sees.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years):

Classification Tasks: Provide objects or pictures to group, based on various characteristics.

Hands-on Experiments: Introduce basic science experiments where they can observe cause and effect, like a simple volcano with baking soda and vinegar.

Logical Games: Board games, puzzles, and logic problems help develop their thinking skills.

Conservation Tasks: Use experiments to showcase that quantity doesn't change with alterations in shape, such as the classic liquid conservation task using different shaped glasses.

4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years and older):

Hypothesis Testing: Encourage students to make predictions and test them out.

Abstract Thinking: Introduce topics that require abstract reasoning, such as algebra or ethical dilemmas.

Problem Solving: Provide complex problems and have students work on solutions, integrating various subjects and concepts.

Debate and Discussion: Encourage group discussions and debates on abstract topics, highlighting the importance of logic and evidence.

Feedback and Questioning: Use open-ended questions to challenge students and promote higher-order thinking. For instance, rather than asking, "Is this the right answer?", ask, "How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

Individual Differences

While Piaget's stages offer a foundational framework, they are not universally experienced in the same way by all children.

Social identities play a critical role in shaping cognitive development, necessitating a more nuanced and culturally responsive approach to understanding child development.

Piaget's stages may manifest differently based on social identities like race, gender, and culture:

Race & Teacher Interactions: A child's race can influence teacher expectations and interactions. For example, racial biases can lead to children of color being perceived as less capable or more disruptive, influencing their cognitive challenges and supports.

Racial and Cultural Stereotypes: These can affect a child's self-perception and self-efficacy. For instance, stereotypes about which racial or cultural groups are "better" at certain subjects can influence a child's self-confidence and, subsequently, their engagement in that subject.

Gender & Peer Interactions: Children learn gender roles from their peers. Boys might be mocked for playing "girl games," and girls might be excluded from certain activities, influencing their cognitive engagements.

Language: Multilingual children might navigate the stages differently, especially if their home language differs from their school language. The way concepts are framed in different languages can influence cognitive processing. Cultural idioms and metaphors can shape a child's understanding of concepts and their ability to use symbolic representation, especially in the pre-operational stage.

Curriculum Development

According to Piaget, children's cognitive development is determined by a process of maturation which cannot be altered by tuition so education should be stage-specific.

For example, a child in the concrete operational stage should not be taught abstract concepts and should be given concrete aid such as tokens to count with.

According to Piaget children learn through the process of accommodation and assimilation so the role of the teacher should be to provide opportunities for these processes to occur such as new material and experiences that challenge the children's existing schemas.

Furthermore, according to this theory, children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to interact with the material instead of being given ready-made knowledge.

Curricula need to be developed that take into account the age and stage of thinking of the child. For example there is no point in teaching abstract concepts such as algebra or atomic structure to children in primary school.

Curricula also need to be sufficiently flexible to allow for variations in the ability of different students of the same age. In Britain, the National Curriculum and Key Stages broadly reflect the stages that Piaget laid down.

For example, egocentrism dominates a child's thinking in the sensorimotor and preoperational stages. Piaget would therefore predict that using group activities would not be appropriate since children are not capable of understanding the views of others.

However, Smith et al. (1998), point out that some children develop earlier than Piaget predicted and that by using group work children can learn to appreciate the views of others in preparation for the concrete operational stage.

The national curriculum emphasizes the need to use concrete examples in the primary classroom.

Shayer (1997), reported that abstract thought was necessary for success in secondary school (and co-developed the CASE system of teaching science). Recently the National curriculum has been updated to encourage the teaching of some abstract concepts towards the end of primary education, in preparation for secondary courses. (DfEE, 1999).

Child-centered teaching is regarded by some as a child of the 'liberal sixties.' In the 1980s the Thatcher government introduced the National Curriculum in an attempt to move away from this and bring more central government control into the teaching of children.

So, although the British National Curriculum in some ways supports the work of Piaget, (in that it dictates the order of teaching), it can also be seen as prescriptive to the point where it counters Piaget's child-oriented approach.

However, it does still allow for flexibility in teaching methods, allowing teachers to tailor lessons to the needs of their students.

Social Media (Digital Learning)

Jean Piaget could not have anticipated the expansive digital age we now live in.

Today, knowledge dissemination and creation are democratized by the Internet, with platforms like blogs, wikis, and social media allowing for vast collaboration and shared knowledge. This development has prompted a reimagining of the future of education.

Classrooms, traditionally seen as primary sites of learning, are being overshadowed by the rise of mobile technologies and platforms like MOOCs (Passey, 2013).

The millennial generation, defined as the first to grow up with cable TV, the internet, and cell phones, relies heavily on technology.

They view it as an integral part of their identity, with most using it extensively in their daily lives, from keeping in touch with loved ones to consuming news and entertainment (Nielsen, 2014).

Social media platforms offer a dynamic environment conducive to Piaget's principles. These platforms allow for interactions that nurture knowledge evolution through cognitive processes like assimilation and accommodation.

They emphasize communal interaction and shared activity, fostering both cognitive and socio-cultural constructivism. This shared activity promotes understanding and exploration beyond individual perspectives, enhancing social-emotional learning (Gehlbach, 2010).

A standout advantage of social media in an educational context is its capacity to extend beyond traditional classroom confines. As the material indicates, these platforms can foster more inclusive learning, bridging diverse learner groups.

This inclusivity can equalize learning opportunities, potentially diminishing biases based on factors like race or socio-economic status, resonating with Kegan's (1982) concept of "recruitability."

However, there are challenges. While the potential of social media in learning is vast, its practical application necessitates intention and guidance. Cuban, Kirkpatrick, and Peck (2001) note that certain educators and students are hesitant about integrating social media into educational contexts.

This hesitancy can stem from technological complexities or potential distractions. Yet, when harnessed effectively, social media can provide a rich environment for collaborative learning and interpersonal development, fostering a deeper understanding of content.

In essence, the rise of social media aligns seamlessly with constructivist philosophies. Social media platforms act as tools for everyday cognition, merging daily social interactions with the academic world, and providing avenues for diverse, interactive, and engaging learning experiences.

Applications to Parenting

Parents can use Piaget's stages to have realistic developmental expectations of their children's behavior and cognitive capabilities.

For instance, understanding that a toddler is in the pre-operational stage can help parents be patient when the child is egocentric.

Play Activities

Recognizing the importance of play in cognitive development, many parents provide toys and games suited for their child's developmental stage.

Parents can offer activities that are slightly beyond their child's current abilities, leveraging Vygotsky's concept of the "Zone of Proximal Development," which complements Piaget's ideas.

Critical Evaluation

The influence of Piaget's ideas on developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child's world and their methods of studying children.

He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.

Piaget (1936) was one of the first psychologists to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His contributions include a stage theory of child cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.

His ideas have been of practical use in understanding and communicating with children, particularly in the field of education (re: Discovery Learning). Piaget's theory has been applied across education.

According to Piaget's theory, educational programs should be designed to correspond to the stages of development.

Criticisms

Are the stages real? Vygotsky and Bruner would rather not talk about stages at all, preferring to see development as a continuous process. Others have queried the age ranges of the stages. Some studies have shown that progress to the formal operational stage is not guaranteed.

For example, Keating (1979) reported that 40-60% of college students fail at formal operation tasks, and Dasen (1994) states that only one-third of adults ever reach the formal operational stage.

The fact that the formal operational stage is not reached in all cultures and not all individuals within cultures suggests that it might not be biologically based.

According to Piaget, the rate of cognitive development cannot be accelerated as it is based on biological processes however, direct tuition can speed up the development which suggests that it is not entirely based on biological factors.

Because Piaget concentrated on the universal stages of cognitive development and biological maturation, he failed to consider the effect that the social setting and culture may have on cognitive development.

Cross-cultural studies show that the stages of development (except the formal operational stage) occur in the same order in all cultures suggesting that cognitive development is a product of a biological process of maturation.

However, the age at which the stages are reached varies between cultures and individuals which suggests that social and cultural factors and individual differences influence cognitive development.

Dasen (1994) cites studies he conducted in remote parts of the central Australian desert with 8-14-year-old Indigenous Australians. He gave them conservation of liquid tasks and spatial awareness tasks. He found that the ability to conserve came later in the Aboriginal children, between ages of 10 and 13 (as opposed to between 5 and 7, with Piaget's Swiss sample).

However, he found that spatial awareness abilities developed earlier amongst the Aboriginal children than the Swiss children. Such a study demonstrates cognitive development is not purely dependent on maturation but on cultural factors too - spatial awareness is crucial for nomadic groups of people.

Vygotsky, a contemporary of Piaget, argued that social interaction is crucial for cognitive development. According to Vygotsky the child's learning always occurs in a social context in cooperation with someone more skillful (MKO). This social interaction provides language opportunities and Vygotsky considered language the foundation of thought.

Piaget's methods (observation and clinical interviews) are more open to biased interpretation than other methods. Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of children, and from these, he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations.

Because Piaget conducted the observations alone the data collected are based on his own subjective interpretation of events. It would have been more reliable if Piaget conducted the observations with another researcher and compared the results afterward to check if they are similar (i.e., have inter-rater reliability).

Although clinical interviews allow the researcher to explore data in more depth, the interpretation of the interviewer may be biased.

For example, children may not understand the question/s, they have short attention spans, they cannot express themselves very well, and may be trying to please the experimenter. Such methods meant that Piaget may have formed inaccurate conclusions.

As several studies have shown Piaget underestimated the abilities of children because his tests were sometimes confusing or difficult to understand (e.g., Hughes, 1975).

Piaget failed to distinguish between competence (what a child is capable of doing) and performance (what a child can show when given a particular task). When tasks were altered, performance (and therefore competence) was affected. Therefore, Piaget might have underestimated children's cognitive abilities.

For example, a child might have object permanence (competence) but still not be able to search for objects (performance). When Piaget hid objects from babies he found that it wasn't till after nine months that they looked for it.

However, Piaget relied on manual search methods - whether the child was looking for the object or not.

Later, researchers such as Baillargeon and Devos (1991) reported that infants as young as four months looked longer at a moving carrot that didn't do what it expected, suggesting they had some sense of permanence, otherwise they wouldn't have had any expectation of what it should or shouldn't do.

The concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner (1966) and Vygotsky (1978). Behaviorism would also refute Piaget's schema theory because is cannot be directly observed as it is an internal process. Therefore, they would claim it cannot be objectively measured.

Piaget studied his own children and the children of his colleagues in Geneva to deduce general principles about the intellectual development of all children. His sample was very small and composed solely of European children from families of high socio-economic status. Researchers have, therefore, questioned the generalisability of his data.

For Piaget, language is considered secondary to action, i.e., thought precedes language. The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1978) argues that the development of language and thought go together and that the origin of reasoning has more to do with our ability to communicate with others than with our interaction with the material world.

Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own.

Whereas Vygotsky argues that children learn through social interactions, building knowledge by learning from more knowledgeable others such as peers and adults. In other words, Vygotsky believed that culture affects cognitive development.

These factors lead to differences in the education style they recommend: Piaget would argue for the teacher to provide opportunities that challenge the children's existing schemas and for children to be encouraged to discover for themselves.

Alternatively, Vygotsky would recommend that teachers assist the child to progress through the zone of proximal development by using scaffolding.

However, both theories view children as actively constructing their own knowledge of the world; they are not seen as just passively absorbing knowledge.

They also agree that cognitive development involves qualitative changes in thinking, not only a matter of learning more things.

FAQs

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Piaget's Stages: 4 Stages of Cognitive Development & Theory

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Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development outlines four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational) in a child's cognitive development from infancy to adolescence.

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https://www.education.com/magazine/article/10-benefits-montessori-preschool/

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Only you can know what kind of preschool is right for your child. The good news is that many programs, such as the Montessori Method, offer research and evidence supporting their techniques. If you're considering Montessori for your child, read on to discover 10 benefits of their educational philosophy.

1. Focuses on Key Developmental Stages

A Montessori curriculum focuses on key developmental milestones in children between the ages of three and five-years-old. Younger children focus on honing large muscle and language skills. Four-year-olds work on fine motor skills and completing everyday activities, such as cooking and arts and crafts. Older preschoolers broaden their learning experience to their communities, through trips and special events.

2. Encourages Cooperative Play

Because the teacher does not "run" the classroom, students guide the activities they do throughout the day. This encourages children to share and work cooperatively to explore the various stations in the Montessori classroom. Children in Montessori classrooms, by the very nature of the environment, learn to respect one another and build a sense of community.

3. Learning Is Child-Centered

Montessori preschool students enjoy a classroom and curriculum designed around their specific needs and abilities that allows them to explore and learn at their own pace and on their own terms. Everything in the classroom is within reach of the child, and furniture is sized for children to sit comfortably. In addition, older children in the class work with the younger ones, so mentoring comes as much from peers as it does from the adult teachers in the classroom.

4. Children Naturally Learn Self-Discipline

While the Montessori Method allows children to choose the activities they want to work on each day, and how long they will work at a specific task, there are specific "ground rules" for the class that are consistently enforced by the teacher and other students. This environment naturally teaches children self-discipline, and it refines important skills like concentration, self-control and motivation.

5. Classroom Environment Teaches Order

All objects and activities have precise locations on the shelves of a Montessori classroom. When children are finished with an activity, they place items back into their appropriate places. This sense of order helps facilitate the learning process, teaches self-discipline, and caters to a young child's innate need for an orderly environment. When children work and play in an area that is neat and predictable, they can unleash their creativity and focus fully on the learning process.

6. Teachers Facilitate the Learning Experience

Teachers in the Montessori classroom are "guides" that are there to facilitate the learning experience, rather than determine what it will look like. Teachers take the lead from the children in the classroom, ensure the ground rules are followed, and encourage students to perform tasks at their own pace. However, teachers do not determine the pace of the classroom - that is strictly up to individual students, as teachers strive to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

7. Learning Method Inspires Creativity

Since children are allowed to choose their activities and work at them on their own terms, creativity in the classroom is encouraged. Children work at tasks for the joy of the work, rather than the end result, which allows them to focus more on process than result - a natural path to creativity. Exposure to a wide variety of cultures also encourages children to broaden their thinking about the world and address those concepts in a variety of ways.

8. May be More Effective in Developing Certain Skills

Research conducted by Dr. Angeline Lillard, a professor of psychology from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, examined the abilities of children who have been taught in a Montessori school. Published in 2006 in the journal Science, the research studied Montessori students in Wisconsin and found that five-year-olds in Montessori classrooms had higher math and reading skills than their counterparts in public schools. In addition, the study compared 12-year-old Montessori and non-Montessori students. While math and reading skills appeared to be more on par with this age group, social development appeared to be higher in Montessori students by this age.

9. System is Highly Individualized to Each Student

Students in the Montessori program are allowed to explore activities and concepts at their own pace. This naturally encourages children to try more challenging areas, which accelerates their learning experience. Learning occurs at a comfortable pace for each student, rather than inflicting the same rate on every student in a classroom.

10. Curriculum Focused on Hands-On Learning

One of the greatest benefits of the Montessori Method, particularly during the early learning experience, is the focus on hands-on learning. The emphasis is on concrete, rather than abstract learning, as students work on activities that teach language, math, culture and practical life lessons. Teachers encourage students to concentrate on tasks, and they discourage students from interrupting one another, allowing students to focus on activities until they are properly mastered.

There are many potential benefits of a Montessori preschool for children just starting out in the education process. These important early years prepare a student for the learning experience that is to come, whether they continue with the Montessori Method or move to a public classroom environment in the future.
Grace Chen is the lead editor and writer for . From teaching at-risk public middle school students to lecturing for the Haas School of Business and FIDM, Grace is passionate about the state of education.

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Only you can know what kind of preschool is right for your child. The good news is that many programs, such as the Montessori Method, offer research and evidence supporting their techniques. If you're considering Montessori for your child, read on to discover 10 benefits of their educational philosophy.

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Early Years - the organisation for young children

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HighScope is a quality approach to early childhood care and education which has been shaped and developed by research and practice over 50 years. It identifies and builds on children's strengths, interests and abilities.

The central belief of HighScope is that children construct their own learning by doing and being actively involved in working with materials, people and ideas.

Early Years and HighScope Ireland

Early years leads the HighScope Ireland Institute in Ireland, which is one of several HighScope Institutes throughout the world. It is accountable to the HighScope Educational Research Foundation based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA. HighScope Ireland institute employs a Highscope Consultant Trainer and a team of Highscope endorsed trainers who provide a range of training and support.

Outcomes for Children

Findings from the HighScope Perry pre-school Study found that using the HighScope curriculum had positive effects from the time the child attended the setting into adulthood, including better school achievement and literacy, more likely to graduate from high school, adult earnings, home ownership and lifetime arrest rates.

* Children develop self-confidence, initiative, creativity and problem-solving skills

* Children learn about social relationships, the world about them, maths, science and technology, reasoning and language

* Children develop positive attitudes to self, others and to future learning

HighScope provides children with:

* A consistent and flexible daily routine which provides for child and adult initiated activities

* Opportunities to choose, plan, carry out and reflect on their activities

* Opportunities for children to engage in the active participatory learning process

* Adults who value and appreciate children and provide a creative and supportive learning climate

HighScope promotes family involvement through a partnership approach to the child's care and education with ongoing exchange of information between the family and the setting. Curriculum-based workshops are used to support families and to promote children's development at home.

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HighScope - Early Years - the organisation for young children

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
HighScope is a quality approach to early childhood care and education which has been shaped and developed by research and practice over 50 years. It identifies and builds on children's strengths, interests and abilities. The central belief of HighScope is that children construct their own learning by doing and being actively involved in working with materials, people and ideas.

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https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/

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A central figure in the history is Loris Malaguzzi, who together with the Municipality and several local administrators and citizens, especially women, contributed to the birth and development of Reggio Emilia's network of municipal Infant-toddler Centres and Preschools.
Loris Malaguzzi
The history of Reggio Emilia's municipal infant-toddler and preschools is profoundly woven...

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Reggio Children - Reggio Emilia Approach

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The Reggio Emilia Approach® is an educational philosophy based on the image of a child with strong potentialities for development and a subject with rights.