PYB4

1
What does Piaget tell us about how childrens
cognitive abilities develop?
2
According to Piaget

• Children are little scientists who develop
  cognitively by acquiring schemas about the world
  through discovery learning
• To what extent do you agree with this view?

3

• Are there things a child needs to learn about the
  world that cannot simply be discovered?

4
Today you will

• Outline the main points of Vygotskys theory of
  Cognitive Development
• Define and explain the concepts of scaffolding
  and the zone of proximal development (ZPD)
• Consider the role of socialisation on cognitive
  development

5
Lev Vygotsky

• Russian psychologist, contemporary of Piaget but
  his work not published in English until after his
  death in 1934
• Believed that Piaget ignored the role of culture
  on cognitive development

6
Vygotskys Theory

• Cognitive development involves the active
  internalisation of problem-solving processes as a
  result of mutual interaction between children and
  others
• Children learn how to think through their
  interactions with others
• Where Piaget saw the child as a scientist,
  Vygotsky saw the child as an apprentice

7
Zone of Proximal Development

• In one of your subjects/hobbies/interests, think
  of
• One thing you can do well on your own
• One thing you can do if someone helps you
• One thing you cant do at all

8
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

• The gap between what a child can do on their own
  and what a child can do with support
• The child will not be able to take the next step
  in their development unless they are supported in
  the ZPD
• This support is known as scaffolding and is seen
  as the main role of adults/teachers

9
Zone of Proximal Development

• Vygotskys view
• what a child can do with assistance today she
  will be able to do by herself tomorrow.
  (Vygotsky, 1978)
• Contrast with Piaget
• 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 for himself
  will remain with him visible for the rest of his
  life. (Piaget, in Piers, 1972)

10
In groups of three

• Assign yourselves the roles of child, parent and
  psychologist
• The child will be given a toy to play with for
  three minutes
• Parents should get involved with their childs
  play in any way they feel appropriate
• Psychologists need to observe interactions and
  record details of how the parent supports the
  childs play

11

• Is there a best way for parents to provide
  support to their children when they are learning
  something new?

12
Levels of Parental Support (Wood Middleton,
1975)

• 4 yr olds give wooden blocks to fit together
• Building task too difficult for child to complete
  alone
• Interactions between children and parents
  observed in different levels of support
• Parent demonstrates
• Parent prepares
• Parent indicates
• Parent gives specific instructions
• Parent gives verbal prompt

13
Support for Vygotsky?

• Do Wood Middletons results support the idea
  that children learn cognitive concepts through
  the support of more advanced others
• Were children in this study actually acquiring a
  new concept?

14
Hatano Inigaki (1992)

• Suggested a distinction between
• routine knowledge
• learning of a context-specific skill
• conceptual knowledge
• acquisition of general cognitive principles which
  are transferable to a range of different contexts

15

• According to Vygotsky, what factors do you think
  might influence a childs development and
  understanding of false beliefs?
• Would family structure be important?

16
X-cultural support?

• Children in Crete Cyprus (Lewis et al, 1996),
  Japan England (Ruffman et al, 1998) tested on
  the false belief task
• If a child knows something to be true, do they
  understand that someone else might hold a false
  belief which will influence their behaviour?
• Children with larger families, and specifically
  older siblings are likely to develop this
  understanding more quickly (Lewis et al, 1996
  Ruffman et al, 1998)

17
Language thinking

• Vygotsky believed that thinking is structured by
  language
• Children acquire language through social
  interaction that they then use to structure and
  organise their own thinking and problem solving
• Self talk eventually becomes (mostly)
  silent/internal

18
Homework

• Looking at the top tips for teachers leaflet
  produced over the summer
• How well does it offer advice to teachers? Is it
  informative but accessible?
• How does the commentary explain the advice? Is
  there a clear understanding and application of
  Piagets theory?
• Are there any problems with the advice? What
  would Vygotsky think? Write a critique from his
  point of view.