Jean
Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, two of the most recognized constructive psychologists,
have developed theories on children's cognitive learning styles and abilities.
While these two theorists have different ideas about cognitive development in
children, there are also several similarities between them. Piaget proposed various
educational strategies such as discovery learning with an emphasis on activity
and play. However, Vygotsky insisted on the importance of social interactions
and a co-constructed knowledge.
According
to Piaget, cognitive development occurs in four stages; namely, sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operations and formal operations. Vygotsky partly agrees with him, but
he mostly focused on the role of culture and social interactions. As for Piaget,
children are active learners who construct knowledge from their environments.
The interaction with physical and social environments is a key for cognitive
development. As suggested by Piaget, I think children actively organize new
information with existing information they got from the environment.