It is important to note that cognitive development is a critical aspect of human development. It can be defined as a process of change in a person’s mental abilities and skills as he or she becomes more experienced and mature. In other words, thinking skills advance and enhance, making a child better at tackling more cognitively complex problems if an opportunity to develop these skills is provided.
When it comes to explaining and understanding the cognitive development processes, Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development are two major frameworks. The key difference between the two theories is that Piaget’s theory views cognitive development as occurring from the inside, whereas Vygotsky’s perspective is more focused on external elements impacting an individual (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). In other words, the former perceives a child as a ‘scientist’ who actively explores the surrounding world within the boundaries of his or her limited cognitive capabilities. However, the latter is a form of sociocultural theory, where cognitive skills are the product of the environment in which a child develops.
In the case of Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development, the key concepts include horizontal decalage, equilibration, assimilation and accommodation, and four stages of development. The horizontal decalage is a temporary difference in a degree of performance that is attributable to a specific stage of development (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). Piaget argues that equilibration is a prime driver of cognitive development in a child, where the needs of an environment balance the cognitive structures (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). For example, a new concept or object for a child is assimilated first within the existing schemas, but if it is not possible new ones are created to accommodate them (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). The four stages include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). The first stage involves object permanence and representational thought, while the second one is mostly egocentric (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). In the third stage, thinking becomes reversible, conservation becomes possible, and the fourth is about second-order relations.
In the case of Vygotsky, internalization is a developmental process of perceiving skills and knowledge as they are observed in social contexts. The zone of proximal development is a difference between what a child can do with guidance and what he or she can do on his or her own (Smagorinsky, 2018). Scaffolding is supporting and assisting a child’s cognitive development through a competent individual’s help, which improves one’s behavioral, socioemotional, and cognitive capacities (Sternberg & Williams, 2010). A mediated learning experience is an indirect form of scaffolding.
In conclusion, the role of a teacher is critical in a child’s development, which is why they need to understand the core theories of cognitive development. Cognitive development is a complex process, and Piaget views it as an internal process of exploring external elements, but Vygotsky perceives it as a sociocultural phenomenon. Thus, teachers can teach beyond theories by factoring in individual differences and unique environments in which they help children’s development. Both theories explain cognitive development from differential perspectives, but they emphasize the importance of expert assistance in this process. However, they are generalized, which means they do not account for unique situational and individual divergences. Therefore, teachers can bring their own experience and flexibility to adapt these theories to enhance their usefulness in practice.
References
Smagorinsky, P. (2018). Deconflating the ZPD and instructional scaffolding: Retranslating and reconceiving the zone of proximal development as the zone of next development. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 16, 70–75.
Sternberg, R. J., & Williams, W. M. (2010). Educational psychology (2nd ed.). Pearson.