Relationship between Theory and Practice Essay

Cognitive development indicates growth of the ability to reflect and explain. Lev Semionovich Vygotsky and Jean Piaget were greatly contributed to the cognitive development section of Psychology. The way small kids discover surrounding environment and psychologically develop plays a key role in their learning processes and skills. By learning the process of cognitive development supervisors give themselves a chance to great extent meet the requirements of the individual demands of each separate child. Vygotsky and Piaget were considered to be constructivists. Constructivism is a method of training and learning based on the idea that cognition is the consequence of â€Å"psychological construction†. To put it differently, children obtain knowledge making compatible their previous experience and new fresh information. Constructivists believe that learning is influenced by the situation in which a concept is delivered also by children’s attitudes and values. Another common feature between Vygotsky and Piaget is that they both think that the limits of cognitive development were set by societal influences. Unfortunately, this is the point where the correspondence between Vygotsky and Piaget comes to an end. There is a great difference between both theories of highly indicated scientists. Piaget claimed that mental growth came from activity. He believed that students learn by means of communicating with their surroundings and that learning takes place after growth. On the other hand, Vygotsky held that knowledge takes place prior to the growth that can occur and that children learn because of history and symbolism. Vygotsky also claimed that students appreciate effort from their surrounding environment and from other people such as teachers and parents as well. Piaget did not consider the latter to be true. Vygotsky’s and Piaget concepts on cognitive development also have different attitudes. School systems and teachers have been practicing the cognitive development theories of Vygotsky and Piaget for quite a while. A good illustration of Piagentian training could be arranged in a preschool environment. Through the preschool period Piaget considers students as being at the Preoperational level and as a consequence they are more likely to be self-centered. Consequently, it would be fair to discuss things with preschool age children from their own points of view as they will feel their experiences are unique and precious. During classroom activities one student might say the glass of milk that another student brought to classroom to share is half empty while the student who brought the glass may consider the glass to be half full. Neither student is wrong in this example, the glass can be characterized by both descriptions but they may believe it due to the fact that each accordingly likes or dislikes milk. Application of Vygotsky’s cognitive development theory could occur in a first grade classroom. First grade children are frequently characterized by having varying stages of knowledge. Some students may already know letters and how to read while others are still making attempt to improve this process. An optimal option to assist the students who are not reading as well as the others includes ensuring these children aid speaking out a word when they get stuck while reading a text. With these preliminary considerations in mind it would be well to conclude that cognitive development plays a central part in learning and thinking approaches of students. Vygotsky and Piaget provide valuable knowledge and data into the possible ways students learn and by employing these concepts it is possible to design a more advantageous learning context for each student. To get deeper understanding of Vygotsky’s theory it would be useful to visit the web-site http://www. newfoundations. com/gallery/Vygotsky. html. It suggests a number of approaches provided by in-depth studies and research of the scientist. Vygotsky tries to find answers to questions such as â€Å"What is a human being? †, â€Å"What is knowledge? †, â€Å"What is learning? †, â€Å"What is society? †, or â€Å"Who is to be educated? †. One more web resource that provides valuable insight into the researches conducted by Piaget is http://webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/piaget. html. To apply theory into practice we may observe that preoperational stage includes symbolism which means that the child already understands parallel notions of objects. For instance, to develop business skills from the early age it would be very useful to set an activity where objects replace real things: paper instead of money, books instead of TV-sets to be sold, etc. These two particular web-sites were chosen because besides the theory itself they also include practice and illustrations. They describe how the results of the studies may be applied in learning and teaching processes.