1. Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Lev Vygotsky’s Cognitive Developmental Theory

2. Jean Piaget’s Theory
• The 4 key concepts of Jean
Piaget’s theory
• The influences of Cognitive
development
• Stages of cognitive
development
• Implications of Jean Piaget’s
cognitive development in
teaching and learning
Vygotsky’s theory
• The 4 features of Vygotsky’s
theory
• Implications of Vygotsky’s
cognitive development
theory in teaching and
learning

3. Jean Piaget’s Cognitive
Developmental Theory
• According to Jean Piaget (1954), certain ways of thinking
that are quite simple for an adult are not so simple for a
child.
“can you be in London,
Switzerland and
Greece all
at the same time?”

4. The Key
Concept Of
Piaget’s Theory
scheme adaptation
assimilation accommodation
equilibrium

5. schema
A schema describes both the
mental and physical actions
involved in understanding and
knowing
In Piaget's view, a
schema includes both a
category of knowledge
and the process of
obtaining that
knowledge.
Schemas are categories
of knowledge that help
us to interpret and
understand the world.
The Key Concepts of Piaget’s theory

6. • Example of scheme:
a child may have a schema about a type of
animal, such as a dog. If the child's sole
experience has been with small dogs, a child
might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and
have four legs. Suppose then that the child
encounters a very large dog. The child will take in
this new information, modifying the previously
existing schema to include this new information.

7. • Adaptation
adapting our schemata to make an accurate (enough) model of
the world we live in. It is a form of learning, but an entirely
different form to the kind you’d see in behaviourist psychology
for example (such as operant/classical conditioning).
Assimilation accommodation
Adaptation

8. Assimilation
• The process of taking in new information into our previously
existing schema's.
• So with the “dog” example, the child assimilated the
Labrador’s information into the old dog schema.
Process of
assimilation

9. Assimilation
• Assimilation is essentially fitting new
information into schemata we already have in
place. Unfortunately, this can lead to
stereotyping.

10. • Example of stereotyping:
if an old lady sees a teenager attack another person, she might
assimilate “violence” or “crime” into her teenage schema. Next
time she sees a teenager, her schema will be applied to them – and
although they may be a kind person, she will probably show
prejudice.

11. Accommodation
• involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of
new information.
• When coming across a new object for the first time, a child
will attempt to apply an old schema to the object. For
consistency, the child may have “four legs, furry” in their dog
schema.

12. • Example of accommodation:
When coming across another similar animal, such as a
cat, they might say “Look, a dog!” – that’s
assimilation. However, when told that it’s actually a
cat – not a dog – they will accommodate the new
information into another schema. They will now form
a “cat” schema; “not all four legged furry animals are
dogs – some are cats too!”. They have accommodated
the new information

13. Equilibrium
it is important to maintain a balance between applying
previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing
behavior to account for new knowledge
(accommodation)through a mechanism Piaget called
equilibrium.
Equilibration helps explain how children are able to
move from one stage of thought into the next.

14. Schema: A dog
A dog
A cat
assimilation accommodation
Assimilation and accommodation
A dog A cat
equilibrium
dogs cats dog cat

15. • The unfolding of the biological changes
that are genetically programmed.
Biological
maturation
• When a young child’s coordination is
reasonably developed, for example, the
child can discover principles about
balance by experimenting with a seesaw.
activity
• Learning from others.
• Interaction with others such as parents,
siblings.
Social
transmission
Equilibration
Factors influencing cognitive
development
The act of searching for balance.
Motivates us to keep searching for a solution
through assimilation and accommodation.

16. Sensorimotor
(birth – 2 years)
Pre-
operational
( 2 – 7 years)
Concrete
Operational
( 7 – 12 years)
Formal
Operational
( 12-15 years)
Stages of
Cognitive
Development

17. Stages substages Description
Sensorimotor
(Birth-2 yrs)
-an infant’s knowledge of the
world is limited to their sensory
perceptions and motor activities.
- Behaviors are limited to simple
motor responses caused by
sensory stimuli.
-Children utilize skills and abilities
they were born with, such as
looking, sucking, grasping, and
listening, to learn more about the
environment.
-development of object
permanence (realises that things
continue to exist even when no
longer present to the sense)
•Reflexes
(0-1 month)
the child understands the environment
purely through inborn reflexes such as
sucking and looking.
•Primary Circular
Reactions
(1-4 months)
involves coordinating sensation and
new schemas.
•Secondary
Circular
Reactions
(4-8 months)
the child becomes more focused on the
world and begins to intentionally
repeat an action in order to trigger a
response in the environment.
•Coordination of
Reactions
(8-12months)
the child starts to show clearly
intentional actions:
•often imitate the observed behavior of
others.
Example: shakes a rattle to make a
noise
•The child may also combine schemas
in order to achieve a desired effect.

18. Stages substages Description
Sensorimotor
(birth – 2 years)
Tertiary Circular
Reactions
(12-18months)
•begin a period of trial-and-error
experimentation
Example: a child may try out different
sounds or actions as a way of getting
attention from a caregiver.
Early
Representational
Thought
(18-24 months)
•develop symbols to represent events
or objects in the world
•begin to move towards understanding
the world through mental operations
rather than purely through actions.
Early
Representational
Thought
(18-24 months)
•develop symbols to represent events
or objects in the world in the final
sensorimotor substage.
•During this time, children begin to
move towards understanding the world
through mental operations rather than
purely through actions.

19. Stages Principles Description
Pre-operational
(2-7 years)
-Language development.
-unable to understand concrete logic,
cannot mentally manipulate information.
-unable to take the point of view of other
people, which he termed egocentrism.
-increasing the adaptation of symbols by
the increase in playing and pretending.
Examples:
1. a child is able to use an object to
represent something else.
2. Role playing
- Classifies objects by a single feature .
Example: groups together all the red
blocks regardless of shape or all the
square blocks regardless of colour
•Egocentrism •assume that everyone else
shares their feelings, reactions
and perspectives.
Example: if a little girl at this
stage is afraid of dog, she may
assume that all children are fear
of dog.
•Conservation •a principle that the amount of
something remains the same
even if the arrangement or
appearance is changed, as long
as nothing is added and nothing
is taken away.
Example: conservation of
number, length, mass, weight,
volume, and quantity.

20. C o n s e r v a t i o n t a s k

21. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Pre-Operational Children
1. Use concrete props and visual aids
Example: giving the children sticks, rocks or chips to learn adding
and subtracting.

22. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Pre-Operational Children
2. Using simple words and actions for clear instructions
Example: explain a game by acting out one of the part.
3. Help students to develop their ability to see the world from
someone else’s view.
Example: relate social studies lessons about different people or
places back to the children’s experiences, showing and explain
to them the similarities and differences.

23. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Pre-Operational Children
4. Be sensitive to the students as they might have different
meaning for the same word or different word for the same
meaning.
Example: some students might protests, “ I won’t take a nap. I’ll
just rest!” therefore be aware that they might mean “changing
into pajamas and be in my bed at home.

24. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Pre-Operational Children
5. Always gives students hands-on practice with the skill that
serve as building block for more complex skills such as
reading comprehension.
Example: provide a cut-out letter to build words.

25. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Pre-Operational Children
6. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a
foundation for concept learning and language.
Example: take them to zoo, theatres or invite storytellers to the
class

26. Stages Aspects Description
Concrete operational
(7-11 years)
-better understanding of mental operations.
-begin thinking logically about concrete
events, but have difficulty understanding
abstract or hypothetical concepts.
- Achieves conservation of number (age 6),
mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)
Logic •involves going from a specific
experience to a general
principle.
•Having difficulty using
deductive logic, which involves
using a general principle to
determine the outcome of a
specific event.
Reversibility •awareness that actions can be
reversed.
Example: a child might be able to
recognize that his or her dog is a
Labrador, that a Labrador is a
dog, and that a dog is an animal.

27. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Concrete Operational Children
1. Continue to use concrete props and visual aids.
Example: use diagrams to show relationship in the
family tree.
2. Continue to let the students to manipulate and test
objects.
Example: set up a simple scientific experiment to show
the relationship between fire and oxygen.

28. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Concrete Operational Children
3. Always making presentation or readings simple and
well-organized.
Example: assign stories or books with short, logical
chapters, then moving to longer reading assignments
after students are ready.

29. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Concrete Operational Children
4. Use familiar examples to explain complex ideas.
Example: teaching the concept of area by letting the
students to measure 2 different sizes of classroom.
5. Give opportunities to classify and group objects and
ideas on increasingly complex levels.
Example: Give students slips of paper with individual
sentences written on each other and ask the
students to group the sentences into paragraphs

30. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Concrete Operational Children
6. Present problems that require logical, analytical
thinking.
Example: discuss open questions that stimulate
thinking. Such as “ are the brain and the mind the
same thing?”

31. Stages Aspects Description
Formal operational
(11 years and up)
-develop the ability to think about
abstract concepts.
-Skills such as logical thought,
deductive reasoning, and systematic
planning also emerge during this
stage.
•Logic •deductive logic becomes
important
•Deductive logic requires the
ability to use a general principle
to determine a specific outcome.
•involves hypothetical situations
and is often required in science
and mathematics.
•Abstract
Thought
•Children begin to consider
possible outcomes and
consequences of actions.
•Problem-
Solving:
•ability to systematically solve a
problem in a logical and
methodical way.

32. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Formal Operational Children
1. Continue to use concrete props and visual aids.
Example: use diagrams to show relationship in the
family tree.
2. Give students the opportunity to explore many
hypothetical questions.
Example: Ask students to write about their personal
vision of a utopia or a description about the Earth
without human being living in it.

33. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Formal Operational Children
3. Give students the opportunity to solve problems and
reason scientifically.
Example: set up group discussion in which students
design experiments to answer questions.

34. Implication of Teaching and Learning
on Formal Operational Children
4. Teach broad concepts where the students can learn
about the fact and to relate it to their lives.
Example: when teaching about poetry, let the students
to find the lyrics from a song that illustrate poetic
devices and talk about how these devices do or don’t
work well to communicate the meanings and feelings
the songwriter intended.

35. Recap…

36. Summary…

38. Lev Vygotsky’s theory of
cognitive development

39. Lev Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive
development
Vygotsky believed children’s thinking is
affected by their knowledge of the
social community (which is learnt from
either technical or psychological
cultural tools).

40. Lev Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive
development
He also suggested that language is
the most important tool for gaining
this social knowledge; the child can
be taught this from other people via
language.

41. Features of Vygotsky’s theory
features
ZPD
scaffolding
The role of egocentric
speech
Social interactions

42. Features of his theory…
1. He described something known as the zone of proximal
development (ZPD), which is a key feature of his theory.

43. There are two levels of attainment for the ZPD:
Level 1 – the ‘present level of development’.
This describes what the child is capable of
doing without any help from others.
Level 2 – the ‘potential level of development’.
This means what the child could
potentially be capable
of with help from other people
or ‘teachers’.

44. Features of his theory…
2. scaffolding.
• When an adult provides support for a child, they will
adjust the amount of help they give depending on
their progress.
• For example, a child learning to walk might at first
have both their hands held and pulled upwards. As
they learn to support their own weight, the mother
might hold both their hands loosely.
• Then she might just hold one
hand, then eventually nothing.
This progression of different levels
of help is scaffolding.

45. Features of his theory…
3. The role of egocentric/private speech.
• for example, when a child will sit on their own and speak
their thoughts out loud as they play. He suggested a child is
regulating and planning their behaviour at this point:
“Where is the block? I can’t find it. Oh well, I’ll use this
block.” He called these ‘monologues’.
• By 7 years, these monologues become internalised and the
child becomes a “verbal thinker”, which is what most
adults can do with no problem. When we are faced with a
problem, and we’re alone, we quite often think through the
problem – but in our heads.

46. Features of his theory…
4. Social Interaction
• Regular socialization with peers is important to
ample cognitive development.
• Interpsychological interaction, which involves
face-to-face contact with other people, permits
intrapsychological reasoning,
the ability to consider
various possibilities before
coming to a conclusion.

47. Implication of Vygotsky’s theory in
teaching and learning
1. Vygotsky’s theory does not mean that anything can
be taught to any child. Only instruction and
activities that fall within the zone promote
development.
For example, if a child cannot identify the sounds in a
word even after many prompts, the child may not
benefit immediately from instruction in this skill.
Practice of previously known skills and introduction of
concepts that are too difficult and complex have little
positive impact.

48. Implication of Vygotsky’s theory in
teaching and learning
2. Instruction can be planned to provide practice in the
zone of proximal development for individual
children or for groups of children.
For example, hints and prompts that helped children
during the assessment could form the basis of
instructional activities.

49. Implication of Vygotsky’s theory in
teaching and learning
3. Using the method of scaffolding in teaching and learning.
Example: in a high school laboratory
science class, a teacher might provide scaffolding by first giving students
detailed guides to carrying out experiments, then giving them
brief outlines that they might use
to structure experiments, and finally asking them
to set up experiments entirely on their own.

50. Implication of Vygotsky’s theory in
teaching and learning
4. Make sure students have access to powerful tools
that support thinking
Example: teach students to use learning and
organizational strategies, research tools, language
tools…
5. Build on students’ cultural funds of knowledge
Example: identify family knowledge by having students
interview each others’ families about their work and
home knowledge( economics, household
management,…)

51. Implication of Vygotsky’s theory in
teaching and learning
6. Plan cooperative learning activities with groups of
children at different levels who can help each other
learn.
Example: experiments with peer tutoring, teach
students how to ask good questions and give helpful
explanations.

52. Video about Vygotsky’s theory
• Summary

53. DIFFERNCES BETWEEN
PIAGET’S
AND
VYGOTSKY’S
THEORIES OF
EGOCENTRIC/
PRIVATE SPEECH

54. ASPECT PIAGET VYGOTSKY
Developmental
significance
Inability to take the
perspective of another
and engage in
reciprocal
communication
Externalized thought; its function is to
communicate with the self for the
purpose of self- guidance and self-
direction
Course of
development
Declines with ages Increases at younger ages and then
gradually loses its audible quality to
become internal verbal thought
Relationship to
social speech
None; least socially and
cognitively mature
children use more
egocentric speech
Present; private speech develops out of
social interaction with others.
Relationship to
environmental
contexts
Increases with task difficulty. Private
speech serves a helpful self-guiding
function in situations where more
cognitive effort is needed to reach a
solution

55. Summary of Paiget’s and Vygotsky’s
Cognitive Development Theories
Educational Issue Piaget’s perspective Vygotsky’s perspective
What develops
during cognitive
development?
Domain general mental
operations
Domain specific skills,
knowledge and expertise
that is specific to a
culturally valued problem
How important is
language
development to
cognitive
development?
Largely unimportant. Language is a
byproduct of thought.
Crucial. Language is the
most important toil for
thought.
strategies Discovery based learning. Scaffolding, dialogue
within an instructional
conversational.
Cooperative learning.

56. THANK YOU
Presented by:
Bernadette Mening
PISMP BI 1 JAN 2012

58. Concept of Language Development
Language development is the process by
which children come to understand and
communicate language during early
childhood.

59. General Description
The fastest pace a child learning how to speak is
0-5 years old
It varies greatly among children
Generally, girls learn faster than boys
Language development reflects the growth and
maturation of the brain.
Referential language development usually
develops faster than expressive language
development.

60. 6 Stages of Language Development
Based on Vygotsky’s Theory
Prelinguistic
Stage
Holophrase/
One-word
language
Two-Word
Sentence
Multiple-word
Sentences
Complex
Grammatical
Sentences
Adult-like
Language
Structures

61. Utters 1
word only
1st
Stage
Combining
2-3 words
together w/o
clear
meaning
2nd
Stage
Combining 3
words
together to
make a
meaningful
sentence
3rd
Stage
1st Stage
• Speak in long
unintelligible
babbles
2nd Stage
• Mimics the
way people
around
speaks
3rd Stage
• Mimic the
cadence and
rhythm of
adults
speaking

62. • The expressive language development functions faster at
this stage.
• At this stage, they will be acquiring these abilities:
– seem to recognize their mother's voice
– quiet down or smile when spoken to
– turn toward familiar voices and sounds
– make sounds indicating pleasure
– cry differently to express different needs

63. – grunt, chuckle, whimper, and gurgle
– begin to coo (repeating the same sounds frequently) in response
to voices
– make vowel-like sounds such as "ooh" and "ah
The sounds and babblings of this stage of
language are IDENTICAL in babies throughout
the WORLD, even those who are profoundly
DEAF.

64. •
Seem to recognize mother‘s voice
Quiet down or smile when spoken to
Turn toward familiar voices and sounds
Make sounds indicating pleasure
Cry differently to express different needs

65. Grunt, chuckle, whimper, gurgle
Begin to coo in response to voices
Make ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sound

66. • This is a crucial age of receptive language
development.
• At this stage, babies between 6-9 months will:
– Look for the source of a sound
– React appropriately to tones
– Listen attentively to adult conversation
– Experiment with various kinds of sounds
– Use their tongues to change sounds

67. – Recognize easy words
– Responds to their names
– Express their moods via sound and body language
– Babble random combinations of vowels and vocals
– Babble in singsong with 12 different sounds
Musical children’s
shows can be
introduced at this
stage as children are
very profound of
music and words.
Most famous shows
are Sesame’s Street
Elmo’s World as
shown in the picture.

68. • Between nine and 12 months babies may
begin to do the following:
• listen when spoken to
• recognize words for common objects and
names of family members
• respond to simple requests
• understand "no"
• understand gestures
• associate voices and names with people

69. • know their own names
• Babble both short and long groups of sounds and
two-to-three-syllable repeated sounds (The
babble begins to have characteristic sounds of
their native language.)use sounds other than
crying to get attention
• Use "mama" and "dada" for any person
• Shout and scream
• Repeat sounds
• Use most consonant and vowel sounds
• Practice inflections
• Engage in much vocal play

70. • In the 2nd year of life language development
proceeds at very different rates in different
children
• Add new words
• Temporarily lose words

71. The Language Development of
Children
• No more meaningless babbling
• Able to speak in full sentences
• vocabulary of words and usage of those words
are improving
• Constantly looking for new words to use
• Curious on adults’ ways of speaking
• Less imitating the adults’ speech

72. • Able to use accurate tones according to mood
• E.g.:
– “I am angry!” instead of “I am angry…”
– “I am hungry” instead of “I am hungry?”

73. Implications in Teaching and Learning
• For babies, they are constantly absorbing
every words they can grasp without knowing
the meaning
• They will insert some words into their
meaningless babbles
• They seem to be understanding what adults
are saying, but couldn’t say what they meant
due to the lack of vocabularies and wrong
tones

74. • Therefore, parents are recommended to
constantly communicate with their child
• Observing the babies’ words
• Try to use redundant words so the child will
understand the meaning of the words
gradually
• Constantly correct the babies’ intonations
• Conduct some play time that involves words,
letters
• A good time for them to learn alphabets

75. • For children, they are absorbing words into their
daily conversation rapidly
• Imitations seldom happens, but their speech and
usage of words are still influenced by the
surroundings
• Constantly ask the meaning of new words that
they hear
• Less interested in adults talking, but curious in
peers’ conversations
• Very sociable at this stage for active children

76. • It is a very good time for them to learn how to
read and write
• Teachers have to constantly guide them
• Play with words and give out the meaning of
words
• Shy children should be put with active and
sociable children so they will interact, as well
• This will help the shy children to have confidence
to socialize
• They will also learn new words and how to use
them from peers
• Teachers will have to expand the children’s
vocabulary by constant exposure of various
words and how to use them

77. THANK YOU
Presented by:
ABDUL AZIZ BIN MOHAMAD
PISMP BI 1 JAN 2012