Cognitive Development and Learning

The lecture and chapter for congnitive development and learning was interesting. From Piaget I learned about concrete operational thinking and the idea of conservation. From a young age children develop the notion that because something is "bigger" or "taller" it has more. When they learn about conservation they see that it really is the same amount of stuff just aranged differently. For example, first show a child two equal cups(short and fat) of water. Poor one cup into a tall skinny cup and asking the child to compare the two cups. Which one has more, less, or are they the same? A child with conservtion will realize that it is the same amount of water being poored from one cup to the next. A child without conservation will feel that the taller glass has more water because it looks bigger. This was really cool to think about and it makes me want to go try it with my younger siblings.

Of the two sets of theories presented by Piaget and Vygotsky, I tend to agree most with Vygotsky. Piaget's idea that children have to construct their own knowledge, that knowledge is not something teachers transmit to students seems deeply flawed. If children cannot figure out that their parents are giving them presents on Christmas morning, and instead conclude that it's Santa, then they're constructing their own knowledge of the world. That knowledge is, of course, wrong. Allowing children to construct their own knowledge is allowing children to create flawed ideas about society and the world in general. It's the educator's role to guide the educated away from ignorance. Granted, the constructivist approach instructs the teacher to pose questions that will help them rethink such ideas - but sometimes, the teacher just has to tell the child that an idea is flat out wrong.

Vygotsky, in contrast, sees learning as a partnership between the educator and the educated; that knowledge is constructed between the two parties as they interact. I absolutely agree with his idea that children grow through the use of language. He stresses the role of adults in the child's education - that direct instruction is used as well as the partnership arrangement. 

From my experience, trying Piaget's approach, and getting them to draw their own conclusions... in effect, getting them to 'teach themselves' by interacting with their environment produces deeply flawed determinations, like the previous example of "Santa leaving the presents," or "I can't explain it, therefore it's magic." While this tends to be the end result for some subjects with younger children, using this approach with older children seems to create a different kind of flawed reasoning. I have seen that older children will imbue the subject with qualities it never had; for instance, I have seen them imbue historical figures with the personality and value system of themselves, which only serves to confuse them when that historical figure does something that is absolutely opposed to their own set of morals.

Using at least some of Vygotsky's theory, and having active participation and partnership, with an adult playing a guiding role, true learning occurs.