Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a child psychologist, professor, author, and biologist. Though he had many academic interests, his primary focus was the child psyche. He did a lot of research in the area of child psychology and his conclusion is what is known as Piaget's Stages of Mental Development. He recognizes four main stages in a child's life: the Sensorymotor Stage (ages: birth to two), the Preoperational Stage (ages: 2-7), the Concrete Operational Stage (ages: 7-12), and the Formal Operational Stage (ages: 12-15).
The Sensorymotor Stage, says Piaget, is when infants and babies are more concerned with learning about the physical world, objects, and their own physical development. The Preoperational Stage is when a child is learning and developing verbal skills, including reading and writing. The Concrete Operational Stage is when a child is beginning to understand abstract concepts, such as numbers and relationships. And, finally, the Formal Operational Stage is when a child "begins to reason logically and systematically" ("Jean Piaget").
"Jean Piaget." MSN Encarta. 2009. Microsoft Corporation. Web.28 May 2009.
Jean Piaget
Piaget's Stages of Mental Development
Jerome Bruner
Although Jerome Bruner is different than Jean Piaget, he also has three "modes of representation" ("Jerome Bruner"): enactive, which is action-based; iconic, which is image-based; and symbolic, which is language-based. However, different from Piaget, he does not keep these modes in defined stages; instead he believes them to be overlapping and loosely chronological. And, starkly different from Piaget, Bruner also believes that anyone at any age can learn many things as long as it is taught to him/her in an age-appropriate manner. Therefore, his main focus is on learning and ones capabilities, and not on what a person can or cannot do at a specific, given timeframe.
Those three modes are in the area of learning and categorizing, but he also believes that there are two primary modes of thought: narrative and paradigmatic. Narrative thought processes are in the form of story-telling, some times similar to a soap opera; and paradigmatic thought is structured and logical.
His overarching theory is that people categorize everything. His understanding is that people interpret everything around them in terms of similarities and differences. Similar to Bloom's Taxonomy, Bruner believes that the brain is simply a system of coding in a "hierarchical arrangement of related categories" ("Jerome Bruner").
"To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize."
- Jerome Bruner
"Jerome Bruner." Wikipedia. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Web.28 May 2009.
Jerome Bruner
Lev Vygotzky
Lev Vygotzky was a child psychologist, developmental psychologist and developer of an education system around his theories and ideology. Vygotzky's idea was where Bruner derived his ideas from; he was one of his followers. Like Bruner, Vygotzky believed that a child has great potential if pushed to his/her limits and taught by a capable instructor.
Vygotzky's teaching strategies excluded standardized testing and included children as teachers of their peers. He believed that a child should be pushed and that those that are excelling should be used to help those that are lacking behind. He also believed that it is the teacher's responsibility to assess their students' progress and capabilities. Another one of his strategies was that encouragement should be offered to a student "in such a ways that he/she can practice their skill" ("Lev Vygotsky"). The fourth tactic is to promote and supervise the child's personal language. The fifth strategy is to set education in a meaningful framework. And, lastly, the sixth strategy is to "transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas" ("Lev Vygotsky").
"Lev Vygotsky." Wikipedia. 2009. Wikmedia Foundation, Inc.. Web.28 May 2009.
Lev Vygotsky
Vygotsky's Social Construction of Knowlege
