FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

MEI 2017

HBEC1203

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

NO. MATRIKULASI : 831121126150001

NO. KAD PENGENALAN : 831121126150
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E-MEL : HIDAYAH_2111@YAHOO.COM
PUSAT PEMBELAJARAN : KOTA MARUDU LEARNING
CENTRE
 HBEC1203 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Jean Piaget was born in Nauchatel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896. His father was Arthur
Piaget, who was a Professor of Literature in History and his mother named Rebecca
Jackson. Jean was the first child to be self-reliant and interested in nature. He breathed
his last breath at age 84, 1981. He started his career as a writer at a very young age of 10
years. After graduating from high school, Jean went on to study at the University of
Nauchatel. He earned his PhD at age 22. Jean began to be interested in Psychology when
he was elected Psychology laboratory director at Jeneva University. Shortly thereafter, he
was appointed head of the "Swiss Society for Psychologist." He earned a Doctoral
Degree in Philosophy (biology) at the age of 25, but after that, he concentrated on the
study of cognitive development of children.

While Lev Vygotsky whose real name is Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. He was born in
1896 and died in 1934. He was a Russian psychologist. He is also a teacher and a master
of literature. He has written books on 'Thought and Language' and 'Community Mind'.
Vygotsky earned an early education from his own mother who was a teacher and had a
personal tutor named Solomon Ashpiz. He gained influence from his cousin, David
Vygotsky. He continued his secondary school studies at a private school and earned a
gold medal award. He then graduated from Moscow State University in 1917. After
graduation he worked in several places. Among them was the Psychology Institute in
mid-1920 and in some educational centers in Moscow, Lerningrad and Kharkow where
he worked hard to express his idea of cognitive development.

The cognitive developmental theory of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are among the two
important theories and are often a scientific reference in today's global education. Both of
these theories are derived from the results of their study on the psychological
development of children (Wong, Khairudin, Maridah, Rashinawati & Azlina, 2013).
Their findings have contributed significantly to today's world community. However,
there are some significant differences between these two scientific theories. The cognitive
development theory of these two figures has a significant difference generally. These two
figures have different and unique views on the development of children. They highlight
different opinions and ideas as opposed to human development and growth and express
them in various interesting theories.

2.0 COMPARISON BETWEEN THE JEAN PIAGET AND LEV VYGOTSKY

KOGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Jean Piaget explains in his theory that there are five main concepts which are the main
support of children's research, scheme, adaptation, balance, assimilation and
accommodation (Mok, 2008). These five concepts are closely related to individual
cognitive learning in solving problems or developments in their thinking in everyday life.
According to Wong, Khairuddin, Maridah, Rashinawati and Azlina (2013), the scheme is

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defined as the basic structure or model that represents the mental knowledge of a person
demonstrated through action, views, ideas, languages and so on.

While adaptation and balance are the individual learning process in aligning existing
schemes according to the needs of the situation. The existing scheme should change and
develop according to the learning process in order to apply the scheme in another
situation. Assimilation is defined as a person's cognitive process in integrating new
information into existing schemes. Through this cognitive process, an individual
succeeded in adding his knowledge.

The latter is the accommodation explaining how individuals can change their thinking
patterns if the old cognitive structure is found to be difficult to receive new knowledge.
While Vygotsky in his cognitive development theory does not state his or her theoretical
concept in detail but in general, his theory is based on social interaction among peoples
rather than the learning experience as Piaget presents. Vygotsky believes that the
communication process is a major factor in the success of individual cognitive learning.
With the communication, an individual can share and meet the needs of speakers and
listeners in the learning process.

2.2 INDIVIDUAL COGNITIVE LEVEL ASSESSMENT

In Piaget's cognitive development theory, he says that every human being will pass
through these four levels or levels of motor sensory, preoperative, concrete operation and
formal operation. At the sensorimotor level, newborns reaching the age of two have
begun to have the object retention ability (Wong, Khairuddin, Maridah, Rashinawati &
Azlina, 2013). Children begin to discover that the lost object of its vision is still and
remains. In the pre-operational stage (2 to 7 years), the child is able to make a symbol as
a representative of something not in front of them. They try to represent something by
using symbols, numbers, letters and so forth rather than their imagination and
interpretation. At the age of seven to eleven years old, the child begins to reasonably
logic about the cause or how it occurs to the operations that occur around it. However, the
reasoning is based on the visible object in front of the eyes. One of the key concepts that
children are mastering in this stage is the concept of immortality where at this level,
children are keenly aware of an object that is undergoing significant changes still has the
same nature. At the last stage of formal operation, teens have the ability to make
inferences about events and express hypotheses and conclusions (Wong, Khairuddin,
Maridah, Rashinawati & Azlina, 2013).

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On the other hand, Vygotsky explains the Proximal Development Zone, the real level of
development and the level of potential development as an individual cognitive level of
assessment. Actual developmental levels are the lower limits that children can achieve
without the help of other people while the level of potential development is the higher
level one can achieve if guided by more skilled people. The existence of the distance
between these two stages known as the Proximal Development Zone. The difference
from a cognitive level assessment point clearly shows the disparity in their theory.
Piaget's cognitive level assessment is more detailed for children and adolescents while the
Vygotsky Proximal Development Zone is more general and universal.

2.3 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Lev Vygotsky emphasizes the environment and interactions among individuals as a major
factor in individual cognitive development. In his opinion, interaction and
communication are an introduction to the transfer of knowledge among individuals.
Vygotsky says that we need people who are more competent or skilled to teach us.
Through conversation or dialogue, an individual can learn a little about other individuals
based on his or her own understanding. A child is also in need of guidance from a parent
or a certain person to reach maximum levels. While Jean Piaget emphasizes learning
process through exploration or self-study. He thinks that in the process of self-
modification in the environment, the learning process has taken place when the individual
experiences the experience of interacting with other people, things or things (Mok, 2008).
Children should be given the experience to explore things themselves so that basic
concepts can be integrated into them. Here is a discrepancy of ideas about the learning
environment between these two theories. Vygotsky prioritizes interaction and guidance
from others, instead Piaget says it is better for an individual to explore the outside world
in order to gain experience.

2.4 LANGUAGE USE

In the theory of Vygotsky's cognitive development, he emphasizes language as a key

element in supporting the individual's thinking and contributes towards the formation of
values, attitudes and knowledge (Wong, Khairuddin, Maridah, Rashinawati & Azlina,
2013). With the proper language, an individual can achieve satisfactory speech or
conversation with other individuals. Language also facilitates the guidance process so
that learning goals are met. On the contrary, Piaget does not focus on language as a
sharpening tool. In his view, language only plays a small role in the learning process.
According to Piaget, the language begins to emerge when children reach the appropriate
age range rather than growing according to the environment. In this case we see a
significant difference in their theories in the aspect of language. Vygotsky emphasizes
language as a thought-making tool while Piaget does not think so.

2.5 SUCH FRIENDS

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Vygotsky in his cognitive development theory emphasizes the influence of peers in the
learning process of an individual or student. Peer to be the most important place after the
teacher. With peer-to-peers, social dialogue and interaction can work and cause learning
more quickly. Clever and intelligent partners can help guide poor students in the lesson.
While Piaget does not emphasize peer role in the individual learning process as he can
explore the outside world without the help of anyone. Self-exploration creates an
individual's mind sharper for using his own thinking in knowing and understanding new
things.

3.0 CONTRIBUTE THEORY OF THE PIAGET AND VYGOTSKY KOGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT THE EDUCATION THEORY

The cognitive development theory of Piaget and Vygotsky played an important role for
educators in classroom teaching and learning sessions. Among the tangible significance is
that Piaget's cognitive development theory leads to the systematic and structured
curriculum content of their age. The four stages or stages of cognitive development
presented by Piaget serve as a guide for educators to organize and further disseminate
teaching content according to the ages of children and adolescents. For example, when
children reach concrete operating levels (7-11 years), teachers can provide more hands-on
activities because at this stage, children are trying to make logical reasoning with the real
object in front of them . Therefore, Pyaget's cognitive development theory is important
for teachers in designing and planning the content of learning and teaching well. Second,
Piaget's cognitive development theory and Vygotsky provide guidance to teachers to
provide more opportunities for students to explore their own inner and outer experiences
(Sharifah, 2015).

In the 21st century, teachers act as facilitators and facilitators in the classroom, not just
informational distributors. Teachers let children find their own information and then
communicate them in front of friends so that the remembering process will be easier with
the experience. At this time if teachers continue to act as information distributors,
students' thinking will not grow and they are lazy to think and be independent. It is
because they have embedded in themselves that only one thing they need to do is
memorize because everything is provided and given by the teacher. In addition, with
these theories, teachers can find out how much guidance they need to communicate to
students. According to Vygotsky theory, teachers only provide guidance at an early stage
of learning so that students can follow the content that the teacher convey. Once a student
achieves the teaching and learning objectives, the teacher let the students explore and
study themselves so that the confidence that they have mastered the topic increased
(Wong, Khairuddin, Maridah, Rashinawati & Azlina, 2013).

Pyaget and Vygotsky's cognitive development theories also enable teachers to know that
children need active social interaction to make their learning process more effective and
effective (Rahul, 2011). Therefore, discussion activities can often be conducted in the
classroom so students can interact with each other and then produce different thoughts.

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When there is a difference from the point of view, this will make them think which one is
more accurate and true, so as such, their thinking becomes sharper. A smarter and fast-
paced student can provide guidance to a weak friend. Vygotsky's theory of development
led the teachers to understand that pupils need their guidance and help. Teachers can sit
together and talk with students actively in class. This is so that students can ask questions
to teachers when problems arise that they can not solve themselves. Teachers can often
hold a question-and-answer session with students during the learning and teaching
session so teachers know the level of students' understanding. Teachers try to improve the
stage of potential pupils development through their guidance in order to get maximum
results. In addition, these theories allow public speaking sessions to occur in the
classroom.

Teachers can encourage pupils to boldly come forward to speak or convey ideas. This is
to foster their ability and courage to speak before the people. This is to inculcate boldness
and confidence in the pupils and benefit them in future learning. In addition, this theory
provides guidance to teachers that during the teaching and learning sessions, formal and
correct language can be used by teachers to pupils even though they have not yet clearly
understood. Language plays an important role in order that communication objectives can
be achieved between students and students. For example, teachers should not express
abusive and cynical words when reprimanding students. At the age of elementary pupils,
they have an active and curious mind (Mok, 2011).

If they hear their own teacher saying such words, then it is not impossible for them to say
the same thing in the future. The Piaget and Vygotsky theories can also strengthen the
relationship between teachers and pupils as teachers will better understand the traits and
development of their students. Teachers will try to reach out to their students and give
them the best guidance. Teachers can also be together with students to solve the learning
problems they face. With that, more intimate and close relationships will be established.
Pupils will also be loved and loved. These theories also enable teachers to plan outdoors
activities involving the exploration and appreciation of students. Teachers can bring
students to study in parks or other locations in order to improve their understanding.
Interacting with the real environment raises their cognitive level to remember when
compared to just learning about his theory alone.

4.0 SUMMARY

 The cognitive development theories of Piaget and Vygotsky have obvious and clear
differences. Differences in key aspects of concept, cognitive level assessment, learning
environment, language use show these two theories complement each other and should
apply in our education system. These theories become a set of guidelines in designing our
country's education curriculum to achieve optimum educational goals. Educators should
also master Piaget and Vygotsky's cognitive developmental theories in order to be a
reflection of them when handling learning and teaching sessions. Teaching methods that
are contrary to these theories will lead to different teaching implications and may not be

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able to achieve the curriculum's objectives effectively. The 21st century educator should
be flexible in the classroom delivery method for the benefit of the students.

Reference

Dahar R.W. 1989. Theory-Theory of Learning. Jakarta: Erlangga

Dalyono. 2005. Educational Psychology. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
Budiningsih A, 2004. Learning and Learning. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta
Gunawan, B. 2012. Application of Vygotsky Theory in Teaching Learning Activities.
(Online), (http://www.kompasiana.com), accessed September 14, 2013
Lora, Y. 2012. Vygotsky's Kogitive Development Theory. (Online),
(http://lorayani.blogspot.com), accessed September 14, 2013
Slavin, R.E. 2006. Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. United State of
America: Pearson
Sunarto. 2008. The Development of the Educators. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
Suparno, P. 2001. Theory of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget. Yogyakarta: Publisher
Kanisius