Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, And Cognitive Theories

According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, learning occurs in four

stages for children. His idea focuses on understanding the nature of intelligence as well
as how children gain knowledge.
The Piaget stages are:

 Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years

 Preoperational stage: Ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: Ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: Ages 12 and up

Piaget thought that children actively participate in their education, functioning somewhat
like young scientists as they conduct experiments, record observations, and gain
knowledge of the outside world. Children constantly gain new knowledge, expand upon
current knowledge, and modify long-held beliefs to account for new information as they
interact with the world around them.
Piaget vs. Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky, another key contributor in the field of child development, varies with
Piaget's theory in a number of significant respects. Although Vygotsky recognized the
importance of curiosity and participation in learning, he placed more emphasis on
society and culture.
Vygotsky thought that people (such as parents, caretakers, and peers) and external
elements (such as culture) have a bigger role in development than Piaget did. Piaget
believed that development is mostly driven from within.
Piaget's observations of his own niece and daughter greatly influenced his interest in
the cognitive growth of kids. These findings supported his tentative theory that kids'
minds weren't just baby versions of adults' thoughts.
According to Piaget, intelligence progresses through various phases as it develops.
Children who are older than those who are younger do not just think faster. Instead,
there are distinctions between the thinking of early children and older children on both a
qualitative and quantitative level. He came to the conclusion that children are not less
intellectual than adults; rather, they simply think in different ways. Piaget's discovery
was described by Albert Einstein as "so simple only a genius could have thought of it."
The stages of a child's cognitive development are described by Piaget. Changes to the
cognitive process and abilities occur during cognitive growth. According to Piaget, early
cognitive development entails action-based processes that subsequently lead to
modifications in mental processes.
Important Concepts
The fact that Piaget did not see children's intellectual development as a quantitative
process should not be overlooked. In other words, as they grow older, children do not
just add to their previous knowledge.
Instead, Piaget proposed that as children progress through these four stages, there is a
qualitative shift in how they think.4 At age 7, children don't only know more about the
world than they did at age 2, there is also a fundamental shift in how they think about it.
Piaget proposed a number of variables that affect how kids learn and develop.
Schemas

A schema summarizes the mental and physical processes necessary for

comprehension and knowledge. Schemas are categories of knowledge that aid in our
interpretation and comprehension of reality.
According to Piaget, a schema comprises both a category of knowledge and the method
by which that knowledge is acquired3. As experiences are had, new information is used
to alter, supplement, or replace preexisting schemas.
Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of incorporating new information into our preexisting
schemas. Because we frequently alter experiences and information to suit with our
preexisting beliefs, the process is partly subjective. Assimilation of the animal into the
child's dog schema occurs in the aforementioned example when the toddler sees a dog
and calls it a "dog."

Accommodation
The capacity to modify preexisting schemas in light of new information is another aspect
of adaptation; this procedure is referred to as accommodation. This method may also
result in the creation of new schemas.

Equilibration

It's crucial to strike a balance as children advance through the phases of cognitive
development between assimilation—applying prior knowledge—and adaptation—
adjusting behavior (accommodation).

According to Piaget, every kid tries to find a happy medium between assimilation and
accommodation through a process he dubbed equilibration. Equilibration explains how
kids can progress from one level of thought to another.
Final Statement
The creation of knowledge and intelligence is an essentially active process, according to
Piaget's theory, which is one of its key themes.
In his essay, Piaget stated, "I find myself opposed to the idea of knowledge as a passive
duplicate of reality." Knowing an item, in my opinion, entails acting on it, creating
systems of transformations that may be used with or on it, just as knowing reality entails
creating systems of transformations that more or less adequately reflect reality.
Our knowledge of children's intellectual development has been aided by Piaget's theory
of cognitive development. It also emphasized the fact that kids weren't just passive
sponges for information. Instead, as they develop their awareness of how the world
functions, children are continually trying and discovering.

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, And Behaviorism

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist, pioneered early research on behavior (1849–1936).

Pavlov studied a type of learning behavior known as a conditioned reflex, in which an
animal or human made an automatic (unconscious) response to a stimulus and, over
time, was trained to make the same reaction in response to an additional stimulus that
the experimenter associated with the initial stimulus. The salivation that occurs in
reaction to the presence of food was the reflex Pavlov studied. A second stimulus, like
as a particular sound, might be used to trigger the salivation reaction after the initial
food stimulus was repeatedly delivered. The food stimulus could be removed once the
reaction to the second stimulus had "learned" to occur. Behaviorists have investigated
many different learning behaviors, including Pavlov's "classical conditioning."
The most well-known work of American psychologist John B. Watson (1878–1958) was
done at Johns Hopkins University in the early 20th century. Watson believed that the
study of consciousness was defective, in contrast to Wundt and James who were
interested in understanding conscious experience. Watson chose to turn his attention
toward observable behavior and work to regulate it since he thought it was impossible to
objectively analyze the mind. The method of studying and influencing behavior that
Watson strongly advocated became known as behaviorism. Watson was a significant
proponent of moving psychology's emphasis from the mind to behavior. The relationship
between taught behavior and an organism's innate characteristics was a key topic of
study for behaviorists. Animals were frequently utilized in behaviorism experiments with
the idea that what could be gained from utilizing animal models might, to some extent,
be transferred to human behavior. In fact, Tolman (1938) said, "I believe that everything
essential in psychology can be explored in essence through the continuing experimental
and theoretical examination of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice-point in a
labyrinth," with the exception of topics that include society and speech.
Experimental psychology was dominated by behaviorism for many years, and its effects
can still be seen today (Thorne & Henley, 2005). Through its objective approaches,
particularly experimentation, behaviorism played a significant role in establishing
psychology as a scientific field. Additionally, it is applied in cognitive-behavioral and
behavioral therapies. Behavioral modification is frequently employed in educational
contexts. Research on the effects of the environment on human behavior has also been
influenced by behaviorism.
B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist, lived from 1904 to 1990. Like Watson, Skinner
was a behaviorist who focused on how circumstances influenced behavior. As a result,
Skinner emphasized the importance of rewards and penalties in motivating action. In
the course of his research, Skinner created a chamber that made it possible to carefully
examine the concepts of behavior modification through reward and punishment. This
tool, also known as an operant conditioning chamber or, more commonly, a Skinner
box, has remained an essential tool for behavioral researchers.  The Skinner box is a
room with a lever or button that acts as a behavior indicator while isolating the subject
from the outside world. When the animal pulls the lever or pushes the button, the box
can deliver a token condition (like a light) that is associated with either the positive
reinforcement or punishment, as well as a positive reinforcement or punishment (such
as food).
Since the development of research in cognitive psychology, Skinner's emphasis on
positive and negative reinforcement of acquired actions has had a somewhat
diminishing impact on psychology. Nevertheless, conditioned learning is still applied to
alter human behavior. The two highly regarded and divisive popular science books by
Skinner on the benefits of operant conditioning for enhancing happiness continue to
serve as compelling justifications for his strategy.

Bloom`s Taxonomy

We know from our own experiences as learners that some learning tasks are more
challenging than others. A teacher could evaluate our knowledge and skills in either of
these types of thinking by asking us to demonstrate those skills in action, that is, by
doing something that is observable and measurable. To give an example from
elementary school, knowing our multiplication tables by rote requires a qualitatively
different type of thinking than does applying our multiplication skills through solving
"word problems."
The six types of cognitive abilities in Bloom's taxonomy range from lower-order skills,
which require less cognitive processing, to higher-order skills, which demand more in-
depth learning and cognitive processing. Higher-order and lower-order skill groups
developed later; Bloom himself did not use these labels.
Knowledge, which refers to the retention of particular, discrete items of information like
facts and definitions or procedures like the order of events in a step-by-step process, is
the fundamental cognitive talent. Health professionals must have a command of a great
deal of knowledge, such as protocols, interactions, and medical terminology, which are
committed to memory, but simple recall of facts does not provide evidence of
comprehension, which is the next higher level. Knowledge can be assessed by
straightforward methods, such as multiple choice or short-answer questions that require
the retrieval or recognition of information, such as "Name five sources of drug
information."
By classifying items into groups, comparing and contrasting items with other
comparable entities, or expressing a concept to others, learners demonstrate their
understanding of the significance of the information they encounter. A learner's
comprehension of information sources, for instance, might be tested by a librarian
asking them to compare and contrast the data they contain. Learning objectives that
focus on comprehension will aid students in beginning to incorporate knowledge into
their pre-existing cognitive schemas by which they interpret the world. Comprehension
needs more cognitive processing than merely recalling information.
The learning objectives for analysis are the next set of learning objectives we encounter
as we move up the taxonomy. This is when the abilities that we typically associate with
critical thinking come into play. Analysis is required for separating fact from opinion,
determining the statements that support an argument, and dissecting an information
demand into its component pieces to determine the best search keywords.
The level of synthesis comes after analysis and comprises developing a novel product
for a particular application. Formulating a well-built clinical query after assessing a
clinician's information gaps is an example of an evidence-based medicine-related task
requiring synthesis. Another therapeutic job requiring synthesis is the creation of a
management strategy for a particular patient.
Evaluation, the highest level in Bloom's taxonomy and a crucial component of critical
thinking, comes last. When teachers reflect on a lesson and rate the lesson's worth
based on student feedback and test results, they are evaluating. Evaluative abilities are
also needed for critically assessing a clinical study's reliability and determining how
applicable its findings are to a particular patient. It is crucial to understand that many
lower-level talents are also included in higher-level skills in the taxonomy: To critically
evaluate the medical literature, one needs to understand different study designs, apply
that understanding to a particular published study to identify the study design that was
used, and then analyze that study to separate out the various internal validity
components, such as blinding and randomization.

Changes in Bloom`s Taxonomy

A later modification of the taxonomy alters the nomenclature and chronological
sequence of the cognitive processes in the original version in light of developments in
cognitive research after the original publication. The levels are recall, comprehend,
apply, analyze, evaluate, and create in this updated edition. The talent of synthesis is
now positioned at the top of the hierarchy rather than evaluation. Additionally, this
redesign gives all six cognitive processes a fresh perspective. It lists the four categories
of knowledge that could be covered by a learning activity: factual (terminology and
discrete facts); conceptual (categories, theories, principles, and models); procedural
(knowledge of a technique, process, or methodology); and metacognitive (knowledge of
one's own thinking processes) (including self-assessment ability and knowledge of
various learning skills and techniques).

Remarks
It is significant to highlight that cognitive learning skills—rather than psychomotor or
affective abilities, two areas that are essential to the success of health professionals—
are the emphasis of Bloom's taxonomy in its most prevalent application. The ability to tie
knots in surgery and have empathy for patients are examples of psychomotor and
affective skills, respectively.
The skills and abilities that information professionals who teach or instruct others want
their students to achieve and exhibit can be described in learning objectives using
Bloom's taxonomy.
The taxonomy is beneficial in two key respects. The taxonomy encourages instructors
to consider learning objectives in terms of what the learner can do as a result of the
lesson by encouraging them to utilize behavioral language. The most effective way to
evaluate the skills and knowledge given will be indicated by a learning objective stated
using action verbs. The Internet is a great resource for finding lists of action verbs that
are appropriate for learning objectives at each level of Bloom's taxonomy. The
requirement for including learning objectives that call for higher levels of cognitive skills
that result in deeper learning and transfer of information and skills to a broader variety
of tasks and situations is highlighted by secondly thinking about learning goals in light of
Bloom's taxonomy.

Motivation Theory

Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in a particular activity simply for the
enjoyment of learning. The mastery or reward of the skill or activity is more important to
those who are intrinsically motivated. People who are intrinsically motivated are driven
by incentives or admiration from the outside world. One is not classified as having solely
internal or external motivations. Different people can be motivated by various activities
either inwardly or externally. Self-determination theory is one of the theories that
pertains to intrinsic motivation.
Contextual and dynamic, intrinsic motivation can vary over time. The same event that
might have served as an intrinsic motivator one day might serve as an extrinsic
motivator the next. It is frequently believed that extrinsic motivation decreases as
internal motivation increases. That is not the situation. Depending on the activity,
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can differ. Therefore, it is a strength that one can still
retain some internal motivation. A person who is highly extrinsically motivated may
become intrinsically motivated if given the correct assignment.

WHICH IS BETTER – INTRINSIC OR EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Despite the fact that types of motivation might lead to the same conduct, they can have
a significant impact on the action's quality. According to research, people perform better
over the long term, especially when they are intrinsically motivated, as seen by the
higher quality of their actions. They are more fervent and have a greater feeling of
dedication to themselves. When faced with challenges, they are more tenacious.
Additionally, those people are more inventive and more likely to generate original ideas
and solutions.
Extrinsic motivation occasionally behaves like its intrinsic equivalent, despite the fact
that intrinsic motivation generally seems to be superior to extrinsic motivation. When a
person's actions are motivated by reasons that are consistent with their own values,
they are able to internalize those reasons.