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Comparing The Theories Of Jean Piaget And Lev Vygotsky

1952 Words8 Pages
This essay aims to compare and contrast the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. It will also identify the implications of these theories for the Early Years Education and Care settings. It will commence with a discussion about the theory presented by Piaget. Furthermore, Vygotsky’s theory will be compared and contrasted to Piaget’s Theory.
Jean Piaget was born in a town called Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1896. He was a budding scientist and published a scholarly paper at the age of eleven. Piaget, as well as a psychologist, is an epistemologist, which means he studies the nature and beginning of knowledge (Mooney, 2000). His father was an intellectual who thought him to think systematically. His mother was also very bright (Santrock, 1998). Lev Vygotsky was born in Russia. Like Piaget, Vygotsky was also born in 1896. His family was part of Russia’s middle class and they encouraged Vygotsky with his studies. He graduated from the University of Moscow in 1976, specialising in literature. Like Piaget, he was interested in cognitive development, but also had an interest in language development and children’s relationships to learning. “He searched for answers to the questions raised by his interest in children and their approach to learning new things” (Mooney, 2000).
According to Piaget, he did not think that the environment shapes the child but the child seeks to understand the environment themselves, that it is in the child’s nature to adapt to their environment. He
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