Introduction
As children begin to grow, they start to make sense of the world around them. Cognitive development in children and adolescents is a topic highly researched by psychologists as it underpins all other aspects of development such as language, communication and comprehension. There has been much debate with regard to cognitive development because of the many varying theories on the topic, the most popular being the works of Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory, although highly respected has shown many shortcomings of which Vygotsky’s approach seems to fill in the gaps by emphasizing rather than neglecting the role of social interaction and mediated learning (Harwood et al., 2008).
The Sociocultural Approach
Vygotsky’s
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There are 2 concepts children acquire while developing intellectually, namely scientific and spontaneous concepts (Karpov, 2005).
Karpov (2005, p.171) notes that spontaneous concepts arise from the “internalization” of everyday experiences without organized teaching. Karpov (2005) states that scientific concepts are attained through organized teaching by learners knowingly, according to a specific structure embody the general experience of all humanity that is static in science.
Scientific concepts change student’s everyday life understandings (spontaneous concepts) into more logical and conscious knowledge, allowing learners to reason and understand theories that govern everyday life (i.e. newton’s law of gravity, Archimedes law etc.). The development of scientific concepts facilitates children’s problem solving abilities, thus results in more self-regulated thinking based on past experience. Near the end of middle childhood, increased use of more theoretical knowledge allows the child to think at a more logical level (Karpov,