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The role of the teacher as seen by Piaget and Vygotsky
Many theories in Psychology elaborate on the protagonistic role that the teacher plays in
enabling children to learn. This article focuses on what two renowned psychologists, Jean
Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, supported through their theories.
Jean Piaget, the renowned father of the Theory of Cognitive Development, was born in
Neuchatel, Switzerland, on August 9, 1896. Having received his Doctorate in Science in 1918
from the University of Neuchatel, he worked for a year at psychology labs in Zurich and at
Bleuler’s famous psychiatric clinic at which time, he was introduced to the works of Freud, Jung
and others. In 1919, he taught psychology and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris where he
met Simon Binet and conducted research on intelligence testing. He did not care for the “rightor-wrong” style of the intelligent tests, for his major interest was in the area of how children
reason. This keenness led him to commence interviewing his subjects at a boys’ school instead,
using the psychiatric interviewing techniques he had learned the year before.
Lev Vygotsky, a seminal Soviet Belarusian Psychologist, is the founder of a theory of human
cultural and biosocial development which is commonly referred to as Cultural-Historical
Psychology. Vygotsky was also the leader of the Vygotsky Circle. The major theme of
Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the
development of cognition.
Piaget’s theory reflects his deep conviction that the development of intelligence can be seen as
naturalistic and biological, the result of a dynamic interaction between the child and the
environment. Piaget did not conceptualize the child as emerging pre-equipped with innate
ideas. Piaget saw the child as a constructivist that gained knowledge through the engagement
with the world.
The Piagetian Theory stresses the individualism of the child that is seen as a little “scientist”
encountering the material world and engaging in a solitary quest for knowledge. Piaget gave
very little consideration to the processes of social transmission of knowledge from one
generation to the next. He spoke of very general regulatory mechanisms and modes of
processing the environmental inputs. According to Piaget, it is the interplay of these modes i.e.
accommodation, assimilation and equilibration that yields the modes of thought representative
of his four-stage Theory of Cognition.
Furthermore, Piaget believed that the educational needs of a child could be “satisfied” through
the supply of rich and stimulating experiences. The Piagetians assigned the teacher the role to
diagnose the child’s educational readiness and to ensure that he provided the environment
where these needs would be met.
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On the other hand, Vygotsky emphasized the role that the social transmission of knowledge
offers. Vygotsky believed that the child has a zone of proximal development. This zone could
only be attained with support from an adult whether it be the mother, the father, older siblings
or a professional teacher. Vygotsky was interested in what a child could do with the help and
the different ways that the adult (teacher) – child interaction structured the development of
children’s thinking.
In conclusion, the Piagetian Theory underplays the role that the society plays in the learning
process while the Vygotskian emphasizes it.
Article4Forwww.cyprus.com.The role of the teacher as seen by Piaget and VygotskyMar8.2014
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