Ode to Piaget and Vygotsky (Yeah, I didn't pronounce their names right on the first try either)

My professor has continued her quest to analyze everything and has suckered me into joining her. This week, we are studying Cognitive and Linguistic Development. Before this class, I didn't even know how to pronounce those words. After this class. . . . . well. . . .

Let's just skip to the review.

It turns out a certain Swiss guy and a certain Russian have developed their own theories explaining how our cognitive and language skills grow.

Piaget claims the following: children are active and motivated learners, they can construct knowledge from their experiences, can learn through the processes of assimilation and accommodation, interaction between one's physical and social environments is essential, the process of equilibration promotes progression toward increasingly complex thought, and cognitive development is stagelike in nature.

Vygotsky's views are as follows: through informal conversations and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets and responds to the world, thought and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life, complex mental processes begin as social activities; as children develop, they gradually internalize processes from social contexts and begin to use them interdependtly, challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth, and play allows children to stretch themselves cognitively.


Stay with me people.


While that is a mouthful, it's a mouthful of interesting and relevant information (especially for people who have or work with young kids). I think the gyst of what is being said is what we do when we are young has a profound effect on how we learn and grow.


Quick example: When I was 3 or 4 years old, I saw a pan on the stove. I didn't process the concept of "heat" along with the "no touchy" rule. As you can guess, I burned myself ( I barely survived, but enough about me). Needless to say, I never touched a pan again. . .ever. Seriously, I don't cook. Pans are evil.



The point is, what I experienced as a young child had an influence on me later in life. My brain at the time "wasn't quite ripe yet," if you know what I mean. But, like any good farmer or winemaker (choose your metaphor), how the fruit is cared for during the ripening process determines the outcome.


In my case, I'll be dealing with teenagers. Despite what I've seen, these are pieces of fruit nearing the end of the ripening process (they're just too busy "expressing themselves"). It would be safe to assume that my highly superior intellect would just confuse them (GASP!). So what do we do? First, we see where they are intellectually. You'd be amazed at how much you can tell about intellect based off of the subject's hobbies or interests. Second, you break down your lesson plan into the core pieces of information. Lastly, use that magnificent Osmosis Machine created by Dr. Mildenstein to mutate your student's brain to absorb all of the information. if you don't have the machine, you can change that last step into meeting the students on their level.


Make the lesson challenging, but make it appropriate.