Key idea: Stage theories say thinking changes in steps; continuous models say it grows gradually with help.
Piaget: stages
- Development in four set stages
- The child discovers alone, like a scientist
- A child cannot be taught past their stage
Vygotsky: continuous
- Development is gradual, with no fixed stages
- Learning happens with more skilled others
- Help within the zone of proximal development
Piaget's four stages
1
Sensorimotor (0 to 2)
Learning through the senses and movement; object permanence develops.
2
Preoperational (2 to 7)
Words and pretend play, but egocentric thinking; cannot yet conserve.
3
Concrete operational (7 to 11)
Logical thinking about real objects; conservation is understood.
4
Formal operational (11 and over)
Abstract and hypothetical reasoning.
Sense · Symbol · Concrete · Abstract
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Key idea: Piaget's preoperational children fail to conserve: they think spreading out a row of counters makes more. But was it the child's stage, or the way the question was asked?
McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) repeated Piaget's counters task with children aged 4 to 6. When a 'Naughty Teddy' messed up the row by accident, far more children said the number was still the same.
Stage theory (Piaget)
- Clear map of how thinking changes
- Children as active learners
- Shaped discovery learning
Where it struggles
- Children can do more than it predicts
- Stages look less fixed
- Leaves out help from others
Watch out: Evaluate the theory, not just the task. Say what the finding means for the idea of fixed stages.