ES 2212: Theorising
Early Childhood
Week 10/11: Assessment Guidance
Return to module
outline.
Last updated 24.11.11.
General Overview
Explain how Vygotsky’s interpretation of the learning environment revisits Locke’s ideas on education, and how Piaget’s ideas revisit Rousseau’s account of the educational importance of Emile’s surroundings.
My recomendation is that you tackle this essay in two halves, concentrating on offering explanations that answer as directly as possible each sub question, i.e., how one might explain Vygotsky's work as having developed out of a 'conversation' with Locke, and how one might similarly think of Piaget's work as extending from a prior 'conversation' with Rousseau on Emile and, possibly, The Social Contract. However, since you have already written about Locke and Rousseau, you only need identify the most essential aspects of their writings that you think can be represented as 'underpinning' the thinking behind Vygotsky and Piaget' work.
Here are some headings to organise your thinking and planning:-
Piaget
What stimulates learning?
What is the nature of human knowledge?
What is the direction of child development?
What is the origin
of self-regulation?
|
Vygotsky
What stimulates learning?
What is the nature
of human knowledge?
What is the
direction of child development?
What is the origin
of self-regulation?
|
Rousseau
Summarise how the
ideas presented above compare with Rousseau’s proposals for Emile’s education
|
Locke
Summarise how the
ideas presented above compare with Locke’s ideas about children’s education
|
Essay Structure - again, an overview
Introduction
Move beyond simply restating the question and explaining the basic structure you will use (although this is helpful). Indicate as well the significance of the issues you will be writing about as keywords with very short expansions, e.g., child development - for Piaget predominantly internally driven: for Vygotsky predominatly driven by the social context.
Piaget/Rousseau
section
Present relevant information from Piaget’s ideas about child development (and its implications for education) in the sequence set out in the preparation table. Then go on to draw comparisons between Piaget’s ideas and Rousseau’s proposals for Emile’s education.
Vygotsky/Locke section
Present relevant information from Vygotsky’s ideas about children’s learning (and its implications for education) in the sequence set out in the preparation table. Then go on to draw comparisons between Vygotsky’s ideas and Locke’s proposals for young children’s education.
Conclusion
Briefly summarise the main points and then explore their significance for students of early childhood.
Remember, this is level 5, so we need quotations from the primary texts of the four main theorists.
Bruner, Campbell,
Marti and Ridley will be helpful for contextualising this detail in these nature/nurture
debates; Pinker needs to be used with extreme caution. Focus mainly on Piaget and Vygotsky. Locke and
Rousseau are of secondary importance to this assignment, and only information relating directly to what you have said about Piaget and Vygotsky
should be included. The nature/nurture
debate serves as a means of drawing out the significance of the theories for
parents and educators of young children.
Detailed Preparation for the Essay
Essay
title:
Introduction
· Very brief
explanation of the career contexts of Piaget and Vygotsky
·
Acknowledgement
of differing interpretations of similar subject matter: environment and learning.
·
· links to Locke and Rousseau only via these two concepts
·
Overview
of essay structure
Piaget
·
Explain the
main principles and concepts of his theory of cognitive development (making
specific links to Locke and/or Rousseau if appropriate)
·
Key terms to work into your explanation:
o
Assimilation
o
Equilibration
o
Accommodation
·
State
direction of development of knowledge
Vygotsky
·
Explain the
main principles and concepts of his theory of cognitive development (making
specific links to Locke and/or Rousseau if appropriate)
·
Key Terms to work into your explanation:
o Historical and dialectical materialism
(this needs to be extended so as to tackle the idea that society is a) 'plastic' in its relation to the world, and each society develops social structures that may increase or decrease the 'fitness' of that society; the child's socialist responsibility is to work creatively with these, having once acquired familiarity - see the next section)
o
Zone of Proximal Development
·
State direction
of development of knowledge
Interpretations of Environment and Learning
·
What
constitutes the ‘environment’ for learning in each man’s theory?
·
What form of
interaction with the environment is necessary for learning in each man’s
theory?
·
What do the
two perspectives on the learning environment contribute to our understanding of
the characteristics of human knowledge and its development?
Conclusions
No need for a detailed
summary – go straight to the significant issues you wish to highlight. You may
want to:
·
·
Explore
(concisely) the implications of the two
theorists’ ideas for the education and care of young children
·
Identify
relationships between the thinking of Locke, Rousseau, Piaget and Vygotsky
·
Summarise
your comments in terms of the nature-nurture debate
Some suggested additional sources:-
Piaget, J. (1953) The Origin of Intelligence in the Child
Bruner, J. (1997)
Celebrating Divergence: Piaget and Vygotsky Human Development 40 pp. 63-73.
Piaget, J. (1972) The Principles of Genetic Epistemology
Moran, S. and
John-Steiner, V. (2003) ‘Creativity in the making: Vygotsky’s contribution to
the dialectic of creativity and development’ in: Sawyer, R., John-Steiner,
V., Moran, S., Sternberg, R., Feldman, D.,
(n.b This article is very lengthy)
Vygotsky, L.S.
(1994/1930) ‘The Socialist Alteration of Man’ in R. Van der Veer and J.
Valsiner (eds ) (1994) The Vygotsky Reader
Vygotsky, L. S. (1994/1934)
‘Academic concepts in school aged children’ in: R. Van der Veer and J.
Valsiner (eds) (1994) The Vygotsky
Reader
Marti, E. (1996)
'Mechanisms of internalisation and externalisation of Knowledge in Piaget's
and Vygosky's theories' in: Tryphon, A. and Voneche, J. (eds) (1996) Piaget-Vygotsky: The social genesis of
thought
Kitchener, R. (1996)
‘The nature of the social for Piaget and Vygotsky’ Human Development 39 pp. 243-249