Lev Vygotsky

Assumptions: 
1)  learning occurs according to a developmental trajectory 2)  cognitive skills are structured by language 3)  concerned with the importance of social relations in culture

learning --> situated and collaborative 
Language leads to thinking and learning, and those then lead to knowing.


Zone of Proximal Development: 
- Teacher becomes aware of the level of knowledge of a certain student. And then sets a task just above what the student can do on their own. This causes the student to put in more effort than they would if the task was set at a level of their exact knowledge. 
- As a teacher you have to provide the student with guidance and assistance along the way to achieving the task


Scaffolding:
- direct teaching, providing required information - answering student questions - guided practice

Formative Assessment: (aka Assessment for Learning)

- collection of learning to judge where the student is at

- as a teacher, this allows us to be able to find the right Zone of Proximal Development for each student specifically

Important !! 

- dialog between a student and teacher, this communication leads to rational organization 

Jean Piaget

Cognitive Process
Schema: concept map to organize information
Assimilation: new information that fits into our already structured schema
Accommodation: new information that does not fit into our schema (rearrangement is needed)

Piaget's Stages

1. Sensorimotor (babies-two years)
   - motor skills 
   - hunger, emotion
2. Preoperational (two-seven years)
   - beginning of language use
   - understands the world
   - egocentrism ("I")
3. Concrete Operational (seven-eleven years)
   - reasoning through problems
   - mental operations that are reversible
4. Formal Operational (eleven-fifteen years, through Adulthood)
   - abstract reasoning
   - hypothetical deductive reasoning, problem solving
   - new forms of egocentrism, adolescent egocentrism   

Concerns

• some children develop these stages slower or faster 
• stages aren't necessarily so distinct - there is blending between stages that can occur
• training and cultural experiences can impact cognitive development 

We have to take these concerns into consideration when dealing with children of all ages. Everyone develops and ages differently and we have to be respectful of their individuality. As a teacher you must be aware of where the children are, in terms of their development, and react in ways that will help them grow and continue to develop at a steady rate.