Two Approaches to the Problem of Development in the Context of Social Interactions: L.S. Vygotsky vs J. Piaget

The article is devoted to the problem of development and learning in the context of social interactions. This question is investigated on the basis of the analysis of the theoretical views of L.S. Vygotsky and J. Piaget. Both J. Piaget and L.S. Vygotsky substantiated the impact of social interactions and socialization on the development of the child’s thinking, and emphasized the close connection between the development of the child and the forms of interaction between the child and adults, as well as with other children. Two different approaches to understanding the child’s developmental paths are considered in the paper: one — from the individual to the social (J. Piaget) and the other — from the social to the individual (L.S. Vygotsky). Two different developmental mechanisms, based on the interactions and relationships of the participants of the social situation, are discussed: “socio-cognitive conflict” (J. Piaget) and “emotional-semantic” (“affective-semantic”) conflict (L.V. Vygotsky). Two possible models of designing educational environments, effective for the development of children in the learning process, are described in the paper: a model based on role exchanges and children’s cooperation (“School of J. Piaget”), and a model, based on developing forms of child-adult communities and activities (“School of L.S. Vygotsky”).

The basic tenets of the theory of J. Piaget. The scientific school of J. Piaget considers the formation of intelligence as the pivotal line in the mental development of a child, which determines the development of all other mental processes. According to J. Piaget, the qualitative uniqueness of each stage of cognitive development, as well as leaps and transitions, made from one age level to another, are all determined by the in-life formation of structures of intellectual activity, which are age-specific.

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