Research Journal Assignment #8c: Multimedia

Resource Searched: Blinkx
Keywords Used: Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky
Search Strategy Used: Boolean Operator, AND
Date of Search: October 8, 2009
Number of Hits: 11
Relevance of Hits: 4

Two Videos of Use: Vygotskian Play and Jean Piaget

Research Journal Assignment #3b: Narrowing Research Topic

When we were first introduced to the idea of writing a research paper about whatever topic we would like from our field of interest, I was eager to begin and I had so many possible topics running through my mind. I am majoring in Human Development and studying Education as I want to become an Elementary School teacher. So at first I decided I would really like to discuss the topic of education. After I thought about this topic some more I realized that this topic was much too broad in its focus and that I needed to narrow the scope because there are so many different facets to the greater context of Education. I began narrowing my topic down before class on Tuesday September first and class that day only re-enforced what I had decided for my topic. I have settled on comparing and contrasting Piaget's theory of Developmental Psychology to Vygotsky's after narrowing down my topic and I am much more comfortable and prepared now.

Research Journal Assignment #3a: Exploring Research Topic

I did a little research into the basics of the theories and what the main points are for each one. Upon doing the research I found the fundamental differences in each. In order to begin this research I looked on Technorati, Google, and Wikipedia. These sites then directed me to more appropriate sites to find the information I was looking for. Lastly I book marked the sites I found useful to my research and sites I might want to revisit on my Delicious account, providing an accurate description of what I found on these sites.

Piaget's Theory stresses:

• Child led learning/hands on experience
• Assimilation and Accommodation as a form of learning new information
• Schemas as ways to classify information
• Stages through which children progress cognitively in their development
• And operation and play as a form of learning

While Vygotsky's Theory stresses:

• Adult facilitated learning
• The idea of the zone of proximal development as a form of learning new information
• Belief in self talk as means to further understanding
• Emphasized the society and culture's role in conditioning learners
• He also marked language as the key tool in development

Research Journal Assignment #2b: Research Topic

In order to be the very best in one's chosen field, one must first and foremost have a true passion for what they are pursuing, a thirst to master the skills necessary to excel in the profession, and a teachable approach to the new material. As I have chosen teaching as my ambition for the future, I was to be as prepared and well-versed in my field of study as possible. As a teacher I want and need to understand how my students will learn and what I can do that can help. On the flip side I also desire to learn what I could do that might hinder a student's learning abilities. In order to understand more competently how a student would learn or interpret the information they are presented, it is helpful to also understand the research and theories principle to this very concept. Therefore I chose to study the theories that Jean Piaget and Leon Vygotsky have presented that shape the landscape of cognitive developmental psychology. In analyzing these two differing views of growth and learning I hope to attain a greater idea and appreciation for how children learn and develop throughout their early childhood and on into adolescence.

Since I have already taken a Developmental Educational Psychology class through Metro State I am already familiar with a brief overview of the subject matter. I am aware that these two great psychologists, Piaget and Vygotsky, have left a profound impact on the way that children have been taught and are still being taught. I am aware of the main differences between the two theories and their main assumptions. Piaget assumes that children and intrinsically curious and are thus motivated to learn and experiment with the natural world around them. Piaget would argue that adults and teachers are only needed to provide this organic interaction for the learners. Vygotsky, on the other hand, emphasizes the adult's role in a child's development quite a bit more. Vygotsky argues that children need facilitated learning by a more capable adult in order to interpret the world around them. These differing philosophies play out in how children are taught in fundamentally different ways. Piaget would emphasize hands-on, student led learning whereas Vygotsky would emphasize adult led and structured learning.

As I am familiar with some of the bigger ideas of these two theories, I would like to dig a little deeper and see ways in which the theories continue to divulge and areas in which they overlap. I would like to look through analysis and practical studies in order to discover which theory has proven to be more useful. I would also find it helpful to know what one thought of the other if that is at all possible or relevant. From this paper I hope to learn which theory will be more useful in working with the age group of children I hope to work with. I am most interested in supplementing my skills and enhancing any natural abilities I have so as to have a well rounded and integrated teaching approach. I wonder if it is possible that one theory is more suited for one age group or type of students than another as well. Throughout my research I hope to keep an open mind and soak up as much useful information as I can in order to pursue whichever theory might be more applicable in my future situations.

Research Journal Assignment #2a: Possible Topics

-Different views of Developmental Psychology
-Freudian Psychology and it's Relevance or Lack Thereof
-Piaget vs Vygotsky in theories of Educational Developmental Psychology
-Teaching Strategies
-ADD and its Effect on teaching strategies

I have chosen to research Piaget's vs Vygotsky's theories of developmental psychology for my research paper this semester.

Research Journal Assignment #1: Areas of Academic Interest

Possible Research Topics:

• Education System
• Standardized Testing
• Nature vs Nurture
• Political System/Government
• Localization vs Globalization
• Population Growth and Control
• Vygotsky vs Piaget Developmental Psychology
• Medication of Youth
• Native American Reservations
  
• Media's Negative Influence on Early Childhood Development
• Corruption vs Ethical Production of Diamonds