Piaget, Kohlberg and Vygotsky
About 6 min · Child Psychology and Pedagogy · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 318 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
These three theorists are part of child development in HP TET and all CTET-pattern exams. Piaget explains how children think at different ages, Kohlberg explains how moral reasoning develops, and Vygotsky explains how social interaction drives learning. Together, they cover cognitive, moral, and socio-cultural dimensions of development.
Key ideas
- Piaget's Core Idea: Children are not "mini-adults"; they construct knowledge actively through interaction with the environment. Cognitive development occurs in fixed, universal stages.
- Schema, Assimilation, Accommodation: A schema is a mental framework. Assimilation fits new information into existing schemas; accommodation changes schemas when new information doesn't fit. Equilibration is the balance between both.
- Kohlberg's Core Idea: Moral reasoning (not just moral behaviour) develops in stages. Higher stages involve more abstract principles like justice and universal rights.
- Kohlberg built on Piaget: Piaget studied moral development first (heteronomous vs. autonomous morality), and Kohlberg extended this into six detailed stages.
- Vygotsky's Core Idea: Learning is fundamentally social. Cognitive development results from guided interaction with more knowledgeable others (MKO)—parents, teachers, peers.
Quick reference
- Piaget: 4 stages — Sensorimotor → Pre-operational → Concrete → Formal; child as "little scientist"
- Kohlberg: 3 levels, 6 stages — Pre-conventional (punishment/reward) → Conventional (approval/law) → Post-conventional (social contract/universal ethics)
- Vygotsky: Learning is social; teach in the ZPD; use scaffolding; language drives thought
- Conservation appears in Concrete Operational stage (~7 years)
- Scaffolding = temporary, adjustable support during learning
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. According to Kohlberg's theory, at the Pre-conventional level of moral development, children:
2. According to Piaget, the Concrete Operational Stage occurs between the ages of:
3. Vygotsky's concept of 'Zone of Proximal Development' refers to:
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 21 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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