Shannalee Janik-Parkin

My philosophy on children is that all children develop at their own pace, live in a wide
variety of family structures and require caring, nurturing adults that will allow them the freedom
to learn and play throughout their development.
Children learn and grow through both nurture and nature. According to the Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky, children learn best through social interactions with adults and peers
while theorist Jean Piaget argued that children learn through individual interactions with their
environment (Berk, 2013). I believe that both are necessary for children to gain a well-rounded
development throughout their lives. Vygotsky introduced the concept of teaching within the
Zone of proximal Development (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015). The zone of proximal
development is where an older more experienced child or an adult teaches a younger child by
scaffolding while a child is within this zone. This allows a child to go from little working
knowledge of something to excelling without the withdrawal and fear of defeat due to failing
over and over again with little help or not being able to master it due to it being beyond the scope
of abilities that child can master at their cognitive or developmental level.
A child who is not in their developmental range, exhibiting atypical signs of development
can still easily be taught through the zone of proximal development, because this does not go by
age. It goes entirely by the ability and proximal development of that particular child. Being able
to determine the development range of a child allows a teacher to use this to coordinate what
lessons this child will be able to accomplish on their own with no help, with a little bit of help
and what lessons this child will not be able to complete yet. Now, Piaget also had a process
similar to Vygotskys zone of proximal development. He called this process assimilation and
accommodation (Berk, 2013). During this process children reach a state of what he called
disequilibrium, which means that they found something that does not make sense to them and it
does not fit exactly into a category they already have discovered or achieved. In order to attain
equilibrium, or balance again, the child must learn the new information. This is where the child
will assimilate the new information, and then make the appropriate accommodations to accept it
into their life. The main difference between the two theories is that in Piagets assimilation and
accommodation, the child comes to the conclusion through interactions with his environment and
people around him. With Vygotskys zone of proximal development, someone older and more
knowledgeable is helping the child through the learning process.
Whether a child is learning on their own through playing outside or with friends, or being
taught by an adult in a classroom or on a field trip, a child will continue to learn and develop
throughout their life. The theories are there to help teachers and caregivers know what stages
each child they are working with is at, and where to start working with them. I like to make sure
children in my care have every opportunity to have both types of learning as often as possible.