Piaget, Vygotsky, and the Cultural Development of the Notions of Possibility and Necessity: An Experimental Study among Rural South African Learners

Abstract

I employ the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget in analysing the modes of experimental task performance in order to elaborate on the role that cultural content plays in the development and functioning of the notions of possibility and necessity. I challenge the notion of cognitive lag that has hitherto pervaded explanations of the development of subjects from non-industrialised, diverse socio-cultural settings. A Piagetian experimental task, comprising half circles of contrasting colours, is used in the investigation. One of these half circles, covered with tinfoil, is assumed to be either red or green in colour but not knowable in advance, and it is used as a basis for hypothesising about the possible colour values of circles that could be made from combining this half with the uncovered one. Eighty Venda-speaking learners, 20 learners from each of four grades (Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7), with ages ranging from an average 6.5 years in Grade 1 to 12.5 years in Grade 7, participated in the study. The results reveal that learners, although functioning at the operational level of thinking, employ both concrete-functional and formal-abstract and conceptual modes of thinking at the same time. Thus the concept of possibility is conceptualised as constituting both its concrete, functional form (involving a conception of the possible as the possible-real) and its formal, conceptual form (involving the conception of the possible as a hypothetical state of affairs, disembedded from its concrete context of problem manifestation and involving holding two or more cognitive categories constant during problem solving).

The cultural context of development: language as a means for thinking and problem-solving

“…The predominant mode of task response -where the participants grouped the objects appropriately in categorical terms and used abstract, but functional reasons to justify their classification -does not seem inconsistent with their practical conditions of learning and cognitive development in the schooling context where they do not normally acquire abstract forms of thinking and problem-solving through classroom learning (cf. Muthivhi, 2010;Muthivhi, 2008b).…”

Relaciones conceptuales: comparación entre Niños, Adultos Jóvenes y Adultos Mayores

“…Volviendo a los resultados obtenidos, en relación con el grupo de los niños, pudo observarse una producción taxonómica significativamente menor a la de los adultos jóvenes, en consonancia con otras investigaciones que hacen referencia a este patrón (Muthivhi, 2010). Al respecto, como ya fue mencionado, autores clásicos como Piaget y Vigotsky señalan que el conocimiento taxonómico es inestable en los niños y se robustece después de comenzada la educación formal, lo que lo convierte en el tipo de respuesta predominante en los estudiantes (Murphy, 2002).…”

Piaget's Theory of Human Development and Education

“…Many things could go wrong during this period in cases of poor teaching and learning provision. For example, Muthivhi (2010) and Muthivhi and Broom (2009) studied concrete operational and formal operational learners whose learning was characterized by the forms of teaching that did not prepare them adequately for; and elaborate on, the reflective processes necessary for successful learning of the formal subject matter knowledge. These studies found that, although these learners demonstrated levels of performance consistent with normal developmental stages, they tended to be overreliant on concrete manifestations of the tasks and often derived conclusions to problems from their perceptions of the concrete situation rather than from their conceptualizations of the situation; taking full account of all available information to arrive at valid conclusion.…”

“…activities (everyday-life activities that do not necessarily involve teaching), their elaboration and conscious application to problem situations may be constrained if classroom instruction does not foster their conscious application to problem situations (see, Muthivhi, 2010;Muthivhi and Broom, 2009;Shayer, 1997). For Piaget, the acquisition for this cognitive capacity demonstrates an important shift from self-centered, egocentric thought processes -where the child is not able to consider two or more relevant aspects of a situation to arrive at a valid conclusion -to a 'decentered', self-regulative and reflective form of thinking that characterizes operational thinking of school-going children.…”