Over the past thirty years, Higher Education in the United States has experienced a sequence of remarkable changes. Higher Education in the United States is facing key challenges because participation amongst non-traditional students has been widened by a rapid increase in numbers of students and student pressures. Today, educators, policy makers, and state legislators all share a much greater interest in finding ways to improve the reasoning of students. Moreover, they also share a great interest in making sure that our future generation makes informed decisions in their communities, personal lives, and in their workplace. The purpose of this essay this paper is to summarize three articles about the key theories proposed by psychologists Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Erik Erikson, and describe the educational implications of their respective theories.
In his article “Piagets Logic of Meanings: Still Relevant Today,” Michael James Wavering extends the work of Swiss developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget’s work. Wavering examines the present thinking about Piaget’s Logic of Meanings, and addresses whether or not his theory, as the title suggests, is still relevant today. Problems of “Science Content [comprehension] and the Logic of Meanings” that the students of today face at all levels of are also explored in this article, and new approaches are required in order to alleviate these problems. Wavering explains the origin of mental operations and mental organization on the basis of the concept of meanings in an entirely fresh, new way. A more intriguing vision of how mental development continues from birth to adulthood is offered in this article. Wavering concludes his article with the educational implications of Piaget’s logic of meanings.
In his article “Vygotsky and the Social Dynamics of Classroom,” Peter Smagorinsky discusses Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky’s theory of how learning is influenced by social dynamics. Smagorinsky writes about Vygotsky’s ideas of how a framework for an exploratory study is provided by this form of learning, where the relationship between patterns of written or spoken communication in discussions of literature led by teachers and in the small group discussions they are followed by can be explored. Smagorinsky also explores Vygotsky's integral concept of the inter-relationship of though and language development. Smagorinsky explains the distinct connection that Vygotsky established between speech and cognitive awareness and development of mental concepts. Again, Smagorinsky’s article is full the educational implications of Vygotsky's theory, which will be discussed in the conclusion of this paper. He concludes by stating that implications of culture on thinking.
Although the theme of the article “Identity Research and the Psychosocial Formation of One's Sense of Spiritual Self” is spirituality in higher education, an integral part of the article is the use of German-American developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson’s “psychosocial ego identity development theory” (240). In the article the authors write about the significance of the teaching practices of Christian educators are reviewed in Harold William Burgess’s book “Models of Religious Education.” Like Burgess, the authors of this article are testing how modern educational schemes will compete against traditional models. The authors discuss the methodology of 28 interviews the conducted using Erikson’s psychosocial ego identity development theory, and their findings. The authors write about the religious doubts and the changes that can be induced in the educational system by the influence of spirituality. The authors’ conclude, based on Erikson’s theory, that the sense of spiritual self of a person is predominantly influenced by psychosocial factors.
The purpose of this paper was to summarize the three articles discussed above, and to describe the educational implications of psychologists’ theories discussed in each of those articles. The educational implications of Piaget's theory have been significant. A view where all of the emphasis lies on the concept of education that developmentally appropriate has been created by Piaget's theory. This sort of education comprises of curriculum, instruction environments, and materials that are consistent with the cognitive and physical abilities of students as well as their emotional and social needs. The educational implications of Vygotsky's theory are that students are able to provide their own conceptual and contextual context for literature they study, and analytical strategies are explained. This helps students assimilate interpretive procedures that the teacher had initially introduced. Lastly, the educational implications of Erikson’s theory are that guidelines about an individual’s psychosocial development have been provided by him, making it easier to deal with them. This allows educators to give students enough freedom to explore their world.
References
Kiesling, C., Sorell, G. T., Montgomery, M. J., & Colwell, R. K. (2006). Identity research and the psychosocial formation of one. Christian Education Journal, 3, 240 - 259.
Smagorinsky, P. (2007). Vygotsky and the social dynamics of classrooms.
Wavering, M. J. (2011). Piaget's logic of meanings: still relevant today. Sch. Sci. Math, 111(5), 249-252.
