Michael Shayer

Not just Piaget; not just Vygotsky, and certainly not Vygotsky as alternative to Piaget

Abstract There have been many interpretations published on the relative importance of the work of both Vygotsky and Piaget: often to the detriment of the latter. This article represents an attempt to discover the meaning and intention of the former by going back to the specifics of what he said and wrote. By reference to what they said of each other it is argued that by the early 30s they had reached almost identical positions regarding child development, and that the work of each is complementary to that of the other. The implications of this position for a theory of intervention for cognitive acceleration are then discussed.

Neo-Piagetian Theories of Cognitive Development : Implications and Applications for Education

Part 1 General Principles of Cognitive Organization and Change and Implications for Education: 1. Cognitive development in educational contexts: implications of skill theory, Thomas R. Bidell and Kurt W. Fischer 2. Modes of knowing, forms of knowing, and ways of schooling, John B. Biggs 3. The role of central conceptual structures in the development of childrens scientific and mathematical thought, Robbie Case 4. Social organisation of cognitive development: internalization and externalization of constraint systems, Jaan Valsiner 5. Structural systems in developing cognition, science and education, Andreas Demetriou, et al. Part 2 Inducing Cognitive Change: 6. Problems and issues in intervention studies, Michael Shayer 7. Training, cognitive change and individual differences, Anastasia Efklides, et al 8. Improving operational abilities in children, Ben o Csap o 9. Training scientific reasoning in children and adolescents, Luc Goossens 10. Value and limitations of analogs in teaching mathematics, Graeme S. Halford and Gillian M. Boulton-Lewis 11. Developing thinking abilities in arithmetic class, Lauren B. Resnick et al 12. Causal theories, reasoning strategies and conflict resolution by experts and novices in Newtonian mechanics, J. Ignacio Pozo and Mario Carretero 13. Cognitive prerequisites of reading and spelling: a longitudinal approach Wolfgang Schneider and Jan Carol Naslund Concluding Chapter 14. Returning to school: review and discussion, John B. Biggs.

Enhancing high school students’ achievement in chemistry through a thinking skills approach

This paper describes an experimental study designed to look at the application of a thinking skills programme‐Feuersteins Instrumental Enrichment‐to the teaching of chemistry to 14‐year‐olds. A class of 21 students in a London comprehensive school was divided into two groups, a control group of 10 students, and an experimental group of 11 students. The students were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the science section of an NFER cognitive abilities test which they all took at the beginning of the year. The ability and gender composition of the two groups was similar. One group, the experimental group, was taught a chemistry module designed to compensate for cognitive deficiencies revealed at interview; the other group was taught the usual chemistry module by the head of science in the school. Significant differences were revealed between the scores of the experimental and control group on the post‐test.

Realizing the cognitive potential of children 5-7 with a mathematics focus: Post-test and long-term effects of a 2-year intervention

BACKGROUND In the context of the British Governments policy directed on improving standards in schools, this paper presents research on the effects of a programme intended to promote the cognitive development of children in the first 2 years of primary school (Y1 & 2, aged 5-7 years). The programme is based on earlier work dealing with classroom-based interventions with older children at both primary and secondary levels of schooling. AIM The hypothesis tested is that it is possible to increase the cognitive ability of children by assisting teachers towards that aim in the context of mathematics. A corollary hypothesis is that such an increase would result in an increase in long-term school achievement. SAMPLE The participants were 8 teachers in one local education authority (LEA) and 10 teachers in another. Data were analysed on 275 children present at Year 1 pre-test in 2002 and at long-term Key Stage 2 post-test in 2008. METHOD Two intervention methods were employed: a Y1 set of interactive activities designed around Piagetian concrete operational schemata, and mathematics lessons in both Y1 and Y2 designed from a theory-base derived from both Piaget and Vygotsky. RESULTS At post-test in 2004, the mean effect sizes for cognitive development of the children - assessed by the Piagetian test Spatial Relations - were 0.71 SD in one LEA and 0.60 SD in the other. Five classes achieved a median increase of 1.3 SD. The mean gains over pre-test in 2002 for all children in Key Stage 1 English in 2004 were 0.51 SD, and at Key Stage 2 English in 2008 - the long-term effect - were 0.36 SD, an improvement of 14 percentile points. CONCLUSIONS The main hypothesis was supported by the data on cognitive development. The corollary hypothesis is supported by the gains in English. The implications of this study are that relative intelligence can be increased and is not fixed, and that children can be led into collaborating with each other to the benefit of their own thinking, and that there does exist a theory-based methodology for the improvement of teaching.

Cognitive development and classroom interaction: a theoretical foundation for teaching and learning

The Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education (CAME) project aims to contribute to teachers’ professional development by basing practice on research and theory. Three major sources are drawn upon: Research on levels of achievement in mathematical topics; Piagetian and neo-Piagetian theories on levels of thinking (formal reasoning); and Vygotskian psychology and social constructivism. These sources have been integrated to provide a theoretical foundation for teacher intervention and pupil-pupil interaction aimed at increasing intellectual development. Exploratory IT environments provide particularly suitable contexts for illuminating the approach. Findings indicate the potential for substantial long-term impact on pupils’ achievements.

The Impact of the Work of Piaget on Science Curriculum Development

The Piagetian model of cognitive development involves a description of the growth of human thinking under certain conditions. The rate of development along the dimension sketched out by Piaget seems to depend upon the culture pattern in which the individual is reared and the quality of schooling. We recognize, of course, that the extent of the development will also depend upon the genetic make-up of the individual, in the sense that genetics will play a role in determining the extent to which he can develop those skills said to be indicative of intelligence in his culture pattern.

Loevinger's Ego Development Measures — a New Research Tool?

Summary A description of Loevingers model of ego development and its measurement by sentence completion tests is given. Results of using this test with 300 British schoolchildren are reported in terms of distribution of scores at a given age level, correlation with Piagetian cognitive levels, age correlation, and subject choice. Limitations of the test are discussed with a suggestion that by item analysis its utility can be extended to provide further, specific information.