Does our current understanding about the brain inform our understanding of both cognitive development and classroom practices? Using your reading on cognitive development, compare and contrast Piaget and Vygotsky by answering the following:

• Did Piaget distinguish competence from performance?

• What evidence is there that cognitive development actually occurs in stages?

• Does Piaget pay close attention to social/cultural influences? Why or why not?

• What are some of the educational implications of Vygotsky’s belief that our thought and intelligence comes from our society and culture (through the internalization of culturally constructed mental tools)?

• What are the implications of both models for education?

Which viewpoint do you endorse and why?