Psychology assessment week 8

After reading through Piaget's ideas on children's development, I definitely agree with most of his ideas. I think he did a really good job of narrowing down what exactly leads to children's mental development. The elements he believed lead to mental development were; biological maturation, active exploration, social experiences, and equilibration. I feel these elements are absolutely the factors that lead to a child's ability to progress mentally. We know children's minds mature, we know children advance as they have more real world experiences physically and socially, and we know children grow mentally as they learn new information and adapt old schemas.
One element I disagree with is that children go through distinct stages. I think that stages can be a good guideline when planning what to teach children based on where they are developmentally, however i feel that they are not necessarily limited to specific stages at specific times in life. I think that part of scaffolding is helping children to progress at whatever stage of life they are in, so that means children could potentially have strengths and advanced understanding in one area and weaknesses in another and not necessarily be limited to the "stage" they are in.
Another element I disagree with is the idea that development always preceeds learning. Although Piaget acknowledge that it can sometimes occur, I feel it happens more than that. I can recall many instances in my life where learning something new helped me develop in another aspect of my life. I think this can be the case with sports. First you learn the basic skills by seeing them modelled or explained, then you develop them by practice. I think this can be the case for many other things.
I agree with Piaget that language is not necessarily essential to have thinking abilities, however i agree with Vygotsky that egocentric speech is a good thing and not a cognitive limitation. In my human development class I remember discussing the idea that when an activity provides just enough challenge to an individual they sometimes engage in self talk, which is a positive way of sorting out information and regulating theri thought process.