Exploring Constructivist and Sociocultural Approaches in Kindergarten Teaching Practices

From the standpoint of the Western world, the education of young children for a very long time has always been anchored on theories of learning and development. The concern for how young children learn has been an issue that has agitated the minds of theories and researchers for a very long time. However, currently, early childhood educators are increasingly recognizing the impact of the cognitive constructivist theory of learning and the sociocultural theory of learning on teacher practices in kindergarten classrooms. Thus, the main thrust of this paper is to examine the affordances of the two theories of learning in terms of teaching and learning and assessment practices in early childhood classrooms. In addition, the contrarieties and connections which are inherent in both theories have been extensively discussed. The study concluded that the examination of the affordances, contrarieties and connections that exist between the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky has indeed been very instructive because it has brought to the fore how the theories influence teacher practices in kindergarten classrooms as well as the convergences and divergences which are inherent in the theories.