Piaget and Vygotsky c8

I have been thoroughly introduced to the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in Educational Psychology classes before. even though I believe there are some flaws and oversights by both men, I think their theories are worth noting and worth studying.

I particularly like Piaget's stages of cognitive development. Perhaps the ages of the stages are a bit off and perhaps they are not as universal as he thought but they do give us a good guideline. Teachers and parents alike can use these stages to help children advance more rapidly and completely.

Vygotsky, like Piaget, but to an even greater degree, placed an emphasis on play.  As someone who was once a child myslef, I find this to be an astute observation.  I often worry about the youth of the 21st century. Kids are encouraged to play...video games.  However, they are not put into situations where they must entertain themselves with mud or a tree or a ball, at least not as much.  I wonder what will happen to the future adults of this age who have had all the entertainment created for them. Will they be able to innovate? Will they be able to exist without constant support? These are questions that remain to be seen and questions that will continue plague me. 

I also enjoy Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) It states that were learning occurs is in the middle.  What I mean by that is that if a task is too easy, learning does not occur.  Also, if a task is simply impossible, then no learning occurs either.  It is in those middle difficulty tasks were learning occurs.  I have found this to be true of myself and of my students and it is something that I will keep in mind during my future teaching experiences and during my praxis exam.