Related PapersThis chapter excerpt provides an overview of theories related to cognitive development. The theories of Piaget and Vygostky are described. Video mini-lectures are included. Show
This chapter excerpt describes Piaget's stages of cognitive development and relevant classroom applications. 8 video mini-lectures are included. Human development theories pursue to figure out how and why children change and develop over time. Human development theories present the framework to allow the educators to understand, explain and predict children’s’ behavior. Throughout history, there have been many theories that explain child development. This study focuses on two significant theories, Piaget’s cognitive development theories, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. The study covered broadly many aspects of these two theories. Their main points and their strategies have been discussed in deep. The study aims to evaluate the application of the strategies of each theory in the classroom. The study conducted in a US curriculum private school in Dubai. Mixed methods of both qualitative and quantitative instruments have been used. Three different teachers have been observed and interviewed to evaluate the implication of the strategies of each theory during the teaching and learning process. Then the findings have been ana... —Piaget's theory, which is at the center of cognitive approach and major theoretical foundation in terms of the intelligent development, explains children's language learning by using four stages of cognitive development. For instance, Piaget maintains that Egocentrism is related to language learning as an inner speech and can affect on differentiation in cognitive development. This paper is to focus on the important educational foundation and information, which can prove how Language Egocentrism (LE) and Language Differentiation (LD) have an influence on native and second language acquisition for young children (two to seven years old), and what characteristics can be included in the subcategories of LE and LD. Index Terms—Language Egocentrism (LE), Language Differentiation (LD), language learning mechanics, second language acquisition, Piaget This lecture notes focus on developmental processes that occur from conception through the end of adolescence and include human development theories. CONSTRUCTIVISM: Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that says that " meaningful learning occurs when people actively try to make sense of the world—when they construct an interpretation of how and why things are—by ltering new ideas and experiences through existing knowledge ". This theory states that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know. Constructivism brings the focus on the learners in thinking about learning and secondly it says that there is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to experience (constructed) by the learner, or community of learners. @article{Ojose2008ApplyingPT, title={Applying Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development to Mathematics Instruction.}, author={Bobby Ojose}, journal={The Mathematics Educator}, year={2008}, volume={18}, pages={26-30} } This paper is based on a presentation given at National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in 2005 in Anaheim, California. It explicates the developmental stages of the child as posited by Piaget. The author then ties each of the stages to developmentally appropriate mathematics instruction. The implications in terms of not imposing unfamiliar ideas on the child and importance of peer interaction are highlighted. Jean Piaget's work on children's cognitive development, specifically with…
Background and Key Concepts of Piaget's Theory By Saul McLeod, PhD | Updated August 18, 2022 Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that intelligence changes as children grow. A child's cognitive development is not just about acquiring knowledge, the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world. Cognitive development occurs through the interaction of innate capacities and environmental events, and children pass through a series of stages.
Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years Preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up The sequence of the stages is universal across cultures and follow the same invariant (unchanging) order. All children go through the same stages in the same order (but not all at the same rate). How Piaget Developed the TheoryPiaget was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to develop French versions of questions on English intelligence tests. He became intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers to the questions that required logical thinking. He believed that these incorrect answers revealed important differences between the thinking of adults and children. Piaget branched out on his own with a new set of assumptions about children’s intelligence:
What Piaget wanted to do was not to measure how well children could count, spell or solve problems as a way of grading their I.Q. What he was more interested in was the way in which fundamental concepts like the very idea of number, time, quantity, causality, justice and so on emerged. Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence using naturalistic observation of his own three babies and sometimes controlled observation too. From these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations. Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Four Stages
Although no stage can be missed out, there are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages, and some individuals may never attain the later stages. Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage. The Sensorimotor StageAges: Birth to 2 Years The first stage is the sensory motor stage, and during this stage the infant focuses on physical sensations and on learning to co-ordinate his body. Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
During this stage the infant lives in the present. It does not yet have a mental picture of the world stored in its memory therefore it does not have a sense of object permanence. If it cannot see something then it does not exist. This is why you can hide a toy from an infant, while it watches, but it will not search for the object once it has gone out of sight. The main achievement during this stage is object permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e., a schema) of the object.
The child begins to be able to store information that it knows about the world, recall it and label it. Learn More: The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development The Preoperational StageAges: 2 - 7 Years The pre-operational stage is one of Piaget's intellectual development stages. It takes place between 2 and 7 years. At the beginning of this stage the child does not use operations, so the thinking is influenced by the way things appear rather than logical reasoning. A child cannot conserve which means that the child does not understand that quantity remains the same even if the appearance changes. Furthermore, the child is egocentric; he assumes that other people see the world as he does. This has been shown in the three mountains study. Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
By 2 years, children have made some progress towards detaching their thought from physical world. However have not yet developed logical (or 'operational') thought characteristic of later stages. Thinking is still intuitive (based on subjective judgements about situations) and egocentric (centred on the child's own view of the world). Learn More: The Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development The Concrete Operational StageAges: 7 - 11 Years By the beginning of the concrete operational stage, the child can use operations ( a set of logical rules) so he can conserve quantities, he realises that people see the world in a different way than he does (decentring) and he has improved in inclusion tasks. Children still have difficulties with abstract thinking. Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
The stage is called concrete because children can think logically much more successfully if they can manipulate real (concrete) materials or pictures of them. Piaget considered the concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development because it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. This means the child can work things out internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in the real world). Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9). Conservation is the understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes. But operational thought only effective here if child asked to reason about materials that are physically present. Children at this stage will tend to make mistakes or be overwhelmed when asked to reason about abstract or hypothetical problems. Learn More: The Concrete Operational Stage of Development The Formal Operational StageAges: 12 and Over The formal operational period begins at about age 11. As adolescents enter this stage, they gain the ability to think in an abstract manner, the ability to combine and classify items in a more sophisticated way, and the capacity for higher-order reasoning. Adolescents can think systematically and reason about what might be as well as what is (not everyone achieves this stage).. This allows them to understand politics, ethics, and science fiction, as well as to engage in scientific reasoning. Adolescents can deal with abstract ideas: e.g. they can understand division and fractions without having to actually divide things up. Solve hypothetical (imaginary) problems. Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
From about 12 years children can follow the form of a logical argument without reference to its content. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test hypotheses. This stage sees emergence of scientific thinking, formulating abstract theories and hypotheses when faced with a problem. Learn More: The Formal Operational Stage of Development Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several Ways:Piaget's (1936, 1950) theory of cognitive development explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Children’s ability to understand, think about and solve problems in the world develops in a stop-start, discontinuous manner (rather than gradual changes over time). ▪ It is concerned with children, rather than all learners. ▪ It focuses on development, rather than learning per se, so it does not address learning of information or specific behaviors. ▪ It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather than a gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc. The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment. SchemasPiaget claimed that knowledge cannot simply emerge from sensory experience; some initial structure is necessary to make sense of the world.
Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world. Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as: "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning." In more simple terms Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior – a way of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as “units” of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions, and abstract (i.e., theoretical) concepts. Wadsworth (2004) suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be thought of as 'index cards' filed in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information. When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned.
Operations are more sophisticated mental structures which allow us to combine schemas in a logical (reasonable) way. As children grow they can carry out more complex operations and begin to imagine hypothetical (imaginary) situations. Apart from the schemas we are born with schemas and operations are learned through interaction with other people and the environment. Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development and described how they were developed or acquired. A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed. Examples of SchemasA person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill. This is an example of a type of schema called a 'script.' Whenever they are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation. The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this - especially those used by infants. He described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate. Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us. For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a 'sucking schema.' Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby's hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking. The Process of AdaptationAdaptation is the process by which the child changes its mental models of the world to match more closely how the world actually is. When our existing schemas can explain what we perceive around us, we are in a state of equilibration. However, when we meet a new situation that we cannot explain it creates disequilibrium, this is an unpleasant sensation which we try to escape, this gives the motivation for learning. According to Piaget, reorganization to higher levels of thinking is not accomplished easily. The child must "rethink" his or her view of the world. An important step in the process is the experience of cognitive conflict. In other words, the child becomes aware that he or she holds two contradictory views about a situation and they both cannot be true. This step is referred to as disequilibrium.
To get back to a state of equilibration we need to modify our existing schemas, to learn and adapt to the new situation. This is done through the processes of accommodation and assimilation. This is how our schemas evolve and become more sophisticated. AssimilationPiaget defined assimilation as the cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding. Overall beliefs and understanding of the world do not change as a result of the new information. Assimilation coccurs when the new experience is not very different form previous experiences of a particular object or situation we assimilate the new situation by adding information to a previous schema. This means that when you are faced with new information, you make sense of this information by referring to information you already have (information processed and learned previously) and try to fit the new information into the information you already have. For example, a 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown” (Siegler et al., 2003). For example, a baby learns to pick up a rattle he or she will then use the same schema (grasping) to pick up other objects. AccommodationAccommodation: when the new experience is very different from what we have encountered before we need to change our schemas in a very radical way or create a whole new schema. Psychologist Jean Piaget defined accommodation as the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated. This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. In order to make sense of some new information, you actual adjust information you already have (schemas you already have, etc.) to make room for this new information. For example, a baby tries to use the same schema for grasping to pick up a very small object. It doesn’t work. The baby then changes the schema by now using the forefinger and thumb to pick up the object. Also, a child may have a schema for birds (feathers, flying, etc.) and then they see a plane, which also flies, but would not fit into their bird schema. In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of “clown”. EquilibrationPiaget believed that all human thought seeks order and is uncomfortable with contradictions and inconsistencies in knowledge structures. In other words, we seek 'equilibrium' in our cognitive structures. Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation). Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it. Equilibration is a regulatory process that maintains a balance between assimilation and accommodation to facilitate cognitive growth. Think of it this way: We can't merely assimilate all the time; if we did, we would never learn any new concepts or principles. Everything new we encountered would just get put in the same few "slots" we already had. Neither can we accommodate all the time; if we did, everything we encountered would seem new; there would be no recurring regularities in our world. We'd be exhausted by the mental effort! Applying Piaget's Theory to the ClassroomThink of old black and white films that you’ve seen in which children sat in rows at desks, with ink wells, would learn by rote, all chanting in unison in response to questions set by an authoritarian old biddy like Matilda! Children who were unable to keep up were seen as slacking and would be punished by variations on the theme of corporal punishment. Yes, it really did happen and in some parts of the world still does today. Piaget is partly responsible for the change that occurred in the 1960s and for your relatively pleasurable and pain free school days!
Plowden ReportPiaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have explained how features of Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning. Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice. For example, a review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on Piaget’s theory. The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden report (1967). In the 1960s the Plowden Committee investigated the deficiencies in education and decided to incorporate many of Piaget’s ideas in to its final report published in 1967, even though Piaget’s work was not really designed for education. The report makes three Piaget-associated recommendations:
'The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children's progress - teachers should 'not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.' Discovery learning – the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring - was seen as central to the transformation of the primary school curriculum. How to teachWithin the classroom learning should be student-centered and accomplished through active discovery learning. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition. Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of 'readiness' is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to Piaget's theory children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development. According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered. Therefore, teachers should encourage the following within the classroom:
Role of the Teacher
Curriculum DevelopmentAccording to Piaget children cognitive development is determined by a process of maturation which cannot be altered by tuition so education should be stage-specific. For example, a child in the concrete operational stage should not be taught abstract concepts and should be given concrete aid such as tokens to count with. According to Piaget children learn through the process of accommodation and assimilation so the role of the teacher should be to provide opportunities for these processes to occur such as new material and experiences which challenge the children’s existing schemas. Furthermore, according to this theory, children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to interact with the material instead of being given ready-made knowledge. Curricula need to be developed that take into account the age and stage of thinking of the child. For example there is no point in teaching abstract concepts such as algebra or atomic structure to children in primary school. Curricula also need to be sufficiently flexible to allow for variations in ability of different students of the same age. In Britain the National Curriculum and Key Stages broadly reflect the stages that Piaget laid down. For example, egocentricism dominates a child’s thinking in the sensori-motor and preoperational stages. Piaget would therefore predict that using group activities would not be appropriate since children are not capable of understanding the views of others. However, Smith et al. (1998), point out that some children develop earlier than Piaget predicted and that by using group work children can learn to appreciate the views of others in preparation for the concrete operational stage. The national curriculum emphasises the need for using concrete examples in the primary classroom. Shayer (1997), reported that abstract thought was necessary for success in secondary school (and co-developed the CASE system of teaching science). Recently the National curriculum has been updated to encourage the teaching of some abstract concepts towards the end of primary education, in preparation for secondary courses. (DfEE, 1999). Child-centred teaching is regarded by some as a child of the ‘liberal sixties.’ In the 1980s the Thatcher government introduced the National Curriculum in an attempt to move away from this and bring more central government control into the teaching of children. So, although the British National Curriculum in some ways supports the work of Piaget, (in that it dictates the order of teaching), it can also be seen as prescriptive to the point where it counters Piaget’s child-oriented approach. However, it does still allow for flexibility in teaching methods, allowing teachers to tailor lessons to the needs of their students. Critical EvaluationSupport
Criticisms
Piaget vs VygotskyPiaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own. Whereas Vygotsky argues that children learn through social interactions, building knowledge by learning from more knowledgeable others such as peers and adults. In other words, Vygotsky believed that culture affects cognitive development. These factors lead to differences in the education style they recommend: Piaget would argue for the teacher to provide opportunities which challenge the children’s existing schemas and for children to be encouraged to discover for themselves. Alternatively, Vygotsky would recommend that teacher's assist the child to progress through the zone of proximal development by using scaffolding. However, both theories view children as actively constructing their own knowledge of the world; they are not seen as just passively absorbing knowledge. They also agree that cognitive development involves qualitative changes in thinking, not only a matter of learning more things.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSWhat are the 4 stages of Piaget's theory?Piaget divided children’s cognitive development in four stages, each of the stages represent a new way of thinking and understanding the world. He called them (1) sensorimotor intelligence, (2) preoperational thinking, (3) concrete operational thinking, and (4) formal operational thinking. Each stage is correlated with an age period of childhood, but only approximately. According to Piaget, intellectual development takes place through stages which occur in a fixed order and which are universal (all children pass through these stages regardless of social or cultural background). Development can only occur when the brain has matured to a point of “readiness”. What are some of the weaknesses of Piaget's theory?Cross-cultural studies show that the stages of development (except the formal operational stage) occur in the same order in all cultures suggesting that cognitive development is a product of a biological process of maturation. However the age at which the stages are reached varies between cultures and individuals which suggests that social and cultural factors and individual differences influence cognitive development. What are Piaget's concepts of schemas?Schemas are mental structures which contains all of the information we have relating to one aspect of the world around us. According to Piaget, we are born with a few primitive schemas such as sucking which give us a mean to interact with the world. These are physical but as the child develops they become mental schemas. These schemas become more complex with experience. How to reference this article:How to reference this article:McLeod, S. A. (2018, June 06). Jean piaget's theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html Listen to a brief summary of this article.APA Style ReferencesAPA Style ReferencesBaillargeon, R., & DeVos, J. (1991). Object permanence in young infants: Further evidence. Child development, 1227-1246. Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, Mass.: Belkapp Press. Dasen, P. (1994). Culture and cognitive development from a Piagetian perspective. In W .J. Lonner & R.S. Malpass (Eds.), Psychology and culture (pp. 145–149). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Hughes , M. (1975). Egocentrism in preschool children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Edinburgh University. Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York: Basic Books. Keating, D. (1979). Adolescent thinking. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 211-246). New York: Wiley. Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Piaget, J. (1936). Origins of intelligence in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Piaget, J. (1945). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. London: Heinemann. Piaget, J. (1957). Construction of reality in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Piaget, J., & Cook, M. T. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York, NY: International University Press. Plowden, B. H. P. (1967). Children and their primary schools: A report (Research and Surveys). London, England: HM Stationery Office. Siegler, R. S., DeLoache, J. S., & Eisenberg, N. (2003). How children develop. New York: Worth. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wadsworth, B. J. (2004). Piaget's theory of cognitive and affective development: Foundations of constructivism. New York: Longman. How to reference this article:How to reference this article:McLeod, S. A. (2018, June 06). Jean piaget's theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html Home | About Us | Privacy Policy | Advertise | Contact Us Simply Psychology's content is for informational and educational purposes only. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. © Simply Scholar Ltd - All rights reserved
What is the application of Piaget's theory?By using Piaget's theory in the classroom, teachers and students benefit in several ways. Teachers develop a better understanding of their students' thinking. They can also align their teaching strategies with their students' cognitive level (e.g. motivational set, modeling, and assignments).
What are some applications of Piaget cognitive development to education and to the classroom?In particular, his theory focuses on the mechanisms that help us adapt and learn new concepts or skills. In the classroom, teachers can apply Piaget's notions of assimilation and accommodation when introducing new material. They can help students approach a new idea through the lens of what they have already learned.
What are some practical applications that can be made from Piaget's theory?Parents can use Piaget's theory in many ways to support their child's growth. Teachers can also use Piaget's theory to help their students. For example, recent studies have shown that children in the same grade and of the same age perform differently on tasks measuring basic addition and subtraction accuracy.
What is the purpose of Piaget's theory of cognitive development to learning?Piaget's theory of cognitive development helped add to our understanding of children's intellectual growth. It also stressed that children were not merely passive recipients of knowledge. Instead, kids are constantly investigating and experimenting as they build their understanding of how the world works.
What is Piaget's practical application in the field of education?Piaget's theory assumes that all children go through the same developmental sequence but that they do so at different rates. Therefore, teachers must make a special effort to arrange classroom activities for individuals and small groups of children rather than for the total class group.
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