Piaget S Theory Of Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
Jean Piaget
• Swiss psychologist who studied cognitive development • Felt that younger children think differently than older children and adults
• Developed the most influential theory of intellectual development
How do children learn?
• According to Piaget, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world
– Use and form SCHEMAS through a process of
Adaptation and Organization
– SCHEMA: an organized way of making sense of experience/ categories or ways of thinking
Adaptation
• Building schemas through direct interaction with environment • Assimilation: use current schemas to interpret external world • Accommodation: create new schemas or adjust old ones
First try to assimilate, then accommodate
Organization
• Internal way of rearranging schemas and linking them with other schemas
4 Stages of Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor stage: birth-2yrs.
• Preoperational stage: 2-7 yrs.
• Concrete Operational stage: 7-11 yrs.
• Formal Operational stage: 12- adulthood
Sensorimotor Stage
• Children experience the world through senses and actions
• The child is working on 2 activities:
– Sensation
– Movement
– “Think” with eyes, ears, hands etc.
Infants are working on mastering their bodies and movements. Then they work on goal directed behavior.
Object Permanence
• Objects are not permanent to infants at this stage. Once something is out of vision, it no longer exists.
Stranger anxiety
• At the end of the stage, children begin to represent the world around them with language. • They also have a sense of self recognition that allows them to begin to imitate and play.
Preoperational Stage
Children represent things with words and images, but lack logical reasoning.
Make believe play is a way to practice/strengthen schemas.
Stage is dominated by egocentrism and centration Egocentrism
• World only exists in term of himself/herself.
• Children are unable to see things from
someone
Development
Jean Piaget
• Swiss psychologist who studied cognitive development • Felt that younger children think differently than older children and adults
• Developed the most influential theory of intellectual development
How do children learn?
• According to Piaget, children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world
– Use and form SCHEMAS through a process of
Adaptation and Organization
– SCHEMA: an organized way of making sense of experience/ categories or ways of thinking
Adaptation
• Building schemas through direct interaction with environment • Assimilation: use current schemas to interpret external world • Accommodation: create new schemas or adjust old ones
First try to assimilate, then accommodate
Organization
• Internal way of rearranging schemas and linking them with other schemas
4 Stages of Cognitive Development
• Sensorimotor stage: birth-2yrs.
• Preoperational stage: 2-7 yrs.
• Concrete Operational stage: 7-11 yrs.
• Formal Operational stage: 12- adulthood
Sensorimotor Stage
• Children experience the world through senses and actions
• The child is working on 2 activities:
– Sensation
– Movement
– “Think” with eyes, ears, hands etc.
Infants are working on mastering their bodies and movements. Then they work on goal directed behavior.
Object Permanence
• Objects are not permanent to infants at this stage. Once something is out of vision, it no longer exists.
Stranger anxiety
• At the end of the stage, children begin to represent the world around them with language. • They also have a sense of self recognition that allows them to begin to imitate and play.
Preoperational Stage
Children represent things with words and images, but lack logical reasoning.
Make believe play is a way to practice/strengthen schemas.
Stage is dominated by egocentrism and centration Egocentrism
• World only exists in term of himself/herself.
• Children are unable to see things from
someone