Chapter 4 Cognitive Development: PIAGET

1
Chapter 4Cognitive Development PIAGET
2
Jean Piaget

• Swiss Psychologist (1896-1980)
• Saw children as little scientists
• Clinical interview method
• How they know vs. What they know
• Cognitive Development
• Changes in childs ability to reason about
  his/her world

3
Key Concepts in Piagets Theory

• Children are active and motivated learners
• Children organize what they learn from their
  experiences
• Schemes
• Children adapt to their environment through
• Assimilation
• Accommodation

4
Key Concepts in Piagets Theory (cont.)

• Interaction with ones physical environment and
  other people are critical for cognitive
  development
• Process of _______ promotes progression toward
  increasingly complex forms of thought
• Equilibrium
• Disequilibrium
• Children think in qualitatively different ways at
  different age levels
• Believed his stages were Universal

5
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth Age 2)

• Schemes based primarily on behaviors and
  perceptions
• Infants develop __________ and __________
• Symbolic thought emerges near end of stage
• Six substages

6
Preoperational Stage (Ages 2-7)

• Symbolic thinking
• Deferred imitation
• Preschool years golden age of symbolic play
• Thinking precedes ________
• Represent world through pictures
• Number concepts
• Childrens abilities
• Cultural differences

7
Preoperational Stage (Ages 2-7)

• Intuitive Theories
• Animism
• Limitations
• Egocentrism
• Centration focusing on one aspect of a stimulus
• Lack of conservation

8
Concrete Operational Stage (Ages 7-11)

• Thinking is less rigid and more flexible
• Operations can be mentally reversed _________
• No longer base judgments on appearances
• 3 types of mental operations used
• Seriation
• Classification
• Conservation

9
Formal Operational Stage (Ages 11 to 12 through
adulthood)

• Thinking shifts from the real to the possible
• Ability to think abstractly and reflectively
• 4 key characteristics of formal operational
  thinking

10
Limitations of Piagets Theory

• Concerns about research methods
• Underestimation/overestimation of capabilities
• Concerns about Universality

11
What weve learned from Piaget

• Cognitive development is somewhat propelled by
  intrinsic motivation
• Children actively construct their own knowledge
• Children benefit from experiences they can relate
  to
• Rough idea of when new abilities emerge
• Children do not see and think about the world as
  adults do

12
Homework

• Write 2-4 pages describing the educational
  implications of both Piagets and Vygotskys
  theories. In other words, what would a classroom
  look like based on Piagets and Vygotskys
  theories?