Piaget`s Developmental Theory- Cognitive Development

- Presented by Hephziba (f08083) Scholastica Sneha (f08109)

Introduction Cognitive development of human beings has been thoroughly researched. Theorists have suggested that children are incapable of understanding the world until they reach a particular stage of cognitive development. Cognitive development is the process whereby a childs understanding of the world changes as a function of age and experience. Theories of cognitive development seek to explain the quantitative and qualitative intellectual abilities that occur during development. No theory of cognitive development has had more impact than the cognitive stages

J a n Pi g e t( 1 8 9 6 1 9 8 0 ) e aSwiss psychologist who began to study

intellectual development Primarily trained in philosophy and zoology His Cognitive Theory is influential in both education and psychology fields. Genetic epistemology - a natural timetable for the development of the child's ability to think Children s capacity to understand this world role of maturation "Piaget's work on children's intellectual development owed much to his early studies of water snails" (Satterly)

Stages of Cognitive Development He proposed that the thinking process will develop through each of the stages until a child can think logically. Understanding cognitive development helps us arrange appropriate lessons and learning environments. The following are four of Piaget's developmental stages:

Sensori Motor (Birth 2 years) Pre Operational (2 7 years) Concrete Operational (7 11 years) Formal Operational (11 years and up)

Contd.. He also said that children go through four

separate stages in a fixed order that is universal in all children. Piaget declared that these stages differ not only in the quantity of information acquired at each stage, but also in the quality of knowledge and understanding at that stage. Piaget suggested that movement from one stage to the next occurred when the child reached an appropriate level of maturation and was exposed to relevant types of experiences. He proposed that children's thinking does not develop entirely smoothly. Instead, there are certain points at which it "takes off" and moves into completely new areas and capabilities

Cognitive Development Stages

Key concepts

Schemas - A schema describes both the mental and physical

actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas. For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. Assimilation - The process of taking in new information into our previously existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective, because we tend to modify experience or information somewhat to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. For example, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is an example of assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema. Accommodation - Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves altering existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process. Equilibration - Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As

First stage of cognitive development The child starts to respond to reflexes From being reflexive responding to stimuli goal oriented Some key terms to knowObject permanence - realization that object continues to exist even when out of sight Causality- recognition that certain events cause other events(10 months) Representational ability- capacity to mentally represent objects and actions in memory Schemes- The representation in the mind of a set of perceptions, ideas, and/or actions, which go together.

1.Sensori Motor stage(0-2yrs)

Object Permanence

Six Sub- stages of sensori motor stageo Simple Reflexes Birth to 6 weeks Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors Sucking, Palmar grasp

o First habits and primary circular reactions phase 6 weeks to 4 months Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes: habits and primary circular reactions Main focus is still on the infants body

Object permanence is absent

Cont.o Secondary circular reactions phase 4 months to 8 months Development of habits become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-preoccupation Three new abilities - intentional grasping for a desired object, secondary circular reactions, and differentiations between ends and means Causality starts in this stage

o Coordination of secondary circular reactions stage 8 months to 12 months Coordination of vision and touch--hand-eye coordination First proper intelligence

Conto Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity 12 to 18 months Infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects the discovery of new means to meet goals young scientist Object permanence is developing Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations Passage into pre operational stage Representational ability and causality is learnt completely Develop insights, language develops

o Internalization of Schemes 18 to 24 months

2.Pre operational Stage(2-7yrs)Learns to use language and to represent objects

nanimate objects are capable of actions and have life like

by images and words Key concepts: o Egocentrism - The belief that you are the centre of the universe and everything revolves around you

Centration - act of focusing all attention on one characteristic compared to the others.

Contd..Conservation - The realization that

objects or sets of objects stay the same even when they are changed about or made to look different.There are 7 types of conservation in this stage: Number Length Liquid Mass Weight Area Volume

Sub- stages of Pre operational stage The Symbolic Function Sub stage (2 to 4 yrs) child is able to formulate designs of objects that are not present. Progress in Mental abilities -language and pretend play o Egocentrism and Animism is dominating o Exp : views of 3 mountains

The Intuitive Thought Sub stage (4 to 7 yrs)o children have vast knowledge and they are unaware that how they know it o Primitive reasoning, curious ask questions o Centration and conservation o Fails to show conservation of liquid, number, matter, length, volume, and area o Exp : 2 beakers height and width, dogs and

ContdErrors in logic show the transition between

intuitiveness in solving problems and true logical reasoning acquired in later years when the child grows up. Children primarily learn through imitation and play throughout these first two stages, as they build up symbolic images through internalized activity Research shows that there are different age differences in reaching the understanding of conservation based on the degree to which the culture teaches these tasks Children develop an internal representation of the world that allows them to describe people, events, and feelings.

3.Concrete operational Stage(7-11yrs)Develops ability to think logically Child learns to decenter- take all aspects of

the situation into consideration while drawing conclusion Thinking is limited to that situation only Children in this stage can, however, only solve problems that apply to actual (concrete) objects or events, and not abstract concepts or hypothetical tasks. Important processes during this stage are as follows:

Key Processo Seriationthe ability to sort objects in an order according to size, shape, or any other characteristic. Ex : colors o Transitivity- The ability to recognize logical relationships among elements in a serial order, and perform 'transitive inferences' Ex : If A is taller than B,

and B is taller than C, then A must be taller than C

o Classificationthe ability to name and identify sets of objects according to appearance, size or other characteristic, including the idea that

Cont..o Decenteringwhere the child takes into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it. Ex : difference between wide and taller cup o o o

o Reversibilitythe child understands that numbers or objects can be changed, then returned to their original state. Ex : 3 + 2 = 5 and 5 2 = 3 o Elimination of Egocentrismthe ability to view things from another's perspective (even if they think

4.Formal Operational Stage(11yrs-)Abstract thinking, logical reasoning, ability

to draw conclusion, problem solving Abstract quality of the adolescent's thought -verbal problem solving ability Logical quality of thought-Problem solving Trial and error Practical application Ability to understand love and shades of gray Adolescent egocentrism governs the way of thinking about social concerns Heightened self consciousness

Key processHypothetical-deductive reasoning-

means that they develop hypotheses or best guesses, and systematically deduce, or conclude, which is the best path to follow in solving the problem. Adolescent egocentrism -two typesimaginary audience that involves attention

getting behavior personal fable which involves an adolescent's sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility

Piaget's Impact on EducationPiaget's focus on qualitative development

had an important impact on education. While Piaget did not specifically apply his theory to education, many educational programs are built upon the belief that children should be taught at the level for which they are developmentally prepared. In addition to this, a number of instructional strategies have been derived from Piaget's work.providing a supportive environment utilizing social interactions and peer

teaching, helping children see fallacies and

Research Studies Data from cross-sectional studies of children in a

variety of western cultures seem to support this assertion for the stages of sensorimotor, preoperational, and concrete operations. However, data from similar cross-sectional studies of adolescents do not support the assertion that all individuals will automatically move to the next cognitive stage as they biologically mature. For formal operations, it appears that maturation establishes the basis, but a special environment is required for most adolescents and adults to attain this stage.

Contd..

Limitations Piaget himself noted, development does not always progress in the smooth manner his theory seems to predict. 'Decalage', or unpredicted gaps in the developmental progression, suggest that the stage model is at best a useful approximation. Minimizes the importance of other aspects of intelligence The ability to handle real life problems, and wisdom that helps people cope with an ambiguous world Formal reasoning is not the only aspect of mature thinking Piaget's theory is 'domain general', predicting that cognitive maturation occurs concurrently across different domains of knowledge (such

ContdDomain-specific knowledge is constructed as

children develop and integrate knowledge. Contextual influences in the child's life like his/her immediate family, school, society and the world, and how these impact the child's development is not covered Modern neuro scientific research was not available to Piaget when he was constructing his theory.