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Cognitive Approaches to Learning
Jean Piaget
1896-1980 (aged 84)
Presented by: Amir Hamid Forough Ameri
October 2015
Cognitive Theory
In general learning, cognitive theory is one in which psychologists
attempt to understand how humans create and use knowledge. As such,
it is not domain specific. That is, for cognitivists, there are no special
places in the mind for language, math, or any other knowledge system.
Cognitive researchers are interested in learning processes. Within
cognitive theory, all learning (no matter the object of that learning)
utilizes the same general principles for human understanding and
learning. Thus, language learning would utilize the same mechanisms
for learning as would history learning and chess learning.
Jean William Fritz Piaget
Swiss psychologist who was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of
cognitive development. His contributions include a theory of child cognitive
development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of
simple tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.
He is thought by many to have been the major figure in 20th-century developmental
psychology.
According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget was "the great pioneer of the
constructivist theory of knowing." However, his ideas did not become widely
popularized until the 1960s. This then led to the emergence of the study of
development as a major sub-discipline in psychology. By the end of the 20th century,
Piaget was second only to B. F. Skinner as the most cited psychologist of that era.
Known for Constructivism, genetic epistemology, theory of cognitive development,
object permanence, egocentrism.
Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. He declared
in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from
possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual.’’
He devised a model describing how humans go about making sense of
their world by gathering and organizing information from infancy to
adulthood.
According to Piaget (1954), certain ways of thinking that are quite simple
for an adult are not so simple for a child as that child simply is not ready
to learn the concept.
He proposed the view that language develops out of the child’s thoughts
and growing awareness of the world, which contrasts the view that
language is ‘hard-wired’ in the brain.
Four Factors That Interact to Influence
Changes in Thinking
1. Biological Maturation → Unfolding of the biological changes that
are genetically programmed.
Note: Parents and teachers have little impact on this aspect.
2. Activity → The increasing ability to act on the environment (e.g., by
exploring, testing, observing, and organizing information) and learn from it.
3. Social Transmission (Experiences) → Interacting with the people
around us, learning from others
Note: the amount people can learn this way varies according to their stage of
cognitive development.
4. Equilibration
Basic Tendencies (Invariant Functions) in Thinking
Maturation, Activity, and Social Transmission all work together to
influence cognitive development. How do we respond to these
influences?
Piaget concluded that:
Basic Tendencies
Organization
Adaptation
Assimilation
Accommodation
1. Organization: People are born with a tendency to organize their thinking
processes into psychological structures which Piaget called schemes.
Schemes: Basic building blocks of thinking, organized systems of actions
or thought allowing us to mentally represent or ‘’think about’’ the objects and
events in the world.
2. Adaptation: Adjustment to the environment. It includes two processes:
2.1. Assimilation: Using the existing schemes to make sense of the events
in the world and trying to understand sth new by fitting it to what we already
know.
2.2. Accommodation: Changing existing schemes to respond to a new
situation by developing more appropriate structures.
According to Piaget, organizing, assimilating, and
accommodating can be seen as a kind of complex balancing act.
In his theory, the actual changes in thinking take place through
the process of equilibration or the act of searching for a balance.
Equilibration: if we apply a particular scheme to an event or a
situation and the scheme works, equilibrium exists. If the
scheme does not produce a satisfying result, disequilibrium
exists, and we become uncomfortable which motivates us to
keep searching for a solution through assimilation and
accommodation.
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development: A
Cognitive View of Constructivism
Introduction
Constructivism, a post-structuralist theoretical position emerged as a prevailing
paradigm only in the last part of the 20th century, and is now almost an
orthodoxy.
Constructivism, a multidisciplinary approach integrates linguistic,
psychological, and sociological paradigms.
Two branches of constructivism: Cognitive and Social.
In the cognitive version, emphasis is placed on the importance of learners
constructing their own representation of reality. Learners must individually
discover and transform complex information, so they have a more active role
in their own learning.
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development: A
Cognitive View of Constructivism
For Piaget, learning is a developmental process that involves change,
self-generation, and construction, each building on prior learning
experiences.
From his observation of children, Piaget understood that children were
creating ideas. They were not limited to receiving knowledge from
parents or teachers; they actively constructed their own knowledge.
Piaget's work provides the foundation on which constructivist theories
are based.
Constructivists believe that knowledge is constructed and learning
occurs when children create products or artifacts. They assert that
learners are more likely to be engaged in learning when these artifacts
are personally relevant and meaningful.
In studying the cognitive development of children and
adolescents, Piaget identified four major stages:
Sensorimotor PreoperationalConcrete
Operational Formal
Operational
Piaget believed all people pass through the same four stages in exactly
the same order to advance to the next level of cognitive development. In
each stage, children demonstrate new intellectual abilities and
increasingly complex understanding of the world.
Stages cannot be "skipped"; intellectual development always follows this
sequence. The ages at which children progress through the stages are
averages--they vary with the environment and background of individual
children. At any given time a child may exhibit behaviors characteristic
of more than one stage.
Often, people can use one level of thinking to solve one kind of problem
and a different level to solve another.
The Sensorimotor Stage The first stage begins at birth and lasts until 18 months-2 years of age.
This stage involves the use of motor activity without the use of symbols.
Knowledge is limited in this stage, because it is based on physical
interactions and experiences. Infants cannot predict reaction, and
therefore must constantly experiment and learn through trial and error.
Early language development begins during this stage.
Object permanence occurs at 7-9 months, demonstrating that memory is
developing. Infants realize that an object exists after it can no longer be
seen.
Goal-directed actions: Deliberate actions toward a goal. Separate lower-
level schemes are organized into a higher-level scheme to achieve a goal.
Learning to reverse actions is a basic accomplishment at this stage, but
Learning to reverse thinking (learning to imagine the reverse of a
sequence of actions) takes much longer.
The preoperational stage The preoperational stage usually occurs during the period between
toddlerhood (18-24months) and early childhood (7 years). The stage
before a child masters logical mental operations.
Children are moving toward mastering operations, or actions carried
out and reversed mentally rather than physically.
The first step from action to thinking is the internalization of action,
performing an action mentally rather than physically.
During this stage children begin to use language; memory and
imagination also develop. In the preoperational stage, children can
understand and express relationships between the past and the future.
More complex concepts, such as cause and effect relationships, have not
been learned. Intelligence is egocentric and intuitive, not logical.
The preoperational stage Semiotic function: The ability to use symbols–language, pictures,
signs, or gestures–to represent actions or objects mentally.
Reversible thinking: Thinking backward from the end to the beginning. At this stage children’s thinking is limited to one direction only, or one-way logic.
Conservation: It involves reversible thinking and is also hard for children at this stage. It is the principle that the amount or number of sthremains the same even if the arrangement or appearance is changed, as long as nothing is added or taken away.
Decentering: Focusing on more than one aspect at a time. Thus, children at this stage have trouble freeing themselves from their own perceptions of how the world appears; therefore, they tend to see the world from their own viewpoints (they are egocentric).
Collective Monologue: Form of speech in which children in a group talk but do not really interact or communicate.
At preoperational stage:
The Concrete-Operational Stage
This stage typically develops between the ages of 7-11 years. Intellectual
development in this stage is demonstrated through the use of logical and
systematic manipulation of symbols, which are related to concrete
objects. Thinking becomes less egocentric with increased awareness of
external events, and involves concrete references.
Basic features:
1. Recognition of the logical stability of the physical world
2. The realization that elements can be changed and still conserve many of
their original features
3. The understanding that these features can be reversed.
The Concrete-Operational Stage
A student’s ability to solve conservation problems depends on an
understanding of three basic aspects of reasoning:
1. Identity: the student knows if nothing is added or taken away, the
material remains the same.
2. Compensation: the student knows that an apparent change in one
direction can be compensated for by a change in another direction.
3. Reversibility: the ability to think through a series of steps, then
mentally reverse the steps and return to the starting point (also called
reversible thinking).
The Concrete-Operational Stage
There are two other important features at this stage:
Classification: a student’s abilities to focus on a single characteristic of
objects in a set and group the objects in a set accordingly.
Example: given 12 objects of different colors and shapes, the student can
pick out the ones that are round.
Seriation: the process of making an orderly arrangement from large to
small or vice versa. Arranging objects in sequential order according to
one aspect, such as size, weight or volume.
Example: A < B < C Unlike the preoperational child, the Concrete-
Operational child can grasp the notion that B can be larger than A but
smaller than C.
Note: this system of thinking, however, is still tied to physical reality.
According to Brown (2007), a critical stage for a consideration of age
on SLA appears to occur, in Piaget’s outline, at puberty (age 11 in his
model):
The Formal Operational Stage The period from adolescence through adulthood is the formal
operational stage. Adolescents and adults use symbols related to
abstract concepts. Adolescents can think about multiple variables in
systematic ways, can formulate hypotheses, and think about abstract
relationships and concepts.
Piaget believed that intellectual development was a lifelong process,
but that when formal operational thought was attained, no new
structures were needed. Intellectual development in adults involves
developing more complex schema through the addition of knowledge.
At this level, all the earlier operations and abilities continue in force;
that is, formal thinking is reversible, internal, and organized in a system
of interdependent elements. The focus of thinking shifts, however, from
what is to what might be. Situations do not have to be experienced to be
imagined.
The Formal Operational Stage
Adult: How would life be different if people did not
sleep?
A young child: People have to sleep!
Adult: How would life be different if people did not
sleep?
Adolescent (who has mastered formal operations): there
would be longer workdays, more money spent on lighting,
new entertainment industries.
The Formal Operational StageTwo features of this stage:
1. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning: a formal-operations problem-
solving strategy in which an individual begins by identifying all the
factors that might affect a problem and then deduces and systematically
evaluates specific solutions.
Note: formal operations also include inductive reasoning, or using specific
observations to identify general principles.
2. Adolescent egocentrism: assumption that everyone else shares one’s
thoughts, feelings and concerns. Unlike egocentric young children,
adolescents do not deny that other people may have different perceptions,
but they simply become very focused on their own ideas assuming that
everyone else is interested in their feelings and behavior. This can lead to
the ‘’sense of an imaginary audience’’–the feeling that everyone is
watching.
Do We All Reach the Fourth Stage?
The question of how universal formal-operational thinking is, even among
adults, is a matter of debate.
Neimark (1975): the first three stages are forced on most people by
physical realities, but formal operations are not so closely tied to the
physical environment. They may be the product of experience and of
practice.
Piaget (1974): most adults may be able to use formal-operational
thinking in only a few areas where they have the greatest experience or
interest.
Educational Implications
An important implication of Piaget's theory is the adaptation of
instruction to the learner's developmental level. The content of
instruction needs to be consistent with the developmental level of
the learner.
The teacher's role is to facilitate learning by providing a variety of
experiences. "Discovery learning" provides opportunities for
learners to explore and experiment, thereby encouraging new
understandings. Opportunities that allow students of differing
cognitive levels to work together often encourage less mature
students to advance to a more mature understanding. One further
implication for instruction is the use of concrete "hands on"
experiences to help children learn.
Educational Implications
Constructing Knowledge: Piaget’s fundamental insight was that
individuals construct their own understanding; learning is a constructive
process. At every level of cognitive development, students are actively
engaged in the learning process. They must incorporate the information you
present into their own schemes. To do this, they must act on the information
in some way. Schooling must give the students a chance to experience the
world.
Such passive learning procedures as imitation and rote learning may play
only a minor role, if any..
All students need to interact with teachers and peers in order to test their
thinking, to be challenged, to receive feedback, and to watch how others
work out problems.
Educational Implications
Provide concrete props and visual aids, such as models and/or time line.
Use familiar examples to facilitate learning more complex ideas, such as
story problems in math.
Allow opportunities to classify and group information with increasing
complexity; use outlines and hierarchies to facilitate assimilating new
information with previous knowledge.
Present problems that require logical analytic thinking; the use of tools
such as "brain teasers" is encouraged.
Can Cognitive Development Be Accelerated?
Every child deserves a head start: based on the results of cross-cultural
studies of children, certain cognitive abilities are indeed influenced by the
environment and education. It is likely that factors in the environment
contribute to the rate of cognitive development. But even if it is so, is this a
good idea?
Siegfried and Engelmann (1981) suggest that children who learn academic
skills as preschoolers will be smarter throughout their school years, and are
less likely to fail.
Can Cognitive Development Be Accelerated?
Acceleration is ineffective and may be harmful: Piagetian psychologists
believe that development should not be speeded up. The function of the
teacher is not to speed up the rate of movement from stage to stage but it is
to ensure that the development within each stage is thoroughly integrated
and complete.
According to Piaget, cognitive development is based on the self-selected
actions and thoughts of the student, not on the teacher’s action. If you try to
teach a student sth the student is not ready to learn, he or she may learn to
give the ‘’correct’’ answer, but this will not really affect the way the student
thinks about this problem.
Criticisms of Piaget's Theory
Researchers during the 1960's and 1970's identified shortcomings in Piaget's theory:
First, critics argue that by describing tasks with confusing abstract terms and using
overly difficult tasks, Piaget underestimated children's abilities. Researchers have
found that young children can succeed on simpler forms of tasks requiring the same
skills.
Second, Piaget's theory predicts that thinking within a particular stage would be
similar across tasks. In other words, preschool children should perform at the
preoperational level in all cognitive tasks. Research has shown diversity in children's
thinking across cognitive tasks.
Third, according to Piaget, efforts to teach children developmentally advanced
concepts would be unsuccessful. Researchers have found that in some instances,
children often learn more advanced concepts with relatively brief instruction.
Researchers now believe that children may be more competent than Piaget originally
thought, especially in their practical knowledge.
Criticisms of Piaget's Theory
Fourth, Neo-Piagetian theories integrate findings about
attention, memory, and strategy use with Piaget’s insights
about children’s thinking and the construction of knowledge
(cognitive development and information processing).
Fifth, Piaget's theory overlooks the important effects of the
child’s cultural and social group. For instance, children in
Western cultures may master scientific thinking and formal
operations as this is the kind of thinking required in Western
schools.
References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.).
New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT: A dictionary of terms and concepts.
Australia: Macmillan Education.
VanPatten, B. & Benati, A. G. (2010). Key terms in second language
acquisition. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Woolfolk, A. E., Winne, P. H., & Perry, N. E. (2003). Educational psychology
(2nd ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Inc.
Internet References
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