Jean Piaget 1896 – 1980 Genetic Epistomology IBE director “only education is capable of saving oursocieties from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual”

cognitive development occurs in stages: Sensory Motor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational development in each stage follows the principles of Adaptation Organization

Schemas mental representations of an associated set of perceptions concepts of how the world works Adaptation how we assimilate or accommodate information in order to survive assimilation incorporating new information to fit into your schema accommodation adjusting schemas to fit new information

Child has two schemas: Bigger is Better More is Better Consider the following examples Child has two schemas: Bigger is Better More is Better you offer her money to buy candy three nickels or two dimes

The Sensory Motor Stage birth through 2 years of age knowledge develops as the infant gains experience through sensory input Object Permanence develops

Object Permanence according to Piaget develops between 8 and 12 months of age tested as the child's search for the covered object

Preoperational Stage 2 - 7 years of age use of symbols, symbolic thinking and mental reasoning emerges (or increases) reasoning is still mostly intuitive - not based on logic thinking is largely egocentric

Concrete Operational Stage 7 - 11 years of age - beginning of logical thought characterized by ability to apply logical processes or operations to specific or concrete examples and development of conservation cannot think in purely hypothetical terms

Formal Operational 11 years of age and older the beginnings of hypothetical and abstract thought asking a concrete or preoperational child the question "what would elephants see if they could fly?" gives insight into the establishment of formal operational thought

Postformal Thought a type of adult thinking well-suited for solving real world problems generally emerges in the mid 20s but it depends on your experiences

Giesela Labouvie-Vief in 1985 she objected to traditional models such as Piagetian which considered only objective logical thought using only logic, she argued, produces closed rigid thinking

post formal thinkers can: consider and utilize objective processes in interaction with subjective processes can consider the complexities of human experience when drawing conclusions

characterized by a flexible perspective hallmark of postformal thought is an awareness that validity (knowledge) is context specific characterized by a flexible perspective assessed via “brief narratives” the answer is not the important factor, how you arrive at the answer is important

Mary, Phoebe, and Julie all have daughters Mary, Phoebe, and Julie all have daughters. Each mother has held a set of values that has guided her efforts to raise her daughter. Now the daughters have grown up, and each of them is rejecting many of her mother's values. How did it happen and what should they do?