PIAGET’S THEORY May Eun Mi Lee(Anna Moore)

Outline  Jean Piaget  The Goal of Theory  Piaget’s Theory  Stages of Cognitive Development  Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory  Conclusion

. Was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, on August 9(1896~1980).. Published his first “paper” when he was ten.. First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development.. After observation of many children, he posited that children progress through 4 stages and that they all do so in the same order.. According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based. *Piaget’s Theory Differs From Others In Several Way. It is concerned with children rather than all learners. It focuses on development, rather than per se, so it does not address learning of information or specific behaviors.. It proposes discrete stages of development. Jean Piaget

The Goal of Theory  To explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.  To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of maturation and experience.  Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment.

Piaget’s Theory 1.Schemas (building blocks of knowledge) 2.Adaptation(processes that enable the transition from one stage to another) Assimilation Accommodation Equilibrium 3. Cognitive Stages of Development: Sensorimotor Pre operational Concrete operational Formal operational

1. Schemas  Definition: -A way of organizing knowledge. -Useful to think of schemas as “units” of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the word, including objects, actions and abstract (i.e. theoretical)concepts.

1. Schemas

2. Adaptation(Adjustment) Definition: Processes that enable the transition from one stage to another. And this happens through; Assimilation Accommodation Equilibrium

2. Adaptation(Adjustment) Assimilation – which is using an existing schema to a new situation. Accommodation – happens when the existing schema(knowledge) needs to be changed to take in new information. Equilibration – is the force, which moves development along. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation).

2. Adaptation

3. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

3. Stages of Cognitive Development

Genetic Epstemology

Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory  Strengths The influence of Piaget’s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child’s world and their methods of studying children. He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget’s ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.

4. Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory  Weaknesses Are the stages real? – Not guaranteed. He failed to consider the effect that the social setting and culture may have on cognitive development (re:Vygotsky). Methods are more open to biased interpretation than other methods, i.e. subjective(Piaget observed alone). Carried out his studies with a handful of participants -Generally used his own children in the early studies (small/biased sample).

Conclusion  An important implication of Piaget’s theory is adaptation to the learner’s developmental level.  The content of instruction needs to be consistent with the developmental level of the learner.