Piaget’s lifePiaget’s life Born SwitzerlandPhDBinet

Piaget’s LifePiaget’s Life ResearchProfessorResearch [led to stages]

Piaget: Stages of Cognitive Development Four periods of development 1. Sensorimotor Intelligence (Birth- 2 yrs) 2. Preoperational thought (2-7 yrs) 3. Concrete operational (7-11 yrs) 4. Formal operational (11 yrs- Adulthood)

Piagetian Terminology  Scheme : any action pattern for dealing with the environment, action- structures  Egocentrism : the inability to distinguish one’s own perspective from that of others.  Object permanence :the idea that an object continues to exist even when it cannot be observed (seen, touched, heard, smelled in any way).  Primary Circular Reactions : a baby chances upon a new experience tries to repeat it  Secondary Circular Reactions : a baby discovers and reproduces an interesting event outside of itself  Tertiary Circular Reactions : a baby experiments with different actions to observe the different outcomes

Statistical Terminology  P-value: a numerical value which either rejects or accepts the null hypothesis  Null-hypothesis: a general statement that there is no relationship between two measured phenomena  Alternative hypothesis: the claim that the researcher believes.  Dependent: determined, influenced, or controlled by something else.  Independent: something that is not determined, influenced, or controlled by something else.

Sensorimotor Stage 1.Reflexes Birth-1 month. 2.Primary Circular Reactions 1-4 months: a baby tries to repeat an experience that occurred by accident 3.Secondary Circular Reactions 4-8 months: Master the ability to repeat an experience 4.Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions 8-12 months: can combine two schemas for an intended result. 5.Tertiary Circular Reactions months: explore new actions for new results 6.Beginning of Thought can internalize thought before acting

Preoperational thought Stage 2-7 years  Child can use symbolic representations in the world around them  Child is interested and curious about why things are the way they are  Child begins to understand conservation

Concrete Operational thought 7-11 years  Children become aware of logical and systematic ways of understandings of the world.  Child further masters conservation tasks.

Formal Operational Thought Pre-adolescence or 11yrs - adulthood  He is able to think further than systematic and logical ways– in a “purely abstract and hypothetical plane.”

Variety of ConservationTypical Age Number6-8 Liquid7-8 Mass7-8 Conservation

Hypotheses  A child’s ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid is independent of age or grade level.  Will any children exhibit patterns that defy the order suggested by Piaget?  Are there any patterns that differ between boys and girls in their ability to conserve number, liquid, and mass?

Participant DataParticipant Data

Example responsesExample responses

We found that Grade level did not effect a child’s ability to conserve number. With a p value of.347 we retain the idea that the ability to conserve number is independent of grade level.

WE found that grade level did effect a child’s ability to conserve liquid. With a p value of.001 we reject the idea that grade level and conservation of liquid are independent.

WE found that grade level did effect a child’s ability to conserve mass. With a p value of.000 we reject the idea that grade level and conservation of mass are independent.

WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve number. With a p value of.303 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of number are independent.

WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve liquid. With a p value of.629 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of liquid are independent.

WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve mass. With a p value of 1 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of mass are independent.

Comparisons

CONCLUSIONs OF Hypotheses  A child’s ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid is independent of age or grade level.  TRUE.  Will any children exhibit patterns that defy the order suggested by Piaget?  YES, ONLY ONE. [NOT SIGNIFICANT]  Are there any patterns that differ between boys and girls in their ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid?  NO.

Nature v. nurtureNature v. nurture ROUSSEAU LOCKE

limitations  Small sample size.  Group setting could have influenced the children’s answers.  After gathered our data and further researched Piaget’s claims we realized that we misunderstood the conservation tasks of liquid and volume.

bibliography  Crain, William. Theories of Development, Concepts and Applications. 5 th ed. New Jersey.  Piaget, Jean and Inhelder, Barbel. The Psychology of the Child. New York