1 Hello there….my name is Jean Piaget. And I’m really, really smart...

2 IMPORTANCE OF COGNITIONS & BRAIN DEVELOPMENT Time Magazine - Feb. 3, 1997 * From birth, brain cells proliferate wildly, making connections that may shape a lifetime of experience. The first three years are critical. * Every week, 80,000 newborns begin the process of wiring their brains for a lifetime of learning. If we don’t pay attention to the conditions under which this delicate process takes place, we all will suffer the consequences. * There is an urgent need for programs to boost brain power for youngsters born into impoverished rural and inner-city households. Without such programs the drive to curtail welfare costs by pushing mothers into the work force may backfire. By the age of 3, a neglected or abused child bears marks that are difficult to erase. * Because the brain develops in sequence, with more primitive structures stabilizing their connections first, early abuse is particularly damaging…experience is the chief architect of the brain. Early stress experiences form a kind of template around which later brain development is organized.

3 Why Is It That………?? Babies have to put things in their mouths? Toddlers can’t play hide-and-seek? Toddlers call all men “daddy”?

4 WHAT IS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT? * CHANGES IN THINKING PATTERNS THROUGH FOUR STAGES Sensori-Motor Stage (birth-2 years) Preoperations (2-5/7 yrs) Concrete Operations (5/7 yrs-11/13 yrs) Formal Operations (11/13 yrs-adulthood)

5 PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT BASIC CONCEPTS Schema assimilation accommodation

6 SCHEMA * Cognitive or Mental STRUCTURES by which people intellectually adapt and organize the environment *Used to process & ORGANIZE incoming information * Cards in the Brain’s index file * Become increasingly COMPLEX and interrelated as development occurs

7 ASSIMILATION: The cognitive process by which a person integrates new information into existing schema, or patterns of behavior. DOG ASSIMILATION

8 ACCOMMODATION: Occurs when new information cannot be assimilated into an existing schema.. Must create a new schema or modify an existing schema. 4-LEGGED FURRY ANIMAL

9 THREE KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE PHYSICAL - learns about physical properties of objects - basis for symbolization LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL - basis for number concept & logical reasoning - physical objects act as catalysts for thinking SOCIAL - constructed through interactions with people - knowledge about rules, laws, ethics, morality, language We will talk about Moral Development later.

10 Oh, my aching knees…..

11 SENSORIMOTOR STAGE: Beginning of the Stage The infant cannot solve problems through thought and has no awareness that objects and people are separate from himself End of the Stage The toddler can internally set goals and carry them out through behaviors and sees objects and others as separate from herself

12 STAGE OF PREOPERATIONS: Beginning of Stage The child is fooled by his perceptions, which override facts. The child cannot reverse thinking, reason about transformations, can’t conserve End of Stage The child reasons based on factual information. The child can reverse thinking, reason about transformations, and can conserve.

13 CONCRETE OPERATIONS 1. Differentiates self from others 2. Conservation (amount stays same) 3. Deductive Reseasoning 4. Transformation BUT… CANT ABSTRACT THINK or hypothesize!

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16 STAGE OF CONCRETE OPERATIONS Beginning of Stage: The child can solve logical problems through manipulation of concrete objects but cannot reason about hypothetical, verbal, abstract problems with many variables. End of Stage: Can solve logical problems without the aid of concrete objects and reason about abstract, hypothetical problems.

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20 WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW ALL THIS CRAP? 1. UNDERSTAND STUDENTS THINKING PROCESSES AND HOW THEY DEVELOP 2. TAILOR YOUR CLASSROOM LESSONS TO STUDENTS DEVELOPMENT