Lori Decker EDU 6655
Background Key Ideas Stages 1-4 Inconsistencies in Stage 4 Metacognition Universality of Theory Educational Effects
Piaget was a stage theorist, meaning children construct new ways to interpret environment He was a self-defined genetic epistemologist Also a naturalist in the sense of observing naturally occurring things He used the Quasi-experimental tradition of cognitive development in Geneva 1920s And an inductive approach – took specimens of thinking and then classified it into stages
Assimilation – a fight between the child and the environment so the organism changes, often through imitation Accommodation – information pulls child’s mind in opposite directions so he must change his thinking to adapt Participation – an active process of two things acting upon one another (object and child)
Sensorimotor - Ages 0-2 Repeating physical actions to form new schemes or action patterns There are 6 stages Object permanence forming at the end of this stage as well as seeing self as separate objects
Preoperational – Ages 2-7 Symbols Greater language use More make-believe play Parallel play Egocentric One to one correspondence but can’t conserve
Concrete Operations – Ages 7-11 Conservation is learned Classification is acquired Cooperative play is practiced Starting to overcome egocentrism
Formal Operations Reasoning is evident Child can control variables Correlation and proportion are developing Child can form categories within categories and has thinking about own thinking (operations on operations), or metacognition
In a 1972 article “Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood” Piaget disputes his own claim about formal operations He claims that all adults go through formal operations but adds they are affected by quality/frequency of opportunity of experience Conclusion: formal operations may not show across all domains and maybe only to those areas exposed
Marker of formal operations Metacognition – thinking about own thoughts and be able to communicate them -self as subject -other points of view exist Self-Regulation develops with metacognition -deliberate direction of thoughts and control of one’s emotions
Piaget asserted his theory was cross-cultural through these beliefs: ◦ Adaptive process – organism learns to adapt in different settings ◦ Construction process-organism and environment are always interacting ◦ Variations in cognitive development – include formal education and other ways the culture affects a child
A study in Papua New Guinea showed the theory not the method of testing is cross- cultural If you test with a relevant tool (string bag for New Guineans versus sticks – Piaget’s students) Conclusion: formal operations is a higher cognitive level ◦ Higher is not always better, like Western norm
To further formal operations, it is important to consider the appropriate design of education Teachers should encourage abstract thought, metacognition, self-regulation Interaction with peers is crucial for autonomy Teacher as collaborator, not master
Boddington, E. (2009).Cognitive process of development in children. Retrieved from data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/ b/80/44/ac/c5.pdf. Crain, W. (2005). Piaget’s Cognitive-Development Theory. In Prentice Hall, Theories of development (pp ). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Fox, E. & Riconscente, M. (2008). Metacognition and self-regulation in James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Educational Psychology Review, 20, ,doi: /s Kuhn, Deanna. (2008). Formal operations from a twenty-first century perspective. Human Development,51, doi: / Maynard, A. (2008). What we thought we knew and how we came to know it: four decades of cross-cultural research from a Piagetian point of view. Human Development, 51, doi: / Valsiner, J. (2005). Participating in Piaget. Society, 57-61, Retrieved from