1. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 1 Power Point slides prepared by Leonard R. Mendola, Ph.D. Touro College

2. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 2 Cognitive Developmental Approaches Chapter 6 Outline Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Processes of Development Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete Operational Stage Formal Operational Stage Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory Piaget and Education Evaluating Piaget’s Theory

3. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 3 Cognitive Developmental Approaches Chapter 6 Outline (continued) Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development The Zone of Proximal Development Scaffolding Language and Thought Teaching Strategies Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory

4. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 4 Chapter 6Preview Cognitive developmental approaches place a special emphasis on how children actively construct their thinking. They also focus heavily on how thinking changes from one point in development to another. In this chapter, we will highlight the cognitive developmental approaches of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.

5. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 5 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Processes of Development Piaget’s theory is a general, unifying story of how biology and experience sculpt cognitive development. Piaget thought that we build mental structures that help us to adapt to the world.

6. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 6 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Processes of Development (continued) Adaptation: involves adjusting to new environmental demands Piaget stressed that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds. Information is not just poured into their minds from the environment. Piaget sought to discover how children, at different points in their development, think about the world and how systematic changes in their thinking occur.

7. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 7 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Processes of Development (continued) Schemes – Schemes: actions or mental representations that organize knowledge – In Piaget’s theory behavioral schemes (physical activities) characterize infancy mental schemes (cognitive activities) develop in childhood (Lamb, Bornstein, & Teti, 2002)

8. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 8 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Processes of Development (continued) 2 processes are responsible for how children use and adapt their schemes: – Assimilation incorporating new information into existing schemes – Accommodation adjusting schemes to fit new information & experiences

9. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 9 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Processes of Development (continued) - To make sense out of their world, children cognitively organize their experiences. Organization –grouping or arranging of items into categories –Piaget’s concept of grouping isolated behaviors into a higher- order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system Equilibration –mechanism to explain how children shift from one stage of thought to the next –shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict or disequilibrium in trying to understand the world

10. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 10 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Processes of Development (continued) A different way of understanding the world makes one stage more advanced than another. Cognition is qualitatively different in one stage compared with another. Each of Piaget’s stages is age-related and consists of distinct ways of thinking. Piaget believed that there are 4 stages of cognitive development: –Sensorimotor –Preoperational –Concrete operational –Formal operational

11. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 11 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

12. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 12 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Sensorimotor Stage from birth to about 2 years of age Infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical, motoric actions. Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into 6 substages: (1) simple reflexes (2) 1 st habits and primary circular reactions (3) secondary circular reactions (4) coordination of secondary circular reactions (5) tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity (6) internalization of schemes

13. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 13 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Simple reflexes correspond to the 1 st month after birth Sensation and action are coordinated primarily through reflexive behaviors. infant initiates action and actively structures experiences in 1 st month of life

14. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 14 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) First habits and primary circular reactions develop between 1-4 months of age infant coordinates sensation and 2 types of schemes: –habits and primary circular reactions Habit: scheme based on a reflex that has become completely separated from its eliciting stimulus Circular reaction: repetitive action Primary circular reaction: scheme based on the attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance

15. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 15 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) First habits and primary circular reactions (continued) Habits and circular reactions are stereotyped: – infant repeats them the same way each time – During this substage, the infant’s own body remains the infant’s center of attention. – no outward pull by environmental events

16. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 16 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Secondary circular reactions – develop between 4-8 months of age – infant becomes more object-oriented, moving beyond preoccupation with self – infant also imitates some simple actions – Although directed toward objects in the world, the infant’s schemes are not intentional or goal- directed.

17. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 17 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Coordination of secondary circular reactions – develops between 8-12 months of age – infant must coordinate vision and touch – actions become more outwardly directed – significant changes- coordination of schemes and intentionality

18. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 18 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity –develop between 12-18 months of age –Tertiary circular reactions: schemes in which infant purposely explores new possibilities with objects, continually doing new things to them and exploring the results –Piaget says that this stage marks the starting point for human curiosity and interest in novelty.

19. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 19 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Internalization of schemes develops between 18-24 months of age infant develops ability to use primitive symbols Symbol: internalized sensory image or word that represents an event Symbols allow the infant to manipulate and transform the represented events in simple ways.

20. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 20 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Object Permanence the understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched Acquiring the sense of object permanence is one of the infant’s most important accomplishments.

21. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 21 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) The Six Substages of Object Permanence

22. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 22 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Object Permanence

23. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 23 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Research in Child Development 2 accomplishments of infants that Piaget examined were: –development of object permanence –child’s understanding of causality

24. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 24 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Research in Child Development (continued) Object Permanence –Baillargeon & DeVoe (1991) used a research method that involves violation of expectations.

25. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 25 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Using the Violation of Expectations Method to Study Object Permanence in Infants

26. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 26 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Research in Child Development Causality –Kotovsky & Baillargeon (1994) demonstrated that by the middle of the 1 st year of life, infants understood that the size of a moving object determines how far it will move a stationary object with which it collides.

27. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 27 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage The infant’s cognitive world is not as neatly packaged as Piaget portrayed it. Much of the new research suggests that Piaget’s view of sensorimotor development needs to be modified (Goswami, 2007). Researchers believe that infants see objects as bounded, unitary, solid, and separate from their background. This possibly occurs at birth or shortly thereafter, but definitely by 3-4 months of age, much earlier than Piaget envisioned.

28. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 28 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage (continued) The data do not always support Piaget’s claim that certain processes are crucial in stage transitions. –A not B error: mistake made by infants of selecting a familiar hiding place (A) rather than a new hiding place (B) as they progress into the 4 th substage; does not show up consistently

29. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 29 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage (continued) Perceptual Development and Expectations A number of theorists, such as Eleanor Gibson (2001) and Elizabeth Spelke (1991; Spelke & Newport, 1998) believe that infants’ perceptual abilities are highly developed very early in development. Research also suggests that infants develop the ability to understand how the world works at a very early age. Researchers believe that infants see objects as bounded, unitary, solid, and separate from their background by 3-4 months of age, much earlier than Piaget envisioned.

30. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 30 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage (continued) Perceptual Development and Expectations (continued) Many researchers conclude that Piaget wasn’t specific enough about how infants learn about their world and that infants are more competent than Piaget thought (Bremner, 2007; Cohen & Cashon, 2006; Mandler, 2004, 2006; Meltzoff, 2004).

31. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 31 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage The cognitive world of the preschool child is creative, free, and fanciful. The label preoperational emphasizes that the child does not yet perform operations: internalized actions that allow children to do mentally what before they could do only physically Operations are reversible mental actions. Preoperational thought is the beginning of the ability to reconstruct in thought what has been established in behavior.

32. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 32 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage (continued) lasts from approximately 2-7 years of age Children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings. Symbolic thought goes beyond simple connections of sensory information and physical action. Stable concepts are formed, mental reasoning emerges, egocentrism is present, and magical beliefs are constructed. can be divided into: –symbolic function sub-stage –intuitive thought substage

33. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 33 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage (continued) The Symbolic Function Substage –1 st substage of preoperational thought –occurs roughly between the ages of 2-4 –young child gains ability to mentally represent an object that is not present Egocentrism –the inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s perspective –Piaget and Barbel Inhelder (1969) studied children’s egocentrism by devising the three mountains task.

34. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 34 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) The Three Mountains Task

35. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 35 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage (continued) Animism –belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action (Gelman & Opfer, 2004)

36. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 36 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) The Symbolic Drawings of Young Children

37. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 37 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage (continued) The Intuitive Thought Substage –2 nd substage of preoperational thought –occurs approximately between 4-7 years of age –Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to many types of questions. –This substage is called intuitive because young children seem so sure about their knowledge and understanding yet are unaware of how they know what they know.

38. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 38 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Preoperational Stage (continued) Centration –centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others Conservation –awareness that altering an object’s or substance’s appearance does not change its basic properties

39. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 39 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Piaget’s Conservation Task

40. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 40 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Concrete Operational Stage lasts approximately from 7-11 years of age logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning Children at this stage can perform concrete operations, which are reversible mental actions on real, concrete objects. –Conservation conservation tasks demonstrate a child’s ability to perform concrete operations

41. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 41 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Some Dimensions for Conservation: Number, Matter, and Length

42. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 42 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Concrete Operational Stage Conservation: involves recognizing that the length, number, mass, quantity, area, weight, and volume of objects and substances are not changed by transformations that merely alter their appearance –Horizontal décalage Piaget’s concept that similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a stage of development

43. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 43 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Concrete Operational Stage (continued) Classification –Concrete operational children can understand: interrelationships among sets and subsets Seriation: ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length) Transitivity: ability to reason about and logically combine relationships

44. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 44 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Classification: An Important Ability in Concrete Operational Thought

45. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 45 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Formal Operational Stage appears between 11-15 years of age Individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in abstract and more logical ways. In solving problems, formal operational thinkers are more systematic and use logical reasoning.

46. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 46 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Formal Operational Stage (continued) Abstract, Idealistic, and Logical Thinking –The abstract quality of the adolescent’s thought at the formal operational level is evident in the adolescent’s verbal problem-solving ability. –increased tendency to think about thought itself –Thought is full of idealism and possibilities. –As adolescents are learning to think more abstractly and idealistically, they are also learning to think more logically.

47. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 47 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Formal Operational Stage (continued) Hypothetical-deductive reasoning –adolescent’s cognitive ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and systematically deduce which is the best path to follow in solving the problem –Assimilation (incorporating new information into existing knowledge) dominates initial development of formal operational thought. –Later in adolescence, as intellectual balance is restored, these individuals accommodate to the cognitive upheaval that has occurred (they adjust to the new information).

48. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 48 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Formal Operational Stage (continued) Adolescent Egocentrism (David Elkind, 978) –heightened self-consciousness of adolescents –reflected in belief that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves, and in their sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility –Imaginary audience adolescent’s attention-getting behavior attempt to be noticed, visible, and “on stage” –Personal fable adolescent’s sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility

49. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 49 Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory Piaget and Education Piaget was not an educator. He provided a sound conceptual framework for viewing learning and education. Some ideas in Piaget’s theory that can be applied to teaching children (Elkind, 1976; Heuwinkel, 1996): –Take a constructivist approach. –Facilitate rather than direct learning. –Consider the child’s knowledge and level of thinking. –Use ongoing assessment. –Promote the student’s intellectual health. –Turn the classroom into a setting of exploration & discovery.

50. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 50 Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Theory Contributions –Children are active, constructive thinkers. –demonstrated inventive ways to discover how children act on and adapt to their world –Children need to make their experiences fit their schemes and simultaneously adapt their schemes to experience. –Cognitive change is likely to occur if the context is structured to allow gradual movement to the next higher level.

51. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 51 Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Theory (continued) Criticisms –Some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than Piaget thought; others may appear later. –Some concrete operational concepts do not appear in synchrony. –Some children who are at one cognitive stage can be trained to reason at a higher cognitive stage. –Culture and education exert stronger influences on children’s development than Piaget believed.

52. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 52 Applying and Evaluating Piaget’s Theory (cont.) Evaluating Piaget’s Theory (continued) Neo-Piagetians: –emphasize how children use attention, memory, and strategies to process information –more accurate portrayal of children’s thinking requires attention to: children’s strategies the speed at which they process information the particular task involved the division of problems into smaller, more precise steps

53. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 53 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) Vgotsky’s term for the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but that can be mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled children.

54. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 54 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.)

55. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 55 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Scaffolding –changing the level of support –more-skilled individual (teacher or more advanced peer of the child) adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the child’s current performance Dialogue –important tool of scaffolding –occurs when the child’s rich but unsystematic, disorganized, and spontaneous concepts meet with the skilled helper’s more systematic, logical, and rational concepts

56. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 56 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Language and Thought –Vygotsky (1962) believed that young children use language not only for social communication but also to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior in a self-regulatory fashion. –Private speech important tool of thought during early childhood represents early transition in becoming more socially communicative (Piaget considered private speech to be egocentric and immature—research supports Vygotsky’s view)

57. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 57 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Teaching Strategies –Assess the child’s ZPD. –Use the child’s ZPD in teaching. –Use more-skilled peers as teachers. –Monitor & encourage children’s use of private speech. –Place instruction in a meaningful context. –Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas.

58. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 58 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Caring for Children Tools of the Mind early childhood education curriculum emphasizes children’s development of self-regulation and the cognitive foundations of literacy (Hyson, Copple, & Jones, 2006) curriculum created by Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong (2007) has been implemented in more than 200 classrooms grounded in Vygotsky’s (1962) theory

59. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 59 The Scaffolding Writing Process Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.)

60. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 60 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory –Most learned about Vygotsky’s theory later than they learned about Piaget’s theory. –not yet been evaluated as thoroughly as Piaget’s theory –view of the importance of sociocultural influences on children’s development fits with the current belief that it is important to evaluate the contextual factors in learning (Daniels, Wertsch, & Cole, 2007; Gauvain & Perez, 2007)

61. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 61 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory (continued) –Vygotsky’s theory is a Social Constructivist Approach emphasizes social contexts of learning and construction of knowledge through social interaction –emphasized collaboration, social interaction, and sociocultural activity –end point of cognitive development differs depending on which skills are most valued by the culture –Piaget emphasized children’s need to explore their world; Vygotsky felt that students need many opportunities to learn with a more-skilled person.

62. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 62 Comparison of Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s Theories Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.)

63. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 63 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (cont.) Evaluating Vygotsky’s Theory (continued) Criticisms overemphasized the role of language in thinking emphasis on collaboration and guidance has potential pitfalls

64. Copyright © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill 64 E-LEARNING TOOLS To help you master the material in this chapter, visit the Online Learning Center for Child Development, twelfth edition at: http://www.mhhe.com/santrockcd12