Piaget's Psychological Development PDF

Piaget’s Psychological Development  Piaget (1896 - 1980) Swiss Psychologist, worked for several decades on understanding children’s cognitive development Most widely known theory of cognitive development. Was intrigued by kids’ thoughts & behavior, & worked to understand their...

Piaget’s Psychological Development  Piaget (1896 - 1980) Swiss Psychologist, worked for several decades on understanding children’s cognitive development Most widely known theory of cognitive development. Was intrigued by kids’ thoughts & behavior, & worked to understand their cognitive development  Piaget: Background Young Piaget was incredibly precocious – Published first paper at 10 – Wrote on mollusks, based on these writings was asked to be curator of mollusks at a museum in Geneva (he declined in order to finish secondary school) – Earned his doctorate in natural sciences at 21 – Began to study psychology, applying intelligence tests to school children  Piaget & Learning Two main states – equilibrium & disequilibrium Believed that we are driven or motivated to learn when we are in disequilibrium – We want to understand things  Piaget & Learning Equilibration: assimilation & accommodation We adjust our ideas to make sense of reality Assimilation: process of matching external reality to an existing cognitive structure. Accommodation: When there’s an inconsistency between the learner’s cognitive structure & the thing being learned the child will reorganize her thoughts  Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development A child’s capacity to understand certain concepts is based on the child’s developmental stage  Sensorimotor Stage Birth to about 2 years, rapid change is seen throughout The child will: – Explore the world through senses & motor activity – Early on, baby can’t tell difference between themselves & the environment – If they can’t see something then it doesn’t exist – Begin to understand cause & effect – Can later follow something with their eyes  Preoperational Stage About 2 to about 7 – Better speech communication – Can imagine the future & reflect on the past – Develop basic numerical abilities – Still pretty egocentric, but learning to be able to delay gratification – Can’t understand conservation of matter – Has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality (ex: cartoon characters are real people). Concrete Operational Stage From about 7 to about 11 – Abstract reasoning ability & ability to generalize from the concrete increases – Understands conservation of matter  Formal Operations From about 12 to about 15 – Be able to think about hypothetical situations – Form & test hypotheses – Organize information – Reason scientifically  … Piaget’s Development Development happens from one stage to another through interaction with the environment. Changes from stage to stage may occur abruptly and kids will differ in how long they are in each stage. Cognitive development can only happen after genetically controlled biological growth occurs.  …Piaget’s Development Development leads to learning – Drive for development is internal – The child can only learn certain things when she is at the right developmental stage – Environmental factors can influence but not direct development – Development will happen naturally through regular interaction with social environment Problems with Piaget’s Theory Children often grasp ideas earlier than what Piaget found Cognitive development across domains is inconsistent (e.g. better at reading than math) Studies have shown that development can to some degree be accelerated  Describe specific actions that teachers can take to incorporate Piaget's theory into the classroom.