Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Swiss psychologist
Observed his own children to
develop the theory of cognitive
development
Changed how we think about
the development of children’s
minds
Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Theory
Children actively construct
their understanding of the
world.
Children progress through four
stages of cognitive
development.
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive
Development
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 yrs.)
Preoperational Stage (2-7 yrs.)
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 yrs.)
Formal Operational Stage (11 and up)
The Sensorimotor Stage
Infants construct an understanding of the
world by coordinating sensory experiences
with physical, motor actions.
Great deal for feeling/sensing
Touch-movement-rattle
“out of sight, out of mind”
Object permanence
An object still exist even when out of sight
The Preoperational Stage
children begin to represent the world with words, images, and
drawings.
words stand for something
intelligence is intuitive in nature
make mental representation
pretend play
irreversibility concept – inability to reverse thinking
egocentrism - “what i see is what you see”
animism – attributes human characteristics to objects: the
house looks tired, the grass will cry
can tell living and non-living things
centration – focusing on one aspect like quantity changes in
varying containers
The Concrete-Operational Stage
children can perform mental operations.
know that quantities remain the same even
when shapes change – conservation
learn that five 20s is the same as one 100
peso bill
has the ability to order or arrange things
based on certain quality - seriation
The Formal Operational Stage
Individuals move beyond concrete
experiences and think in abstract,
more logical terms.
Organize facts and events in mature
fashion
Problem solving is more systematic
and involves hypotheses – “what if”
Analogical reasoning
Basic Cognitive Concepts
Schema
Assimilation
Accommodation
Equilibration
Schema
Structure by which individuals
intellectually adapt and organize
their environment.
An individual’s way to understand or
create about a thing or experience.
Ex. A child sees a dog for the first
time.
Dog – has four legs, tail, barks,
furry
Assimilation
Incorporating new information
into one’s existing knowledge
Fitting a new experience into an
existing schema
Ex. The child sees another dog.
Smaller, different color,
different breed
Accommodation
Accommodation: Adapting
one’s existing knowledge to
new information
Creating a new schema
Ex. The child sees another
animal that looks like a dog.
A goat, has some similar
characteristics of a dog.
Equilibration
Achieving proper balance
between assimilation and
accommodation
Principles:
Children’s explanation of reality are different at
varying stages.
Cognitive development is facilitated by providing
activities or situations that engage learners and
require adaptation (i.e., assimilation and
accommodation).
Learning materials and activities should be
age/level-appropriate.
Use teaching methods that are engaging and
challenging.
