Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is a theory based on the thinking process from birth to maturity. Piaget divided his theory in four stages. (Woolfolk, 2016). The first stage is the sensorimotor. This stage is from birth to 2 years.
It is impressive that most of his research is based on observation and studying of his own children. Cognitive development stages are the central part of Piaget’s theory, which demonstrate the development stages of children’s ability to think from infancy to adolescence, how to gain knowledge, self-awareness, awareness of the others and the environment. These stages are respectively relative to 4 ranges of age. It consists of characteristics of each stage and phenomena of each. The first stage between birth to 2 years old, children learn the external through senses and action, instinctively.
Four key concepts of Piaget’s that are applicable to learning at any age: - Assimilation - Accommodation - Equilibration - Schemas Cognitive development is a complex process comprising three main concepts affecting the development process: assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. All three are associated with the formation of schemata and their modification in order to attain a balanced sense of understanding of the external world. Schema
He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment. He has discovered essential components and they are equilibration, assimilation and accommodation to give a breakdown of knowledge. Equilibration was the main learning source and the reason why this cognitive theory is developed. During this theory students will use previously retained information or skills to solve a problem and what they are learning in the present will help them get a deeper understanding to the solution. According to Patterson in her article, “Constructivists believe that prior knowledge impacts the learning process.
According to Oxford Learning, cognitive learning theory is the function which is based on how a personality developments and causes information. It rotates around many causes, including memory maintenance, problem-solving skills, and the perception of learned material and thoughts skills. (“What is the definition of “cognitive learning”?”). There are 3 steps of cognitive processes. “First one is observing.
Piaget identifies four important stages of cognitive development where the latter stages are more complex but are able to form more precise concepts and categorizations. This prinicple may work well for those individuals considered healthy and have the ability to develop at a normal rate according to the thoery. However, chronological theories are not efficient means to determine concepts and catergorisations. It suggests that everyone understand the principles of concepts and categories during the same age, which is not always the case (Galotti, 2008). All individuals learn, understand and think on different levels based on factors such as experience and genetic attributes (Olson, 2013).
Cognitive Development can be explained as the emergence of thought processes beginning from infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood. The aim of this essay is to focus on Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development. Jean Piaget is a Swiss developmental psychologist who is known for his epistemological studies. On the other hand, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist best known for his theory known as the Cultural-Historical theory. Both Vygotsky and Piaget were particularly interested in Cognitive Development in children.
The Preoperational Stage; At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. They begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects. The concrete operational stage; Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very inelastic. They struggle between real and imaginative thoughts. Thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete.
Cognitive theorist believe that learning happens through the forming and strengthening of neural connections including factors of organization, rehearsal, elaboration and emotional. As theorist have come to the conclusion that learning takes place in a number of ways, learning theories are believed to be the theoretical foundation in describing how information is contained, refined and maintained during learning. The cognitive theory states that knowledge is learned and the changes in knowledge make the changes in behavior possible. Cognitive theorist believe that a person 's prior knowledge determines what that person will perceive, learn, remember and forget. The three-main theorist of Cognitive development are Gestalt, Koffka and Kohler.
There are three types of cognitive development theories in human which are Piaget’s Cognitive development theory, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive theory and Information-Processing theory. (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). All of them focus on the development of complex thinking skills. First at all, Piaget’s cognitive development theory is the most essential theory among others (Müller et al., 2009 and Scholnick et al., 1999 as cited in Lourenço, 2002, pp.281-295). This theory aims to explain the mechanisms and processes of children in understanding and discovering the world.