Jean Piaget's Theory Of Cognitive Development

Introduction Cognitive is mental processes that allow one to perceive, make decisions, give attention and remember things then store it for their long term memory, it allows human to reacts to environment accordingly, Cognitive development on the other hand, is the changes that are happening throughout one’s lifespan (White, Hayes and Livesey, 2005). It has been a debate on when cognitive development begins, however recent study shows that it begins since inside the womb (Goswami, 2008). To this, Piaget’s has his own opinions on cognitive development which is, as the human matures biologically and gains more experience via environment, the mental processes reorganize in order to accommodate the new information obtained (McLeod, 2015). He divides

This essay will discuss the life and the work of theorist Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland. During late adolescence, Piaget developed an interest in molluscs, he became a well-known malacologist and he published many successful papers in this field. After graduating from high school, he studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchatel where he obtained a Ph.D. He then progressed to the University of Zurich, and after spending a semester here he developed an interest in the psychology sector. He left Switzerland for France in 1919 and he worked for one year in an all-boys school called the Alfred Binet Laboratory School.

MIDTERM HDFS 201 1. The overall idea surrounding Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory is that development is solely dependent upon maturation. Piaget believed that people simply developed as they got older, without environmental factors affecting development. The concrete operational stage explains cognitive development in children that are seven to twelve years old.

Jean Piaget, known for his interest in the Epistemology in children is seen as the pioneer of Developmental Psychology. Piaget 's Cognitive development theory led to a great deal of research work in the field of educational philosophy . But in the discipline of Psychology, every theory has been faced with a counter theory or an alternative. So is the case with Piaget 's theory. Lev Vygotsky, a soviet psychologist came up with the socio-cultural theory, which is another strong theory emphasizing child development and is seen as a major counter theory to Piaget 's work (Saul McLeod, 2004). Theories of these two cognitive psychologists have been compared and contrasted on different levels. This essay will look into the differences and similarities between their theories.

Piaget’s theory is a comprehensive theory about how children’s brain develops. His theory includes Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational and Formal Operational stages. The Sensorimotor stage occurs between 0-2 infancy, ages when the child begins to interact with the environment (Berk, 2014). The Preoperational stage happens between ages 2-7 in early childhood is when children begin to think more reasonably (Berk, 2014) and begin to put objects into words. An example of this would be children playing make believe. The next stage is Concrete Operational which is between age 7-11 middle childhood where kids think more logically (Berk, 2014). The final stage of Piaget’s theory is Formal Operational is age 11 and up is when their reasoning

Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development is the formal operations stage. This stage goes from adolescence to adulthood; approximately from eleven years of age onward. Through this stage, the “ability to develop hypotheses and deduce new concepts” (“Child Psychology,” n.d.) flourish. Many concepts and ideas are developed through this stage because this is the longest stage during the average person’s lifetime. A couple different concepts learned are idealism, flights of fantasy, advanced understanding of language/advanced language facility, and advanced pragmatism. Idealism is when one is able to imagine a perfect world although it is known that there is no such place. Flights of fantasy is when someone creates in their head a master plan about life and love and the thought of being all powerful or all knowing. An example of this is when a boy may think they are all powerful up until the moment that they fail. Advanced understand

He also stated that, infants and young children understand the world much differently than adults do, and as they play and explore, their mind learns how to think in ways that better fit with reality. Moreover, Piaget believed that children learn many skills and creating ideas by interacting with the environment. He also believed that children gain knowledge continuously from their teachers and parents as well. In addition, children build on their own knowledge by using their sensory motor skills. Piaget proposed that children go through four stages of cognitive development:

Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person 's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states four stages of cognitive development. During the first Sensorimotor Stage which Piaget

Definition of Terms Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence. Piaget believed that one's childhood plays a vital and active role in a person's development Piaget's idea is primarily known as a developmental stage theory. The theory deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans gradually come to acquire, construct, and use it. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from biological maturation and environmental experience. He believed that children construct an understanding of the world around them, experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment, then adjust their ideas

There are two theorists associated with cognitive development; Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believes that things children learn and do are organized as schemes, groups of similar actions and thoughts are repeated in response to the environment. Vygotsky believes that thoughts and language are separate functions for infants and toddlers. This is important for me to know because when teaching my first graders using Piaget’s belief that children curiosity to adapt to their environment, will help me in setting up my classroom so as to provide the friendliest environmental atmosphere. Another useful belief of Piaget that I intend to use, is by exploring and manipulating physical objects, children gain a relationship with their physical environment.

Introduction Developmental theories provide concepts a set of guiding principles and concepts that describe and explain human development. Some developmental theories focus on the formation of a specific quality and other developmental theories focus on growth that happens throughout the lifespan, such as Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Piaget’s theory The first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development was Piaget (1936).

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget asserts, children are born with inherited scripts, called schema, these schema are building blocks for cognitive development. As a child grows, he acquires more of these building blocks; moreover, these building blocks become more complex as the child progresses through different stages in development (Huitt, Hummel 2003). Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development are as follows. First, The sensorimotor stage where an infant has rudimentary motor skills, and can eventually

Cognitive development is the process of thinking, reasoning and solving problem. The schoolers are also known as the third stage of cognitive development, which is the concrete operational stage (7 to 12 years old) by Jean Piaget (Papalia, Olds, and Feldman, 2009). This period hold a new perception and understanding of the world. Piaget believed that these children experienced some challenges in their thinking abilities where their thinking is still illogical and not matured enough (Papalia et al. , 2009) where the children only consider in their own point of view and unable to consider other person’s point of view to represent the world. According to Vygotsky, children learn by internalizing the results of interactions with adults.