Piaget theory of cognitive development
Piaget work has received world wide acclaim and recognition , as well as having a positive impact in areas such as education and social curricula. Though he had made an impact on understanding of the child cognitive development , his theory of cognitive development has suffered a great deal of critics that it neglects the social nature of human development.(Hook, Watts and Cockroft ,2002).So the following essay will discuss on whether this critic is valid or not based on detail discussion of Piaget theory. The theory of Vygotsky shall also be discussed to prove that indeed social factors play a role . Piaget theory of cognitive development neglects the influence of social factors on child cognitive development.(Hook et al ,2002)As stated by Hook et al (2002,p.190)in agreement with critics like "Piaget theory gave insufficient attention to the ways in which children social interaction with their sibling or parents may influence their cognitive development" .Justification of this critic is provided by the fact that Piaget (1952)saw children as lone scientist who sought to understand and build knowledge of their external world through interaction with the world .According to Piaget as stated in Siegel &Brainerd(1978)cognitive development depend on two factors , internal maturation and external maturation .That is children are incapable of learning some tasks until they
Piaget(TM)s theory on cognitive development
Piaget's theory on cognitive development Piaget believed that children were born with an innate desire (and need) to adapt to their environment, and that they do this by interacting with it and learning from it. He came up with the idea of 'schemas' which are the basic building blocks of intelligence. Babies start out with minimal in-built schemas for things such as sucking and grasping and moving limbs. As the baby grows its schemas are refined and combined to create more complex schemas such as for walking. This development takes place through the processes of 'assimilation', 'accommodation' and 'equilibrium'. A baby will try and apply its schema of sucking its mother's nipple to obtain nutrients to sucking a cup of juice; this is the baby's attempt to assimilate the task of drinking from a cup into its existing schemata. The sucking schema is inadequate for the task and the child will be in a state of disequilibrium. In order to restore balance the child must modify its existing schemas to accommodate the new task or experience. This is the process of 'adaptation'. Piaget identified four main stages of cognitive development through which all children pass as they grow older. Each stage is typified by the kind of schemas a child a child has within that stage. The intellectual understanding attained at each stage builds upon that of the previous stage, and the stages are
Piaget Stage Theory
Piaget Stage Theory The project is based on Piaget`s stage theory of cognitive development Prediction Based on Piaget`s theory, children during the pre - operational stage have acquired the ability to stand apart and view themselves from another person`s perspective. They are able to describe themselves as different from other children by listing their unique characteristics, especially the fact that their names are different. They develop a more complex understanding of themselves, such as age, name, family etc.. During the same stage children become aware of and use gender as a dimension by which to classify people. Once children become aware of their own sex, they learn to label themselves as boy or girl. Early childhood is the time when children start to learn family values, and become a cooperative part of the family with their own responsibilities. They spend countless hours of play and other activities with their siblings. Although young children may use words reflecting an understanding of time, such as minute, hour, day, or week, they still confuse the concept of time and space. Based on Piaget`s theory, I believe that the interviewed children will know their age, name, gender, and their siblings. I do not expect to know their exact birthday and address because it is still too abstract for them. Furthermore, I do not expect that the
Briefly describe and evaluate Piaget(TM)s theory of cognitive development, taking into account some of criticism that have been made .
Briefly describe and evaluate Piaget's theory of cognitive development, taking into account some of criticism that have been made . Piaget contended that cognitive development can be divided into four stages. In this essay I will examine each stage individually and then evaluate Piaget's theories by exploring some of the major criticisms and supporting views. For the purpose of this essay I will explain what cognitive theory of development is. Cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a person's thought processes. It also looks at how these thought processes influence how we understand and interact with the world. It very important to study cognitive development because of its relevance to education. Cognitive developments depend in part on children's level of intelligence, and on the way in which measured intelligence develops during childhood. The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget's theory, first published in 1952, grew out of decades of extensive observation of children. Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their environment. In the other words how children learn and adapt to the world .He was mainly interested in the biological influences on "how we come to know "Piaget believed that what distinguishes human beings from other animals is our ability to do "abstract
Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Q. Discuss research into Piaget's theory of cognitive development. A study was conducted by Piaget (1967) to investigate at which age children have developed conservation. A laboratory experiment was used where Piaget took 2 containers, which consisted of liquid. One was taller and thinner and the other was wider but shorter. Both the containers contained the same volume of liquid. The children were then asked which container had more liquid filled in. The results found that the child ages 2-7 said it was the taller container that had more liquid and children ages 7 upwards said that both the containers had the same amount of liquid. The conclusion drawn is that the children aged from 2-7 were in the pre-operational stage and were unable to understand different aspects tat affected the volume of water, (e.g. the width of the containers). Whereas the children who were 11 years old onwards went through to the concrete operational stage to the formal operation stage therefore were able to consider all variables that affected the task. This shows that children go through cognitive development in different stages and that conservation only occurs at a later age after the child has gone through all the stages of cognitive development. Piaget contributed a big breakthrough in understanding how children 'think' with the studies that he did. His research has been a success
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is widely recognised as the most known cognitive developmental psychologist.
Of all mammals, human beings require the longest period of maturation and learning (Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bem, & Hoeksema, 2000). Therefore the study of how human functioning develops across the life span is an important part of the science of psychology. Cognitive development is one of the major branches of recent developmental psychology, and cognitive developmental psychologists focus on the ways in which children's thinking and understanding change (Cardwell, Clark, & Meldrum, 1996). Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is widely recognised as the most known cognitive developmental psychologist. He is a pioneer who focused on the interaction between the biological maturity of mental structure with age and environmental interactions. Piaget had a variety of background, such as Biology and Philosophy, and concepts from these disciplines influenced his research. He was primarily interested in how knowledge developed in human organisms. Therefore he referred his general theoretical framework to "genetic epistemology" (Hill, 2001). His theory has great impacts and stimulated many researchers' interest. No one denied Piaget's great achievements in developmental psychology, however, not all his conclusions have been accepted and some objections have been raised. This essay will discuss Piaget's theory of cognitive development. First, it will outline Piaget's stage theory of
Discuss Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Discuss Piaget's theory of cognitive development (9+16 marks) The first comprehensive theory detailing cognitive development in children was proposed by Jean Piaget. His theory is inherently biological in approach, i.e. mainly a consequence of maturation and development of innate structures. Piaget suggested that intelligence depends on these innate structures being able to acquire and store knowledge. He was interested in how children learn and adapt to the world, suggesting for adaptation to occur, there must be constant interaction between the child and the world. This happens through the two key processes of accommodation and assimilation. Whereby the individual adjusts to the environment by using existing schemas, assimilation, or creates new schemas because new information cannot be assimilated, accommodation. Piaget's theory consists of four main stages of cognitive development, which he states all children pass through. In regard to testing this stage theory, he was sceptical about the value of the typical experimental approach based on strict use of methods. Instead, he preferred a less structured and formal approach. He used the clinical method, in which children are questioned informally to reveal the nature of their understanding of problems. Piaget focused very much on describing the strengths and limitations of children's thinking at different developmental
Critically evaluate Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
Critically evaluate Piaget's theory of cognitive development Piaget has been described as the father of cognitive psychology (Shaffer, 1988) and his stage theory as the foundation of developmental cognitive psychology (Lutz & Sternberg, 2002). It is not possible to describe Piaget's empirical findings and theory in only 1,500 words. Instead, I will briefly review the theory's scope, comprehensiveness, parsimony, applicability, heuristic value and methodological underpinning. I will then evaluate in more detail the theory's utility in describing and explaining cognitive development. Historically, Piaget's ontological approach was ground-breaking with its focus on the qualitative nature of cognition and its constructivist perspective. The theory itself is wide-scoped (universal), comprehensive (covering a broad spectrum of cognitive achievement) and elegantly coherent (from neonate to adult). It remains profoundly influential on cognitive psychology and continues to be widely applied in childcare and educational settings. Piaget's theory is parsimonious in its commonality of approach to a broad range of complex phenomena with key interlinking concepts. Inevitably, such an ambitious theory has generated a wealth of research, some supporting, some supplementing, some extending and some disputing aspects of Piaget's theory. Some of the weaker aspects of Piaget's theory
Piaget and Vygotsky theory. Compare and contrast two theories of cognitive development and discuss how they impact on the contemporary early years practice.
Compare and contrast two theories of cognitive development and discuss how they impact on the contemporary early years practice. Part 1 Piaget believed that children learn through their own activity and experience. He claimed that children construct their own knowledge by giving meaning to the people, places and things in their world. He was fond of the expression "construction is superior to instruction" (Merrill 1992). By this he meant that children learn best when they are actually doing the work themselves and creating their own understanding of what's going on. Piaget believed children need every possible opportunity to do things for themselves. For example children might be interested in how things grow; this will increase the child's knowledge base. However if the child has the opportunity to actually plant something, the process of digging, watering, observing and actually experiencing growing things will help the child to construct a knowledge of growing things that he/she cannot achieve just by looking at the pictures. According to Piaget, babies are born with the ability to adapt and learn from the environment. He believed that a child goes through four stages: sensory motor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Piaget developed his theory of development stages from observing his own three children and many other young children. Sensory
Critically assess Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Critically consider Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This essay will look at the theory put forward by Jean Piaget (1896-1980) that cognitive development is a process that is defined by stages of thinking which change as a person grows from infancy to adulthood. It will examine his theory, commenting on its strengths and weaknesses and compare it to other cognitive development theories put forward by Jerome Bruner and Lev Vygotsky. Cognitive development is defined as being "the development of intelligence, conscious thought, and problem-solving ability that begins in infancy" (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com). Piaget was interested in the way that thinking develops in an individual and he developed his theory after becoming unhappy with the idea that intelligence is a fixed attribute. Instead he considered it to be a process which developed over time due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment. As the brain grows and becomes more intricate, it is able to develop more complex ways of thinking. Children are limited in their ability to benefit from experience as their brains are not adequately developed enough. The environment is also linked to cognitive development as children are fundamentally programmed to explore and test the world around them. This is why Piaget called children "little scientists"
