Piaget 's Theory Of Cognitive Development

Piaget's Theory of cognitive development consists of four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. A 3-year-old preschooler falls into the preoperational stage and a 9-year-old student falls into the concrete operational stage. By definition, the preoperational stage is being able to think beyond the here and now, but being unable to perform mental transformations. The concrete operational stage is described as being able to perform mental transformations, but only on concrete objects. A child would move from the preoperational stage to the concrete operational stage once they master conservation tasks and organization skills.

Cognitive developmental theories provide a framework for understanding about how children act and perceive the world. However, every theory has both strengths and weaknesses. A certain theory may explain one aspect of cognitive development very well, but poorly address or completely ignore other aspects that are just as important. Two well known theories of cognitive development are Piaget’s stage theory and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. As I plan to be a pediatric nurse, these two theories will be evaluated based on how applicable they are to the field of nursing.

Psychologist Jean Piaget was the first to make a study surrounding the theory of cognitive development. The interesting thing about Piaget’s way of studying was that he was more concerned about how children’s thoughts got to the answer in relation to their IQ rather than simply their ability to answer a question correctly.

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory describes the way that people collect and categorise information to make sense of their surroundings (Woolfolk & Margetts 2013, p. 81). Piaget’s theory is known as constructivist as it is based on the idea that people are active in their own learning (Institute for Inquiry 2017). The theory is based around the idea that a thinking process change and develop from birth to adulthood. According to Piaget, there were four influences involved in the changes that thinking undertakes. These influences included biological maturation, activity, social experiences and equilibration (Kamii 1985, p. 574). He also identified four stages in which people cognitively developed: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete

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Piaget asserts that, the instincts children have when they are born are 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

Piaget was a Swiss Psychologist and is most famous for his work and research on cognitive development. He put forward the Theory of Cognitive Development and key elements in this theory include the formation of “Schemas” and “organisation”. A “schema” is an individuals thoughts and beliefs about an object or event and “organisation” refers to the ability of the child to put stages of each period (eg. Sensori-Motor Period) into a logical order (Miller,

Piaget confirms “Each cognitive stage represents a fundamentally new psychological reorganization resulting from maturation of new functions and abilities” (as in Greene, 2009, p.144). The case Vignette describes Victors’ stages of development through Piaget’s stages of cognitive development as exhibited behavior that occurred during the sensorimotor, preoperational, as established areas. Victor experienced a normal birth. His baby stage and growth period were also normal. However, Piaget states “Progression from one stage to the next is a function of both biological maturation and the child’s experience and action in the environment” (as in Greene, 2009, p.145). Victor may have also experienced some difficulty understanding if and when his father would return to the family. Piaget states “reversibility is the ability to follow a line of reasoning back to where it started” (as in Greene, 2009, p. 146). During the concrete operational stage Victor may not have been able to separate his longing for his father from realizing that he was being provided for. Although his parents tried to keep him out of the details of their financial struggles he struggled to fit in. Piaget states “Development proceeds from logical thought to logical thought, when applied to concrete problems, objects or events” (as in Greene, 2009, p.146).

Piaget, Erikson, Skinner and Vygotsky all have similarities and differences within their approaches in regards to cognitive development. Firstly, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes the changes in logical thinking of children and adolescents. Piaget suggested that children proceed through four stages that are based on maturation and experience. Piaget managed numerous intelligence tests to children and this led to him becoming interested in the types of faults children of different ages were most probable to make. Piaget hypothesized that cognitive development proceeds in four genetically determined stages that always follow the same sequential order (Developmental and Learning Theories, 2011). The four stages in Piaget theory are the Sensorimotor stage (infancy), the Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood), the Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence), and the Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood). Furthermore, Piaget’s theory is guided by assumptions of how learners interact with their environment and how they integrate new knowledge and information on existing knowledge. In brief, Piaget proposed that children are active learners who build knowledge from their environments and they learn through assimilation and accommodation, and complex cognitive development occurs through equilibration (Developmental and Learning Theories, 2011). Piaget also believed that the interaction with physical and social

What are the major challenges to Piaget's theory of cognitive development and what aspects still have value?

Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development represents children as explorers of the environment, trying to make sense of their world, and in doing this, they discover new things and adapt to this world they live in. There are three basic components to Piaget’s theory; adaptation, schemas, and stages of cognitive development. Adaptation refers to adjusting to the demands of the environment, through such things as coping with challenges, problem solving and improving their way of thinking. Assimilation (incorporating some outside event into one’s way of thinking), accommodation (changing or modifying an existing schema to make sense of new or different information) and disequilibrium (state of cognitive conflict occurring when one’s experience is contradicted by their way of thinking) are the processes that enable adaptation to occur. Schemas are the basic building blocks for thinking and organising information. According to Piaget, there are three types of schemas; behavioural (mental representations of physical actions), symbolic (language-based representations of objects and events) and operational (mental action or manipulation used to solve a problem or for logic reasoning). Piaget proposed that all children experience growth in cognitive development in a four-stage sequence; sensorimotor (infancy or 0-2 years), preoperational (preschool/early primary school or 2-7 years), concrete operational

Jean Piaget is considered to be very influential in the field of developmental psychology. Piaget had many influences in his life which ultimately led him to create the Theory of Cognitive Development. His theory has multiple stages and components. The research done in the early 1900’s is still used today in many schools and homes. People from various cultures use his theory when it comes to child development. Although there are criticisms and alternatives to his theory, it is still largely used today around the world.

For this paper I will be exploring Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget, theorized that children progress through four key stages of cognitive development that change their understanding of the world. By observing his own children, Piaget came up with four different stages of intellectual development that included: the sensorimotor stage, which starts from birth to age two; the preoperational stage, starts from age two to about age seven; the concrete operational stage, starts from age seven to eleven; and final stage, the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and continues into adulthood. In this paper I will only be focusing on the

Jean Piaget, a cognitivist, believed children progressed through a series of four key stages of cognitive development. These four major stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, are marked by shifts in how people understand the world. Although the stages correspond with an approximate age, Piaget’s stages are flexible in that if the child is ready they can reach a stage. Jean Piaget developed the Piagetian cognitive development theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages. The emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information characterize each stage. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.