Jean Piaget 's Influence On Children

At the centre of Piaget's theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated and

Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to design a comprehensive model for the study cognitive development. This model explained how a child’s cognitive skills develop over their lifetime, which will eventually result in more of an adult way of thinking; or a more elaborate and logical way of thinking. Unlike other psychologists who were studying cognition, Piaget believed that children were not “tiny adults”, who had to eventually access a more complex way of thinking over time. Instead, he believed that a child’s cognition progresses in stages through the process of reorganizing their way of thinking. The four stages of cognitive development, which I will discuss later, stemmed from a child’s need to equal their two process of thinking.

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 and Vygotsky both believed that young children actively learn from their hands-on, day-to-day experiences. Jean Piaget portrayed children as "little scientists" who go about actively constructing their understanding of the world. His theories hold the essence of developmentally appropriate curriculum since Piaget believed that children undergo cognitive development in a stage-based manner, such that a very young child would not think about things the same way that an adult might. He referred to the knowledge and the manner in which the knowledge is gained as a schema. In order to build on the cognitive stages that children experience, informal learning opportunities, formal instructional sessions, and the utilized curriculum must all dovetail with a child's current cognitive stage so that assimilation of the new knowledge may occur. Working with what the child knows and experiences, parents and teachers create bridges to the next cognitive stage that are characterized by the child's accommodation. Piaget argued that optimal learning took place in this manner and that adults should avoid thinking that they can accelerate a child's development through the age-based, maturity-referenced stages. This is because a child works toward establishing an equilibrium between the assimilation and application of new knowledge and changing their behavior to accommodate their newly adopted schemas.

Jean Piaget’s Preoperational Stage greatly contributes to the cognitive development in children. The main area in the preoperational stage is make-believe play. Piaget believed that when children have make-believe playtime they are exercising and enhancing newly required representational schemes. Make-believe play is very important in children’s development because it gives a child the opportunity to engage in problem-solving, communication, and empathy. Make-believe play also encourages imagination and creativity.

According to Piaget (1957), cognitive development was a continuous restructuring of mental processes due to varied situations and experiencing the world and maturing biologically. His view of cognitive development would have us look inside a child’s head and glimpse the inborn process of change that thinking goes through. “He was mainly interested in the biological influences on “how we come to know’” (Huitt and Hummel, 2003). Piaget’s views helps us to have appropriate expectations about children’s mental abilities during different periods of development, especially in terms of logical-mathematical intelligence, and that it was our ability as humans to think abstractly that differentiated us (Science and Cognitive Development). There are three elements of Piaget’s cognitive development theory: schemas, the adaptation process and stages of development. Schemas are basically mental templates of knowledge that individuals use to help make sense of the world around them. The adaptation process which allows for the transition from one stage to another, including assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium and the stages of development in which each child must pass through.

Jean Piaget considered that children’s way of thinking is different from the adults. It is a kid's nature to understand those things that they do not know. In this theory, Piaget accounted the intellectual development of the child. Moreover, he coined that children gain information by adding (assimilation) and adjusting (accommodation) their prior knowledge (schema) (Cherry,

Jean Piaget was a psychologist who believed that children progressed through different stages of cognitive development. He stated that the four stages of cognitive development, are ‘critical’ to children’s progress. The four distinct stages that Piaget suggested were: The sensorimotor stage 0-2 years, The preoperational stage which involves children ages 2-7 years, The concrete operational stage that includes children aged 7-11 years and The formal operational stage 11 years+. Piaget named this theory, The Stage Theory (Piaget, J. 1951 The Child’s Conception of the world.

Jean Piaget was a cognitive theorist who was born in Switzerland in the late 1800’s. He began his life with a concentration in the natural sciences, particularly the subject of mollusks, and later developed an interest in cognitive theory (“Jean Piaget Biography,” n.d.). His subsequent research and findings greatly influenced the field of developmental psychology, particularly childhood cognitive development theory. According to Saul McLeod, an instructor at the University of Manchester, prior to Piaget’s work “the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults” (McLeod, 2009). Instead, Piaget suggested

Jean Piaget is one of the pioneers to child development, he was an important factor in the growth, development and one of the most exciting research theorists in child development. A major force in child psychology, he studied both thought processes and how they change with age. He believed that children think in fundamentally different ways from adults.. Piaget’s belief is that all species inherit the basic tendency to organize their lives and adapt to the world that’s around them, no matter the age. Children develop schemas as a general way of thinking or interacting with ideas and objects in the environment. Children create and develop new schemas as they grow and experience new things. Piaget has identified four major stages of cognitive development which are: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operations, and formal operations. According to the text here are brief descriptions of each of Piaget’s stages:

Jean Piaget, a Swiss Clinical Psychologist (1896 – 1980), who amongst other things studied zoology and was an influential theorist considered to be the founder of the study of cognitive development, the way that the brain works, the way it processes information and the effects it has on a child’s development compared to an adult’s point of view. Piaget’s contributions are said to be so profound and concluded from his observations that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Piaget states that children are born with the ability to learn and adapt from what is around them and the environment that they live in. He values the role of play in learning. Piaget is a constructivist and believes that children learn and take in information from what is around them based upon their own experiences. His experiments were considered to be simple and ingenious.

Piaget's theory is known as developmental stage theory. Children are merely less competent thinkers than adults and their cognitive development takes places in stages. Piaget believe that children's thought processes changes as they mature physically and interact with the world around them. There are three basic components to Piaget's cognitive theory. One of the basic units of cognition is the schema, is the building blocks of knowledge. He also believe the as a children learn, they expand and modify their schema through the process of assimilation and accommodation. The second component is that humans are biologically drive to advance in intellectual development by innating the need to maintain cognitive equilibrium. The last component is the four stages of development sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Cognitive development refers to gaining knowledge from childhood right through to adulthood. This includes problem solving, thinking and remembering. Jean Piaget applied the basic principles of biology to the study of development of knowledge in children. According to (Bee, H. 199) Piaget’s main assumption was that the child plays an active part in the development of knowledge and

Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory is a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulted by biological development and environmental experience. This theory suggests distinct stages of growth, focusing on how children develop knowledge and the role that biology plays in that development. Children have to first understand the environment around them in order to experience the differences between what they already know and what they discover in their environment. There are two basic constituents to Piaget’s cognitive development theory: adaptation processes of using schema, and the stages of cognitive development.

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.