Jean Piaget
▪ Born August 9, 1896 in Neuchatel, Switzerland
▪ Died on September 16, 1980
▪ First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive
development
▪ High School at age 11
▪ Brilliant scientific career
▪ Albino Sparrow
▪ After High school
▪ Studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchatel
▪ University of Zurich
▪ Interested in psychoanalysis
Piaget’s Continued Education
▪ Moved to France
▪ Ecole de la rue la Grange-aux-Belles a boys’
▪ Alfed Binet
▪ Tests to measure intelligence
▪ Piaget developed French versions of questions on English intelligence tests
▪ First experimental studies of the growing mind
▪ Intrigued by wrong answers
▪ Logical reasoning
▪ Difference in learning between adults and children▪ Less competent
▪ Children think in different ways
Piaget’s Research
▪ 1923 married Valentine Chatenay
▪ 3 kids
▪ Jacqueline
▪ Lucienne
▪ Laurent
▪ Studied their development from infancy to adolescence
▪ Began to research developmental psychology and
genetic epistemology
▪ Epistemology
▪ The origins of thinking: basics of categorizing
Piaget’s Theory
3 Components of Piaget’s Theory
▪ Schemas
▪ Adaptation processes that enable
transitions▪ Assimilation
▪ Accommodation
▪ Equilibrium
▪ Force that drives learning
▪ 4 Stages of Development
Four Stages of the Cognitive Development Theory
Stage 1
Sensorimotor Stage
Birth-2 years
Key Feature:
Object Permanence
▪Object still exist even when hidden▪ Ball and blanket study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0
Four Stages of the Cognitive Development Theory
Stage 2
Preoperational Stage
2-7 years
Key Feature:
▪Egocentrism (about themselves)
▪ Child assumes: others see, hear and feel
▪ Three Mountains:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
Four Stages of the Cognitive Developmental Theory
Stage 3
Concrete Operational Stage
7-11 years
Key Feature:
Conservation
▪ The understanding that something stays the same in quantity, even though its appearance changes
Four Stages of Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
Stage 4Formal Operational Stage
11 yrs+
Key Feature:
• Manipulate ideas (abstract thinking)
• Without using concrete manipulation
• Mathematical calculations
• Think creatively
• Use abstract reasoning
• Imagine the outcome of certain actions
• Deductive reasoning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJdcXA1KH8
Interesting Facts and Opinions
• Piaget’s believes:
• Individual learning
• Flexibility in the curriculum
• Play is important in learning
• Learning by discovery
• Use of the environment
• Evaluation of children’s progress
Something to remember:
Just because it’s not measureable does
not mean that it is not valuable.
• Piaget did not purposely
relate his studies and
research to education
• Future researchers
applied his theory to
teaching and learning
Criticisms
Cognitive Development Theory • Vygotsky and Bruner
• Development is continuous
• Vygotsky: Ability to communicate was more important in reasoning than
interaction with the environment
• Social settings and cultures were not taken into consideration
• Observations and clinical interviews were conducted alone
• Compare research
• Data is biased
• Piaget’s tests were confusing
• Formal operational stage is not guaranteed
• 40-60% of college students fail to be in the formal operational stage. (1979)
• 1/3 of adults – (1994)
Piaget in our classroom today-
• Facilitate learning, but not through direct instruction
• Focus on the process, rather than the result of the learning
• Use interactive approaches so children rediscover and reconstruct truths
• Collaborations and individual learning • Learn from each other
• Propose real-life situations to solve problems
• Evaluate of the child’s level of development • Teach according to the child
• Every child learns at their own pace
• Piaget’s theory has changed:• How we view a child’s world• Methods of studying children • Methods of teaching children • Better understanding cognitive development
*See Handout
Refernces
• McLeod, S. A. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
• http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2000/Piaget/tests.htm
• http://aptitudetest.tripod.com/1.pdf
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJdcXA1KH8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0
• http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/piagtuse.html