COGNITION + DEVELOPMENT
PAIGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget – children think in different ways to adults
Schema
— As children develop they construct more detailed mental
representations of the world
— Representations stored in the form of schema
— Piaget – children born w small number of schema
— ‘me-schema’ – child’s knowledge about themselves is stored
— Cognitive development involves construction of more detailed
schema for people, objects, actions + later more abstract ideas (justice /
morality)
Disequilibrium + equilibration
— Key element of theory is motivation to learn
— We are pushed to learn when our existing schema do not allow us to
make sense of something new
— Leads to unpleasant sensation of disequilibrium
— To escape this we adapt to the situation by exploring + developing
our understanding
— By doing this we achieve equilibration
Assimilation + accommodation
— Piaget saw process of learning as adapting to new situation so we
understand it
— Assimilation – takes place when we understand a new experience +
equilibrate by adding new info to existing schema
o E.g. a child in a family with dogs can adapt to existence of
different dog breeds by assimilating them into dog schema
— Accommodation – takes place in response to dramatically new
experiences. The child has to adjust to these by either radically
changing current schema or forming new ones
o A child w a pet dog may at first think of cats as dogs (they
have 4 legs, fur and a tail) but then recognise the existence of
a separate category called cats
o This accommodation will involve forming new ‘cat schema’
EVALUATION
STRENGTH
Research support
— Howe et al (1992) put 9-12 year olds into groups to discuss how objects
move down a slope. They found that the children's level of knowledge
and understanding increased after the discussion
, — The children, however, didn't reach the same conclusions or pick up
the same facts
— This demonstrates how the children formed their own individual mental
representations of the topic based on their existing and new schema,
as Piaget predicted
STRENGTH
Research support – influential on teaching
— In the 1960s, children sat copying text. Piaget, however, believed
children should construct their own understanding through activities
— This can also be applied to A-Level teaching through the idea of
flipped learning. This is when students read up on material before the
lesson to form their own mental representation which can then be
applied to activities in the lesson
— This shows how Piaget has inspired new ways of learning by
facilitating the development of individual meta representations through
knowledge
COUNTERPOINT
— There is no solid evidence to suggest Piaget’s ideas on teaching are
more effective than others
— It could still be that the input from the teacher is still the most
important factor
— This suggests that the value of Piaget’s theory on the development
of education might have been exaggerated
LIMITATION
Piaget underestimated the role of others in the learning process
— He recognised that other people can be important as sources of
information
— However, other theorists such as Vygotsky argue that knowledge
starts between the learner and someone with more knowledge – an
expert. This is supported by evidence
— Consequently, Piaget’s theory may be a limited explanation of
learning as he hasn’t taken the role of other people into account
PIAGET’S STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
STAGE AGE SKILL DEVELOPING
Sensorimotor stage 0-2 years — Babies learn they can
move their body in
particular ways, and
eventually that they can
move objects
— At around 8 months,
PAIGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget – children think in different ways to adults
Schema
— As children develop they construct more detailed mental
representations of the world
— Representations stored in the form of schema
— Piaget – children born w small number of schema
— ‘me-schema’ – child’s knowledge about themselves is stored
— Cognitive development involves construction of more detailed
schema for people, objects, actions + later more abstract ideas (justice /
morality)
Disequilibrium + equilibration
— Key element of theory is motivation to learn
— We are pushed to learn when our existing schema do not allow us to
make sense of something new
— Leads to unpleasant sensation of disequilibrium
— To escape this we adapt to the situation by exploring + developing
our understanding
— By doing this we achieve equilibration
Assimilation + accommodation
— Piaget saw process of learning as adapting to new situation so we
understand it
— Assimilation – takes place when we understand a new experience +
equilibrate by adding new info to existing schema
o E.g. a child in a family with dogs can adapt to existence of
different dog breeds by assimilating them into dog schema
— Accommodation – takes place in response to dramatically new
experiences. The child has to adjust to these by either radically
changing current schema or forming new ones
o A child w a pet dog may at first think of cats as dogs (they
have 4 legs, fur and a tail) but then recognise the existence of
a separate category called cats
o This accommodation will involve forming new ‘cat schema’
EVALUATION
STRENGTH
Research support
— Howe et al (1992) put 9-12 year olds into groups to discuss how objects
move down a slope. They found that the children's level of knowledge
and understanding increased after the discussion
, — The children, however, didn't reach the same conclusions or pick up
the same facts
— This demonstrates how the children formed their own individual mental
representations of the topic based on their existing and new schema,
as Piaget predicted
STRENGTH
Research support – influential on teaching
— In the 1960s, children sat copying text. Piaget, however, believed
children should construct their own understanding through activities
— This can also be applied to A-Level teaching through the idea of
flipped learning. This is when students read up on material before the
lesson to form their own mental representation which can then be
applied to activities in the lesson
— This shows how Piaget has inspired new ways of learning by
facilitating the development of individual meta representations through
knowledge
COUNTERPOINT
— There is no solid evidence to suggest Piaget’s ideas on teaching are
more effective than others
— It could still be that the input from the teacher is still the most
important factor
— This suggests that the value of Piaget’s theory on the development
of education might have been exaggerated
LIMITATION
Piaget underestimated the role of others in the learning process
— He recognised that other people can be important as sources of
information
— However, other theorists such as Vygotsky argue that knowledge
starts between the learner and someone with more knowledge – an
expert. This is supported by evidence
— Consequently, Piaget’s theory may be a limited explanation of
learning as he hasn’t taken the role of other people into account
PIAGET’S STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
STAGE AGE SKILL DEVELOPING
Sensorimotor stage 0-2 years — Babies learn they can
move their body in
particular ways, and
eventually that they can
move objects
— At around 8 months,
