Piaget’s stages of intellectual development
Piaget proposed what is termed a stage theory.
What does that mean?
Piaget believed that cognitive development went through four stages that are closely
linked to age.
o In each stage, children show characteristic ways of thinking that change at
the end of each stage, with “cognitive restructuring” taking place.
o Stages could not be missed out, as each new stage relied on the skills of the
previous stage.
o In Piaget’s view, stages are biologically programmed, and they unfold
naturally as a result of maturation (without teaching) and the same
milestones occur at pretty much the same age.
Development cannot be speeded up or slowed down.
What are the four major stages that Piaget describes?
1) The sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) – knowledge through action
2) The pre-operational stage (2-7 years) – knowledge through perception – what
can be seen
3) The concrete operational stage (7-11 years) – knowledge through concrete
logic
4) The formal operational stage (11-15 years) – knowledge through abstract
reasoning.
Having discussed how schemas change and develop in general, we are in a position
to look at the characteristic changes that take place during the four major stages
that Piaget describes.
, The Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)
What is the sensorimotor stage?
The sensorimotor stage is the first of Piaget’s stages which lasts until a child is about
2 years old.
Infants learn to co-ordinate sensory input (what they see and feel) with motor
actions (i.e., grasping, pulling, etc)
During this period, children do not have full use of speech and so their thinking is
unlikely to be based on words.
The baby’s intelligence is essentially practical.
How many sub-stages did Piaget identify?
Piaget identified six substages of sensorimotor development.
What happens during these sub stages?
Thinking becomes more gradually more skilled and more complex.
During this time infants develop from:
a) Only using simple reflex activities (e.g., sucking)
b) To repeating action (circular reactions) which are pleasurable (e.g., learning to
move their thumb to their mouth so they can suck it)
c) Then using established schemas to explore new objects (e.g., sucking and shaking
an unfamiliar object)
Piaget proposed what is termed a stage theory.
What does that mean?
Piaget believed that cognitive development went through four stages that are closely
linked to age.
o In each stage, children show characteristic ways of thinking that change at
the end of each stage, with “cognitive restructuring” taking place.
o Stages could not be missed out, as each new stage relied on the skills of the
previous stage.
o In Piaget’s view, stages are biologically programmed, and they unfold
naturally as a result of maturation (without teaching) and the same
milestones occur at pretty much the same age.
Development cannot be speeded up or slowed down.
What are the four major stages that Piaget describes?
1) The sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) – knowledge through action
2) The pre-operational stage (2-7 years) – knowledge through perception – what
can be seen
3) The concrete operational stage (7-11 years) – knowledge through concrete
logic
4) The formal operational stage (11-15 years) – knowledge through abstract
reasoning.
Having discussed how schemas change and develop in general, we are in a position
to look at the characteristic changes that take place during the four major stages
that Piaget describes.
, The Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)
What is the sensorimotor stage?
The sensorimotor stage is the first of Piaget’s stages which lasts until a child is about
2 years old.
Infants learn to co-ordinate sensory input (what they see and feel) with motor
actions (i.e., grasping, pulling, etc)
During this period, children do not have full use of speech and so their thinking is
unlikely to be based on words.
The baby’s intelligence is essentially practical.
How many sub-stages did Piaget identify?
Piaget identified six substages of sensorimotor development.
What happens during these sub stages?
Thinking becomes more gradually more skilled and more complex.
During this time infants develop from:
a) Only using simple reflex activities (e.g., sucking)
b) To repeating action (circular reactions) which are pleasurable (e.g., learning to
move their thumb to their mouth so they can suck it)
c) Then using established schemas to explore new objects (e.g., sucking and shaking
an unfamiliar object)
