Problem 4
• At what age do children learn the cognitive skills discussed and how?
• What theories are there relating to these stages and what are the
differences between them?
• What criticisms are there of these theories?
• How does a teacher influence a child's cognitive development? To
what extent is the aid of a teacher/the environment necessary for this
development?
Adaptation = assimilation and accommodation are subgroups of adaptation
Organization = integrating information into a knowledge system
Cognitive Equilibrium = more accommodation and less change
Cognitive Disequilibrium = rapid cognitive change
Equilibration = back-and-forth movement between both states
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
• Piaget’s theory is very controversial – however, it laid down some very
important questions (still talked about today) & was able to apply his
theory to a lot of different situations
• Piaget’s theory: children undergo a lot of qualitative changes in how they
think & understand the world
- Infants, kids & adults have different outside pressures on them – he
used these pressures (constraints) to understand development
- Became popular in the 60s because that’s when behaviorism was at its
peak – this was an alternative theory
Piaget’s Constructivism
• Piaget believed that kids have an active role in their knowledge – they
actively seek out information from their environment & want to learn
• Piaget believed that kids take in new information & try to understand it by
adding it on to their already acquired knowledge
• Kids construct their own understanding – constructivism
• Piaget was very interested to see how children developed in terms of their
knowledge about properties of the world
- He was interested to see how kids at different ages thought about how
objects work & are related to one another
- He also was very interested to see how kids are able to think about
more abstract things than concrete objects – was very interested in the
development of logical thought
• He believed children develop according to a fixed order based on the age
of the child
, Schemas & Their Organization
• Piaget believed children store their knowledge in increasingly more
complex cognitive structures
- Cognitive structures are an organized bank of memories; ideas &
strategies the child uses to interact with his environment
• Built his theory on the idea of schemas: an organized unit of knowledge,
that acts as the foundation for the child to interact/understand his
environment
- Another key idea of his theory is the fact that these schemas develop to
become more organized & complex
- This happens because as the child acquires new knowledge, he has to
reorganize these schemas in order for the new knowledge to fit
➢ For ex: newborns have a lot of reflexes that they start
developing & using differently as they grow up
➢ Sucking for ex – newborns suck everything, then they learn how
to suck different objects differently – their schema became more
complex
• Another important aspect is the organization of schemas – initially baby
has a lot of different schemas for different purposes, then they eventually
become reciprocated (more intertwined)
- For ex: separate schemas for sucking & seeing – eventually baby
learns they can suck & look at the same time – the schemas have
become intertwined
• Piaget believed that as the child develops, these schemas, initially based
on physical activities, develop to be based on internal, mental activities –
organizations
• These organizations change & combine as development happens
• Piaget believed that when there were significant changes in the
operations, the child moved to a completely different way of
understanding & approaching the world – called these stages
- 4 major stages
Stage Development Through Assimilation & Accommodation
• Piaget believed there’s 2 mechanisms in the child’s development that
allows them to move on from schema to schema into different stages
• Children learn new information through assimilation: they process new
information/experiences by adding their already existing understandings
(schemas) to it
• When babies encounter too complex of an experience, they use
accommodation to understand the new information
- Babies learn by adapting & slightly altering their already available
schemas to fit the situation & understand the complex new information
• At what age do children learn the cognitive skills discussed and how?
• What theories are there relating to these stages and what are the
differences between them?
• What criticisms are there of these theories?
• How does a teacher influence a child's cognitive development? To
what extent is the aid of a teacher/the environment necessary for this
development?
Adaptation = assimilation and accommodation are subgroups of adaptation
Organization = integrating information into a knowledge system
Cognitive Equilibrium = more accommodation and less change
Cognitive Disequilibrium = rapid cognitive change
Equilibration = back-and-forth movement between both states
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
• Piaget’s theory is very controversial – however, it laid down some very
important questions (still talked about today) & was able to apply his
theory to a lot of different situations
• Piaget’s theory: children undergo a lot of qualitative changes in how they
think & understand the world
- Infants, kids & adults have different outside pressures on them – he
used these pressures (constraints) to understand development
- Became popular in the 60s because that’s when behaviorism was at its
peak – this was an alternative theory
Piaget’s Constructivism
• Piaget believed that kids have an active role in their knowledge – they
actively seek out information from their environment & want to learn
• Piaget believed that kids take in new information & try to understand it by
adding it on to their already acquired knowledge
• Kids construct their own understanding – constructivism
• Piaget was very interested to see how children developed in terms of their
knowledge about properties of the world
- He was interested to see how kids at different ages thought about how
objects work & are related to one another
- He also was very interested to see how kids are able to think about
more abstract things than concrete objects – was very interested in the
development of logical thought
• He believed children develop according to a fixed order based on the age
of the child
, Schemas & Their Organization
• Piaget believed children store their knowledge in increasingly more
complex cognitive structures
- Cognitive structures are an organized bank of memories; ideas &
strategies the child uses to interact with his environment
• Built his theory on the idea of schemas: an organized unit of knowledge,
that acts as the foundation for the child to interact/understand his
environment
- Another key idea of his theory is the fact that these schemas develop to
become more organized & complex
- This happens because as the child acquires new knowledge, he has to
reorganize these schemas in order for the new knowledge to fit
➢ For ex: newborns have a lot of reflexes that they start
developing & using differently as they grow up
➢ Sucking for ex – newborns suck everything, then they learn how
to suck different objects differently – their schema became more
complex
• Another important aspect is the organization of schemas – initially baby
has a lot of different schemas for different purposes, then they eventually
become reciprocated (more intertwined)
- For ex: separate schemas for sucking & seeing – eventually baby
learns they can suck & look at the same time – the schemas have
become intertwined
• Piaget believed that as the child develops, these schemas, initially based
on physical activities, develop to be based on internal, mental activities –
organizations
• These organizations change & combine as development happens
• Piaget believed that when there were significant changes in the
operations, the child moved to a completely different way of
understanding & approaching the world – called these stages
- 4 major stages
Stage Development Through Assimilation & Accommodation
• Piaget believed there’s 2 mechanisms in the child’s development that
allows them to move on from schema to schema into different stages
• Children learn new information through assimilation: they process new
information/experiences by adding their already existing understandings
(schemas) to it
• When babies encounter too complex of an experience, they use
accommodation to understand the new information
- Babies learn by adapting & slightly altering their already available
schemas to fit the situation & understand the complex new information
