piaget

• piagets schemas:

  assimilation -> equilibration -> new situation -> disequilibrium -> accommodation
• assimilation - when new knowledge is added to the schema to help understand it. it's an adaptation process used to progress from one stage of cognitive development to another
• equilibration - to describe how new information is balanced with existing knowledge. it involves the processes of assimilation & accommodation
• new situation - if they come across a new situation/task that they don't understand, piaget called this disequilibrium. this occurs when a child's unable to use existing schema to understand new information to make sense of objects & concepts
• disequilibrium - a state of disorder or confusion; a state of disorder or confusion
• accommodation - when schemas are altered/new ones are formed as a result of new information/experiences
• schema - according to piaget - a category of knowledge as well as the process of acquiring knowledge
• schema - a pattern of learning, linking perceptions, ideas & actions to make sense of the world. piaget described it simply as a way of organising knowledge. when a child's experience matches what they understand they're in a state of equilibrium
• conservation - that something's appearance may change but that its quantity will stay the same, like water in beakers
• egocentrism - a young child's ability to see a situation from another person's point of view. they assume that other adults & children see, feel, & hear exactly the same as they do
• egocentrism:

  at nursery, preoperational children engage in parallel play - they play alongside rather than together with other children. they're absorbed in their own world & speech is used to externalise their thinking rather than to communicate with other children
• piaget's model:

  cognitive development is a child's ability to learn & solve problems, e.g. a 2 month old baby learning to explore the environment with their hands or eyes or a 5 year old learning how to solve simple mathematical problems
• stages of cognitive development:

  his research focused on how children acquire the ability to think. he came to the conclusion that children think differently to adults. he suggested a 4 year old can't use abstract logic (abstract logical thinking) because they're not mature enough (no matter how well they're taught)
• stages of cognitive development:

  he observed that infants use egocentric thinking, which means they can only understand the world from their own perspective. piaget believed that the ability to think logically doesn't happen until around the age of 7 when children can use simple logic (concrete logical thinking) to solve problems, e.g. the amount of water stays the same when poured into a different shaped container
• sensorimotor stage (0-2):

  • the infant knows the world through their movements & sensations
  • children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, & listening
  • infants learn that things continue to exist even though they can't be seen (object permanence)
  • they're separate beings from the people & objects around them
  • they realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them
• preoperational stage (2-7):

  • children begin to think symbolically & learn to use words & pictures to represent objects
  • children at this stage tend to be egocentric & struggle to see things from the perspective of others
  • while they're getting better with language & thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms
• concrete operational stage (7-11):

  • during this stage, children begin to think logically about concrete events
  • they begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass
  • their thinking becomes more logical & organized, but still very concrete
  • children begin to use inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle
• formal operational stage (12-18):

  • at this stage, the adolescent/young adult begins to think abstractly & reason about hypothetical problems
  • abstract thought emerges
  • teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, & political issues that require theoretical & abstract reasoning
  • begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information
• criticisms of piaget:

  • small number of children in his study
  • piaget suggests that the age/stages he describes may be more fluid than he thought & that he under/over estimated children's cognitive abilities
  • studies show at 5 they do understand others feelings & are far less egocentric than piaget suggested
  • bruner didn't agree with Piaget's notion of fixed stages & 'readiness' to learn. he believes that, with adult support, children can be helped to progress to higher level thinking skills
  • other research suggests children takemore than 11 years to become skilled at abstract logical thinking