piaget

• 🔑 key concepts of theory

  • schemas
  • assimilation
  • accommodation
  • equilibration
• 📚 schemas

  mental frameworks that represent knowledge and guide interaction with the world

  • built from birth and become complex through experience
  • development is the adaptation and refinement of schemas
• 👶🏼 example of a schema

  sucking
• 🔄 assimilation

  incorporating new experiences into existing schemas
• what are the 2 processes of schema development?

  1. assimilation
  2. accommodation
• 🔁 accommodation

  adjusting existing schemas or creating new ones when experiences don't fit
• give an example of assimilation

  child sees a new breed of dog and adds it to their "dog" schema without changing it
• ⚖️ equilibration

  drive to maintain a balance between what's understood and new experiences

  • disequilibrium arises when current schemas don't match new information
  • equilibrium is driven by accommodation
• give an example of accommodation

  child sees a cat for the first time, initially calls it a dog, but learns to create a new schema for "cat"
• 🪜 stages of intellectual development

  1. sensorimotor
  2. preoperational
  3. concrete operational
  4. formal operational
• 👶🏼 sensorimotor stage

  0 to 2 years

  • learning through sensory experiences and motor actions
  • development of object permanence (8 months)
  • trial and error learning
• 👧🏼 preoperational stage

  2 to 7 years

  • development of language and symbolic thinking
  • egocentric thinking
  • struggles with conservation and class inclusion
• 🧒🏼 concrete operational

  7 to 11 years

  • logical thinking
  • conservation and class inclusion
• 👩🏼 formal operational stage

  11+ years

  • thinks abstractly, logically and hypothetically
  • understands hypothetical-deductive reasoning
• what was the study for egocentrism?

  3 mountains task
• 🏔️ 3 mountains task

  investigate egocentrism

  • doll was placed at different point on the model
  • asked to select image showing the doll's view

  children under 7 showed egocentric thinking
• what was the study for conservation?

  liquid conservation
• 🥂 liquid conservation task

  see if children understand quantity despite changes in appearance

  • 2 identical glasses filled with same amount of liquid
  • liquid from 1 glass was poured into a taller and thinner glass
  • asked if amount was the same or different

  children under 7 said the taller glass had more liquid
• what task was used for class inclusion?

  animal categories
• 🐈 animal class inclusion task

  see if children understand categories can have subcategories

  • shown a picture of 5 dogs and 2 cats
  • asked "are there more dogs or more animals?"

  children under 7 answered "more dogs"
• 🧸 object permanence task

  test if children understand objects still exist even when out of sight

  • toy is shown to a baby and then hidden under a blanket
  • piaget observed whether baby searched for the toy

  before 8 months = didn't search

  after 8 months = did search
• ✅ strength of stages - support

  cross-cultural research

  • Dasen - non-western cultures develop conservation later than western samples
  • sequence of stages is universal
  • reflect a valuable developmental framework
• ❌ limitation of stages - underestimate

  underestimated cognitive abilities

  • McGarrigle & Donaldson - 90% could conserve when a change was accidental
  • children have logical abilities earlier than suggested
  • stages misrepresent children's abilities
• ❌ limitation of stages - discrete

  implies fixed stages

  • modern development suggests it's continuous and influenced by experience
  • show advanced reasoning in one domain but not others
  • oversimplify the complexity and overlapping nature
• ✅ strength of theory - impact

  lasting impact on education

  • discovery learning, readiness and concrete materials
  • primary schools uses hands-on activities to help build schemas
  • practical application
• ❌ limitation of theory - other factors

  underplays role of social and cultural context

  • vygotsky - learning is mediated through scaffolding
  • children develop cognitively faster when guided
  • neglect the importance of social influence
• ❌ limitation of theory - schemas

  schemas are difficult to directly measure

  • schemas are hypothetical constructs
  • lack empirical measurement
  • reduces scientific validity