Developmental

• Sensori-motor stage (0-2 years)


  Develop neural tube, cerebral cortex, neurons and simple synapses. Develop object permanence.
• Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)


  Develop language skills & mental representation of objects & events. Egocentric, show animism, lack of reversibility.
• Concrete-operational stage (7-11 years)

  Develop ability to decentrate and conserve. Develop linguistic humour but cannot imagine the world abstractly.
• Formal operational stage (11+ years)


  Capable of forming and testing hypothesis, understand rules of formal logic and can solve abstract problems.
• Piaget's theory suggests that children progress through universal and invariant stages of cognitive development
• Piaget's theory is too reductionist


  It ignores the role of environment (parents, teachers, peers etc.)
• Piaget's claim of universal and invariant stages

  Is oversimplistic (e.g. in some countries children learn to conserve much earlier due to survival)
• Growth mindset


  Believe intelligence can be developed through experiences and effort
• Fixed mindset


  Believe that intelligence is predefined and we are born with certain abilities
• Dweck's theory focuses too much on the importance of nurture


  It ignores biological learning difficulties and disabilities
• Willingham's theory


  Ignores innate factors in development (e.g. hearing or sight loss)
• Piaget's study on conservation of number


  Aimed to see the stage of development when children are able to conserve
• Piaget's study


  • Natural experiment and cross-sectional study
  • Children in concrete operational stage (7+) could conserve and explain why
• Blackwell et al.'s study on fixed and growth mindset

  • Aimed to see impact of growth mindset on maths ability, achievement and motivation
  • Growth mindset is related to maths ability and teaching growth mindset has a positive impact on maths achievement
• Readiness for questioning - Piaget claimed that children need to have learning experiences based on their developmental stage
• Readiness for key stages - Piaget's stages are linked to the different key stages in education
• Praise for effort


  Teachers and parents play an important part in the development of different mindsets through giving praise for the amount of effort made
• Learning occurs through meaning, not styles


  Willingham argues for the importance of meaning for learning, most learning takes place through understanding the meaning
• IQ tests were created to measure how we learn, think and problem-solve
• The nature vs nurture debate explores the environment and innate factors in development