Piagets theory of cognitive development

• Schemas


  A cognitive model of people, objects or situations based on previous information and experiences which help us to perceive, organise and understand new information
• Assimilation


  Adding new information to an existing schema
• Accommodation

  Changing or developing a new schema to cope with a new situation
• Stages of cognitive development (Piaget)


  • Sensorimotor (0-2)
  • Pre-operational (2-7)
  • Concrete operational (7-11)
  • Formal operational (11+)
• Sensorimotor stage


  • Children learn through doing things and their senses
  • Develop object permanence
• Pre-operational stage


  • Children are ego-centric
• Concrete operational stage


  • Children develop the ability to conserve
• Formal operational stage


  • Children are able to reason logically about abstract concepts
• Piaget believed that a child's intelligence develops from discovering things for themselves
• Piaget said that children had to be ready to learn, and that they would only gain new concepts if they were at the right stage of development for what they were learning
• Readiness approach


  Presenting opportunities for the child to learn new concepts only when they are at the right stage of intellectual development and ready to learn
• Child-centred teaching


  The teacher should provide the materials and allow the child to discover the answers to problems for themselves
• Teaching materials for science and maths should consist of actual objects that a child can manipulate
• Sensorimotor stage research

  piaget gave a child a toy to play with and then hid out of their sight to see if they would search for the toy. Children under 8 months did not whereas those over 8 months did
• pre-operational stage research

  to investigate this, piaget showed child a model of 3 mountains and places a doll besides the model. The child had to choose out of photos shown which was the perspective of the doll

  Children under 7 chose their own view, whereas those over chose the dolls view
• Concrete operational stage research

  piaget showed two identical rows of counters and asked if three were the same number rin each row. When the child agreed, piaget spread out the counters and asked again. Under 7s said no and over said yes.