Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Summery of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Jean Piaget suggested that children reason / think differently from adults and see the world in different ways. He believed that cognitive development was a result from maturation and interaction with the envrionment.

Schemas

Mental structures which contain knowledge about the world. Some schemas may represent a group of related concepts, e.g. your schema for a dog (fur, four legs, wet nose).

Schemas can be behavioural (e.g. grasping for an object) or cognitive (e.g. classifying objects). We could also consider social schemas.

Children are born with a few schemas and in infancy develop new schemas from interacting with the environment. New experiences = new and more complex schemas being developed.

Assimilation

Applying as existing schemas to a new situation or object.

When faced with new information, to make sense of it, you refer to information you already have.

Accommodation

Involves forming a new schema distinct from the existing schema (conflicting information).

Equilibration and desequilibrium

Equilibration is where there is a mental balance between what is already known and incoming information. Equilibrium occurs when a child’s schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation.

An unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be filtered into existing schemas (assimilation).

Equilibrium is the force that drives the learning process (we don’t like to be frustrated) and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation).

Evaluation: research, debate, application, alternative.

Research (supporting evidence)

Howe (1993) placed 9-12 yr/o in groups of 4 to study and discuss the movement of objects down a slope. He assessed their understanding of the topic b/a the discussion. Howe found the level of the children’s knowledge and understanding increased after the discussion. The children had not come to the same conclusion or facts about the movement of objects down a slope. The different conclusions of the children supports Piaget’s belief that even children with similar learning experiences will form different mental representations.

Debate (nature / nurture)

Piaget’s theory explains cognitive development through the combined interaction of nature and nurture. P believed that cognitive development was a result of nature - as a child becomes older (biological maturation), certain mental processes become possible and through nurture; as children interact with the environment their understanding of the world becomes more complex.

Application (educational)

Many features of Piaget’s theory have been applied to education and been very influential in developing education policies and teaching practices. A review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on his theory. This led to a radical change in teaching whereby discovering learning, the idea children learn best through doing and actively exploring, replaced older practises like sitting silently and copying from the board.

Alternative (comparison with Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development)

Both psychologist place cognition at the centre of the theory, and see the learner as being active as opposed to passive. They both highlight the role of experience (nurture) in cognitive development. However, Piaget saw learners as mini-scientists, learning in terms of what happens in the mind of the individual through trial and error. Vygotsky proposed learning is essentially a social process (learners are mini-apprentices),and that children are capable of more advanced learning if this is supported by peers or an expert adult. She suggests the development can be explained with social rather than individual factors.