Jean Piaget

Sensorimotor

• 0-2years

• Baby learns through senses and movement

• learns to problem solve through trial and error

• can remember the past

• Object Permanence

Object Permanence

Knowing that an object still exists even when it cannot be seen

Pre-operational

• 2-7 years

• Divided into two sub stages: Symbolic and Intuitive

Pre-operational Symbolic Substage

• 2-4 years

• children can think symbolically

• represent things through images

• egocentrism

• animism

Egocentrism

This is when children believe that everyone thinks like them. ‘The three mountain task’

Animism

This is when children give human like traits to objects. For example, a child talking to their stuffed animal

Describe the three mountain task

• The child views the mountains from all angles. 

• Then the child sits at the table.

• A doll is then moved around the table. 

• The child believes the doll can see the same perspective as they can.

Pre-operational Intuitive Substage

• child begins to understand reasoning

• doesnt fully understand consequences

• Centration

• Decrentration

• Conservation

Centration

focus on one characteristic of an object or idea.

Decentration

the ability to consider multiple aspects of a situation.

Conservation

experiments or tasks demonstrating children's inability to decentre.

Give an example of conservation

• child is shown two glasses filled with water

• one glass is shorter and wider, the other is narrower and taller.

• the volume of the two glasses are equal

• the child believes the narrower glass have more water because it is taller,

Concrete Operational

• 7-11 years

• children understand conservation associated with number

• will eventually understand conservation associated with volume

• can solve concrete problems

• children at this age may struggle with abstract problems

Formal Operational

• 12 years+

• start to reason hypothetically

• understand abstract concepts (culture, art)

• approach problems logistically

Schema

a mental folder where we store similar ideas and experiences

Example: schema of a dog is a four legged furry animal

Assimilation

when we learn something new, and it fits into an existing schema

Example: A child sees a new breed of dog and calls it a dog because it matches their "dog" schema.

Accommodation

When new information doesn't fit, we have to change our schema

Example: The child sees a cat, calls it a dog, but learns it’s actually a cat. Now, they create a new "cat" schema.

Equilibrium

When everything makes sense and fits into our understanding

Example: The understanding that dogs and cats are different

Disequilibrium

when something new doesn’t fit with what we already know.

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

1. Ignored Social & Cultural Influences - Piaget focused on how children learn on their own, but he didn’t look at how parents, teachers, or culture help learning.

2. Stages Are Too Rigid - Piaget believed that children move through stages at set ages, but in reality, some children develop faster or slower.