Piaget's theory of cognitive development

define cognitive development

A general term describing the change in mental processes, in particular thinking, reasoning & our understanding of the world throughout life

define schema

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing which are developed from experience & interaction with the world

define assimilation

A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information or a more advanced understanding of something that does not radically change our understanding of the topic so it is incorporated into an existing schema

define accomodation

A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information that radically changes our understanding of a topic/is completely new to any existing scheme so that a new schema needs to be created to deal with the new understanding

define equilibration

Takes place when we have encountered new information and built it into our understanding of a topic through assimilation or accommodation, once this had taken place everything is balanced and we have escaped the unpleasant experience of disequilibrium

Piaget looked at specifically two aspects of children’s development:…

the role of motivation through the processes of disequilibrium & equilibration and how knowledge develops in terms of schemas and the role of assimilation & accomodation

The world is represented in the…

mind

The world is represented in the mind which is…

which is where knowledge is stored

As children develop, they…

construct more detailed & complex mental representations of the world which are stored in the form of a schema

According to Piaget, children are born with…

a small number of schemas which allow them to interact with the world

Children are born with schemas for…which are survival mechanisms

sucking and grasping

Piaget argued that we are motivated to learn when…

our existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new

When our existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new, thus leads to the unpleasant sensation of…

disequilibrium

disequilibrium is an … sensation

unpleasant

disequilibrium aka…

cognitive imbalance

To escape disequilibrium and to achieve equilibration the infant has to…

explore & adapt to the new situation through learning

Equilibration refers to the process of…

restoring cognitive balance

Equilibration follows…

a state of cognitive imbalance, known as disequilibrium

disequilibrium is where…

incoming information is inconsistent with existing schemas

Equilibration involves…

striking a balance between existing schema and new information

Equilibration is part of the process of…

adaptation to new experiences

Equilibrium results through the process of…

accommodation or assimilation

explain the strength research support for the individual formation of mental representation

Piaget’s theory suggests that children form individual representations of the world even when they have similar learning experiences. One researcher put children into groups to investigate the movement of objects on a downward slope and found that even though their understanding increased, it had not become more similar as each child had reached slightly different conclusions

explain the strength real-world application in teaching

Piaget’s idea that children learn by actively exploring their environment & forming their own mental representations has changed classroom teaching. Since Piaget’s ideas became more influential in the 1960s, the old fashioned classroom, in which children copied from boards, has been replaced by activity-oriented classrooms in which children actively engage in tasks that allow them to construct their own understanding of the curriculum

explain the weakness despite Piaget’s theory influencing modern teaching and learning, there is no firm evidence showing that children learn better using discovery learning

one study concluding that discovery learning with considerable input from teachers was the most effective way to learn suggesting that it is input from others, not discovery for self, which is the crucial element of Piaget’s discovery learning

explain the weakness Piaget underestimated the role of others in learning

Piaget saw other people as useful in learning in the sense that they are potential sources of info and learning experiences. However, he saw learning itself as an individual process. This contrasts with other theories in which learning is seen as a more social process, supported by more knowledgeable others. For example, Vygotsky’s theory proposes knowledge as existing first between the learner and the more experienced and then in the mind of the learner