Erikson and Piaget

Psychology is full of theories that explain why we think the way we think. Of those theories, is the popular Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Jean Piaget introduced a variety of ideas and concepts to the world of psychology describing logical thinking in children and adolescents. To fully comprehend just how valuable his theories are today, it is important to explore the life of Jean Piaget, his educational background, and the stages of cognitive development and how the stages impact the classroom. This will give a further analysis and explanation of how Piaget has helped to shape our viewpoints as teachers today.

There are many different theories of development that help us to understand children’s behaviour, reactions and ways of learning. All equally important as they influence practice. To begin with there is Piaget’s constructivist theories which look at the way in which children seem to be able to make sense of their world as a result of their experiences and how they are active learners. He also suggested that as children develop so does their thinking. Piaget’s work has influenced early years settings into providing more hands on and relevant tasks for children and young people. In other words the children are ‘learning through play’. Teachers are working out the needs of children and plan activities accordingly.

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, made substantial findings in intellectual development. His Cognitive Theory influenced both the fields of education and psychology. Piaget identified four major periods of cognitive development: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operations stage, and the stage of formal operations. The preoperational stage includes children two to four years of age and is characterized by the development and refinement of schemes for symbolic representation. During the preoperational stage lies, what Piaget coined, the intuitive period. This phase occurs during the ages of 4-7 and during this time, the child’s thinking is largely centered on the way things appear to be rather than on

Erikson’s theory of personality is based on his eight stages of development. In each of these eight stages of

Jean Piaget is known for his theories in cognitive development theory. His theory is based on the idea that children constantly construct knowledge as they explore and mold their environment. There are four stages in Piaget’s theory, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operations, the stages also corresponds with how old the child is. Not every child will be in the stage that matches the child’s age because some children are exceptional. Piaget’s theory is based on the cognitive development of how the average child shows their learned behavior through performed tasks. As I went through the first interview, I realized that how the children came to develop their answers was what’s important about the assignment. each child with the Piagetian Task Kit, I started to realize The Piagetian Task Kit helped me examine and see where each child was at in their cognitive development level.

Piaget’s theory is contrary to the behaviourist model as he believed that through observation, children ‘construct’ their own understanding of the world, based on their own experiences and prior knowledge. Piaget believed that this type of learning was more influential than instruction from a teacher or caregiver.

For example, this change would allow the children more time to read independently and work independently which would increase their knowledge of themselves and the content as well. Through allowing the children to take control of their learning, their learning is being fostered and they are given the opportunity to be active learners. According to Jean Piaget (1969), children learn through their schemes or the knowledge they already know about the world. Educators are then given the responsibility to create experiences and opportunities for problem solving to promote active learners. By allowing opportunities for children to be active learners, they are building on the knowledge they already know about the world and accommodating and adapting to new

Piaget and Vygotsky both believed that young children actively learn from their hands-on, day-to-day experiences. Jean Piaget portrayed children as "little scientists" who go about actively constructing their understanding of the world. His theories hold the essence of developmentally appropriate curriculum since Piaget believed that children undergo cognitive development in a stage-based manner, such that a very young child would not think about things the same way that an adult might. He referred to the knowledge and the manner in which the knowledge is gained as a schema. In order to build on the cognitive stages that children experience, informal learning opportunities, formal instructional sessions, and the utilized curriculum must all dovetail with a child's current cognitive stage so that assimilation of the new knowledge may occur. Working with what the child knows and experiences, parents and teachers create bridges to the next cognitive stage that are characterized by the child's accommodation. Piaget argued that optimal learning took place in this manner and that adults should avoid thinking that they can accelerate a child's development through the age-based, maturity-referenced stages. This is because a child works toward establishing an equilibrium between the assimilation and application of new knowledge and changing their behavior to accommodate their newly adopted schemas.

Erikson’s main contribution to psychology was his developmental theory. He developed eight psychosocial stages of development and believed that each stage presents

Education is not the teacher but rather what the teacher does to encourage the transfer of knowledge. Students learn by an innate nature. It is this innate nature that drives humans to be curious and inquisitive enriching the learning process. Jean Piaget’s Developmental Stage Theory deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans come gradually to acquire, construct, and use it. According to

Piaget’s cognitive constructivism also has its place in the classroom. As discussed by Kamii & Lewis (1990), students doing maths problems learn better by constructing them internally, by ‘playing around’ with numbers, using games and real life situations to link the base knowledge they need to fulfil the learning outcome with concrete examples. Students can relate more to these

Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget are quite similar in their theories. Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory is only slightly different than Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory. Both theorists use the idea of developmental stages. Although the stages vary in what they entail, the carry the same idea of progressive development. Jean Piaget was born September 16, 1980, in Switzerland. His research found “that the growth of knowledge is a progressive construction of logically embedded structures superseding one another by a process of inclusion of lower less powerful logical means into higher and more powerful ones up to adulthood. Therefore, children 's logic and modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults” (Smith, 2000). On the other hand, there’s the theory of Erikson, born in Germany in 1902. His theory saying, “Developmental progression — from trust to autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity — was conceived as the sequential reorganization of ego and character structures. Each phase was the potential root of later health and pathology. By focusing on the social as well as the psychological, Erikson’s stages represented a quantum leap in Freudian thought, which had emphasized the psychosexual nature of development” (EI, 2013). Both theories are equally interesting. Although only slightly different, they both advocate for the nurture side of nature versus nurture debate.

Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is well-known and provides a basic understanding of the cognitive process and how children

Piaget also theorized that each child acts on his own environment for learning, thereby constructing his or her own knowledge. He also believed that hands-on activities provide aid when learning future complex skills. Consequently, children will repeat these activities until they understand them.