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Piaget Stages Of Cognitive Development Essay

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Piaget considered the most critical factor in a child’s cognitive development to be interaction with peers. Piaget observed that children are most challenged in their thinking when they are with peers as they are all on equal footing and are freer to confront ideas than when interacting with adults. Piaget used the word ’schema’ to show the meaning of a child’s conclusions or thoughts and he felt that learning was a continuing process, where children need to adapt their original ideas if a new piece of information contradicted their conclusions. Piaget proposed as a child develops, so does their thinking and between birth and adulthood a person will go through four stages of cognitive development. Sensorimotor Period: which lasts from birth to around 2 years …show more content…

Piaget describes the radical change takes place in children’s thinking at around 18 months, in terms of the child’s ability to use symbols, but he tended to focus and what a child still cannot do rather than on what the child can do. Concrete operational stage: around 7-12 Years at this stage children continue to learn through their experiences solving problems mentally with real objects and become capable of logical thought. Formal operational stage: from 12 years into adulthood children begin to develop a more abstract view of the world, they understand that it is possible to create rules that help them to test things out, to have a hypotheses to test things out and they can now think in a rational scientific manner solving complex problems. When looking at links to with this theory Piaget’s work supports current practice early years settings now provide a more hands-on approach and more relevant tasks for children and young people. His work has influenced a more “child-centred” approach to teaching, where practitioners initially work out the child’s needs and plan their

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