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Piaget Theory

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If I were to develop a program for preschoolers, using the work of Jean Piaget, there is much I would have to do. This theory is incredibly popular, and was the basis for many other theories to follow. Children in this program would have to follow through with different tasks in order to strengthen and develop new skills, and follow through with schematic play, which is potentially critical for overall development.
Jean Piaget was a clinical psychologist, famous for his work in child development. His theory of cognitive development is still popular to this day, despite the fact that new theories are tested every day. Piaget states that cognitive development is discontinuous; it is broken down into different stages. (cite) Each stage establishes major characteristics and changes that develop in children from birth until age 12. In order, these stages are: The sensorimotor stage from ages 0-2; the preoperational stage from ages 2-7; the concrete operational stage from ages 7-11; and the formal operational state from age 12 and onwards. (cite) Due to the fact that the children in the program are around 4 years old, the main focus will be around the second stage.
Based on Piaget’s theory, these preschoolers would be in the preoperational stage. This stage is marked by the emergence of language. Children in this stage will be able to form sentences and will be able to establish some concrete ideas. The pursuit of lines of logic will become a main focus, and children begin to use the sentence “Why?” They will be able to communicate more clearly what they want and need. Children at this age will also become more skilled at pretend play. They will also start understand spatial reasoning and to use symbols and “learn to use words and pictures to represent objects” (citation). They will start to understand classification and learn about groups of objects; however this skill will still need to be developed.
Some shortcomings will be that these children may think in only concrete terminology and will not be able to understand abstract ideas. They may also struggle to pay attention to more than one thing at the same time. Another issue is that these kids are egocentric, as in they will struggle to see things from any

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