Piaget 's Theory Of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that the developmental process of a child is the result of their brains maturity, their nervous system, and environmental factors. He believes the foundation of a child's ability to learn is through discovery learning (Gordon & Browne, 2016). Piaget suggests that a child’s logic of thinking is different from that of an adults. Children’s cognitive performance is directly related to the stage of development that they are in currently. Additionally, these stages are divided into sub-stages to provide greater insight into a child’s cognitive growth process. The initial stages of development is considered a difficult point to try to determine a child’s developmental

Piaget suggests that development in children occurs in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational.

Piaget (1936) was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development; contributing a theory of child cognitive development, detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities (McLeod, 2009). Analysing of this information indicates that Piaget undertook multiple educational studies, which undoubtedly helped with the creation of his theory. Questions could be asked in relation to this theory, for example, what were the specifics of these theories and how do they support child development? The theory can be implemented into teaching practices however there maybe strength and weaknesses as a result.

Children develop cognition through two main stages that Jean Piaget theorized. The stages run from birth and infancy to school age children. Sensorimotor is the first stage and goes from birth to about the age of two. This stage implies that the children learn about the environment they live in and they learn this through the reflexes and movements they produce. They also learn that they are separate people from their parents and they can say goodbye to them and know they will come back. The second stage is called the preoperational stage. During this stage of development, children will learn how to incorporate symbols to represent objects. This is also the beginning of learning the alphabet and speech. The child is still very much egocentric at this point in time, but with the help of understanding educators, the child will grow appropriately onto the next stages of development. Finally, the children need to develop emotionally/socially.

The Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development is also known as the stage theory. It introduces that, in the expansion of our thinking, we act through an organized and certain sequence of steps. However, the theory focuses not only on compassionate how the children obtain knowledge, but likewise on the discernment of the substance of intelligence. According to the Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, there are two stages in the thinking pattern of a 3-year old preschooler and 9-year-old student. They are the preoperational stage for the 2 to 7 year old and the concrete operations stage for the 9 year old. The preoperational stage (three years old preschooler), this is where a new child can intellectually perform and signify to the objects and issues with the quarrel or the images, and they can act. The concrete operations (nine year old student), where a child is at the stage and deliver the ability to maintain, reserve their thinking, and analyze the objects in conditions of their many parts. However, they can also assume logically and understand comparison, but only about the concrete events.

According to Piaget (1929, 1954, 1963), the process of adaptation helps us to understand how a child constructs his/her world. Taking Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development with particular focus on the Sensori-Motor stage of development, I am going to discuss how understanding this stage might influence me when working with a baby as a nursing student in the future.

When talking about human development, we are referring to the growth of humans in all aspects throughout their life. In this essay, I will be discussing two types of human development. Cognitive development, which is to do with the ability to think, remember and reason, and Social development, which involves relationships and interactions in the world around the individual. I will focus on how they relate to two significant experiences in my life and how these experiences were critical to my development as a learner. I will do this by analysing these experiences through Piaget’s theory of cognitive development including key concepts of equilibration, adaptation and former-operation cognitive stage, and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory including key concepts of the microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem.

The brain is the powerhouse of our body, without it you wouldn’t be you. Our brain is always developing and learning new things. Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to create a study of cognitive development that researchers and scientists still use today. Piaget’s Cognitive Theory includes the four stages of cognitive development from birth to adulthood: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, and Formal operational. These stages include thought, judgement, and knowledge. He made the claim that children may enter these stages at different ages, but insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, cannot be skipped, and that each stage is marked by new intellectual abilities.

Jean Piaget Believed in Cognitive Development. “ Cognitive development is the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood” (Cognitive). He came up with four stages to his theory, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Children between the ages of 0-3 years go through the Sensorimotor and the preoperational stages of development. The other stages do not impact a child’s development until the age of elementary to adolescence and into adulthood.

Piaget confirms “Each cognitive stage represents a fundamentally new psychological reorganization resulting from maturation of new functions and abilities” (as in Greene, 2009, p.144). The case Vignette describes Victors’ stages of development through Piaget’s stages of cognitive development as exhibited behavior that occurred during the sensorimotor, preoperational, as established areas. Victor experienced a normal birth. His baby stage and growth period were also normal. However, Piaget states “Progression from one stage to the next is a function of both biological maturation and the child’s experience and action in the environment” (as in Greene, 2009, p.145). Victor may have also experienced some difficulty understanding if and when his father would return to the family. Piaget states “reversibility is the ability to follow a line of reasoning back to where it started” (as in Greene, 2009, p. 146). During the concrete operational stage Victor may not have been able to separate his longing for his father from realizing that he was being provided for. Although his parents tried to keep him out of the details of their financial struggles he struggled to fit in. Piaget states “Development proceeds from logical thought to logical thought, when applied to concrete problems, objects or events” (as in Greene, 2009, p.146).

What are the major challenges to Piaget's theory of cognitive development and what aspects still have value?

Jean Piaget is best known for his theory of cognitive development. Piaget set out on an exploration to understand the developmental process on how children think and process information. Through the exploration Piaget discovered that the overall cognitive process within an individual develops through a combination of maturation of the brain and environmental experiences (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2011). Along the way Piaget coined key concepts to explain the theory. Some of the key concepts within the theory include schema, the adaptation processes, and the four stages of development.

Jean Piaget is considered to be very influential in the field of developmental psychology. Piaget had many influences in his life which ultimately led him to create the Theory of Cognitive Development. His theory has multiple stages and components. The research done in the early 1900’s is still used today in many schools and homes. People from various cultures use his theory when it comes to child development. Although there are criticisms and alternatives to his theory, it is still largely used today around the world.

For this paper I will be exploring Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget, theorized that children progress through four key stages of cognitive development that change their understanding of the world. By observing his own children, Piaget came up with four different stages of intellectual development that included: the sensorimotor stage, which starts from birth to age two; the preoperational stage, starts from age two to about age seven; the concrete operational stage, starts from age seven to eleven; and final stage, the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and continues into adulthood. In this paper I will only be focusing on the

Jean Piaget, a cognitivist, believed children progressed through a series of four key stages of cognitive development. These four major stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, are marked by shifts in how people understand the world. Although the stages correspond with an approximate age, Piaget’s stages are flexible in that if the child is ready they can reach a stage. Jean Piaget developed the Piagetian cognitive development theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages. The emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information characterize each stage. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.