Describe and evaluate some theories of cognitive development and comment on the impact they have had on education.
This essay will describe and evaluate two of the main three theories concerning cognitive development and comment on how they have impacted education. Cognitive development is the mental process in which we think and how we remember, problem solving and decision making. There are three main theorists that have a theory on cognitive development, Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner. Piaget and Vygotsky are the two main theorist whose theories will be described and evaluated within this essay Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who researched how people learn and how people’s knowledge grows and did many experiments to back up his research. Lev Vygotsky is another theorist who researched how a child develops and how there language develops as they get older.
Piaget’s theory for a people to cognitively develop contains three basic components. The first component is a schema, a schema is a cognitive structure that builds as we learn. He believed we develop a schema to organize the knowledge we have and the knowledge that we were learning.
His next component is how we learn, we start with a new experience which leads to assimilation, this is when we use “an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.” (Mc Leod, S. (2015)). This will then lead to disequilibrium, this is where there is an “imbalance between what is understood and what is encountered.” (The
Piaget believes that we are all born with around fifty ‘action schemas’ – breathing, sucking, crying etc. And through new experiences we are in a state of disequilibrium. Through equilibration it provides motivation for us to learn more about our world. Then through actions we build on these schemas, or schemata’s and assimilate by taking in and adapting new knowledge through the use of our existing schemas and we then accommodate and modify these existing schemas to incorporate our new knowledge. For example, according to Piaget, we are born with the ability to suck, and then at a certain age we are taught how to use a Sippy cup, which takes the action of sucking and assimilates tipping the cup to get the drink inside. Therefore we have assimilated this new movement and accommodated and modified it to incorporate the new knowledge.
The study of Cognitive theories has many different aspects that have been debated many years ago. Developmental psychologists try to explain cognitive development approaches which describe the process of human 's thought. One of the developmental psychologist who studied on the area of cognitive was Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget a Swiss psychologist was the first developmental researcher who has extensive research on cognitive development. In addition, the revolution of Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory has changed the development psychology forever. In fact, although this theory is one of the most influential theories that have had a major impact on child’s cognitive development, many developmental psychologist has been criticized it as well(Miller,2007). Therefore, the limitations of this theory made the developmental psychologists thinking of information processing theory might complete Piaget’s Theory(Miller,2007). Information processing theory is another theory that was engaged in the era of cognitive development. It is possible to better understand Piaget theory and Information Processing theory by comparing several important aspects of developmental psychology: nature of humans, quantitative or qualitative, and nature or nurture.
Cognitive development is the term used to describe the construction of thought process, including remembering, problem solving and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. In this essay I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, both of which were enormously significant contributors to the cognitive development component to/in psychology. In addition to this I will also weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of each theory and outline how they can be applied to an educational setting.
He theorized that cognitive development proceeds in four genetically determined stages that always follow the same sequential order. Piaget used the term Schema to define this.
The cognitive developmental theory comes from the work and research done by Jean Piaget which we believe is an empiricist approach which goes hand and hand with Piaget’s constructive approach. Empiricism is a theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. The constructive approach is viewed as children discovering all knowledge about the world through their own learning and knowledge. According to Piaget, children pass through these stages at different times in their lives and cannot skip a stage which causes them to be seen as invariant.
Piaget was a Swiss Psychologist and is most famous for his work and research on cognitive development. He put forward the Theory of Cognitive Development and key elements in this theory include the formation of “Schemas” and “organisation”. A “schema” is an individuals thoughts and beliefs about an object or event and “organisation” refers to the ability of the child to put stages of each period (eg. Sensori-Motor Period) into a logical order (Miller,
A central concept in Piaget’s theory is that of the schema. It is defined as an internalized representation of the world or an ingrained and systematic pattern or thoughts, action, and problem solving. Our schemata are developed through social learning or direct learning. Both processes involve assimilation, which is
Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. In this essay on cognitive development I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analysing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge. (Flanagan 1996 P.72). I will then go onto evaluate the usefulness of these theories in understanding a child's development.
As we already discuss before in the PowerPoint about the different stages in early child development there are also theories that suggest how children develop in there early stages. The theories consist of Jean Piaget proposal about intellectual development of children and Erik Erikson theory focusing on children development within their lifespan. Both Piaget and Erikson elaborate about how children motor skills, brain development, intellectual skills are started from birth. In Piaget theories he uses a theoretical system for the development of cognitive abilities his work emphasized that children think and acquire knowledge. Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a theory about the nature and development of human intelligence.
Cognitive development, as described by Piaget, is how a child learns and develops their intelligence. He describes intellectual development as a sequence of four principles, which children move through in the same order, but at their own pace (Nakagaki, 2011, p. 370). Development is defined as an increase in function and progression of skills, and proceeds from
Firstly, looking at two theorists who focused on cognitive development. Piaget, who believed that it is mainly nature that influences
Many studies have been done on cognitive development the most used theory though is Jean Piaget’s Cognitive-Stage Development Theory. What is Cognitive Development? It is the area of study using the nervous system and psychology to look at the development of a child. Piaget’s uses four sections to explain these developments being sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. The stage sensorimotor is split up into six subcategories.
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are often considered the most influential cognitive development and learning psychologists of the 20th century. Their research efforts have inspired numerous interpretations and spawned new outlets of approaching developmental psychology. The following paragraphs will analyze the theories of Piaget of Vygotsky and discuss how their research can be used to advance the use of cognitive development in learning, both traditional and online.
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
Influenced by psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner, the cognitive perspective has grown tremendously in recent decades. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. He brought along the idea that people learn to create an understanding