Premium Essay

Jean Piagets Theory on Child Development

In:

Submitted By RiaDrury
Words 954
Pages 4
Jean Paiget (1896-1980) was biologist who was originally studied molluscs.
He was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland he passed away September 16th 1980.

Jean Piaget’s theory as 4 developmental stages these are,

* The Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years)
* The Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
* The Concrete Operational (7-11 years)
* The Formal Operational Stage (11 years plus)

All of these 4 developmental stages have sub-stages for each age range.

Sensorimotor Sub-stages
Simple reflexes - (birth-1 month old)
At this time the infant uses natural reflexes that they were born with such as, sucking and rooting. In which they understand the environment purely on these actions.

Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)
This stage a child may suck their thumb or finger by accident and then repeat the action intentionally for pleasure.

Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months) The child becomes more focused of their immediate environment and likes to see the affects of their surroundings such as they may pick up a toy to place it in their mouth or move a toy to another place.

Co-Ordination of Reactions (8-12 months)
At this stage a child starts to explore their close surroundings such as picking up a set of toy keys and shake them to realise they make a noise once they are shaken.

Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
At this stage a child starts to practice attention seeking form a parent or a career by shouting, screaming or just generally making a noise to see the reaction from their actions.

Early Representational Thoughts (18-24 months)
In this finally sub-stage children will start to understand the world through mental development rather than just their actions.

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
At this stage children’s Language and mental development start to take a huge leap!
Children’s pretend play increases great deal

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Psychology 309

...Cognitive Theorist: Jean Piaget Tatiana Larson PSY/390 May 30, 2015 Richard Codd Cognitive Theorist: Jean Piaget Theorist Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to make a “systematic study” of cognitive development. The work of Piaget is often described as genetic epistemology simply put, “the origins of thinking” (McLeod, S. A. (2015). This theory is often recognized for its four stages, sensorimotor, preoperational thinking, concrete operations, and formal operations. Later in this article we will go over the details of each stage. The goal however of these studies was not to measure how well a child could function cognitively in order to grade their I.Q., but to identify the way the material concepts emerge in the mind. In this article we will be going over some key information regarding Jean Piaget and the theory he developed. Jean Piaget: Contributions After understanding what Jean Piaget set out to prove with this theory it is important to recognize the contributions that were made. It is because of this theory that “discovery learning” has been integrated with the primary school curriculum. The stages that were developed by Piaget help teachers, psychologists, etc. to identify the path that each child takes cognitively. Once we fully understood the true benefits of understanding the youth and were able recognize the importance of individuality we could then see an influence on the learning process. According to Piaget’s theory, classroom learning should...

Words: 1132 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Wgu Fht Task 1

...Jessica Odessa Shepherd Human Development and Learning - FHT4 Western Governors University Student ID 259630 FHT4 - Task 1 Cognitive Development refers to the construction of the thought process that includes problem solving, remembering and the ability to make decisions, from childhood up to the adulthood stage. Cognitive/Intellectual Development is the ability to learn, reason, and analyze the fact that a process begins from infancy and progresses as the individual (Educational Psychology). Cognitive Development contains events that are logical, like thinking and remembering. Some factors remain the same throughout many of the theories on cognitive development. All theorists agree that people go through specific steps and/or stages of learning and understanding. Along with the fact that there are certain principles must be meet before learning can occur. There are many ideas and opinions that cognitive theorist have about the development of a person’s cognition. Two theorists that are commonly known in the field of cognitive development are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. These two theorists agree on the several concepts of cognitive development but differ on others, the most commonly agreed difference among all theorists involved in cognitive development is the simple yet complex question of how cognitive development occurs. Jean Piaget, born 1896 and died 1980, was a Swiss psychologist; his focused was on the way an individual child acts upon an object in their environment...

Words: 1675 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Jean Piaget

...Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland on August 9th, 1896. He was the oldest of three children, and the only boy. His father was Arthur Piaget, a professor of medieval literature. His mother was Rebecca Jackson, and his godfather was the Swiss scholar Samuel Cornut. In 1923, he married Valentine Chatenay. The couple had three children, Jacqueline, Lucienne, and Laurent. Piaget died in Geneva on September 16, 1980, after a brilliant scientific career made of over sixty books and several hundred articles (Papert, 1999). Piaget’s greatest contribution was to found the field of cognitive development. He believed children are the biggest manufacturers of their own development, as man’s capacity for logical thought is not learned but embedded along with hair color and sex, in his genes. In other words, a child cannot be forced to develop understanding any faster than the rate at which his powers mature to their full potential, so there is a limit to what overeager parents and teachers can achieve. On the flip side, a child who does not get the chance to apply his developing abilities and test limitations may never reach his full intellectual capacity (Pramling, 2006). According to Jurczak (1997), Piaget believed in four stages of cognitive development: • Stage 1: Sensorimotor – Newborn to Age 2 The child’s primary concern is mastering his own innate physical reflexes and extending them into interesting or pleasurable actions. During this time, the child becomes...

Words: 1869 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Leadership

...Theorist Paper Sherry McLaren PSY\390 May 20, 2015 Thomas Zahler Cognitive Theorist Paper The study of cognitive theory is the process and interpretation of any given information. There are two sections of cognitive theory. One is behavioral cognitive and the other is social cognitive. Behavioral cognitive can be affected by the environment and is more or less predictable. Similar to behavior cognitive, social cognitive has another key component which is genetics along with the environment and behavior. Jean Piaget was a child psychologist. Jean Piaget’s contribution to learning and cognition were the four stages of cognitive development. Which are still used today. These four stages help to understand how a child’s cognitive process is different from an adult cognitive process. The four stages include, “Sensorimotor (birth to two years of age), Preoperational (from age two to age seven), Concrete (Seven to Eleven years of age) and Formal Operation or Abstract Thinking (from eleven years of age and so on)” (http://www.sciography.com/jean-piaget.htm). In the sensorimotor stage a child’s focus is to master solid objects. Preoperational stage, is where a child masters figuration. Concrete stage is where a child begins to understand reason and formal operation stage, a child should be able to master thought. Not all children are able to conquer this. Jean Piaget studied children more so his own three children rather than others but also studied his kids’ friends. He ordinated...

Words: 664 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Cognitive Theory

...Cognitive Theory: An Annotated Bibliography History of Education in America Pamela Allen November 12, 2007 INTRODUCTION The study of child development has inspired many theories. Psychologists have tried to understand why there is a difference between a child’s level of intelligence, motivation, social skills, and mannerisms. The cognitive theory helps explain each step of a child’s development with different aspects of each. The study of development of children is important to help parents, teachers and caregivers’ insight in the different ways children grow and learn. Cognitive theory helps explain how senses, environment, and an individual’s brain effect how and what kind of personality develops and possibly predicting a future. If parents believe that intelligence can be strongly influenced by experience, they make special efforts to help them learn, if believed inborn and unchangeable, they are less likely to make any effort. Children have their own internal drives and needs as well as heredity endowments that influence development. The cognitive theory is only a stepladder and there may be different equations added in either direction but we are given a building block foundation. Cognitive theories emphasize the mental aspect of development like logic and memory and focus on Jean Piaget’s theory children are born with an inborn ability to adapt to their environment. STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE TO BE INVESTIGATED ...

Words: 3059 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Cognitive Theorist

...Cognitive Theorist – Jean Piaget Terry Cross University of Phoenix 10/17/2014 Contribution of the theorist in the field of learning Jean Piaget was one of the pioneer psychologists who concentrated on the systematic analysis of cognitive development. Jean Piaget contributed in the field of learning by developing a theory of cognitive development in children. His detailed and close observational studies of children’s cognition in addition to administering ingenious tests to children revealed varying cognitive abilities. Piaget’s drive to study the cognitive development in children was informed by the psychological assumption that children have reduced or less thinking competency that adults. As such, Piaget made observations that children have a different mode of thinking compared to adult members of the society. Piaget established that children have innate and basic genetically inherited and evolved mental structures upon which later knowledge and learning stems from (Piaget, 1936). The cognitive theory developed by Piaget contributes to the understanding of cognitive development in children. Cognitive development theory by Piaget concentrates more on the cognitive development and does not argue about learning and acquiring information on given behaviors. Cognitive theory details elaborate stages of cognitive development that differ from one another. As such, the cognitive theory contributes to the field of cognition by explaining processes and systems by...

Words: 853 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Cognitive Theorist

...Cognitive Theorist – Jean Piaget Terry Cross University of Phoenix 10/17/2014 Contribution of the theorist in the field of learning Jean Piaget was one of the pioneer psychologists who concentrated on the systematic analysis of cognitive development. Jean Piaget contributed in the field of learning by developing a theory of cognitive development in children. His detailed and close observational studies of children’s cognition in addition to administering ingenious tests to children revealed varying cognitive abilities. Piaget’s drive to study the cognitive development in children was informed by the psychological assumption that children have reduced or less thinking competency that adults. As such, Piaget made observations that children have a different mode of thinking compared to adult members of the society. Piaget established that children have innate and basic genetically inherited and evolved mental structures upon which later knowledge and learning stems from (Piaget, 1936). The cognitive theory developed by Piaget contributes to the understanding of cognitive development in children. Cognitive development theory by Piaget concentrates more on the cognitive development and does not argue about learning and acquiring information on given behaviors. Cognitive theory details elaborate stages of cognitive development that differ from one another. As such, the cognitive theory contributes to the field of cognition by explaining processes and systems by...

Words: 853 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Teaching Fundamental Moral Principles to Students at Different Age Groups

...pregnancy and inclining abortion rates have caused many to question the morals of the upcoming generation. This is not only faced in Singapore, but many other nations are also facing serious moral issues with the children these days. Therefore, for today’s programme, I will be focusing on different age groups; children between the age 3 and 5, Primary 5 students (10-11 years old) and High School Seniors/Junior College students (16-17 years old), and teach these students about right or wrong of fundamental moral principles. To learn about cognitive development of young children and teenagers, we will look into Jean Piaget’s theories. Piaget is widely respected by all, including those who have criticized or used his theories. He was one of the first psychologists that focused directly relevant to contemporary theories of moral TEACHING FUNDAMENTAL MORAL PRINCIPLES TO Page 3 STUDENTS AT DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS development. Hence during...

Words: 2327 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

...Piaget’s Theory of Child Psychological Development There currently exists a great deal of literature based on child developmental psychology from a variety of great psychologists, notably Freud, Erikson, Bowlby, Bandura, Vygotsky, and many others. However, this paper will focus on the theories of Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher, was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896. After working with Alfred Binet in his children’s intelligence tests, Piaget developed an interest in the development of children He is widely known for his epistemological studies regarding children and formulating the Cognitive Theory of Development. Piaget self-identifies as a genetic epistemologist; “What the genetic epistemology proposes is discovering the roots of the different varieties of knowledge, since its elementary forms, following to the next levels, including also the scientific knowledge”. Jean Piaget was the first to believe that children were no less smarter than adults, they just think differently. Piaget refers to children as “little scientists” because they actively try to explore and make sense of the world around them The model Piaget designed was a model that sought to explain how humans made sense of the world around them through collecting and organizing information from experiences with people, applied to children specifically. The model itself has four main stages in children: the sensorimotor stage (birth to two years)...

Words: 1069 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Child Development

...“Child Development Theory”1 “Child Development Theory” Ney Brown PSY104: Child and Adolescent Development Instructor: Daniella Atwell August 20,2012 “Child Development Theory” 2 Child development occurs from birth and continues throughout adulthood, and during their life span they go through many different changes, including language, physical growth, and cognitive abilities. Interest in this field has been very important to researchers because they want to know what happens during child development as well as the influences on development. There are a few theorist who have their views on child development and they are Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. Understanding child development has become very important today as we all want to Know what a child actually goes through during their development, and later on in life because most of these things will affect them later on in life. Many people don’t realize the many different stages a child goes through from birth and into early adulthood. Some of the major ...

Words: 3015 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Jean Piaget

...Cognitive Theorist -Jean Piaget Erika Rakes Psy- 390 November 24, 2014 Matthew Pearcy Cognitive Theorist - Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist & philosopher, when it came to his career of course, has had a profound conclusion on both education and psychology. Throughout his career, Jean Piaget worked to compose a plethora of contributions to learning and also to cognition. This model that has been developed by Piaget still has modern day relevancy. Olson, M. H. & Hergenhahn, B. R. (2013). An introduction to theories of learning (9th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Contributions to learning and Cognition Piaget has created a plethora of contributions to learning and cognition by theories which in being beneficial to understanding the cognitive characteristics between adults and children. He has implemented as well as sustained for the idea of children and adults think differently. Piaget’s endeavors’ also bring about and increased interest in developmental and cognitive psychology. However when students in education and psychology, they study the theories of Piaget to understand learning and cognition. When we speak of implementing Piaget’s theories of cognitive development to education of children is yet another donation that enables the effective teaching of children (Kuhn, 1979). The last contribution of Piaget the creation of the International Center for Genetic Epistemology, this was created in 1955. ...

Words: 886 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

...of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget is a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. Piaget believed that children play an active role in the growth of intelligence. He regarded children as philosophers who perceive the world as he or she experiences it (ICELS). Therefore in Piaget’s most prominent work, his theory on the four stages of cognitive development, much of his inspiration came from observations of children. The theory of cognitive development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing, and reasoning. Through his work, Piaget showed that children think in considerably different ways than adults do and as such he saw cognitive development as a progressive reorganization of mental processes resulting from maturation and experience (1973). To explain this theory, Piaget used the concept of stages to describe his development as a sequence of the four following stages: sensory – motor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. There are three elements however to understanding his theory of cognitive development. They are schema, the fours process that enable transition from on stage to another, and finally the four stages themselves. He began his studies by making naturalistic observations. Piaget made careful, detailed observations of children, typically his own children or their friends, from these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also conducted...

Words: 2023 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development in Relation to Children’s Developing Mathematical Knowledge.

...Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in relation to children’s developing mathematical knowledge. Introduction Jean Piaget, a psychologist, made the study of cognitive development. He contributed a lot to the theory of cognitive child development. His study, especially his quantitative concepts, has created much attention in the field of child education. He explored children’s cognitive development to quince his interest in genetic epistemology. His exploration of children’s quantitative development has established mathematical knowledge with vital insights on how children learn ideas and mathematical concepts (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). This essay demonstrates the study of cognitive development of the mathematical knowledge in context of the Australian Curriculum. For that, I have chosen the age level 2. The approach of this essay will provide a discussion of Piaget’s theory in relation to Australian Curriculum, a brief difference of Piaget’s theory with Vygotsky theory, and summary of the study. Justification of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget believed that, child development occurs through an unswerving transformation of the thinking process. When certain development takes place, the cognitive development stage requires a period of months or years. He also described that the development of children learning is steady and gradual varying the stage. It depends on culture, experience, maturity level, ability, etc. All children have to pass through each...

Words: 1212 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

...Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Early childhood is not only a period of amazing physical growth, it is also a time of remarkable mental development. Cognitive abilities associated with memory, reasoning, problem-solving and thinking continue to emerge throughout childhood. When it comes to childhood cognitive development, it would be impossible to avoid mentioning the work of psychologist Jean Piaget. After receiving his doctoral degree at age 22, Jean Piaget began a career that would have a profound impact on both psychology and education. Through his work with Alfred Binet, Piaget developed an interest in the intellectual development of children. Based upon his observations, he concluded that children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only a genius could have thought of it."Piaget created a theory of cognitive development that described the basic stages that children go through as they mentally mature. He believed that children are like "little scientists," actively trying to make sense of the world rather than simply soaking up information passively. Schemas One of the key concepts in Piaget's theory is the use of schemas. According to Piaget,schemas are cognitive frameworks or concepts that help people organize and interpret information. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to or completely change previously existing schemas. For example, a young...

Words: 2022 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Jean Piaget's Theory Of Child Development

...Child development is seen as a very important topic in today’s world. What’s right? What is going to harm my child? How can I protect them? These, and many more questions are raised by most parents on a daily basis. In order to know what is best for a child, it is crucial to know what developmental theories best match up with a parent's way of thinking. Psychological theorists have been working for a long time on discovering how children grow and learn. Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget are two theorists that have made a lot of headway in the child developmental field. With some similar and different concepts, these theorists made a huge impact in the psychology world. Born in Germany, Erickson never agreed with traditional schooling. He graduated...

Words: 1579 - Pages: 7