Cognition And Development - Piaget Flashcards
Who developed the theory of cognitive development?
Swiss biologist Jean Piaget.
What did Piaget theorize about children’s thinking?
He believed that children think in entirely different ways from adults.
How did Piaget divide childhood?
Into stages, each representing new ways of reasoning.
What aspect of learning did Piaget focus on?
The role of motivation in development and how knowledge develops.
What are schemas?
Mental frameworks of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing.
What is the ‘me-schema’?
A schema where a child’s knowledge of themselves is stored.
What motivates learning, according to Piaget?
The feeling of ‘disequilibrium’ when existing schemas don’t help understand new information.
How do we escape disequilibrium?
By adapting and learning new information, leading to equilibration.
What are the two ways learning occurs, according to Piaget?
Assimilation and accommodation.
What is assimilation?
Learning by incorporating new information into an existing schema if it does not radically change our understanding.
What is accommodation?
Learning that requires changing an existing schema or creating a new one due to radically different new information.
What research supports Piaget’s theory?
Howe et al.’s study on children (9-12) discussing object movement, showing individual schema development.
How has Piaget’s theory impacted education?
It led to the shift from passive learning (copying notes) to active, exploratory learning.
What is a criticism of Piaget’s theory?
He may have underplayed the role of others in learning, unlike Vygotsky, who emphasized social interaction.
