cognition and development: Piagets theory of cognitive development Flashcards
Define cognitive development.
the way mental processes change and develop in course of human life, how our thinking and reasoning develops in childhood, and how we developed understanding the world around us
Why was Piaget so influential in the way we see children?
he was the first to realise that children do not just know less than adults, but instead think in a completely different way
How did Piaget suggest that we learn?
through the use of schemas and motivation in development
Define schema.
a ‘package’ of beliefs and expectations on a topic that come from prior experience
What schema are we born with?
simple motor schema
What is a me-schema or self-schema?
constructed in early infancy and is our knowledge about ourself
How does our schema develop as we learn?
according to Piaget, learning is just adapting our schema to a new situation so we can understand it
What are the two ways that we build our schema according to Piaget?
through assimilation, accommodation in order to avoid disequilibrium
Define assimilation.
we add more information to our schema that we did not previously have before, fits into current schema
Define accommodation.
having to adapt or change schema as a result of dramatically new information
Explain how we become motivated to learn. You must use the term equilibration.
we are pushed to learn when in state of disequilibrium, our existing schema does not help us to decode a unfamiliar object/situation. we adapt to the new situation by developing our understanding and scheme = equilibration
ao3: What research support does Piaget’s theory of cognitive development have?
Howe (1992) studied children aged 9-12 who were put in groups of 4 to investigate the movement of objects down the slope, she found all students improved their understanding but left the tasks with very different levels of understanding and had reached different conclusions, this is a strength as it supports Piagets idea that all children will form unique representations of the world even when having similar learning environments due to having their own unique schema - suggest Piagets theory is valid due to having supporting evidence
ao3: What real-life application has Piaget’s theory of cognitive development got?
it has revolutionised how schools approach teaching children new information, e.g. schools have now taken on idea that children learn through active exploration of their environment and have largely discarded the old-fashioned idea where children sit silently rote learning, instead the value of engaging activities and learning through discovery has been recognised and implemented into most classrooms. this is a strength as it shows how Piagets theory of CD has been a useful theory with real life application, allowing children to maximise the learning of their students. Piagets theory has had an effect on millions of people/
ao3: How could you countercriticise this real-life application? Why is this a limitation of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
there is mixed evidence for effectiveness of discovery in the classroom, Lazonder and Harmarsens (2016) review found that discovery learning only useful when there was considerable input from teachers, this is important because if students require significant input in order to be able to learn, suggesting Piagets theory is unable t fully explain all dorms of learning. limitation as evidence may suggest Piagets theory is an incomplete theory and therefore limited in its usefulness.
ao3: Compare Piaget with Vygotsky. Which theory of cognitive development may be better? Why?
Piaget underestimated the role other people play in learning- saw it ultimately as an individual process and others are just sources of information. vygotsky recognised learning = more of a social process that relies on support of others.
