Development - Piaget's Theory

Question 1

Explain Piaget’s theory

Answer 1

Cognitive development = changes in thinking (cognition) over time.
Piaget believed that children think differently from adults.

Question 2

What does the term cognitive refer to

Answer 2

Mental processes, particularly thinking.

Question 3

What does he mean by the stages?

Answer 3

Piaget believed that children’s brains are not mature enough to think in a logical way at the beginning.
Their brains develop in stages and at each stage different kinds of thinking occur.

Question 4

What are schemas?

Answer 4

Mental structures containing knowledge.
As children develop they create mental representations of the world which are stored in the form of schemas.
They become more complex through assimilation and accommodation.

Question 5

What is assimilation

Answer 5

Adding new info to an existing schema

Question 6

What is accommodation

Answer 6

Receiving new info that changes our understanding so a new schema is formed

Question 7

Strength of Piaget’s theory (research evidence)

Answer 7

A strength of Piaget’s theory is that it has led many studies to be carried out.
These have helped test the claims of his theory.
This is an important part of any theory – if we can’t test it we don’t know if it is right or wrong.

Question 8

Strength of Piaget’s theory (real world application)

Answer 8

A strength of Piaget’s theory is that it has helped change classroom teaching for the better.
It has led to teachers carrying out more activity-based learning.
This has helped children learn in a more effective way.

Question 9

Weakness of Piaget’s theory (sample)

Answer 9

A weakness of Piaget’s theory is that research was carried out on middle-class Swiss children. 
These children were from families where academic studies were more important than making things.
Therefore his theory may not be universal.