Development Studies-Piagets Theory Flashcards
What is Piagets theory?
As part of his theory of how thinking develops called the “Theory of cognitive development”, Jean Piaget suggested that we go through distinct stages of development. A change in thinking indicates when the next stage is reached.
The first stage of Piagets theory
The sensimotor stage is the first stage of Piagets theory. This is a stage of rapid learning, growth and change. At around 6 months, they develop object permanence.
The second stage of Piagets theory
The pre-operational stage is the second stage of Piagets theory of cognitive development. This stage starts at around age 2, lasts until approximately age 7 and during this stage children start to engage in symbolic play and are egocentric. Animism is also seen.
The third stage of Piagets theory
The concrete operational stage is the third stage of Piagets theory of cognitive development. This stage happens from approximately 7 to 12 years and they develop decentration but have difficulties with abstract ideas like morality.
The fourth stage of Piagets theory
The formal operational stage is the fourth and last stage of Piagets theory of cognitive development. This stage happens after 12 years old and they gain the ability to think in an abstract manner without any dependence
How to help sensimotor development
Smells,tastes,sights,sounds and different textures can all be provided as stimulation
Colours are important and bright colours are often used as young children can easily distinguish them
Singing and rhythm can stimulate children and can help in language development
How to help pre-operational development
Children must “do” things to learn and build schemas rather than watching someone else performing actions.
Children are encouraged to learn by discovery and interacting with their environment
How to help concrete operational development
Teachers can ask children to concentrate on more than one aspect of an issue (Decentration)
How to help Formal operational development
Children can discuss abstract concepts and be asked complex questions involving mental reasoning
Children in this stage study different subjects and this can help them to distinguish the different ways of thinking about the world
Strengths of Piagets theory
has practical applications, for example discovery learning is now used to help children build knowledge.
has generated a great deal of reasearch and experiments. The reasearch results often support his ideas
Weaknesses of Piagets theory
a lack of validity in his studies. Other studies using similar methods but in more realistic settings produced different findings
his data come from observations and interviews which can be interpreted in a subjective way which can lead to bias in his findings
Background to Piaget and Inhelder’s three mountains task
According to Piaget, a pre-operational child can only see the world from their viewpoint. He called this egocentrism
The ability to decentre develops over time
The three mountains task is a part of a series of experiments that Piaget and Inhelder carried out to study children’s understanding of the world.
Aim of Piaget and Inhelder’s three mountians task
To look at the extent to which children of different ages were able to take the view of another person
To look at childrens overall system of putting together a number of different views
Procedure of Piaget and Inhelders three mountains task
100 children were studied. Children under 4 were not studied as they were considered too young
The main equipment included:
Three mountains, the smallest was green and had a red house and a path going down, the next highest was brown and had a red cross and a stream going down, the highest was grey and had a snow covered top
10 pictures were taken of the mountain at different positions
3 pieces of card the same colour of the mountains
A wooden doll 3cm tall with no facial features
Ways of questioning the children in the three mountain tasks
The child was asked to use the pieces of card to show how the mountain looked from different viewpoints
The child was shown 10 pictures of the model and asked to pick out the picture that represented what they could see from different positions
They were also asked what the doll could see from its position
