Piaget Flashcards
Piaget’s Theory
- children are “active scientists” learning from the world around them (the diff. thinking/prob. solving strategies reflect level of development)
- physical development affects cognitive development
- believes that the way we develop is universal
Piaget’s Stages of Development
- Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
- Pre-Operational (2-7)
- Concrete Operational (7-12)
- Formal Operational Stage (12+)
Stage 1
Sensorimotor (0-2):
- knowledge gained by looking, touching, seeing
- movement consequence is learned
- object permanence:
1. 4m: none
2. 8-12m: children look where last seen
3. 18-24: forms
Stage 2
Pre-Operational (2-7)
- egocentrism: inability to see from others POV
- symbolic thinking: can form ideas but only in one aspect + knowledge cannot be transferred from one situation to another
- conservation: physical properties remain the same even after appearance changes
Stage 3
Concrete Operational (7-12)
- logic is applied in problem-solving (only with concrete tasks which inc. images)
- problem solving is random not systematic
Stage 4
Formal Operations Stage (12+)
- formal abstract logic forms, they can manipulate ideas, concepts, and numbers
- they can think hypothetically, this creates symbolic thinking and leads to systematic problem solving
- Piaget thinks everyone ends this stage at age 20, research proves education has impact and it’s not true
Evaluation for Piaget’s Theory
+ first theory of its kind; his idea that biological maturation is related to cognitive development is widely accepted/supported
+ research consistently supports the progression of development at Piaget outlined it
+ Piaget improved education formatting
+ cross-cultural support
- not age appropriate tasks and tests were language dependent
- cross-sectional: kids were not compared to themselves at different times, but kids of different ages were compared to each other instead
- ages which things begin have been criticized (normally earlier than he predicted)
- theory is descriptive not explanatory
