Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
What is Cognitive Development
A general term describing the development of all mental processes, in particular thinking, reasoning and our understanding of the world.
What did Piaget say about how children learn?
Piaget said children learn through discovery learning, and that the child is a scientist.
What is a schema?
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
What does it mean to be in a state of disequilibrium?
When our existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new- we are forced to learn. Disequilibrium feels uncomfortable.
What is assimilation?
A form of learning that takes place when we add new information to our existing schema because it is not radically new.
What is accommodation?
A form of learning that takes place in response to radically new information. A child will either radically change a current schema or form a new schema as the information does not currently fit into what they know.
What is equilibration?
Takes place when we have encountered new information and built it into our understanding of a topic, either by assimilating it into an existing schema or accommodating it by forming a new one.
What happened in Christine Howe’s (1992) research?
Children aged 9-12 yrs old placed in groups of 4 to investigate and discuss the movement of objects down a slope.
After the activity, children had more understanding but had all picked up different facts/made different conclusions.
Suggests children form individual mental representations of the world.
How have classrooms changed due to Piagets theory?
Changed from whiteboard at the front and teacher led, to more activity based classrooms where the children explore and form their own understanding of the world.
What is one component of learning that Piaget ignored?
Piaget ignored how other people facilitate learning e.g teachers and parents.
