Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development Flashcards
What did Piaget state?
Children don’t know less than adults, they just simply think in different ways
What model did Piaget put forward?
The stages of intellectual development
What is a schema?
A mental structure containing our understanding of an object, person, or idea
What did Piaget say about children’s schemas?
Born with a small number of schemas, which develop as they construct more detailed and complex mental representations of the world
What did Piaget say about motivation?
We are motivated to learn when our existing schemas don’t allow us to make sense of something new
What are 2 ideas associated with motivation to learn?
Disequilibrium and equilibration
What is disequilibrium?
An imbalance between what is understood and what is encountered
What do we achieve when we escape disequilibrium?
A state of equilibration
What 2 processes allow adaption to take place?
Assimilation
Accommodation
What is assimilation?
When we understand a new experience, we equilibrate by adding new information to our existing schemas
What is accommodation?
When we form new schemas in response to dramatically new experiences
What is equilibration?
Occurs when we have encountered new information and built it into our understanding of a topic, either by assimilation or accommodation
What is research support for Piaget?
Howe et al.
What did Howe et al. study involve?
Children 9-12 were put in groups to discuss movement of objects down a slope.
Their understanding of the topic was assessed before and after.
What did Howe et al. find?
The children increased their level of understanding, but had not come to the same conclusions
