Jean Piaget-Cognitive Psychologist

Presentation by: Jackie Byford & Lidia Coronado

Class:EPSY 6304.63 Cognition & Development

Fall/2012

For this presentation…….

• Target Audience– First year teachers

• Goals– The goal of this presentation is to educate the

audience about Jean Piaget’s theories and beliefs.

• Objectives– After this presentation the audience will

understand the theory of cognitive development and will be able to apply the theory in the classroom.

Cognitive Psychologist

“To understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition.” -Jean Piaget

Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980)

• Swiss Psychologist• Known for his epistemological studies with

children.• His contribution in psychology was that

intelligence was the product of a natural & inevitable sequence of developmental stages.

• He is one of the most influential in developmental psychology influencing in the work of Lev Vygotsky and Lawrence Kohlberg, and others.

Piaget’s Cognitive: Developmental Theory

1. Did not believe in reinforcers as a means for children to learn.

2. He believed that exposure to the environment would help construct knowledge and discover the world.

Process of Cognitive Development

• Assimilation• Accommodation• Equilibration• Schemata

A child’s process of making sense of the world around…

Initial Schema

Schema forming Assimilatio

n Process

Assimilation Process

Assimilation occurs Accomodation

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Birth to 2 years-SensorimotorAbilities: Uses senses &motor skills to explore & develop.Limits: lack understanding that things continue to exist even when not seen, heard, or felt.

Ages 2-7 years-Preoperational

Abilities: Has significant language & thinks symbolically.

Limits: Cannot perform operations. Has the inability to consider

another’s point of view.Believes all things are living.

Ages 7-11 years-Concrete OperationalAbilities: Can perform operations on concrete objects.Understands conservation.Limits: Cannot think abstractly and hypothetically

Ages 11 years and up- Formal Operational

Abilities: Can think abstractly and hypothetically.

Limits: Adolescent egocentrism at the beginning of this stage, with related problems of the personal fable and imaginary audience.

Stage 1 Stage 2

Stage 3 Stage 4

 Piagetian classic experiment known as the "Three Mountain Problem."

The girl drew what she thinks her doll sees.

What the actual doll sees from where she’s sitting.

Piaget’s Impact on Teaching & Training

• Piaget influence on psychology • Piaget’s instrumental ideas and

educational thinking • Piaget's influence is strongest in

early education and moral education• Piaget ideas for the classroom.

Pros

Piaget’s Impact on Teaching & Training

• Poor research sample• Maturity and movement through stages• Critics claim that Piaget underestimates

the abilities of younger children • His theory is usually described as anti-

educational because it describes a sequence not alterable by education or training. (Cardwell, 2003)

Cons

Example of how his theories impacted how community colleges teach adults.

Piagets’ contribution to educational implications

• Interactive teaching: – Use visual aids and models.– Provide opportunities to discuss social, political, and

cultural issues. Example- online discussion forums

• Teach broad concepts rather than facts.– Learning concepts are situated in context to be

meaningful and relevant to the learner.

Activity: Conservation of Volume

Materials Needed• 2 Test Tubes with

holders• 2 metal cylinders

exactly the same size that will fit into the test tubes

• Strings to lower the cylinders

• Water• Medicine dropper

Equilibrium in the Balance

Materials Needed• Bar balance scale• Hanging weights

Understanding Concepts

• A child feels the rush of air on his face made by fanning a paper. Later on a windy day, he feels the wind and decides it is caused by the swaying trees. Which stage of thinking does this notion of causality represent? Why?

Answer

• Assimilation-The child was able to integrate some logic from previously fanning

• This an example of a young concrete operational starting to use inductive reasoning taking an event and making a generalization. He feels the wind in his face and see the tree swaying to generalizes that the tree is causing the wind in his face.

Understanding Concepts

• Preschool children, who typically reason at the preoperational level, are asked if there are more birds or sparrows in the woods. The children reply that they do not know without counting. Which concrete operation have they not yet mastered?

Answer

• Reversibility. This happens during the concrete operational stage also, where a child can categorize the relationships of items.

ReferencesAmateurpyro.com (August 27, 2009). [photograph]. Retrieved on November 21, 2012.Amylou_lou. (April 13, 2012). [photograph]. Retrieved on November 21, 2012 from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25554227@N05/6926758630 /Barkley, Elizabeth, Kathryn Cross, and Claire Major. Collaborative learning techniques: a handbook for college faculty. 1st.

Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 2005. 59-60. Print. Behlol Malik Ghulam, Dr. "International Journal of Psychological Studies." Concept of Learning 2.2 (2010): 231-239. Web. 14

Nov 2012. <www.ccsenet.org/ijps>. Berk, L. E. (2010). Development through the lifespan (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Bhattacharya, K., & Han, S. (2001). Piaget's Constructivism - Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology.

Projects Server Introduction. Retrieved November 9, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget%27s_Constructivism

Cardwell, Mike. Schaum's A-Z Psychology. New York, NY: Schaum, 2003. 140-169. Print. Cherry, K. (2008, April, 21). Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development. [About.com]. Retrieved from

http://psychology.about.com/b/2008/04/21/key-concepts-in-cognitive-development.htmBarkley, Elizabeth, Kathryn Cross, and Claire Major. Collaborative learning techniques: a handbook for college faculty. 1st.

Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 2005. 59-60. Print. Ginn, W. Y. Jean Piaget - Intellectual Development. Retrieved from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.htmlHuffman, Karen. Psychology in Action: Active Learning Edition. 7th. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004. 229-243. Print. Jackson Londell D."Adult Learning." Revisiting Adult Learning Theory through the Lens of an Adult Learner. Vol. 20 .3/4 (2009):

20-22. Web. 15 Nov 2012. "Jean Piaget." Wikipedia. Creative Commons Attribution, 06/06/2011. Web. 16 Nov 2012.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>."Jean Piaget ." Piaget, Jean. Web. 23 Jun 2011. <http://memoonline.com/Dossier.asp?ID=681>.Marek, E. A. & Cavallo, A. M. L. (1997). The Learning Cycle: Elementary school Science and beyond. Portsmouth, NH: Heimann.Sciencedirect.com. [phtotgraph]. Retrieved on November 21, 2012 from http://

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201401000569 . Thorndike, E.L., Bregman, E.O., Tilton, J.W. & Woodyard,E.(1928).Adult Learning. New York: Macmillan. Wood, K. C., Smith, H., Grossniklaus, D. (2001). Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging

perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/