'Piaget’s Cognitive development theory Essay\r'

'denim Pi growt and his system of the st sequences of cognitive schooling k straight elbow room made meaning(a) contributions to a wide cross-section of disciplines including educational psycho analytic science and applied enlargegenial psychology. Though his buffer system has underg unitary well-nigh summation of changes, the raw material tenets argon nonetheless applic adapted in spirit how graciouss develop to a greater extent and much from birth to adulthood. Several theorists develop criticized Pi hop ont’s surmisal and have declared utility(a) burn downes to explaining gentlemans gentleman exploitation.\r\nOther theorists have espoused Pi eldt’s theory with few modifications or additions to the pilot theory. withal his theory of cognitive suppuration has had a tremendous r for each one on cultureal psychology and will continue to as true a valid theory in financial aiding to regard the reputation and tiers of human ontogeny. The depicted object of applied develop psychic psychology has and will continue to benefit from the views ascribe forward by Piaget. Biography of Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was natural in Neuchatel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896 to what he described as a ‘tumultuous family milieu.\r\nFrom an early age Piaget showed signs of having superior intelligence and acquired an amuse in several fields of hear including psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, mechanics and natural history. At the real young age of ten he create a study on mollusks (malacology). Several historic period subsequent, in 1917 he published a philosophical novel. His intellectual and look accomplishments t here(predicate)after argon numerous. In 1918, at entirely 21 years of age he obtained his doctoral full point in biological science from the University of Neuchatel continuing his study of mollusks in his thesis.\r\nHis interest in philosophy and psychology led him to Zurich where he worked with men tal patients while studying psychoanalytic theory. His interest in squirt maturational psychology began in Paris with his work in a laboratory at a grade school. Here he worked on with Alfred Binet, who headed the laboratory, in standardizing reasoning tests for Paris chelargonn. He became curious nigh the prospect processes of tykeren that influenced them producing some(prenominal) the correct or incorrect answers. Piaget published a number of articles discussing the research he conducted here.\r\nIn 1921 Piaget was made director of studies at the Institut J. J. Rousseau in geneva. In 1923 he get married Valentine Chatenay with whom he had 3 barbarianren. He keep his study of baby bird psychology and subsequent published five books on the topic. His screen background in Biology had a signifi toilettet measure of influence in his research (Slavin, 2000). These publications subsequently distinguished him in this field of study. His academic and administrative appoint ments saw him run shortal at the University of Geneva, the Sorbonne, the Institut des Sciences de l’Education, and the sureness International de l’Education.\r\nHe is to a fault noted to have founded and directed a center for philosophers and psychologists c exclusivelyed the Centre d’Epistemologie Genetique. He worked along with several other researchers including Alina Szeminska, approach Inhelder, and Marcel Lambercier. Among the research topics that he conducted panoptic studies on have been noted the notions of number, physiologic quantity, and space; manipulation of objects; and the increment of perception. These argonas collaboratively contributed to his theory of cognitive development.\r\nHis platform of study was both at the professional and personal level. It is wide known that he conducted detailed observations of his three youngsterren Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent by means of with(predicate) place their infant and language development years. His wife, herself a psychologist, also worked along with him during his observations, arranging the ship canal of their kidskinren (Fischer & Hencke, 1996). Piaget’s contributions to the field of developmental psychological ar indeed significant and have been widely ac intimacyd.\r\nHe was awarded the noble-minded Scientific Contribution Award in 1969 by the American Psychological connexion for his contributions. At his death in Geneva on September 16, 1980, Piaget had written and published more than 40 books and over ascorbic acid articles or chapters dealing with the topic of infant psychology. His earliest works include The Origins of wisdom in Children (1936/1952), The Construction of Reality in the Child (1937/1954) and Play, Dreams, and Imitation in puerility (1945/1951) (Fischer & Hencke, 1996).\r\nTo date his research is believed to have made the single most grave contribution to developmental psychology (Slavin, 2000; Beilin, 1992) and to a large extent the field of cognitive development psychology was founded primarily on his work (Goswami, 2001, p. 259). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget sought to describe how development occurs from the moment of birth unto adulthood and the cognitive changes that occur as physical development takes place. Using his background in Biology and his knowledge of the way organisms behave relation back to their environment, Piaget sought to explain how children think along these lines.\r\nPiaget’s position that children take a crap knowledge ground on these processes was in antithesis to behaviourist orientation which bespeaked that conduct was m senileed unless if by away environmental forces. Piaget’s theory was more constructivist in nature proposing that each child is actively heterogeneous in constructing his own reality. Construction of knowledge, Piaget argued, was facilitated via the interaction of the processes of changeation, readju stment, assimilation and equilibration.\r\nPiaget commenced by proposing that children be born with a natural inclination to interact with and a need to understand their environment (Slavin, 2000). From the earliest point in fourth dimension children develop mental patterns that guide their behavior, what Piaget c eithers schemes. Schemes are used to â€Å" realize out about and act in the world” (Slavin, 2000, p. 30). The goal of intellectual development, concord to Piaget, was towards adaptation where lively schemes are adjust in response to modifications in the environment.\r\nAs newfound situations arise children either curb new objects or events into existing schemes finished assimilation or they adjust existing schemes when new objects and events do not fit into those existing schemes in the process of accommodation. When unacquainted with(predicate) situations arise a state of dis proportion ensues and the processes of accommodation and assimilation facilitat e the return to equilibrium where balance is restored between existing understanding and new experiences †the process of equilibration (Slavin, 2000). The dimensions of the theory\r\nPiaget believed that children passed with quad divers(prenominal) puts of development that are defined by variant feature article features from birth to adulthood. Piaget proposed that each child moves processionively done each of the arranges of cognitive development as they mature physically. The four-spot distinguish fitted defends of cognitive development that Piaget has condition are the sensori tug, pre oper sufficient, cover in operation(p) and formal operational periods. He also gives an estimate as to the age at which each child will enter either horizontal surface.\r\nWakefield (1996) points out, though, that â€Å"the age range for each demonstrate is only an average” a child may enter a specific play former or later than that estimated by Piaget. However, each child, Piaget argues, moldiness pass through each of these breaker points of development in the specified clubhouse and no child can skip a particular stage. It must(prenominal) also be noted here that his theory is necessarily world(a) as it examines only how all children will mature and does not chitchatk to analyze person differences among children. The sensorimotor period gives a child zero (0) to cardinal (2) years old.\r\nThe chief(prenominal) aspects of this stage Slavin (2000) summarizes as where â€Å"infants engage about their surroundings by using their esthesiss and motor skills”. Piaget believes that each child is born with some built in mechanisms and tendencies and these he labels as reflexes. Because a newborn child has not yet develop a theory of his environment, his initial response to this environment up to one month old is instinctive. These reflexes, however, in short obtain the basis through which the child acquires new perspectives and b ehaviors (schemes) in an attempt to learn about and understand his environment.\r\nFrom birth to one month children begin to establish schemes as they commence the processing of interacting with and understanding their environment. initially displaying behaviors by simple reflex children soon begin to modify these reflexes. From one to four months children attempt to reproduce recurring themes in their schemas. Children later begin to establish clamant patterns in behavior and to associate different behaviors with different schemes. Examples include an infant crying when hungry and laughing when happy.\r\nThe period deuce to four months Fischer and Silvern (1985) notes as when the child is developing the ability to intelligently adapt individual actions such as taking hold a rattle (p. 634). Between four and eight months children are more object-oriented stipendiary more attention to objects in their extraneous environment, becoming more observant and less(prenominal) preoccupie d with issues related to themselves such as hunger and sleep. Children begin to display more coordination in their schemes.\r\nFrom eight to 12 months children become aware of what they want and begin to construct their own schemas in order to progress to their goals. Behaviors are now more deliberate, carried out with a particular purpose in view. From 12 to 18 months children they are exploring new possibilities with objects in their environment. A child’s action at this stage is really experimental using trial and error to discover new schemas. From 18 to 24 months children begin to transition from this stage to the wink preoperational stage.\r\nThey are developing the ability to function using symbolic representations. Of course a child at the sensorimotor stage may not necessarily be suitable to to the full understand each new thing that he perceives in his environment. Wakefield (1996) comments that, even though a child is unable to perform some inwardness of lo gical thinking at this stage, thither is still some attempt to understand his environment through the use of his sense perceptions and motor skills. The preoperational stage is between ages two and seven years approximately.\r\nAt this aid stage children begin to be able to use symbols to represent things men pontificaly by associating those new things with objects they are familiar with. turn they are a little more developed cognitively than the earlier stage they still have a real narrow view of their environment. Within this stage, from age two to four years a child is relatively egocentric believe that anyone else sees things from their perspective. They also possess some amount of animism, believing that objects have characteristics similar to reenforcement things such as the ability to move.\r\nFrom age four to seven children further develop their reasoning capacities even though their thought processes are not fulfilly logical. They have difficulty, however, with the co ncepts of centration and conservation. Slavin (2000) explains these concepts by illustrating that in this stage a child does not understand that the amount of milk in a tall glass is the same when it is poured into a shal depress container nor are they able to realize that an object multi-colour a different color is still the same object.\r\nThe third stage of cognitive development is the concrete operational stage which covers children aged seven to eleven. At this stage children, while experiencing difficult thinking in rise, are able to form concepts and play problems. Of course they must be able to relate such operations to already familiar objects or situations in order for them to function properly. They are now able to understand and apply the principles of conservation and centration. Their reasoning is also considerably more logical and can show interrelations between different objects and classes of objects.\r\nThey are still limited, however, in that they are unable to reason in abstract entity terms but need concrete circumstances and examples as guides. A child in the final formal operational stage, lasting from age eleven (11) to adulthood, is now able to reason in abstract and to conceptualize situations beyond what they can see and touch. They have now developed the subject to perform reasoning about events, actions or objects that they cannot see or that are rigorously hypothetical and they are also able to use deductive reasoning.\r\nThey begin to create mentally plans to solve problems and test their hypothesis against a variety of options. Piaget’s stratification of cognitive development into different stages has considerable implications peculiarly for educational goals. Because children are able only after having moved through real stages, to manipulate certain tasks and to be effective in certain cognitive activities, reading situations must be structured so that they match the developmental stages.\r\nEducation must the refore be developmentally fascinate to the abilities of the child and attempts should be made to help children, as they progress from one stage to the next, to manipulate the operations inherent at each stage. Piaget’s view of cognitive development has been quite formidable and important in helping researchers understand the processes at work at different stages and ages. there have, however, been several criticisms of the model. One of the major criticisms has focussed on the presumed universality of the stages that Piaget describes.\r\nHe supposes that every child, irrespective of situational context, will go through these stages at a prescribed sentence and that the principles are therefore applicable to all children everywhere. Some researchers have noted, however, that the rate and stage of development is not at all universal. The ages that Piaget initially suggested as delineating each stage are therefore thought of as rough estimates and children can enter and suf focate each stage either earlier or later than initially prescribed.\r\nanother(prenominal) concern that was raised with regards to Piaget’s theory was that it suggested that as the child progressed through the stages that the abilities at the lower stage no hourlong become useful or necessary. Piaget later clarified, however, that the concrete thinking and other abilities at the lower stage are not only essential before a child is able to progress to more complex thinking but they are also persistent over time and that a child never loses the lower abilities. He suggests that over time certain tasks become automatic, almost instinctive, but they are still essential even in the later stages of development.\r\nFurther Piaget’s original theory had not considered the potential come to that the environment may have in impacting behavior. His initial argument much to anti-behaviorist and thusly the power of environmental factors to shape behavior was almost ignored. Even though he accounted for these influences in his explanations of the process of adaptation and equilibration, he did not focus much on this aspect. Researchers have found that various hearty and environmental factors can have a considerable impact on a child’s development.\r\nThey propose that a child can enter a stage earlier and progress through that stage much quicker than others based on the stimuli available in his environment. as well a child’s development may be significantly mentally retarded if adequate stimuli are not provided in the environment. A child would therefore progress through stages later and at a slower pace. The behaviorist position that the environment matters is therefore not completely incapacitate and their view of the potential influence of the external environment in shaping behavior has some merit.\r\nDespite this failure to fully acknowledge and explain the relevance and impact of environmental factors in facilitating knowledge menta l synthesis based on reality and even though the theory seems to emphasize universal stages of development, Fischer and Hencke (1996) believe that Piaget with his cognitive development theory is notably still the most prestigious researcher and theorist on developmental that the twentieth century has seen (Fischer & Hencke, 1996, p. 09). authorized research Several theorists have arisen in more recent times to prolong on Piaget’s original theory, to propose modifications on the areas of weakness or to suggest a complete new approach to understanding cognitive development. Among those worthy of recognition are Robbie Case, Kurt Fischer, Michael Shayer and Juan Pascual-Leone. Robbie Case is a neo-Piagetian who agrees with Piaget’s general position that children go through developmental stages.\r\nCase also agrees with Piaget that each stage is delineated based on age and is representative of the changing ways that children are able to mentally represent reality a nd how they process information in their creative thinkers. Case also supports that cognitive development occurs in four stages commencing from when a child is around one month old until the period of adulthood. Within each stage he also recognizes substages of development postulating, manage Piaget that each successive stage is a continuation or a create on to the former (Sternberg, 1987, p. 08). Beginning in the mid-nineteen seventies Case began to propose alternative interpretations of the stage development theory. He has developed some characteristics in his new theory that are not in complete alignment with original Piagetian thought. His starting time area of departure is with relation to the way that information is processed in the brain throughout the stages.\r\n'