The Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist, suggests that children's intelligence undergoes changes as they grow. Cognitive development in children is not only related to acquiring knowledge, children need to build or develop a mental model of their surrounding world (Miller, 2011). His work is regarded as the cornerstone in the field of developmental psychology. In this article, we examine the implications his work has for the intellectual development of children in classrooms.
Piaget did not want to measure how well children can spell, count or solve problems to check their I.Q. He was more intrigued to find out how the fundamental concepts such as the very idea of time, number, justice, quantity and so on emerged (Greenfield, 2019).
Piaget used observations and clinical interviews of older children who were able to hold conversations and understand questions. He also made controlled observation, and used naturalistic observation of his own three children and developed diary description with charts of children's development.
2. JEAN PIAGET , a Swiss biologist, developed a keen interest in child and
cognitive psychology.
He was a Radical Constructivist.
He along with his wife devoted almost all the previous years of their early
married life to studying the intellectual development of their own three children
by making them the subjects of their laboratory studies.
Based on his studies, Piaget stated that the child is born with a few practical
instincts and reflexes like sucking, looking , reaching and grasping etc.
3. Cognitive Development –
Refers to stages and processes involved in child’s intellectual development.
Consist of a series of stages, characterised by certain behaviours and certain
ways of thinking and problem solving.
Child is born with mental or cognitive structures which develop maximum
growth around 14 - 15 years.
Children grow and develop rapidly in their early childhood years across the four
main areas of development. These areas are motor (physical), language and
communication, cognitive and social/emotional.
4. ASPECTS OF HUMANMIND :-
1) Cognitive Structure. 2) Cognitive Functioning.
1) COGNITIVE STRUCTURE :-
Every child is born with few reflexes like sucking , looking, reaching and
grasping.
Initial cognitive structures is incorporated with those cognitive abilities which help
them to do these activities.
These abilities are named as Schema.
2) COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING :-
Cognitive structure plays a vital role in its functioning.
Therefore schemas decide how a person is going to respond to any particular
stimuli.
5. Some important keywords :-
1) SCHEMA :- Mental models through which child represent the world.
2) ASSIMILATIAON :- To broaden up existing schema so that new information
can be included.
3) ACCOMODATION :- Modification in existing ways of thinking , one has to
learn new ways of thinking and behaving.
4) EQUILIBRATION :- The cognitive balancing of new information with old one.
6.
7. Stages of cognitive development :-
I. Sensorymotor stage :- 0 - 2 years of age.
II. Preoperational stage :- 2 – 7 years of age.
III. Concrete operational stage :- 7 – 11 years of age.
IV. Formal operational stage :- 11 – 15 years of age.
TRICK TO REMEMBER :- S P CF
8.
9. 1. SENSORY MOTOR STAGE :- (0 – 2 years)
It is the first stage or infancy stage.
It is characterized by the absence of language.
Object permanence.
Out of SIGHT , Out of MIND.
2) PREOPERATIONAL :-
The pre operational stage can be seen in children ages 2 to 7.
Memory and imagination are developing but thinking is done in an
illogical manner.
10. Children at this age are egocentric , self – centered, transductive
(false reasoning).
This phase is crucial for language development.
Unable to do reversible things.
Also known as pre childhood age or toy age.
3. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE :-
This stage is of logical thinking and concrete operations.
Reversibility develops. Ex – 2 + 5 , 5 + 2
Logic develops along with transitivity, ascending – descending and
classifications
11. Also known as later childhood or pre gang age.
4) FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE :-
Abstract thinking develops.
They can now deal with imaginary or hypothetical situations.
This age is of divergent / convergent / creative thinking.
Deductive reasoning develops like from complex to easy.
Ex – logics like A > B, B > C , relation between A and C.
