Introduction
Jean Piaget (1896-980) was employed at binet institute in the 1920s, his first job was to develop French versions of questions on English Intelligence test. He became captivated by the justifications kids gave for their inaccurate answers to questions demanding deductive reasoning. He believe that these incorrect responses showed a stark difference between how adults and children think.
Task
Explain the Cognitive development theory (Piaget) in considering the Importance of the theory, Meaning of the theory, How can this theory help towards people in applying to their daily lives and in education, Give insight and realization in studying the cognitive development theory (Piaget)
Process
Meaning of theory
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that intelligence changes as children grow. A child's cognitive development is not just about acquiring knowledge, the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world.
Cognitive development occurs through the interaction of innate capacities and environmental events, and children pass through a series of stages.
Piaget's theory of cognitive development proposes 4 stages of development.
• sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
• preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years
• concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years
• formal operational stage: ages 12 and up
The sequence of the stages is universal across cultures and follow the same invariant (unchanging) order. All children go through the same stages in the same order (but not all at the same rate).
How Piaget Developed the Theory
He believed that these incorrect answers revealed important differences between the thinking of adults and children.
Piaget branched out on his own with a new set of assumptions about children’s intelligence:
• Children’s intelligence differs from an adult’s in quality rather than in quantity. This means that children reason (think) differently from adults and see the world in different ways.
• Children actively build up their knowledge about the world. They are not passive creatures waiting for someone to fill their heads with knowledge.
• The best way to understand children’s reasoning was to see things from their point of view.
What Piaget wanted to do was not to measure how well children could count, spell or solve problems as a way of grading their I.Q. What he was more interested in was the way in which fundamental concepts like the very idea of number, time, quantity, causality, justice and so on emerged.
Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence using naturalistic observation of his own three babies and sometimes controlled observation too. From these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development.
He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations.
Piaget’s Four Stages
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of intellectual development which reflect the increasing sophistication of children's thoughts.
Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and child development is determined by biological maturation and interaction with the environment.
At each stage of development, the child’s thinking is qualitatively different from the other stages, that is, each stage involves a different type of intelligence.
Stage Age Goal
1. Sensorimotor Birth to 18-24 months Object permanence
2. Preoperational 2 to 7 years old Symbolic thought
3. Concrete operational Ages 7 to 11 years Logical thought
4. Formal operational Adolescence to adulthood Scientific reasoning
Although no stage can be missed out, there are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages, and some individuals may never attain the later stages.
Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage.
Conclusion
Cognitive development research suggests that rather than just following a predetermined pattern or possessing innate brilliance, minds develop through a range of influencing factors. For instance, we may put a lot of effort into phonemic awareness from a young age if we want our kids to be well-versed in language. It also provides children with the means of paying attention to thinking about the world around them. Cognitive development must need to study by people and most especially to the student because it help us to develop our intelligence as we grow older.