Scribd
Upload
31 views

Cognitive Development Theory

Uploaded by

safdar.03003163619
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views

Cognitive Development Theory

Uploaded by

safdar.03003163619
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

ognitive Development Theory

By Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages
of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge,
but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.1 Piaget's stages are:

1. Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

2. Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7

3. Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11

4. Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists
as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the
world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt
previously held ideas to accommodate new information.

Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of
his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that children's
minds were not merely smaller versions of adult minds.

Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through a series of stages.
Older children do not just think more quickly than younger children, he suggested. Instead, there are
both qualitative and quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus older
children.

Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply
think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only a genius could have thought of
it."

The Sensorimotor Stage


Ages: Birth to 2 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
 Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and
listening
 Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)
 They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
 They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them

The Preoperational Stage


Ages: 2 to 7 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.
 Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of
others.
 While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in
very concrete terms.

The Concrete Operational Stage


Ages: 7 to 11 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes

 During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events
 They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide
cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
 Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
 Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general
principle

The Formal Operational Stage


Ages: 12 and Up

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about
hypothetical problems
 Abstract thought emerges
 Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that
require theoretical and abstract reasoning
 Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information

You might also like