What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Piaget's Stages Of Cognitive Development

Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson are very well known men for their different theories of development. Although each of them believe different things about how a child develops, I believe that a child can go through all of these theories and benefit from them. I also understand that not everyone is the same, and what might be true for someone could be different for someone else. In my own personal experience, I believe I went through and I’m going through all these different stages in theories throughout my life. I also work at a daycare and we use aspects from each of these theories when going about teaching children. The three different theories include: Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, Vygotsky;s sociocultural theory of

leaves and their texture, he then started to using his fingers to crush the dried leaves and twirling the stem in his finger using his fore finger and thumb. He is using his small muscles in fingers for activities.

In this paper, Piaget’s Stages of cognitive development will be briefly explained, and I will explain where my cousin, Laura, is according to these stages. The real names of people discussed in this paper have been protected by not using their real names, so their personal information is confidential. My fifteen year old cousin Laura has been through many changes, and I have watched the rapid transformation in her personality, attitude, and way of thinking all in the past few years.

Since the beginning of psychoanalytic theory and investigation into the psychology of children, scientists and researchers have wondered how best to assess infants and young children in order to determine the intelligent and potential social and emotional level of the child in question. Lev Vygotsky was one of the first sociologists and psychologists exclusively interested in the study of child development and in the exploration over which education techniques would best serve children. Since the publication of his theories in the middle of the 20th century regarding child development and the importance of interaction, many have experimented with assessing the validity of his arguments regarding young children. Researchers have mostly examined his theory on the Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding wherein the child's base knowledge is used to determine the next step in their education. Two such investigations were conducted by Julia Chandra in 2008 and G.G. Kravsov in 2010, wherein each person performed a psychological experiment which tested the effectiveness of Vygotsky's theories regarding development and his promotion of dynamic assessment.

Piaget describes Cognitive development as the development of thinking across the lifespan. He believes, that as children grow and their brains develop, and they move through multiple stages that are characterized by differences in their cognitive development.

Jean Piaget born on August 9, 1896 in Switzerland. When Piaget was eleven years old he wrote a short notice on an albino sparrow. Piaget obtained his Ph.D. in natural science at the University of Neuchatel. During this period Piaget published two philosophical essays. In 1921 Piaget became the director of studies at the J.-J. Rousseau Institute in Geneva. In 1936 he did a systematic study on cognitive thinking which contributed to a theory of cognitive development. This cognitive development theory explains the nature and development of a child’s intelligence. Piaget explains how children acquire new information, and according to their age they adapt their internal world (schemas) to the outside world (new information). The children’s mental development is measured by four stages.

Children grow, learn, and develop as individuals throughout their lifespan. Not only do they physically change, but also they mentally mature. Jean Piaget researched and created four stages of cognitive development to describe how children’s thinking patterns change as they become older (Grison, Heatherton, and Gazzaniga, 2015). He describes their shifts in thinking into sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

When children age, not only are their bodies altered, but their minds and thought processes change as well. Additionally, a child’s abilities and goals largely have to do with what stage of childhood he or she is in. In order to more accurately understand the vast differences between children of varying ages, it is imperative to observe several age groups in the same setting. While babysitting, I was able to observe various marked differences between three children, each of which are in different stages of development. Namely, these variations became apparent through the interactions between seven year old Noelle and her neighbors, four year old Helena and two year old Perry. Among the apparent distinctions observed, the following will be discussed: play, temperament and attachment, coordination and information processing, language learning, self-awareness maturation, Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, and Erikson’s stages of psychological development. It is important to comprehend each of these theories and constructs, and the best way to gain a full understanding is to see how each theory changes and develops through the different stages of childhood.

To answer this question, Piaget's theory of development should be explained along with Vygotsky's theory and the connectionist theory of development, and then each should be compared with the others. Once this has been achieved the main similarities and differences will be summarized, and finally the areas of Piaget's theory that have not been undermined by other theories will be reiterated.

The Cognitive Development theory refers to the ability to learn through thinking and reasoning. Theorist Jean Piaget developed the stages of cognitive development according to age and how individuals learn through their environment and senses. Based on Education.com: Stages of Cognitive Development (Driscoll/Nagel ,2008), these stages are from infant to teenage years with specific abilities. The first stage of Piaget’s stages of development is called Sensorimotor, which starts at birth to two years of age. It describes how babies learn through their senses. The next stages is known as Pre-operational which are ages two through seven. During this stage, a child uses his or her own logic to express thinking. From the seven to eleven years of age, a child is in the Concrete Operational stage. He or she will use hands-on experience to increase knowledge. The final stage is Formal Operational. Between the ages of eleven and fifteen, an adolescent develops a more abstract form of knowledge. One of the main differences between these stages is object permanence. Piaget designed these stages in a rigid format. This theory does not allow individual experience and background to be considered. In conclusion, a weakness of this theory is that is doesn’t mention how culture impacts learning. A strength of this theory is that it acts as a guide for educators to provide variation while lesson planning.

Piaget *Missing Works Cited* Piaget work has received world wide acclaim and recognition , as well as having a positive impact in areas such as education and social curricula. Though he had made an impact on understanding of the child cognitive development , his theory of cognitive development has suffered a great deal of critics that it neglects the social nature of human development.(Hook, Watts and Cockroft ,2002).So the following essay will discuss on whether this critic is valid or not based on detail discussion of Piaget theory. The theory of Vygotsky shall also be discussed to prove that indeed social factors play a role .

Numerous papers have been written on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Theory. Most fall short of helping others understand what exactly Jean Piaget means when it comes to the three basic components to Piaget’s Cognitive Theory. These two articles I have chosen to use in this paper, give the best explanation on his theory. This paper will go into detail on the key concepts of Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and hopefully help others understand in its simplest form.

This essay will compare Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development in children. Also, show the differences between the two psychologist’s theories. Thus, by showing their similarities like in language and adaptation theories. Further, differences like Piaget’s theory on cognitive developmental stages and the schemas which are build to learn or accommodate new words or things. Vygostky’s theory differs to Piaget’s theory by his socio-cultural and language theories. Finally, bring all this points together by drawing a conclusion.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development suggested that to develop cognitively, children must have social interaction. He also “believed that this lifelong process of development was dependent of social interaction and that social learning actually leads to cognitive development” (Riddle, 1999). Vygotsky believed that children 's social learning must come before social development. Vygotsky also believed that "human activities take place in cultural settings and cannot be understood apart from these settings" (Woolfolk, 2004). Therefore, our culture helps shape our cognition.

Overview: Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, believed that children between the ages of seven and twelve, i.e. the concrete operational stage, begin to understand the concepts of reversibility, which is one of the important processes for logical thinking of conservation, besides classification and seriation. Reversibility is the ability to think about steps on any certain action and being able to mentally reverse the steps to return to the starting point (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016). Children recognise that numbers, objects or events can be reversed, i.e, changed and returned to original condition. Inductive reasoning is incorporated by solving problems involving concrete objects and materials in the early stages of concrete operational level and build on towards deductive reasoning in the later stage. Reversibility is involved at all developmental stages of Piagetian theory. Reversibility plays an significant role in developing knowledge connected to the curriculum areas like Mathematics and Science. For example, investigating the connection between addition and multiplication; subtraction and division; fractions, decimals and percentages, and demonstrating it using concrete materials provides students with a significant opportunity to put the concept of reversibility in action. At the concrete operational stage, the child is able to think through a series of steps and mentally reverse the steps to return to the