Theory of Cognitive Development and Children

During this stage, the child can engage in symbolic play, and have developed an imagination. This child may use an object to represent something else, such pretending that a broom is a horse. An important feature a child displays during this stage is egocentrism. This refers to the child’s inability to see a situation from another person’s point of view. To test whether or not children are egocentric, Piaget used the ‘Three Mountain Task’. Piaget concluded that the four-year olds thinking was egocentric, as the seven year olds was not. Children, at this stage, do not understand more complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison.

During the Sensorimotor stage (between birth and the age of two), Piaget claims that sensory and motor skills are developed, as well as claiming that infants are unable to grasp object permeance until eighteen to twenty-four months; Piaget argued that if a child could not see the item, it no longer existed to them. When the child’s age was between nine and ten months, more experiments were done into object permeance, resulting in the 'a not b ' test, in which one object was hidden underneath an item, and then switched. Despite the obvious difference in sizes underneath the two objects, the child would still believe the item to be under where it was originally found. Furthermore, Aguiara and Baillargeon (2002), suggested the violation of expectation; using the example of a doll moving between two opaque objects and reappearing in the centre – the child will then be surprised, as to them the object had no longer existed.

There are three main theories of development that I shall discuss in this assignment, 'Cognitive', the main theorist being, 'Piaget', (1896 - 1980), The, 'Psychosocial Theory', 'Erikson', (1902 - 1994), and, The 'Psychosexual', of, 'Freud', (1856 - 1939).

Piaget and Vygotsky have antonymous beliefs when dealing with the concepts of cognitive development. Vygotsky believes in development through social behaviour whilst Piaget believes in individuals acquiring knowledge on their own. Both however, believe that the interaction between development and learning hold significant implications for a child’s growth. This essay discusses some of the philosophical beliefs of each theorist in regards to a scenario based in the classroom of a year five teacher named Ann. Ann reinforces classroom lessons through the outdoor environment, exemplifying Piaget’s theories of constructivist based

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, made substantial findings in intellectual development. His Cognitive Theory influenced both the fields of education and psychology. Piaget identified four major periods of cognitive development: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operations stage, and the stage of formal operations. The preoperational stage includes children two to four years of age and is characterized by the development and refinement of schemes for symbolic representation. During the preoperational stage lies, what Piaget coined, the intuitive period. This phase occurs during the ages of 4-7 and during this time, the child’s thinking is largely centered on the way things appear to be rather than on

There is a plethora of child development theories that have a degree of influence over current practice. Each of which both have criticism and contrasting theories.

Piaget (Berger, 1994) is a well know cognitive theorist whose concept of cognitive development placed great importance on early childhood education. Piaget’s theory has four specific stages. He deemed that children learn by actively involving themselves in their domain. Piaget is also linked to the Constructivist Theory：children construct

Piaget believe that children are active thinkers. He recognized that the mind develops through a series of irreversible stages. He also acknowledged that a child’s maturing brain builds schemas that are constantly assimilating and accommodating to the world around them. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is split into four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The sensorimotor stage occurs from birth to nearly two years of age. At this stage, infants learn about the world around them by sensing it and interacting within it. It is also in this stage that the idea of object permanence develops, that is, the awareness that things continue to exist even when they are not being observed. In my personal life, I am certain that in this stage of development I would have enjoyed peek-a-boo, because if I didn’t see it, to my developing mind, it wasn’t there at all. The second stage, preoperational, lasts from two years of age to seven years of

The first stage of the cognitive development theory is the sensorimotor stage. This stage lasts approximately from birth to the age of two and is focused on how the infant understands the world around them (Cherry, K., 2015, May 27). During the sensorimotor stage, infants lack object permanence, which is the awareness that objects and people continue to exist even if they are out of sight (Feldman, R., 2013, p. 418). The infants will also gain knowledge and experience the world through their senses and motor

The thinking patterns between a 3-year-old preschooler and a 9-year-old student differ, according to Piaget’s theory of development. Based on Piaget’s theory, a 3-year-old preschooler fits within the preoperational stage of development. During this stage, the child is able to produce mental representations. However, the child cannot perform mental transformations. Also, the preschooler will be egocentric. For example, a 3-year-old may use symbols to represent his ideas. On the contrary, a 9-year-old student fits within the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of development. Throughout this stage, the student is now able to perform mental transformations. However, the student can only perform mental transformations of actual physical

There are many different things that shape the cognitive development of children. To begin with cognitive development is when a child develops how to process, solve problems, and start making decisions. Once they have learned this they take everything they have learned into their adolescence. An example, of what can shape the cognitive development of a child can be an educational game. Educational games can be very useful in shaping a child’s development because they are having fun while learning at the same time and what kid doesn’t like to play games, the fact that it is even educational makes it even better for them. Not only are they having fun but there are many different games that help in different categories of development in

Piaget’s four developmental stages stressed the importance of a child’s interaction with their environment. The first stage, the sensorimotor stage, encompasses the first two years of a child’s life where they use their senses to explore the world around them. The second stage, the preoperational stage, occurs between ages two and seven, where children develop symbolic thought. Symbolic thought is “a type of thinking in which symbols or internal images are used to represent objects, persons, and events that are not present” ("Symbolic Thought," n.d.). Again, children develop this type of thought through activities such as make-believe play, rather than social learning from others. The third stage, the concrete operational stage, occurs between ages seven and eleven where children begin to think logically and work things out in their head (McLeod, 2009). It is important to note that this only applies to physical, concrete concepts. Abstract thinking appears in the final stage, the formal operational stage, which occurs from age eleven into adulthood. In this stage, children and adults are able to think abstractly and use reasoning (“Jean Piaget,” 2015). All of these stages are based on humans, particularly children, interacting with their environment and theorizing about the world around them; “advancement through these levels occurs through the interaction of biological factors and experience, through a mechanism he called equilibrium" (“Jean Piaget,” 2015). Piaget paid no mind to the role of social interaction and the importance of learning from others in intellectual development and this is the key area where he differs from

Furthermore, within the pre-operational stage Piaget identified a characteristic that he referred to as "egocentrism." This is the child’s inability to see the world from another’s perspective. Piaget observed this phenomenon in his "Three mountains scene" experiment (Piaget & Inhelder, 1956). In an experiment, a child sat on one side of a model of three mountains, with a teddy sat at the opposite side. The child then was asked to choose a picture that showed the scene, which the teddy was able to see. At end, the child only chose what he was able to see. This result did surprise Piaget because he knew a child’s inability to "de-centre" at this preoperational stage.

Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is well-known and provides a basic understanding of the cognitive process and how children

The first stage of Piaget’s development theory is the sensorimotor stage which takes place in children most commonly 0 to 2 years old. In this stage, thought is developed through direct physical interactions with the environment. Three major cognitive leaps in this stage are the development of early schemes, the development of goal-oriented behavior, and the development of object permanence. During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus on what they