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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development (Stage 2: Pre-operational…
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
Approach
Cognitive development
Field that studies how a child develops over time in terms of thinking, problem-solving, language, perception and information processing
Interactional approach
Stage 2: Pre-operational thought (age 2–7 years)
Child learns how to speak
Children are capable of thinking in symbolic terms
Children can form ideas, but they can only focus on one aspect of an object or situation at a time
Children cannot transfer knowledge from one situation to another
Egocentrism as a cognitive limitation
Children can only see things from their perspectives
Stage 3: Concrete operational thought (7–12 years)
Beginning of the school life
Start to use some rules of logic in problem-solving, but only when dealing with concrete tasks.
Need of concrete ideas to support abstract ideas
Problem solving is random and not systematic
Stage 1: Sensorimotor intelligence (age 0–2 years)
Limited knowledge
Child learns through movements and sensations
Innate reflexes
The movements of a child are not purposeful; however, when they learn that specific movements lead to specific consequences, they begin to adopt them more consciously
Object permanence
The idea that objects continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen
Children develop it around 8 months old
General information
physical maturation is an essential component of cognitive development
children learn by interacting with their social and physical environment
children use strategies in thinking and problem solving that reflect different stages of cognitive development
The stages were a way to describe changes in the logic of thinking
The sequence of stages indicate that the way in which we develop is universal.
Stage 4: Formal operations (from age 12)
Use of formal, abstract logic
Capacity to mentally manipulate ideas, concepts or numbers
Hypothetical thinking
What could happen or what would never happen
They are able to approach problem-solving in a systematic way
The accomplishment of this level depends on education
Evaluation
Strengths
The theory that cognitive changes are driven by biological maturation is widely accepted and supported
Research consistently supports the progression of cognitive development
Piaget has had a major effect on education
This approach is called "child-centered learning" and suggests that children learn best when the teacher sets up situations where the child can discover ideas for themselves
Cross-cultural support
Limitations
The original studies used tasks that were too language dependent and were not age-appropriate for the children
Use of cross-sectional design
Not observing the cognitive development of individual children over time, but comparing performance on cognitive tasks at different age levels
The ages at which the stages begin has been criticized
Evidence shows that often children enter the stages earlier than Piaget predicted
Descriptive rather than explanatory