2. Bio of Jean Piaget 1896-1980 SWISS GENETIC EPISTEMOLOGIST, PSYCHOLOGIST Piaget is credited with foundational contributions to the emerging disciplines of child psychology, educational psychology, and cognitive development theory.
3. His theory The child’s stage of development sets limits on learning and influences the type of learning that should occur. Intellectual growth is not a quantitative process but rather a qualitative operation in which there are significant differences between the thinking of children and adolescents as well as between preschool and primary school students. People are born with a tendency to organize their thinking process (schemes).
14. Flaws in his theory Critics argue that Piaget underestimated the intellectual abilities of preschool children and overestimated the formal thinking skills of adolescents and adults. Research has found that only about 30 percent of adults could be classified in Piaget’s formal operations stage.
15.
16.
17. Steps in Problem Solving 2. Defining the Problem: After the problem has been identified, it is important to fully define the problem so that it can be solved. 3. Forming a Strategy: The next step is to develop a strategy to solve the problem. The approach used will vary depending upon the situation and the unique preferences of the individual.
18. Steps in Problem Solving 4. Organizing Information: Before coming up with a solution, we need to first organize the available information. What do we know about the problem? What do we not know? The more information that is available, the better prepared we will be to come up with an accurate solution.
19. Steps in Problem Solving 5. Allocating Resources: Before you begin to solve a problem, you need to determine how high priority it is. If it is an important problem, it is probably worth allocating more resources to solving it. If, however, it is a fairly unimportant problem, then you do not want to spend too much of your available resources into coming up with a solution.
20. Steps in Problem Solving 6. Monitoring Progress: Effective problem-solvers tend to monitor their progress as they work towards a solution. If they are not making good progress toward reaching their goal, they will reevaluate their approach or look for new strategies. 7. Evaluating the Results: After a solution has been reached, it is important to evaluate the results to determine if it is the best possible solution to the problem.
23. Cognitive Development and Problem Solving Preoperational: -Problem solving that includes sorting by shape, size, color, texture.
24. Cognitive Development and Problem Solving Concrete Operational -Problem Solving that involves sorting, by function. -Math problem solving as concrete word problems. For example, solving the problem "How many cows does a farmer own if he inherited two, bought ten more, and then sold three?"
25. Cognitive Development and Problem Solving Formal Operations -Problem solving that has deductive reasoning. -Problem solving that engages hypothetical testing.
26. Connections With each development stage, the level of problem solving changes. Problem solving is not grade-centered, but age-centered. It is important to understand the stages of cognitive development before incorporating higher level problem solving into curriculums.
27. References Tommie, Dr. Lawrence. "An Examination of Cognitivism: The Psychology of Knowledge and Strategies." Learning Theories-A Primer Exercise. N.p., 15 Oct 2004. Web. 20 Sept 2011. http://academics.rmu.edu/~tomei/ed711psy/cognitive.htm "Piaget, Jean - Introduction." Psychologists and Their Theories. Ed. Kristine Krapp. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 1 Oct, 2011 http://www.enotes.com/psychology-theories/piaget-jean "Problem Solving." 2011. Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_solving Cherry, Kendra. "Problem Solving." About.com, Web. 20 Sept 2011. <http://psychology.about.com/od/problemsolving/f/problem-solving-steps.htm>.
