2. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Overview
The stages of intellectual development formulated by
Piaget appear to be related to major developments in
brain growth.
We often expect children to think like adults when they
are not yet capable of doing so.
The human brain is not fully developed until late adolescence
or in the case of males sometimes early adulthood.
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3. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development
We often expect children to think like adults
They're not and they can't.
It is important that parents, teachers and tutors know
what to expect from the child as they develop.
Expectations for a given age
need to be realistic.
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4. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Each
Developmental Stage
has an
Approximate Age Range
And
Characteristic Behaviors
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6. Piaget's Four 1
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Sensorimotor Stage
Infancy
(
(0 - 24 months)
In the first post natal stage of
development, children experience
six
sub-stages of spatial and sensory
learning and growth.
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7. 1
S
Sensorimotor Stage (0 - 24 months)
Developmental Stage & Characteristic Behaviour
Approximate Age
Reflexive Simple reflex activity such as grasping, sucking.
(0-2 months)
Primary Circular Reactions Reflexive behaviours occur in stereotyped repetition
(2-4 months) such as opening and closing fingers repetitively.
Secondary Circular Reactions Repetition of change actions to reproduce
(4-8 months) interesting consequences such as kicking one's feet
to more a mobile suspended over the crib.
Coordination of Secondary Reactions Responses become coordinated into more complex
(8-12 months) sequences. Actions take on an "intentional"
character such as the infant reaches behind a screen
to obtain a hidden object.
Tertiary Circular Reactions Discovery of new ways to produce the same
(12-18 months) consequence or obtain the same goal such as the
infant may pull a pillow toward him in an attempt to
get a toy resting on it.
Invention of New Means Evidence of an internal representational system
Through Mental Combination symbolizing the problem-solving sequence before
(18-24 months) actually responding. Deferred imitation.
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8. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive 2
Development
The Preoperational Stage
Toddler & Early Childhood
(
(2-7 years)
There are 2 sub-stages or phases here:
Preoperational 2-4 years
Intuitive 4-7 years
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9. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Preoperational Stage
Development (2-7 years)
The whole Preoperational Stage is characterised by the following processes:
Animism demonstrated when children attribute living qualities to inanimate
: objects, like toys
Centration: involves a child’s response to one aspect of a situation or object,
such as the height versus the height and diameter of an object.
Classification: allows a child to combine similar objects in basic clusters according
to shared criteria like size and colour.
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10. Piaget's Four 2
Stages of Cognitive
Development The Preoperational Stage
The First Phase
(2-4 years)
Egocentrism:
the child’s self-preoccupation and personal view
that does not readily accept another person’s view.
Conservation - lack of:
the inability to conserve reflects a child’s difficulty
with concepts of volume, mass and number.
Beginning of Symbolic Functioning:
the ability to understand the meaning of something that is not
physically there.
Belief in magical increase, decrease, disappearance.
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11. Piaget's Four 2
Stages of Cognitive
Development The Preoperational Stage
The Intuitive Phase
(4 -7 years)
Intuitive thought reveals belief in something without
understanding why one believes in it.
Intuitive grasp of logical concepts in some areas
Tendency to focus attention on one aspect of an object while
ignoring others
Belief in magical increase, decrease, disappearance.
The rise of
imagination
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12. Piaget's Four 3
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Concrete Operational Stage
(
(7-11 years)
Operational thinking develops, moving from
the concrete towards the abstract
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13. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development Concrete Operational Stage
(7-11 years)
Conservation evolves so that a child retains the understanding
of quantity, length or numbers associated with an object or
process.
This stage is characterized by 7 types of conservation:
number
length
liquid
mass
area
volume
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14. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development Concrete Operational Stage
(7-11 years)
Decentering the child’s ability to comprehend multiple aspects
of a problem while solving it.
Decreasing Egocentrism
the child begins to understand another person’s
perspective, whether or not they are in agreement.
speech becomes more social, less egocentric.
The pronoun 'WE' starts to get a workout.
Understanding Reversibility
an object or number can change and then reverse into
its original state.
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15. Piaget's Four 3
Stages of
Cognitive
Development
Concrete Operational Stage
(
(7-11 years)
This stage is often the period of a child’s development when s/
he begins to engage with the concepts of:
fairness
sharing
empathy
compassion
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16. Piaget's Four 4
Stages of Cognitive
Development Formal Operational Stage
(11-15+ years)
This stage continues into
adulthood.
This is the stage where children,
`
entering puberty, begin to think
abstractly and create meaning
from available data.
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17. Piaget's Four 4
Stages of Cognitive
Development Formal Operational Stage
(11-15+ years)
Thought becomes more abstract, incorporating the principles of formal
logic.
The ability to generate abstract propositions, multiple hypotheses and
their possible outcomes is evident.
Thinking becomes less tied to concrete reality.
Formal logical systems can be acquired.
Prepositional logic, as-if and if-then steps can be used.
Can handle proportions, algebraic manipulation, other purely
abstract processes. If a + b = x then a = x - b.
Can use aids such as axioms to enhance comprehension.
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18. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive Formal Operational Stage
Development (11-15+ years)
This critical fourth stage
is responsible for creating
global problem solvers and creative thinkers
who can
analyze a situation
a n d n o t b e c o n f in e d b y
concrete ideas
or
previously accepted logic.
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19. Piaget's Four
Stages of Cognitive
Development
Sensorimotor Stage
1
(
(0 - 24 months)
2 The Preoperational Stage
(2-7 years)
3 Concrete Operational Stage
(7-11 years)
4 Formal Operational Stage
(11-15+ years)
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General information regarding the stages These four stages have been found to have the following characteristics: * They apply to thought rather than children * Although the timing may vary, the sequence of the stages does not. * Universal (not culturally specific) * Generalizable: the representational and logical operations available to the child should extend to all kinds of concepts and content knowledge * Stages are logically organized wholes * Hierarchical nature of stage sequences (each successive stage incorporates elements of previous stages, but is more differentiated and integrated) * Stages represent qualitative differences in modes of thinking, not merely quantitative differences
There is a developmental stage which is associated with an approximate age & each stage has characteristic behaviour associated with it.
1. Sensorimotor Stage In the earliest stage of development, children experience six sub-stages of spatial and sensory learning and growth. The first sub-stage as outlined is the reflex schema stage comprises the first six weeks of life. According to Gruber and Vaneche, this stage is characterized by the development of three key reflexes. One is the ability to suck, which is required for nursing activity that allows the child to access and drink milk or other fluids.
2. Preoperational Stage Piaget’s theory denotes the preoperational stage as the second level of cognitive development. Late in the second year of a child’s development, mental function changes to reveal a higher-order thinking skill. In this stage a child takes action on a particular object. This stage occurs between the ages of two and seven, and includes the following processes: -Animism is demonstrated when children attribute living qualities to inanimate objects, like toys. -Centration involves a child’s response to one aspect of a situation or object, such as the height versus the height and diameter of an object. -Classification allows a child to combine similar objects in basic clusters according to shared criteria like size and color.
For example, a wide cup and a tall cup holding the same amount of liquid could look different to a child eying the difference in height.
Intuitive thought reveals belief in something without understanding why one believes in it. . This is a critical area for the development of trust and faith in what others tell the child
T he Concrete Operational Stage The third stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the concrete operational stage, occurs between the ages of seven and eleven, and illustrates logical thought processes. -Conservation evolves so that a child retains the understanding of quantity, length or numbers associated with an object or process. -Decentering is a child’s ability to comprehend multiple aspects of a problem while solving it. -Elimination of egocentrism lets a child understand another person’s perspective, whether or not they are in agreement. -Reversibility is the understanding that an object or number can change and then reverse into its original state. The concrete operational stage is often the period of a child’s development when he understands the concepts of fairness, sharing, empathy, and compassion for another person’s plight. She learns to focus more on alternative perspectives and can see other possibilities to the problems or situations she faces.
S/he learns to focus more on alternative perspectives and can see other possibilities to the problems or situations
Formal Operational Stage Piaget’s fourth and last stage of cognitive development begins at age 11 and continues into adulthood. This is the phase where children entering puberty begin to think abstractly and create meaning from available data. This critical fourth stage is responsible for creating global problem solvers and creative thinkers who can analyze a situation and not be confined by concrete ideas or previously accepted logic. Successful completion of the formal operational stage is evidenced by appreciation for dissenting views, a general lack of discrimination, creative viewpoints, and a confidence in one’s differences from the mainstream. These are the children who are marching to the beat of their own drum, even at an early age, or are comfortable coloring outside the lines not because they haven’t mastered their sensorimotor skills, but rather because they like the way the new lines look. As could be surmised, some experts believe that many people fail to successfully complete this stage to varying degrees. Many adults are bound by a rigid sense of order or sequential thinking that prohibits alternative solution development or limits their creative processes.
Each of the four stages comprises new learning that builds upon: prior skills prior abilities prior knowledge.
