How does knowledge grow?

JEAN PIAGET 1896 - 1980

Biography• Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on

August 9, 1896. 

• Father

• Mother

• Early beginnings.

• 10 years old first paper.

• Search of a biological explanation of knowledge.

• Philosophy failed. Turned to psychology.

• Children’s reasoning. Intelligence testing. (1st 5 books)

• Married student coworker (1923)• 1st daughter (1925)• 2nd daughter (1927)• Son (1931) • Over 60 books and many hundreds of articles.• Died in Geneva, on September 16, 1980• School curriculum.• One of the most important psychologist of the

twentieth century.

Main concepts of his theory

• Schemas (skills)

• Assimilation (new object integrated into existing skills)

• Accommodation (new skills are created)

• Adaptation (learning happens). It is a fundamentally biological process

Stages of cognitive development

• Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs) 

• Pre-operational  (2-7 years) 

• Concrete operational  (7-11 years) 

• Formal operational  (11 years and up) 

Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs) 

• Reflexes.• “Out of sight out of mind”.• Object permanence.• Makes interesting things last.• Solves simple problem.• Pretends.

Pre-operational  (2-7 years) 

• Uses symbols.• Language development occurs.• Uses creative play.• Understands past and future.• Egocentric (“grass grows so I don’t get hurt”).• Inability to conserve liquid volume.

Concrete operational  (7-11 years) 

• Uses logical operations to resolve problems.• Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass

(age 7), and weight (age 9)• Learns classification and seriation.

Formal operational  (11 years and up) 

• Can think logically about abstract propositions.• Uses hypothetical thinking.“ If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side.”  Take a look at the cards below and tell me, which cards do I need to turn over to tell if this rule is actually true? 

Conclusions• The formal operations stage is not reached by

everyone.• Abstract reasoning is no universal.• Social or external interventions are not included

as part of Piaget’s theory.

References• Atherton J S (2011) Learning and Teaching; Piaget's

developmental theory [On-line: UK] retrieved 6 September 2011 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm

• Boeree C. George. Personalities Theories • http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html