Piaget’s Cognitive Stages

Patsy Hamby

Jean Piaget

• 1896-1980• Belief:– “Only education is capable of saving our societies from

possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual.”• Model of intellectual development– Cognitive Stages of Development– Affects elementary classroom instruction

• Epistemology– The study of knowledge or theories about how we

acquire knowledge

Stage 1: Sensorimotor

• Birth to about age 2• Leans about the environment through motor

and reflex action• Thought derives from sensation and

movement

Sensorimotor (cont’d)

• Learns he is separate from the environment– Items continue to exist outside his reach

• How to teach:– Gear toward the sensorimotor system• Frowning, stern voice, soothing voice

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHFjFr0hk2g

Take 3

• Discuss with a classmate your experience with children at the sensorimotor stage of development.

Stage 2: Preoperational

• From time child starts to talk to about age 7• Child learns to use symbols to represent

objects– Personifies objects

• Able to think about items and events that are not immediately present

• Assumes others see things from his viewpoint

Preoperational (cont’d)

• Takes in information and changes his mind• Difficulty conceptualizing time• Best way to teach:– Take into account the child’s fantasies– Remember undeveloped sense of time– Provide tangibles– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLj0IZFLKvg

Take 3

• Discuss with a classmate your experience with a child at the preoperational stage of development.

Stage 3: Concrete

• About 1st grade to early adolescence• Beginning of abstract thinking• Logic begins to take precedence over

perception– Makes rational judgments about observable

phenomena

Concrete (cont’d)

• Best way to teach:– Provide opportunities for child to ask questions– Ask child to explain back to you to allow him to

mentally manipulate information

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alZXoALQJr4

Take 3

• Discuss with a classmate your experience with a child at the concrete stage of development.

Formal Operations

• Adolescence• No longer requires concrete objects to make

rational judgments• Capable of hypothetical and deductive

reasoning• Best way to teach:– Provide different perspectiveshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJdcXA1KH8

Take 3

• Discuss with a classmate which of the following types of reasoning you prefer:– Deductive: Teacher provides examples and leads

students to naming the exact term.– Inductive: Teacher provides definition; students

provide examples.

References

• “Jean Piaget.” Wikipedia. Retrieved Jan. 8, 2012 from wikipedia.com

• “Piaget’s Cognitive Stages.” Springhouse, 1990. Retrieved Jan 8, 2012 from honolulu.hawaii.edu