Jean Piagets Learning Theory

Introduction of Jean Piaget• Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was employed

at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, • where his job was to develop French

versions of questions on English intelligence tests.

• Piaget (1936) described his work as genetic epistemology (i.e. the origins of thinking).

Cont…• Genetics is the scientific study of where

things come from (their origins). • Epistemology is concerned with the basic

categories of thinking, that is to say, the framework or structural properties of intelligence.

Cont…• Piaget (1936) was the first psychologist to

make a systematic study of cognitive development.

• His contributions include a theory of child cognitive development,

• detailed observational studies of cognition in children, and

• a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.

Cont..• Before Piaget’s work, the common

assumption in psychology was that children are merely less competent thinkers than adults.

• Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways compared to adults.

Cont..• According to Piaget, children are born with

a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based.

Piaget's Theory Differs From Others

• It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.

• It focuses on development, rather than learning process,

• so it does not address learning of information or specific behaviors.

Cont…• It proposes discrete stages of

development,• marked by qualitative differences, rather

than a gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc.

Key concepts• Schemas• (building blocks of knowledge).• Adaptation processes that enable the

transition from one stage to another (equilibrium,

• assimilation and  • accommodation).

Schema • Schema are the patterns of behavior that

children show in dealing with objects in space.

• It is simple in children but complex in adults

Assimilation • Assimilation takes place when the

organism uses object in the environment in the course of its activity

• It occurs when the new is drawn into old behavior pattern and becomes part of the child’s inner organization.

• For example• When something new is perceived that

resembles the old or already familiar object, it is used as would be the old object

• It is however necessary the t the object or event to be assimilated must fit an existing schema

Accommodation • Accommodation refers to adjusting the old

pattern to account for the new one. • Hence new activities are added to the

infants previously learnt pattern and these are modified to accommodate them.

Equilibrium

• Piaget say that when the organism fails to handle the new situation with the help of the previously learnt pattern of behavior some sort of in equilibrium or imbalance is created.

• However the individual tries to reduce such imbalance.

• He does so by focusing his attention on the stimuli that has caused the imbalance.

• He develops new schemes or adopts old ones until the equilibrium is restored

• This process of restoring balance is called equilibrium.

Stages

Sensorimotor stage (birth-2year)

• It involves senses and motor activities• Object permanency “out of sight out of

mind”• Self and the world • Curiosity towards environment

Pre-operational Stage (2-7y)• Semiotic function• Ability to work with pictures, gestures,

words and symbols• As for real bicycle a picture of bicycle• Development of language by enlarging

vocabulary

Cont…• Difficulty in conservation • As a thinner but longer glass has more

water than wider glass

Egocentricism• Children assumes that every one shares

their feelings, reactions and perspective.• Means if he fears of dog, means everyone

have fear same.

Animism• Children believes that each and everything

which moves by itself is alive until it damages or broken

The concrete operational stage • Principle of conservation• Kids at this point of development begin to

think more logically, but their thinking can also be very rigid.

• They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.

• At this point, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel.

• Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

• Classification • Child can divide things into different sets

or sub sets and considering their interrelationship

• Seriation • It requires children to reason about

relations between classes.

• Transitivity • The ability to logically combine relations to

understand certain conclusions

The formal operational stage • Abstract thinking • The abstract quality of formal operational

thinking is evident in verbal problem solving.

• Ideal & imaginative thinking • Ability to idealize and • imagine possibilities

Adolescent ego-centricism• Is the heightened self consciousness that

is reflected in adolescent beliefs that others are as interested in them as they themselves are.

• A sense of personal uniqueness.• Desire to be noticed, visible and on stage.• Tends to think that they are invulnerable.