1. JEAN PIAGETS THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT By: Kayla Lane,
Kelly McGrail, Cara Sisler, and Michael Herther
2. PIAGETS BEGINNINGS CHILD PRODIGY
3. Piaget was 10 years old when he published his first article
on an albino sparrow (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p.
152)
4. BINET LABORATORY Age 21: Piaget earns his PhD and heads off
the work at the Binet laboratory with Theophile Simon and Alfred
Binet There he learned many of the key ideas in his revolutionary
theory of cognitive development (Littlefield Cook & Cook,
2005/2009, p. 152) BINET PIAGET
5. THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 4 Stages
6. STAGE 1: SENSORIMOTOR THOUGH (BIRTH-2 YEARS) Babies are
stuck in the HERE AND NOW world they know the world only in terms
of their own sensory input (what they see, smell, taste, touch, and
hear) and their physical or motor actions on it (e.g. sucking,
reaching, grasping) (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p.
157)
7. Babies lack REPRESENTATIONAL THOUGHT or ability to think
through the use of symbols CAN YOU THINK WITHOUT WORDS??
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 158)
8. NO! of course not! Thats why Piaget says babies cannot
think! Evidence of representational thought emerges from the use of
language and ObJeCt PeRmAnEnCe the fact that objects, events, or
even people continue to exist when they are not in the infants
direct line of sensory or motor action (Littlefield Cook &
Cook, 2005/2009, p. 159) The understanding of object permanence
marks the change into
9. PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT Stage 2 (2-7 years)
10. PREOPERATIONAL THOUGHT IS CHARACTERIZED BY: Intuitive
Though logic bases only on experiences Symbols in Egocentrism lack
of conservation
11. SYMBOLS IN PLAY Symbolic play: use one object to stand for
another Fantasy play: pretend to be something, or pretend
activities that are impossible Make-believe play: use toys as props
Can you hear me now? UP, UP, AND AWAY Rock a-by Baby (Littlefield
Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 162)
12. EGOCENTRICSM: childs inability to take in others
perspective (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 163)
13. THREE MOUNTAIN TEST Little Timmy sees the big mountain and
Davie the Doll sees the smaller mountain Timmys egocentrism
prevents him from seeing Davies perspective Timmy would draw the
big mountain
14. CONSERVATION
15. ACCORDING TO THIS GUY: Operations = reversible mental
actions Thus, the preoperational Stage is marked by childrens lack
of conservation - concept that certain basic properties of an
object (e.g. volume, mass, and weight) remain the same even if its
physical appearance changes (Littlefield Cook & Cook,
2005/2009, p. 164)
16. FAMOUS CONSERVATION TEST Equal Amounts of H2O The FIRST
step in the experiment is to show the child 2 cups with equal
amount of water
17. STEP 2 Pour one cup into a tall, skinny cup and the other
into a short, fat cup
18. STEP 3 a child would conclude that the tall skinny class
had more water because the level of water was higher. THE
UNDERSTANDING OF CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES SENDS THAT PRECIOUS LITTLE
CHILD RIGHT INTO THE WORLD OF
19. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL THOUGHT Stage 3 (7-11 years)
20. Logic is still tied closely to concrete materials,
contexts, and situations (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009,
p. 166) Characterized by: ytilibisreveR Logical abilities: class
inclusion
21. REVERSIBILITY Relates to the CONSERVATION EXPERIMENT
children in the concrete operational stage understand that if you
reverse the action (pour the water back into the same size cups),
then the water amount REMAINS THE SAME ITS LIKE MAGIC but not
really. (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 165)
22. LOGICAL ABILITIES: CLASS INCLUSION ARE THERE MORE DOGS OR
ANIMALS?
23. Through understanding class inclusion, children in the
concrete operational stage know that dogs belong to the larger
CATEGORY of animals So they would answer: ANIMALS (Littlefield Cook
& Cook, 2005/2009, p. 166)
24. FORMAL OPERATIONAL THOUGHT Stage 4 (age 12 and up) 5
important higher-level cognitive abilities
25. 1. HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE REASONING ability to plan
systematic tests to explore multiple variables HUH? IT MEANS
SCIENTIFIC REASONING!!! (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p.
167)
26. 2. ABSTRACT THOUGHT Thought about things that are not real
or tangible (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 167)
27. 3. SEPARATING REALITY FROM POSSIBILITY direction of
thinking about reality and possibility reverses: reality is thought
of as only one of many possible outcomes How things could be
(Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005/2009, p. 167)
28. 4. COMBINATIONAL LOGIC Thinking about multiple aspects and
combining them logically to solve problems
29. 5. REFLECTIVE THINKING Thinking about your own
thinking
30. WHAT IF A CHILD DOES NOT DEVELOP AS PIAGET EXPLAINED? IN
MOST CASES, CHILDREN WITH COGNITIVE DISABILITIES DO NOT
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE ALL OF PIAGETS STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
31. COGNITIVE DISABILITIES
32. DOWN SYNDROME (TRISOMY 21) IS A COMMON EXAMPLE OF A
COGNITIVE DISABILITY
33. COMMON ASPECTS OF DOWN SYNDROME
34. (National Down Syndrome, 2011).
35. (National Down Syndrome, 2011).
36. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PIAGET Berk, L.E.(2007).
Development through the lifespan: Fourth Edition. Illinios: Pearson
Education, Inc. Hall, C. E. Nordby, V.J. (1974). A guide to
pyschologists and their concepts. San Fransico: Freeman and
Company. Malott, R.W. Whaley,D.L.(1976). Pyschology. New York:
Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. Wadsworth, B.J.(1996). Piagets
theory of cognitive and affective development: Fifth Ed. New York:
Logman Publishers, U.S.A.
37. REFERENCES Littlefield Cook, J., & Cook, G. (2009).
Cognitive development: Piagetian and sociocultural views. in Child
development principles and perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 151-183).
Boston : Pearson Education, Inc. (Original work published 2005)
National down syndrome society - mental health issues and down
syndrome. (2011). Retrieved November 30, 2011, from National Down
Syndrome Society website: