Piaget's Constructivism & Interaction with the Environment

Piaget's Constructivism & Interaction with the Environment

1. Children think actively, not passively.

   • Children's efforts to cognitively adapt to the situations they are.

2. People interpret their environments and experiences in light of the knowledge they have.

3. People "construct" their own understandings and knowledge.

4. SCHEME

   • Essential building block for cognition
     • Organized pattern of action or thought

5. Children interaction with environment

   • Individual schemes become:
     • Modified
     • Combined
       • To form more complex cognitive structures
     • Reorganized

6. Cognitive structures

   • Organize existing knowledge
   • Filter for new experiences

7. Limited environment interaction avoids opportunity to develop and reorganize cognitive structures

8. ADAPTATION

   • Assimilation
   • Cognitive disequilibrium
   • Accommodation
   • Cognitive equilibrium
   • New assimilation

9. Cognitive development

   • Stage 1: Sensorimotor Thought
     • Sensory input
       • See, Smell, Taste, Touch and Hear
     • Motor actions
       • Sucking, Reaching and Grasping
   • Stage 2: Preoperational Thought
     • Mental representational ability
       • Symbols in Artwork
       • Symbols in Play
       • Emergence of Intuitive Thought