Piaget 2

Piaget 2

1. Wanted to find out how children construct a mental model of the world

2. Schemas

   • Mental structure which contains all the knowledge about a given object or occurrence.
   • Sees children as little scientists; learning through interactions with and experiences of the world
   • Piaget was interested in how children coped with and adapted to the world
   • Describes the way in which newly acquired knowledge is stored internally
   • As the child gains more knowledge, schema becomes more complex

3. Sees intellectual growth as a process of adaptation. this happens through:

   • Assimiliation
     • when existing schemas can explain new info
       • man dressed as a woman, thinks its a womna
   • Accommodation
     • when existing schemas need to change to adapt to new info
       • mother explains, now sees as a man
   • Equilibrium
     • When a childs schemas can explain what is happening, they are in a state of equilibrium

4. Stages, which reflect the increasing sophistication of children thought

   • Sensorimotor
     • Birth - 2 yrs
     • Main achievement is object permanence, showing memory
     • Involves the use of motor activity
     • Knowledge is limited as this stage is based on interactions and experiences
     • Learn via trial and error
   • Pre - Operational
     • 2 yrs - 7 yrs
     • Think of things symbolliically
     • Thinking is still egocentric, struggle to see viewpoint of others
   • Concrete Operational
     • 7 yrs - 11 yrs
     • Marks the beginning of logical thinking
     • Can conserve weight, mass and number. conservation is the understanding that the quantity stays the same even if its appearance changed
   • Formal Operational
     • 11 yrs +
     • Begin to understand abstract concepts and can test hypotheses

5. Support

   • His ideas have been really influential, he has changed how people view the childs world. generated a huge amount of research, increased our understanding
   • Ideas have been of practical use e.g. discovery learning

6. Criticisms

   • Are the stages real? Vygotsky and Bruner see cognitive development as a continuous process
   • Studies have shown that reaching the formal operational stage is not guaranteed
     • Dasen - one third of adults do not reach this stage
     • Keating - 40-60% of college students fail at formal operational tasks
   • Failed to consider social setting and culture impact
   • Clinical interviews and observations, children interviews and subjective, need inter rater reliability