Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget's stages of development Stage 1 The Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 yrs Encourage explorations in touching, smelling, and manipulating objects Establishment of Object Permanence - everything has a life of it own even if it is out of sight Stage 2 The Preoperational Stage 2-7 yrs The concept of similarity based on appearance (volume of liquid based on container) Coins placed in close proximity or spaced proximity Shape and appearance influence perception Stage 3 The Concrete Operational Stage 7-11 yrs Understand the volume/liquid container concept Able to generalize  A degree of inconsistency in the child's ability to apply concepts Stage 4 The Formal Operational Stage 11-onwards Able to follow through logical concepts despite own based knowledge  Abstract thinking Able to create hypothesis and to imagine how things could be

Development of Cognitive Complexity

Assimilation - fitting objects into general constructs Accommodation - Able to form ideas and pick out differences and similarities Zone of Proximal Development - What the learner can do unaided -> what the learner can do with guidance -> what the learner cannot do Scaffolding (Vygotsky's) - teaching by modeling or demonstrating, then stepping back to allow learner to understand offering help and support when needed