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Section 1: Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
1. Jean Piaget
A. 1896 - 1980; Swiss Psychologist who became leading theorist in 1930s
B. Piaget believed that "children are active thinkers, constantly trying to construct more advanced
understandings of the world"
C. How does Piaget describe developmental change?
1. Development occurs in stages, with a qualitative shift in the organization and complexity of cognition
at each stage
2. Thus, children not simply slower, or less knowledgeable than adults; instead they understand the
world in a qualitatively different way
D. Approach
1. Primary method was to ask children to solve problems & to question them about the reasoning
behind their solutions
2. Discovered that children think in radically different ways than adults
2. Processes of Development
A. Schemes
1. Schemes - In Piaget's theory, actions or mental representations that organize knowledge
a. Get more elaborate as you get older/ more knowledge we have
B. Assimilation and Accommodation
1. Assimilation - Piagetian concept of the incorporation of new information into existing knowledge
(schemes)
2. Accomodation - Piagetian concept of adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences
C. Organization
1. Organization - Piaget's concept of grouping isolated behaviors into a higher-order, more smoothly
functioning cognitive system; the grouping or arranging of items into categories.
D. Equilibration and Stages of Development
1. Equilibration - A mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from one stage of
thought to the next. The shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict, or disequilibrium, in
trying to understand the world. Eventually, they resolve the conflict and reach a balance, or
equilibrium , of thought.
E. Other
1. Adaptation - is an inborn tendency to adjust to the demands of the environment
3. Sensorimotor Stage
A. Sensorimotor Stage - The first of Piaget's stages, which lasts from birth to about 2 years of age; infants
construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing)
with motor actions.
1. In this stage child perceives & manipulates but does not reason
2. Information gained through senses & motor actions
3. Symbols become internalized through language development (mom for lady that takes care of me)
4. Object permanence acquired
B. Substages
1.
Substage
Age
Description
Example
1 Simple Reflexes Birth to 1
AKA Reflex
month
Activity
Coordination of sensation and action
through reflexive behaviors
Rooting, sucking, and grasping reflexes;
newborns suck reflexively when their lips
are touched
2 First habits and
primary circular
reactions
Coordination of sensation and two types
of schemes: habits (reflex) and primary
circular reactions (reproduction of an
event that initially occurred by chance).
Main focus is still on the infant’s body
Repeating a body sensation first
experienced by chance (sucking thumb,
for example); then infants might
accommodate actions by sucking their
thumb differently than they suck on a
1 to 4
months
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nipple
3 Secondary
circular reaction
4 to 8
months
Infants become more object-oriented,
moving beyond self-preoccupation;
repeat actions that bring interesting or
pleasurable results; toys are important
An infant coos to make a person stay
near; as the person starts to leave, the
infant coos again
4 Coordination of 8 to 12
secondary
months
circular reactions
AKA
Coordination of
secondary
schemes
Coordination of vision and touch- handeye coordination of schemes and
intentionality; cause & effect
Infant manipulates a stick in order to
bring an attractive toy within reach
5 Tertiary
circular
reactions,
novelty, and
curiosity
12 to 18
months
Infants become intrigued by the many
properties of objects and by the many
things they can make happen to objects;
they experiment with new behavior;
might climb stuff to get stuff (cookie)
A block can be made to fall, spin, hit
another object, and slide across the
ground
6 Internalization
of schemes AKA
Symbolic
Problem Solving
18 to 24
months
(toddler)
Infants develop the ability to use
primitive symbols and form enduring
mental representations; can think of
action without actually doing it
An infant who has never thrown a
temper tantrum before sees a playmate
throw a tantrum; the infant retains a
memory of the event, then throws one
himself the next day
C. Object Permanence
1. Object Permanence - The Piagetian term for one of an infant's most important accomplishments:
understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen,
heard, or touched.
D. Evaluating Piaget's Sensorimotor Stage
1. The infant's cognitive world is not as neatly packaged as Piaget portrayed it., and some of Piaget's
explanations for the cause of change are debated.
E. The A-not-B Error
1. A-not-B Error - Also called AB error, this occurs when infants make the mistake of selecting the
familiar hiding place (A) rather than the new hiding place (they see the object being hidden there)(B)
as they progress into substage 4 in Piaget's sensorimotor stage.
2. Researchers have found, however, that the A-not-B error does not show up consistently. Evidence
indicates that A-not-B errors are sensitive to the delay between hiding the object at B and the infant's
attempt to find it. Thus, the A-not-B error might be due to a failure in memory.
F. Perceptual Development and Expectations
1. A number of theorists maintain that infants' perceptual abilities are highly developed very early in
development.
2. Infants develop the ability to understand how the world works at a very early age
3. Researchers conclude that infants see objects as bounded, unitary, solid, and separate from their
background, possible at birth or shortly thereafter, but definitely by 3 to 4 months of age.
4. By 6 to 8 months, infants have learned to perceive gravity and support
4. Preoperational Stage
A. Operations - Internalized actions that allow children to do mentally what before they had done only
physically. Operations also are reversible mental actions.
B. The label preoperational emphasizes that the child does not yet perform operations.
C. Preoperational Stage - The second Piagetian developmental stage, which lasts from about 2 to 7 years of
age, children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings
D. The Symbolic Function Substage
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1. Symbolic Function Substage - The first substage of preoperational thought, occurring roughly between
the ages of 2 and 4. In this substage, the young child gains the ability to represent mentally an object
that is not present. (Emergence of symbolic thought)
2. Egocentrism - An important feature of preoperational thought, the inability to distinguish between
one's own and someone else's perspective
3. Animism - A facet of preoperational thought; the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities
and are capable of action
E. The Intuitive Thought Substage
1. Intuitive Thought Substage - The second substage of preoperational thought, occurring between
approximately 4 and 7 years of age. Children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the
answers to all sorts of questions.
F. Centration and the Limits of Preoperational Thought
1. Centration - The focusing of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others.
2. Conservation - The idea that altering an object's or substance's appearance does not change its basic
properties
a. They lack this at this age
3. See Figure 6.8
G. Periods:
1. Preconceptual Period - appearance of primitive ideas, concepts & methods of reasoning. Marked by
the appearance of symbolic function & play
2. Intuitive Period - is when the child's thinking about objects & events is dominated by salient
perceptual features
H. Deficits in Preconceptual Reasoning
1. Animism - attributing lifelike qualities to inanimate objects
2. Egocentrism - viewing the world from only one's perspective
3. Appearance/ Reality Distinction - inability to distinguish deceptive appearances from reality
5. Concrete Operational Stage
A. Concrete Operational Stage - Piaget's third stage, which lasts from approximately 7 to 11 years of age:
children can perform concrete operations, and logical reasoning replaces intuitive reasoning as long as the
reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples.
B. Qualitatively different reasonings in conservation problems
1. Flexible & centered
2. Co-ordination of multiple dimension
3. Reversibility
4. Awareness of transformations
C. Understanding of mental operations leading to increasingly logical thought
1. Classification & categorization
D. Less egocentric
E. Still have inability to reason abstractly or hypothetically
F. Conservation
1. The conservation tasks demonstrate a child's ability to perform concrete operations
2. Concrete operations allow children to coordinate several characteristics rather than focus on a single
property to an object
3. Horizontal Decalage - Piaget's concept that similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a
stage of development
G. Classification
1. Concrete operational children can understand: (1) the interrelationships among sets and subsets (2)
seriation, and (3) transitivity
2. Seriation - The concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such
as length)
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3. Transitivity - If a relation holds between a first object and a second object, and holds between the
second object and a third object, then it holds between the first object and the third object. Piaget
argued that an understanding of transitivity is characteristic of concrete operational thought
6. Formal Operational stage
A. Formal Operational Stage - Piaget's fourth and final stage, which occurs between the ages of 11 and 15;
individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in more abstract and logical ways
B. Directed inward thought becomes the object of thought (metacognition)
C. Abstract, Idealistic, and Logical Thinking
1. An indication of the abstract quality of adolescents' thought is their increased tendency to think about
thought itself.
a. Ability to reason logically about hypothetical process & events that may have no basis in reality
2. Accompanying the abstract thought of adolescence is thought full of idealism and possibilities.
3. Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning - Piaget's formal operational concept that adolescents have the
cognitive ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and can systematically deduce
which is the best path to follow in solving the problem.
a. Thinking like a scientist
i.
Inductive reasoning - type of thinking where hypotheses are generated & then
systematically tested in experiments
4. Assimilation dominates the initial development of formal operational thought, and these thinkers
perceive the world subjectively and idealistically. Later in adolescents, as intellectual balance is
restored, these individuals accommodate to the cognitive upheaval that has occurred.
D. Adolescent Egocentrism
1. Adolescent Egocentrism - The heightened self-consciousness of adolescents, which is reflected in
adolescents' beliefs that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves, and in
adolescents' sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility.
2. Imaginary Audience - The aspect of adolescent egocentrism that involves attention-getting behavior
motivated by a desire to be noticed, visible, and "onstage"
3. Personal Fable - The part of adolescent egocentrism that involves an adolescent's sense of uniqueness
and invincibility.
4. Adolescents also often show a sense of invincibility-- feeling that although others might be vulnerable
to tragedies, such as terrible car wreck, these things won't happen to them.
5. Personal & Social implications
a. The formal operation stage paves the way for:
i.
Identity formation
ii.
Richer understanding of other peoples' psychological perspectives
Section 2: Applying and Evaluating Piaget's Theory
1. Piaget and Education
A. Some ideas in Piaget's theory that can be applied to teaching children
1. Take a constructive approach
a. Children learn best when they are active and seek solutions for themselves. Piaget opposed
teaching methods that treat children as passive receptacles. The educational implication of
Piaget's view is that, in all subjects, students learn best by making discoveries, reflecting on
them, and discussing them, rather than blindly imitating the teacher or doing things by rote.
2. Facilitate, rather than direct, learning
a. Effective teachers design situations that allow students to learn by doing. These situations
promote students' thinking and discovery. Effective teachers listen, watch, and question
students, to help them gain better understanding. They don’t just examine what students think
and the product of their learning. Rather, they carefully observe students and find out how they
think, relevant questions to stimulate their thinking and ask them to explain their answers.
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3. Consider the child's knowledge and level of thinking
a. Students do not come to class with empty minds. They have many ideas about the physical and
natural world. They have concepts of space, time, quantity, and causality. These ideas differ
from the ideas of adults. Teachers need to interpret what a student is saying and respond in a
way that is not too far from the student's level. Also, Piaget suggested that it is important to
examine children's mistakes in thinking, not just what they get correct, to help guide them to a
higher level of understanding.
4. Use ongoing assessment
a. Individually constructed meanings cannot be measured by standardized tests. Math and
language portfolios (which contain work in progress as well as finished products), individual
conferences in which students discuss their thinking strategies, and students' written and verbal
explanations of their reasoning can be used to evaluate progress
5. Promote the student's intellectual health
a. For Piaget, children's learning should occur naturally. Children should not be pushed and
pressured into achieving too much too early in their development, before they are
maturationally ready. Some parents spend long hours every day holding up large flash cards
with worlds on them to improve their baby's vocabulary. In the Piagetian view, this is not the
best way for infants to learn. It places too much emphasis on speeding up intellectual
development, involves passive learning, and will not work
6. Turn the classroom into a setting of exploration and discovery
B. Drawing
1. How does drawing & thinking relate?
a. As a child assimilates & accommodates schemes these are revealed through drawings
b. Egocentrism - how it looks to me
c. Decentration - shown from another point of view
2. Stages of Drawing
a. Scribbling (18 months+)
i.
No purpose or aim
ii.
Gradually change to including circular movements, interspersed with lines
iii.
Control of muscles in hand, wrist, and arm
iv.
Collaboration of mind and body
v.
b. Preschematic Stage (ages 3-4)
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i.
c. Preschematic Stage (Ages 5-7)
i.
ii.
iii.
Drawings include more details
"Errors": Transparencies, mixed views, fold-out drawings, figures side-by-side, flat, no
depth, lack of occlusion, right angle bias
d. Schematic Stage (ages 8-9)
i.
Neck and shoulders are run together in a continuous outline
ii.
Arms 'open out' into the body segment
iii.
Hand and fingers appear
iv.
Feet are in a different schema
v.
Clothing takes the place of the body
vi.
Neckline and cuffs forming distinct boundaries
vii.
Arms and trunk run together
viii.
e. Schematic Stage: Visual Realism
i.
Viewpoint of observer is respected
ii.
Age 8+
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iv.
v.
vi.
7
Late concrete operation to early formal operational stage
Proper perspective
Show left, right, in front, & behind
Straight lines, angles, curves, distance, foreshortening possible, details
vii.
2. Evaluating Piaget's Theory
A. Contributions
1. Psychologists owe him a long list of masterful concepts of enduring power and fascination:
assimilation, accommodation, object permanence, etc.
2. How to observe children
3. Active rather than passive view of child
4. Revealed important invariants in cognitive development
5. Errors informative, not just bad
6. Perceptual-motor learning rather than language important for development
B. Criticisms
1. Estimates of Children's Competence
a. Some cognitive abilities appear later or earlier than Piaget thought
2. Stages
a. Some concrete operational concepts do not appear in synchrony
3. Effects of Training
4. Culture and Education
5. The Neo-Piagetian Approach
a. Neo-Piagetians - Developmentalists who have elaborated on Piaget's theory, believing that
children's cognitive development is more specific in many respects than Piaget thought and
giving more emphasis to how children use memory, attention, and strategies to process
information
6. Underestimates role of peer learning
Section 3: Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development
1. Lev Vygotsky
A. Believed that social interactions with others is the primary force driving cognitive development
B. 1896-1934
C. Was a major figure in Russian psychology
D. Lived through the Bolshevik revolution, and died of tuberculosis at the age of 37
E. Work remained little known because it was banned by Stalin after Vygotsky's death (because it contained
references to Western psychologists)
F. Collapse of "Stalinization" meant:
1. Greater dialogue between the West and Russia
2. Vygotsky's work translated into English (but not until the 1960s)
G. His work is labeled sociocultural because of his focus on how social relationships and interactions, historical
context, and culture play a role in promoting cognitive development
H. Cognitive growth results from interaction with
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1. Parents
2. Peers
3. Teachers
I. Within a cultural context
2. Key Concepts
A. Social Origins of thought
1. "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later,
on the individual level; first between people and then inside the child"
2. Children are born with basic mental abilities (perception, attention, memory)
3. Social interaction with a more competent person in a shared activity provides the medium for
cognitive growth
4. Knowledge is co-constructed between a more competent person and the child as they interact
5. Knowledge is then internalized by the child
6. With interaction, innate abilities are transformed into higher mental functions
7. Some skills are relatively quick to develop; some take loner (reading, calculus, becoming a teacher)
8. Regardless of the time it takes to develop proficiency, the same mechanism is at work:
9. A more competent individual scaffolds learner's performance within their zone of proximal
development
B. Tools for thought
1. Tools (both technical and symbolic): develop from a culture to mediate social environments
Technical
Symbolic
Pencil
Language
Paper
Numbers
Protractors
Symbols
Machines
Drawings
Scales
Maps
Hammers
Social Norms
C. Language and Development
1. Language is the most important psychological tool influencing children's cognitive development
a. "the child's intellectual development is contingent on mastering the social means of thought,
that is, language"
2. Stages
a. Social Speech: child progress form task-irrelevant out-loud talk which increases during
preschool period and peaks around 4-6 years. Thought and language are separate functions.
b. Egocentric/private speech: begin to use speech to regulate their behavior and thinking (ex.,
young children will talk out loud to themselves as they work). This is considered private speech,
because it is inwardly directed.
c. Inner speech: egocentric speech is internalized. Language is used internally to guide thinking
and behavior (You talk to yourself in your head).
3. Private speech serves as an important self-regulatory function
a. Self-regulation: the ability to use metacognition in the planning, monitoring, and evaluating of
progress to reach a specific goal
b. Private Speech:
i.
before children use inner speech, children need learning activities that permit them to
talk aloud as they solve problems
ii.
Increases when there is a cognitively demanding task
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4. As children mature, task-related speech gradually becomes more internalized (whispers to complete
silence)
5. Older students can benefit from self-talk (especially f they lack self-regulation)
6. Cognitive Behavior Modification: Self-regulatory speech to help children control and regulate their
behavior
a. Inhibit impulses
b. Control frustration
c. Promote reflection
7. Private speech can help learning by developing self-regulation
8. Teachers need to model self-talk and encourage students' use of task-related speech when they are
having difficulty
3. The Zone of Proximal Development
A. Zone of Proximal Development - Vygotsky's term for tasks too difficult for children to master alone but that
can be mastered with assistance from adults or more-skilled children
B. Functions that are in the process of developing, but not yet fully developed
1. Proximal means that which comes next
C. Gap between what children can do on their own, and what they can do with the assistance of others
1. Assistance is referred to as scaffolding
D.
4. Scaffolding
A. Scaffolding - In cognitive development, Vygotsky used this term to describe the changing support over the
course of a teaching session, with the more-skilled person adjusting guidance to fit the child's current
performance level.
B. Dialogue is an important tool of scaffolding in the zone of proximal development
C. Wood, Bruner, and Ross (1976) introduced the concept of scaffolding, which refers to the context provided
by knowledgeable people as adults to help children to develop their cognitive skills
D. An important aspect of scaffolding is that there is a gradual withdrawal of support as the child's knowledge
and confidence increase
E. Verbal or physical assistance
1. According to Wood et al (1976) study, elements of scaffolding include:
a. Recruitment
b. Demonstrating solutions
c. Simplifying the tasks
d. Maintaining participation
e. Providing feedback
f. Controlling frustration
F. Scrimsher and Tudge (2003) argue that Wood et al. approach is too teacher-direction (not as meant by
Vygotsky). The Russian term, obuchenie, is much more collaborative
G. Instructional conversation is more student-directed, where teachers and students learn from one another
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H. Guided participation and instructional conversation both include the concept of scaffolding
I. Teachers need to gradually pass more and more control of the activity to the child
5. Language and Thought
A. Children use speech not only for social communication, but also to help them solve tasks
B. Young children use language to plan, guide, and monitor their behavior. This use of language for selfregulation is called private speech.
C. Language and thought initially develop independently of each other and then merge.
D. After a while, the self-talk becomes second nature to children, and they can act without verbalizing. When
this occurs, children have internalized their egocentric speech in the form of inner speech, which becomes
their thoughts.
6. Teaching Strategies
A. Asses the child's ZPD
1. Vygotsky did not think that formal, standardized tests are the best way to assess children's learning.
Rather, Vygotsky argued that assessment should focus on determining the child's zone of proximal
development. The skilled helper presents the child with tasks of varying difficulty to determine the
best level at which to begin instruction.
B. Use the child's ZPD in teaching
1. Teaching should begin toward the zone's upper limit, so that the child can reach the goal with help
and move to a higher level of skill and knowledge. When the child hesitates, offer encouragement.
And encourage the child to practice the skill. You may watch and appreciate the child's practice offer
support when the child forgets what to do.
C. Use more-skilled peers as teachers
1. Remember that it is not just adults who are important in helping children learn. Children also benefit
from the support and guidance of more-skilled children
D. Monitor and encourage children's use of private speech
1. Be aware of the developmental change from externally talking to oneself when solving a problem
during the preschool years to privately talking to oneself in the early elementary school years. In the
elementary school years, encourage children to internalize and self-regulate their talk to themselves
E. Place instruction in a meaningful context
1. Educators today are moving away from abstract presentations of material, instead providing students
with opportunities to experience learning in real-world settings. For example, instead of just
memorizing math formulas, students work on math problems with real-world implications
F. Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas
7. Evaluating Vygotsky's Theory
A. Social constructivist Approach - An emphasis on the social contexts of learning and the construction of
knowledge through social interaction. Vygotsky's theory reflects this approach.
B.
Sociocultural
Context
Vygotsky
Piaget
Strong Emphasis
Little emphasis
Constructivism Social constructivist
Cognitive constructivist
Stages
No general stages of development proposed
Strong emphasis on stages (sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational)
Key processes
Zone of proximal development, language, dialogue,
tools of the culture
Schema, assimilation, accommodation, operations,
conservation, classification, hypothetical-deductive
reasoning
Role of
Language
A major role; language plays a powerful role in
shaping thought
Language has a minimal role; cognitive primarily
directs language
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View on
Education
Education plays a central role, helping children learn
the tools of the culture
Education merely refines the child’s cognitive skills
that have already emerged
Teaching
Implications
Teacher is a facilitator and guide, not a director;
establish many opportunities for children to learn
with the teacher and more-skilled peers
Also views teacher as a facilitator and guide, not a
director; provide support for children to explore
their world and discover knowledge
Section 4: Extra Class Notes
1. Reciprocal Teaching
A. Palinscar and Brown (1984)
1. Teachers serve as leaders and model how to lead a reading discussion
a. Leader asks questions that require students to summarize material, detect inconsistencies, and
make predictions about what will happen next
2. Students carry out simpler aspects of the task while observing and learning modeled behavior
3. Students eventually carry out increasingly challenging tasks
2. Fostering communities of Learners
A. FCL is a large program that incorporates Reciprocal Teaching practices:
1. Agency: students take control of their thinking
2. Reflection: metacognition or making sense of what students learn
3. Collaboration: sharing resources with others
4. Culture: intentionally designing classroom environments to foster community
3. Peer Interactions
A. Piaget and Vygotsky both emphasize the importance of peers in children's cognitive development
B. Tudge (1993) study": paired nonconserving students with conserving students and found:
1. Less competent students improved, but only if they adopted the thinking of the more advanced
student
2. Some more advanced students thinking declined when they were not confident about their reasoning
C. When should students be paired together?
1. Young children may not benefit form peer interactions because they are unable to give each other
scaffolded assistance
2. When children are first learning a new skill, adult/child interactions are more beneficial
3. Peer interactions are most effective when partners must achieve a shared understanding and work
toward a shared goal
4. A Note of Caution about Constructivist Teaching
A. Both Piaget and Vygotsky present a theory of constructivist learning
B. This does not necessarily translate to constructivist teaching
C. Many assume constructivist teaching must involve "active" learning such as
1. Hands-on activates
2. Group discussion
3. Interactive games
D. And they view these as too "passive"
1. Books
2. Lectures
3. On-line Presentation
E. Neither is necessarily true
F. A constructivist teacher helps students:
1. Make sense of incoming information
2. Organize it coherently
3. Integrate it with previous knowledge
G. "Passive" methods (lecture) can foster these processes
H. "Active" methods (hands-on) can fail to foster these processes
I. Hands-on activities: assumes everyone is progressing with the same initial knowledge base
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Group discussion: the same people lead the discussion; hard to monitor by one teacher; erroneous
information can be passed along to others (are group members really more competent for ZPD?)
K. Interactive games: debate as to whether learning really occurs (who is the more competent member for
ZPD?)
L. Lectures, books, and online presentations:
1. Can set the stage with fundamental information (the foundational knowledge everyone needs)
2. Organize it coherently, addressing common misconceptions
3. Integrate it with previous knowledge
a. In research, this "direct instruction" is the most effective for learning outcomes (even though
other methods might have initial higher motivation)
M. Children learn by thinking. It is cognitive activity rather than behavioral activity that matters.