Cognitive Development Project
AP Psychology
Date Assigned: 12/8/09
Date Due: 12/17/12 (yes that is Day 2)
Objective
You are going to apply the theories of Jean Piaget and cognitive development to your own personal lives. You may
do this in a number of different ways. You can either use yourself (anyone within the group), brother, sister, niece,
nephew or anyone that you have had contact with over the years. In this project, you are to display how this person
has grown; how they have cognitively developed as Piaget states that one would. In doing this, you need to identify
each stage of Piaget’s cognitive development chart to the life of the person being identified. Finally you are to
critique Piaget’s theory and either support or discredit his theory.
Aim
Through the presentation of your work, you should be able to identify and define the 4 stages of cognitive
development as well as each milestone. An analysis of Piaget’s theory will also be made.
Procedure
You have many freedoms in this project. You must address the aim and meet the objective in doing so. You may
work in groups of 3 or less. You have the option to present this project in a form listed below or an alternative that I
approve. What is most important is that you can identify with Piaget’s theory for development and display the
theory in the form of photographs. You must have small accompanying captions describing how each of the
pictures relates to the specific stage or milestone.
The final aspect will encompass a short analysis (2 page paper) of Piaget’s theory. You will be critiquing the work
of this psychologist as seen through your project work. You should center your argument around the issue of
stability vs. change and relate your project to your analysis upon examining Piaget’s theory. One copy of this paper
is required per project/group.
Assessment
The photo essay can be presented in a variety of ways. You may choose to:
1) Create a poster/poster board presentation
2) Create a diorama displaying your work
3) Create a flip book collection for each stage
4) You may choose a different way to present your work (needs my approval first)
---Please do not use originals of pictures from photo albums. I cannot guarantee that you will receive everything
back the way you submitted it. Rather, photocopy or print the pictures on a color printer.
---See the project rubric to find how your grade will be determined.
---Late work is docked 10 points for each day that it is late. Reminder: late is defined as not being handed in at the
time that the teacher collects the materials.
Stuff to Remember
----Have fun with this. It’s a project about you and will be displayed in our class or possibly even around in the
school’s showcases! If you do not come to me, I will assume that everything is all right and that the project will
be submitted on its due date.
Additional Credit
---For each of Erickson’s stages of Psychosocial Development, find a song that will represents the conflicts taking
place in the theory of psychosocial development. For each stage completed, you will get one bonus point.
---For each song, submit the artist or group’s name and a copy of the lyrics sheet and highlight the lyrics or area in
the song where the conflict is portrayed. If the entire song is about a particular stage, write a short summary and
attach it with the lyrics page.