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Piaget’s theory covers how our thinking develops as we move from being a baby to being an adult. Because it covers the development of thinking, it is called a theory of “cognitive development.”

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Understanding Piaget’s theory is very important.
Concepts to focus on: Equilibrium and related concepts (adaptation, accommodation, assimilation, schemas), Stages of
development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational), aspects of cognition (reversibility, decentering, egocentrism, conserving), Applications to
classroom.
“Piaget” is pronounced /pee-ah-ZHAY/

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A schema is our understanding of a concept—the network of knowledge and understanding in our minds we have related to an idea.
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Sometimes our schemas can be applied to new situations and sometimes our schemas are not sufficient for a new situation.

Piaget’s theory explains how our schemas change as we have learning experiences.
fur
4 legs
A baby’s schema about cats tail 2 ears
2 eyes

A state of cognitive balance between individuals’ understanding of the world and their experiences.
IN OTHER WORDS: The understanding you have explains the experience you are having.
Schemas and equilibrium:
A person is experiencing equilibrium when his or her theory (or scheme) of something explains past experiences successfully and predicts new events successfully.
Example of disequilibrium: When Galileo looked at the sky with his new telescope, what he observed was different from what he understood. He understood the sun to revolve around the earth. He observed that the movement of the stars did not support this idea. He had to figure out a new understanding to support his observations.

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We all try to maintain equilibrium—it gives us a sense of being able to cope with the world.
When an experience does not match our understanding, we experience distress in our disequilibrium. This distress drives us to ADAPT—either we adapt our understanding (accommodation) or we adapt our experiences (assimilation).
Adaptation: the process of adjusting schemes and experiences to each other to maintain equilibrium.

4.
Schemes are mental patterns, operations, and systems. The process of forming and using schemes in an effort to understand how the world works is organization.
2 ears
Child says:
A child’s scheme about “dog”:
Child sees:
Doggie!!!
2 ears tail fur doggie tail
1.
furry
2.
3.
Moment of disequilibrium: scheme does not work!
2 ears
Adaptation: accommodation tail
2 ears tail
That’s not a doggie, that’s a kitty. Kitty says meow, doggie says bow wow doggie kitty furry bow wow
5. New scheme furry meow

Scheme: mental patterns, operations, and systems—our understanding of the real world
Interaction leads to disequilibrium and adaptation: assimilation and accommodation
Experiences in the “real world”
Scheme
A two year old child believes that dogs are four legged animals with fur
Experience
This two year old sees a cat and says,
“Look at the doggie!”
Disequilibrium
The parent says, “no, that’s not a doggie, that’s a cat.
Accommodation
The child’s definition of dog changes: a dog has 4 legs, is furry, and does not say
“meow.”

Experience
Identify animals
Accommodation—a form of adaptation in which an existing scheme is modified and a new one is created in response to experience
Kitties and doggies are different animals even though both are furry
Assimilation—a form of adaptation in which an experience in the environment is incorporated into an existing scheme
Characteristics of kitty apply to other members of cat family (lion, tiger)
Drive car
Cook
Play music
Driving stick shift is different from driving automatic. I have to learn to use the clutch and gear shift.
I can drive a semi tractor because it has a clutch and gear shift, just like my old Toyota car
You can’t make a cake in a microwave
Brass instruments—you have to learn how the harmonic overtone series works in order to play a horn
If I know how to cook one type of pasta, I can apply that knowledge to other types
Once you know one brass instrument, you can play the others using the same knowledge

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Accommodation—you have to LEARN (or change your thinking) in order to ACCOMMODATE a new situation. A hotel provides accommodations— they CHANGE the sheets & other aspects of the room for each set of new guests.
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Assimilation—you can ASSIMILATE a new experience into your world by applying old knowledge. When you go into a new school or job, you try to ASSIMILATE to a degree so you fit in—you try to become “old news” and not something new and different.

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Experiences with the physical world. For example, after many experiences with concrete manipulatives, students can engage with abstract mathematical concepts.
Social experience—the process of interacting— usually verbally—with others. In the slide on schemes, it was a verbal interaction between the mother and the child that helped the child to develop a new scheme for domestic animals.

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Sensorimotor—a child at this age is learning how to deal with his or her body (senses and motor skills, or the ability to move the body)
Preoperational—the child is not able YET to perform certain mental operations.
Concrete Operational—the child is able to perform operations about things he or she can sense and handle (things that are concrete rather than abstract)
Formal Operational—the person can handle all adult forms of thinking and reasoning.
If you understand what the words mean, it will help you to remember the stages.

Visual learners: try to associate the pictures with the stage so you can remember the age.
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0-2 years
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Children develop an understanding the world using their senses and physical abilities (motor capacities).
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Early in this stage, children do not have a sense of object permanence, that when something disappears it might still exist.
Peek-a-boo is a game that gives children the experiences they need in order to develop object permanence. Older children are bored by this game because they already have a sense that objects that are not visible still exist. But children in the sensorimotor stage are learning this and are therefore fascinated by the game.

Semiotic function: the ability to use symbols—language, pictures, signs, or gestures—to represent actions or objects mentally. Pre-operational children are able to use symbols to represent things that are not present, a major accomplishment.
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2-7 years
Egocentrism—can only deal with own perspective
Centration—focuses on single aspect of something
Lacks transformation, reversability, and systematic reasoning.
Cannot conserve
The point of this is that children this age are not capable of doing certain types of thinking.
Children fundamentally think differently from adults.

You mean the world doesn’t revolve around me?
Ego: Latin for “I”
Centrism: “center”
Everything is centered around me. This is how children think—and no wonder, since this is their experience as babies. As we grow up, we have to learn that other people exist and their needs are just as legitimate as ours.

Characteristics of pre-operational thinking
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Egocentrism—the inability to interpret an event from someone else’s point of view.
Centration (centering)—the tendency to focus on the most perceptually obvious aspect of an object or event to the exclusion of all others. A tall thin glass holds more liquid in it than a wide tumbler because of the height.
Transformation—the ability to mentally trace the process of changing from one state to another. Shell games play on this ability (or inability).
Reversability—the ability to mentally trace a line of reasoning back to its beginning.
Systematic reasoning—the process of using logical thought to reach a conclusion. This process is not fully available to thinkers until formal operations.
Semiotic function—the ability to work with symbols (a major accomplishment of pre-operational thinkers)
Collective monologue—children of this age will talk about what they are doing without really being involved in a conversation with others.
The last three depend on being able to hold a thought about something that is different from immediate concrete experience. Remember, little kids fundamentally think differently from older people.

Pour the same amount of water into two differentlyshaped glasses. A child who cannot conserve will think that the one on the right has more water in it because it is taller.
Conservation: the idea that the “amount” of some substance stays the same regardless of its shape or the number of pieces into which it is divided.

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7-11 years
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Can think logically about concrete objects
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Can transform, reverse, and use systematic reasoning as long as the objects about which they are thinking are present.
When I was in second grade, I got in trouble for counting on my fingers (I promptly developed a way of counting on my fingers which wasn’t so obvious to the teacher).
Math teachers today recognize that second graders need concrete objects
(manipulables) in order to learn the operations of mathematics.

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Seriation: the ability to order objects according to increasing or decreasing length, weight, or volume
Classification: the process of grouping objects on the basis of a common characteristic
Identity: if nothing is added or taken away, a material stays the same
Compensation: a change in one direction can be compensated for through a change in another direction.
Decentering: can focus on more than one aspect at a time.

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11-Adult
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Can think abstractly
(does not need to have concrete objects available).
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Can think systematically and hypothetically
(what if…).
Remember that thinking abstractly depends not just on cognitive maturation but also on having a certain amount of concrete experience. Older students and adults may need to work concretely on something new before moving into the abstract.

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The assumption that everyone else shares one’s thoughts, feelings, and concerns.
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Adolescents often have the feeling that everyone is watching what they are doing.
This contributes to their strong feelings when they make a mistake (e.g., wearing the wrong clothes).

Comparing concrete and formal operational thinking
Flavell’s characteristics of formal thought
Formal Operational
Thinker
Abstract thinking Can describe the meaning of abstract ideas, such as “make hay while the sun shines” to conclude something such as “take an opportunity when it’s given.” Can deal with metaphors.
Systematic strategies
Systematically examines the possible influence of multiple factors in a given situation (science experiment, for instance).
Concrete Operational
Thinker
Tends to view ideas concretely and literally, such as concluding
“you need to harvest hay during the daylight hours.”
Randomly chooses variables and tries them out, often changing more than one.
Hypothetical and deductive thinking
Can consider hypothetical questions and reason from there.
Cannot consider hypothetical questions. Tends to get confused by them.
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning: a formal-operations problem-solving strategy in which an individual begins by identifying all the factors that might affect a problem and then deduces and systematically evaluates specific solutions.

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Uses information processing theory
(attention, memory, and strategy use) in conjunction with Piaget’s ideas about how children think and construct knowledge.

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Children develop aspects of conservation at different ages—understanding that a line of blocks spread out doesn’t change the number of blocks occurs before understanding that a ball of clay doesn’t change when it is flattened out.
Development isn’t sudden as a stage theory might suggest—there are subtle changes that happen gradually in a child’s thinking.

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Piaget may have underestimated what young children can do.
Very young children can keep track of three or four items and may be able to conserve when a small number of things are used.
Piaget’s theory does not explain how some youngsters are able to think abstractly (such as children who are expert chess players).

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The theory does not account for the effect of culture on cognition.
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Western people go through something like
Piaget’s stages because our schools and culture demand this type of thinking. But this kind of thinking may not be characteristic of mature people in other cultures.

Development Piaget Learning
Piaget: development precedes learning. Development is creating the schemes through adaptation and accommodation while learning is creating the associations within the schemes..

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We need to understand and build on student thinking.
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Students need opportunities to construct their knowledge—to try things out for themselves.
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“Play is children’s work” (Montessori).
Play helps children to develop their cognitive abilities.

Vocabulary
Assimilation
Disequilibrium
Reversability
Centration
Classification
Egocentrism
Formal operational stage
Equilibrium
Cognitive development
Concrete operational stage
Accommodation
Conservation
Neo-Piagetian theories
Object permanence
Schemes
Semiotic function
Sensori-motor stage
Seriation
Systematic reasoning
Adaptation
Adolescent egocentrism
Compensation
Decentering
Overgeneralization
Transformation
Preoperational stage
Undergeneralization