Journal #2: Jean Piaget's Constructivist Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was origionally a biologist and eventually moved into the study of the development of children's understanding through observation and interaction. Piaget is well known for his insight on maturation-growing up-in children's increasing capacity to understanding their world. He proposed that children's thingking doesn't develop entirely smoothly, instead it jumps and transitions to new areas and capabilities. This is believed to mean that, until a certain age, children are not able to understand certain things. There are four stages to Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational.
Stage One: Sensorimotor
The Sensorimotor stage is from birth to the age of two years. During this stage children learn entirely through the movements they make and the sensations they recieve as a result. They learn: that they exist seperately from the objects and people that surround them, that they can cause things to happen (example: by pushing a toy car, it will move.), and that things will continue to exist even when they cannot see them.
Stage Two: Pre-Operational
The Pre-Operational stage occurs from age two through age seven. During this stage the child learns to use languange and uses symbols, such as words or pictures, to represent objects. The child is able to classify objects by a single feature and are able to understand certain concepts like counting and past-present-future, but they are still generally focused on the present and concrete. Even though they are advancing, their thinking is still very egocentrical -- they assume that everyone else sees things from the same viewpoint as them.
Stage Three: Concrete Operational
The Concrete Operational stage is found in seven to eleven year olds. At this point in their lives children are able to see things from different viewpoints and imagine events that happen outside of their own lives. They are starting to show some organized and logical thought processes and are able: to order objects by size, color, value, etc; simple and reversed math (3+7=10, so 10-7=3); to understand proportions. However, their thinking still conncets to concrete reality.
Stage Four: Formal Operational
The Formal Operational stage includes eleven year olds all the way to death. This stage occurs around puberty, the process a childs body undertakes in order to mature into an adult body. Children are able to reason in more abstract ways and test hypothesis using systematic logic. There is a much greater focus on possibilities and on idealogical issues and they concern themselves more with the future.