Cognitive Constructivism of Jean Piaget - Cognitive levels and cognitive process - Education Psychology

1. Cognitive
constructivism of
Jean Piaget
Suresh Babu G
Assistant Professor
CTE CPAS Paippad, Kottayam

2. Cognitive Constructivism Theory
 Human beings must build their own knowledge and meaning
through experiences.(Cognitive Constructivist Theories)
 The definition of cognitive is the mental faculty of knowing,
which includes perceiving, recognizing, conceiving, judging,
reasoning, and imagining.(Dictionary.com)
 The three areas of Constructivism are cognitive, social and
radical.
 All three areas of Constructivism assert that the acquisition of
knowledge and understanding is an ongoing process that is
heavily influenced by a student’s prior knowledge
 The Cognitive Constructivism Theory differs from the other
two in the belief that knowledge is the result of the accurate
internalization and reconstruction of external reality. (Doolittle
& Camp, 1999)

3. The Cognitive
Constructivism Theory
of learning and
teaching is based on
Piaget’s beliefs that
humans cannot be
given information that
they immediately
understand and use

5. Jean Piaget(1896 – 1980)
 Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel,
Switzerland, on August 9, 1896.
 He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget,
professor of medieval literature at the
University, and of Rebecca Jackson.

7. Piaget’s Stages of Development

8. 1. Sensorimotor Stage - Infancy(0-2 Years)
 In this periods intelligence is demonstrated
through motor activity, without the use of
symbols.
 Knowledge of the world is developing but limited
because of how it is based on physical
interactions and experiences.

9. Pre-operational stage - Toddler and
Early Childhood(2-7 Years)
• Intelligence is demonstrated through the use of
symbols, language use matures, and memory
and imagination are developed in this period.
• Egocentric thinking predominates.

10. Concrete operational stage - Elementary
and early adolescence(7-12 Years)
In this stage intelligence is demonstrated
through logical and systematic manipulation of
symbols related to concrete objects.
 Operational thinking develops and egocentric
thought diminishes

11. Formal operational stage - Adolescence and
adulthood (12-18 Years)
 Intelligence is demonstrated through the logical
use of symbols related to abstract concepts
(conceptual reasoning).
 Early in the period egocentric thought revisits.

13. Cognitive Process - Piaget
 Piaget proposed that children’s thinking does not
develop completely and smoothly
 Instead there are certain points at which it takes
off and progresses into completely new areas
and abilities.
 In his view, early cognitive development involves
processes based upon actions which later
progress into changes in mental operations.

14. Concept of Schema - Piagat
A representation in the mind of a set of ideas or
actions which go together.
Schemas are the basic structural units of human-
mind.
They consist organisational patterns of behaviour
that an individual use in dealing with objects in the
environment.
It develops through cognitive process

15. Stages of Cognitive Process
 Assimilation: The process of taking in
information into our previously existing
schemas.
 Accommodation: Involves altering
existing ideas or schemas as a result of
new information or new experiences.
 Equilibration: A mechanism that assists
children in achieving a balance between
assimilation and accommodation

16. Characteristics of Each Stages
 Each stage is a structured whole and in a state
of equilibrium
 Each stage derives from the previous stage and
incorporate and transform to prepare for the next
 The stages follow an invariant sequence

17.  The stages are universal.
 There is a gradual progression from stage to
stage

18. Example
Here a schema is formed