Jean Piaget: brief outline of his work

1. By
Brooke R.

2. • Psychologist who developed the cognitive learning theory
after many years of observing children.
• Ph.D. in science at the University of Neuchate at the age
of twenty two.
• Began work in Paris refining the Burt’s reasoning test.
• Work here is what sparked his interest
in the learning and reasoning processes of
children.
• Used his own children for many of his
observations.

3. • First person to focus on children; showed that children
fundamentally think differently than adults.
• Children are born with a very basic mental structure,
inherited from birth
• All knowledge is based upon
• First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive
development
• Three main components to his theory
• 1. Schemas
• 2. Processes that enable transition from one stage to another
• 3. Developmental stages

4. • Building blocks of all knowledge
• Child gathers information about the world and processes
it into categories
• How children learn new concepts
• Relating them to other information they already have stored

5. • “Piaget viewed growth as a process of adaption to the
world”
• Assimilation
• Using an existing scheme to adapt to a new situation
• E.x, child has scene brown, furry animal that walks on four legs
is called a dog; sees a brown bear and calls it a dog
• Accommodation
• When an existing scheme does not fit and must be modified
• E.x, learns bears are not friendly, and much bigger that then
the other animals called dogs; discovers a new type of animal:
a bear
• Equilibrium
• When a child’s schemas can deal with most new information by
using assimilation
• Drives learning processes

6. • Sensorimotor
• Birth to 2 years
• Imitation, learn through senses
• Preoperational
• 2 to 6/7 years
• Pretend play, communication development
• Concrete operational
• 6/7 to 11/12
• Logical reasoning, problem solving
• Formal operational
• 11/12 through adulthood
• Abstract thinking, deductive logic, comparative reasoning

7. • Technology can reach a variety of different learners
• Knowing the different ways that children learn and
process information gives teachers an advantage at
explaining new topics.
• Teachers can create student-centered activities that
engage students in the learning process.
• Teachers should create a rich and exciting environment
for children to learn and discover new things.

8. • Students should be able to explore the classroom and
discover new information.
• Students should ask questions that allow them to
challenge themselves.
• Find things that interest them.

9. • I love Piaget’s work, and praise him for being the first
person to be interested enough in learning more about
children during a time when very little was known about
the thought processes.
• I think he has made a great contribution to both
psychology as well as teaching.
• The more that we know about learning processes, the
better we can teach our students.

10. • Teachers discovering computers; written by: Shelly,
Gunter, Gunter
• History:
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/piag
et.htm
• Theory:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html#schema
• Pictures: (Piaget) http://www.biography.com/people/jean-
piaget-9439915 (baby) http://amzing-
company.blogspot.com/
(boy) http://www.scoop.it/t/student-
questioning/p/3699462492/four-strategies-to-spark-
curiosity-via-student-questioning-edutopia