Piaget's theory of cognitive development had major implications for education. It emphasized developing curriculum and instruction appropriate for students' cognitive abilities. It also focused on understanding how students think rather than just answers, encouraging active and self-directed learning over direct teaching, and accepting individual differences in pace of development. However, the theory had limitations as some of Piaget's conclusions underestimated children's capabilities and overestimated the influence of biological factors over environment and education on cognitive development.

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Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 1/7
• Piaget’s theories have had a major impact on
the theory and practice of education.
• First, the theories focused attention on the
idea of developmentally appropriate
education—an education with environments,
curriculum, materials, and instruction that are
suitable for students in terms of their physical
and cognitive abilities and their social and
emotional needs.
Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 2/7
• In addition, several major approaches to
curriculum and instruction are explicitly based
on Piagetian theory, and this theory has been
influential in constructivist models of learning.
• Berk (2001) summarizes the main teaching
implications drawn from Piaget as follows:
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Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 3/7
1. A focus on the process of children’s thinking,
not just its products.
In addition to checking the correctness of
children’s answers, teachers must understand
the processes children use to get to the answer.
Appropriate learning experiences build on
children’s current level of cognitive functioning,
and only when teachers appreciate children’s
methods of arriving at particular conclusions
are they in a position to provide such
experiences.
Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 4/7
2. Recognition of the crucial role of children’s
self-initiated, active involvement in learning
activities.
In a Piagetian classroom the presentation of
ready-made knowledge is deemphasized, and
children are encouraged to discover for
themselves through spontaneous interaction
with the environment. Therefore, instead of
teaching didactically, teachers provide a rich
variety of activities that permit children to act
directly on the physical world.
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Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 5/7
3. A deemphasis on practices aimed at making children
adultlike in their thinking.
Piaget referred to the question “How can we speed up
development?” as “the American question.” Among
the many countries he visited, psychologists and
educators in the United States seemed most interested
in what techniques could be used to accelerate
children’s progress through the stages. Piagetian-based
educational programs accept his firm belief that
premature teaching could be worse than no teaching
at all, because it leads to superficial acceptance of
adult formulas rather than true cognitive
understanding.
Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 6/7
4. Acceptance of individual differences in
developmental progress.
Piaget’s theory assumes that all children go through
the same developmental sequence but that they do so
at different rates. Therefore, teachers must make a
special effort to arrange classroom activities for
individuals and small groups of children rather than for
the total class group. In addition, because individual
differences are expected, assessment of children’s
educational progress should be made in terms of each
child’s own previous course of development, not in
terms of normative standards provided by the
performances of same-age peers.
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Educational Implications of Piaget's Theory 7/7
5. Piaget emphasized the role of two types of
relationships: constraint and cooperation in moral
development.
Relationships of constraint involve unilateral respect
and the imposition of views from authority. In
contrast, relationships of cooperation are best
suited for the development of knowledge because
they involve mutual respect, and each person is
obliged to listen to the other and to fully explain
themselves. This situation is most likely to lead to
mutual understanding, which is essential in the
development of all forms of knowledge.
Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 1/7
• Although Piaget’s influence on Developmental
and Educational Psychology has been
enormous, recent research do not support all
of his ideas.
• Almost all psychologists agree with his
descriptions on the way children think, but
many of them disagree with his explanations
on why thinking develops the way it does.
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Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 2/7
• Problems With Research Methods
• Much of the criticism of Piaget's work is in
regards to his research methods. A major source
of inspiration for the theory was Piaget's
observations of his own three children. In
addition to this, the other children in Piaget's
small research sample were all from well-
educated professionals of high socio-economic
status. Because of this unrepresentative sample,
it is difficult to generalize his findings to a larger
population.
Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 3/7
• Problems With Formal Operations
• Research has disputed Piaget's argument that
all children will automatically move to the
next stage of development as they mature.
Some data suggests that environmental
factors may play a role in the development of
formal operations.
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Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 4/7
• Underestimates Children's Abilities
• Most researchers agree that children posses
many of the abilities at an earlier age than Piaget
suspected. Recent research on theory of mind
has found that children of 4- or 5-years old have a
rather sophisticated understanding of their own
mental processes as well as those of other
people. For example, children of this age have
some ability to take the perspective of another
person, meaning they are far less egocentric than
Piaget believed.
Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 5/7
The model underestimates young children's abilities
and overestimates older children's abilities.
In Piaget's model, children have limitations in logical
thinking until the age of seven due to "perceptual
centration," "irreversibility" and "egocentrism."
However, critics say many children are able to
overcome these limitations at the age of five or six. So
this generalization may not fit all children. Again critics
say there are many children who are not able to think
abstractly and hypothetically during the period of 11-
15. Particularly, the age of 11 is too early to start
complex mental operations.
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Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 6/7
The model overemphasizes biological influence
on cognitive development.
According to the model, every child goes through
similar stages of cognitive development and
environment and education have little influence
on these stages. An important implication of this
assumption is that education's contribution is
not so powerful on cognitive development.
Limitations on Piaget’s Theory 7/7
Piaget's model implicates that the teaching process should be
student-centered, that is, the student should be main source of
information in the educational process.
The major task of the teacher is to design an environment that is
conducive to active involvement and learning, but not transmitting
knowledge to the student directly. The teacher is a facilitator only.
The child will actively explore the outside world and try to make
sense based on his/her cognitive level of operation. An imposition
on him/her will confuse the child especially if that impositions is not
parallel to his level. This position brings out an implication about the
role of schools and teachers in child's learning a passive one. This
implication is criticized by many educators since it underestimates
children's learning abilities and the influence of schooling on child's
cognitive development.
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