1. The Cognitive Development Theory by Jean Piaget outlines four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. 2. The sensorimotor stage from birth to age 2 focuses on learning through senses and physical interaction with the world. 3. From ages 2 to 7, the preoperational stage involves learning through language and pretend play but thinking remains egocentric.

1. The Cognitive Development Theory by Jean Piaget Kuldeep Sandhu Child Development 30

2. The Cognitive Theory The cognitive theory places emphasis on understanding thought processes, and how the mind processes and stores information. According to this theory, humans learn by organizing information, and finding the connection between existing and new information. Simply put, the cognitive learning theory focuses on how children and adults process information and how the way they think affects their behavior.

3. The Cognitive Theory

4. The Cognitive Theory Sensorimotor Stage (birth -2 years): This is the first stage of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. It is a stage in which infants have an understanding of the world through sensory experiences with motoric and physical challenges. At the beginning of this stage, an infant is at the instinctual and reflexive stage, and at the end is at the symbolic thought stage. This stage has been divided into six parts.

5. The Cognitive Theory The Simple Reflexes: This typically occurs between birth and six weeks. It is when there is sucking of objects in the mouth, following movements with the eyes, and closing the hand when there is contact between an object and the palm. During the six weeks of life for a baby, these reflexes will become voluntary, so intentional grasping will occur. The First Habits and the Primary Circular Reactions Phase: This normally occurs between six weeks and four months. It involves reflex habits, which include a repeat of an event that occurred initially through chance.

6. The Cognitive Theory The Secondary Circular Reactions Phase: This is when habits are forming in babies from about four to eight months. In this stage, babies will be able to move away from self-preoccupation and become more object oriented. They are able to repeat actions that bring about pleasurable results. This stage is associated with coordination between vision and apprehension. There are three new abilities at this stage, which include intentional grasping for a wanted object, circular reactions of a secondary nature, and the difference between means and ends.

7. The Cognitive Theory The Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions Stage: This is present from eight to twelve months, and involves the child being able to coordinate hands to eyes. The child is able to develop some logic and can coordinate between means and ends. This stage is also important because it shows the beginning of goal orientation, which is a deliberate planning of steps in order to meet a specific objective. T he Tertiary Circular Reactions, Novelty, and Curiosity: This is a stage that occurs between twelve and eighteen months of age and involves the baby being interested in many properties of objects and the ways that they can use an object. They are experimenting with ways to meet goals. A child is acting as a scientist at this age. The Internalization of Schemes: This occurs between 18 and 24 months in infants, and at this point, a baby is able to use symbols to show mental representations. During this stage, an infant shows creativity and insight.

8. The Cognitive Theory Preoperational Period (age 2-age 6) This is the second stage of cognitive development, according to Piaget. Preoperatory thought is when a child is able to mentally act on an object. In this stage, the child learns how to use and represent objects using drawings, images, and words. This means that the child is able to form concepts and use mental reasoning and magical beliefs. Yet the child is still not able to perform operations. The thinking of the youngster at this age is also still egocentric. The child will struggle to take the viewpoint of others. There are two stages in preoperational thought.

9. The Cognitive Thoery The Symbolic Function Substage: This stage will occur typically between the years of two and four. The child can formulate designs of objects that are not around. Pretend play and language abilities are present. There is still egocentrism, which is when a child is not able to distinguish their perspective from another person's perspective. Children usually have their own view rather then the view that is shown to others. Children also have animism at this stage, which is the belief that objects that are inanimate have lifelike qualities. The Intuitive Thought Substage: This stage typically occurs between the ages of four and seven in children. Children will usually become very curious and usually ask a lot of questions. They also begin to use primitive reasoning. Additionally, there is an emergence in reasoning and a desire to know why. Preoperational thought includes centration and conservation. Centration is focusing all of your attention on a characteristic. In these first two stages, children typically learn through imitation and play.

10. The Cognitive Theory Concrete Operational Stage (age 7- age 11 or 12) This is the third stage of cognitive development. It usually occurs between the ages of seven and fourteen, and in this stage, children are able to use logic. Some of the processes of this stage include seriation, transitivity, classification, decentering, reversibility, conservation, and elimination of egocentrism.

11. The Cognitive Theory Seriation means that the child is able to sort objects based on shape, size, or other characteristics. Transitivity is when the child can recognize logical relationships in elements in a serial order. Classification is the ability to identify and name sets of objects by their size, appearance, or other characteristic.

12. The Cognitive Theory Decentering is where a child is able to take account of more than one aspect of a problem in order to solve the problem. Reversibility is when the child understands that numbers can be changed and returned to their original state. Conservation means that a child can understand the length, number, and quantity of items that are unrelated to the appearance or the arrangement of the objects or items. Elimination or egocentrism is the ability of one to view things from the perspective of others. Children in this stage are able to solve problems that apply to concrete events or objects, not hypothetical or abstract tasks.

13. The Cognitive Theory Formal Operational Stage ( age 12-Adulthood) The formal operational stage involves the final period in cognitive development in the theory of Piaget. This stage begins around eleven years or twelve and will continue into adulthood. During this stage, children will move through concrete experiences and will begin to think in an abstract manner, reason in a logical manner, and draw conclusions from the information that is available. They also have to be able to apply these processes to hypothetical situations. The children are more able to solve problems using trial and error. Teenagers are more able to think similarly to a scientist and have the ability to devise ways to solve problems and test solutions. The adolescent is also able to understand logical proofs, values, shades of gray, and concepts of love. Children become interested in the future and what they can be in this final stage.

14. Assimilation and Accommodation in Cognitive Development

15. Assimilation and Accommodation Assimilation refers to the tendency to fit new information into existing frameworks. For example, when a child first sees porpoises swimming in a large tank of water, s/he interprets this information within existing mental frameworks and labels them "fish." Later, the child learns that porpoises breathe air and like to be petted, and forms a new concept for air-breathing but water-loving animals. This latter point illustrates the process of accommodation, which is the tendency to alter existing concepts or mental frameworks in response to new information.

16. Bibliography http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm Infant, toddlers and Caregivers by Janet Gonzales-Mena