This document discusses Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It outlines the four stages of development according to Piaget: sensory-motor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational thinking. It also discusses Piaget's view that learning occurs through assimilation and accommodation and his idea that the teacher should act as a mentor and guide students through trial and error. Some advantages and criticisms of Piaget's theory are presented.

1. By :AYESHA SIKANDER
B.ED HONS
SEMESTER#2

2.  Cognitive psychology is a branch
of psychology concerned with mental
processes such as “attention, language
use, memory, perception, problem
solving, creativity,and thinking”.

3.  "The principle goal of education in the
schools should be creating men and women
who are capable of doing new things, not
simply repeating what other generations
have done.”

4.  From the 1920's through 1960's, behaviorism
was the dominant force in psychology
 This shift is often referred to as the
"cognitive revolution" because the emphasis
on cognition had such a profound influence
on psychology
 It was first created by the
Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget
(1896–1980).

5.  Piaget was a psychological constructivist: in
his view, learning proceeded by the interplay
of assimilation and accommodation.
 The to-and-fro of these two processes leads
not only to short-term learning, but also to
long-term developmental change.
 The long-term developments are really the
main focus of Piaget’s cognitive theory.

7. COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
SENSORY-MOTOR
INTELLIGENCE
PREOPERATIONAL
THINKING
CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL
THINKING
FORMAL
OPERATIONAL
THINKING

10.  A focus on the process of children’s
thinking, not just its products
 Crucial role of children’s self-initiated,
active involvement in learning activities
 From Simple to complex
 Sensorimotor stage

11. The role of teacher, according to Piaget’s theory is as
follows:
 Acceptance of individual differences in developmental
progress
 Variety of activities are involoved
 Teacher as a Mentor, teachers mentoring role towards
students.
 Encourage students to learn from their peers
 Model patience, through trial and error guide the students
towards a different conclusion.
 Focus on the process as well as the result
 Respect each student's individual interests, abilities and
limits
 Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end
product of it.

12. To apply Jean Piaget’s theories in the classroom,
the University of Arkansas suggests these six steps to
structure preoperational development:
1. Use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible.
2. Make instructions relatively short, using actions as well as words.
3. Do not expect the students to see the world from someone else’s
point of view.
4. The possibility that students may have different meanings for the
same word or different words for the same meaning.
5. Give children a great deal of hands-on practice with the skills that
serve as building blocks for more complex skills like reading
comprehension.
6. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a
foundation for concept learning and language.

13. Some advantages of Piaget’s theory are as follows:
 infer cognitive process
 ability to think abstractly and to reason hypothetically.
 applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical
contexts
 Combines easily with approaches: e.g. behaviorism +
cognitive psychology = social learning theory; biology +
cognitive psychology = evolutionary psychology.
 ability to communicate with children easily
 The research conducted in this area of psychology very
often has application in the real world. For example,
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been very effective
for treating depression.

14.  a narrow focus on mental processes.
 we cannot directly observe,It relies heavily on
inference.
 Piaget believes that a child passes through the
four stages then he is able to gain the abilities
and skill but most children possess abilities at an
earlier age than he believed.
 A major source of inspiration for the theory was
Piaget's observations of his own three children.
 Research has disputed Piaget's argument that all
children will automatically move to the next
stage of development as they mature. Some data
suggest that environmental factors may play a
role in the development of formal operations.

15.  Firstly, the four stages he described that a child
passes through four stages to acquire skill and
abilities is not always true, as most of the children
acquire in early stage.
 Secondly, He gave the theory by experimenting and
observing his own children and the children of his
colleagues in Geneva; but every child possess
different I.Q level. Not only was his sample very
small, but it was composed solely of European
children from families of high socio-economic status.
Infants and young children are more cognitively
competent than Piaget recognized.
 And lastly, Piaget concentrated and emphasized more
on cognitive and biological aspect, but what about
the social aspect? As for communicating a person
should be socialize.

16.  To sum up Piaget’s theory, his ideas in
developmental psychology have been enormous.
 He changed how people viewed the child’s
world and their method of studying children.
 Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of
research which has increased our understanding
of cognitive development.
 His ideas have been of practical use in
understanding and communicating with children,
particularly in the field of education i.e.
discovery Learning.
 He was an inspiration to many who came after
and took up his ideas.