Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
The term cognitive development refers to the process of developing intelligence and higher level thinking that allows a person to acquire problem-solving skills from the age of infancy through adulthood. A Swiss philosopher by the name of Jean Piaget took an interest in in developmental psychology; specifically in children during infancy through pre-adolescence. This model developed by Piaget still has a modern-day relevancy.
Contributions to Learning and Cognition
Piaget made a considerable contribution to psychology with his studies of cognition; his main focus was on understanding the difference between children and adults. “Applying Piaget 's theory of cognitive development to the education of children is another contribution that enables the effective teaching of children” (Kuhn, 1979). Piaget had a theory that children and adults shared equal intelligence; children just thought differently, Piaget set out to study the different levels of cognition and developed this information into stages.
Model(s) associated Piaget
Piaget’s model was designed to explore and explain how the human brain processed the world around it and its environment. He took information from stories of peoples past experiences and applied those views to his studies of children. With this Piaget created the Theory of Cognitive Development. This theory identified four different stages in development that covered primary cognition and its correlation to intellectual development. These four stages are broken down as follows:
Sensorimotor Stage
This stage summarizes life from the time of birth until two years. “The sensorimotor stage is characterized by the absence of language, and note that because it is not an operational stage, it is not characterized by thinking as Piaget viewed it” (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2013). Piaget’s theory is that children have not yet developed language at this stage and that if objects were not directly in their view, than
Contributions to Learning and Cognition
Piaget made a considerable contribution to psychology with his studies of cognition; his main focus was on understanding the difference between children and adults. “Applying Piaget 's theory of cognitive development to the education of children is another contribution that enables the effective teaching of children” (Kuhn, 1979). Piaget had a theory that children and adults shared equal intelligence; children just thought differently, Piaget set out to study the different levels of cognition and developed this information into stages.
Model(s) associated Piaget
Piaget’s model was designed to explore and explain how the human brain processed the world around it and its environment. He took information from stories of peoples past experiences and applied those views to his studies of children. With this Piaget created the Theory of Cognitive Development. This theory identified four different stages in development that covered primary cognition and its correlation to intellectual development. These four stages are broken down as follows:
Sensorimotor Stage
This stage summarizes life from the time of birth until two years. “The sensorimotor stage is characterized by the absence of language, and note that because it is not an operational stage, it is not characterized by thinking as Piaget viewed it” (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2013). Piaget’s theory is that children have not yet developed language at this stage and that if objects were not directly in their view, than