| Who was Jean Piaget (1896-1980)? | Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist whose career took a major turn when he became fascinated by the changes in thinking that he observed in his own children.
This shift led him to a life of research examining the thinking of children as they matured, acquired experiences, and attempted to make sense of the world around them. |
| Can Piaget's theory of cognitive development explain the dialogue below?
Teacher: Adik nak balik pukul 12 ke atau nak balik pukul 1?
Child: Saya nak balik awal, jadi pukul 1, cikgu.
Teacher: Oh kenapa?
Child: Sebab pukul 1 lagi sikit. | Yes, young children (such as 4- and 5-year-olds) believe that going back at 1PM is earlier than 12PM because 1 is a smaller number than 12. |
| Provide a brief overview of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. | Piaget believe that people in general, and children in particular, construct mental structures and ideas in attempts to make sense of their experiences.
This helps them achieve a state of cognitive balance and predictability and the view that the world is an orderly place. When they have new experiences that don't make sense to them, this cognitive order is disrupted, and they make an effort to reestablish it. In doing so, their thinking becomes more sophisticated and development advances.
These developments is consistent with what we know about neuroscience and they occur in general patterns that fit within approximate age ranges. |
| In Piaget's theory, what is the concept of equilibrium? | Equilibrium is described as the state of cognitive order, balance and predictability where our experiences make sense to us (Piaget 1952, 1959, 1980).
The drive for equilibrium is the cornerstone of Piaget's theory as it provides the foundations for the rest of his ideas. |
| What happens when our equilibrium is disrupted ? | When we're unable to explain our experiences using our existing understanding, we're motivated to reestablish it (Berk, 2013; Boyed & Bee, 2012; Feldman, 2014). |
| Is following familiar habits and patterns the result of our need for equilibrium? | Yes. People are describe as "creatures of habit". Most students sit in essentially in the same seat in class. We also fall into familiar patterns of interaction when out with friends.
As such, teachers are urged to establish classroom routines as early as possible in the school year (Emmer & Evertson, 2013; Evertson & Emmer, 2013). Doing so helps establish equilibrium by making their school experiences predictable. |
| According to Piaget's theory, what are schemes? | Schemes are mental operations constructed by people, that represent our understanding of the world. Piaget believed that schemes are the building blocks of thinking.
For example, when learning to drive a car, we have a series of experiences attempting to start the engine, maneuver in traffic, and make routine driving decisions. As we (cognitively) organise these experiences, they become our "driving" scheme. |
| How do we develop schemes throughout our life? | The schemes we construct vary with age, and they also vary with respect to accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Infants develop psychomotor schemes, such as grasping objects and looking for them when they disappear. School-age children develop more abstract schemes like classification and proportional reasoning.
There are also content-related schemes such as adding-fractions-with-unlike-denominators, creating-a-persuasive-essay, or reptile schemes (Wadsworth, 2004). Each represent our developing understanding based on our experiences, and they are commonly described as SCHEMAS rather than schemes. |
| According to Piaget's theory what is assimilation and accommodation, respectively? Provide an example for each. | Assimilation is the process of using existing schemes to interpret new experiences. For example, driving a new automatic Tesla using the driving scheme of my parent's automatic Exora. I have assimilated the experience with the Tesla into my driving scheme.
Accommodation is the process of CHANGING our thinking to create NEW schemes or ADJUST old ones when they can no longer explain new experiences. For example, I now buy a red Ferrari with a manual shift, so I must now change my thinking about driving and accommodate my driving scheme. |
| In Piaget's theory what is social experience and how does it contribute to our development of schemes? | Social experience is the process of interacting with other people (Piaget, 1952, 1959, 1970, 1980). Social experiences allow us to test our schemes against those of others.
When our schemes match, we remain at equilibrium; when they don't, our equilibrium is disrupted, we are motivated then to reestablish it and adjust our thinking. Thus, our development advances (How, 2009, 2010; Siegler & Lin, 2010). |
| Applying Piaget's theory in early childhood education, what can we do in preschool and kindergarten program to help children form new schemas? | We can provide water and sand tables, building blocks and other concrete materials to provide young children with concrete experiences with tangible learning materials.
Italian educator, Maria Montessori concluded that learning environments where children simultaneously "worked" on both academic and social activities, were needed for development (Feldman, 2014). Children should be free to explore learning centers that provided hands-on activities and opportunities for social interaction with other students. Make-believe was encouraged with dress-up costumes and other accessories like play telephones.
In early childhood education (and education in general) both academic AND social activities are key for holistic student development. |
