Cognitive Learning Theory

One of the most influential theories on cognitive development comes from Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. His ideas have generated a lot of research into cognitive development which has significantly improved our understanding on the topic. He is well-known for his studies with children and his theory that cognitive capabilities shown by adults are as a result of four transitional stages taking place at different checkpoints from birth up to adulthood. These stages are seen to occur at roughly 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. This has been taken to mean that before these checkpoints, the child is unable to understand things in certain ways. The first of Piaget’s four stages is known as the Sensorimotor stage and takes place from birth until about 2 years of age. It is at this stage that infants use their biological reflexes (Ormrod, 2012) to explore the world around them and construct an understanding by experimenting with their senses (hearing, seeing, touching). They use physical actions to obtain knowledge of their surroundings and at about a year can begin to differentiate between themselves and objects. Due to repeated “cause-and-effect relationships” (Ormrod, 2012) the child learns that certain actions can bring about a desired response and therefore start to act intentionally (i.e. shaking a rattle or pushing buttons on toys to hear a noise etc.). At the last part of their second year, object permanence is achieved as the child now begins to understand that things continue to exist even when not in their presence. According to Piaget, this is the most important achievement at this stage and by the end of the sensorimotor period, objects are permanent and separate from the self. The ability to represent objects by images and words should also be developed. The

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