Jean Piaget's Influence On Cognitive Development

“The definition of cognitive development is the process of the development of the children understanding of the world as a function of age and experience”. (www.definitionpsychology.com)
Jean Piaget has been a strong influence on the understanding of children’s development and his work “identified particular stages of cognitive development which continues to influence how we work with children” (Meggitt, Walker, 2004, pg109). Piaget was a Swiss psychologist born August 1896. He published his first paper when he was aged 10 and received a Ph.D. of natural sciences aged 22. Piaget published many books and articles including The Psychology of Intelligence and “The Grasp of Consciousness” (www.muskingum.edu). He studied children’s thinking and
learning for over a fifty year span and had many roles such as “Professor of child psychology and Director of experimental psychology” (Pound, 2005, pg36)
Piaget believed that children were effective contributors in their own learning and that the main task for children was to “develop an ability to organize experiences and learn from them in a way which enable them to make sense of the world” (O’Hagan, Smith, 1999, pg10). He also deemed children as a “philosopher” (www.icels-educators-for-learning.ca) who see the world simply as they have experienced it.
He based his theory on “observations he made while working in Binet’s laboratory on the first intelligence test to be developed” (Flanagan, 1996, pg65).
Piaget had noticed that children of similar ages were inclined to make similar mistakes which were then confirmed in the observations of his own children. Piaget used the term schemas, he proposed that the first schemas were formed during the reflex stage in a baby. These schemas are “which helps people to organise their thinking and shape their understanding of the world around them” (Scott et al, 2008, pg71). Something later then happens which may cause feel of discomfort which Piaget referred to as disequilibrium which causes us to rethink the schema which was created know as assimilation. In order to restore equilibrium (feeling of comfort) again we have to rethink and readjust our thinking which is known as accommodation. To explain his theory Piaget used the idea of stages to describe development and stated that children move through a series of stages and that “no stage can be missed out” (Meggitt, Walker, 2004, pg109). “Piaget stresses that these stages are not fixed or definite” (Hayes, 1993, pg123). The sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs) is when the child learns through their senses and “interactions with objects by seeing what they can do” (Daly et al, 2009, pg80) Object permanence this is when a child understands that people and objects are permanent and exist even when cannot be seen this occurs between 7-9months.
Pre-operational stage (2-7yrs) the child uses symbolic behaviour, are egocentric which is when they form ideas based on their own perceptions and with the inability to “see any point of view other than their own” (www.alleydog.com). Concrete operational (7-11/12yrs) the child is able to think more logically. The last stage is formal operational (11/12yrs +), a child can now “understand abstract concepts” (Bruce, Meggitt, 2006, pg270) and are able to think hypothetically. Some adults never reach this stage. “Piaget devised a series of tests to gauge the level of thought children had reached” (Daly et al, 2009, pg 81). One test was a 3d model of a mountain with figures which was shown to children aged between four and twelve. He asked the child to describe a viewpoint of the different figures. If the child was unable to do so correctly, Piaget said they were egocentric. By the age of 6 or 7 most children develop the ability to conserve numbers, length and liquid volume. “Conservation refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance” (www.webspace.ship.edu ). He tested this out by showing a child two rows of buttons and agrees that the have equal number. One row is spread out to look longer and the child was then asked which row now contains the most buttons. Piaget said that children under 7 are more likely to say the spread out row has more buttons and was criticised as he asked the question twice. This was criticised as Rose and Blank (1974) repeated this test and only asked the children the question once and got more correct replies which showed “More children were able to conserve” (www.homepage.ntlworld.com ). “The most well-known criticism is that some of his tasks simply do not make sense” (Flanagan.C, 1996, pg70). This is because very young children may not understand what is expected of them. Hughes (1975) done an experiment called the policeman and the doll which was carried out on children aged three and a half to five years. The study included a boy doll, two policemen dolls and two intersecting walls. The child was asked to hide the boy doll from the policemen. “Of whom 90 per cent gave correct answers” (www.psychinmedia.blogspot.co.uk ). This showed that children lost their egocentrism at approximately 4yrs whereas Piaget had indicated children lost it at aged 7.
Vygotsky’s views were similar to Piaget’s “in that they both show children as active participants in their learning” (Scott et al, 2008, pg75).
Vygotsky’s views conflict with Piaget’s on the social and cultural influences as Vygotsky considered that the use of language was the driving force to a child’s cognitive development. Vygotsky also placed more importance on the social influences impacting on cognitive development whereas Piaget was criticised for underestimating this as he stated “much of what child learns begin by accident –The child accidentally performs some action, perceives it, like it and then repeats the action assimilating it into her or his existing schemes” (Hook et al, 2002,
pg180).
Piaget’s theory even though its criticisms has had a great impact on current practice as there is now an “emphasis on the importance of the environment and the quality of the children’s interactions” (Daly et al, 2009, pg81). When practitioners are now planning for the children they plan activities which are age and stage appropriate and providing children with activities that encourage logical thinking which may include construction bricks. In my placement the children have regular access to a wide variety of construction blocks to suit all the children within the room who aged 0-2, some of the blocks are larger than others to suit each child’s individual needs. One of the main aims in my placements is to “create a stimulating and innovative learning environment that is sensitive to the needs of the children’s and the individual” (student handbook, 2013,pg3) this is done by closely observing the children every day, planning experiences to suit their needs and interests and responding to the children’s individual needs. The practitioners within my room understand the importance of first-hand experiences have on babies and young children so the children are taken out daily into the garden to explore the natural environment to stimulate their cognitive development. The children within the room have access to the resources all day, are able to make their own choices and engage mostly in free flow play.

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Bibliography
Internet
www.definitionpsychology.com/definition-of-cognitive-development/ last accessed 28.10.2013 www.icels-educators-for-learning.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=61 last accessed 28.10.2013 www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Egocentrism last accessed 28.10.2013 http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html last accessed 28.10.2013 www.homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.sturt/sambry.htm last accessed 29.10.2013

Books
Bruce.T, Meggitt.C, 2006, Child Care and Education (4th edition), London, Hodder Arnold
Daly.M, Byers.E, Taylor.W, 2009, Early Years Management in practice (2nd edition), London, Heinemann
Flanagan.C, 1996, Applying Psychology to Early childhood development, London, Hodder and Stoughton
Hook.P, Vass.A, 2002, Teaching with influence, London, David Fulton Publishers Ltd
Meggitt.C, Walker.J, 2004, An introduction to child care and education, (2nd edition), London,
O’Hagan.M, Smith.M, 1999, Early Years & Childcare: Key Issues (2nd Edition), London, Harcourt Publishers Limited
Pound.L, 2005, How Children Learn, Leamington Spa, Step forward Publishing Limited
Scott.F, Anderson.E, Johnstone.L, MacMillan.M, Paterson.M, Sayers.S, 2008, HNC Early Education and Childcare, London, Heinemann
Student Handbook, Cumbernauld Campus Nursery, 2013