MODULE 6:

PIAGETS STAGES
OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
“ The principle goal of education is
to create men who are capable of
doing new things, not simply
repeating what other generations
have done - men who are creative,
inventive and discoverers.”
-Jean Piaget
JEAN PIAGET'S COGNITIVE
THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT is truly
a classic in the field of educational
psychology. This theory fueled other
researches and theories of
development and learning that focus
on how individual's construct
knowledge.
 BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS
• SCHEMA
Refer to the cognitive structure by which individuals
intellectually adapt to and organize their
environment.
• ASSIMILATION
Process of fitting a new experience into an existing
or previously created cognitive structure or schema.
• ACCOMMODATION
Process of creating a new schema. If the same child now
sees another animal that looks a little bit like a dog but
somehow different.
• EQULIBRATION
Piaget believed that the people have the natural need to
understand how the world works and find order, structure,
and predictability in their life.
*When our experiences do not match our schemata (plural
of schema) or cognitive structures, we experience
COGNITIVE DISEQUILIBRIUM.
Cognitive development involves a
continuous effort to adapt to the
environment in terms of assimilation
and accomodation. In this sense,
Piaget's theory is similar in nature to
other constructivist perspective of
learning Bruner and Vygotsky.
 PIAGET'S STAGES OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 1 - SENSORI-MOTOR STAGE
The first stage corresponds from birth to
infancy. This is the stage when a child who is
initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and
reaching becomes organized in his movement
and activity.
*OBJECT PERMANENCE is the ability of the
child to know that an object still exists even
STAGE 2 - PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
Covers from about 2-7 yrs. old, roughly corresponding to
the preschool years. Intelligence at this age is intuitive in
nature.
*SYMBOLIC FUNCTION - Ability to represent objects and
events. A symbol is a thing that represents something
else.
*EGOCENTRISM - Tendency of the child to only see his
point of view and assume thay everyone also has his
same point of view.
*CENTRATION - Tendency of the child to only focus on
one aspect of a thing or event and exclude other aspects.
*IRREVERSIBILITY - Pre-operational
children still have the inability to reverse
their thinking.
*ANIMISM - Tendency of children to attribute
human like traits or characteristics to in
animate objects.
*TRANSDUCTIVE REASONING - Refers to
the pre-operational child's type of reasoning
that is neither inductive or deductive.
STAGE 3 - CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE
Characterized by the ability of the child to think
logically but only in terms of concrete objects.
Ages between 8-11 years or the elementary
school years.
*DECENTERING - Ability of the child to perceive
the different features of objects.
*REVERSIBILITY - During the stage of concrete
operations, the child can now follow that certain
operations can be done in reverse.
*CONSERVATION - Ability to know that certain
properties of objects like number, mass, volume or area
do not change even if there is a change in appearance.
*SERIATION - Ability to order or arrange things in series
based on one dimention such as weight, volume or size.

STAGE 4 - FORMAL OPERATION STAGE

In the final stage of formal operations covering ages
between 12 and 15 years, thinking becomes more
logical.
*HYPOTHETICAL REASONING - Ability to come up
with different hypothesis about a problem and to
gather and weigh data in order to make final decision
or judgements.
*ANALOGICAL REASONING - Ability to perceive the
relationship in one instance and then use that
relationship to narrow down possible answers in
another similar situation or problem.
*DEDUCTIVE REASONING - Ability to think logically
by applying a general rule to particular instance or
situation.
PIAGET'S FINDINGS AND COMPREHENSIVE
THEORY PRINCIPLES:
1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at
different stages of cognitive development.
2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing
activities or situations that engaged learners and require
adaptation.
3. Learning materials and activities should involve the
appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child
of given age.
4. Use teaching methods that actively involves students and
present challenges.
KAMSAHAMNIDA!