Analysis Of Piaget's Theory Of Cognitive Development

In this essay, I will be discussing about Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, as well as Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. After which I will evaluate the effectiveness of individual work and peer collaboration as a learning strategy. I will also be offering my opinion on the collaborative learning process and how children should be grouped. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development focuses on the four different stages of normal intellectual development ranging from infancy to adulthood. It highlights the natural developments of a child’s cognitive process and how they gain knowledge. He came to the conclusion that by exploring the world around them, children play a crucial role in their learning experience. Piaget’s observation

The cognitive development that takes place during this period of time does not last long however a great amount of growth occurs. During this stage, a newborn is unfamiliar with things that are not directly in front of them. They acquire knowledge about the world through their movements and sensations such as throwing things, putting things in their mouth and grasping things. This is how they start to understand that their actions can affect things around them. Around seven to nine months old, infants start to realise that the objects that they can see are not the only objects existing in the world and this element was thought to be the most important part of the infant’s development according to Piaget. This element is known as object permanence which is a sign that memory is developing. Infant’s cognitive development further increases when they reach the stage where they are able to crawl and walk. Towards the end of the sensorimotor stage, which is between eighteen and twenty four months, infants begin to develop a few symbolic abilities and early representational thought enters the

Throughout this stage, toddlers are capable of thinking symbolically and they become proficient at using words and pictures to depict an item. Additionally, their memory and imagination enhances, enabling them to comprehend the contrast amongst past and future, and take part in make-believe. However, their reasoning is based on intuition rather than logic. They still cannot understand more mind boggling ideas, for example, circumstances and end results, time, and correlation. Children at this stage have a tendency to be egocentric and battle to see things from the viewpoint of others. The establishments of language improvement may have been laid amid the sensorimotor stage, yet it is the rise of language that is one of the real signs of the preoperational phase of advancement. Youngsters turn out to be a great deal more gifted at imagine play amid this phase of improvement, yet still ponder about their general