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Jean Piaget's Theory Of Child Development

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Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, studied cognitive development from a biological perspective. As part of his theory, he looked at organization and adaptation which were the two main principles in the human 's mind and development. He further explained that human beings dependably strive to acquire a state of balance. Adaptation occurs when children encounter cognitive disability, this is known as, the situation where children will see the world as it is, and what they’re experiencing. Therefore, children incorporate new information and combine it with the existing one. Piaget refers to this as accommodation. This process occurs when new information does not fit well in the structures that already exists. For example, a child sees an earthworm …show more content…

At this stage, a child begins to perform roles and actions (imitation) of a grown up, along with familiar events. However, at the age of three or four years, the child’s skills then become symbolic; he/she learns substitution in the form of objects. For example, a child feeding a stuffed animal using a toy bottle, whereas an older child is feeding the stuffed animal using a highlighter in pretense that it would act as a feeding bottle for a baby. This stage also builds a solid foundation for children as they get their own experience through …show more content…

This was the birth of Jean Piaget’s theory on learning. According to Mc Cune & Zane (2001), they proposed that toddlers are constantly involved in activities that can stimulate their mind, senses and also lead to early motor skills development. Children are curious explorers who explore their abilities through play and interaction. Mc Cune & Zane also stated, “as young babies are seen playing on their own, toddlers play and interact with other children their age”. A situation where five children are playing with the same toys in the same room, might follow different activities for each of them. Each child will focus on their need, which is a clear reflection of egocentric behaviors. However, this kind of play can contribute greatly to the child, developing his/her ability to be able to focus

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When a child comes into this world, he has no understanding of anything – good or bad. Children tend to spend the majority of their childhood watching and learning from peers and authoritative figures: a son simulates his carpenter father with toy tools, or a young girl watches her older cousin smoke cigarettes after

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Even in childhood, we can see that a child in toddlerhood has different capacities of those in middle childhood. Cognitive development is one psychological form that allows us to study these differences. One approach in particular, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, is particularly useful in studying the differences between stages in childhood (Wadsworth 5). Jean Piaget is considered one of the most important researchers regarding children’s intellectual understanding and his studies are still incorporated in research and books today. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development begins with infants and toddlers between ages 0-2.

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This theme addresses the question of whether or not children shape their own development. It is evident that the active child theme applies to the subject of infant cognitive development, as infants contribute to their development through the use of visual preferences and observation, interaction with the environment, and through the use of play. The bountiful research in the field of infant cognitive development serves as a confirmation that infants are not as inactive as they were once thought to be. Infants are the pioneers of their minds and they are able to gain a great deal of knowledge through their observation of the world

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Cognitive abilities enable children to process the sensory information that they collect from the environment. According to Wood, Smith and Grossniklaus (2012), Piaget defined cognitive development as the progressive reorganization of the mental processes that results in biological experience and maturation. As numerous researchers have explained, children normally undergo many changes from birth to adolescents, most of them being growth related. According to Cook (2005), the changes in thinking is what researchers call cognitive development. In toddlers, cognitive development is observed through the early use of tools and objects, the child’s behavior when objects are moved in front of them and their understanding when objects and when people are in their environment.

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Introduction Developmental psychology makes an attempt to comprehend the types and sources of advancement in children’s cognitive, social, and language acquisition skills. The child development theories put forward by both Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson have had substantial impacts on contemporary play therapy. In this essay, I aim to highlight the contribution of these two theorists in their study of various developmental stages, the differences and similarities in their theories, and their contributions to the theory and practice of play therapy. Jean Piaget

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Introduction Developmental psychology makes an attempt to comprehend the types and sources of advancement in children’s cognitive, social, and language acquisition skills. The pioneering work done by early child development theorists has had a significant influence on the field of psychology as we know it today. The child development theories put forward by both Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson have had substantial impacts on contemporary child psychology, early childhood education, and play therapy. In this essay, I aim to highlight the contribution of these two theorists in their study of various developmental stages, the differences and similarities in their theories, and their contributions to the theory and practice of play therapy.

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The ideas of a cognitive-developmental theorist called Piaget has been put into practice to help understand children’s development. Piaget began his research into this area due to doing a task on developing an intelligence test for children. His interest when doing this test was that the errors that the children made were similar (Gillibrand, Lam and Victoria 2011). It was also found that children would perceive the world in a alike way to explain the world they live in (Lindon, 2012).This made

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There are two theorists associated with cognitive development; Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believes that things children learn and do are organized as schemes, groups of similar actions and thoughts are repeated in response to the environment. Vygotsky believes that thoughts and language are separate functions for infants and toddlers. This is important for me to know because when teaching my first graders using Piaget’s belief that children curiosity to adapt to their environment, will help me in setting up my classroom so as to provide the friendliest environmental atmosphere. Another useful belief of Piaget that I intend to use, is by exploring and manipulating physical objects, children gain a relationship with their physical environment.

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The first stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory is the Sensorimotor Stage, which he states takes place from birth

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Learning play in this social way becomes increasingly important to the child. If they go to play centre in the morning they may be tired in the afternoon because socialising is hard work, and they may be grumpy because they do not have someone to play with (Penrose, 2013). 2.3. The influences does play on children’s learning Play has long held a revered place in early childhood curriculum. Play is regarded as a vehicle for learning as well as a place where children can demonstrate their learning.

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This model is broken down into four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The children that I observed were in the concrete operational stage. Cole and Tufano (2008) explains the concrete operational stage as, “Intelligence is acquired through systematic manipulation of concrete objects, resulting in seven types of conservation

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Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3) The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age 2. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and handling objects.

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Early childhood education often centers on learning through play. Research and philosophy of Jean Piaget highlights that play meets the physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social needs (PILES) of children. Children 's natural inquisitiveness and imagination naturally suggest learning when unfettered. Thus, children learn more proficiently and gain more knowledge

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Brief History Jean Piaget was a Twentieth century Swiss psychologist and was the first psychologist to systematically study the cognitive development of children. Thomas (2005) wrote that early in Piaget’s career he worked with children and his observations and interactions with the students led him to the theory that a young person's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults (pp. 188-9). According to Ahmad, et al. (2005) , Piaget showed that when compared to adults, young children think in differently and he then came to the conclusion that cognitive development was an ongoing process which occurred due to maturation and interaction with the environment (p. 72).

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Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Cognition is a process where different aspects of the mind are working together that lead to knowledge. Piaget’s cognitive development theory is based on stages that children go through as they grow that lead them to actively learn new information. Cognitive change occurs with schemes that children and adults go through to make sense of what is happening around them. The change that occurs is activity based when the child is young and later in life correlates to mental thinking. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development start from birth to adulthood

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