1. Jean Piaget “The great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing”

2. Early Life Born on August 9, 1886 in Neuchatel, Switzerland
Had many interests as a child
Mollusks, mechanics, birds, fossils of secondary and tertiary levels, seashells
Published his first paper at age 10
Graduated from the University of Neuchatel with his Ph.D. in Science at age 22

3. Middle Life
Spent 2 years at the Sorbonne and attended courses in psychology.
Studied psychology under Carl Jung (father of Jungian psychology) for a semester in Zurich
Taught at a boys’ school run by Alfred Binet (father of the standardized intelligence test) in Paris
Began to theorize about development based on the incorrect answers he observed from young children
Critiqued Binet’s test for being too rigid and then allowed children to explain their answers

4. Piaget as a Psychologist
Analyzed children’s verbal reasoning in response to cause and effect events
Spent a tremendous amount of time and effort observing his 3 children and using them for cognitive experiments
Main goal: to understand how children acquired knowledge
Studied children’s development for 30 years
Fathered the cognitive and developmental psychology movements
Evans, R.L. (1973) Jean Piaget: The Man and His Ideas. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. New York

5. Late Life
Held many appointments at different universities as a professor, chair, and researcher
Awarded multiple honorary degrees from prestigious universities such as Harvard and Oxford
Highly prolific publisher of hundreds of papers and over 50 books
Died September 17, 1980

6. Main Contributions
First psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development
Conducted detailed observational studies of cognition in children
Series of simple tests to illustrate cognitive abilities
Led to other studies by several psychologists
Showed children and adolescents think differently compared to adults

7. Main Contributions
Extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching
Discovery learning
Readiness concerns
Active learning
Student-centered
Collaborative instruction

8. Main Contributions Cont.
Theory of cognitive child development
Goal: to explain processes by which the infant and then the child develops into an individual who can reason & think using hypotheses

9. Piaget's Cognitive Theory: Three Components
Schemas
action sequence
Adaptation Processes
allows transition from one stage to another
equilibrium, assimilation, and accommodation
Stages of  Development
sequence of development

10. Schemas Way of organizing knowledge
How to react to incoming stimuli or information
Increases in number and complexity
State of equilibrium
Cognitive balance occurs when existing schemas can adjust to new information

11. Buying a Sandwich
CLICK
ORDER
EAT

12. Assimilation and Accommodation
Assimilation: Using existing knowledge to face a new situation; existing knowledge is consistent with new knowledge and the two fit nicely together
Accommodation: Existing knowledge is insufficient & additional knowledge is needed to face a new situation; existing knowledge is inconsistent with new knowledge and that must be reconciled
Building blocks of knowledge are key in Piaget’s view of cognitive development

13. 1) Sensorimotor Stage From birth to around age 2
Infants begin to build up knowledge of the world around them
Initially reliant on reflexes
Object permanence
Here is an example of this stage

14. 2) Preoperational Stage
2- 7 years of age
Thoughts & communications usually egocentric
Child becomes capable of symbolic play
Here is an example of this stage

15. 3) Concrete Operational Stage
7-11 years of age
Beginning of logical/operational thought
More organized and rational thinking
Conservation
Understanding that although the appearance of something changes, the thing itself does not
Unable to think abstractly or hypothetically
Here is an example

16. 4) Formal Operational Stage
Around 11 years +
Ability to think in an abstract manner
Independently manipulate ideas (abstract reasoning)
Inferential reasoning
Draw conclusions about things which the child has not actually experienced

17. The Potential Stages of Adolescent Development
Concrete Operational Stage
Formal Operational
Stage
7-11 years of age
11-15 years of age
Main source of knowledge is actions
Main source of knowledge is mental operations
Capable of logical thinking about concrete events
Capable of logical thinking about abstract & hypothetical events
Mastery of conservation & mathematical operations
Mastery of abstract logic allows for mature moral reasoning
Achieved by the large majority of people before or during adolescence
Achieved by only a portion of people in adolescence (and during the lifespan)

18. Connections to Adolescent Development
Neuroscience:
Development of the prefrontal cortex necessarily precedes the “logical, abstract, hypothetical” thinking of formal operations
Connections increase such that knowledge is added to “an active, complex, self-organizing system”
Pruning creates more efficient thought processes & facilitates logical & abstract reasoning
Social:
The role of cognitive readiness both inside & outside the classroom
Peers become large & influential source of information that can lead to accommodation or assimilation
Egocentrism & altruism

19. Critiques of Piaget’s Developmental Theory
Stages vs. continuum
Universal vs. performance variability
Underestimation of children’s development by given ages
Requirement of verbal explanations to show mastery
Avoidance of false positives
Lack of emphasis on social and cultural development
Based upon a biased sample
Differences from Vygotsky
Social development
Spontaneous vs. nonspontaneous development
Statics vs. dynamics of development

20. Bibliography
Evans, R.L. (1973) Jean Piaget: The Man and His Ideas. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. New York.
Jean Piaget. (2014). Retrieved Jun. 1, 2014, from
Miller, P.H. (2010). Piaget’s theory: Past, present, and future. Blackwell Handbooks of Developmental Psychology. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
Presnell, F. (1999). Jean Piaget. Retrieved Jun. 4, fromhttp://muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/piaget.h tm
Smith, L. (2000). A brief biography of Jean Piaget. Retrieved Jun. 4, 2014 from