4 Stages of Cognitive Development – Piaget’s Theory

Growth and development theories provide a framework for understanding the changes that took place in the child. These policies also help the healthcare authorities and policymakers make policies for the development of children and provide guidance to the government and parents. Various theories have been developed by educationists, such as; 

Piaget Theory 

Erickson Theory 

So let us discuss Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. He has proposed the concept that humans progress goes through four developmental stages.

● Who was Jean Piaget? 

➔ Jean Piaget was a Swiss thinker. 

➔ He was a radical constructivist. 

➔ He is also called the father of child pedagogy. 

➔ Piaget gave the idea of cognitive development. Here, cognitive development means logical and mental thinking. It is also called intellectual development. 

➔ According to him, development is a discontinuous process. 

➔ He called children the active constructors or builders of knowledge. The children are like little scientists. 

● Assumption of Cognitive Development:

The theory of Piaget is based on some of the following assumptions: 

1. There is a difference in the thinking processes of adults and children.

2. Children use their personal experiences to develop their own knowledge about the world. 

3. Children can learn on their own even when they are not taught. 

4. Other children or adults influenced the children. 

5. All the children have internal motivation to learn.

● 4 Elements of Piaget Theory:

There are 4 elements in the theory of Piaget, which are: 

1. Maturation: Maturity comes from heredity. 

2. Experience: With various activities, the children get the experience. 

3. Social interaction: Society also plays an important role in the lives of children.

4. Equilibration is a mechanism that explains how children shift from one stage to another. This shift occurs when new information arises. Then the children resolve the conflict, reach a new equilibrium, and balance their thoughts. 

Adaptation is the ability to adapt or change ourselves according to the environment. In other words, we can say that adaptation means updating the schema. Schema is the previous knowledge or the building blocks of knowledge that help us represent the different things in the world in our minds. Adaptation needed two things: 

➔ Assimilation means adding new knowledge or experience to the existing scheme. For example, during COVID-19, the children learned about a new word, quarantine. So they add this word to their brain, called assimilation. 

➔ Accommodation: It means to update the existing knowledge or schema when a new situation arises. For example, we get to know that COVID-19 is an airborne virus, so we will add this information to our minds, called assimilation, and achieve equilibration. But after some time, we know that COVID is not an airborne disease, so we will update this information in our existing schema called Accommodation. 

5. Organization: Children organize their experiences into a higher-order system. For example, a boy who has a vague idea about how to use a hammer will also have a vague idea about how to use other tools. After learning how to use a hammer, he will also know how to use other tools. So he will organize all this knowledge in a systematic manner. 

● Stages of Cognitive Development:

1. Sensorimotor stage-

➢ It lies from birth to 2 years of age. 

➢ In this stage, infants understand the word through their sensory experiences, such as seeing and hearing. 

➢ The senses are the teachers of children. 

➢ Infants try to imitate others. 

➢ There is no object permanence at this stage. 

2. Pre-operational stage:

➢ This stage is a pre-logical one. 

➢ It lies between 2 and 7 years of age. 

➢ In this stage, the child acquires the ability to form mental images of objects. ➢ The children began to think symbolically. 

➢ They become curious and begin to ask questions about everything they see. ➢ Children like to make up their own language. 

➢ Piaget called the age of 4 to 7 years an intuitive substage, as the children know something but know it without using rational thinking. 

3. Concrete operational stage: 

➢ This stage lies between 7 and 11 years of age. 

➢ In this stage, there is the development of logical thinking. 

➢ They start to understand more complex concepts, such as time and space. But at the same time, they have trouble thinking about them independently of those situations. ➢ Children can learn rules easily, but they have trouble understanding the logical implications of those rules. They developed CCS, which is 

C- Conservation 

C- Classification 

S- Seriation means they set things in series. 

4. Formal operational stage:

➢ This stage lies between 7 and 11 years of age. 

➢ In this stage, children are engaged in abstract, logical, and deductive reasoning. ➢ They engage in if-then reasoning. For example, if dogs are reptiles, they would have cold-blooded 

➢ Strategy-based games, such as snake and ladders, become more enjoyable. ➢ Children can apply rules to a variety of situations. 

➢ They form many hypotheses. 

● Criticism of Piaget theory: 

1. It does not mention the effects of culture and social factors on the growth and development of children. 

2. It said development is a discontinuous process, but in fact, development is a continuous process. 

3. It underestimates the abilities of children. 

4. It overestimated the abilities of the adults. 

5. It ignored the effect of training on the children, and it had a greater impact on their development. 

6. This theory lacks evidence in real life.

The Importance of Piaget’s Theory in Education: 

● Children can acquire knowledge of a particular concept only after obtaining a specific level of maturity. 

● Children are active participants rather than passive participants. 

● In school, children should be provided with different teaching aids so that they can do the experiments. 

● Theory must be combined with practicality. For example, if the teacher teaches about the reactions of acids and bases, then the students should be taken to the science library.

● Instead of simply checking the answer to see if it is right or wrong, the teacher should focus on the thinking process of the students and how they reach a specific answer.

● The teacher must know that all the students have different understandings and intellectual levels.