Running head: PIAGET

Piagets Theory of Intellectual Development and Its Implication for Instructional Management at Pre-Secondary School Level. Terry Gallivan Liberty University EDUC 500 BII6 January 16, II010

PIAGET Piagets Theory of Intellectual Development and Its Implication for Instructional Management at Pre-Secondary School Level.

Piagets sixty years of work in the development of child learning, has given educators a useful outline in determining at what speed a child can or should be able to learn. As much as we would like for all of our students be on the same page at the same time it is not realistic; it is only a dream. If traditional teachers would take the rose color glasses off they would know in teaching at a fast pace only causes extreme lose of knowledge. District policies outlining the man-dated curriculum have caused much turmoil among educators by stating all teachers must teach the same concept at the same time. Piagets theory describes infants, children and young adults on a natural born sequence of four learning stages. Piagets theory, decrees all of the developmental skills must be completed before the next stage is to be entered into; there is no changing. It is unrealistic to think Stage I learners would ask Whats for dinner as would a Stage IV adolescents. The typical Stage I child would scream until their desires are met. While a Stage III child might say, We already had that this week. A childs thought process is the basis to determine the stage a childs mental / learning capabilities lie for parents and teachers. This is certainly not as simple to determine as described by Piaget as he lays out in his theory. There are many factors which can influence how we predict the progress a child is making; for example, shyness, cultural, learning disabilities, and socially economical status. What adaptation opportunities have been introduced to the child? Were there possibilities for assimilation and accommodations? As a teacher, we never receive a detail report on the developmental stage a student is currently experiencing, unless they are in the Special Education program, 504 accommodated or the English as a Second Language (ESL) program in rare circumstances. Teachers must believe they are adding to a stack of Jenga blocks, (Urelsque, 2012) as shown in the picture to the right. Lets consider the following analogy the blocks represent a skill which has be developed during the course of several years from birth. If a skill has been undeveloped the child has an empty void; with enough voids there will be a collapse of valuable concepts. A great deal of the time we never know whom did not foster the development. Was it the parents? Was the learning process by-passed in order to comply with mandated curriculum? Or was the child directly influenced by environmental circumstance? An environmental circumstance may be, as heart-wrenching as it is child abuse in some degree of severity. We have heard of cases where a child is locked in a closet for extended amounts of time up to several years without any interaction with society. Imagine now for a brief moment how you would teach this 7 year old that has entered your classroom after being enrolled in school for just one year. What are the factors you must know in advance? Will the factors be disclosed to you most of the time it will be labeled confidential and not be released? Teachers are not always privy to such knowledge and must reach into their hearts for discernment from the Holy Spirit to grant wisdom that this child needs our love and understanding. Compassion will enable the developmental learning to blossom.

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Piagets theory of developmental stages is based on the simple adage when the teacher is ready the student will appear. The sound advice given in this article suggests it is a key requirement for teacher to be observers and advocates for their students. In the 21st century instantaneous world we live in with microwave ovens, satellite television, cellular phones and the World Wide Web; we sometimes prescribe a quick fix to a childs developmental deficiencies. The example in the article states if a child is having difficulties in counting on a one to one correspondence he / she will not be able to understand the concept of number. For instance, if any nursery school teacher gets six oranges and four bananas, and asks his pupils to count them. He needs to ensure that they understand that both oranges and bananas are called fruits. He then asks which are more - the oranges or the fruits? Chances are that most nursery schoolchildren will answer oranges. (Simatwa, pg 3). It is important as teachers we do not over simplify Piagets concepts and thereby try to rush students based on age without taking into account his / her developmental learning level.

A parallel between training a racehorse and Pagets developmental theory can be drawn. As a racehorse trainer, one knows the horses in the barn do not learn a skill at the same rate of time every time, for instance, breaking from the gates. Some horses learn in a matter of minutes while others may take weeks. Just as a child has developmental stages a horse equally has stages it must develop before running a race. If training steps are rushed or skip; it can be catastrophic for both the rider and horse. Children commonly lose out on the fundamentals for a variety of reasons but ultimately a developmental skill was not obtained and needs to be re-introduced. Stage 1: Is learning the basic survival skills. The stage of visualization is the foundation to the rest of the three stages. A child obtains the concept of object permanence which is the basis for memory growth. It is important that we do not dismiss the importance of Stage II as just part of learning the three Rs. This is the stage which promotes communication skills. If a child is in classroom where silence is the norm a child can lose the ability to speak with confidence and fluency. When we enter Stage II the world opens up to us, no more following the basics of evolution / survival we emerge as individuals. Stage II is where the realization that we are children of God and created in his image. Stage III is the transfer from egocentric to socialized communication. A childs ability for discernment, referred in the article as decenteration comes during this stage. This is when the child is able to concretely form different perspectives

PIAGET the stage of discovery. Stage IV is stage of acceptance. The young adult can view different perspectives and perform self-analyze. Teachers must provide lessons which promote curiosity,

discovery and exploration. The teachers need to be especially compassionate and understanding during this stage since there will be many trials and errors. In summary, Piagets Developmental theory has endured the test of time and to some extent gives a clearer picture of the challenges our students face. A difficult task lies in creating well developed lessons which main consideration is the cognitive level each student has obtained thus far as opposed to the biological age. A lesson which encompasses on level activities is essential to each of the developmental stages Piaget has outlined for us. I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. (Revelation 2:18-20 KJV). When the teacher is ready the student will emerge.

PIAGET References Simatwa, E. Mw (2010, July). Piagets Theory of Intellectual Development and Its Implication for Instructional Management at Pre-Secondary School Level. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://www.academicjournals.org/err/PDF/Pdf%202010/July/Simatwa.pdf The Bible, King James Version. (n.d.). Urlesque (2012). Urlesque: Exposing Bits of the Web. Retrieved January 21, 2012, from http://www.urlesque.com/2008/07/18/why-does-the-new-yorkers-cartoon-lounge-wantto-play-with-blo/

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