COGNITIVE LEARNING

THEORIES
 Objectives:

Explain terms and concepts associated with

Piaget’s cognitive theory; and
Discuss the stages of cognitive development;
 JEAN PIAGET
• Swiss Psychologist, worked for several
decades on understanding children’s
cognitive development
• Most widely known theory of cognitive
development.
• Was intrigued by kids’ thoughts &
behavior, & worked to understand their
cognitive development https://filipinonurseadvocate.blogspot.com/2013/10/jean-
piagets-cognitive-development.html
 JEAN PIAGET
Young Piaget was incredibly precocious
• Published first paper at 10
• Wrote on mollusks, based on these
writings was asked to be curator of
mollusks at a museum in Geneva (he
declined in order to finish secondary
school)
• Earned his doctorate in natural sciences
at 21
• Began to study psychology, applying
https://thought-cafe.tumblr.com/post/121111540343/jean-piaget-1896-1980-declared-in-1934-that
intelligence tests to school children
 How learning occurs

Every time we teach children something, we

keep them from inventing it themselves. On
the other hand, that which we allow them to
discover for themselves will remain with them
visible for the rest of their lives.

- Jean Piaget

https://www.pngkit.com/bigpic/u2w7t4a9q8o0q8o0/
 COGNITION

• Derives its meaning from the word cognition

• “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge
and understanding through thought experience, and
the senses”
• Piaget argued that children’s cognitive development is
influenced by biological maturation and their
interaction with the environment. Children undergo a
similar order of stages or development.
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

To explain how cognitive

development happens, Piaget
introduced the concept of
schema, assimilation, and
accommodation”
 How learning occurs

“Schema is a mental structure to help

us understand how things work. It has
to do with how we organize
knowledge”

Viewed like the central processing

unit of a computer, schemata (plural
form) are like individual files
representing an aspect of the world
like objects, actions and concepts.
https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/filing-cabinet
 How learning occurs

Piaget used the term

adaptation to refer to
the ability to adjust a
piece of new
information or
experience, making it
possible for the
person to cope with
the change.
Adapted from McLeod (2018)
 How learning occurs

Assimilation is the process of using

or transforming the environment so
that it can be placed in preexisting
cognitive structures.
Accommodation is the process of
changing cognitive structures in
order to accept something from the
environment.
Cognitive Development

Believed that all children develop according to

four stages based on how they see the world.
He thought the age may vary some, but that we
all go through the stages in the same order
.

1. Sensorimotor (birth –2 years)

2. Preoperational (~2-7)
3. Concrete operational (~7-11)
4. Formal operations (~12-15)
 SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Birth to about 2 years

The child will:

• Explore the world through senses & motor

activity https://twitter.com/childlearning3

• Early on, baby can’t tell difference between

themselves & the environment
• If they can’t see something then it doesn’t exist
• Begin to understand cause & effect
• Can later follow something with their eyes
https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/thinking_clipart.html?sti=m2o3os9s15oxpf7r7w|
 PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

About 2 to about 7

• Develop basic numerical abilities

• Still pretty egocentric, but learning to be able to
delay gratification
• Can’t understand conservation of matter
• Has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality
(ex: cartoon characters are real people).
• Better speech communication
• Can imagine the future & reflect on the past
https://www.pngkit.com/bigpic/u2w7t4a9q8o0q8o0/
 PREOPERATIONAL STAGE

Conservation of matter – understanding that something doesn’t change even

though it looks different, shape is not related to quantity

Ex: Are ten coins set in a long line more than ten coins in a pile?
Ex: Is there less water if it is poured into a bigger container?

https://lovevery.com/community/blog/child-development/the-7-conservation-activities-that-can-help-your-child-with-math-and-more/
 Piaget’s
Pre-
Operational
Stage

Inability to understand
conservation of matter.
 CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE

From about 7 to about 11

• ability to generalize from

the concrete increases
• Understands conservation
of matter
https://pngtree.com/so/cartoon-child
FORMAL OPERATIONS

From about 12 to adulthood

• Be able to think about hypothetical

situations
• Form & test hypotheses
• Organize information
• Reason scientifically
 Cognitive Learning

Piaget’s Periods of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from https://mind42.com/public/5d97b7c2-8a81-44ad-884e-8c1000f5