Piaget (1936) has a theory about
cognitive development which
explains how a child constructs a
mental model of the world. He
disagreed with the idea that
intelligence was a fixed trait,
and regarded cognitive development
as a process which occurs due to
biological maturation and
interaction with the environment.
Before the work of Piaget, the
accepted belief was that children
were simply less competent
thinkers than adults, but he
showed that there were many
differences between the age groups
that had not previously been
identified.
There are three basic components
to Piagets research, which have
now been adopted by many
cognitivists:
- Schemas (building blocks of
knowledge based on past
experience)
- Adaptation processes that enable
the transition from one stage to
another (these include the
COGNIVIST
(PIAGET)
DIFFERENT APPROACH:
The approach by Lev Vygotsky is
cognitive in nature yet falls
into a different category from
Piagets theory. He says that
there is no correlation between
cognitive and linguistic
development.
Piagets developmental theory
was different from many others
that were around at the time due
to a number of different
reasons: -
- His theory is concerned with
children, rather than all
learners.
- It focuses on development,
rather than learning
throughout our life, so it
does not address learning of
information or specific
behaviours (such as mental
illness.)
- He proposed that there were
stages of development that
were discreet and marked by
cognitive differences rather
than just a gradual
development that carries on at
the same rate throughout the
childs life.
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORY:
For Piaget, the acquisition of
language takes place through
emotional and internal
processes. He linked it to the
cognitive development of a