PIAGETIA

N’S
THEORY
OF
Who is…
What is Cognition?
• The term cognition is derived
from the latin word "cognoscere"
which means "to know" or "to
recognize" or "to conceptualize".
• Cognition is "the mental
action or process of acquiring
knowledge and understanding
through thought, experience,
and the senses."
 What is Cognitive Development?
• Cognitive Development is the emergence of the
ability to think and understand.
• The acquisition of the ability to think, reason
and problem solve.
• It is the process by which people's thinking
changes across the life span.
• Piaget studied Cognitive Development by
observing children in particular, to examine how
their thought processes changed with age.
• It is the growing apprehension and adaptation
to the physical and social environment.
 How Cognitive Development occurs?
• Cognitive Development is gradual and orderly
changes by which mental process becomes more
complex and sophisticated.
• The essential development of cognition is the
establishment of new schemes.
• Assimilation and Accommodation are both the
processes of the ways of Cognitive Development.
• The equilibration is the symbol of a new stage of
the Cognitive Development.
Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory:

SCHEMA
Schemas are the basic building blocks of such
cognitive models, and enable us to form a
mental representation of the world. Piaget (1952,
p. 7) defined a schema as:
"a cohesive, repeatable action sequence
possessing component actions that are
tightly interconnected and governed by
a core meaning."
Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004)
viewed intellectual growth as a process
of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This
happens through:
Assimilation and Accommodation
Adaptation processes that enable
the transition from one stage to
another.
Assimilation
– Which is using an existing
schema to deal with a new object
or situation.
Accommodation
– This happens when the existing
schema (knowledge) does not
work, and needs to be changed to
deal with a new object or situation.
Equilibration
• Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at
a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.

• Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most

new information through assimilation. As a child progresses
through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to
maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge
( assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new
knowledge (accommodation). Equilibrium helps explain how
children are able to move from one stage of thought to the next.
Piaget's 4 Stages
of Cognitive
Development