Module 6: Piaget's Stages of Cognitive

Development
 Jean Piaget
Swiss psychologist, biologist, logician,
philosopher and academic (1896-1980)
Jean William Fritz Piaget was a Swiss
psychologist known for his work on
child development. Piaget's theory of
cognitive development and
epistemological view are together
called "genetic epistemology".
 Born: August 9, 1896, 
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
 Died: September 16, 1980, 
Geneva, Switzerland
 Children: Lucienne Piaget, Jacqueline
Piaget, Laurent Piaget
 Parents: Arthur Piaget
 Education: University of Neuchâtel
“The principle goal of education is to
create men who are capable of doing
new things, not simply of repeating what
other generations have done – men who
are creative, inventive and discoverers”

- Jean Piagets
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a
classic in the field of educational psychology. This
theory fueled other researches and theories of
development and learning. Its focus is on how individual
construct knowledge.
Basic Cognitive Concepts:
 Schema
 Assimilation
 Accommodation
 Equilibration
 Cognitive Disequilibrium
 Schema
 Refersto the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually
adapt to and organize their environment.

Ca
t
 Assimilation
This is the process of fitting a new experience or
previously created cognitive structure or schema

Saw this four-legged

animal for the first time.
Child will call this a dog

Existing Schema: His Dog

four-legged pet is a dog.
 Accomodation
 This is the process a new schema.
Existing Schema: His four-legged pet is a dog.

Someone points out that this is a cat, though it

has four legs.

Realizes that all four-legged animals are not

dogs.
 Equilibrium
 Theprocess by which people balance assimilation and
accommodation to create stable understandings achieving
proper balance between assimilation and accommodation.
The child
Child calls this
called new
four legged
animal a
Child call her animal “CAT”
“DOGGY”
four-legged pet and the
“DOGGY” mommy
told her it is
a CAT.
 Disequilibrium
 A discrepancy between what is perceived and what is understood.

Accommodation Occurred:
Accommodating: Dog: The
chils
Child is
in to s retu
disequil >Four equ tate of ns
r
ibrium il
He/She sche ibrium.
is active
construc ly legs ma A
t in g cats about
meaning >Ears b
forw een
. ard
>Tail
Dog:
>Barks
>Four
>Furry
legs
Cat: >Licks Cat:
>Ears
>Tail >Four >Four
>Barks legs legs
>Furry >Ears >Ears
>Licks >Tail >Tail
>Barks >Meows
>Furry >Furry
>Licks >Licks
>Clims
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that intelligence changes
as children grow. A child's cognitive development is not just about acquiring
knowledge, the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world.
Cognitive development occurs through the interaction of innate capacities and
environmental events, and children pass through a series of stages.
Piaget's theory of cognitive development proposes 4 stages of development.

Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

Pre-operational stage: 2 to 7 years
Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years
Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up
 FORMAL OPERATIONAL

4 STAGES
STAGE

DEVELOPMENT
SENSORI STAGE PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE
MOTOR STAGE

CONCRETE-
OPERATIONAL STAGE
Stage 1: SENSORI-MOTOR STAGE: The sensori-motor stage typically takes place within the first two years
of a child's life. It is marked by the child discovering the difference between themselves and their environment. At
that point, they will use their senses to learn things about both themselves and their environment.
Stage 2: PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE The pre-operational stage is the second stage in Piaget's theory of
cognitive development. This stage begins around age two and lasts until approximately age seven. During this
period, children are thinking at a symbolic level but are not yet using cognitive operations. This stage is highlighted
by the following:
 Symbolic Function – this is the ability to represent objects and event. A symbol is a thing that represents

something else. A drawing, a written, or a spoken word comes to be understood as representing a real object.
 Egocentrism – This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone also his point of
view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view.
 Centration - This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a thing or event and exclude other
aspects.
 Irreversibility - Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their thinking. They can understand that 2+3 is 5
but cannot understand that 5-2 is 2.
 Animism – This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or characteristics to inanimate objects.
 Transductive reasoning – This refer to the pre-operational child’s type of reasoning that is neither inductive nor deductive.
Stage 3: Concrete-Operational Stage. This stage is characterized by the
ability of the child to think logically but only in terms of concrete objects.
This covers approximately the ages between 8-11 years or the elementary
school years. this stages marked by the following: Decentering,
Reversibility,Conservation & Seriation.
Decentering - This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of
objects and situations. No longer is the child focused or limited to one aspect or dimension.
This allows the child to be more logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations.
Reversibility – During stage of concrete operations, the child can follow that certain
operation can be done in reverse.
Conservation – This is the ability to know that certain properties of objects like number,
mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a chance in appearance. Because of the
development of a child’s ability of decentering and also reversibility,
Seriation – This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a searies based on one
dimension such as weight, volume or size.