Jean Piaget

Cognitive Processes-
1) Schema- Concept or framework or structure/ things that we know.
2) Assimilation- Learn something new but does not contradict what we already know.
3) Accommodation- New information does not fit in with the old information. Challenges our assumptions.


Jean Piaget was aFrench-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosipher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology".


Piagets stages:

Sensorimotor- Interacts with the world through senses and movement
Preoperational- Beginning of symbolic thinking, intuition to make predictions. Child goes there egocentrism (she thinks that the way she is experiencing something is the way everyone experiences it) Has not yet obtained conservation and does not think rationally.
Concrete Operational- Operational thinking, can think logically but not purely through his mind.Seriation-Ability to take physical objects and arrange them in a serious (longest to shortest). Transitivity- Logicall thinking (rational thinking).
Formal Operational- Hypothetical deductive reasoning (problem solving skill.


Knowing these steps that Piaget has examined it is possible to observe a child at each different stage. At the sensorimotor stage, you would see a child who crawls, puts things in their mouths and uses their senses to examine the world around them. At the pre operational stage you would see a toddler who is starting to understand the world around them but is still learning many things. They would not display the cognitive skill of conservation.During the concrete operational stage, the child will start to think rationally and will us the conservation skill and be able to learn skills using materials such as sticks,cups, etc... During the formal operational skill the child will start to use deductive reasoning and will be able to count with out using objects or fingers.