Through his work in cognitive development in children, Jean Piaget draws clear distinctions between the problem of development in general in children and the problem of learning. According to Piaget, learning is "provoked by situations-provoked by psychological experimenter; or by a teacher, with respect to some didactic point; or by an external situation". Central to Piaget's thinking, is the notion of operation, which he describes as being the "interiorized action which modifies the object of knowledge" (Piaget, 1964). For Piaget, the ability to process and understand operations come in stages, and they are as follows:
Quiz: text your knowledge of Piaget's stages of development
Consider Piaget's four stages of development: Pre-operational, senorimotor, concrete operational, and formal operational. Do you remember the important characteristics of each stage? Complete the following question and use the answer key to check your work.
At what stage does the child demonstrate......
Answer key: Check your answers
At what stage does the child demonstrate......
- a basic understand of the alphabet and words but can't yet put them into logical order by herself?
- that she is only aware of what she can see in her immediate environment?
- the ability to deal with symbols to represent abstract concepts in fields such as math and science?
- that her thoughts and feelings are her own and may not be shared by others?
- egocentrism?
- concrete reasoning skills (but doesn't yet possess abstract thinking skills)?
- that she has reached an important milestone when she demonstrates a grasp of object permanence?
- an ability to think about abstract ideas?
Answer key: Check your answers
- Pre-operational stage
- Sensorimotor stage
- Formal operational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Pre-operational stage
- Concrete operational stage
- Sensorimotor stage
- Formal operational stage