assimilation vs accommodation (ex: dogs)
-the way we think about a new experience- try to assimilate our experience into what we already know.
-accommodation- modify your schema to make the new experience fit
(usually in balance/equilibrium)
Principles of Piaget’s Theory
- child is a scientist
- children are naturally curious and create schemas
- believed all children pass through stages in the same order
Stage Theory (Piaget)
Cognitive development is how you process experiences. Combination of nature and nurture. Cognitive happens first, then learning is passive.
-Children need to rethink their world 3 times in their life, going from one stage to the next.
Organization and Scheme
Invariant function (doesn't change) -scheme- when children form theories. They organize both ideas and actions.
Adaptation (ex: seeing a cat after only knowing dogs)
what happens when the new experience does not “fit” the existing scheme.
Equilibration/Disequilibrium
drive to get back into balance/thrown off balance so they must recognize their schemes to get back into balance.
Sensorimotor
- birth to 2 years
- infants learn about the world through their senses
- use symbols (numbers, letters, shapes)
- Object permanence
Object Permanence
Before- “out of sight out of mind”
- understanding objects exist independently.
- initial recognition: 8-9 months
- full recognition: 18 months+
Preoperational
2-7 years
- use symbols with errors (act before they think)
- egocentrism- your favorite color is pink because my favorite color is pink
- animism- the sun is sad because the clouds are out
- centration- can not pick out both small and blue rectangles, only either or.
- confuse appearance with reality- boogyman
- magical thought- cardboard box can be anything
- irreversibility- unable to reverse operations
Animism
giving life-like qualities to inanimate objects (sun)
egoccentrism
children see the world only from their perspective and so does everyone else (pink)
Centration
unable to work out two parts of a problem, only one (rectangles)
Magical Thought
creative thinking (the box)
Irreversibility
UNABLE to reverse operations (can add, but cannot subtract to find answer)
Concrete Operational
7-11 years
- form more complex schemas using logical thinking and inductive reasoning
- operations CAN be reversed
- focus on real and concrete, NOT abstract
- inductive reasoning (drawing general conclusions from experience/knowledge)
Formal Operational
11 years-adulthood
- can think hypothetically
- can use deductive reasoning to draw conclusions from fact
- hierarchical classification- biggest to smallest vise-versa
- Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal
Hierarchical Classification
ability to put things in order
Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal
learning starts from the inside, out. Kids learn then show they know it.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Stage Theory
Strengths
-children are actively constructing a body of knowledge
-fascinating, often counterintuitive, discoveries
Weaknesses
-underestimates cognitive competence in infants and overestimates in adolescence.
-does not account for variability
-vague with the respect to processes
-undervalues influence of sociocultural forces
Sociocultural Perspective (Vygotsky)
- children are products of their culture
- intersubjectivity
- guided participation
- zone of proximal development
- scaffolding
- fading
- egocentric speech
- private speech
- inner speech
Intersubjectivity
“2 heads are better than 1”
paired/group learning. Kids don’t learn independently, someone must know more than them to learn.
Guided Participation
cognitive growth results from children’s involvement in structured activities with others who are more skilled than them.
Zone of Proximal Development
difference between what one can do alone or with assistance
Scaffolding
cognitive. A teaching style that matches assistance to learner’s needs. (Pairing someone of a lower level with someone of a higher level)
