Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
During the 1920s, a biologist named Jean Piaget proposed a theory of
cognitive development of children. He caused a new revolution in thinking
about how thinking develops. In 1984, Piaget observed that children
understand concepts and reason differently at different stages. Piaget
stated children's cognitive strategies which are used to solve problems,
reflect an interaction BETWEEN THE CHILD'S CURRENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE AND
experience in the world.
Research on cognitive development has provided science educators with
constructive information regarding student capacities for meeting science
curricular goals. Students which demonstrate concrete operational
thinking on Piagetian tasks seem to function only at that level and not at
the formal operational level in science. Students which give evidence of
formal operational thinking on Piagetian tasks often function at the
concrete operational level in science, thus leading researchers to
conclude that the majority of adolescents function at the concrete
operational level on their understanding of science subject matter. In a
study by the National Foundation of subjects in Piaget's Balance Task were
rated as being operational with respect to proportional thought
development. In addition, seventy-one percent of subjects did not achieve
complete understanding of the material studied in a laboratory unit
related to chemical solubility. The unit delt with primary ratios and
proportions, and when overall physical science achievement was considered,
about forty-three percent of the formal operational studies were not able
to give simple examples of the problem that were correctly solved on the
paper and pencil exam (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958, p. 104).
Piaget was primarily concerned with the developmental factors that
characterize the changes in the child's explanations of the world around
him or her. Piaget's early research showed
three parallel lines of development. First, from an initial adualism or
confusion of result of the
subject's own activity with objective changes to reality to a
differentiation between subject and object. Second, from a
phenomenological interpretation of the world to one which is based on
objective causality. Third, from a unconscious focusing on one's own
point of view to a decentration which allocates the subject a place in the
world alongside other persons and objects. In functional terms, these
concepts are termed assimilation and accommodation in reference to
interaction with the physical world, and socialization in reference to
interaction with other people (Inhelder & Sinclair, 1974, p.22).
Piaget's states many secondary level science courses taught in the past at
the have been too abstract for most students since they are taught in
lecture or reception learning format. Thus, students who only have
concrete operational structures available for their reasoning will not be
successful with these types of curricula. Programs using concrete and
self-pacing instruction are better suited to the majority of students and
the only stumbling block may be teachers who cannot understand the
programs