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Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

Piaget: Creating a Blueprint of the Childs Mind

Amber Kalender
Fresno Pacific University

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

Introduction
Piaget is a key contributor to the field of early childhood education. His theories
regarding child development have laid the foundation for many early childhood education
centers as well as the way educators interact with children. His theory of child cognitive
development changed the way childrens learning and thinking were viewed. Piagets theory of
child cognitive development is based on three subgroups: Schemas, Adaptation, and Stages.
Ultimately Piagets work in the child development field provided children the opportunity to be
viewed as competent learners and should be treated as such.
Schemas
In Piagets cognitive theory the first component is schemas. Piaget defined schemas as, a
cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly
interconnected and governed by a core meaning (McLeod, S.A. 2015). When we think about
schemas we need to think about how information is organized in a childs brain. Piaget theorized
that this organization of information allows the child to understand the world around them. The
child will keep collecting knowledge and information and filing it away into the appropriate
schema until, When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive
around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium (McLeod, S.A. 2015). Schemas continue to
grow and develop with each experience a child is involved in. These schemas can develop from
basic levels of understanding into large and complex schemas as the child continues to build on
his or hers previous understandings. Though the schemas that develop of the course of a childs

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

life Piaget can vary in complexity Piaget stated that all infants are born with simple schemas
already in place at the time of birth such as the reflexes of sucking and grasping.
In order to promote the development of new and complex schemas there are many
enriching activities that caregivers and educators can provide to the children in their care.
Because schemas develop as an infant is exposed to different stimulants during this time sensory
play is crucial. Exposing infants to different textures will allow them to not only practice their
innate schemas such as grasping but also allow them to make new connections with each new
texture they encounter. Creating a sensory board with textures that are soft, fuzzy, coarse, bumpy,
and slimy is one example on many things that can enrich an infants cognitive development.
Adaptation
Adaptation is the process of intellectual growth of a child. Adaptation occurs in three
phases beginning with assimilation, followed by accommodation, and ending with equilibration.
Assimilation is when a child interacts with a new experience but uses a previously existing
scheme to understand the new experience. Accommodation occurs when the pre-existing schema
is no longer working for the child resulting with the inability of the child to understand a new
experience. When this occurs the schema must be changed to accommodate the new experience.
Finally equilibration is the result of the child successfully moving through the accommodation
process and this state of equilibration will stay until the child encounters a new experience that
does not fit into any schemas they possess already resulting in this process to occur time and
time again.
To promote adaptation in a young child caregivers can take the interests of the child and
build upon them to expand and create new meaningful schemas. As an example lets imagine that
a child has an interest in shaving cream as a sensory activity. Once the child has had ample time

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

to experience the shaving cream the caregiver could add new things to not only change the
experience but to build upon it as well. We can add toy cars to the shaving cream and let the
child drive the cars through it. To continue building the caregiver can introduce a spray bottle
and have the child spray the shaving cream off of the cars. Once the child has had time to master
that activity the caregiver could switch the shaving cream out for mud or paint. Simple changes
like these can enhance the childs knowledge of the world around them.
Stages of Development
In Piagets theory of child cognitive development the child will move through the four
stages of development. The four stages consist of sensorimotor stage which occurs from birth up
until the child is two years old. Then the child will enter preoperational stage and will stay that
stage until age seven. From seven years old to eleven years old the child will be in concrete
operational stage and then finally when the child reaches eleven years old they will enter formal
operational stage. (McLeod, S.A. 2015). For the purpose of this essay the first two stages:
sensorimotor stage and preoperational stage will be the focus.
Sensorimotor Stage
During the sensorimotor stage Piaget was able to break down the stage into six small sub
stages. (Lefmann, T, & Combs-Orme, T) Stage 1 took place from birth through the first month.
In this first stage we are able to see the infants first innate schemas such as sucking and
grasping. When the child reaches one month old he or she will enter the second stage lasting up
until the fourth month. The second stage focuses on primary circular reactions which means new
behaviors the infant has acquired from learning from experiences. From four months to eight
months the child is in stage three and is focusing on their capabilities to form secondary circular,
reactions which are, centered on creating a result in the external environment. Again, we see
how learning occurs through repetition; the infant is learning that he or she can take specific

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

actions that cause specific effects. (Lefmann, T, & Combs-Orme, T). The fourth sub-stage lasts
until the infant reaches twelve months, Piagets fourth sub-stage focuses on emergence of
practical intelligence: envisioning goals or desired ends and then employing existing schemes to
achieve the ends (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). In this sub-stage the infant can make connections
regarding cause and effect. The infant can determine what the goal is and can work towards
achieving that goal.
The last two sub-stages span over the second year of the childs life. From 12 months to
18 months the child is in the fifth stage, Key to this stage is the development of object relations,
meaning the way children conceive of themselves in relation to the objects of the world as well
as the way they see objects relationships to one another (Thomas, 1996). After 18 months the
child enters the last sub-stage up until their second birthday. In this last sub-stage the child can be
creative, use imagination, and begin to demonstrate the ability to control their behavior. Piaget
emphasized that by repeating this inventiveness across a wide range of objects and actions,
children construct new ways of dealing with objects and new knowledge about objects
themselves, thus forming reflective intelligence (Piaget, 1963).
When focusing on the age of the child in the sensorimotor state it could be determined
that the child if enrolled in school would be placed in an infant and toddler room. From personal
experience it is clear that Piagets research and theories on the stages of development are widely
used today. When planning a curriculum a caregiver or educator can look at the sub-stages of the
sensorimotor stage and find curriculum that is not only developmentally appropriate but also
enriching to the childs cognitive development.
Preoperational Stage

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

In Piagets child cognitive development theory a child reaches the preoperational stage at
two years and remains there until seven years old. This stage is characterized by the childs
ability to think in a symbolic way as well as the child being egocentric. This stage of life is is
broken down further by Piaget into two sub-groups, the preconceptual phase and the intuitive
phase.
The preconceptual phase begins around two years old and continues on through the
fourth year. This phase is characterized by, the child is egocentric and is unable to see things
from another person's point of view. (Lowenthal, B. 1975). The child at this age can only relate
things to their own experiences of the world. To test this concept Piaget developed the three
mountains task. In this task a child would be shown three mountains, if the child were egocentric
they would make the assumption that the other people would see the same mountains that they
do. However, according to Piaget at seven years old a child should be able to consider another
persons point of view and describe not what they themselves are seeing but what the other
person is seeing. (McLeod, S.A. 2015). At age seven the child enters the intuitive phase.
The intuitive phase spans the fourth through the seventh year of life for the child. In this
phase the preschooler begins to see simple relationships and classifications. He is "intuitive"
because even though he is capable of making classifications, he doesn't understand why or how.
(Lowenthal, B. 1975). During this phase it is key to ask the children open ended questions so that
they can make the connections about how or why something is a certain way.
When applying the preoperational stage to a pre-school setting many characteristic of the
children fit will with Piagets description of the cognitive abilities. The preconceptual phase
paints a picture of an egocentric child who cannot understand the points of views of others. In
this phase it could be typical of children demonstrating parallel play. Parallel play is where two

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

children are playing in the same area next to each other but they are playing separately and
independently. Children in the phase may also have a hard time grasping the concept that their
actions affect others. When looking at the social and emotional development of children this
would be a perfect time to step in and support positive peer interactions. If a child took away a
friends toy causing the friend to cry a caregiver could intervene and assist the children by asking
when he or she took you toy away how did that feel? Talks like this can help the children begin
to understand that their actions such as taking a toy away can affect their friends. When a child
enters the intuitive phase they can make connections but cant determine why or how something
occurred. If it is raining outside a caregiver may ask Why is it raining? and the child will have
they opportunity to think about the question and answer. An answer that my daughter gave me
during this stage of her life was Because the sun is sad and it crying. Creating a dialogue about
how things work and why events occur will support preschoolers through the preoperational
stage.
Conclusion
Jean Piaget observed and studied the way children learn beginning at birth. He discovered
that infants have innate schemas and from there move through the stages of cognitive
development and create new and more complex schemas to understand the world around them.
From Piagets work the educational field was benefited by his work. Piaget referred to children
as little scientists acknowledging that children need to participate in hands on learning in order
to make important discoveries about the world they live in. From Piaget the importance of
mastering an activity was validated as well. When children are developing schemas and are
working through the process of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration they need to
have time to work through new experiences and master them in order to reach equilibration.

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

Ultimately Piaget provided a blueprint to the inner functioning of a childs mind which as
educators not only allows us to understand our students but to also provide curriculum that will
best enhance their cognitive development.

McLeod, S. A. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html, &

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
Lefmann, T., & Combs-Orme, T. (2013). Early Brain Development for Social Work Practice:
Integrating Neuroscience with Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Journal Of

Running Head: A BLUEPRINT OF THE CHILDS MIND

Human Behavior In The Social Environment,23(5), 640-647.
doi:10.1080/10911359.2013.775936
Lowenthal, B. (1975). Piaget's Preoperational Stage of Development and Applications for
Special Preschoolers.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books
Piaget, J. (1963). The origins of
intelligence in children. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &
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Thomas, R. M. (1996). Comparing theories of child development. Pacific Grove,
CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company