COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT
By,
Nur Izzatie Umayrah
Nur Hayatie
Tong Shih Lian

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

JEAN PIAGET
Our thinking process change radically
from birth until maturity
Individual always try to make sense
of the world & adapt to the changes
in their surroundings

Four interacting factors that may influence

individuals thinking process

Maturation
Thinking process influenced by genetic factors

Individuals interaction with surroundings

Ability to act on the environment and learn from it.
(explore,test,observe & organize info)

Social experiences
-interacting with people around us

Equilibration
- Cognitive balance between individuals understanding of
the world and their new experiences

Equilibrium

According to Piaget, every individual

needs to understand how things in
their surroundings work.
We humans have an innate need to
understand certain situation and find
ways to solve problems, and will be
uncomfortable if confronted with
unpredictable situations- which lead
indivuals to seek answers or balance.

- Every time an individual gains new

experiences, he will arrange these
experiences in their mind to form a
system called SCHEMES.

-Schemes will be used when one is

confronted with situations or problems
that need to be solved.

STAGES IN COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT

Sensorimotor Stage
(Birth to age 2)

During this stage, the child

begins to develop:

Senses (seeing, hearing,

moving, touching)

Hand-eye coordination
(grasping objects and putting
it in their mouth)

Object Permanence
(represents the objects in
memory and knowing that
something exists, even
though it cant be seen)

Preoperational Stage
Age 2-7
During this stage, the child
begins to develop:
-Ability to represent objects
with images and words
-Language skills
-Imagination
Children learn through
imitation and play during this
stage. They begin to use
reasoning, however it is
mainly intuitive, instead of
logical.

Stage 3
7 11 years old

Concrete
Operational Stage

At this stage, children are able to :

think logically about concrete objects
Understand the process of
transformation, reversibility &
reasoning
According to Piaget, children at this
stage are able to solve problems
relating to conservation.

*Understanding of conservation (physical quantities

do not change based on the arrangement and/or
appearance of the object)*

IMPLICATIONS OF PIAGETS
COGNITIVE THEORY in
teaching and learning
process

IMPLICATIONS OF PIAGETS
COGNITIVE THEORY

1. Constructivist
approach
-Children learn best
when they are active and

2. Give opportunity to do
hands-on practice
-Allow students to learn
by doing

3. Promote students
intellectual health
-Consider childs level of
thinking
4. Use concrete materials
- 3D model
- stones

5. Provide wide range of knowledge

and experience
- Turn the classroom
into a setting of
exploration and discovery

6. Instruction should be short,

using words and actions then
followed with examples

Do 2 SIMPLE ACTIONS.

i. Identitywhen nothing is added or

taken away, object remains the
same.
ii. Compensation changes in one
direction can be compensated for y a
change in another direction
iii. ytilibisreveR Children can mentally

At this stage, children should be able to master 3 basic aspects of reasoning in conservation:

cancel out the change that has been made

The FIRST step in the experiment is

to show the child 2 cups with equal
amount of water.

Then, water from B is poured into C

which is smaller & thinner. Water
level increased in C, when compared
to water level in A.

Children at this stage would be able to conclude

amount of water in A & C is the same
because
i. nothing is added or taken away (Identity)
ii. the C glass is different in shape that results in
the increase of water level (Compensation)
iii. when the water in C is poured back to B it
will give the same water level as in A
(Reversibility)

2 MORE important operations

mastered in this stage
1. Classification
Abilities to focus on single characteristic of
objects in a set, & group objects according to the
particular characteristics .
Advanced classification children realize objects
in certain group can fit into another.
2. Seriation
Process of arranging in series according to
ascending & descending order. This
understanding of sequential relationship permits
children to do logical series as in A B C

Abilities to handle conservation,

classification and seriation shows
that children have developed a
complete & logical thinking.
Children at this concrete operational
level are not yet able to do
hypothesis & solve abstract
questions/problems that involve
the coordination of many factors at
once.

Stage 4
11 years old and above

Formal Operational
Stage

During this stage, the child begins to

develop:
Ability to hypothesize, test & reevaluate
hypotheses.
Ability to examine abstract problems
systematically & generalize the results.
Children begin thinking in a formal
systematic way

Characteristics of formal thinking:

i. Thinking abstractly
ii. Thinking systematically
iii. Thinking hypothetically

Thinking abstractly

Children are able to think abstractly

when solving math problems that
involve abstract form.
Example:
4x + x = 10. What is x?

Thinking systematically

They can also think systematically to

generate different possibilities for a
given situation.
For example:
If you only pack three T-shirts, three
blouses & three pants, how many
possible combination can you get?

Thinking hypothetically

They can make hypotheses &

consider alternatives, identify all
possible combination to solve
problems. They also can reason
inductively & deductively.
For example:
What will happen to heavily polluted
countries in the next ten years.

Egocentrism

Egocentrism in adolescence
different from egocentric in
preoperational stage.
Egocentrism (adolescence) will
cause them to be VERY focused only
on their own ideas and thinking,
Thus making them difficult to accept
others views & opinions. They are
likely to believe everybody is
observing their act & behaviour