While Piaget’s cognitive theory consists of four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational) that children go through as they grow, McCrink and Wynn proposed a different theory of cognitive development. They developed a deeper theory suggesting that children are able to understand object permanence at an earlier age, 5-6 months, because they are able to track objects, or at least a very small limited amount at a time (McCrink & Wynn, 2004). This is because infants can remember and file objects in memory of the few objects that exist before them. In addition to object permanence, they can also discern when objects are added or subtracted before them not because
It will then briefly describe Piaget’s theory by providing an overview of the four stages of cognitive development which include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational, before presenting two of the most common criticisms of his theory. Finally the essay will conclude with a brief summary of the points discussed. Prior to the development of his theory, Piaget worked for Albert Binet, a psychologist who was working to test the intelligence of both adults and children. During this time Piaget’s role was to conduct tests on children. His interest in children’s cognitive processes developed when he started to notice that children of similar ages made the same kinds of mistakes on test questions.
By two years old, children begin testing and exploring this idea. Three year olds understand visual perception and the concept of hiding objects. By the time a child is four, they understand that people can have incorrect thoughts about the world. In opposition to the traditional understanding that babies and young children learn and think differently than adults, Gopnik suggests that babies and young children use the same learning methods as scientists. They “observe, formulate theories, make predictions, and do experiments” (Gopnik, 237) to learn about people, objects, and their surroundings.
His central idea is that children are not little adults. According to Piaget, development involves the continuous alteration and re-organisation of the ways in which each person deals with their environment. For example, a pre-school child, a school aged child and an adolescent don’t all see the world or interact in the same way.
Children learn by trying out new experiences and making choices. But they do not have the skills and judgement always to make safe choices. Carers have the responsibility to I identify potential hazards in any situation and to judge when it is safe to allow a child to undertake an activity or make choice. Some children needs their freedom to explore risk even more then others. For example a disabled child may be restricted in play at home because of parental concern that the child could hurt themselves.
Behaviour therefore whether positive or negative becomes a means of expressing either displeasure or approval from the one displaying it as a means of communicating. Examples of behaviours may include; • Hitting/Lashing out • Aggression • Polite and warm nature • Withdrawn or self-seclusion • Frustration 1.2 Children go through various stages of development and the ability to express themselves and understand others give young people the foundation to control their emotions hence behaviour as they develop self-control. Speech, Language and Communicational Needs can therefore affect a young Person in various ways namely; 1. Inability to talk; speech impairment: - children will miss out on vital play time and interact with peer. In ability to ask for things from parents, resulting in snatching, clinging to things even when there are supposed to give them back 2.
Jean Piaget best described the stages from birth to two years in what he called the sensorimotor stage. It is a stage based on infants and toddlers cognitive development. An infant uses his or her senses and motor abilities to understand the world, beginning with reflexes and ending with complex combinations of sensorimotor skills (Boeree, G.C. (2009). During the first four months of life, according to Piaget, infants interact with the world through primary circular reactions.
PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNATIVE DEVELOPMENT Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development is broken down into four stages: 1. SENSORIMOTOR PERIOD: this takes place the first two years of life. During this period infants spend m much of their time learning to coordinate sensory experiences with motor activities. According to Piaget around 8 months old they begin to develop object permanence, the realization that object continue to exist even though they can no longer be seen. 2.
If something doesn’t fit within an existing schema then the concept would be placed into it’s own separate schema. The first stage in a child’s development according his theory was the sensorimotor stage which takes place from approximately zero to two years of age. The sensorimotor stage is characterized by the concept of object permanence. In simpler terms object permanence refers to a child’s ability to understand that an object continues to exist even when it is out of there range of sight. Piaget believed the second stage of learning was the preoperational stage, which occurred from approximately two to seven years of age.
Piaget’s second stage was called the pre-operational stage. This stage was longer, lasting from age two to six or seven. Children in this stage understand language but not logic. Egocentrism is the key event of this stage. During this stage, children are unable to take another’s point of view or understand that symbols can represent other objects.