Piaget's theory of cognitive development explains how children's thinking changes as they grow from infants to adults. It outlines four main stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. During each stage, children gain new cognitive abilities as their experiences help them form more complex mental schemas and maintain equilibrium between what they understand and what they experience. Key concepts in Piaget's theory include assimilation, accommodation, schemas, disequilibrium, and conservation. Understanding Piaget's stages and concepts can help teachers support students' cognitive growth.

1. Piaget
 Piaget’s theory covers how our thinking
develops as we move from being a baby
to being an adult. Because it covers the
development of thinking, it is called a
theory of “cognitive development.”

2. Piaget
 Understanding Piaget’s theory is very important.
 Concepts to focus on: Equilibrium and related
concepts (adaptation, accommodation,
assimilation, schemas), Stages of
development (sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational, formal operational),
aspects of cognition (reversibility, decentering,
egocentrism, conserving), Applications to
classroom.
“Piaget” is pronounced /pee-ah-ZHAY/

3. Schema
 A schema is our understanding of a
concept—the network of knowledge and
understanding in our minds we have
related to an idea.
 Sometimes our schemas can be applied to
new situations and sometimes our
schemas are not sufficient for a new
situation.

4. Piaget’s theory explains how our schemas change as we have learning experiences.
Schema
fur
4 legs
A baby’s
schema
about cats
tail 2 ears
2 eyes

5. Equilibrium
A state of cognitive balance between IN OTHER WORDS: The
individuals’ understanding of the understanding you have explains
world and their experiences. the experience you are having.
Schemas and equilibrium:
A person is experiencing
equilibrium when his or Example of disequilibrium: When Galileo
her theory (or scheme) of looked at the sky with his new telescope,
something explains past what he observed was different from what he
experiences successfully understood. He understood the sun to
and predicts new events revolve around the earth. He observed that
successfully. the movement of the stars did not support
this idea. He had to figure out a new
understanding to support his observations.

6. Equilibrium
 We all try to maintain equilibrium—it gives
us a sense of being able to cope with the
world.
 When an experience does not match our
understanding, we experience distress in
our disequilibrium. This distress drives us
to ADAPT—either we adapt our
understanding (accommodation) or we
adapt our experiences (assimilation).
Adaptation: the process of adjusting schemes and experiences to each other to
maintain equilibrium.

7. Schemes are mental patterns, operations, and systems. The process of forming and
using schemes in an effort to understand how the world works is organization.
Schemes and organization
2 ears
Child says:
A child’s scheme about “dog”: Child sees:
Doggie!!!
2 ears tail
fur
doggie
tail
1. furry 2. 3.
Moment of disequilibrium: Adaptation: accommodation
scheme does not work! 2 ears tail
2 ears tail
That’s not a doggie,
doggie
that’s a kitty. Kitty kitty
says meow, doggie
says bow wow
furry bow wow
furry meow
4.
5. New scheme

8. Developing and Maintaining
Equilibrium
Scheme: mental patterns, operations, and systems—our understanding of the real world
Interaction leads to disequilibrium and adaptation: assimilation and accommodation
Experiences in the “real world”
Scheme Experience Disequilibrium Accommodation
The child’s
A two year old This two year The parent definition of dog
child believes old sees a cat says, “no, changes: a dog
that dogs are and says, that’s not a has 4 legs, is
four legged “Look at the doggie, that’s furry, and does
animals with fur doggie!” a cat. not say
“meow.”

9. Accommodation vs. Assimilation
Experience Accommodation—a form of Assimilation—a form of adaptation
adaptation in which an existing in which an experience in the
scheme is modified and a new environment is incorporated into
one is created in response to an existing scheme
experience
Identify animals Kitties and doggies are different Characteristics of kitty apply to other
animals even though both are furry members of cat family (lion, tiger)
Drive car Driving stick shift is different from I can drive a semi tractor because it
driving automatic. I have to learn has a clutch and gear shift, just like my
to use the clutch and gear shift. old Toyota car
Cook You can’t make a cake in a If I know how to cook one type of
microwave pasta, I can apply that knowledge to
other types
Play music Brass instruments—you have to Once you know one brass instrument,
learn how the harmonic overtone you can play the others using the same
series works in order to play a horn knowledge

10. Accommodation vs. Assimilation
 Accommodation—you have to LEARN (or change
your thinking) in order to ACCOMMODATE a new
situation. A hotel provides accommodations—
they CHANGE the sheets & other aspects of the
room for each set of new guests.
 Assimilation—you can ASSIMILATE a new
experience into your world by applying old
knowledge. When you go into a new school or
job, you try to ASSIMILATE to a degree so you
fit in—you try to become “old news” and not
something new and different.

11. Factors influencing development
 Experiences with the physical world. For
example, after many experiences with concrete
manipulatives, students can engage with
abstract mathematical concepts.
 Social experience—the process of interacting—
usually verbally—with others. In the slide on
schemes, it was a verbal interaction between the
mother and the child that helped the child to
develop a new scheme for domestic animals.

12. Piaget’s Stages of Development
 Sensorimotor—a child at this age is learning how
to deal with his or her body (senses and motor
skills, or the ability to move the body)
 Preoperational—the child is not able YET to
perform certain mental operations.
 Concrete Operational—the child is able to
perform operations about things he or she can
sense and handle (things that are concrete
rather than abstract)
 Formal Operational—the person can handle all
adult forms of thinking and reasoning.
If you understand what the words mean, it will help you to remember the stages.

13. Visual learners: try to associate the pictures with the stage so you can remember the age.
Sensorimotor Stage
 0-2 years
 Children develop an understanding the
world using their senses and physical
abilities (motor capacities).
 Early in this stage, children do not have a
sense of object permanence, that when
something disappears it might still exist.
Peek-a-boo is a game that gives children the experiences they need in order to
develop object permanence. Older children are bored by this game because they
already have a sense that objects that are not visible still exist. But children in the
sensorimotor stage are learning this and are therefore fascinated by the game.

14. Semiotic function: the ability to use symbols—language, pictures, signs, or
gestures—to represent actions or objects mentally. Pre-operational children
are able to use symbols to represent things that are not present, a major
accomplishment.
Preoperational Stage
 2-7 years
 Egocentrism—can only
deal with own perspective
 Centration—focuses on
single aspect of
something
 Lacks transformation,
reversability, and The point of this is that children this age are
systematic reasoning. not capable of doing certain types of thinking.
Children fundamentally think differently from
 Cannot conserve adults.

15. A special note on egocentrism
You mean the
world doesn’t
revolve around me?
Ego: Latin for “I”
Centrism: “center”
Everything is centered around me. This is how children think—and no wonder, since
this is their experience as babies. As we grow up, we have to learn that other people
exist and their needs are just as legitimate as ours.

16. Characteristics of pre-operational thinking
 Egocentrism—the inability to interpret an event from someone else’s point
of view.
 Centration (centering)—the tendency to focus on the most perceptually
obvious aspect of an object or event to the exclusion of all others. A tall
thin glass holds more liquid in it than a wide tumbler because of the height.
 Transformation—the ability to mentally trace the process of changing from
one state to another. Shell games play on this ability (or inability).
 Reversability—the ability to mentally trace a line of reasoning back to its
beginning.
 Systematic reasoning—the process of using logical thought to reach a
conclusion. This process is not fully available to thinkers until formal
operations.
 Semiotic function—the ability to work with symbols (a major
accomplishment of pre-operational thinkers)
 Collective monologue—children of this age will talk about what they are
doing without really being involved in a conversation with others.
The last three depend on being able to hold a thought about something that is different
from immediate concrete experience. Remember, little kids fundamentally think
differently from older people.

17. Conservation
Pour the same
amount of water into
two differently-
shaped glasses. A
child who cannot
conserve will think
that the one on the
right has more water
in it because it is
taller.
Conservation: the idea that the “amount” of some substance stays the same
regardless of its shape or the number of pieces into which it is divided.

18. Concrete Operational Stage
 7-11 years
 Can think logically about
concrete objects
 Can transform, reverse,
and use systematic
reasoning as long as the
objects about which they
are thinking are present.
When I was in second grade, I got in trouble for counting on my fingers (I promptly
developed a way of counting on my fingers which wasn’t so obvious to the teacher).
Math teachers today recognize that second graders need concrete objects
(manipulables) in order to learn the operations of mathematics.

19. Characteristics of thinking that
develop during concrete operations
 Seriation: the ability to order objects according
to increasing or decreasing length, weight, or
volume
 Classification: the process of grouping objects
on the basis of a common characteristic
 Identity: if nothing is added or taken away, a
material stays the same
 Compensation: a change in one direction can
be compensated for through a change in
another direction.
 Decentering: can focus on more than one
aspect at a time.

20. Formal Operational Stage
 11-Adult
 Can think abstractly
(does not need to have
concrete objects
available).
 Can think systematically
and hypothetically
(what if…).
Remember that thinking abstractly depends not just on cognitive maturation but also on
having a certain amount of concrete experience. Older students and adults may need to
work concretely on something new before moving into the abstract.

21. Adolescent egocentrism
 The assumption that everyone else shares
one’s thoughts, feelings, and concerns.
 Adolescents often have the feeling that
everyone is watching what they are doing.
This contributes to their strong feelings
when they make a mistake (e.g., wearing
the wrong clothes).

22. Comparing concrete and
formal operational thinking
Flavell’s Formal Operational Concrete Operational
characteristics of Thinker Thinker
formal thought
Abstract thinking Can describe the meaning of Tends to view ideas concretely
abstract ideas, such as “make hay and literally, such as concluding
while the sun shines” to conclude “you need to harvest hay during
something such as “take an the daylight hours.”
opportunity when it’s given.” Can
deal with metaphors.
Systematic Systematically examines the Randomly chooses variables and
possible influence of multiple tries them out, often changing
strategies factors in a given situation (science more than one.
experiment, for instance).
Hypothetical and Can consider hypothetical questions Cannot consider hypothetical
and reason from there. questions. Tends to get
deductive thinking confused by them.
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning: a formal-operations problem-solving strategy in
which an individual begins by identifying all the factors that might affect a problem and
then deduces and systematically evaluates specific solutions.

23. Neo-Piagetian theories
 Uses information processing theory
(attention, memory, and strategy use) in
conjunction with Piaget’s ideas about how
children think and construct knowledge.

24. Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
 Children develop aspects of conservation at
different ages—understanding that a line of
blocks spread out doesn’t change the number of
blocks occurs before understanding that a ball of
clay doesn’t change when it is flattened out.
 Development isn’t sudden as a stage theory
might suggest—there are subtle changes that
happen gradually in a child’s thinking.

25. Limitations of Piaget’s theory
 Piaget may have underestimated what young
children can do.
 Very young children can keep track of three or
four items and may be able to conserve when a
small number of things are used.
 Piaget’s theory does not explain how some
youngsters are able to think abstractly (such as
children who are expert chess players).

26. Limitations of Piaget’s theory
 The theory does not account for the effect
of culture on cognition.
 Western people go through something like
Piaget’s stages because our schools and
culture demand this type of thinking. But
this kind of thinking may not be
characteristic of mature people in other
cultures.

27. Relationship of Development and
Learning
Development Piaget Learning
Piaget: development precedes learning. Development is creating the
schemes through adaptation and accommodation while learning is
creating the associations within the schemes..

28. Implications for teachers: Piaget
 We need to understand and build on
student thinking.
 Students need opportunities to construct
their knowledge—to try things out for
themselves.
 “Play is children’s work” (Montessori).
Play helps children to develop their
cognitive abilities.

29. Vocabulary
Assimilation Disequilibrium Reversability
Centration Egocentrism Schemes
Formal
Semiotic
Classification operational
function
stage
Cognitive Sensori-
Equilibrium
development motor stage
Concrete
Neo-Piagetian
operational Seriation
theories
stage
Object Systematic
Accommodation Conservation
permanence reasoning
Over-
Adaptation Compensation generalization
Transformation
Adolescent Preoperational Under-
Decentering
egocentrism stage generalization