Cognitive development theory called Piaget's theory of cognitive development
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| cognitive development theory and its application to newborn children until adulthood |
It is a comprehensive theory that deals with the growth and development of intelligence in humans, called the “developmental stage” theory.
The theory was created by the Swiss scientist Jean Piaget and focuses on how knowledge is acquired, built, and used gradually from birth to adulthood.
Piaget believed that the reason children commit mistakes at different ages is the quality of intelligence, not the quantity of intelligence in children Therefore, so Piaget proposed four stages of growth theory as follows:
1. The sensorimotor stage
2. The pre-operational stage
3. The concrete operations stage
4. The formal operations stage.
These stages have been classified based on age, at each stage, children’s cognitive skills develop in a specific way that differs from other stages.
1. Sensorimotor stage ( 0 - 2 years)
The sensorimotor stage is a stage that begins from birth until the beginning of knowledge of language and speech (approximately two years).
At this stage of life, children acquire cognitive skills by seeing, hearing, and touching things around them.
For example: When a child hears his mother speaking to him in a loud voice with an angry look, an image of this scene is built in his mind, so most children cry when they see the same scene in the future
Children at this stage also try to touch and take objects to identify them Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into sub-sections as follows:
| Sub-Stage | Age | Description |
|---|---|---|
Simple reflexes | Birth–6 weeks | During this early stage of the child, the child reacts to objects with reflexive behavior. The most common reflexive behaviors at this age are: 1. The child follows moving objects with his eyes. 2. The child closes his palm when objects touch the fist (palm). 3. Putting things in the mouth |
The first habit stage and initial circular reactions | 6 weeks–4 months | At this stage, the child begins to repeat some movements, such as the movement of his hand in front of his eyes. Reactions are reflexive and subjective, and children cannot become preoccupied with things |
The stage of secondary circular reactions | 4–8 months | At this stage, children are more engaged with interesting things and less self-absorbed |
Coordinating the stages of secondary circular reactions | 8–12 months | It is a stage concerned with the process of coordination between the plan and the goal, between the eye and the hand, and the means and goals. This is the stage that Piaget called the stage of “first correct intelligence” because of its importance to the child because It represents the child's planning to reach goals |
Triple circular feedback, novelty, and curiosity | 12–18 months | A journey of discovery for the child, in which the child searches for any new methods and experiences that he has not tried before. Piaget called this stage “the young child” because the children attempt to discover things around them and the curiosity to know them, just as young people do. |
Internationalization of charts | 18–24 months | Children begin to understand symbols and shapes and permanently embed them in their minds so Piaget called him " True creativity.” |
2. Preoperational stage
It is a stage that begins from the end of the child’s second year until the age of seven when he begins to learn to speak, pronounce, and play with things.
Piaget noted that children at this stage do not use their minds to deal with things, in other words, they cannot deal rationally with the information they obtain from the environment around them.
For example:
The game contains a box that resembles the shape of a restaurant, a circular piece of paper that resembles a plate of food, and plastic fruits.
Therefore, when a child plays with a toy eating from a restaurant, he does not think about his attachment, meaning he does not understand that the box represents a restaurant in reality that the paper represents an eating plate, and that plastic fruits are not real.
All the child's thinking is symbolic of things, so his whole goal is to touch and enjoy the toy. If you ask him about the box, "What is this thing?" his answer will be the toy box, not the food restaurant.
Therefore, the child’s thinking at this stage is selfish and he has difficulty seeing the point of view of others.
This stage is divided into two sub-stages: The stage of symbolic function, and the sub-stage of intuitive thought
1. Substage of symbolic function
Children can remember and visualize things in their minds without them being in front of them.
2. Stage of intuitive thinking
This is the stage in which children want to understand things around them, so these children often have questions such as: Why or how
For example:
The mother may ask her son to bring a glass of water. In this case, the child may ask his mother, “Why do you want water?” to gain more understanding, because the mother may ask for cold or hot water.
3. Concrete operational stage
This stage occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years, and it is a stage where the child’s thinking becomes more mature to the point that it resembles the thinking of adults.
Children can solve problems that are related to previous events, tangible objects, or extract content from events.
This is called deductive thinking, which is predicting the outcomes of events and is considered difficult for children
Example:
If the child is told that the letter “A” is greater than the letter “B” and the letter “B” is greater than the letter “C” Therefore, the child may not be able to conclude that the letter “A” is greater than the letter “C”.
At this stage, the child solves problems based on concrete events and things, not abstract or hypothetical concepts, because the child has not fully developed common sense.
4. Formal operational stage (11 – 15)
The formal operational stage is a stage between middle childhood and early adolescence.
At this stage, the child is capable of deductive and hypothetical thinking.
The child can infer or predict an outcome
For example:
If the child is told that the letter “A” is greater than the letter “B” and the letter “B” is greater than the letter “C.”
The child can predict that the letter “A” is greater than the letter “C”. At this stage, children calculate the possible consequences of their wrongdoings and actions.
Problem-solving for children at this stage is done systematically and in a logical manner that is close to the way adults think