Learning Theories (EDU201)

Assignment 1 (Fall 2015)

Q1: As a teacher of a school, how can you apply the Piagets stages of cognitive
development in your class?
Ans:
Piagets stages of cognitive development:
Piaget gives four stages of cognitive development. These stages are

The sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2

The preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7
The concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11
The formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence

Piaget recommended guiding the students and teachers play a very important role in guiding and
helping students. Piagets cognitive development stages can be assessed or applied in a class
room and as a teacher I will go step by step according to the stages to apply these stages on
students.
Sensorimotor stage:
It is the first stage applied on students. In this stage main focus is on Object Permanence.
Knowledge in this stage is acquired through sensory experiences. It is awareness that an object
exist even it does not. This stage can be applied in following way.
A toy is given to an infant. He plays with the toy but after some time if the toy is hidden from the
child he will lose interest and will not search for it. Same toy when given to an older infant, if the
toy is hidden than he will search for the lost toy because he has developed the awareness of
object permanence. Motor experiments are also performed by the child. As in the above case if
the toy is hidden than he will make some movements to search for the hidden toy.

The Pre operational Stage:

This stage is from 2 to 7 years. In this stage, child plays with logic and listens to others view
point. It refers to children who cannot take two things into consideration at the same time. Child
accepts a real word. This stage can be assessed by involving children in some pleasurable
activity. As a teacher, I will listen to the ideas and opinions.
For example, a child who sees a necklace wound up and then released explains that it was
moving because it wants to unwind. Another example to assess is to give them water in two
different but same size glasses one having large volume and other having large size. Through this
children can be assessed that whether they have learnt the logic or not.
In this stage, children imitate some object or activity. A child doing a specific action or repeating
some words can show that they are imitating. For example, if I see that a child in class had
temper tantrum then it can be assessed that he has seen some one in his house showing
aggression.
The Concrete Operational Stage:
This stage is from 7 to 11 years. In this stage, children begin to think more logically. Children
operate mentally on their environment. Child can concentrate on more than one aspect of a
situation. Children can classify objects and place them in order. Child understands that an object
retains certain properties. They are also able to understand the concepts of numbers.
This stage can be assessed by giving children two sets of balls with different numbers each and it
is told to the child to count which set has more number of balls.
Children also learn that they can reverse their actions. This can be assessed by giving children
some objects and ask to assemble the objects in a right way. Children will make mistakes but in
the end they will be able to assemble the objects correctly.
The Formal Operational Stage:
This stage is from 11 years and up. This is the final stage in Piagets theory. In this a group of
concrete operations is combined. Individual has the ability to use deductive reasoning.

Example:
Being a teacher, this stage can be assessed by asking students to discuss social issues. I will
encourage the students to explain How something is possible or true. I can also assess this stage
by giving two students a same topic and will ask them to write an essay. With the help of this
their logical reasoning can be understood.

Q2: How can a teacher use the operant conditioning in her class, share one example? You
can share an example from your own experience.
Ans:
Operant conditioning:
It is defined as a learning process in which a chance of any behavior is increased or decreased
through positive or negative reinforcement.
Example:
Operant conditioning has many techniques which can be used everywhere and in any scenario of
life. For example, a child is not taking interest in classroom. He doesnt learn his lesson and is
not interested in learning any task or lesson. He is slow and is not paying attention. In this case
Positive Reinforcement, a technique of operant conditioning can be used.
Positive Reinforcement is a technique that makes a behavior more likely to occur. In a class
when teacher sees that a student is not doing well and not taking interest then a teacher can use
this. Teacher can assign a particular lesson to each student and can say that she will give a small
prize to the student who will learn this lesson by heart. This increases interest of children and
they try to learn lesson. This reinforcement can be used time to time with proper intervals so that
children dont lose interest.

Those students who are not taking interest in lessons, teacher can organize a small interesting
activity in which participation of every student is required and teacher can say that those students
will be given extra 10 minutes break who will show good response in that activity.