Introduction

Jean Piagets cognitive theory of Development is truly a classic in the field of educational psychology. This theory fueled other researches and theories of development and learning. Its focus is on how individuals construct knowledge.

Basic Cognitive Concepts 1.Schema-Piaget used the term schema to refer to the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an individuals way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience. -building blocks of knowledge. 2.Assimilation-the process fitting a new experience into an existing or previously created cognitive structure or schema.

3.Accommodation-the process of creating a new schema. 4.Equilibration-Piaget believed that people have the natural need to understand how the world works and to find order, structure, and predictability in their life. It is achieving proper balance between assimilation and accommodation. Cognitive Disequilibrium-when our experiences do not match our schemata or cognitive structures.

 Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development Stage1. Sensori-motor Stage.(birth-infancy) The stage when a child who is initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and activity. The term sensori-motor focuses on the prominence of the senses and muscle movement through which the infant comes to learn about himself and the world. Object permanence-the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when out of sights.

Stage2. Pre-operational Stage.(2-7 yrs. old) Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature. At this stage, child can now make mental representations and is able to pretend, the child is now ever closer to the use of symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following: Symbolic Function-the ability to represent objects and events. A symbol is thing that represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or a spoken word comes to be understood as representing a real object.

 Egocentrism-the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. The child cannot take the perspective of others. Centration-the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a thing or event and exclude other aspects. Reversibility-the inability to reverse their thinking. Animism-the tendency of the children to attribute human like traits or characteristics to inanimate objects.

 Transductive reasoning-this refers to the preoperational childs type of reasoning that is neither inductive nor deductive. Stage3. Concrete-Operational Stage. (8-11 yrs. old) This stage is characterized by the ability of the child to think logically but only in terms of concrete objects.
This is marked by the ff: Decentering-the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects and situations.

 Reversibility-the child can now follow that certain operations can be done in reverse. Conservation-the ability to know that certain properties of objects like numbers, mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a change in appearance. Seriation-the ability to order or arrange things in a series based on one dimension such as weight, volume or size.

Stage4. Formal Operational Stage (12-15 yrs. old) Thinking becomes more logical. They can now solve abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is characterized by the ff: Hypothetical Reasoning-the ability to come up with different hypothesis about a problem and to gather and weigh data in order to make a final decision or judgment. Analytical reasoning-the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance and then use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar situation or problem.

 Deductive Reasoning-the ability to think logically by applying a general rule to a particular instance or situation. EVALUATION: From Piagets findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the ff. principles: 1.Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive devt. 2.Cognitive devt is facilitated by providing activities or situations that engage learners and require adaptation(i.e., assimilation and accommodation).

3.Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities. 4.Use teaching methods that actively involve students and present challenges.