Piaget (Theorist ) - Research Paper Example

The paper attempts to apply his theories in connection with my life and work with children. As a child, Piaget became interested in natural sciences. His observations on a rare species of albino sparrow (with pale and light skin) culminated into a paper that was published in hundreds of articles and books at the tender age of 11 years. Piaget received honorary awards from Oxford and Harvard and made numerous appearances in conferences related to childhood development and learning. Jean Piaget died at the age of 84 leaving behind countless works of publications on the theory and study of knowledge.

Piaget’s Theory on Cognitive Development describes 4 major stages of development in a child (Knigga). Stages and their fundamental characteristics in a Child’s learning and brain development: Stage Characteristics Sensorimotor Stage (Birth – 2yrs)   A baby can demonstrate intelligent behavior before he/she is used to any kind of language. This stage is characterized by reflexes to a certain stimuli. Pre-Operational Stage (2yrs -7 yrs) This stage is characterized by logical thought processes.

’Animism’ is a characteristic feature of this particular stage. Concrete Operational Stage (7yrs -11 yrs) In the beginning of this stage, children’s ideas about different objects are formed by dominated effects of objects. Formal Operational Phase (11yrs -16yrs) This is the stage of child’s developing intelligence, initiating from the stage of adolescence. This stage is characterized by hypothetic reasoning and logical deduction. (Knigga) One of the traditional ways of establishing the theories of learning as enumerated by Piaget into our own lives is that it highlights the ways in which logical reasoning and skills change with development.

The commonly studied applications in relation to a child’s development of skills or achievements (like achieving good grades in science or mathematics) can also be adjudged to the proficiency of gaining logical reasoning skills. Another relevant aspect of the Piagetian theory is its constructiveness. When this theory is applied to social prejudices, the child’s social stereotype is unlikely to arise automatically out of those adults who are held close to the child in a specific environment.

Therefore, the theory has the capacity to substantiate the constructive processes to strengthen the existing beliefs, even when counter-stereotypic information is encountered (Kail, 51-52). Piaget’s theory on ‘constructivism’ focuses on ‘how learning actually occurs’ in the growing years of a child and takes away the focus from the teachers (regarded only a facilitators or mediators) in the process of imparting education to a child. Exploring the various possibilities of the vast sphere of learning by children in the early stages of development is the crucial point of discussion in Piaget’s model of ‘Contructivism’.

In most of Piaget’s work after 1940, the process of development of knowledge in a child was the prime focus of his investigation. i.e. the problem of development of knowledge. Social factors always played a pivotal role in shaping the child’s psychological build-up. Piaget always referred to social factors when he mentioned the social process of cognitive, imaginative, effective social and moral development. Piaget’s (1932/1965) extended description of socio-moral development was manifested as a movement from anomy (i.e., non-regulated by others or the self) to heteronomy (i.e.,