Theory of Child Learning - Essay Example

«Theory of Child Learning» Introduction Jean Piaget, a famous biologist who initially worked on molluscs, studied the intellectual development of children by observing them through the exercises he presented them with. His theories pertaining to intellectual development of children have rampant implications in education of children and several education systems have adopted the principles set by Piaget into teaching and education of children. Piaget's theory explains "how children's mind works" (Atherton, 2010). According to him, "the role of maturation (simply growing up) in children's increasing capacity to understand their world: they cannot undertake certain tasks until they are psychologically mature enough to do so" (Atherton, 2010). This is infact the basis of curriculum scheduling in schools today. Piaget opined that the thinking of children is not a smooth process and that certain take-off points trigger the movement into new capabilities and psychological areas of understanding. These are the transition points and some transition points during the intellectual development of the child are 18 months, age 7 and age 11-12 years (Atherton, 2010). Piaget proposed that before these transition ages, children, even those who are bright and intelligent, cannot understand certain things, regardless of however you explain to them. Piaget presented his explanations about the intellectual development of a child through four stages of cognitive development. His ideas are presented through 3 components which he used to explain the process of child development (Genetic Epistemology, n.d.). In this essay, the role of Piaget development theories in shaping the understanding of learning of children will be discussed. Basic components to Piaget's theory Piaget theory is made up of 3 components: Schemas, Transition processes and stages of cognitive development (Ginn, 2005). According to Piaget, schema is is the first building block in the process of learning and intelligent behaviour. It is one of the ways of organizing knowledge. Piaget proposed that, schemas are very important for cognitive development and represent a set of different mental representations that are linked together. These are stored in the brain for future use (Atherton, 2010). The main transition processes in intellectual development are assimilation, accomodation and equilibrium. Using an already existing schema to a new situation is known as assimilation. Changing the schema in order to take new information is known as accomodation. Balanced interpretation of assimilation and accomodation is known as equilibrium (Atherton, 2010). According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, between 0-2 years. In this stage, the infant is capable of rapid cognitive growth. Through initial reflexes and perceptual abilities, the infant build up the knowledge around her. This stage is characterized by extreme egocentrism wherein the infant thinks of only herself and not about others. Learning in this stage is mainly through trial and error. Characteristic feature of this stage is object permanence which means that the infant knows that the object still exists, even though it is hidden (Ginn, 2005). The next stage is the preoperational stage which occurs between 2- 7 years. Characteristic feature in this stage is egocentrism. Children in this stage engage in various symbolic plays and have the capacity to represent objects and events mentally (Ginn, 2005). In the third stage or the stage of concrete operations, which lasts between 7-11 years of age, new shaping towards cognitive development of the child occurs. This stage is the beginning of logical thought. The child is mature enough to understand logic and rules. He can also apply them on objects. The child in this stage is less egocentric and converses and interacts with other people. Conservation of liquid and number is the most important aspect of this stage (Ginn, 2005). The last stage is the formal operational stage which occurs beyond 11 years of age. This stage coincides with adolescence. The adolescent begins to think in an abstract manner and is able to classify and combine items in a more sophisticated manner. the child is able to manipulate ideas, do mathematical calculations, reason through abstract, think creatively and imagine the possible outcomes of any action. the characteristic feature of this stage is scientific thinking or abstract thinking (Ginn, 2005). Critical analysis and evaluation of Piaget's theory The main strengths of Piaget's theory are that the ideas have has severe impact on developmental psychology and have changed the education system of children. Discovery learning is one of the useful tools which is used in curricula these days. The weaknesses are that many experts often question the reality of the stages. Some others have also questioned the age ranges of the various stages of development. Piaget failed to mention the impact of society and culture on learning. His observations have been biased and many a times he underestimated the abilities of young children. Schema concept is actually incompatible with Vygotsky and Brunner theories (Shaw, n.d.). How Piaget theory differs from other child learning theories Piaget theory differs from several other child intellectual development theories in several ways. First of all, the theory mainly concentrates on the learning process of children rather than all learners. Actually, it focuses on development rather than simple learning. Hence it obviously does not address the process of learning specific behaviours or information. The theory mainly concentrates on stages of development which have definite qualitative differences engulfed within various concepts, ideas and behaviours. The main goal of Piaget's theory is "to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses." (Genetic Epistemology., n.d.). Impact of Piaget's theory on understanding child learning Piaget's theory has influenced the educational system. Piaget opined that maturation has an important role in enhancing the capacity of a child to understand the world. Thus, until and unless the child is psychologically mature enough, he cannot do certain tasks. The thinking of a child does not develop in a smooth manner. Instead there are certain points, which Piaget called as "takes off" from when the child moves in new areas of capabilities. Current education system is based on these transition periods. Children less than 18 months are taught different tasks, those from 2 years to 7 years are subjected to another type of tasks and similarly 8- 11 years have similar tasks. Thus less than 3 years is considered as preschool, 3-7 years as primary school, 8-11 years as middle school and beyond that high school. Because children cannot learn things that they are not psychologically mature enough to do, only tasks appropriate for their age are given to the children in schools. Educators must plan a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate and enhances the conceptual and logical growth of children. Most American schools use lectures, audio-visual presentations, demonstrations, programed instruction and teaching machines for teaching students and in a curricula inspired by Piaget theories, there is no role for such teaching strategies. Piaget has espoused the concept of active learning through discovery learning environments. Piaget's theory has influenced the understanding of language of the child and individual social relation. Piaget revolutionized the study of language and though of children (Dahl, 2007). He believed that learning is a constructive process. He considered individual as a primary learning body. He categorized children's speech into two groups: socialized and egocentric. The difference between the groups is in their function. While socialized speech involves exchange of words with other people and attempt to socialization, egocentric speech mainly involves taking about oneself only, with no interest in other people (Dahl, 2007). Piaget opined the speech of a preschool child is mainly egocentric, which gradually atrophies as the child approaches school age and then the speech gradually becomes socialized. Piaget also opined on though. he considered thought to be a gradual socialization aspect which involved deep intimate, autistic, personal and mental states (Dahl, 2007). Through the understanding of language and though, Piaget aimed to teach children. Piaget felt that teaching is a doubleness process because on one side there is an individual who is rising and on the other side, the educator tries to convey various intellectual, social and moral values. Thus, Piaget opined that children must be taught not through ready-made reasons and strict rules and regulations, but through encouraging them to capture through their own force, personal experiences and self-regulation. This strategy of teaching moral, social and intellectual values has been employed by most schools where students are taught these values through personal experiences and self-inferences than by merely making rules and punishing children which are very frustrating. Piaget considered child as the source of learning. He opined that children mainly learn through continuous interaction with environment and and various personal experiences with it (Dahl, 2007). Piaget stressed that man has an innate capability to learn and that children must be allowed to learn by themselves and such a learning is appropriate and lost lasting. Piaget's theory has influenced teacher instruction. While teaching students, teachers must understand and emphasize the fact hat various personal experience of the child and also interactions with environment are critical in the learning of a student. One simple example with this regard is the taking into account of the instructors about the role of fundamental concepts in establishing cognitive structures. Thus, teachers have to design exercises and tasks which enhance the interaction of the students with the environment and they learn from their experiences. Building of cognitive structures can be enhanced by teaching students using visual aids like mental maps and responding to physical experiences of the student with the environment. According to Piaget, the cognitive structures of the child develop and become sophisticated as they grow and interact more and more with the environment. Thus transition from reflexive innate crying to complex mental activities occurs and this is the basis for teaching students in schools (Atherton, 2010). Piaget respected creativity of children. He believed that children were inherently creative and that their perceptions were limited because they were lacking in experiences. He condemned condescending teaching mechanism and opined that such a teaching strategy would damage the curiosity of the child which is natural to the child, thus abandoning their natural desire to solve problems and suppress various creative ideas and solutions to solve their problems. Piaget did not consider memorization as a learning process. He actually emphasized on the fact that true learning occurs when the child understands the association between things and ideas through creation of a mental model of his or her own, thus giving scope for the child to assimilate new information accurately and at the same time make suitable predictions and useful conclusions. He opined that in order to construct knowledge, the child must act on the objects on his own. This is because, knowledge cannot be transmitted verbally, but it can be constructed and reconstructed by the same learner through various levels of interaction with the objects. According to Piaget, “To understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition" (Livingston, 2010). Ideas of Piaget influence how parents can help their children learn. While Piaget considered children to be innate learners, he also gave credit to parents as the primary supporters of learning in their children. Piaget stressed on the fact that parents must model behaviours that they desire in their children. For example, if a parent wants their child to develop the habit of reading news paper everyday, he must model that behaviour rather than strictly impose that rule on the child. Children learn through observing their parents. Those who have learning disabilities or those who are isolated or abused severely develop through the stages of intellectual growth slowly. Other factors which influence the learning process of the child are television, computers and both parents going outside for work. Piaget opines that listening to children is an important aspect of learning and that along with positive guidance enhances learning. Piaget was one of the proponents of active learning and he insisted on creation of learning environments that supported the intellectual development through accommodation and also assimilation. Thus, Piaget suggested helping of child learning through giving them various opportunities to learn and also by encouraging them to explore, manipulate, question and experiment, in other words, by helping them find answers themselves. Piaget strongly refuted the idea of pushing facts and data into memorization for children, much before they are capable of understanding (Ginn, 2005) Piaget theory has several implications for instructional technology. Students can make use of multimedia for learning and also can use it to communicate their understanding of the topic with their peer. Through some authoring tool, they can create what they learn. Infact, several education systems have employed peer teaching through projects. Such strategies make students become active participants. In constructivist learning, students must be allowed and encouraged to be creative, predictive, classify and analyse their assignments. They must be encouraged to inquire, communicate and critically think. Behavior towards students, strategies for instructions, teaching activities and teaching content must be mainly based on the response from students. Communication between teachers and students and between students must encouraged. Follow-up questions must be put and elaboration of the answers must be sought to gain information about the depth of understanding by the students. Constructivism may be defined as "active construction of new knowledge based on a learner’s prior experience" (Koohang et al, 2009). Thus, learning through previous experiences is a very important component of constructivism. According to Woolfolk (1993), "the key idea is that students actively construct their own knowledge: the mind of the student mediates input from the outside world to determine what the student will learn. Learning is active mental work, not passive reception of teaching." Hence plain presentations, without discussions must not be employed in the teaching sessions. According to Honebein (1996; cited in Koohang et al, 1996), the goals of teaching in constructivism is to provide the students experience with the construction process knowledge, to provide the students with experience in various multiple perspectives and to provide appreciation for the same, to encourage students voice in learning process and to encourage ownership, to embed "learning in social experience" and to "embed learning in realistic and relevant context", to encourage students to use various modes of representation and finally to "encourage self-awareness in the knowledge construction process." In constructivist teaching, teachers must provide the students with various learning situations, skills, environments and the tasks and content must be realistic and authentic, and must relate to and simulate "real world" as much as possible. Thus, construction of knowledge must be aimed at and not just reproduction. Such a construction of knowledge takes place only in individual contexts after collaboration, experience and social negotiation. Conclusion 1. Piaget's theories and concepts have influenced the understanding of child learning. 2. They have influenced the educational system where discovery learning is emphasised. 3. They have made changes in curriculum and children are taught only those things which are appropriate for their psychological maturity. 4. Piaget's ideas have influenced how teachers and parents help their children learn. 5. They have also impacted instructional technology. References Atherton, J. S. (2010) Learning and Teaching; Piaget's developmental theory [On-line] UK:. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm Dahl, B. (2007). A synthesis of different psychological learning theories? Piaget and Vygotsky. Norwegian Center for Mathematics Education. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://people.exeter.ac.uk/PErnest/pome17/pdf/bdahl.pdf Ginn, W. Y. (2005). Jean Piaget - Intellectual Development. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html Genetic Epistemology. (n.d.). J. Piaget. TIP. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://tip.psychology.org/piaget.html Koohang, A., Riley, L., and Smith, T. (2009). E-Learning and Constructivism: From Theory to Application. Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects, 5, Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://ijklo.org/Volume5/IJELLOv5p091-109Koohang655.pdf Learning Theories. (n.d.). Piaget’s Theory of Learning. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://www.ic.polyu.edu.hk/oess/POSH/Student/Learn/Learning_theories.html Livingston, D. (2010). The Impact of Piaget's Learning Theory on Adult Education. Factoidz Bite-sized Knowledge. Retrieved on 12th November, 2010 from http://factoidz.com/the-impact-of-piagets-learning-theory-on-adult-education/ Woolfolk, A. E. (1993). Educational psychology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Read More