Theory of Cognitive Development - Book Report/Review Example

Child Development and Childhood Summarize Piaget's stage theory of cognition in a referenced table. Choose one of his concepts that has been revisited by Donaldson or Hughes. Explain the differences in the findings and show the implications they have for the classroom practitioner. Introduction Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development suggests a movement to an orderly and predictable series of steps during the development of our thinking (Baron, et al. 1995). He concluded that children's thought processes advances into more complex thinking through maturity in physical aspects and interaction with the world around us. Gruber and Voneche (1977) described this ongoing process as adaptation where mental representations or schemes are created and when exposed to the world, people try to adapt and accommodate past mental representations to include in their current experiences. Piaget had described children's intellectual development from infancy to adulthood into four simultaneous and age-dependent stages: 1) sensori-motor, 2) preoperational, 3) concrete operational and 4) formal operational (Van Wagner 2008). This research shows a comparison and contrast of Donaldson's and Hughes' studies in relation to Piaget's stages to guide the practitioner in dealing effectively with children's minds. Piaget's Stage Theory of Cognition STAGES AGE OF CHILD IMPORTANT FEATURES 1 Sensorimotor 0-2 years Object permanence, Symbolic thought 2 Preoperational 2-7 years Make-believe play, centration, irreversibility, egocentrism, and animism 3 Concrete Operational 7-11 years Reversibility, decentration, decrease in egocentrism 4 Formal Operational 11- adulthood Abstract thought, hypothetico-deductive reasoning, propositional reasoning Piaget (1983, p.196) has discovered that the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development is about learning to represent the world internally. It also in this stage that symbolic thought, the ability to represent objects in terms of mental symbol, and object permanence, the knowledge that objects still exist though not visible are acquired through motor activities and sensory impressions (Baron et al. 1995). The preoperational stage is called the growth of symbolic activity when children improve in symbolic thought without the inability to reason but still incapable of conversion, measuring physical features of objects similarly though the objects appear different. In the concrete operational period, children have already mastered conversion, started engaging in logical thought by working with mental operations and examining tangible and actual problems and ideas in their minds, achieving reversibility or the ability to reverse the original action so that physical changes can be undone, and decentration, the ability to consider different ways of looking at a problem. The final stage of cognitive development or the stage of formal operations is where children are capable of thinking not only logically but abstractly-developing a hyphotetico-deductive reasoning where all possible factors in solving a problem are tested trough an examination of existing and new evidence. Children also use propositional reasoning where logical validity of verbal statements is assessed whether referring to possible events or real events in the world. Recent researches have argued with Jean Piaget's theory of cognition. Piaget's theories had greatly underestimated children's capabilities. In a study conducted by Donaldson (1978), two different viewpoints are raised: Jean Piaget's and Martin Hughes'. An argument is raised concerning Piaget's idea that babies achieve object permanence much sooner than Piaget said they can do. Also, children sometimes simultaneously develop skills that are characteristic of more than one stage, which makes the idea of stages less viable. Piaget also ignored cultural influences for cultures leaned to go in the same order in Piaget's stages of development when the timing and length of stages vary from culture to culture. Concerning the stage of formal reasoning, some people never develop this capacity, even as adults. Both of Piaget's and Hughes' theories of the concept of egocentrism, or the thinking that does not take the viewpoints of others into account were compared (Feldman 2004). Piaget used his mountain task to study more about egocentrism while Hughes used his policeman task. In Piaget's task, a three-dimensional model of an imaginary scene with three mountains was presented to a child where the child will look at the scene from one angle (e.g. position A) and a little doll is placed at a different location. The child was shown different pictures of the mountains on different positions (e.g. position B, C, D) and was asked to identify which picture the little doll sees. The results of his research showed that four-year old children choose the picture that was similar to their own outlook of the scene which clearly illustrates egocentrism. In Hughes' task, there were two walls crossed together, two policemen dolls, and a boy doll. First, Hughes placed the boy doll in different angles (e.g. position A, B, C, D) and on each angle, asked the child if the policeman doll could see the boy there. Second, Hughes placed the policeman doll on the opposite side of the wall that divides A and C, and asked the child to hide the boy doll so that the policeman doll could not see. Most of the time, the results were positive and very few mistakes were made. Next, the lesson proper involved the two policemen dolls which instructed the child to hide the boy doll in a position that the two policemen dolls could not see. Dramatically, 90% of the children were successful which meant that children could avoid egocentrism even at the age of 3 and 5. Many studies (Donaldson 1978) have argued about Piaget's mountain task for it does not make much sense to children as it was not valuable to their experience. Piaget concluded that children are unable to decenter in imagination while Hughes' believed the opposite. Hughes' argued that children who manifest egocentric responses to the mountains do not completely understand what they are supposed to do. He stated that the child understand the policeman task more and made a simplified study of the mountain task and found out that being careful of introducing the problem to preschool children helps in getting a lot greater of correct responses. Moreover, children appeared to grasp the situation that makes sense to them at once. Hughes noted that the points and motives of other people are understandable for a child of three, without conveying to the child what is supposed to be done. Donaldson (1978) believed in Hughes' argument and claimed that are sophisticated adults are the egocentric ones instead of the children. But he also noted that all people are naturally egocentric in most situations and will thoroughly decenter in others. Therefore, he believed that Piaget was mistaken that children had difficulty in decentration at this age. The arguments rose by Donaldson or Hughes' against Piaget's are beneficial for the classroom practitioner for they provide a detailed portrait of preschoolers' cognitive abilities (Donaldson 1978). It also showed the advances in cognitive ability that occurs during the preschool years (Feldman 2004). Donaldson (1978) asserted that Piaget's experiments could be done if only the tasks are clearly explained to children where the adult is to understand the child, placing his or her self at the child's point of view. It is the job of the class and teachers to remove egocentrism and promote communication within them. Children are able to see things in the abstract and adults should assist self-awareness within the children and make things sensible for them. Also, in a study made by Driscoll (1994), it was noted that as an educator, it is difficult to determine the exact stage where his or her students are because not all children can jump to the two latter stages of development that fast. There might be a time where children may go back and forth the stages. Thus, the educator should question his or her self of how they will attempt to design their instruction in order to help students get to stages of development (Corry 1994). Conclusion In conclusion, Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasized much on children's limitations and underestimated their capabilities (Donaldson (1978). Some of the characteristics introduced by Piaget in one stage can also be developed in another stage. Also, the important concept of culture is disregarded by Piaget, where skills or cultural influences for a time and the length of stages vary from culture to culture. Some people do not really develop the desired characteristics for some stages, especially the acquisition of object permanence of a preschool children and propositional reasoning of a well-adjusted adolescent (Atkinson, n. d.). Despite the problems raised regarding Piaget's cognitive development on children, I admire his stages for they provided specified cognitive abilities that are expected of each stage though not exactly accurate. However, Piaget focused on preschoolers' deficiencies in thinking and observing children's lack of logical thought which I totally disagree with. As young as preschool children, they are not so limited with their ability and their inability to control egocentrism. Piaget seemed to have missed out that infant and young children are more competent than the idea he has proposed. But maybe Piaget will be more understood if given with the light of recent evidence and arguments concerning children using and understanding language. As for the educator, I think the best thing to do is provide a ground where the child can learn and grow because according to Brainerd (1978, p.289), "the children's minds, if planted in fertile soil, will grow quite naturally on their own." References Atkinson, R., n. d. Adolescence. University of Southern Maine: Portland, ME. Available from: http://usm.maine.edu/atkinson/adolescence.htm [Accessed 5 December 2008]. Baron, R., Earhard, B., & Ozier, M., 1995. Psychology. 1st Canadian ed. Scarborough, ON: Allyn & Bacon. Brainerd, C.J., 1978. Piaget's theory of intelligence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Corry, M., 1996. Jean Piaget's Genetic Epistemology. George Washington University: Washington, D. C. Available from: http://home.gwu.edu/mcorry/corry2.htm [Accessed 5 December 2008]. Donaldson, M., 1978. Children's minds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Driscoll, M. P., 1994. Psychology of learning for instruction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Feldman, R. S., 2004. Childhood Development. 3rd ed.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Gruber, H.E. and Voneche, J.J., 1977. The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books. Piaget, J., 1983. Piaget's theory. In: Mussen, P. (ed.). Handbook of Child Psychology. New York: Wiley, vol. 1 Van Wagner, K., 21 April 2008. Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development. Kendra's Psychology Blog. Available from: http://psychology.about.com/b/2008/04/21/key- concepts-in-cognitive-development.htm [Accessed 5 December 2008]. Read More