Influence of Piaget on Instruction and Curriculum Development - Essay Example

How Jean Piagets work has influenced instruction and curriculum development? According to Jean Piaget, development is an organized process that takesplace in stages. Development is influenced by a combination of the drive for equilibrium and the quality of physical and sociological experiences. Using their intelligence, developing children develop their opinions about and understanding of the world by organizing their experiences into schemes. While the compatible experiences are integrated into the present schemes, incongruent experiences impart the need for the schemes to be accommodated for the reestablishment of equilibrium. During their development, children pass through several stages each of which is characterized by different ways of perceiving the world. For example, during the sensorimotor stage, children develop coordination between eyes and hands. Growth of symbolic thought happens during the preoperational stage. The increased use of language serves as the evidence for that. In the concrete operational stage, children start performing such basic operations as serial ordering and classification of the concrete objects. The final stage of formal operations is characterized by students’ ability to reason hypothetically, think abstractly, and reflect on their own thought processes. Computer simulation modeling is an effective way of providing the learners with rich experience of systematic data analysis and control of variables. The work of Jean Piaget has influenced instruction and curriculum as is evident in terms of the emphasis on language experience, manipulatives, discovery-oriented instruction, and hands-on activities. Jean Piaget believed that there should be a variety of activities in a constructivist classroom to help the students accept individual differences, discover new ideas, enhance their motivation for learning, and develop their own knowledge. Learning is enhanced by CD-ROMs, video disks, and simulation software whereas the context for interaction and dialogue in the classroom is provided by the Internet and e-mail for the social construction of knowledge. In the classroom, students are exposed to a variety of forums, ideas, and cultures. They can work on collaborative projects. Concrete learning experiences including model building, field trips, drawing, and drama which make use of hands-on opportunities to touch, see, hear, smell, and taste are very important in the elementary Piagetian classroom. These early activities together with the use of visual aids and tangible manipulatives are the building blocks for different kinds of sophisticated tasks and learning experiences including reading comprehension. The research and theory of Jean Piaget is called as developmental constructivism. Developmental constructivism holds that the acquisition of operations and concepts in children takes place by construction from inside rather than by the process of internalization. Piaget asserted that the skills of good mathematical reasoning can be inculcated in every normal student provided that the instructors direct the students’ attention to activities that they find interest in, and when this method of instruction removes the emotional inhibitions that lend a sense of inferiority to the students in the lessons of mathematics. Mathematical ideas can be represented for students by a variety of forms. Three-dimensional physical objects are considered particularly useful. Using concrete materials can inculcate sound sense of mathematics in children if the materials are incorporated in the instruction in ways that help the students connect with the existing networks. Manipulatives play an important role in the construction of meaningful ideas in the students. Jean Piaget held the opinion that children experience specific periods of intellectual and cognitive development. He believed that children cannot reach the concrete operational stage until they get seven years of age (thelearningweb.net, n.d.). This imparts the need to avoid incorporating curriculum directed at inculcating specific skills of reading and writing in the children in class until the children have reached the concrete operational stage. Following this point of view, many schools start focusing at the reading and writing skill development in children when children reach the concrete operational stage. Jean Piaget’s theory states that social interaction during the concrete period is among those variables which play a role in cognitive development. Social interactions include any behavior including playing games and communicating with each other, that involve interaction between the subjects. This description of social interaction implies that the functionally communicative form of language is social interaction. Social studies have focused on social interactions throughout the history of human societies. The constructionist approach is recommendable for use in the classroom while teaching social studies to the students. Students with academic problems can be broadly classified into two categories; the last minute learner and the social butterfly. The last minute learner students are risk takers and challenge other students inappropriately. On the other hand, the organizational skills of social butterflies are very poor. They are generally overemotional and tend to overreact in normal situations. When asked to correct their behavior or complete a task, students’ response to the authority from their teachers is poor which sets the stage for confrontation between the students and the teachers. Both last minute learners and the social butterflies can be helped with the use of a constructivist approach during the social interactions with students in group projects that require collaborative effort (Sternberg & Swerling, 1999). To conclude, Jean Piaget had a very sound perspective on the developmental patterns and stages of children and the cognitive and learning abilities characterized by each of these stages. His philosophy can be followed to decide the content of curriculum for students of all ages in general and those in the early years of their education in particular. Whether it is hands-on science, use of manipulatives in math, inculcation of the reading and writing skills in children depending upon their age, and use of project methods in the social studies, Piagetian philosophy offers guidance in all matters. The theories of Piaget have had a big influence both on the educational theory and practice. His theories placed emphasis on the concept of developmentally appropriate education whose curriculum is decided taking a host of variables into consideration including environment and cognitive abilities of the students. Several major approaches to instruction and curriculum have been based fundamentally on the Piagetian theory and his theory has played a big role in the constructivist learning models. References: Sternberg, J. R., and Swerling-Spear, L. (1999). Perspectives on Learning Disabilities: Biological, Cognitive, Contextual. Colorado: Westview Press. thelearningweb.net. (n.d.). Jean Piaget: Is it time to reevaluate his theories? Retrieved from http://www.thelearningweb.net/jean-piaget.html. Read More