Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development in the Classroom
Practical Applications of his Theory
Introduction to Piaget
Introduction to Piaget's Theory
1. Use concrete props and visual aids whenever possible.
2. Make instructions relatively short, using actions as well as words.
3. Do not expect the students to consistently see the world from someone else’s point of view.
4. Be sensitive to the possibility that students may have different meanings for the same word or different words for the same meaning. Students may also expect everyone to understand words they have invented.
5. Give children a great deal of hands-on practice with the skills that serve as building blocks for more complex skills like reading comprehension.
6. Provide a wide range of experiences in order to build a foundation for concept learning and language.
- Piaget was a clinical psychologist known for work in child development.
- Born August 9, 1896 in Neuchatel, Switzerland and died September 16, 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland
- Education: University of Neuchatel and Univeristy of Zurich.
- He studied natural sciences and got his Ph.D.
- In 1923, he married Valentine Chatenay and had 3 children.
- Piaget studied his own children (intellectual development from infancy to language).
- He did his first experimental studies of the growing mind (in France).
- Piaget developed an interest for psychoanalysis (in Zurich).
- He has published many papers!
- Piaget has an interest for mollusks (developed in late adolescence). Well known malacologist by fishing school.
- Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental devleopment.
- The four stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational model.
- His theory touches on both how children acquire knowledge and understanding the nature of intelligence.
- He believed that children took an active role in the learning process and that they were acting much like "little scientists" when they perform experiments, make observations and gain more knowledge about the world.
- Children adjust their ideas according based on what they experience in their environment and comparing it to what they already know.
Suggestions for Teachers
Closing
Technology in the Classroom
1. Operating a Store
2. Writing a Newspaper
3. Building a Village
- Piaget is known all over the world, inspiring fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics, and law.
- He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary degrees all over the world.
- Older technology, such as overhead projectors, typewriters, radios, and chalkboards help present information in a new way.
- Technology must promote experimentation, such as computers having endless options on creating and presenting information.
- Visual Aids = timelines, graphs, models.
- Hands - On Learning is crucial to progression from concrete to abstract thinking and helps foster meaningful learning experiences.
- Keep up to date with new technology that will and can be used in the classroom. Use new technology to keep students interested and have a variety in the classroom.
References
- https//mcmetec5303.wikispaces.com/my+stance+on+educational+techonology+by+Jean+Piaget
- piaget.org
- http://www.funderstanding.com/educators/jean-piaget-cognitive-development-in-the-classroom/
- classroom.synonym.com/classroom-piagets-theory-cognitive-development-809426.html
- Psychology Applied to Teaching by Snowman - Textbook