Jean Piaget

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Jean Piaget
1860 - 1980
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Quick Facts

• Born In Switzerland
• 1918 Doctorate in Science
• Worked in psychiatric clinics
• Began teaching philosophy and psychology
• Became interested in the nature of thought

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Piagets Theory

• Genetic Epistemology the study of the
  development of knowledge
• Schemas
• Assimilation
• Accommodation
• Adaptation
• Equilibrium

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Genetic Epistemology continued

• Schemas simple skills that direct the way an
  infant explores the environment
• Assimilation assimilating a new object into an
  old schema
• Accommodation accommodating an old schema to a
  new object

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• Assimilation and accommodation are the two sides
  of adaptation
• Assimilation and accommodation work like a
  pendulum swing
• Ideal balance is called equilibrium

• Assimilation can be dominant
• Accommodation can be dominant
• Periods of relative equilibrium
• Leads to Piagets stages of cognitive development

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Sensori-Motor Stage

• This stage spans from birth to age 2
• Infant uses senses and motor skills to understand
  the world
• Begin with reflexes and ends with complex
  combinations of sensori-motor skills

• Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 mos)
• Secondary Circular Reactions (4-12 mos)
• Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-24 mos)

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Sensori-motor Stage continued

• Mental Representation around 18 months child
  develops ability to hold an image in his/ her
  mind for a period of time
• Differed Imitation
• Mental Combinations

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Preoperational Stage

• Spans from ages 2-7
• The use of symbols in the form of language and
  creative play
• Clear understanding of past and future
• Egocentric view
• Can only see center of a problem

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Concrete Operations Stage

• Ages 7-11
• Child uses symbols representationally but can
  also manipulate them logically
• Conservation, Reversibility, Classification, and
  Seriation

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• Conservation
• Number
• Length
• Liquid Volume

• Reversibility

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Formal Operations Stage

• Ages 12 and older
• Able to think like adults
• Involves using logical operations in an abstract
  manner, known as hypothetical thinking

• Group Possibilities in Four Way
• Conjuction (And)
• Disjunction (Or)
• Implication (Ifthen)
• Imcompatibility (eliminate hypothesis)

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Constructivism

• Scientific theory that explains the nature of
  human knowledge
• View that much of learning originates from inside
  the child
• Only theory that explains childrens construction
  of knowledge from birth to adolescence
• Distinction among the three kinds of knowledge
  changes the way we should teach many subjects

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Three Kinds Of Knowledge

• Physical Knowledge knowledge of object in
  external reality
• Social (Conventional) Knowledge examples are
  holidays, written and spoken language ultimate
  source is manmade conventions
• Logico-Mathematical Knowledge relationships
  created by each individual

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Using Constructivism To Teach Mathematics

• Piaget believes that children can invent their
  own procedures for the four arithmetical
  operations through logicomathematical knowledge
  without any teaching of conventional rules
• Currently the social knowledge approach is used
  through the concepts of carrying and borrowing

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Theory in the Classroom

• Classrooms typically use assocationism and
  behaviorism
• Constructivism goes beyond them to be based more
  on scientific knowledge

• Education cannot be based on scientific knowledge
  alone but advancement forces knowledge to be
  studied with scientific precision

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Sources

• Boeree, G. (1999). Jean Piaget. Retrieved Mar.
  03, 2005, from Personality Theories Web Site
  http//www.ship.edu/cgbeoree/piaget. html.
• Kamii, C. Ewing, J. (1996). Basing teaching on
  piagets constructivism. Childhood Education,
  72. Retrieved Mar. 03, 2005, from
  http//proquest.umi..com/pdqweb.

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The End