Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is most noted for his inquiry into developmental psychology. Specifically, his work through observation and talking and listening to children helped him to develop his theory of social development. The ideas of assimilation and accommodation are integral to his work. Also of interest to educational psychologists and educators is the influence of maturation in terms of these processes (Atherton, 2011).
Specifically, Piaget credits child development as the development of schema, or classifications of perceptions, actions, and ideas. He believes this development occurs through processes of stages:
- Sensorimotor- birth to age 2
- Preoperational- 2-7 years
- Concrete Operational- 7-11 years
- Formal Operational- 11 years and up ( Atherton, 2011).
(Pugliese & Wong, n.d.)
The sensorimotor stage of development involves the child's exploration of his or her world as an entity separate from himself or herself through use of senses. The preoperational stage of development is largely focused on beginning use of language and ability to classify objects as same or different in terms of a single feature. The concrete operational stage involves more language development and increased cognitive ability in terms of evaluating and classifying objects on more than one basis such as color, size, and shape. The formal operational stage involves even higher levels of language development and application of cognitive processes and problem solving skills. Major criticisms of Piaget's theory is that the stages are very rigid, and his theory of schema does not incorporate any consideration of environmental or cultural influences (Atherton, 2011). In further review of social cognitive processes in learning; it is necessary to evaluate the work of Lev Vygotsky as his work in the areas of environmental and cultural influences is very pertinent.
More detailed information and several excellent chartsforstudying Piaget can be found on this Atherton (2011) website: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm
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