Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)was a psychologistand epistemologistwho focused on child development.Hedeveloped a theory of human cognitive development(known as ‘genetic epistemology’)based on his interest in biology and particularly the adaptation of species to their environment. His theory that human intelligence was also an adaptive mechanism was controversial at the time. Itchallenged the dominant psychometric and behaviourist approaches to intelligence, which measured intelligence (IQ) as a fixed and inherited trait, or referred to external conditioning (behavourism) as the source of cognitive change.Piaget argued that humans were active meaning-makers who construct rather than receive knowledge,with much capacity to improve intelligence over a lifetime.
The mainfeatures ofPiaget’s educational theory
Piaget offered a unique experimental methodfor determining children’s cognitive abilities,as well as a detailed explanation of how children developlogical andmathematical thinking.According toPiaget:
Development is understood as an increase in the complexity, mobility and systemisation of cognitive structures.Piaget saw thinking (the ability to reason, connect ideas and solve problems) as the result of cognitive structuresthatare graduallybuilt within the brainas a result ofdirect exposure to and interaction with the environment.
Learningis a process of adaptationtoenvironmentalstimuli,involvingsuccessive periodsof whatPiagetcalled assimilation,accommodation,and equilibration.In assimilating knowledge, students incorporate their experiences and observations into the logic of their existing or developing understandings. For example, children might understand the phenomena of the life cycle of a butterfly in terms of their understanding of the human life cycle.Accommodation occurs when there is a conflict or mismatch betweennewinformation and thestudents’internal models, leadingstudentstoadapt their existing understandings and expectations to incorporate their new perceptions and experiences.
Learning isdependentnot onlyon experiencebut alsoonstudents’maturationandtheirabilityto absorband learn fromstimuli.Piaget observed that students were limitedby their existing cognitive structuresindevelopingnew ways of understanding phenomena.
Development occurs in four progressive stagesin whichthinking progresses from‘concrete’, egocentric thinkingthatis strongly tied to physical experiences, towards‘formal’, abstract reasoning thatinvolves mental rather than physical manipulation of concepts and ideas. Each stage represents a fundamental, qualitative difference in ways of perceiving the world, processing and responding to information, and developing concepts.The stages are:
- Sensori-motor(birth to 2 years): understandings of the world are limited to visual and tactile interaction with the world.Imitation provides afoundation for thinking in visual images.
- Pre-operational(2 to 4 years):thinking involvesvisual images aboutsensorimotor actions and experiences,and symbolic thought.Thought is focusedon the particularwithoutabstractinggeneral principles, andrelies on perception and intuition.
- Concrete operational(7-8 to 11-12 years):cognitivestructureshave developed sufficientlytobe used as logical systems (termed “operations”) andused across contexts rather than being specific to a certain type of problem in a particular context. At the operational stage of thought, children understand notions of reversibility (subtraction can cancel addition, a clay ball can be transformed into a sausage and back again) and associativity (an ability to identify several ways to pursue an objective, such as a range of ways to solve 25 x 25).
- Formal operational(11-12 to 16-17years):abstractand decontextualised reasoningusingverbal propositions, premises, ideas and conceptsis possiblewithout access to concrete objects.Studentscanhypothesise, problem-solve, noterelations between ideas and things,holda number ofideas in mind, anddevelop and relate concepts.
The age norms provided by Piaget were approximations,althoughPiaget believed that all humans undergo these stages,in this order,as they develop cognition and intelligence.
Learning depends uponstudents’‘hands on’interactions with objectsrather thanthe transmission ofinformation.Students need toexperienceconceptssuch as addition or capacitybyinteractingwith thingsin their environment, andtheydeveloplogical and mathematical thought as theyinternalise theseactionsas thought processes.
Social factors have an important rolein students’ knowledge construction,aschildren gain knowledgebothindividually and byobserving and acting with others in groups.Peer discussion which generates cognitive conflict is seen as a critical factor in cognitive development.Piaget thought that, whilethe development of cognitionhada biological (innate and predetermined) basis, societyalsohadan important role in providing appropriate possibilities for students to developtheir cognition.
What empiricalevidenceis there for this theory in practice?
Recent developments in neuroscience have confirmed the flexibility of the brain and its ability to respond and grow with experience1, which aligns withPiaget’stheory of the construction of cognitive structuresto account for and incorporate knowledge from different experiences2.Neuroscience also shows that as students grow older and develop, they add more advanced forms of thinking to their repertoire3.
Piaget’s ideas for supporting the development of cognition also havesome substantiation in research.Teachers’planning for students to engage in experiences that provide cognitive conflict, (for example, by having children discover that some heavy things float while some light things sink to challenge their ideas that floating and sinking is related to an item’s weight)have been found to have a significant positive effect on achievement4, and providing students with manipulative materials (such asCuisinairerods, paper folding, and geometric sketches) that illustrate mathematical ideas has been found to support greater mathematical achievement5.
Drawing onPiaget’s unique experimental method, extensive research has confirmed and improvedsome ofhis ideas6.Yet because this method drew heavily uponexperimental and artificial situationsthatmay not have adequately reflected children’s actual development7, nor taken into account variations in students’ development in different social and cultural contexts8,manyof Piaget’s claims have been contested. Some of the abilities that Piaget attributed to maturationhavebeenshown to be a function of experience9,withchildren found to be more capable when the tasks presented to them are meaningful and relevant to them10.Neuroscientificresearch also shows that,rather than finite stages of development, it is more likely that there are cycles of development where periods of optimal performance are followed by spurtsthatresult in new types of thinking and behaviour11.
Piaget’s influenceonteachingpractice
Piaget’s ideas about learning and development have influenced constructivist theories of learning as well as child-centred pedagogies, andparticularlya tendency for passive, backgroundrolesfor teachers in children’s education.Piaget theorised thattheaccommodation and assimilationcognitiveprocessescould not be accelerated by instruction,and that most interactions were ineffective in influencing cognitive changeunless positioned at the correct level between assimilation and accommodation andbuilding very carefullyfromwhat the student alreadyunderstands. Piagetsuggested theteacher’srole involvedproviding appropriate learning experiences and materialsthat stimulate students to advance their thinking. His theory hasinfluenced concepts of individualand student-centredlearning,formative assessment,active learning,discovery learning, and peer interaction.However, it has also sometimes beenmisinterpretedto suggest that direct teaching would be inappropriate, a claim that is clearly shown to be inaccurate in cognitive science research.
Individuallearning
Piaget’sfocus on learning as individual development is reflectedin the organisation ofmost education systems, wherelearning is individualised and students aremeasured on their individualrather than collaborativeperformances.Development is seen as individual rather than social or cultural, for example.
Student-centred teaching and formative assessment
Piagetalso has also come to influence what is known as student-centred teaching,in which teachersbegin with the student’s existing understandings and help them build on and develop these(althoughnote this doesn’t preclude teachers identifying and planning carefully the content to be taught).Assessment practices that aim to find out what students already know and can do in order to inform subsequent teaching areimportant forteaching to be timely and relevant to each student’s current capacity for structuring and restructuring knowledge. Teachersuse assessment to understandstudents’ prior experience and understanding and how they personally construct a topic or subject in their minds.
Active learning
Piaget thought that independent exploration and discoverywereimportant at all stages of cognitive development in enabling students to lead theirownlearning in line with their current developmental understandings. Students at the stage of concrete operationsrequire opportunities for hands-on learning, experimenting and testing of objectsin order to build concepts,as well aslaterto work with verbal propositions. Students at the formal operations stage benefit from open-ended projects in which they can explore hypothetical possibilities and reasoning.
Discovery learning
Piaget’s theoryisalsoassociated with the concept of ‘discovery learning’ in which students are invited to explore carefully planned activities and experiences that are designed to helpthemrealise keyobservations and ideas.It is important to note that,although Piaget thought that studentscoulddiscover some thingsfor themselves,most of the timetheir developmentrequires reflection and making connections toconstructknowledge. In other words, teachers’ structuring of students’ discoveries is important.
Peer conflict
Piaget’s ideas about the importance of cognitive conflictto stimulate the process of equilibriumare sometimesput into practice viaopportunities forclassroom discussion, which aimsto enable students to come across ideas and theories which conflict with their own.
References& further reading
Crossland, J. (2016). Optimal learning in schools – theoretical evidence: Part 1 Piaget’s theoretical background.School ScienceReview,98(363) 115-122.
DeVries, R. (2000). Vygostky, Piaget and education: A reciprocal assimilation of theories and educational practices.New Ideas in Psychology, 18,187-213.
Fuson, K. C. (2009).Avoiding misinterpretations of Piaget and Vygotsky: Mathematical teaching without learning, learning without teaching, or helpful learning-path teaching?Cognitive Development 24,343–361
Moore, A. (2012).Teaching and learning: Pedagogy, curriculum and culture.Routledge.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969).The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.
Piaget, J. (1950).The psychology of intelligence.London : Routledge and Kegan Paul
Wavering, M. J. (2011). Piaget’s logic of meanings: Still relevant today.School Science and Mathematics, 111(5),249-252.
1 Crossland, 2016.
2 Crossland, 2016.
3 Crossland, J. (2017). Optimal learning in schools – theoretical evidence: Part 2 Updating Piaget. The School Science Review, 98(364), 77-83.
4 Hattie, 2015, cited in Crossland, 2016.
5 Jurashek, W. (1983). Piaget and middle school mathematics. School Science and Mathematics, 83(1), 4-13.
6 Fuson, 2009.
7 Moore, 2012.
8 Crossland, 2016; Moore, 2012.
9 Helmore, G. A. (1969).Piaget: A practical consideration of the general theories and work of Jean Piaget.Oxford: Pergamon Press.
10 Donaldson, M. C. (1978).Children’s minds. London: Croom Helm.
11 Crossland, 2016.
By Dr Vicki Hargraves
PREPARED FOR THE EDUCATION HUB BY
Dr Vicki Hargraves
Vicki runs our early childhood webinar series and also is responsible for the creation of many of our early childhood research reviews. Vicki is a teacher, mother, writer, and researcher living in Marlborough. She recently completed her PhD using philosophy to explore creative approaches to understanding early childhood education. She is inspired by the wealth of educational research that is available and is passionate about making this available and useful for teachers.
