Piagets Stages Of Intellectual Development

Question 1

Piaget - cognitive abilities

Answer 1

Suggested there are four main cognitive abilities which all children acquire as they progress through the stages of intellectual development
• object permanence
• class inclusion
• egocentrism
• conservation

The order of these stages are fixed but the age they are experienced are not. Some children may develop at slower rates

Question 2

Stages

Answer 2

1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
2. Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)
3. Concrete operations stage (7-11)
4. Formal operations stage (11+)

Question 3

Sensorimotor stage - 0-2 years

Answer 3

Child focuses on physical sensations and develops basic use of language
They decided they can move things using trial and error
• Piaget claimed infants schemas only consist of their innate reflex actions such as sucking or gripping

•Object permanence - 8months

Question 4

Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

Answer 4

Children begin to develop the contrive abilities of class inclusion, egocentrism and conservation.
Language becomes more sophisticated but children still display classic faults in reasoning
• class inclusion
• egocentrism
• conservation

Question 5

Concrete operations stage (7-11 years)

Answer 5

Children improve class inclusion, egocentrism and conservation.
Reasoning only about objects physically in their environment - logically think about objects and events

Question 6

Formal operations stage (11+)

Answer 6

Children become capable at using abstract logic, hypothetical and deductive reasoning

Question 7

Object permanence evidence

Answer 7

PIAGET - allowed children to play with a toy which he then covered with a blanket
• under 8 months wouldn’t search for it
• over 8 months would search for it

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BOWER - children between 1-4 months continued to search for an object even when the lights were switched off

BOWER - infants as young as 1 showed surprise that a toy placed behind a screen was not present when the screen was removed

Question 8

Egocentrism evidence

Answer 8

PIAGET - THREE MOUNTAINS TASK
• 3 mountain topped with snow/cross/house
• doll placed opposite side to child - child asked to match what the doll could see
• children could only recount their own viewpoint

Question 9

Conservation evidence

Answer 9

PIAGET - LIQUID CONSERVATION TASK
• shown 2 identical beakers with the same volume of liquid
• liquid poured into different width container but same volume
• children reported more liquid in taller beaker

Question 10

Class inclusion evidence

Answer 10

PIAGET -
• 5 dogs and 2 cats - asked if there were more dogs or animals
• children replied dogs - cannot fathom they are part of multiple classes

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MCGARRIGLE - language effected the way children answered the questions
• 35 6 year olds - 3 toy black cows and 1 white cow and told they’re sleeping
• asked “are there more black cows or more cows?” and “are there more black cows or more sleeping cows?”
• 25% correct question 1
• 48% correct question 2

They do have the ability to recognise class inclusion when questions asked in a way that is appropriate for their age

Question 11

Evaluations

Answer 11

• significant implications for educational practises - when to teach levels of mathematics and science based on their ability to reason

• assumes a lack of ability is a lack of understanding - this may be simply children are unable to communicate effectively or misunderstand the nature of the tasks presented