Assessment Post 2: Piaget

Jean Piaget developed a cognitive theory that demonstrated how individuals develop through a series of stages in their cognitive development. His theory suggests that children adjust their schemata either through assimilation or accommodation. Assimilation is the process whereby a child incorporates new knowledge into existing knowledge whilst accommodation occurs when a child totally adjusts their schema to new information. Piaget asserts that development is a lifelong process with humans constructing and modifying their schemata as they move through stages ( http://marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/piaget2.htm ).
The four stages of cognitive development as suggested by Piaget are:
1.The Sensori-motor stage (0-2 years): Children experience the world through their senses.
2.The Pre-operational stage (2-7 years): Children make use of symbols in this stage. Egocentrism is a characteristic of individuals in this stage of development.
3. Concrete operational (7-11 years): Individuals can use logical thought processes. These processes are still linked solely to concrete objects or problems
4. Formal operational (11 years and above): Individuals are able to consider abstract possibilities and hypothesise. This will often lead to egocentrism as they start to analyse their own beliefs and attitudes

( http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/piaget.html )

Piaget suggested that each individual passes through these stages in the same order; however the age at which an individual moves through stages may differ greatly (Marsh, 2004 p 17).
As a teacher Piaget’s work is important as it raises the possibility that students in high school may not yet have reached the formal level of operations; I would thus have to adjust my teaching accordingly because I would be teaching students at totally different levels of cognitive development. During my recent observation weeks I witnessed the separation of special needs students and regular students into different classrooms. After observing each the distinctions between how the classroom was run was obvious. The special needs students were still within the pre-operational stage of development and consequently the lessons were based on constant activity, for example the creation of art to represent biological processes. The same teacher that taught this class would then also teach a Year 12 Ancient History class with all students operating at a formal level. These lessons were based on discussion rather then activity. This experience demonstrates the diverse nature of intelligence within schools and some challenges I may face as a teacher.