Piaget was born on August 1896 and got married to Valentine Châtenay and had three kids whom he observed and served as a basis of his theories. He developed an interest in natural science at a tender age where he wrote a short research paper on “Albino Sparrow” at 11 years old. By 1918 he attained Ph. D in Zoology in Neuchâtel University (Beilin 1992, p. 192). He specifically developed an interest in psychology in the 1920s. He was a genetic epistemologist and psychologist. The Swiss nationalist was credited for his dedicated work in cognitive and development in childhood (Bringuier 1980, p. 2; McLeod, 2012, p. 9). He looked at the development of intelligence in children. He was able to distinguish the way adult and children think. His theory contributed to the rise of developmental psychology as a separate area of study in psychology. He is also known for pioneering the constructivist theory (Chapman 1988, p. 3). He was mainly inspired by Alfred Binet during which he developed the interest in psychoanalysis. He was particularly inspired by the intelligence test developed by Binet wherein he scored the assessment (Tran and Formann 2008, p. 233; Piaget, 1945, p. 7; Piaget 1973, p. 6. Through his career, he chaired several position as well as conducting research in genetics and psychology. Prior to his theory, children were viewed as smaller version of adults by researchers.
Key Theories
Piaget main two contributory include genetic epistemology and the cognitive development theory. He is best known for the desire to discover the roots of knowledge. While engaged in the Binet’s intelligence test, he was able to conclude that as compared to an adult, kids think differently more than adult (Mayer 2005, p. 363). His main focus was on genetic develops and the subsequent impact on the development process (Evans 1973, p. 5). According to Piaget, children sort acquired knowledge through experience and interactions and group them into schemas. The newly acquired knowledge is either assimilated into existing schemas or offered accommodation by revising and the existed schemas (Chapman 1988, p. 4). Furthermore, it can lead to the creation of a new set of information. He is currently remembered for his research on children's cognitive development. Based on his three children, he was able to study their intellectual development to come up with a theory which explains the stages children undergo during the development of intelligence as well as the thought process (Flavell 1967, p. 8). Piaget identified four stages of development in early child development.
The sensorimotor stage was identified as the first stage which occurs from birth to around two years. Children understand the world through motor movement and senses mainly (Furth 1977, p. 11; Berger 2008, p. 44).). The second stage is the preoperational stage which lasts between two and seven years. The stage is characterized by the emergence of symbolic play and language development. He called the third stage as the concrete operational stage which occurs from the age of seven to 11 years. Children experience logical thought development although struggles when it comes to abstract and theoretical thinking. The final stage of cognitive development is the formal operation stage and begins from the age of 12 to adulthood (Ginsburg and Opper 1979, p. 6; Demetriou 2003, p.151). Under the stage, children become proficient and possess abstract and deductive reasoning.
Influence and Inspirations
Jean Piaget society continues to influence society through the annual conference that attracts more participants. The cognitive theory of development has had a positive effect in different fields. Both students of education and psychology continue to study Piaget’s theory. He is also known for the creation of “International Center for Genetic Epistemology” and was the director. He is considered most influential in the field of developmental psychology. (Tran and Formann 2008, p. 232) Other than the influence he had on Lawrence Kohlberg and Lev Vygotsky, a generation of eminent academic has been inspired. Other prominent psychologists who were influenced by Piaget include and Robert Sternberg and Howard Gardner. He is considered the developmental psychologist during the 20th century as his findings were dominant between the 1960s and 1980s (Kesselring 1999, p. 7). He single-handedly changed the focus of research from social and emotional development to cognitive. His original model has been instrumental in the field of psychology. The field of education has also been impacted. Based on the theory, the educators have mainly focused on students as learners. Students are thus viewed as individual learners aiming at adding a new concept to existing knowledge to build or construct understanding (Piaget 1952, p. 1).
Instructors who adopt a learner-centered approach for professional practice allow learners insights to be incorporated during curriculum development as well as experienced-based educational prospects (Mayer 2005, p. 362). The learners’ emotions involvement also leads to a better teaching environment. The decentration and reversibility concept of concrete operational and preoperational stages is critical in following direction and subsequent completion of tasks. The American and European child-centered approach educational transformation was inspired by Piaget. The cognitive development theory has inspired the curriculum development for early childhood development as in the case of Case and Griffin’s curriculum (Tran and Formann 2008, p. 232). Piaget also believes in moral education when he stated that children develop moral ideas stage wise. Further, he noted that children do create their world conception and that moral judgment is based on world observation. There other teaching implications that can be drawn from Piaget. Teachers, instructors ought to focus on the process of how children think in addition to the product. Teachers should recognize the active involvement and self-initiatives role of kids during learning (Berger 2008, p. 44). Philosophers have been greatly influenced by Piaget’s work. Jurgen Habermas was able to incorporate Piaget’s work specifically in theory communicative action.
Methodology
In order to assess formal operational thought, Piaget and his colleague did conduct several experiments. He used scales and varying weights in one of the experiment to evaluate cognitive capabilities for various children of different (Messerly 1992, p. 1) ages. The task involved balancing a scale by hooking various weights on the scale end. The children had to use formal operational thought to help realize that the weight –distance affected balancing for successful completion of the task. For lighter weights, the distance had to be longer than the heavier ones to experience a balance. Result established that 3- 5 years old, could not comprehend the idea of balancing while seven years old could not realize the importance of location, they were able to place the weights at the end of the scale. At age 10, children could not use logic but instead used trial and error although they failed to think about location. Lastly, at age 13 and 14, children were able to understand the relationship between distance and weight (Tran and Formann 2008, p. 233; Piaget 1977, p. 5; Piaget 1970, p. 9).
Challenges
Vygotsky argued that cultural background was inevitable during stages of development thus contradicting Piaget’s hierarchy of learning development succession. The Neo-Piagetian theories further argue that changes in information processing often are responsible for scaling from stage to another (Assan and Sarfo 2015, p.137. Furthermore, the variance in growth is due to the difference between individuals. Since the existence of Piaget’s theory, other child development theories have been introduced and the fact that empirical findings have been adopted serves to undermine the work of Piaget. Betty Repacholi and Alison Gopnik established that at the age of one and a half years, a baby is able to understand that people have desires that are different and this opposes the Piaget’s egocentric view (Santrock 2008, P. 1). The number of participants in Piaget study has been questioned especially where he relied on his three children as subject. The autonomy, authenticity of the data used has been questioned and more so subjected bias criticism.
Practical Application
Parents can now adopt the theory in order to determine what to purchase to support a children’s growth. Teachers can be able to use the theory to determine the relevance of syllabuses. Curriculum developers can now use the theory to define the content of the materials as well as areas to be covered (Smith 2001, p. 6).
References
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Berger, Kathleen Stassen 2008. The developing person through the life span (7th ed.).
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Demetriou, A. 2003. Mind, self, and personality: Dynamic interactions from late childhood to early adulthood. Journal of Adult development, 10(3), 151–171
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Smith, L., 2001. Jean Piaget. In: A. Palmer, ed. 50 modern thinkers on education: From Piaget to the present. London: Routledge.
Tran, U. and Formann, A., 2008. Piaget's water-level tasks: Performance across the lifespan with emphasis on the elderly. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 45, pp. 232- 237.
