Jean Piaget cognitive development theories

Piaget developed various theories to how children learn, his cognitive development theory consists of four stages( as shown in the table below). It shows the process to how mental processes develop from child to adulthood.

Stage	Characterised by
Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs)	Differentiates self from objects  Recognises self as agent of action and begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a noise  Achieves object permanence: realises that things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense (pace Bishop Berkeley)
Pre-operational  (2-7 years)	Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words  Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others  Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour
Concrete operational  (7-11 years)	Can think logically about objects and events  Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)  Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size.
Formal operational  (11 years and up)	Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systemtically  Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems

In the first stage;

The sensori-motor stage which is from a baby to a toddler the child learns by trial and error. They are taking in the world by using each of their senses by looking, hearing, touching, grasping and mouthing, they use these as their tools to learn new things.

In the pre-operational stage children are more hands on, therefore tasks such as playing with sand, play dough, water, clay etc. things that they can interact with are the most useful for helping this stage of development. There are also four main stages to the pre-operational stage of development, these are: Centration , ego centrism, irreversibility and animism.

The concrete operational stage shows logical thinking as well as being able to view things from other peoples perspectives.

The formal operational stage is the final stage of the development, in this process the childs thinking is advanced but their knowlege will continue to grow and change as they learn and are exposed to new things.





Bibliography:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm