Intellectual development is an essential part of human growth. Piaget designed the cognitive development model to explain intellectual growth in human beings from childhood to adulthood. The children illogical reasoning intrigued him to perform further research on children's cognitive development. Piaget opposed the idea that described intelligence as a fixed trait and argued that it results from biological maturation and environmental interaction. He believed that children's cognitive development occurs through a continuous adaptation of thought processes (Ojose, 2008). As a result, he developed the model defined bys three concepts- schemas, adaptative processes, and cognitive development stages. Piaget described the schemas as the building blocks of knowledge and acknowledged that the adaptative processes enabled children to transition from one stage to another. Lastly, he grouped biological, cognitive development into four stages. Each stage is associated with different cognitive abilities. This paper will explore Piaget's model, focusing on schemas, adaptative processes, and the cognitive development stages.
Schemas
Schemas are the fundamental building blocks that help in forming a cognitive representation of the world. Piaget termed them as the unit of knowledge representing different aspects of the world and environment surrounding an individual. Piaget connected the schemas with cognitive development and argued that as a child advanced in age and he or she is exposed to a diverse environment, his or her schemas adopts to complexity. Consequently, the child develops the ability to understand more ‘complex’ situations than before. Piaget stated that schemas are acquired through experiences and interaction with the surrounding environment. For instance, a person develops restaurant schemas by regularly several visiting a restaurant. He or she understand the procedures and activities in a restaurant, like ordering food and asking for a menu.
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Additionally, Piaget also claims that some schemas are genetically acquired. For instance, an infant possesses sucking and grasping reflexes even before they are exposed to different experiences within their environment. An infant tends to suck anything that comes into contact with his/her mouth, which led Piglet to conclude that babies have inborn sucking schemas (McLeod, 2018). Children at a tender age exhibit few and simple innate schemas, but as they get exposed to numerous experiences, and develop further. Human beings tend to use schemas to comprehend and respond to situations. Therefore, it is justifiable to conclude that schemas are the mental representation of various aspects of the world stored in the mental memory, and individual retrieves and apply them when faced with a situation similar or related to the past encounter.
Adaptation Processes
Piaget's model claims that cognitive growth involves a process of adaptation to the environment. The model suggests different cognitive development stages, and the adaptation processes help children transition from one stage to another. Piaget classified the processes into three categories- assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium. His model depicts that assimilation is how people react to a new situation based on the existing schema. However, in a condition where a situation is not relatable to any existing schema, an individual needs to adjust the existing knowledge to match the new condition's logical reasoning. Piaget referred to this process as accommodation. Additionally, he claimed that both assimilation and accommodation were moved by a superior force that he termed equilibration (McLeod, 2018). This force is essential in driving the learning process. People desire to learn new things and overcome challenges encountered in a new condition, thus leading to accommodation. However, most of the time, children learn about new claimed information, objects, and situations through assimilation. Therefore, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium are interconnected so that equilibrium facilitates both assimilation and accommodation processes.
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget acknowledges that intelligence in children is developed through the biological maturation of the mind. He designed and grouped cognitive development processes into four stages - sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The model claims that children possess different perceptions of the world in different stages. According to Piaget's model, all children pass through all four stages before their cognitive capacity gains the potential to make logical and complex reasonings. Each child goes through the stages in similar order; however, the intellectual development rate and level vary significantly from one child to another due to various factors prompted by the environment and biological capacity (Ojose, 2008). The four different stages have been grouped based on different age categories; however, not all children attain the same development at the ages indicated. Some children exhibit signs of cognitive development delay.
Sensorimotor Stage
Sensorimotor is the first stage of Piaget's model and is associated with children aged zero to two. Piaget argued that this stage involves rapid cognitive growth. During the sensorimotor stage, infants use their innate senses and actions such as visions, sucking, learning, and grasping to learn and understand their environment. In the first few months of an infant's life, he/she perceives the world based on the inborn reflexes. However, as he/she continues to interact with the environment, tremendous mental development is recorded as he or she develop new schemas (McLeod, 2018). For instance, a child may suck his/her finger by chance and continue repeating similar actions. Additionally, children become more focused on the environment around them, and as such, they intentionally engage in repeated actions to trigger responses.
Furthermore, in this stage, children begin to use combined schemas to further explore their environment and achieve desired results. They develop imitated and the observed behaviors of people and things around them. Infants also develop an understanding of various objects and their behaviors when subjected to different activities. For example, a child understands that a rattle produces a noise when shaken, which provokes them to try different experiments on the traits and actions observed within the environment. For instance, a child may begin making different kinds of noises to gain the caregiver's attention.
Lastly, this stage is commonly associated with object permanence as one of the most significant achievements in children's cognitive development. Infants become more familiar with object permanence. They develop an understanding that even though they cannot see the specific object, it still exists. In the sensorimotor stage, the children can find objects displaced and taken away from their vision. One of Piaget's experiments for children in this stage involved hiding a pillow to test the ability to find items. The cognitive ability of object permanence signifies the transition to the next stage.
Pre-Operational Stage
Pre-operational is the second stage of Piaget's cognitive development stages, which begins at around two to seven years. In this stage, children develop a broad understanding of language and acquire the ability to express their needs clearly. Additionally, this stage constitutes various cognitive development aspects, including symbolic play, symbolic representation, animism, and centration ( Bjorklund & Causey, 2017 ). Piaget's model argues that there is an escalated use of symbolic function in this stage, notably, during the early stages in children ranging between two to three years. They develop a tendency to make one object represent another item other than itself. For instance, they may use a broom to represent a horse and assume that they are riding on a horse.
Furthermore, children develop the aspect of symbolic play, and, in most cases, they take roles based on the characters they have encountered within their environment. For instance, they may take up police officers' or parents' roles while playing. As they play these roles, they symbolize the reality of life-based on their observation. For example, if a child observes the mother's role in the house is cooking, cleaning, and feeding when he/she plays the role of a mother, she will exhibit these practices. Besides, children may also play with imaginative characters to the extent that they grant him/her a name. As children continue to engage in symbolic play, they develop an enlightened representation of the world.
However, Piaget's model illustrates that the pre-operational stage is also challenged with limited logical reasonings. The children in this stage encounter hardship in focusing on several aspects of a situation ( Bjorklund & Causey, 2017 ). For instance, if an adult arranges two rows of blocks so that the row with few blocks appears longer than the row with more, the children in pre-operation stages can count and provide accurate numbers of blocks in each row. However, when they are asked which row contains more, there is a high probability that they will settle for the row that appears longer. Undoubtedly, children in this group cannot focus on two dimensions of a problem. Furthermore, they also face the challenge of comprehending conservation. Conservation is the ability to understand that an item's quantity remains the same after being subjected to different shapes and appearances. For instance, when an equal amount of liquid is poured into two identical contains and then one of the containers is replaced with a differently shaped container, most children in this stage will conclude that a container that appears fuller than the other contains more quantity.
Additionally, children's intelligence in this stage is limited, in a way that they can only represent the world from their perspective. They cannot understand things from other people's viewpoints. Piaget conducted an experiment using three mountain models. The mountain models were placed at the center of the room, and children sat at a particular position. Piaget used a doll to represent a different view, and it was placed at several positions different from the child, and he took pictures. The children were asked to select images that represented the doll's view. Unfortunately, most children between two to six years settled for images that exhibited their views. However, children from seven years selected accurate images that showed the doll's viewpoint. Consequently, children at age seven are no longer controlled by egocentrism, signifying that they are ready to transition to the next stage.
Concrete Operational Stage
The third stage begins at around seven years and lasts to eleven years. It is characterized by exceptional cognitive growth. The children exhibit remarkable language development and acquire increased knowledge concerning the necessary skills (Ojose, 2008). Furthermore, they can understand and interpret the world through their senses, unlike in the previous stage, where they used symbols. Therefore, they can respond to a situation involving two or more dimensions accurately. For instance, in a liquid experiment conducted by Piaget, when children discover a high level of the liquid, they also notice the container's size and shape simultaneously. As a result, they understand the concept of conservation.
This stage marks the most incredible transition of cognitive development based on Piaget's argument since it is the foundation of logical thoughts. Children at this stage possess the ability to solve things internally within their minds. However, they can only apply logic to physical items, driving Piaget to refer to this stage as concrete operational. Additionally, it is critical to note that children in this stage understand the reversibility concepts: awareness that actions are reversible. However, although children in this stage acquire the ability to think logically, they still cannot reason hypothetically.
Formal Operational Stage
Formal operational is the final stage of cognitive development which begins at around eleven years to adulthood. At this stage, children acquire the ability to formulate hypotheses and deduce possible repercussions (Ojose, 2008). Additionally, they also begin to think abstractly by manipulating ideas mentally to the extent that they do not require physical manipulation or assistance. Children in this stage are also characterized by the potential to perform mathematical calculations and think critically. For instance, Piaget conducted an experiment to test children's ability to think logically and critically. He used the third eye test and asked the students where they would like the eye positioned if granted the third eye. Piaget noticed that children aged nine years and below were less creative, and the majority suggested that the eye should be placed on the forehead close to the other eyes. In comparison, children aged eleven years and above gave more critical answers. They suggested that it would be appropriate for the eye to be located on the hand to enhance vision across all corners.
Conclusion
In summary, Piaget's cognitive model explains children's intellectual growth to adulthood using three concepts: schemas, adaptation processes, and cognitive development stages. Piaget described schema as the building blocks of knowledge. He argued that children acquired schemas through interaction with their environment. Furthermore, the model claims that cognitive development is prompted by adaptation to the environment. Since there are several cognitive development stages, the adaptive processes that include assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium enable children to transition from one stage to another. Additionally, Piaget grouped cognitive growth into different stages based on different ages. Stages include sensorimotor, Pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Each stage describes various cognitive traits and achievements. Piaget's cognitive development model is pivotal as caregivers, parents, and teachers may use the knowledge to ‘enhance’ children's intelligence, which is also significantly influenced by the child's environment as depicted in the model.
References
Bjorklund, D. F., & Causey, K. B. (2017). Children's thinking: cognitive development and individual differences . Sage Publications.
McLeod, S. (2018). Jean Piaget's theory and stages of cognitive development . Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html .
Ojose, B. (2008). Applying Piaget's theory of cognitive development to mathematics instruction. The Mathematics Educator , 18 (1), 26-30.
