-during this time the infant is trying to make sense of the world. This is limited to the infants motor activities and sensory perceptions. They use skills that they have been born with such as listening, sucking, looking, holding to help create a sense of the world
2) Pre-operational stage (from 2-6)
-here is when language development occurs.
-children are not able to think critically, rather the thinking is typical to an EGOCENTRIC view. They cannot see other peoples view point.
-begin to use symbols to represent common items in the world. The notion of “pretend play” is created during these years.
3) Concrete operational stage (6-12)
-at this point children are able to think more logically and concretely.
-Start to understand other viewpoints
-the example of CONSERVATION task falls into this stage. Children are able to understand if you poor the same amount of water into a tall glass or short, it is still the same amount of water. Children in the pre-operational stage would think there is more water in the tall glass.
4) Formal operational stage (12 and up)
-more abstract and logical thinking occurs here
Reference: http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~swinters/371/Piaget.html
Take a quiz? http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_piaget_quiz.htm
Discussion questions
Faced with a class of Preoperational students (toddlers and early childhood), how would you integrate technology in your classrooms besides using drawings and illustrations?
Faced with a class of Concrete operational students (middle childhood), how would technology in your classrooms assist with experiments? Limiting the number of steps is important, we know ….
Faced with formal operational students (adolescence) and the enthusiasm they have for making sense of the world as they see it, how could you use technology to assist in their development? Essay questions are more work to mark but are there other ways, for example, to ask students to justify two different positions on an issue?
Feeling stuck? Please see the Cognitive Development Applications Website for suggestions:
Please leave all comments on the course web site under week 12 Piaget
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piagtuse.html