Piaget's Theory and Its Application in Classroom Setting



Piaget's Theory and Its Application in Classroom Setting

Introduction

The theories given by educational theorists are applicable to many educational levels. These theories and the ideas given in them help the educationalists in improving the effectiveness of the teacher and students in the learning process. According to the theory given by Piaget, a child understands the physical environment around him through developing mind maps or cognitive structures (Webb, 1980). He gave the four stage developmental model and described the way a child goes through and progresses through each of the developmental stages.

Stages of cognitive development

The stages of the developmental model are given hereunder (Dudley, 1976).

Sensorimotor stage - this ranges from birth of the child till 2 years. In this stage, the understanding of the child is based on his senses and motoric actions.

Preoperational stage - in this stage, the development of the child is based on mental images and the learned language. This has two sub stages. In the symbolic function substage, the child understands things and associates shapes with them this stage lasts between 2-4. In the intuitive thought substage, children develop out of their natural tendency to learn are very curious. They start to develop reasoning and want to know why things are the way they are.

Concrete operational stage - in this stage, which lasts between 7-12 years, children are able to form categories and give meaning to the world around them through logical thinking.

Formal operational stage - this lasts between 12 years till maturity. Here, the child understands the world not only through logic but also through hypothetical thinking.

Incorporation of the theory in classroom setting

Learning material

The ideas and theory given by Piaget on the cognitive development of children has many positive implications for the educationists. Not only the training ...