Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was a biologist who developed a theory on cognitive development based on observations and interactions made with children (Learning and Teaching, 2011). According to Piaget, educational theory was heavily influenced by how children’s minds worked and developed when they reached maturity. It was through his insight of maturity that he argued about “children’s increasing capacity to understand their world” (Learning and Teaching, 2011). More specifically, he argued how children’s thinking “does not develop entirely smoothly” and they could not complete certain tasks until they “psychologically mature” enough to do so (Learning and Teaching, 2011).

 

It was because of his own research on children that Piaget developed a theory that focused on the four stages of cognitive development for children. These four stages are:

 

1) The Sensorimotor Stage: Refers to stage where infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through “sensory experiences and manipulating objects”. This means that children are able to associate names and words to objects because they are learning how the objects that they see have “separate and distinct entities”.

 

2) The Preoperational Stage: Children begin to learn through play, but struggle with logical thoughts while learning about the perspectives of those around them.

 

3) The Concrete Operational Stage: It is at this point that children begin to apply more logical perceptions to a situation, but struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. They also begin to recognize that their thoughts are unique to them, while understanding that not everyone shares the same perspective.

 

4) The Formal Operational Stage: The final stage sees an increase in children’s logic while they are developing other skills. These skills include the ability utilize “deductive reasoning” and understand “abstract ideas” (About Education, 2015).

 

Other important components of Piaget’s theory are:

 

• Assimilation: The process in which a person takes in new information, which can be modified based on pre-existing beliefs and the environment in which an individual lives in (About Education, 2015).

 

• Accommodation: Refers to the changing or alteration of one’s perspectives when new information or experience is encountered (About Education, 2015.

 

These two are important components to consider because they are part of a child’s cognitive development.