Jean Piaget

1. Jean Piaget By: Erin, Shanice, Monika, Shannon, and Kyle

2. Biography • Born in 1896 • From the French part of Switzerland • Was interested in biology at a young age, and even published a number of papers before graduating High School • Published first scientific paper at the age of ten

3. Father • Arthur Piaget • Was a professor of medieval literature • At the university of Neuchatel

4. Mother • Rebecca Jackson • Energetic and outgoing • Influenced Jean’s interest in psychology

5. Childhood • Piaget had a part time job with the director of Nuechâtel’s Museum of Natural History • Much of Piaget's childhood was influenced by what he saw in his father, a man intensely dedicated to his studies and work.

6. Achievements • Top one hundred greatest thinkers • When he was eleven, his notes on a rare part-albino (having extremely pale or light skin) sparrow were published, the first of hundreds of articles and over fifty books.

7. Theory • Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states that there are four distinct stages of mental representation that children pass through before having an adult level of intelligence.

8. Theory Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcjPkPIwsog

9. Four stages • Sensorimotor period (years 0 to 2) • Preoperational period (years 2 to 6) • Concrete operational period (years 6 to 12) • Formal operational period (years 12 and up) 1 2 3 4

10. Sensorimotor period • Infants are born with a set of congenital reflexes that allow them to float in the heavily dense world • Their initial schemes are formed through differentiation of the congenital reflexes • this stage marks the development of essential spatial abilities and understanding of the world

11. Preoperational period • (Pre)Operatory Thought in Piagetian theory is any procedure for mentally acting on objects • During this stage the child learns to use and to represent objects by images and words, in other words they learn to use symbolic thinking.

12. Concrete operational period • Seriation—the ability to sort objects in an order according to size, shape, or any other characteristic. For example, if given different-shaded objects they may make a color gradient. • Transitivity- The ability to recognize logical relationships among elements in a serial order (for example, If A is taller than B, and B is taller than C, then A must be taller than C). • Classification—the ability to name and identify sets of objects according to appearance, size or other characteristic, including the idea that one set of objects can include another • Decentering—where the child takes into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it. For example, the child will no longer perceive an exceptionally wide but short cup to contain less than a normally-wide, taller cup.

13. Concrete operational period(continued) • Reversibility—the child understands that numbers or objects can be changed, then returned to their original state. For this reason, a child will be able to rapidly determine that if 4+4 equals 8, 8−4 will equal 4, the original quantity • Conservation—understanding that quantity, length or number of items is unrelated to the arrangement or appearance of the object or items. • Elimination of Egocentrism—the ability to view things from another's perspective (even if they think incorrectly). For instance, show a child a comic in which Jane puts a doll under a box, leaves the room, and then Melissa moves the doll to a drawer, and Jane comes back. A child in the concrete operations stage will say that Jane will still think it's under the box even though the child knows it is in the drawer.

14. Formal operational period • characterized by acquisition of the ability to think abstractly • reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available • as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations • young adult is able to understand such things as love, "shades of gray", logical proofs, and values.

15. Criticism • The biggest problem with Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory is his research methods. • Jean researched using his own three children as well as a sample of children from well-educated parents with a wealthy background. • People find it hard to generalize his findings since his research only comes from a particular group of children.

16. Bibliography • http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget • http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/p/piagetcriticism.htm • http://aneskaortega.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/piaget.jpg • http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Piaget-Jean.html