Piaget Post 1

In this chapter, Piaget's theories on cognitive development were discussed.  One maid part of this ideas is constructivism.  This is the idea that we actively construct our knowledge.  According to Piaget, we do this through a series of stages.  To move through these stages, time must pass.  In other words, the only way for students to move through the stages is to allow time to let the brain develop into what it needs to be for the next cognitive stage.  These stages are sensorimotor (infancy-2 years), pre-operational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11 years-adulthood).  In the sensorimotor stage, the main aspect is the idea of object permanence, the awareness that objects continue to exist when they can't be seen.  In the pre-operational stage, children are egocentric, meaning they think about the world from their own point of view.  In the concrete operational stage, they can can start solving abstract problems without needing concrete representation.  In the formal operational stage, children are now able to think abstractly without limitations.  This idea of cognitive development is different than others for a few reasons.  First, Piaget looks at development before learning.  He said that there is a chronological time clock that regulates how and when we learn.  He also believed that experience was the main form of learning, while other theories take genetics into account.

After reading this chapter, I wonder how this works for children with developmental disabilities.  Since their brains might not develop at the pace of other children, where does that put them with the different stages?  According to Piaget, it is time that regulates development, but for these children, some might not fall into the time categories that he has set.  Does this mean that they might not ever reach some of the stages?

According to Piaget, critical thinking would not push development.  In his theory, time regulated the development of a student's cognitive ability.  If a critical thinking question was asked to a student before they were developmentally ready for it, it would not push along the development; it would simply cause disequilibrium for that individual.  If a question posed to a student was too abstract for that student, learning would not happen.  They would still be confused while they were in that developmental stage. If that same question was asked later, while the individual was in the stage that the question was appropriate for, then the student would learn through being asked the question.