Dispositions & play: Jean Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development
Jean Piaget (1896-1980): a Swiss psychologist interested in cognitive development. How
children learned
Carried out many observations and experiments exploring abilities of young children.
Discovered that children of the same age tend to make the same mistakes, even though they
think differently.
Trying to explain how learning happens.
Two basic tendencies:
Organisation: combining, arranging, recombining, rearranging of thoughts and behaviours into
coherent systems.
Adaptation: adjusting to the environment. So that we can do things better next time. Learning
through making mistakes.
Constructivist:
Assumes that children impose their concepts on the world to make sense of it. (Byrnes, 1996).
Using your own knowledge too make sense of the world you live in.
Children make sense of their environment and construct reality based on their capabilities at
this time.
Child is seen as a little scientist. Actively connecting things based on what you know.
To understand the world, children must form schemas about people, things, places and events.
Schemas:
Organised pattern of behaviour, repeatable and generalisable.
An internal representation of the world. Your idea of something that is in your world, what you
experience.
The basic actions of knowing
Both physical actions and mental actions; born with some schemas. Must learn others.
… so schemas develop with experience.
The idea of trajectory, letting something fall, pushing a ball, etc. direction, pressure.
Equilibration:
“Searching for balance”.
We want consistency between our internal mental structures and the external environment.
cognitive development
Jean Piaget (1896-1980): a Swiss psychologist interested in cognitive development. How
children learned
Carried out many observations and experiments exploring abilities of young children.
Discovered that children of the same age tend to make the same mistakes, even though they
think differently.
Trying to explain how learning happens.
Two basic tendencies:
Organisation: combining, arranging, recombining, rearranging of thoughts and behaviours into
coherent systems.
Adaptation: adjusting to the environment. So that we can do things better next time. Learning
through making mistakes.
Constructivist:
Assumes that children impose their concepts on the world to make sense of it. (Byrnes, 1996).
Using your own knowledge too make sense of the world you live in.
Children make sense of their environment and construct reality based on their capabilities at
this time.
Child is seen as a little scientist. Actively connecting things based on what you know.
To understand the world, children must form schemas about people, things, places and events.
Schemas:
Organised pattern of behaviour, repeatable and generalisable.
An internal representation of the world. Your idea of something that is in your world, what you
experience.
The basic actions of knowing
Both physical actions and mental actions; born with some schemas. Must learn others.
… so schemas develop with experience.
The idea of trajectory, letting something fall, pushing a ball, etc. direction, pressure.
Equilibration:
“Searching for balance”.
We want consistency between our internal mental structures and the external environment.
