Tuguegarao Archdiocesan Schools System
Saint Joseph’s College of Baggao, Inc.
Baggao, Cagayan, Philippines
Transforming Lives, Shaping the Future
Module No. 5
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Course Title The Child and Adolescent Learners and Course Code EDUC102
Learning Principles
Instructor Melchor S. Baniaga Jr. Term and AY 1st Sem, AY 2020-2021
I. Overview
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a classic in the field of educational psychology.
This theory fueled other researchers and theories of development and learning. Its focus is on how individuals
construct knowledge.
II. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
a. Describe Piaget’s stages in your own words
b. Conduct/create a simple Piagetian task interview with children
III. Learning Resources and References
Corpuz B, Lucas M, Borado, H and Lucido P, (2018) The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning
Principles, Philippines.
IV. Lecture Content/Summary of Lesson
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages
of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also
on understanding the nature of intelligence.
Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several Ways:
It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.
It focuses on development, rather than learning per se, so it does not address learning of information or
specific behaviors.
It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather than a gradual
increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc.
The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child,
develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.
To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of
biological maturation and environmental experience.
Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between
what they already know and what they discover in their environment.
There are Three Basic Components to Piaget's Cognitive Theory:
Schemas (building blocks of knowledge).
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Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another (equilibrium, assimilation, and
accommodation).
Stages of Cognitive Development:
a. sensorimotor,
b. preoperational,
c. concrete operational,
d. formal operational.
Schemas
Imagine what it would be like if you did not have a mental model of your world. It would mean that you
would not be able to make so much use of information from your past experience or to plan future actions.
Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models and enable us to form a mental
representation of the world. Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as: "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence
possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning."
Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation
(adjustment) to the world. This happens through:
Assimilation
– Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
Accommodation
– This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work and needs to be changed to deal with a
new object or situation.
Equilibration
– This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did not
progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.
Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation.
However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing
schemas (assimilation).
Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will
seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired
the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an
adjustment to it.
Example of Assimilation: A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his
head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler
shouts “Clown, clown” (Siegler et al., 2003).
Example of Accommodation: In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained
to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a
clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to
make people laugh.
The Stages
Through his observations of his children, Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development
that included four distinct stages:
The Sensorimotor Stage
Ages: Birth to 2 Years
Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
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The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening
Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)
They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them
The main achievement during this stage is object permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if
it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e., a schema) of the object.
The Preoperational Stage
Ages: 2 to 7 Years
Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.
Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.
While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very
concrete terms.
At this stage, the child can now make mental representations and is able to pretend, the child is now ever
closer to the use of symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following:
Symbolic Function. This is the ability to represent objects and events. A symbol is a thing that
represents something else. A drawing, a written word, or a spoken word comes to be understood as representing
a real object like a real MRT train. Symbolic function gradually develops in the period between 2 to 7 years.
Example, Riel, a two-year old may pretend that she is drinking from a glass which is really empty. Though she
already pretends the presence of water, the glass remains to be a glass. At around four years of age, however,
Nico, may, after pretending to drink from an empty glass, turn the glass into a rocket ship or a telephone. By the
age of 6 or 7 the child can pretend play with objects that exist only in his mind. Enzo, who is six, can do a
whole ninja turtle routine without any costume nor "props." Tria, who is seven can pretend to host an elaborate
princess ball only in her mind.
Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone
also has his same point of view. The child cannot take the perspective of others. You see this in five year-old
boy who buys a toy truck for his mother's birthday. Or a three year old girl who cannot understand why her
cousins call her daddy "uncle" and not daddy.
Centration. This refers to the tendency of the child to only focus on one aspect of a thing or event and
exclude other aspects. For example, when a child is presented with two identical glasses with the same amount
of water, the child will say they have the same amount of water. However, once water from one of the glasses is
transferred to an obviously taller but narrower glass, the child might say that there is more water in the taller
glass. The child only focused or "centered” only one aspect of the new glass, that it is a taller glass. The child
was not able to perceive that the new glass is also narrower. The child only centered on the height of the glass
and excluded the width in determining the amount of water in the glass.
Irreversibility. Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their thinking. They can
understand that 2 + 3 is 5, but cannot understand that 5-3 is 2.
Animism. This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or characteristics to inanimate
objects. When at night, the child is asked, where the sun is, she will reply, “Mr. Sun is asleep."
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Transductive reasoning. This refers to the pre-operational child's type of reasoning that is neither
inductive nor deductive. Reasoning appears to be from particular to particular i.e., if A causes B, then B causes
A. For example, since her mommy comes home everyday around six o'clock in the evening, when asked why it
is already night, the child will say, “because my mom is already home."
The Concrete Operational Stage
Ages: 7 to 11 Years
Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes
During this stage, children begin to think logically about concrete events
They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is
equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle
The concrete operational stage is marked by the following:
Decentering. This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects and
situations. No longer is the child focused or limited to one aspect or dimension. This allows the child to be more
logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations.
Reversibility. During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now follow that certain operations
can be done in reverse. For example, they can already comprehend the commutative property of addition, and
that subtraction is the reverse of addition. They can also understand that a ball of clay shaped into a dinosaur
can again be rolled back into a ball of clay
Conservation. This is the ability to know that certain properties of objects like number, mass, volume,
or area do not change even if there is a change in appearance. Because of the development of the child's ability
of decentering and also reversibility, the concrete operational child can now judge rightly that the amount of
water in a taller but narrower container is still the same as when the water was in the shorter but wider glass.
The children progress to attain conservation abilities gradually being a pre-conserver, a transitional thinker and
then a conserver.
Seriation. This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series based on one dimension such as
weight, volume or size.
The Formal Operational Stage
Ages: 12 and Up
Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical
problems
Abstract thought emerges
Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require
theoretical and abstract reasoning
Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information
They can now solve abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is characterized by the following:
Hypothetical Reasoning. This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis about a problem and
to gather and weigh data in order to make a final decision or judgment. This can be done in the absence of
concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “What if" questions.
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Analogical reasoning. This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance and then use that
relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar situation or problem. The individual in the
formal operations stage can make an analogy. If United Kingdom is to Europe, then Philippines is to ____. The
individual will reason that since the UK is found in the continent of Europe then the Philippines is found in
what continent? Then Asia is his answer. Through reflective thought and even in the absence of concrete
objects, the individual can now understand relationships and do analogical reasoning.
Deductive Reasoning. This is the ability to think logically by applying a general rule to a particular
instance or situation. For example, all countries near the north pole have cold temperatures. Greenland is near
the North pole. Therefore, Greenland has cold temperature.
V. Learning Activities
This activity focuses on a story involving the interaction of family members. Choose a story you want to
use for this activity. It can be from a story you have read or a movie or "telenovela” that you watched or plan to
watch or an interview to your neighbor. Use the matrix below to relate the characters to Piaget's stages of
cognitive development.
Title of Story/Movie:_____________________
Write a brief summary of the story:___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
_
Character Description
Father: What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
Mother: What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
Children (1): What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
(2): What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
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(3): What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
Other Characters: What is his/her stage of cognitive development?
Examples: Cite instances why you say s/he is in this stage. (what she thought
of, how she thought, his/her reactions and attitudes)
VI. Supplemental Context
Educational Implications
Piaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have explained
how features of Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning.
Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice. For
example, a review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on Piaget’s theory.
The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden report (1967).
Discovery learning – the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring - was seen as
central to the transformation of the primary school curriculum.
'The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play
in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of
children's progress - teachers should 'not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.'
Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of 'readiness' is
important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to Piaget's
theory children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive
development.
According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive
one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered.
Within the classroom learning should be student-centered and accomplished through active discovery
learning. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition.
VII. Assessment
From the module on Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, I realized that…
____________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
VIII. Assignment
Write a mnemonics of the four stages of cognitive development and give meaning to them by giving key
words to each of them in order for you to easily remember.
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