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Stage theory of cognitive development (also known as developmental stage theory or genetic epistemology) was introduced by Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget in the 1950s. This theory describes development of cognitive processes which are key to understanding, but also constrains of learning. According to Piaget,
In 19472) Piaget has first introduced his four stages of human cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal, as they are described below. Ages describing when which stage occurs are the average values.
The importance of the Piaget's stage model are the constrains that stage of cognitive development sets on learning. These constrains mean that what can be learned depends on the current developmental stage. One should be taught to apply developed cognitive structures to new material, but to learn new strategies first the related cognitive structure has to evolve.
Piaget was also concerned with the instructional methodology for children where he was a proponent of:
Piaget's theory suggests that in order to make learning effective, learner's stage of the cognitive development needs to be taken into account or it all be just a waste of time. Aside from that, Piaget was mostly orientated on learning in
Piaget's theory also suggests that teachers should
What should also be taken into consideration is that although all children go through the same steps during their development, that do it at different rates. Educational process should therefore be more focused on individuals and small groups within a class than to the class as a whole unit.
A common criticism of Piaget's theory lies on the fact that nor him or coworkers didn't leave an instrument for diagnosing child's current stage of cognitive development. Still, as a border between preoperational period and operational period Piaget suggested conservation experiments. For example, two equal glasses filled with liquid are presented to a child, after which liquid out of one glass is poured into a third, more narrow glass. The child is then asked which glass holds more liquid. Only a child in the concrete- or formal-operational period should realize both glasses hold equal amount of liquid. According to Piaget's theory, these stage differences cannot be overcome using any kind of training.
But a number of experiments4) have proved the opposite. The child's ability to learn (at least for conservation concepts) is not so strictly defined by his current stage of cognitive development in accordance with Piaget's theory.
As the result criticisms of Piaget usually emphasized that,
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Piaget, J., Gruber, H.E. and Voneche, J.J. The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books. 1977.
Lourenço, O. and Machado, A. In defense of Piaget's theory: A reply to ten common criticisms. 1996.