Child Development Theory

1. Jean Piaget

1.1. Referred to as "Genetic Epistimoligst"

1.2. Scientist who studies how knowledge begins and develops in individuals

1.3. believed a child’s development from one stage to another was a gradual process of interacting with the environment.

2. Implications for Education

2.1. Piaget himself repeatedly expressed lack of interest in how much his work applied to school-based education, calling it the "American Question." He pointed out that much learning occurs without any formal instruction, as a result of the child interacting with the environment.

3. Implications for Technology Integration

3.1. Some teacher find using visual resources such as Logo and simulations can help raise developmental levels more quickly than they normally would not have been able to understand until they were older.

3.2. Other educators feel that young children should experience things in "the real world" before seeing them represented in the more abstract ways such as software.

4. Four Stage of Cognitive Development

4.1. Sensorimotor Stage (From birth to about age 2)

4.2. Preoperational Stage (From about age 2 to about age 7)

4.3. Concrete Operational Stage (From about age 7 to about age 11)

4.4. Formal Operational Stage (From about age 12 to about age 15)

5. Processes of Adaptation

5.1. Assimilation

5.1.1. The child fits new experiences into his or her existing view of the world

5.2. Accommodation

5.2.1. The child changes the schema or view of the world to incorporate the new experiences