Piaget Essay
Excelsior Community College
PSY235 Life Spam and Development
Piaget’s Theories: Educational Principles and Preoperational Stage Limitations
Tatiane Boyd
March 20, 2015
Educational Principles Derived from Piaget’s Theory
Educational principles derived from Piaget’s theory continue on having a major impact on both teacher training and classroom practices. His theories have influenced a number of educational principles, especially at the preschool and early primary levels. (Beck, L. 2014) His theory of cognitive development focuses on how learners interact with their environment to develop complex reasoning and knowledge and the relevance of his ideas for the education of children is one of the major reasons causing his work to be especially attractive. Discovery learning; sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn and acceptance of individual differences in developmental process are three educational principles derived from Piaget’s theory.
According to Piaget, appropriate learning experiences build on children’s current level of cognitive functioning, however, only when teachers appreciate children’s methods of arriving at particular conclusions are they in a position to provide such experiences. (Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theories. Page 41). For these reasons, in a classroom, in accordance with Piaget, the focus should be on children’s thinking, not just its products. Children should be encouraged to discover and learn for themselves through a visual and practical interaction with the subject. To be encouraged to discover for themselves; to explore and interact with the environment. Piaget believed that children are not an empty vessel which need to be filled up with someone else’s knowledge, yet, children should be considered active builders of the knowledge and should be encouraged to use their imagination and more importantly, to think for themselves. So, in a classroom, instead of providing only ready-made material to the
PSY235 Life Spam and Development
Piaget’s Theories: Educational Principles and Preoperational Stage Limitations
Tatiane Boyd
March 20, 2015
Educational Principles Derived from Piaget’s Theory
Educational principles derived from Piaget’s theory continue on having a major impact on both teacher training and classroom practices. His theories have influenced a number of educational principles, especially at the preschool and early primary levels. (Beck, L. 2014) His theory of cognitive development focuses on how learners interact with their environment to develop complex reasoning and knowledge and the relevance of his ideas for the education of children is one of the major reasons causing his work to be especially attractive. Discovery learning; sensitivity to children’s readiness to learn and acceptance of individual differences in developmental process are three educational principles derived from Piaget’s theory.
According to Piaget, appropriate learning experiences build on children’s current level of cognitive functioning, however, only when teachers appreciate children’s methods of arriving at particular conclusions are they in a position to provide such experiences. (Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theories. Page 41). For these reasons, in a classroom, in accordance with Piaget, the focus should be on children’s thinking, not just its products. Children should be encouraged to discover and learn for themselves through a visual and practical interaction with the subject. To be encouraged to discover for themselves; to explore and interact with the environment. Piaget believed that children are not an empty vessel which need to be filled up with someone else’s knowledge, yet, children should be considered active builders of the knowledge and should be encouraged to use their imagination and more importantly, to think for themselves. So, in a classroom, instead of providing only ready-made material to the
References: 1. Berk, L. (2014). Physical Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood. In Development through the Lifespan (Sixth ed., p. 228-233). Boston: Pearson. 2. Cherry, K. (n.d.). Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development. Retrieved March 16, 2015, from http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/p/preoperational.htm 3. Educational Implications of Piaget 's Theory from Pearson: Educational Psychology Theory and Practice. (Chapter 2, Page 41). Retrieved on March 16, 2014, from http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_slavin_edpsych_8/38/9951/2547688.cw/content/ 4. Piaget 's Theory of Cognitive Development from Education Portal. Retrieved on November 8th, 2014 from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/piagets-theory-of-cognitive-development.html#lesson