Piagetian and the 3-6 Year Montessori Child
Child Development Instructor: Catherine Dwyer Report and Reflection on Piagetian Tasks Abstract
Marni Kaplan-Earle NEMTEC 2010
“I have some works here, with which I need some help. Would you like to help me?” My invitation to Max, Sophie, Christian and Kate accepted, I proceeded to share, challenge, interview, and observe. The tasks I presented illustrated the phenomena of cognitive development in early childhood, the stage Jean Piaget calls preoperational. While Piaget refers to his developmental theory in “stages” he does not feel that the stages happen at specific times but that they are sequential and one depends on the previous. The distinguishing characteristics of the preoperational stage stand as barriers to logic and the challenges to cognitive thinking and growth. They will be broken down as the child moves toward a more mature stage. These characteristics include: egocentrism, transductive reasoning, centration, Irreversibility, Animism, Inability to distinguish appearance from reality. With physical experience, social growth and interaction the child addresses these barriers and moves past them. This process is an internal one, influenced by the child’s immediate environment, but cannot be changed through abstract explanations, repetition, reading, or demonstration without the element of hands-on practice. Experiment I: Conservation of Volume The Fluffy Factor Materials: •Two identical natural zippered pillow cases, both square, both natural muslin, both ironed to a smooth and crisp appearance •Two 12 x 3 inch lengths of red hand-dyed combed wool batting •scissors, ruler In each interaction with individual children, the venue was set up as any new lesson: teacher on dominant side of the child, work on the table in front, materials presented on a tray and then moved to the table for working. I chose this set up rather than sitting opposite the child to maintain the intimacy already established in our classroom relationship. The
Set up:
child
Marni Kaplan-Earle NEMTEC 2010
“I have some works here, with which I need some help. Would you like to help me?” My invitation to Max, Sophie, Christian and Kate accepted, I proceeded to share, challenge, interview, and observe. The tasks I presented illustrated the phenomena of cognitive development in early childhood, the stage Jean Piaget calls preoperational. While Piaget refers to his developmental theory in “stages” he does not feel that the stages happen at specific times but that they are sequential and one depends on the previous. The distinguishing characteristics of the preoperational stage stand as barriers to logic and the challenges to cognitive thinking and growth. They will be broken down as the child moves toward a more mature stage. These characteristics include: egocentrism, transductive reasoning, centration, Irreversibility, Animism, Inability to distinguish appearance from reality. With physical experience, social growth and interaction the child addresses these barriers and moves past them. This process is an internal one, influenced by the child’s immediate environment, but cannot be changed through abstract explanations, repetition, reading, or demonstration without the element of hands-on practice. Experiment I: Conservation of Volume The Fluffy Factor Materials: •Two identical natural zippered pillow cases, both square, both natural muslin, both ironed to a smooth and crisp appearance •Two 12 x 3 inch lengths of red hand-dyed combed wool batting •scissors, ruler In each interaction with individual children, the venue was set up as any new lesson: teacher on dominant side of the child, work on the table in front, materials presented on a tray and then moved to the table for working. I chose this set up rather than sitting opposite the child to maintain the intimacy already established in our classroom relationship. The
Set up:
child