Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development

Overview

Schemas, assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium, the four stages, object permanence, egocentrism and the three mountains task, conservation, and the theory's evaluation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What did Piaget claim about the way children's thinking develops?

   Model answer

   Piaget claimed that all children pass through four stages in the same fixed order. The stages are sensorimotor (0–2), pre-operational (2–7), concrete operational (7–11) and formal operational (11+).

2. 2

   What is a schema, in Piaget's theory?

   Model answer

   A schema is a mental structure holding everything a child knows about an object, action or idea. Schemas grow more complex as the child develops.

3. 3

   What is assimilation?

   Model answer

   Assimilation is fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema.

4. 4

   What is accommodation?

   Model answer

   Accommodation is changing an existing schema, or creating a new one, because new information does not fit.

5. 5

   A toddler who knows the word 'dog' sees a cow and calls it a dog. Which process is this?

   Model answer

   The toddler is assimilating the cow into the existing dog schema.

6. 6

   A child learns that the animal she called a dog is actually a cow, and forms a new category for cows. Which process is this?

   Model answer

   The child is using accommodation, because her dog schema has been changed and a new cow schema created.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.