Piaget+2011

=Jean Piaget (1896-1980) - The Father of Constructivism=

Figure 1: Source: [|www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html]

Background
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is considered one of the fathers, well, perhaps, //the// father of constructivism (Jean Piaget Society). Although he started his academic life in biology, he migrated to the field of cognitive psychology, specifically child/developmental psychology. He observed children and experimented with their learning abilities to develop groundbreaking theories about human cognitive development. In the early twentieth century, the prevailing philosophical view of cognitive development was that knowledge resided in the child’s mind, waiting to be discovered (Mcleod, 2009). Children’s cognitive processes were considered to be much as adult’s cognitive processes, merely undeveloped and unknown to us until the child began to talk.

**Piaget's work**
Piaget’s huge contribution to the understanding of children’s cognitive processes was to recognize that children actually perceive and think about the world differently from adults (von Glasersfeld, 1998). His theory centered around 4 stages of cognitive development he called //Schemas//. By identifying these stages in a child’s development, Piaget identified the child’s awakening understanding of the world and was able to suggest the most appropriate approach to instructing the child at each stage (Instructional Design>Learning Theories>Genetic Epistemology). (Piaget's Cognitive Stages, 1990)
 * **Schema** || **Approx. age range** || **Cognitive strengths** ||
 * Sensorimotor || 0-2 years || Child is aware of motor and reflex. Child’s thought processes are tied to senses and movement. ||
 * Preoperational || 2-7 years || Child develops language and uses symbols to represent objects. Child’s thinking is egocentric; he takes information and fits it into his view of the world. No real sense of time. ||
 * Concrete || 7 years to adolescence || Child begins to understand abstraction and can make judgments about phenomena separate from his own person or immediate environment. Child can process information and answer abstract questions. ||
 * Formal Operations || adolescence || Final stage: child develops hypothetical and deductive reasoning and can view information from various perspectives. ||

Child Development
The age ranges provided for Piaget’s schemas are averages and do vary for each child. The child passes from one schema to the next based on his ability to construct a bridge of understanding from his extremely egocentric view of his world to an increasing awareness of the larger world around him – the basis for the theory of constructivism (von Glasersfeld, 1998). As the child’s cognitive processes develop, he can relate broader concepts to the knowledge he’s already mastered and build an expanded concept of his world. From understanding only that which he can touch and see, the child develops language and understands symbolism, moving from the sensorimotor schema to the preoperational. As the child masters language and a sense of time passing, he begins to understand abstractions and sees that there is a world separate from his own experience, moving into the concrete phase, questioning and processing his broader view of the world. In adolescence, the child can make deductions and begin to hypothesize about the phenomena he observes bringing him into the final schema of formal operations.

Piaget's Contribution
Some scholars submit that Piaget considered his theories to be a framework for subsequent researchers to expand (Bond & Tryphon). And expand it they certainly have! Piaget’s work is still considered to be the foundation of cognitive psychology. Subsequent theorists either build on or test their hypotheses against Piaget’s work, cementing his contribution as foundational.

Vygotsky’s theory of social learning in particular builds on several elements of Piaget’s theory (Vygotsky Analyzes Piaget's Developmental Theory). Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development” strongly parallels Piaget’s observations about egocentrism in the young child. Vygotsky moves on to stipulate that learning is a social function, an idea that builds on the cognitive processes Piaget has stipulated. The young child’s exposure to society increases as he becomes more aware and mobile (Piaget), and these interactions influence and direct the child’s enquiries and theories of the world around him (Vygotsky).

Other learning theories tied to cognitive psychology and social learning similarly correspond to Piaget’s momentous documentation of child development. While some theorists dispute details of Piaget’s theories, nearly all learning theory developed since he published his work is constructed upon the foundation he built.