Name: Richel R.

Flores MAEE 111- Student

Choose one topic from the discussion then write your learnings. Cite some possible ways to
apply your learnings to your classroom.
Jean Piaget’s Theory which is the cognitive development has garnered much attention within
the field of education. One contribution of Piaget’s theory concerns the developmental
stages of children’s cognition.
Cognitive development is the mergence of the ability to think and understand. The
acquisition of the ability to think, reason and problem solve. It is the process by which
peoples thinking changes across the life span. Piaget studied cognitive development by
observing children in particular, to examine how their thought processes changed with age. It
is the growing apprehension and adaptation to the physical and social environment.
Cognitive development is gradual and orderly changes by which mental process becomes
more complex and sophisticated. The essential development of cognition is the
establishment of new schemes.
Jean Piaget identified four primary stages of development: the sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operational and formal operational.
In the sensorimotor stage, an infants mental and cognitive attributes develop from birth until
the appearance of language. At this stage children have the ability to link numbers to object.
Teachers of this stage should design an activity that incorporate counting and thus enhance
children’s conceptual development of number. For example, teachers can present real object
and help them count it. And also, it is better that learners can see pictures of objects and
their respective numbers.
In pre-operational stage, children should engage with problem solving tasks that incorporate
available materials. Teaching learners in this stage of development should employ effective
questioning about characterizing objects. Inside the classroom teacher can prepare activities
about shapes. The teacher will provide different shapes and let them group them according
to shapes. Then teacher can reinforce questions like “How did you decide where each object
belonged? Engaging in discussion on interactions with the children may engender the
children’s discovery of the variety of ways to group objects.
The third stage is the concrete operation stage it is characterized by remarkable cognitive
growth, when children’s development of language and acquisition of basic skills accelerate
dramatically. Hands- on experiences and multiple ways of representing a topic to the learner
can be ways of fostering the development of this cognitive stage. For example, in
mathematics subject, we teachers can use manipulatives materials like counters, dice, Rubik
cubes and also have the activities like paper folding and cutting of papers. As these
activities, they acquire experiences that help lay the foundation for more mathematical
thinking.
The last stage is the formal operations stage, the child typically begins to develop abstract
thought patterns where reasoning is executed. Reasoning skills within this stage refer to the
mental process involved in the generalizing and evaluating of logical arguments.
Lastly, teachers could benefit from understanding the levels at which their learners are
functioning and should try to ascertain their students’ cognitive levels to adjust their teaching
accordingly. The knowledge of Piaget’s stages helps the teacher understand the cognitive
development of the child as the teacher plans stage -appropriate activities to keep learners
active.