UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
PRIMARY EDUCATION STUDIES
COURSE CODE: PES 30
COURSE TITLE: CHILD STUDY REPORT
LECTURER: DR FELICIA

S/N NAME MATRIC NO.

1. WASIU BARAKA KASALI 22D/204EFP/081
2. UMAR MARYAM OZI 22D/204EFP/086

QUESTION
SIGMUNG FREUD’S THEORY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT.
JEAN PIAGET’S COGNITIVE CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORY
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who lived from 1896 to 1980. He was
interested in how children learn and develop, and he is considered one of the most
influential psychologists of the 20th century. Piaget's theory is based on his
observations of children and how they learn and make sense of the world. He
proposed that children go through four stages of cognitive development.
Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory is a theory of how children develop
intellectually. It focuses on the idea that children learn through active exploration
and discovery. According to Piaget, children go through four stages of cognitive
development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational. In the sensorimotor stage, children learn through their senses and
motor skills. In the preoperational stage, children learn to use language and
symbols. In the concrete operational stage, children learn to understand concrete
concepts. And in the formal operational stage, children learn to think abstractly and
reason logically. Each stage builds on the one before it, and children progress
through the stages at different rates. This theory has been influential in the field of
child development, and it has led to new ways of thinking about how children learn
and develop.
1. The Sensorimotor Stage: This is the first stage, which lasts from birth to
about 2 years of age. In this stage, children learn about the world through
their senses and through their actions. They learn about cause and effect, and
they learn to use their bodies to explore and manipulate their environment.
They also learn about object permanence, which is the understanding that
objects still exist even when they can't be seen or heard.
 2. The preoperational stage: This stage lasts from about 2 to 7 years of age.
In this stage, children develop the ability to use language and symbols. They
learn to pretend and use their imagination. They also develop a sense of time
and space, and they begin to understand the concept of conservation, which
is the idea that an object remains the same even if it changes in size or shape.
However, children in this stage tend to have difficulty taking another
person's Perspective
3. The concrete operational stage: This stage lasts from about 7 to 11 years of
age. In this stage, children develop the ability to think logically about
concrete situations. They also become more aware of their own thoughts and
feelings, and they are able to understand the concept of conservation more
fully. Children in this stage can also solve problems in a logical manner and
understand cause and effect relationships. They still have difficulty
understanding abstract ideas, however.
4. The formal operational stage: This stage begins around age 11 and lasts
into adulthood. In this stage, people are able to think logically about abstract
concepts and to reason about hypothetical situations. They are also able to
think about their own thinking, which is called metacognition. In this stage,
people develop the ability to think in a systematic and logical way about
complex problems.
one of the key concepts in Piaget's theory is the idea of equilibrium. This is the
idea that children strive for balance between their experiences and their
understanding of the world. When there is a mismatch between these two things,
children will try to bring them back into balance by either changing their
experiences or by changing their understanding of the world. This process is called
accommodation and assimilation. These are two ways that children adapt to the
world around them.
To give an example of this process, let's say a child sees a snowman for the first
time. The child has never seen a snowman before, so this new experience is not in
balance with the child's existing knowledge. To bring the two into balance, the
child will accommodate by changing their understanding of the world to include
snowmen. The child might think that a snowman is a type of person, for example.
In this way, children gradually build up their understanding of the world as they
have new experiences.
Another example would be a child who has learned that birds can fly. Then, the
child sees a penguin for the first time. The child will recognize that the penguin is a
bird, but the penguin doesn't fly. This is a mismatch between the child's
understanding of birds and the new experience of seeing a penguin. To bring the
two into balance, the child might assimilate the penguin by deciding that penguins
are a special type of bird that doesn't fly. In this way, the child can make sense of
the new experience while still preserving their existing understanding of birds.
There are both positive and negative aspects to Piaget's theory. On the positive
side, it has helped us to understand how children's understanding of the world
develops and changes over time. This has been useful for parents and educators
who want to help children learn. It has also helped us to understand that children
are not just "miniature adults" with less knowledge, but that they have a different
way of thinking and understanding the world. On the negative side, some critics
say that Piaget's theory is too rigid and doesn't take into account individual
differences. Another criticism of Piaget's theory is that it doesn't account for the
role of culture in children's development. Children in different cultures may have
different experiences and learning opportunities, which can affect their
development. Piaget's theory also doesn't consider the role of language in children's
cognitive development. It's important to note that while Piaget's theory has some
limitations, it has still been influential and has led to further research and
understanding of children's development. It's also worth mentioning that his theory
was developed in the mid-20th century, and our understanding of child
development has evolved since then. in children's development. Well, one other
thing to consider is the impact of technology on children's development. Piaget's
theory was developed before the internet, smartphones, and other modern
technology existed. Today, children have access to a much wider range of
information and experiences than they did in Piaget's time. This can impact how
they learn and develop. For example, children may have access to more learning
materials online, but they may also be exposed to more inappropriate content. The
impact of technology on children's development is still being studied and debated.
REFERENCES
- The Construction of Reality in the Child" by Jean Piaget.
- Constructivist Foundations of Science Education" by Guy Brouwer
- The Cambridge Companion to Piaget" by Jeremy Burman.