MODULE CHILD ADOLESCENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 5: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Objectives:
a.) Describe Piaget’s stages in your own word.
b.) Match learning activities to the learners’ cognitive stage.

Schema- Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the cognitive structure by which
individuals intellectually adapt too and organize environment. It is an individual’s way to
understand or create meaning about a thing experience.

Assimilation- cognitive structure by which individuals intellectually adapt too and

organize their environment. It is an individual’s way to understand or create meaning
about a thing experience.

Equilibration- Equilibration is achieving proper balance

between assimilation and accommodation. When our
experiences do not match our schemata (plural of schema)
cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium
this means there is a discrepancy between what is perceived
and what is understood. We then exert effort through
assimilation and accommodation to establish equilibrium

Page 1
 MODULE CHILD ADOLESCENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Cognitive Development

Stage 1. Sensori-motor Stage

The first stage corresponds for infancy. This is the stage when
a child who is initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and
reaching becomes more organized in his movement and
activity. The term sensori-motor focuses on the prominence of
the senses and muscle movement through which the infant
comes to learn, about him and the world.

 Object permanence
This is the ability of the child to know that and object still exists even when out of sight.
This ability is attained in the sensory motor stage.

Stage 2. Pre-operational Stage

The preoperational stage covers from about two to seven years old roughly
corresponding to the preschool years. Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature. At
this stage, the child can now make mental representations and is able to pretend the
child is now ever closer to the use of symbols. This stage is highlighted by the following:

 Symbolic Function
This is the ability to represent object and events. Symbolic function gradually develops
the period between 2 to 7 years. Reil, a two-year old may pretend that she is deinking
from a glass which is really empty. Though she already pretend the presence of water,
the glass remain to be a glass at around for years of age, Nico, may, after pretending to
drink from an empty glass, turn the glass into a rocket ship or a telephone.

 Egocentrism/Self centered
This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that
everyone also has his same point of view. The child cannot take the perspective of
others. You see this in five year-old boy who buys a toy truck for his mother’s birthday.
Or a three years old girl who cannot understand why her cousins call her daddy “uncle”
and not daddy

Page 2
 MODULE CHILD ADOLESCENT AND DEVELOPMENT

 Centration
This refers to the Tendency of the child only focus on one aspect of a thing or event and
include other aspects. For example, when a child is presented with two identical glasses
with the same amount of water, the child will say they have the same amount of water.
However, once water from one of the glasses s transferred to an obviously taller buy
narrow glass, the child might say that there is more water in the taller glass. The child
only focused or “centered” only one aspect for the new glass, that it is a taller glass.

 Irreversibility
Pre-operational children still have the inability to reverse their thinking. They can understand
that 2 + 3 is 5, but cannot understand 5-3 is 2.

 Animism
This is the tendency of children to attribute human lie traits or characteristics to inanimate
object. When at night, the child is asked, where the sun is, show will reply, “Mr. Sun is asleep.”

Stage 3. Concrete- Operational Stage

This stage is characterized by the ability of the child to think logically but only in term of
concrete objects. This covers approximately the ages between 8 - 11 years or the
elementary school years. The concrete operational stage is marked by the following:

 Decentering
This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects and
situations. No longer is the child focused or limited to one aspect or dimension. This
allows the child to e more logical when dealing with concrete objects and situations

 Reversibility
During the stage of concrete operations, the child can now follow that certain operation
cannot be reversed

 Conservation
This is the ability to know that certain properties of object like number, mas, volume, or
area do not change even if there is a change in appearance. The concrete operational
child can now judge rightly that the amount of water in a taller but narrower container is
still the same as when the water was in the shorter but wider glass.

Page 3
 MODULE CHILD ADOLESCENT AND DEVELOPMENT

 Seriation
This refer to the ability to order or arrange thins in a series based on one , dimension
such as weigh, volume or size.

Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage

In the final stage of formal operations covering ages
between 12 and 15 years, thinking becomes more
logical. They can now solve in general ideas or specific
problems and can educated guess. This stage is
characterized by the following.

 Hypothetical Reasoning
This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis about a problem and to gather and weigh
data in order to make a final devision or judgment. This can be done in the absence of concrete
objects, The individuals can now deal with “What if” questions.

 Analogical reasoning
Ability to perceive the relationship one instance and then use that relationship to narrow
down possible answer in another similar situation or problem.
The individual in the formal operation stage can make an analogy. If United Kingdom is
to Europe, then Philippines is to Asia. The individual will reason that since the UK is
found in the continent of Europe then the Philippines is found what continent?. Then
Asia is his answer. Through reflective thought and even in the absence of concrete
object the individual can now understand relationship and do analogical reasoning

 Deductive Reasoning
This is the ability to think logically by applying general rule to a particular instance or situation.
For example, all countries near the north pole have cold temperatures Greenland is near he
north pole. Therefore, Greenland has cold temperature

To know more about the Cognitive Development please click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u06yS0t2wyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhcgYgx7aAA&t=16s

Page 4