Child Development

Essay synopsis Essay question: Jean Pigged proposed a step-wise sequence to mental development during childhood. Provide an overview of Piglet’s core Ideas, discussing evidence for and against these Ideas. Jean Pigged (1869-1980) started to Investigate children’s development after two years of working with children In Planet’s lab (Eddy, 2010). He found that children of younger aged gave different answers than those of alder age not because they have less knowledge but because they thought differently.

He describes development as sequence of stages and each of these stages represents different type of thinking occurs in variable ages in different background (Vidal, 2000) Focal point- children have all the cognitive mechanisms to learn by constantly react with their environment. Experiences also play an very Important formative role in children’s development. Pigged (1985) says that experience engenders disequilibrium and eventually a higher state of equilibrium.

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Some underlying principle behind Piglet’s theory: * Schema: cognitive structures or trademarks that represent certain aspect to the world and to help Individuals understand the world they Inhibit. * Adaptation: the recess that builds and adapts our schemes through interaction with environment. * Oscillation: a process that takes in substances and stimulations or Incorporates/ fits new Information into pre-existing schema (Read, 1997). * Accommodation: this happens when the existing schema does not work and changes are needed to adapt better to the assimilated reality (Read, 1997).

The four stages of Piglet’s theory of cognitive development: 1 _ The seniority stage (0-2 years): Develop the ability to make sense of the world by using their senses ad motor abilities. 2. Operational stage (2-7 years): begin to develop motor skills UT still lacks of understanding of conservation of physical properties. Hellman and Agleam (1992) claim that young children by age 3 or 4, they see people as processing beliefs, desires, thoughts and images as well as emotional reactions. 3. Concrete operational stage (7-11 years): child able to think logically 4.

Formal operational stage (1 1 years- ): able to manage higher order reasoning. (Read, 1997) * Describe each of the stages with more details. ; Critically discuss the stages to Piglet’s theory. Strength of Piglet’s theory This theory changes the way that people thinks the child’s mind and his work increases Interest In child development and it Is very useful as practical application to the real world such as education and development psychology(Cherry, 2013). Further the understanding of cognitive development and children.

Weakness Some nave SAA d that children are more precocious than what Piglet’s proposed Pigged underestimated children’s abilities (Cherry, 2013). Some claim that Piglet’s did not include intervention into account. He did not consider about the importance of social influence of an adult. The aspects in Piglet’s step-wise model are strict and rigid. Besides, Cherry (2013) states that research show that all children will automatically move to next stage of development but not through environmental factors. References Cherry, A (2013).