Jean Piaget Reflection

Carrie Johnson

Constructivism is an epistemology, or a theory, used to explain how people know what they know. The basic idea is that problem solving is at the heart of learning, thinking, and development. s people solve problems and discover the conse!uences of their actions" through reflecting on past and immediate experiences"they construct their own understanding. #earning is thus an active process that re!uires a change in the learner. This is achieved through the activities the learner engages in, including the conse!uences of those activities, and through reflection. People only deeply understand what they have constructed. constructivist approach to learning and instruction has been proposed as an alternative to the ob$ectivist model, which is implicit in all behaviorist and some cognitive approaches to education. %b$ectivism sees knowledge as a passive reflection of the external, ob$ective reality. This implies a process of &instruction,& ensuring that the learner gets correct information. Piaget's most prominent contributions to education include his theories on cognitive developmental stages and his theory on how children inherently learn. ccording to Piaget, children learn through a process known as adaptation which is the ability to ad$ust to one's environment. Piaget has asserted that there are two main components to adaptation( assimilation and accommodation. ssimilation occurs when the child uses an old schema or skill out on a new ob$ect. )or instance, a child may typically place toys into his*her mouth. +hen confronted with a new toy such as a beach ball the child will use his old schema for toys which is to try to place the ball into his mouth. ccommodation, on the other hand, is when the child reali,es the old way will not work. )or instance, the beach ball will not fit into his mouth for sucking on. The child will have to ad$ust his prior schema to more suitably use the beach ball. -o no he may still &mouth& the beach ball but will not be able to activitely place the beach ball into his mouth. -o the child is either applying previously ac!uired skills to a new situation in order to understand it or ad$usting the skills or accommodating ac!uired skills to better understand a situation. nother key component of Piaget's learning theory is that in order for children to actively construct their knowledge and understand new content they must have the maturity re!uired to comprehend it. .ssentially, Piaget's theory implies that there is no sense in teaching material to a child until they reach a certain level of maturity because are not able to process it any earlier. /is theory provides an explanation, based on observation and research, on when children can understand certain material. /umans progress through a series of cognitive stages including the -ensor motor -tage which is when children are from ages ,ero to approximately 01 months. t 01 months they cognitively mature into the Preoperational -tage and this lasts until around age seven. These first two stages are primarily based around the theory that young children are highly egocentric or that they see that world as revolving around them or based on what they know. )rom the ages of seven until about 00 children are in what he refers to as the Concrete %perational -tage and from age 02 on through adulthood humans are in the )ormal %perations -tage. t this level children begin to understand the view points of

other people, however some people never mature far into this cognitive stage. Piaget's stages of cognitive development are controversial because many theorists believe the ages he suggests that the stages begin are too inflexible. 3any believe that children can, indeed, learn material ahead of their current maturity and that the level of understanding is based more on approach and material rather than solely on level of maturity.