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Michele Banycky Theorist paper: Jean Piaget It was once believed that children simply were inferior thinkers to adults because they did not know concepts easily grasped by adults. Looking for a deeper explanation to the childrens wrong answers, Jean Piaget developed his theory on the way children learn which revealed a whole new perspective on the amazing ability of the growing human brain. The history of Piaget shows dedication to his work; his theoretical ideas helped shape the modern day childcare practices, and ultimately affect the way that individuals will shape their own philosophy of teaching. Piaget, born August 9 of 1896, had been scientifically studying the way things worked since he was eleven and had his scientific notes published. He later finished his natural science studies and moved onto psychoanalysis. His Godfather was credited with introducing him to philosophy, thus his biology and epistemology [knowledge] were merged to form a base for his theories. His dedication to knowledge was part of his daily routine; he awoke at four every morning and wrote approximately four publishable pages before he taught lectures or attended meetings. New York Times once referred to him as the man whose theories were "as liberating and revolutionary as Sigmund Freud's earlier insights into the stages of human emotional life. Many have hailed him as one of the country's most creative scientific thinkers." (Encyclopedia of World Biography )During 1920 he developed standardized reasoning tests, but after a string of incorrect answers he decided that these tests were too rigid for younger children to fully understand. This led him to delve deeper into the different stages of development and the ways children learn. To further his reputation and scientific works he was director of research, codirector, and assistant director at the Jean Jacques Rousseau School where he was also professor

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of scientific thought (1929-1939). Even though he had many scientific resources available he found an abundance of information from his own children. While observing his children he was able to construct a theory about the process of cognitive development and the stages. Behavior is controlled through mental organizations called schemas that the individual uses to represent the world and designate action (Huitt and Hummel). Children are able to construct knowledge through actively participating in their learning. Being involved in problem- setting and problem-solving activities they are carrying out a learning process that Piaget developed within his theory; adaptation, schemes, assimilation, accommodation, and finally equilibrium. Following this learning process with a child learning to get dressed in the morning they would begin with an initial scheme of prior knowledge, they may know how to put on elastic band pants but havent put on zippered pants yet. The prior knowledge of putting on shorts and allows the child to put the outfit on and try to use a zipper for the first time through the adaptation process. Assimilation allows the child to build on this knowledge of getting dressed to being proficient at zipping and buttoning pants. Accommodation would happen when the child puts on their pants and uses their knowledge of the pants buttons to button their shirt buttons. During the assimilation and accommodation process there can be an equilibrium or disequilibrium depending on how well the child processes information. If the child was not able to button the shirt based from the prior knowledge of buttoning pants then he may become frustrated with the disequilibrium between his assimilation and accommodation of the skill. This most likely would happen if the buttons on the pants were drastically different from the ones on the shirt, modifications may need to be made to allow for an easier learning process. If he was able to fluidly master the skill then there would have been equilibrium. (Morrison)

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Another set of ideas that Piaget is known for are his stages of intellectual development; Sensorimotor, Preoperational, and Concrete Operations. The first stage of Sensorimotor ranges from birth to approximately two years of age during this stage senses are a major factor. The major characteristics of the sensorimotor stage are dependence on and use of innate reflexive actions, initial development of object permanency, egocentricity, dependence on concrete representations rather than symbols, and closer to the second year less of a dependence on sensorimotor and beginning use of symbols for things that arent present. The second preoperational stage begins at two and ends around age seven where representation, conservation, and egocentrism come into play. Representation is where children develop the ability to use symbols to represent objects and events; a picture of a fire truck can relate to a fire truck down the street from them in reality. Conservation is a skill they have not mastered which is evident in an experiment that has been performed many times since the initial findings of Piaget. The experiment begins with two equally sized clear glasses, or some form of container, and a liquid. The liquid is measured to be equal in each glass and shown to the child; the child is then asked if they believe that these two containers hold the same or equal amounts of liquid. Then a third container is introduced that may be taller and more narrow than the first two; when the liquid is poured into this new container from one of the first, the same question is asked to the child who has witnessed this entire process. The child will insist that the container with the higher liquid level has more than the first container. They cannot grasp the concept that the height or size does not change the beginning amount of liquid, and that they are in fact still equal amounts. (Sharp)

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Egocentrism is evident when the child is telling a story or trying to process information with selftalk (where they ask themselves questions). Concrete operations are the third stage of development which ranges from age seven to approximately age twelve. Within this concrete operational stage children use mental images and symbols, during the thought process, and can reverse operations. Some other kinds of mental operations that happen during this stage of development are one-to-one correspondence, classification of objects, events, and time according to certain characteristics. Classification involving multiple properties and class inclusive operations are also a part of this stage. One to one correspondence is useful when classmates are gathering items they will need, such as everyone needs a napkin and a cup. Within my own approach to teaching I am still developing different ways to teach children; however, developing developmentally appropriate activities that allow the students to build towards later goals is one way that I want to apply Piagets concepts. Piagets stages of intellectual development are a guideline that I can use to develop my lesson plan for the ages within my room. The stage of intellectual development that I mainly work with is the Preoperational stage. During this stage providing time for puzzles, counting, and molding clay along with other manipulative items would be appropriate. Language opportunities with reading, speaking, and writing are other ways to incorporate developmentally appropriate practices into my lesson plans. I love doing hands on activities and planning out time for the students to master the skills at their own pace; the joy that they get from doing activities on their own is something I could never teach, but it happens naturally when they finally master the skill they have been working towards. Learning more about his constructivist learning theory can help me if a student is having a problem building on prior knowledge. They may become quickly frustrated and not know exactly what is wrong to tell me in their own words, having this prior knowledge of their

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developmental stage allow me to have a more insightful perspective as to why they are having difficulty. The main reason that I chose to focus on Piaget and continue to keep his stages of development close at hand when thinking about my own teaching practices stems from the framework that those developmental stages provide. Being new to the teaching field this allows me to feel confident that my activities will best suit the age group that I am working with and that those students will have the best opportunity to succeed.

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Works Cited
Encyclopedia of World Biography . "Jean Piaget ." 1998. Gale . Biography . 2013. Huitt, W and J Hummel. "Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development." 2003. ed psyc interactive. electronic report . 2013. Morrison, Georger S. Early Childhood Education Today. New Jersey : Pearson, 2012. New Catholic Encyclopedia. "Jean Piaget." 2003. Gale . Biography . 2013. Sharp, Gwen PhD. "Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development: Experiments with Kids." 2009. the society pages . Electronic Article . 2013.