c
 


           ! 
"# 
  $
% &    ' ( ) @
 

      %% *+,*-

&

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of those who proposed the classical constructivist theories of
cognitive development. Piaget maintained that cognitive development is a continuous progression of
assimilation and accommodation and that these complementary processes lead to adaptation.
Knowledge is constructed progressively via a sequence of behaviours or mental operations, what
Piaget termed schemas. Piaget proposed that children develop mental representations of the world
based on physical or mental actions, which they execute on the environment.

Piaget (1990) described four stages of intellectual development: the sensori-motor, the pre-
operational, the concrete operational, and the formal operational stage. As a result, knowledge is
constructed in order and the child ± regardless of social background í must pass through each stage of
cognitive development in succession. These stages dictate the child¶s cognitive ability. Children at the
pre-operational stage, for example, are said to be unable to conserve. They fail to recognize that a
quantity will remain unchanged if it is presented differently. Moreover, Piaget claimed that young
children¶s egocentrism prevents the realization that other people possess a different mental
perspective. This egocentrism can be observed in young children¶s use of language. The pre-
operational child is unable to decentre and therefore participates in egocentric speech.

The task to demonstrate the children egocentrism was first originated by Piaget, It called the
Mountain task. In this tasks the child is shown a three dimensional model of three mountains. They
are different sizes and colours and have different features (e.g. a cross, a house, some snow). After
the child has seen these models a doll is introduced. The doll is placed so that it is µlooking¶ at the
model from a different position from the child¶s. The child is asked what the doll can see, and
indicates its answer by choosing one from a range of pictures, each showing the mountains from a
different point of view.

Piaget and Inhelder (1956) found that four year-olds almost always chose a picture that represented
what they could see and showed no awareness that the doll¶s view would be different from this. Six
year-olds frequently chose a picture different from their own view but rarely chose the correct picture
for the doll¶s point of view. Only at seven or eight years old did children consistently choose the
picture that matched the doll¶s viewpoint however Martin Hughes