Piaget’s Constructivism

1. Piaget’s Constructivism Early Years Lecture 4

2. Previously…. • Bowlby’s ‘ethological’ theory - internal working model of appropriate interaction behaviour. • Gibson’s ‘ecological’ theory - structure of the world is out there to be discovered through perceptual affordances ....’passive’ infants?

3. Where is the child? • Children extremely active • Constrained only by physical development? • Where is the child-world interaction in the developmental process? • Just why do children struggle to comes to term with the world - why does it take so long? • How might intervention - e.g., education - come into play?

4. This lecture • Introduce ‘constructivist’ view • Introduce Piaget • Outline Piaget’s theory of development • Implications of Piaget’s theory for education

5. What is Constructivism? • Development is the combined result of: • maturation of the brain and nervous system. • experiences that help children adapt to new environments. • adaptation = an organism’s ability to fit with its environment. • children are active participants in constructing their own sense of the world. …structure is interpreted > beyond perception > cognition

6. Jean Piaget • Not a psychologist? - Philosopher with biological background. • Interested in epistemology - the nature of knowledge: how is it possible to know something? • Genetic epistemology = emergence of knowledge. • Experimental epistemology > testing hypotheses. • Knowledge is not a state to be ‘soaked up’ from the environment, it is the result of constant interaction between ourselves and the world we live in - we interpret the environment.

7. In short - as label implies, knowledge is actively constructed through sensory perception AND action • physically interacting with the environment teaches you something about the nature of that environment

8. How and why do infants develop? According to Piaget • Born without any identifiable intellectual structure but with functional invariants that determine how interactions occur. • Functional invariant # 1 = structural organization • Cognitive structure = schema (pl.schemata/schemes). schema = your understanding/knowledge of X • Schemata - through interacting with the world - become differentiated due to experience; cognitive structure changes.

9. How and why do infants develop? Functional invariant # 1 Example Infants have… ……schema for grasping ……schema for sucking Structure self-organizes separate schemata into a higher order schema of action (grasp blanket-then suck).

10. How and why do infants develop? Functional invariant # 2 Adaptation = assimilation + accommodation Twin processes modify schemata

11. How and why do infants develop? Twin processes modify schemes Assimilation = where new experience fits with schema e.g., grasping for teddy fits schema for grasping rattle (action and outcome are similar). i.e., the grasping schema is extended to new items that can also be grasped; schema does not equate simply to grasp + rattle > adjustment on the part of the cognitive system

12. How and why do infants develop? Twin processes modify schemes Accommodation New experience doesn’t fit with schema e.g., grasping for football does not have the same outcome as grasping for rattle > a new approach is needed - grasping with two hands > adjustment on the part of the cognitive system

13. How and why do infants develop? ...different types of adjustment... Assimilation > modifies understanding of world (i.e., X fits with my knowledge of Y.... X and Y are similar) Accommodation > modifies existing schema/ demands new - separate - schema (i.e., schema is either extended to accommodate X or new schema for Y created)

14. How and why do infants develop? Organization + Adaptation > Equilibrium Reality appears to fit with what’s known... ....cognitive system is in a state of equilibrium Development = triggered by disequilibrium i.e., the human infant is a self-correcting organism..it doesn’t like being in disequilibrium. Development is therefore... Equilibrium>disequilibrium>Equilibrium>disequilibrium..

15. Piaget’s cognitive-structural theory • Stage theory of development - older children think qualitatively differently to younger children • 4 stages: • Stage 1: Sensori-motor Period (0-2 years) • Stage 2: Pre-operational stage (2-7 years) • Stage 3: Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) • Stage 4: Formal Operational Stage (11+ years) • theory allows for variation within stages but not between; the sequence is fixed

16. Development in Sensori-Motor period Out of sight = out of mind 0-8 months. Toy hidden under cloth - infants do not search for it (i.e, existence/location of toy perceived relative to self-action). 8-12 months. Infant searches (i.e, location of toy relative to location of cloth) but is stumped if hiding place is changed (A- not-B error). 12-18 months. Object concept > search space. 18-24 months. Object permanence. Mental representation ≠ seeing/doing.

17. Sensori-motor stage: Summary • Action = learning. • Schemes are coordinated. • Infants recognize causality; actions have results > different actions = different results. • Loss of solipsism. Infants begin to recognize that the world is independent of their behaviour (i.e., that things do not only exist when they can be seen). The object ≠ grasping the object.

18. 2 - Pre-operational stage • Sometimes shown as 2 parts: [1] pre-conceptual (2-4); [2] intuitive (4-6/7) Thinking governed by perception (e.g., if something looks bigger > more of it)

19. 2 - Pre-operational stage ...also egocentric remember the drawings of a cup in lecture 1? children under 8 can’t resist drawing what they know. Piaget used ‘3-mountains’ and conservation tasks

20. 3-mountains Q. Are children able to identify which of the photographs - from a selection - represents the view of someone on another side of the table? (i.e., do they appreciate another perspective?)

21. 3-mountains view from here.... ...or here? Child’s view

22. Return to peekaboo... • Everyday example of egocentrism hide & seek > child hides own eyes/turns away in the apparent belief that others cannot see him/her

23. Symbols • Thought is not yet ‘operational’.... ...but the emergence of symbolism is on the road to the operational stage! e.g., grasping imaginary steering wheel & vocalizing ‘VrooOOm’ indicates an emerging concept of ‘driving’

24. Conservation • Volume, Number, Weight • Specific properties remain constant despite perceptual change... e.g., Volume in Beaker ‘A’ = Volume in Beaker ‘B’

25. Conservation e.g., Volume in Beaker ‘A’ = Volume in Beaker ‘B’ Conservation of volume @ 11 years (Number @6) A B

26. 3 - Concrete operational stage End of pre-operational stage.... • Able to conserve (number & weight at least) • Grasp reversibility • Able to ‘decentre’ rely less on perceptual ‘cues’ > develop ‘logical’ ways of thinking > maturereasoning ....but constrained by immediate reality

27. 3 - Concrete operational stage E.g., Transitivity 3 sticks (A > B >C) Is A longer than C? Yes! 3 names Rob > Henry > James Is Rob taller than James? ?

28. Stage-like shift? • Changes in understanding dominated by: • Perception in Pre-operational period • Emergence of logical reasoning in Concrete and Formal operational periods

29. Qualitatively Different Thinking • Example: numerical correspondence Row of 6 bottles - pile of 12 glasses Task: Get as many glasses as there are bottles

30. Qualitatively Different Thinking Task: Get as many glasses as there are bottles @ age 3/4: line up all 12 glasses (i.e., ‘as many’ judged by global space) @ 4/5: match 1-1 (i.e., only 6 glasses) ...but fail to conserve @ 6/7: match 1-1 AND conserve (i.e., recognize numerically irrelevant transformation)

31. Key to conservation • Reversibility i.e., the lengthened row can be subsequently shortened by the same amount spatial transformation = numerically irrelevant ...judgment not bound by perceptual ‘reality’

32. 4 - Formal operational stage ..’break free’ from immediate reality (“the possible, as well as the actual” - Miller, p. 56) Able to think in the abstract...to generate hypotheses (i.e., think ahead) Able to identify the range of variables associated with a phenomenon (e.g., rate of pendulum swing) to test out propositions

33. What type of theory is it? • Piaget’s biology background means an inevitable fit with the organismic model of development. • Stage theory; same behaviour is experienced and carried out at different ages but changes to the cognitive structure lead to different interpretations.

34. What type of theory is it? • Stage theory = essentially qualitative. • Nature AND nurture. • What develops? - the structure of the mind. At different stages, differences in structural organization driven by adaptation give different meaning to the world and different ways of thinking about it.

35. Applied Piaget? • Applications in education • Piagetian framework re. 3 questions 1. What can children learn? 2. How do children learn? 3. How should we teach children? Equilibration = key

36. 1. What can children learn? • ..only what they are ‘ready’ to learn new information must be able to be assimilated or accommodated • Essential to match information with cognitive structure (i.e., way of thinking) • Development cannot be ‘speeded up’

37. 2. How do they learn? • Through the resolution of disequilibrium • Via self-discovery (via adaptation) • Via ‘active’ participation • Via peer interaction > ‘Socio-cognitive conflict’ Explicit adult instruction? Not effective because ‘negotiation’ less likely to take place...

38. 2. How do they learn? Explicit adult instruction? No negotiation... Children learn from conveying what they know to another...who doesn’t know Not such an asymmetrical relationship re. knowledge as teacher vs student

39. 3. How should we teach children? • ‘Bend’ to children’s needs • Provide appropriate learning environment • (i.e., concrete materials for concrete op. stage) • Promote self-discovery

40. 3. How should we teach children? • Guide/encourage exploratory learning • But ‘tune’ guidance to appropriate developmental stage • Encourage self-motivated learning • Set ‘challenges’ to existing schemes > promote adaptation > esp. with classmates Little emphasis on surface learning

41. ..i.e., ‘delivery teaching’ doesn’t address development ...children not ‘consumers’ of higher forms of knowledge - they must be viewed as participants (even partners) in the co-construction of knowledge...

42. “If the aim of intellectual training is to form the intelligence rather than to stock the memory, and to produce intellectual explorers rather than mere erudition, then traditionally education is manifestly guilty of a grave deficiency” (J. Piaget)

43. Problems with Piaget’s theory? • Emphasis on logic? • Evidence since 1970s • Cultural differences ... see later lectures.

44. Reading • Berk, L. (1997) - Chap 6 (pp. 210 - 246) • Eysenck, M. W. (pp. 521 - 535) • Miller, P. (Chapter 2) • Siegler & Alibali - pp. 26 - 53. • Smith & Cowie (Chapter 11)