Jean Piaget: Difference between revisions

Piaget is considered the most influential figure in developmental psychology, though many of aspects of his theories are no longer accepted by mainstream psychologists. Developmental psychologists today do not view development as taking place in [[Stage theory|stages]]<ref name="Gopnik 1996">{{cite journal |title=The Post-Piaget Era |journal=Psychological Science |year=1996 |last=Gopnik |first=Alison |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=221–225 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00363.x |s2cid=143973228 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00363.x |access-date=2021-04-01 }}</ref><ref name="Hopkins 2011" /> and many of Piaget's empirical findings have been overturned by subsequent research.<ref name="Gopnik Wellman">{{cite journal |title=Reconstructing constructivism: Causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms, and the theory theory |journal=Psychological Bulletin |year=2012 |last1=Gopnik |first1=A. |last2=Wellman |first2=H.M. |volume=138 |issue=6 |pages=1085–1108 |doi=10.1037/a0028044 |pmid=22582739 |pmc=3422420 }}</ref> For example, psychologists no longer view young children as being incapable of understanding abstract concepts,<ref name="IzardSann2009" /> and no longer believe that babies do not understand object permanence.<ref name="Dehaene 2020" /> Despite this, developmental psychologists do acknowledge the importance of Jean Piaget's legacy as the founder of their field. They recognize his innovative empirical work, his attempts to integrate his results into a unified theoretical model and the way he created a path for subsequent researchers to follow.<ref name="Klahr" /> Indeed, many developmental psychology researchers today work in a post-Piagetian or [[Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development|neo-Piagetian]] framework.<ref name="Martí">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Martí |first=E. |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education |title=Post-Piagetian Perspectives of Cognitive Development |year=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.914 |isbn=978-0-19-026409-3 }}</ref><ref name="Morra">{{cite book | last = Morra | first = Sergio | title = Cognitive development: neo-Piagetian perspectives | publisher = Erlbaum | location = New York | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8058-6350-5 }}</ref>

 

 

By using Piaget's theory, educators focus on their students as learners. As a result of this focus, [[education]] is learner-centered and constructivist-based to an extent. It allows teachers to view students as individual learners who add new concepts to prior knowledge to construct, or build, understanding for themselves.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Henson|first1=Kenneth|title=Foundations for Learner-Centered Education: A Knowledge Base|journal=Education|date=2003|volume=1124|issue=1|pages=5–16}}</ref> Teachers who use a learner-centered approach as a basis for their professional practices incorporate the several dispositions.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> They provide experience-based educational opportunities. These teachers also contemplate the learners' individual qualities and attitudes during curriculum planning. Educators allow learners' insights to alter the curriculum. They nourish and support learners' curiosity. They also involve learners' emotions and create a learning environment in which students feel safe.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

There are two differences between the preoperational and concrete operational stages that apply to education. These differences are reversibility and decentration. At times, reversibility and decentration occur at the same time.<ref name="Educational Psychology">{{cite book|last1=Seifert|first1=Kelvin|last2=Sutton|first2=Rosemary|title=Educational Psychology|date=2009|publisher=Orange Grove|location=Florida|isbn=978-1-61610-154-1|edition=2nd|url=http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Educational-Psychology.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025015203/http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Educational-Psychology.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-25 |url-status=live|access-date=22 June 2015}}</ref> When students think about the steps to complete a task without using a particular logical, sequential order, they are using reversibility.<ref name="Educational Psychology"/> Decentration allows them to concentrate on multiple components of a problematic task at a time.<ref name="Educational Psychology"/> Students use both reversibility and decentration to function throughout the school day, follow directions, and complete assignments.

 

 

 

Regarding the giving of praise by teachers, praise is a reinforcer for students. Adolescents undergo social-emotional development such that they seek rapport with peers. Thus, teacher praise is not as powerful for students who see teachers as authority figures. They give no value to praise provided by adults, or they have no respect for the individual who is giving praise.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hawkins|first1=Shannon M.|last2=Heflin|first2=L. Juane|title=Increasing Secondary Teachers' Behavior-Specific Praise Using a Video Self-Modeling and Visual Performance Feedback Intervention|journal=Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions|date=2001|volume=12|issue=2|pages=97–108|doi=10.1177/1098300709358110|s2cid=143631715}}<!--|access-date=July 7, 2015--></ref>