4 Stages of Development
This stage lasts approximately from birth to age 2 and involves learning primarily through senses and physical actions.
What is the Sensorimotor Stage?
This is a mental framework that helps a person organize and understand information.
What is a Schema?
A teacher gives elementary students counting blocks so they can physically group, add, and rearrange them. Why does this fit Piaget's theory?
Students are using concrete materials to actively construct understanding.
A 5 year old uses pretend play and language but has difficulty understanding that the amount of water stays the same after it is poured into a taller glass.
What is the Preoperational Stage?
A child sees a sheep for the first time and calls it a “dog” because it has four legs and fur. Which process is happening?
What is Assimilation?
Instead of explaining how a science experiment works, a teacher gives students materials and asks them to predict, test, and observe what happens. Which Piaget idea does this represent?
What is Active Discovery / Learning Through Exploration?
A child can logically understand that the amount of clay stays the same even after the clay is reshaped into a different form. Which stage is this most associated with?
What is the Concrete Operational Stage?
A child learns that a sheep is NOT a dog and changes their understanding by creating a separate category for sheep. What process is this?
What is Accommodation?
A teacher is teaching an 8 year old a difficult mathematical concept. Which approach is most consistent with Piaget?
A. Only give a verbal definition
B. Have the student memorize the rule
C. Use manipulatives, examples, and problem solving
D. Skip directly to abstract equations
C. Use manipulatives, examples, and problem solving.