Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget developed a model that describes how adolesents process, organize, and develop information. His theory centered around the idea that children are motivated and active learners. He theorized that children develoeped schemes (or file cabinets) to develop concepts. This learning occurred through assimilation adn accomodation. Here is a video from Education Portal that can explain it better than I can

Here is presentation from my teacher that talks about the idea of adaptation or equilibration:


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Stage of Development

• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete Operational
• Formal operations

Applying Piaget in the Classroom

This excellent summary article by Kimberly Webb also provides the following suggestions:

• The classroom milieu should be structured to encourage constant thinking on the part of students.
• In all areas of learning, much concrete experience must precede abstract verbalizations.
• Task-oriented testing situationsshould be used so that the child's understanding will not be confused with his verbal ability.
• Consider the stage characteristics of the student's thought processes in planning learning activities.
• Use a wide variety of experiences rather than drill on specific tasks to maximize cognitive development.
• Don't assume that reaching adolescence or adulthood guarantees the ability to perform formal operations.
• Remember that each person structures each learning situation in terms of his own schemas; therefore, no two persons will derive the same meaning or benefit from a given experience.
• Individualize learning experiences so that each student is working at a level that is high enough to be challenging and realistic enough to prevent excessive frustration.
• Provide experience necessary for the development of concepts prior to the use of these concepts in language.
• Consider learning an active restructuring of thought rather than an increase in content.
• Make full use of wrong answers by helping the student to analyze his thinking in order to retain the correct elements and revise the miscomprehensions.
• Evaluate each student in terms of improving her own performance.
• Avoid overuse of materials that are so highly structured that creative thought is discouraged.
• Use social interaction in learning experiences to promote increases in both interest and comprehension.
• Piaget's view on the role of a teacher can best be summed up in his own words. "What is desired is that the teacher cease being a lecturer satisfied with transmitting ready-made solutions; his role should rather be that of a mentor stimulating initiative and research" (Good, 1979, p. 430).