Piaget Was More Right Than We Knew

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PiagetWas MoreRightThan WeKnew
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Reaching Students Through Cognitive Milestones
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Piaget, As Typically Presented

• 4 stages of human development
• Sensorimotor stage (years 0-2)
• Preoperational stage (years 2-7)
• Concrete operational stage (years 7-11)
• Formal operational stage (years 11-adulthood)
• Stages are chronological (ages only approximate)
• Some overlap transitioning between 2 stages
• Stages generally do not occur out of order

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Piagets Impact on Education

• The principle goal of education is to create
  people who are capable of doing new things, not
  simply of repeating what other generations have
  donepeople who are creative, inventive and
  discoverers.
• Jean Piaget

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Piagets Impact on Education

• Student-directed learning
• Students are active builders of knowledge
• The right answer is not as important as the
  process of learning
• Hands-on experience is often required
• Other stage models of learning, for example,
  Eriksons stages of psychosocial development and
  Kohlbergs stages of moral development
• Genetic epistemology the organic growth of
  knowledge

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Piagets ExtendedImpact on Education

• Lev Vygotsky
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Scaffolding

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Missing PiagetFilling in the Holes

• Piaget provided us with specific stages and
  substages, based on his on observation-based
  research
• Piaget spoke of knowledge as ever-changing
• Conclusion Piagetian substageswithin the larger
  framework of Piagetian stagesare ever-changing

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Identifying and Using Piagetian Substages

• Spotting red lights Are students having trouble
  learning specific types of concepts?
• What are they missing?
• Can you readily teach them what is missing?
• If not, what larger substage are they missing?

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Identifying and Using Piagetian Substages

• Getting past the red lights Do you know what to
  do next?
• Have you been able to spot a critical missing
  step that requires experiential learning?
• Can you create or locate a lesson that teaches
  that critical skill?
• If you cant do the above, then describe what you
  know in writing and find someone who can help

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Identifying and Using Piagetian Substages

• Identifying and dealing with red lights needs to
  be second nature!
• Right now, this is an art, not a science
• Step one Believe in the concept
• Step two Acquire the expertise through experience

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Generic Learning Curve
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Appreciate the difference that Teachers Can Make!

• Students at either end of the learning curve
  experience frustration and/or boredom
• Students in the middle experience success.
• Let us work on getting all students to experience
  the personal joy of learning!