How Does Piaget s Stage Theory Account For Children s...

How does Piaget’s stage theory account for children’s cognitive development? Jean Piaget (1896-1980) had a stage theory about cognitive development and how it works with children. There are 4 stages to this theory; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Piaget emphasised that they occur in this order. (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2015, p. 446). He considered the fact that the way child’s mind develops, intellectually, is a continuous process of Assimilation and Accommodation (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2015, p. 448). This essay will aim to explain and evaluate this theory and how well it accounts for children’s cognitive development. The Sensori-motor period (birth to 2yrs) is when an infant child learns†¦show more content†¦In the primary stage, children (aged 1-4months) keep repeating activities via reflexes that are satisfying for them, such as: thumb sucking. The secondary stage is essentially the same as the primary one, but here the children, aged 4-10months, repeat their activities but also anything new that they might have learnt, if it is satisfying for them. The actions in the secondary stage affect the environment around her. (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2015, pp. 448-449). The fourth sub-stage is the â€Å"Coordination of secondary circular reactions†. This is where the children, aged between 10-12 months, begin to combine stuff they already know to solve problems, for example, if there is something blocking the child’s way of getting their toy, such as the toy being behind a barrier so they can’t reach, then they might move the barrier, so they can get the toy (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2015, pp. 449-450). The fifth sub-stage is the â€Å"tertiary circular reactions† stage. This is where children repeat actions but this time, they do so in different ways using trial and error, sometimes getting new results. Th is way, children are learning new things in different ways. (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2015, pp. 448-450). The last sub-stage is the â€Å"internal representation† stage. Here, the children, aged between 18-24months, can produce mental representations of things, i.e. they can keep in mind things that happen around them and