- Youth Development
- Theories of Youth Development
- Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
- Vygotsky's Sociocultural Learning Theory
- Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model Theory
- Other Theories of Youth Development
- Connecting Youth Development to Library Services
- The SEL Competencies
- The SEL Settings
- Tying it All Together
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
“In order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself.”
– Jean Piaget
Drawing on his observations of children, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) developed a groundbreaking theory of cognitive development that included four distinct stages. Piaget theorized that people construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences of the world–a concept known as constructivism.
⏰ 3:31 | Excerpt from LIS 516: Youth Development and Behavior in a Digital Age by Dr. Katie Davis and the University of Washington
Key Concepts from Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
Schemas
People organize what they learn from their experiences into mental frameworks called schemas that help them make sense of the world.
Example: Fourteen-year-old Julia has developed schemas around what she and her peers consider on trend or out of style. She also has schemas for gender roles (girls can’t ask boys out) and what career paths are available to her (girls aren’t good at math, so she shouldn’t consider a STEM career).
Assimilation
We assimilate new information into our existing schemas.
Example: Julia grew up in a community mostly populated by people of a similar background. She has created schemas about people from another ethnic group based on TV, movies, and things she’s heard people say. When she reads something that fits with this stereotype, she absorbs or assimilates it into her existing schema.
Accommodation
We accommodate new information that doesn’t fit into our schemas by altering our beliefs.
Example: Julia’s family moves to a new town and she enters a high school with students from many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Her interactions with new friends may result in experiences that do not fit into her existing schemas, prompting her to change or alter her beliefs to accommodate the new information.
Stages of Cognitive Development
Instead of viewing children as miniature adults – a common attitude in his time – Piaget theorized that intellectual growth moves through a series of stages:
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Sensorimotor (birth to around age 2): Reasoning is largely dependent on perception. Babies’ senses help them understand and experiment with their environment, and they use their eyes, mouths, and hands to learn more about objects.
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Preoperational (around ages 2 to 7): Children can mentally represent objects and events without needing to use senses like touching, hearing, or seeing. For example, in this stage children might pretend a block is a phone, and interact with it the way they would with a real phone.
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Concrete operational (around ages 7 to 11): Children can perform inductive reasoning around concrete objects – that is, they can logically generalize from a specific experience. For instance, if they sneeze a lot around their friend’s dog, they may conclude that they will be allergic to other dogs as well.
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Formal operational (adolescence to adulthood): Teens and tweens start to be able to reason logically about abstract concepts like algebra, social justice, or freedom. They may begin to think more critically about moral or ethical issues, such as norms in an online community or principles regarding right or wrong. They are able to devise their own solutions and answers to problems without needing firsthand experience.
Researchers today are finding that Piaget may have overestimated the reasoning skills of teens. Abstract and creative reasoning may exist in the teenage years, but recent research has found that the brain continues to develop up until the age of 25.
Putting Cognitive Development Theory Into Practice
Most early adolescents will be in the early formal operational stage. They can reason logically and apply specific knowledge to general contexts. They are probably moving towards or have already started applying logic and morality to abstract concepts, and constructing their own solutions to individual and societal problems. Ask yourself the following questions about your teen programming and services:
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What relevant cognitive schemas are the participants bringing with them?
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Will the teens assimilate what they learn, or will they have to accommodate new information?
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Can you relate your program or activities to abstract societal issues, or should you focus on more concrete ideas?
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Are your participants in the early formal operational stage? If so, can you help them develop further by integrating abstract concepts with the help of scaffolding (see Section 2: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Learning Theory)?