Piaget Sociocultural Theory

The Impact of Piaget and Sociocultural Theory on My Prospective Career The way children think and process information has been analyzed at length in the field of psychology. One of the first to focus on this topic was Jean Piaget, a clinical psychologist from Switzerland. Prior to his research, it was assumed that children were unable to perform certain tasks simply because they did not know as much as adults. If one wanted to improve their child’s intelligence, they would need to continuously expose them to the knowledge desired. Piaget changed this mindset with the results of his research. Through a series of stages, Piaget was able to introduce a new understanding of the cognitive development in children. Piaget’s stages give an indication …show more content…
The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and when a child turns two years old. At this point, the child experiences the world by physically manipulating the environment around them. The preoperational stage occurs between the ages of two and seven years old, when children start to think about their experiences but aren’t able to grasp difficult concepts. The concrete operational stage occurs between seven and twelve years old. Children begin to think logically at this point, but do not completely understand abstract concepts. The formal operational stage is the last of Piaget’s stages and focuses on how one can start to understand abstract concepts and think deeply. Of the four stages, the preoperational stage seems to be the most useful for my future …show more content…
It is a behaviour often exhibited in the preoperational stage and helps children learn how to absorb information and concentrate without being distracted. Piaget performed a number of experiments centered on centration called the conservation concept experiments. In all of the experiments, the children are shown two objects that are equal. Once the children take in the information in front of them, the object is changed in a way that makes it look different but does not change the dimension of interest. An example of this is the conservation of liquid experiment. This experiment put a cup of water in a wide, short cup and then moved it into a slim, tall cup. The children thought there were different amounts in each due to centration and focusing on the size of the container rather than the amount of liquid, which was unchanged. When teaching students, centration makes it difficult for children to look for the details and concentrate on the key aspect of the lesson. To reduce the effects of centration, the key points of lessons should be visually stimulating and draw attention. By doing this, there is a higher chance of the student listening to the important parts of the message, rather than taking in the redundant details and ignoring what is most