Piaget's Cognitive Learning Theory 101

The Cognitive Learning Theory

The cognitive learning theory consists of four, and only four, stages. They are as follows.

Stage 1: Sensorimotor-- This stage is when learning takes place through the child's five senses and motor actions. 

Stage 2: Preoperational-- This stage is when the child uses symbols and images. A perfect example of this is when a child pretends that a cardboard box is a house. 

Stage 3: Concrete Operational-- This stage is when a child begins to think about things logically. They learn solid facts and understand them. They can relate to another person's viewpoint. This stage usually occurs at age 7. 

Stage 4: Formal Operational-- This stage is when the child not only understands things logically, but can also start to form and understand abstract ideas. Such ideas would be cause and effect. They can also start to form their own beliefs and morals. This usually happens at around age 12. 

Piaget also discusses assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is when a child takes new knowledge and starts to understand it and make sense of it. Accommodation is when a child takes that knowledge and uses it to alter their base knowledge. All children (and people, for that matter) strive towards Equilibrium, which is when a child is capable of explaining what it perceives around it with the knowledge it has, in other words, a mental balance. 

Check out this video for more information on the cognitive learning theory! 

A Little About A BIG Contributor

Jean Piaget. Many of you have heard the name, but no one seems to know many details about the man behind the name. This is Jean Piaget.

Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland. He did many interesting things and held many interesting chair positions in psychology and sociology after graduating from the University of Neuchatel with a Ph.D. For more information on Piaget's backstory, click here. The main thing that Piaget is known for is the cognitive learning theory.

Cognitive learning and psychology is all about how people access, process, and store information. Applications to those things are improving memory, better decision making, and enhancing the learning process.

Piaget was focused on the learning process, specifically of children. After studying children in an educational setting, Piaget came up with a theory about how they learn, which is again called, the cognitive learning theory.