Assignment: Piaget

Sometimes, a theory or paradigm can be thought of as a lens through which a topic is examined. Theories or paradigm shifts may cast other ways of thinking aside, or they may layer upon one another. In the case of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, whose ideas still "permeate research on cognitive development that his influence typically is not even noticed or acknowledged," he is still very much a giant in the field, frequently even known by laypersons with only a glancing knowledge of cognitive development (Miller, 2010). Subsequent research has applied, tested, and supplemented Piaget's theory, particularly his concept of stages of development and related questions about domain-specific and general knowledge or quantitative and qualitative cognitive changes, to name just a few threads of inquiry.

Work continues on testing, refining, and finding new applications for Piagetian theory, and scientists often implement larger sample sizes and more technologically advanced methods than Piaget used or had available to him. For this Assignment, you examine some children's behavior much the same way that Piaget might have done, using a small sample and carefully observing the behavior demonstrated. You will then justify how Piaget would have explained the behavior.

To prepare: - Watch each of the four cognitive development examples in this week's Learning Resources and decide which Piagetian concepts are depicted in each video.

The Assignment (2 pages): - After watching each video, explain whether each child's response to the tasks follows Piaget's predictions. How would Piaget explain each child's demonstrated behavior? Use Piaget's terms and provide definitions or explanations of those terms. Explain any recent developments in the theoretical literature that might account for the children's demonstrated behavior.