Theories Of The Four Stages Of Piaget's Cognitive Development

Cognitive development theory was propounded by Piaget in (1972). Piaget proposed that cognitive development from infant to young adult occurs in four universal and consecutive stages. The four stages are; sensorimotor - birth to 2 years, preoperational - 2 years to 7 years, concrete operational - 7 years to 11 years and formal operational (abstract thinking) 11 years and up. Each stage has major cognitive tasks which must be accomplished. In the sensorimotor stage, the mental structures are mainly concerned with the mastery of concrete objects. The mastery of symbols takes place in the preoperational stage. In the concrete stage, children learn mastery of classes, relations and numbers and how to reason. The last stage deals with the mastery

Social interaction takes place mainly to move a young child away from egocentricism. In addition, Piaget stated that a child either held the mental structure for conservation, for example, or he did not. And also as part of their cognitive development, children develop schemes, which are mental representations of people, objects, or principles. These schemes can be changed or altered through what Piaget called assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the information we already know. Accommodation involves adapting one's existing knowledge to what is perceived. Disequilibrium occurs when new knowledge does not fit with one's accumulated knowledge. When one reaches what Piaget called equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation have occurred to create a new stage of development.
Piaget believed that individual is primary in the learning process. This means that the learning and thinking should involve the participation of the learner. And also, knowledge is not merely transmitted verbally but must be constructed and reconstructed by the

In developing this theory, Paivio used the idea that the formation of mental images aids in learning. According to Paivio, there are two ways a person could expand on learned material, Verbal associations and visual imagery. Dual-coding theory postulates that both visual and verbal information is used to represent information. Visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels in the human mind, creating separate representations for information processed in each channel.
The relevance of dual-coding theory to this study is that according to the theory, both visual and verbal codes can be used when recalling information. However, video has enormous potential for improving learning. In addition, video-based instruction involves both visual and verbal representation of information. Moreover, video enables the students to learn Biology concept visually and verbally, also helping them to recall and remember the concept taught, which, is the essence of meaningful learning.
2.1.3 Social constructivist and cognitive development learning theory by