Piaget Developmental Theory

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states that the way we think changes all throughout our life as we grow older and our brain develops. Additionally, our progression of thinking changes as we gain more experiences and knowledge. Piaget split up his research into age groups to roughly estimate the mental processes of children; sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years old), preoperational stage (2-7 years old), concrete operational stage (7-11 years old), formal operational stage (adolescence-adulthood), and abstract reasoning stage (adulthood). During the preoperational stage, children are starting to weave their beginnings of language development with how they view the world. Their vocabulary rises dramatically as they learn to communicate with others and give words to their own feelings. Also, children tend to only think about themselves at this time period because they are not yet aware that others are different from them. What emerges is the beginning of sense of self. Further, the child is beginning to understand the concept of past and future, whereas before

they were only aware of the present. In this stage, there is a tremendous amount of growth in a child’s mentality.
The preoperational phase of Piaget’s cognitive development theory is reminiscent of an episode of Dora the Explorer.

In each episode, Dora and her friends go on a journey, learn new words, and stop the villainous Swiper. Dora connects with the preoperational stage as the child is becoming aware that they are moving towards the future, or an end goal, rather than only being aware of the present. Additionally, Dora teaches words in Spanish and English, which points to the fact that this is a sensitive period for children to learn new vocabulary. Finally, Dora views her friends as different from her and helps Diego and Boots talk about their feelings, showing empathy. Children in the preoperational stage are just beginning to understand that others do not have the same desires and thoughts as they do. Thus, Dora the Explorer correlates this important stage in Piaget’s theory with the details in each

episode.
As I will be teaching elementary education when children are at this end or beginning of this preoperational stage, it is important to understand the lessons that must be learned at this time. Piaget believes that change in mental processes is radical in each developmental period; meaning that the child must learn certain lessons but at their own pace. In a classroom for early elementary education, it is incredibly important to teach the children empathy. They are just beginning to understand differences between people, but they must go farther to understand what it must feel like to step in another’s shoes. Teachers can utilize literature for this purpose to ask students how they would feel in different stories or to get emotional reactions solely from fiction. To start introducing this part of the human experience, teachers must use Piaget’s theory to understand the natural progression of children’s ways of thinking. Also, the social interaction between students can be used as another example to teach empathy. If two children get into an argument, a teacher can ask each what they think the other is feeling. Through these methods, teachers may use classroom management and curriculum to help cultivate the minds of students in their preoperational stage.