Piaget's Cognitive Development Lab Report

Introduction
Piaget has played an important part in helping people understand more about children and the process of a child’s cognitive development. Throughout this lab report, there will be questions asked of two young children. The first child’s name is Makayla. She is 9 years old and has just started fourth grade. The first Piagetian task that was given to the children is referred to as the conservation of mass task. During this task, the children rolled two equal amounts of play dough into two separate balls. Afterward, Makayla was asked if these two separate balls had the same amount of play dough. She responded yes, because they came from the same container so they are the same amounts. The children were then asked to roll one ball of play dough into a snake. Afterward, Makayla was asked if the ball and the snake had the same amount of play dough. She replied yes, because its all still from the same size container so they are the same amounts. The second task that was asked of the

children is referred to as the perspective taking task. During this task, Makayla was asked to pretend that she was buying her teacher a surprise birthday gift and had to decide what to get her. She decided that she would draw a picture of the world and write “best teacher in the world” on the drawing.
Makayla’s younger brother, Mason, will also be viewed throughout this lab. Mason is a 6 year old boy who has just started kindergarten. He was involved in the play dough task as well, but came up with different answers than his sister. First Mason analyzed the two balls of play dough. When asked if they had the same amount, he responded yes, because they are the same size. After one of the balls was rolled into a snake, he was asked again if each were the same amount of play dough. Mason responded no, because the snake was smaller. For the second task, Mason was also asked to pretend he had to buy his teacher a birthday gift. Mason decided he would buy his teacher earrings with smiley faces on them. Analyzing these children’s answers throughout this lab report is a great way to gain a better understanding of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. My hypotheses is that both of these children will be at their correct developmental stage and their answers will align accurately with their particular stage.
Theoretical Connections
Makayla and Mason are in two different developmental stages as determined by Piaget. Makayla is in a stage known as the concrete operations stage. According to Swartwood (2012), during the concrete operations stage, children are able to grasp a skill known as conservation (Pg. 51). Understanding the conservation task is when a child is able to consider two environmental factors to generate a correct answer (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 51). During the play dough task, she was able to recognize that the amount of play dough stayed the same even though the shape of the substance changed shape. During Makayla’s second task, the gift that she chose to give her teacher shows that she has grown passed the stage of being egocentric. An egocentric child is someone with the inability to view the world from someone else’s perspective (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 50). Makayla was able to consider the teachers feelings and make her a gift that Makayla knows would make her teacher happy. She wanted to let her teacher know how well she’s doing her job and how much the students love her.
Mason is in a different cognitive developmental stage than his sister so their answers are quite different. During the play dough experiment, Mason was unable to grasp the concept of conservation. He thought that since the shape of the object changed, the amount of the play dough changed as well. After the ball was rolled into a snake, he explained that the snake was now a smaller size than the ball when realistically, it was still the same size. During the preoperational stage, there is also an idea commonly referred to as centration, or “the inability to think of more than one aspect of a problem at a time” (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 51). Mason expresses this during this task because he was unable to think about the mass and shape at the same time and how the two are similar or different in this particular task. During the second task, the gift Mason decided to give his teacher showed signs that he is able to grasp the concept of semiotic functions or a symbolic representation. A symbolic representation is “the ability to represent an object or experience with a symbol” (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 50). When Mason chose to give his teacher smiley face earrings, he was able to use a smiley face to symbolize happiness, which he associates with his teacher.
Reflection
Throughout this lab, I have gained a better understanding of Piaget’s theories of cognitive development and how they effect children and the level at which they learn things throughout their beginning years of schooling.

I learned the different ages that children are able to grasp concepts that may seem easily understood to adults. When I compare the conservation of mass task between the two children, I found that since Mason is in an earlier stage than Makayla, he does not quite understand things as well as Makayla does. Age is not the only factor that affects a child’s cognitive development. For example, “Studies specifically examining Piaget’s theory across cultures have generally supported the order of Piaget’s stages, but have found cultural differences in the rate of progression through the stages” (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 56). A child’s individual culture may cause the age at which a child enters each stage to vary because of their different experiences throughout

life.
As an early childhood education major, I was able to learn numerous beneficial things during this lab that I can use in the classroom in the future. I will be able to use the many Piagetian tasks themselves in the classroom to teach the principles that are learned during each stage. As a teacher, it is important for us to recognize that not all children progress at the same pace. Teachers need to be patient with their students and focus on helping the entire class learn at a pace that is comfortable for them. This lab taught me several helpful things that I look forward to using in my career with children.
Conclusion
During this lab, two children were asked to perform tasks that reflected their cognitive development. The two children were different ages, so their answers to each task varied. After the tasks were complete, I was able to compare the answers that each child had and evaluate their responses in relation to the developmental stage that each child is in. The first task that was performed was a task referred to as the conservation of mass theory using play dough. This task showed that Makayla understands conservation. Mason, however, is not at the right developmental stage to understand it yet though. The second task is referred to as a perspective task. During this task, I asked the children what they would want to buy for their teacher if it was his or her birthday. Each child came up with very different answers. Makayla decided she wanted to make a drawing for her teacher and thought about something that would make her teacher really happy. Mason decided he would get his teacher smiley face earrings which showed that he understands the concept of symbolic representation. He associates his teacher with happiness. Performing these tasks has given me a better understanding of children and their stages of learning development. Gaining this understanding gives me a better idea of what to expect in the classroom when I begin teaching. Performing this lab has helped me become more excited to learn about teaching and has caused me to look forward to working with children on a daily basis.