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

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