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Philosophy of Early Childhood Education
Strengths and weaknesses of jean piaget's theory
Strengths and weaknesses of jean piaget's theory
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Children are our inspiration. They are the reason that educators today need to be more than sufficient in teaching, but remarkable at teaching. Children are little sponges that absorb knowledge quickly and abundantly and with guidance, can achieve great goals in their academic life. Children are the future. As teachers, we need to educate ourselves as much as possible so that we can better educate the future generations. “Piaget, working with children, found that the growth of their ideas is a process spread over years,” (Sawyer, 2003, p.6). Teachers, families and communities must support one another in learning and educating our young children. If we don’t spend the time necessary to learn and broaden our knowledge, our children suffer, our future suffers.
In order to become a remarkable teacher, there must be dedication to many things, one of them being passionate about how children learn. Theories are one of the determining things that influence teachers and how they approach teaching. A theory is a set of explanations used to explain how children learn (Morrison, 2009, p.113). Theorists and theories are important for many reasons: 1) theories help us understand how children learn, which helps us teach better; 2) understanding theories and how children learn helps teachers communicate better with parents / caregivers; 3) theories help teachers have a basis of how children learn which helps in evaluation of them; 4) theories help guide program development to enhance children’s learning (Morrison, 2009, p. 114). Theories not only help support teaching, they help guide teachers to become better at what they do.
One of the theorists that I strongly believe in is Jean Piaget. Piaget’s theory is based on Constructivism, a theory b...
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...cational issues in changing times,” (Yelland, 2005, p.22).
By investing in our children, we are investing in our future.
Works Cited
Brooks, J. G., Brooks, M. G. (1999). In Search of Understanding: The Case of Constructivist Classrooms, with a new introduction by the authors. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10078162&ppg=28
Morrison, G. (2009). Early Childhood Education Today. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/0558415024
Richardson, K. (1998). Models of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from https://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10056019&ppg=105
Sawyer, K.R. (2003). Creativity and Development. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10085259&ppg=6
Yelland, N. (2005). Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/Doc?id=10175188&ppg=22
What is head knowledge when you cannot apply it? What use is academics when you cannot make rational decisions? Why would you go to school if you do not yearn for knowledge? As a teacher, I want to instill in my children these desires and the abilities to not only succeed academically but as a whole person as well. I believe that the role of an elementary teacher is not only to teach the “Three R’s” and the “Four W’s”, but also to foster within children a desire to learn and the ability to make wise choices. In our classrooms, we are raising the leaders of tomorrow, if all they know is what 2+2 equals or how to spell “beautiful” are they really going to be the future that we need and look forward to? Through the hard work of teachers promoting their students’ success and ability to do good work and make good choices, we can see the world change in radical ways! When we as teachers understand that not only do our students need to know the what but also the how, we can help them succeed in building critical thinkin...
Jean Piaget, is known as the father of theory. All child development theories are based off
Educators produce a wide variety of experiences, perceptions, prospects, learning and abilities to their education (DEEWR, 2009, p. 9). In my career and through my studies, my philosophy and pedagogy have been closely linked with the constructivist theory from Piaget. Being able to focus on a child’s interests and creating learning activities that are implemented as fun is a big part of my motivation as an educator and teacher. The educational environment needs to sustain every single child along with inspiring significant work that can result in more advanced thinking (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 225). Following Piaget’s ideas while implementing the EYLF has made for a simple straight forward way of supplying quality learning experiences for children from birth to 12 years old and it has helped me widen the scope of each experience to allow for multiple levels of developmental stages. Using a constructivist approach to learning allows for the breaking down of the experience as a whole into smaller parts which brings the focus around to the process of learning (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 667). Overall I believe Piaget’s Theory to be one of the most important influences in modern teaching, allowing scaffolding of learning in a place that that
Powell, K. Kalina, C. (2009). Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb?did=1937522441&Fmt=7&clientId=22212&RQT=309&VName=PQD. (Document ID: 1937522441).
You have taken a lead teacher position in a preschool program. A parent asks you to explain the program’s constructivist philosophy.
Piaget’s developmental stages are ways of normal intellectual development. There are four different stages. The stages start at infant age and work all the way up to adulthood. The stages include things like judgment, thought, and knowledge of infants, children, teens, and adults. These four stages were names after Jean Piaget a developmental biologist and psychologist. Piaget recorded intellectual abilities and developments of infants, children, and teens. The four different stages of Piaget’s developmental stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Sensorimotor is from birth up to twenty- four months of age. Preoperational which is toddlerhood includes from eighteen months old all the way to early childhood, seven years of age. Concrete operational is from the age of seven to twelve. Lastly formal operation is adolescence all the way through adulthood.
Constructivism represents a paradigm shift form education based on cognitive theories. This concept assumes that learners construct their own knowledge on the basis of interaction with their environment. (Gagnon & Collay, 200?) The role of the teacher as a constructor of the learning experience to ensure authentic curriculum and assessment which is responsive to the skills, needs and experiences of the learner, within established curriculum framework and with the reference to the achievement of literacy, numeracy, retention and attainment of outcomes. Krause, Bochner and Duchesne (p.157) comment that “as learners interact with their environment, they link information learned through experience to previous knowledge, and so construct new understandings and knowledge.” Constructivism then inturn encourages Teachers and Learning Managers to recognise the value of prior knowledge and experiences that each child brings with them into the classroom, and help them (the students) build on their understandings of the world by providing appropriate learning experience plans.
Teachers use theories, models of learning, and professional standards to shape their teaching practices. There are several learning theories that have evolved the educational field. Theories guide instruction and the beliefs of the teachers. Teachers use these theories, standards, and personal beliefs to develop goals in order to improve teaching effectiveness.
Applefield, J M, Huber, R, Moallem, M 2001, ‘Constructivism in theory and practice: Toward a better understanding’, High School Journal, vol. 84, issue 2, p35, 19pp
The Critique of Piaget's Theories Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was a constructivist theorist. He saw children as constructing their own world, playing an active part in their own development. Piaget’s insight opened up a new window into the inner working of the mind and as a result he carried out some remarkable studies on children that had a powerful influence on theories of child thought. This essay is going to explain the main features and principles of the Piagetian theory and then provide criticism against this theory. Cognitive development refers to way in which a person’s style of thinking changes with age.
In a constructivism classroom, teachers and learners share responsibilities and decision making. Teachers pose problems of emerging relevance to learners, emphasise hands-on, real-world experiences, seek and value learners’ point of view and social context of content. Christie (2005) suggested that constructivism is applied in a classroom whereby teachers structure around, essential concepts, be aware that learners’ point of view are windows into their reasoning, access learners learning in context of teaching. A constructivism classroom is a learner-centred classroom.
Early childhood education is an issue that is examined both by media and academic professionals, both of which are represented by Alison Gopnik, a writer and professor (Gopnik, 2013). Gopnik (2011) found that over the years, parents and teachers work to their fullest to instruct children to read at very young ages. It can be Interpreted that reading skills take priority over creative skills, since children are instructed to read even in the womb (Gopnik, 2011). “Thus, the pressure is rising to make kindergartens and nurseries more like schools” (Gopnik, 2011). This pressure has come from the law since 2001, when preschools were pushed to become more academic (Gopnik, 2011). Creativity is a key component of success in later adulthood for problem-solving and cognitive abilities (Plucker, 2010). Creativity used to be the central focus of education studies (Plucker, 2010). At the turn of the century, and more recently, problem solving took first place along with creative thinking (Gruber, 2011). This essay will prove that the current education system tends to eventually pull children away from creativity. It will demonstrate how there is a greater amount of creativity in younger children as opposed to older children. This will be shown through the theories of Howard Gardner and Jean Piaget. In order to prove that education has moved away from a creative focus, this essay will examine the three phases of creativity, multiple intelligences and the U-shaped curve by Gardner, as well as Piaget’s constructivist theory and beliefs on retrogression, which is the idea of growing to show how we eventually pull away from visual art (Nolley, 2010). While this paper focuses on the development of visual arts in reference to the works of Howard Gar...
We must first look at the need for a constructivist approach in a classroom, to do this we think back to our days in primary school and indeed secondary school where textbooks we like bibles. We were told to take out our books, look at the board, and now complete the exercise on page z. This approach in a class is repetitive, the teacher holds authoritarian power and learning is by no means interactive. “In a traditional classroom, an invisible and imposing, at times, impenetrable, barrier between student and teacher exists through power and practice. In a constructivist classroom, by contrast, the teacher and the student share responsibility and decision making and demonstrate mutual respect.” (Wineburg, 2001) This approach focuses on basic skills and strict adherence to the curriculum. Children are being forced to learn through repetit...
Key ideas of Constructivist Theory: According to Drewery and Claiborne (2014), Piaget held that an individual learner had agency in learning and developing, who actively constructed his/her own knowledge out of the need of adaption to the immediate environment for survival. In Piaget's view, children's cognitive development comes from both biological growth (e.g. brain development) and the response to the stimulation from their environment. Children's cognition goes through four discontinuous stages and the ultimate cognitive ability is logically abstract thinking. These stages are universal, which can apply to all children over the world no matter what culture or place they live in.
There are methods that are considered very different than constructivism that are used in the classroom. One of the approaches is the traditional approach where the teacher teaches the information to the student, and the student does not contribute as much or convey the prior knowledge of the material during instruction (Airasian & Walsh, 1997). It has been said that traditional teaching can segregate students, especially ones with special needs, in the classroom (Bloom; Perlmutter& Burrell, 1999). In other words, traditional instruction is a more teacher-centered approach that uses rote, fact based learning. The teachers create the values, behaviors, and beliefs for the students. The teacher is in charge of the classroom, where they have rewards and consequences, and the students work mostly by themselves (this is very different that the constructivist classroom, which will be explained) (Windschitl, 1999).