Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory – How Children Learn and Grow

Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory explains how children learn, think, and understand the world. He believed that cognitive development occurs in stages and that children actively build knowledge through experiences.

In this post, we will explore Piaget’s key principles, the role of schemas, and the early stages of cognitive growth.

What Is Cognitive Development?

Cognitive development refers to how children acquire knowledge, develop reasoning skills, and improve memory. It is the foundation for learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Piaget discovered that children think differently from adults. He identified structured stages in which cognitive abilities evolve over time.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory and Key Principles

Piaget introduced three essential concepts to explain how children process and organise new information and their thinking:

Schemas

Mental structures that help children understand and interpret the world. A child’s schema for “dog” may include four legs, fur, and barking.

Assimilation

The process of incorporating new information into an existing schema. A child might call all four-legged animals a “dog” at first.

Accommodation

Changing schemas when new information doesn’t fit. A child who learns that cats and dogs are different creates a new schema for cats.

These processes drive cognitive growth and help children adapt to new experiences.

The Shift from Concrete to Symbolic Thinking

Piaget found that young children rely on direct, hands-on experiences to understand their surroundings. Over time, they develop symbolic thinking, the ability to represent objects and ideas mentally. This shift is crucial for learning language, problem-solving, and imaginative play.

Piaget’s First Two Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget identified four cognitive development stages. In this article we explore the first two in depth. Each stage builds upon the previous one and shapes how children think and learn.

1. The Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 Years)

Infants learn through sensory experiences and movement. They explore their environment using their senses and actions.

Key Milestones:

• Object Permanence – The understanding that objects exist even when they are out of sight. A baby who searches for a hidden toy demonstrates this ability.
• Goal-Directed Behaviour – The ability to perform actions to achieve a specific result, such as pulling a string to retrieve a toy.

2. The Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)

In this stage, children develop symbolic thinking, allowing them to use language, drawings, and pretend play to represent ideas. However, their thinking is still limited by several cognitive challenges.

Key Milestones:

• Egocentrism – The inability to see things from another person’s perspective. A child may assume that others know what they are thinking.
• Animism – Believing that non-living things have human-like feelings. A child may think a teddy bear is sad when left alone.
• Centration – Focusing on one aspect of a situation while ignoring others. A child may think a taller glass has more water, even if both glasses contain the same amount.
• Irreversibility – Difficulty understanding that actions can be undone. A child may struggle to realise that flattening a ball of clay does not change its mass.

Piaget’s cognitive development theory helps us understand how children learn and grow. The sensorimotor and preoperational stages mark the beginning of logical thought but also highlight the limits of early thinking.

In the next post, we’ll explore the later stages of development and how children gain logical reasoning and abstract thinking skills.