Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development outlines how children's cognitive abilities evolve through four stages, with a focus on the principle of conservation. This principle becomes evident in the preoperational stage, where children often make errors in understanding that certain properties of objects, such as quantity, remain unchanged despite changes in appearance. Piaget's conservation tasks tested this concept, revealing insights into the cognitive development of children. Critical perspectives on these studies have led to a reassessment of his findings.
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Infants learn through sensory experiences and develop object permanence
Symbolic Thinking
Children's ability to think symbolically grows during this stage
Egocentrism
Children's egocentrism begins to decline during this stage
Conservation
Children struggle with understanding the concept of conservation during this stage
Children at this stage may exhibit centration, focusing on one aspect of a situation while ignoring others
The principle that certain properties of objects remain unchanged despite changes in their physical appearance
Piaget developed tasks to assess children's understanding of conservation, including concepts such as mass, volume, and number
Subsequent experiments have challenged Piaget's original findings, suggesting that younger children may have a better understanding of conservation than previously thought
00
The ______ stage, occurring from birth to around two years, involves learning via sensory experiences and object manipulation.
sensorimotor
01
In the ______ stage, which spans from roughly two to seven years old, children's symbolic thinking expands and their egocentrism starts to wane.
preoperational
02
Preoperational Stage: Conservation Errors
Children may not recognize constancy of properties despite physical changes, e.g., playdough shape alteration.
