Jean Piaget’s work on children’s cognitive development, specifically with quantitative concepts,

has garnered much attention within the field of education. Piaget explored children’s cognitive
development to study his primary interest in genetic epistemology. For this reason, this essay
seeks to discuss Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and its educational implications.

Piaget has identified four primary stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational. According to Berk (1997), Piaget believed that children
develop steadily and gradually throughout the varying stages and that the experiences in one
stage form the foundations for movement to the next. All people pass through each stage before
starting the next one; no one skips any stage. This implies older children, and even adults, who
have not passed through later stages process information in ways that are characteristic of young
children at the same developmental stage (Eggen & Kauchak, 2000).

First stage of cognitive development according to Piaget is the sensorimotor stage. This stage
runs from infancy to two years old. In the sensorimotor stage, an infant’s mental and cognitive
attributes develop from birth until the appearance of language. This stage is characterized by the
progressive acquisition of object permanence in which the child becomes able to find objects
after they have been displaced, even if the objects have been taken out of his field of vision. For
example, Piaget’s experiments at this stage include hiding an object under a pillow to see if the
baby finds the object (Piaget, 1938).

The second stage of cognitive development as outlined by Piaget is the preoperational stage. The
characteristics of this stage include an increase in language ability (with over-generalizations),
symbolic thought, egocentric perspective, and limited logic. In this second stage, children should
engage with problem-solving tasks that incorporate available materials such as blocks, sand, and
water. While the child is working with a problem, the teacher should elicit conversation from the
child. The verbalization of the child, as well as his actions on the materials, gives a basis that
permits the teacher to infer the mechanisms of the child’s thought processes.

The third stage is characterized by remarkable cognitive growth, when children’s development of
language and acquisition of basic skills accelerate dramatically. Children at this stage utilize their
senses in order to know; they can now consider two or three dimensions simultaneously instead
of successively. For example, in the liquids experiment, if the child notices the lowered level of
the liquid, he also notices the dish is wider, seeing both dimensions at the same time.
Additionally, seriation and classification are the two logical operations that develop during this
stage (Piaget, 1977) and both are essential for understanding number concepts. Seriation is the
ability to order objects according to increasing or decreasing length, weight, or volume. On the
other hand, classification involves grouping objects on the basis of a common characteristic.

According to Burns & Silbey (2000), “hands-on experiences and multiple ways of representing a
mathematical solution can be ways of fostering the development of this cognitive stage”. The
importance of hands-on activities cannot be overemphasized at this stage.

The child at this stage is capable of forming hypotheses and deducing possible consequences,
allowing the child to construct his own mathematics. Furthermore, the child typically begins to
develop abstract thought patterns where reasoning is executed using pure symbols without the
necessity of perceptive data. For example, the formal operational learner can solve x + 2x = 9
without having to refer to a concrete situation presented by the teacher, such as, “Tony ate a
certain number of candies. His sister ate twice as many. Together they ate nine. How many did
Tony eat?” Reasoning skills within this stage refer to the mental process involved in the
generalizing and evaluating of logical arguments (Anderson, 1990) and include clarification,
inference, evaluation, and application.

Critics of Piaget’s work argue that his proposed theory does not offer a complete description of
cognitive development (Eggen & Kauchak, 2000). For example, Piaget is criticized for
underestimating the abilities of young children. Abstract directions and requirements may cause
young children to fail at tasks they can do under simpler conditions (Gelman, Meck, & Merkin,
1986).

Piaget has also been criticized for overestimating the abilities of older learners, having
implications for both learners and teachers. For example, middle school teachers interpreting
Piaget’s work may assume that their students can always think logically in the abstract, yet this is
often not the case (Eggen & Kauchak, 2000).

Piaget believed that the amount of time each child spends in each stage varies by environment
(Kamii, 1982). All students in a class are not necessarily operating at the same level. Teachers
could benefit from understanding the levels at which their students are functioning and should try
to ascertain their students’ cognitive levels to adjust their teaching accordingly. By emphasizing
methods of reasoning, the teacher provides critical direction so that the child can discover
concepts through investigation. The child should be encouraged to self-check, approximate,
reflect and reason while the teacher studies the child’s work to better understand his thinking
(Piaget, 1970).

Conclusively, as children develop, they progress through stages characterized by unique ways of
understanding the world. During the sensorimotor stage, young children develop eye-hand
coordination schemes and object permanence. The preoperational stage includes growth of
symbolic thought, as evidenced by the increased use of language. During the concrete
operational stage, children can perform basic operations such as classification and serial ordering
of concrete objects. In the final stage, formal operations, students develop the ability to think
abstractly and metacognitively, as well as reason hypothetically. This article articulated these
stages in light of mathematics instruction. In general, the knowledge of Piaget’s stages helps the
teacher understand the cognitive development of the child as the teacher plans stage-appropriate
activities to keep students active.
 REFERENCE

Burns, M., & Silbey, R. (2000). So, you have to teach math? Sound advice for K-6 teachers. Sausalito, CA:

Math Solutions Publications.

Eggen, P. D., & Kauchak, D. P. (2000). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms (5th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kamii, C. (1982). Number in preschool and kindergarten: educational implications of Piaget’s theory.

Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Piaget, J. (1970). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Viking.

Piaget, J. (1977). Epistemology and psychology of functions. Dordrecht, Netherlands: D. Riedel Publishing

Company.

Thompson, C. S. (1990). Place value and larger numbers. In J. N. Payne (Ed.), Mathematics for young

children. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics