Examining the Early Childhood Theories of Piaget

The Piagetian approach to cognitive development is one worth examining when studying the learning stages of young children. Whether one agrees or disagrees is a personal opinion, but his thoughts are worthy of review.

The ages of two through seven fall under what Piaget called the preoperational stage. In overview, during this stage, children become more involved in symbolic thought while being unable to think logically. According to the educator, logical thinking will not be possible until middle childhood.

The theorist lists seven cognitive advances that occur during childhood. The first is the use of symbols, or the ability to think about an object without being in contact with it. Second, is an understanding of identities, or the ability to realize that superficial alterations do not change the nature of a person or object. For example, a person in a costume is still that person.

The third advance is an understanding of cause and effect. Children begin to realize that events have causes. Fourth, is an ability to classify. Children learn how to organize objects, people and events into meaningful categories. Next, is an understanding of numbers. Children learn to count and deal with quantities.

According to Piaget, children also develop a sense of empathy, or ability to understand how others feel. Finally, he believes that children develop a theory of mind and become aware of mental activity and the functioning of the mind.

However, in spite of the advances, Piaget also sees seven limitations of preoperational thought. The first is centration, which is the ability to decenter, or pay attention to more than one aspect of a situation. The second is called irreversibility, or the failure to understand that some actions can be reversed. The third limitation is the failure to understand the significance of the transformation between states. A tall glass of water poured into a short, wide glass would be considered to have less water in the mind of Piaget's child. He also calls this the failure to understand conservation, and lists seven different forms of this, including number, length and weight.

The fourth is called transductive reasoning. This is also called an inability to use inductive or deductive reasoning. Fifth is egocentrism, or the belief that children assume everyone thinks and feels as they do. An inability to consider another point of view is one characteristic of this. The sixth limitation is animism. Children give life to inanimate objects. Finally, Piaget says that children are unable to distinguish appearance from reality. If a sponge is made to look like a rock, this child will think it is a rock.

As a classroom application, I see little use for Piaget's limitations for this age group. It is unwise to assume that children of this age are incapable of knowing and understanding certain concepts. On the other hand, it is wise to consider Piaget's cognitive advances and assume that all children are capable of symbolism, cause and effect, and empathy.

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