Question

Kids sitting at a table coloring different pictures. How is this activity an example of Piaget's theory?

Answer 1

Jean Piaget, believed that every individual goes through four stages in life that shapes their cognitive development. The four stages being; sensorimotor stage (0-2 years), preoperational stage(2-7 years), concrete operational stage(7-11 years) and finally the formal operational stage(11-adulthood). An individual at birth, in the first stage of cognitive development only relies on his reflexes. It is during the course of time that he learns to imitate actions. It's during this stage that he assimilates and accommodates new information which reflects in his thinking process. It is in the second stage of development, preoperational stage, that a child learns to use language, symbol and gestures for cognitive development. At concrete operational stage an individual is egocentric, It does not mean that he/she is selfish but they focus only on their feelings and thoughts and feel that everybody else around them feel and think the same way. The final stage of cognitive development is the formal operational stage where an individual is capable of making logical decisions and solving abstract problems in a more systematic and logical way.

Kids sitting at the table coloring different pictures suggests that they are in the process of cognitive development. They are at the pre-operational stage of development where their interests lay in learning new things.