Piagetian Stages Research Articles

Piaget's stage learning hypothesis revisited.

RESUME Une re-analyse statistique des etudes de Inhelderr Bovet et Sinclair (1974), traitant les donncees comme une seule etude, contrairement aux analyses precedentcs (Brainerd, 1977; Thomas, 1980), a supporte 1'hypothese des stages d'apprentissage de Piaget. Il a ete trouve que le degre d'apprentissage cognitif etait relie au niveau initial de developpement; plus specifiquement, les enfants d'un niveau plus avance ont plus beneficie des effcts d'un entrainement que les enfants de niveaux moins avances. Cette difference dans l'evaluation des donnees pourrait etre due a une reduction de la variance attribuable au regroupement des etudes ainsi que a l'utilisation d'un modele different pour verifier l'hypothese des stages d'apprentissage.

The Development of the Concept of God in Children

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to determine if the development of the concept of God in children is compatible with general cognitive stage development. Ss were 180 children, 5–16 years of age, representing three religious orientations. Each child responded to a series of questions in a clinical-interview format. The results indicate that the development of the concept of God in children parallels Piaget's general stages of cognitive development. The significance of these findings is discussed in terms of the differentiation of religious training/orientation.

Toward a New Classification of Serious Psychopathology in Children

Although DSM-III is an improvement over DSM-II, it pays insufficient attention to developmental issues, and to the possibility that the symptoms of some disorders (such as schizophrenia) may be different in children as compared to adults. At least one DSM-III category (early infantile autism) may be invalid. Based upon Piaget's stages of cognitive development, and upon neuropsychological studies, two elemental modes of cognition are postulated, and their developmental courses plotted. Developmental failure in one or both modes may lead to the cognitive-linguistic, emotional and interpersonal symptoms which in DSM-III define the categories of early infantile autism, specific developmental disorders of language or reading, and schizophrenia.

Imitation and social responsiveness in autistic children.

Fifteen autistic children, ages 4-6 years, participated in the present study. Imitation and object permanence skills were assessed. Language and social behaviors were observed during free play. Children were also exposed to three interactive procedures that differed in developmental sophistication. The experimenter either (1) simultaneously imitated the child's actions, (2) modeled a familiar action, or (3) modeled a novel action. It was found that the autistic children who had a low level of imitative ability (Piaget's Stages 2-3) were more socially responsive, showed more eye contact, and played with toys in a less perseverative manner when the experimenter imitated their behavior than when the experimenter modeled either a familiar or a novel action. When the experimenter modeled a familiar as opposed to a novel action, these children were more likely to spontaneously imitate the experimenter. The autistic children with more highly developed imitation skills, however, responded similarly to all conditions. They also were generally more socially and verbally responsive. These results suggest that developmental status is an important variable in designing intervention programs for severely impaired children.

Does Piaget's Graphic Collection (Stage I Classification) Exist?

Summary In an otherwise fine presentation of Piaget's theory, Brainerd made a number of distorted interpretations of the replication research of Piaget's three successive stages in classificatory development, and concludes that “… there is no evidence that Stage I even exists.” Very young children (ages 2.5 to 4.5), according to Piaget, tend to arrange elements (geometrical figures that can be classified according to color, shape, and size) in short or long lines or to place them in some spatial or pictorial arrangement. Piaget calls these arrangements graphic collections, and they represent the first stage of classification. Of the studies cited by Brainerd, two supported the graphic collection stage, the others did not methodologically deal with the issue, and most did not include the age-appropriate Ss. In order to test Piaget's classificatory stage development, a replication of the Genevan studies was conducted with 80 2- to 6-year children in Brazil, and the results were in total agreement with Piage...

Piagetian stage IV search errors with an object that is directly accessible both visually and manually.

Previous work has shown that infants make the Piagetian stage IV error when the object is covered by a transparent occluder. However, it is not clear whether this happens because nine-month-old infants' failure to understand the identity of hidden objects extends to visible objects, or whether they are puzzled by object relationships involving transparency. Nine-month-old infants were presented with one of three different stage IV tasks in which the object was visible and uncovered at the second location. Stage IV errors were obtained with the object visible, but only when a covered place was provided at the first location. It is concluded that this result is stronger evidence that the stage IV error is not simply a hidden-object phenomenon, and that it may be best explained by taking account of infants' functional place knowledge, as well as their knowledge of object identity.

THE IMPACT OF PATIENT EDUCATION ON CHRONICALLY ILL CHILDREN

An investigation of the impact of patient education on chronically ill children to ascertain if a child's comprehension of illness is accelerated in relation to Piaget's stages of development has not been attempted previously. We have evaluated various aspects of a child's comprehension of illness from established (≥ 6 visits) patients attending the M.S.U. Pediatric Endocrinology, Oncology, and Nephrology clinics. Children without chronic disease attending a general pediatric clinic served as controls. Age groups of 5-9 and 10-14 years were studied. A single questionnaire-interview was administered to each child separately by one interviewer. Seventeen questions were asked in 3 different categories: general medically related (9); specific disease (4); and non-medical or neutral (4). Responses were recorded and later scored by both the interviewer and an independent evaluator using an established coding scale. Ninety-one children were interviewed. Children within both age groups scored higher on neutral questions than either the medically related or specific disease questions. Within each age group, chronically ill children did not differ from controls on mean scores of medically related questions. Comparing the two age groups, significantly higher mean scores on medically related questions were identified from the older children in each clinic except for Oncology clinic. Patient education does not appear to accelerate a chronically ill child's comprehension of illness.

A Promising Approach to the Development of a Group Piagetian Measure

The development and initial evaluation of an alternative approach to group Piagetian testing for adolescents and adults is described. In a study comparing scores obtained on the group measure to scores obtained on individual Piagetian stage assessment, a correlation of .78 was achieved for assigning individuals to one of four developmental levels and an 88% rate of agreement was achieved for assigning individuals to a concrete or formal “logical capability” score. Although further evaluation and development of the measure is required, the current version does have certain applied uses. Further, the results obtained thus far suggest that the alternative testing approach used in the measure holds substantial promise.

Moral reasoning of Piagetian-matched retarded and nonretarded children and adolescents.

The moral reasoning of four IQ/etiology groups was investigated: 19 organically abnormal moderately retarded, 19 organically abnormal mildly retarded, 19 mildly retarded due to psychosocial disadvantage, and 19 nonretarded individuals. In each group 12 Ss were preoperational and seven concrete operational. Moral reasoning was assessed by an instrument using moral dilemmas based on Kohlberg's procedures. The Slosson Intelligence Test was used to determine the IQs and mental ages of each S. Piagetian stage was determined with the standard conservation of number tasks. The findings indicated no overall significant differences between the mildly retarded and the nonretarded Ss or between the mildly retarded and the moderately retarded Ss, but differences were found between the moderately retarded and the nonretarded Ss. A significant interaction was found between the two independent variables, IQ/etiology and cognitive level. The results were discussed as supporting Zigler's development position and as damaging to Kohlberg's position.

Selective information use and perseveration in the search behavior of infants and young children

Two experiments examined the early development of selective information use in search. The first experiment tested 9- and 16-month-olds on a modification of Piaget's Stage IV object permanence task. It examined infants' use of information from previous experiences with an object (prior information) and from the most recent hiding (current information) to locate a hidden object. In the second experiment, 2-, 2 1 2 -, and 4-year-old children received these same sources of information along with new forms of prior and current information: information about the typical locations of objects (location specificity) and verbal information. No systematic perseveration was observed at 9 months, although previous findings related to perseveration were replicated. Perseveration was found at 16 months, but there was also evidence of selectivity at that age. When errors occurred, they tended to be to the prior location, but they were infrequent in comparison to correct searches at the current location. The preschoolers, while continuing to show perseveration, were more consistently selective than the infants. They also showed considerable generality in extending their selectivity to new sources of information.

The influence of training for the atomistic schema on the development of the density concept among gifted and nongifted children

The present study was conducted for two purposes. The first was to test the relations between the schema of atomism and the concept of density, and to examine the effects of Piagetian stage and M-capacity on these relations. This was accomplished by giving training for the schema of atomism to children at different stages and with varying M- capacities. The second purpose was to test the effects of age (9–10 versus 11–12 years) and IQ (gifted versus nongified children) as variables that would influence the outcome of training. A total of 120 children were tested. The findings were that the effects of the training and the IQ variables were significant while the effect of the age variable was not. When stage and M-capacity were covaried the effects of training and IQ remained significant. Implications for issues of developmental theory and educational practice are discussed.

Logic Puzzles and Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations

Logic Puzzles and Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations

Systematic and Metasystematic Reasoning: A Case for Levels of Reasoning beyond Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations

COMMONS, MICHAEL L.; RICHARDS, FRANCIS A.; and KUHN, DEANNA. Systematic and Metasystematic Reasoning: A Case for Levels of Reasoning beyond Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 1058-1069. Modes of cognition are postulated consisting of thirdand fourth-order operations; they are hypothesized to be qualitatively distinct from, and hierarchically related to, the form of reasoning characterized as formal operational by Inhelder and Piaget. An instrument was developed to assess these modes of cognition, labeled systematic and metasystematic reasoning, and was administered to 110 undergraduate and graduate students. The results support the assertion that systematic and metasystematic reasoning exist as modes of cognition discrete from, and more complex and powerful than, formal operational reasoning.

Systematic and Metasystematic Reasoning: A Case for Levels of Reasoning beyond Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations

Systematic and Metasystematic Reasoning: A Case for Levels of Reasoning beyond Piaget's Stage of Formal Operations

MOTHERS'LANGUAGE AND INFANT SENSORIMOTOR DEVELOPMENT: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?1

An investigation was made of the language of three mothers to their infants between the ages of two months and eight months in order to chronicle pragmatic changes in the mothers' language as the infants progressed from Piaget's Stage 2 (primary circular reactions) to Stage 3 (secondary circular reactions) of sensorimotor development.Results indicated that the mothers modified their speech to their infants when the babies began to display primarily Stage 3 behaviors. That is, a greater proportion of their speech referred to the child interacting with objects, while their references to the child alone decreased. They used a greater proportion of meaningful utterances and more reference in their speech. A decrease in the use of language to maintain interaction with the infant and an increase in its use to regulate the child's behavior or teach the child was noticed. Finally, the mothers used less repetition as their infants entered Stage 3. These language modifications would not be apparent in an analysis limited to syntactic or semantic aspects.

The use of creative movement, dramatics, and dance to teach learning-objectives to the hearing-impaired child.

The Use of Creative Movement, Dramatics, and Dance to Teach Learning-Objectives to the Hearing-Impaired Child Patricia Chamberlain-Rickard A creative movement and dance program at the New York State School for the Deaf in Rome, New York has been in existence for the past nine years. The thrust of the program is to teach the deaf child dance as a performing art. However, a second and more important result stems from this program: The chUd is encouraged to integrate these creative skills into meeting the language arts objectives of the classroom . This is attained by finding the commonalities between this art form and basic learning skills. These commonalities exist, and they provide the teacher with a supplemental approach to teaching the deaf child. This approach is visual, tactile, kinesthetic, physical, and, most of all, motivational (Chamberlain-Rickard, 1978). Young children are active and learn through being active. Charles (1972) discusses the wants and interests of students. He states that children from ages 5-10 want encouragement, praise, group membership, physical activity, direct sensory experiences, and concrete tasks. The interests that coincide with these wants are sharing, relating experiences, competitive activities, stories, dramatic play, and rhythms. If a teacher can incorporate these wants and interests into learning tasks that are concrete yet fulfill the children's needs through a supportive multisensory approach to teaching, the integration has been accomplished, and the children are motivated to continue learning. Throughout the elementary years the child is drilled in every aspect of learning until he/she mechanisticaUy repeats the appropriate answers. This is extremely prevalent in deaf education, where hearing-impaired students have to learn a whole new language without these wants and interests being taken into account. The standard educational approach for the hearingimpaired student should be expanded to The author is associated with the New York State School for the Deaf in Rome, New York. include these needs. A possible solution is the use of an innovative and sound supportive educational approach. A Concrete Example of a Lesson The following is a concrete example of a lesson that meets the classroom learning objective by utilizing the supportive teaching of creative movement, dramatics, and dance. The learning objective is to improve vocabulary, comprehension , and the concept of action verbs. The locomotor skills in movement and dance equate with many of the action verbs found in basic reading texts and everyday language. The eight skills are: walk, run, jump, hop, leap, skip, gallop, and slide. The operative word of this example is "skip." The teacher can present this word traditionally by writing it on the board, explaining it, and then using it in context. The deaf child is expected to recall this new vocabulary word through visual discrimination and, for some, through phonetics. According to Piaget's (1963) stages of cognitive growth and learning, the child is using the most fundamental tool of memory. To enhance and simplify the above standard approach of teaching new vocabulary to the deaf child, the teacher can use the supportive approach of creative movement, dramatics, and dance. Brown in his book The Live Classroom, Innovation Through Confluent Education and Gestalt (1975) states that throughout the elementary years the child is drilled in every aspect of learning until he or she mechanistically repeats the appropriate answer. A bulletin board of a tree is made by the teacher for this example. On a large colored leaf, the teacher can write the new word "skip." The teacher can then present a number of creative ways to have the children actually learn the work "skip:" 1. Have the students skip around the room. 2. Go outside and skip in open space. 3. Skip with a partner. A.A.D. I June 1982 369 Creative Movement, Dramatics, and Dance 4. Skip rope. 5. From these concrete activities, the students can make up their own language using this action verb. The teacher places the children's sentences in their own language on the bulletin board under the leaf with "skip" on it. 6. Have the children read the sentences that they have made up. 7. In higher elementary grades, vocabulary can be increased by learning that there are other meanings for this...

Cognitive prerequisites to language?

Infants performed Piaget's stage 4 manual search task with an object hidden at successive locations (A and B) in the vertical plane. In the various studies, the initial location (A) either had an immediate background or the background was absent. The majority of infants in each experiment made persistent perseverative errors to the initial location (A) when the object was moved to a new location (B), if there had been no immediate background at A. When a background was available infants showed an equiprobable pattern of search to A and B. The results suggest that the typical stage 4 error, described by Piaget as characteristic of infants between eight and 11 months, may only occur when the baby is unable to monitor movements of the object with respect to a stable background as a visual frame of reference.The Piagetian hypothesis that there are cognitive prerequisites for language acquisition is examined. Two different formulations are distinguished: the hypothesis that the child interprets utterances in terms of what he knows about the world; and the hypothesis that the emergence of particular ideas leads the child to cast around for the linguistic means of expressing them. The second but not the first formulation implies that the sequence of cognitive development will influence the sequence and timetable of language acquisition. Evidence from three sources is reviewed and provides little support for this prediction. It is argued that the course of language acquisition is probably determined by three factors which are largely independent of level of cognitive development: (i) linguistic complexity, (ii) the likelihood that the non‐verbal context will offer an unambiguous gloss of an adult utterance and (iii) the asymmetry between comprehension and production.

Factor structure of the Piagetian stage of concrete operations

Measures of 12 tasks of the Piagetian stage of concrete operational thought and of the eight groupement structures that theoretically underly the concrete operations stage were administered longitudinally at 12-month intervals to one group of children enrolled in kindergarten-Grade 3 and to another group enrolled in Grade 3–Grade 6. The obtained correlations for the 12 tasks separately, the groupements separately, and the tasks and groupements combined were submitted to factor analysis. The three factor structures obtained indicate that children's performances related to the 12 concrete operations tasks develop as five related sets rather than as one, those related to the groupements develop as eight related sets rather than as one, and those related to the 12 tasks and the groupements develop in an uncorrelated fashion. Implications of these findings for reconsidering the concrete operations stage, both as a description of children's actual developmental progression and as an explanation of cognitive development, are discussed.

Children's judgments of numerical quantity: A new view of early quantification

Three experiments investigated the role of length, density, and number dimensions in children's numerosity judgments of linear arrays of beads. The number dimension is physically defined by a length × density rule. Judgments based, even in part, on the number dimension would show signs of a length × density rule. Experiment 1 examined numerosity judgments of large arrays. Results showed that judgments by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length + density rule, providing cogent evidence for a general adding strategy in young children's judgments of quantity. The physical length × density rule emerged gradually with increasing age. Experiment 2 showed that numerosity judgments of small arrays by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length × density rule, indicating response to the number dimension. This result was expected and thereby validated the linearity of the response scale at the youngest ages. Experiment 3 verified the integration rules for individual 3- and 4-year-olds. The integration rules were interpreted in terms of Piaget's stages of the development of quantification. No evidence for Piaget's initial stage was found. This leads to a new view of early quantification which grants young children the ability to integrate stimulus dimensions.

The Ethics of Literacy Training

As Randall Jarrell says somewhere, the really damned not only like hell, they're loyal to it. And if they're at all scholarly they take notes while they fry. My own special road to purgatory is paved with four-by-six cards on which I have scribbled the pith and the vinegar of several years' reading about literacy. One of the sure signs that my commitment to the teaching of reading and writing is eternal is that I periodically go through several linear feet of these cards, waiting for a bolt to strike, looking for the force that through the red tape drives the flower. Or at least for the Cheshire grin of a respectable article. The red tape hasn't blossomed; perhaps the cat hasn't grinned. But my last excursion through the cards did cause the hair on the back of my neck to rise. My purposes in this essay are to examine the cause of this reaction and to raise some of the ethical questions that lie behind it. The cards show certain congregations of interest. Some of my reading, for example, has been in developmental psychology. I have noted-as has nearly everyone-that Jean Piaget, in The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence and elsewhere,' identifies four stages of cognitive development in children: the sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete, and formal. Piaget suggests that all normal young people move toward cognitive potential and can achieve the fourth, decentered, level if given proper stimulation; he also suggests that certain kinds of teaching are inappropriate at certain levels. Piaget is echoed and supported on many fronts. For example, Lawrence Kohlberg in Collected Papers on Moral Development and Moral Education2 proposes that individuals move through three levels toward principled thought, and that Piaget's fourth stage is a necessary but not sufficient condition for attaining the highest moral level. Lev Vygotsky discusses three stages of concept formation in Thought and Language3 and suggests that the elementary or initial syncretic