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Choose at least four theorists, using the internet, library or other sources, investigate the main ideas of each theorist’s research. Write an essay describing their ideas that interest you and that you will find most useful for your study of child and young person development. Give your reasons for your choice of theorist. Be sure to write down at the bottom of your work which sources you used. This is called referencing your work and is very important particularly when handing in assignment tasks. Jean Pigged (Theorist)
The theorist Jean Pigged researched the expected pattern of development in children from 0-19 years in the area of cognitive development which is associated with memory, reasoning, problem solving and thinking. He observed children, talked and listened to them. He also did simple tests that revealed different cognitive abilities. His studies also showed that children think in considerably different ways than adults and not because they are less competent thinkers than adults. He based his theories on a concept of 4 different development stages; he used these o track each child’s development.
The first stage was Sensory Motor from age’s birth to 2 years. He stated that children are egocentric which meaner they see the world from their view point only. At 8 months they start to develop object permanence where they know that a person or object exists even when it cannot be seen. Second stage was Pre-operational from ages 2 to 7 years. Children using language to show their thoughts. Also use symbols in their play. Such as a stick becomes a wand. They think that non living things have same feelings as them. Third stage was concrete operations from ages 7 to 1 1 years.
Children see things from other people’s point of view. They can also reason more easily, and understand that non living objects do not have feelings. They still need physical objects such as counters to solve problems such as Math. Fourth stage was Formal Operational from ages 11 to 18 years. Children Can manipulate ideas and sums in their head. They are more logical when trying to solve problems. Jean Pigged stated that all children will go through these different stages and that later stages are built from earlier ones.
He also claimed that they are fixed and unchangeable and they cannot skip a stage. They proceed in the same order even though they will progress at different rates through the stages. He did not state that a particular stage would be reached at a certain age. He indicated the age at which the average child would reach each stage. I like Jean Page TTS ideas to the deterrent development stages that a child develops in. As it is important that we know the expected pattern of development so we can as practitioners can recognize any delays in development or advances in development.
The Early years Foundation Stage that we currently use in our practices today relates to different development stages and this helps practitioners to see how a child is developing. It has expected levels that a child should reach and these are the Early learning goals. Although every child is different and develops at different rates. Which is what Jean Pigged mentioned. The curriculum also helps to develop a child in different areas of development and is also flexible to meet different needs and interests. One of Jean Pigged other theories that interests me is the idea of schemas.
Which is a Hough that helps organize and interpret information, as experiences happen new information is presented and new schemas are developed and old ones are changed. He claimed that schemas can begin as early as birth and that there are different levels of schemas as a child develops. The sort of schemas that were found were transporting, positioning, enclosures, ordering, rotation. Some of these schemas help us to further develop a child’s learning and we can provide activities that the child is interested in. Some of these schemas are being observed by our practitioners in today’s practices.