Meet Piaget
Dr. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist (1896-1980) who studied childrens' responses and interactive play and learning. His theory of learning has been studied and accepted by learning theorists worldwide. His stages apply to the educational studies of math, science, and possibly now-technology. As a child, Jean Piaget was inquisitive and loved science. Most fascinating to him was the study of mollusks: snails and clams. Not surprisingly, he achieved his Ph.D in natural science. Piaget, an accomplished professor and writer of 60 books, was married to Valentine and had 4 children. He was inspired by childrens' thought processes when he helped to standardize the Binet IQ test.He took his studies in the path of "How does knowledge grow?" Piaget didn't live to see computers in the classrooms but he knew it was coming.After all, computers were showing up on college campuses and it was just a matter of time before they would become smaller and more affordable. His model would have neatly fit into today's fast and furious high tech world, as an exciting teaching tool. Piaget would have loved the cooperative learning accompanying these tech tools!
Piaget's 4 Cognitive Developmental Stages:
Stage 1: Sensorimotor- birth to 2 years
Babies create cause and effect when they drop a ball and it bounces or when they play peek-a-boo with another person. Or an adult hides and recovers a toy behind their back. Language begins with ba-ba for bottle or ga-ga for dog. Babies have traditionally played with car keys in parents' laps. With smart phones, a whole new generation of babies will be responding to and perhaps interacting with music, movies, and children's websites like RIF. Reading is Fundamental (RIF) is a safe, federal program with a fabulous website for children. The toddler section has moms and dads singing and creating visual fingerplays for toddlers. Toddlers and babies can see and hear adults singing and acting out This Old Man and The Itsy Bitsy Spider! Parents,who have forgotten these vital fingerplays, can access this site as a refresher course. Other sections of the website are book activities for ages birth to 15 year olds.You can even see and hear the famous author Eric Carle read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? He further details the parts of the book: with the back, the front, and the spine. Interactive games may be too small to enjoy on a smart phone but the oral stories and songs are entertaining, as well as educational. Music always engages the youngest learner with math skills: rhythm, repetition,and patterns. Three of the 5 senses can be used(with technology), as well: hearing (mom or dad's voice, instrument, clapping, snapping, percussion), sight (faces,color, shapes), and touching ( hands or parent hands).
http://www.rif.org/
http://www.rif.org/
Stage 2: Preoperational
ages 18-24 months to 7 years
Language, memory, and imagination is rapidly developing! The world still revolves around the child, as they are egocentric. Magical things are real in this stage. Movie animals seem real. A tall 8 ounce glass of water appears to have more water than a short 8 ounce glass. Logic doesn't happen yet. Math must be a hands on, concrete experience. Touching materials in math lessons makes better connections in the brain, as neurons are fusing together! With guidance, toddlers and early education children can play safe, educational computer games. Numeral recognition, shapes, colors, easy math problems, and emergent reading skills can be enjoyed and improved with educational software. Millie's Math House and Bailey's Book House are popular classroom computer software. PBS has an excellent and activity filled website to use with children. Adult supervision is advised to find appropriate shows and activities.
Stage 3: Concrete Operations
Ages 7 to 11 years
Logic and symbols have more meaning now. A child can begin to read music for formal lessons. Math is more meaningful on paper. This stage may be more enthusiastic about gaming and exploring favorites on the Internet. Parent and teacher supervision is recommended .Computer favorites can be bookmarked and firewalls must be used. Learning with educational software can be fun and rewarding. School projects can be enhance with online resources. Families, without computers, can use public library or school computers.
The following websites were reviewed (for advertisements & quality) in a St.Petersburg College Early Childhood class in the Fall of 2010:
Stage 4: Formal Operations
Adolescence to Adults
Students think more abstractly in this stage. They can form a hypothesis and handle systematic studies. As the world becomes more real to them, their virtual world is also expanding. Parents worry about cyberbullying and inappropriate websites. Parental supervision is more important than ever, with young people surfing the web. Netiquette needs to be a household and school rule. Students need to know what to avoid and to be nice to others on the computer and while texting on their phones.Search engines can help parents set up controls for their children. Teachers can safely set up ePals for their class to have a class pen pal in other states or countries. The real world should be balanced with the virtual world for children. The PBS Frontline special Digital Nation has 9 excellent segments that a parent and child could watch together. It cautions about too much time spent in the virtual world, while promoting technology in the classroom and at home. These segments open a good discussion between a parent and their children. Technology is here to stay. Making sure it is appropriately utilized for the student, parent, and teacher is the ultimate goal.
http://www.pricetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/for kids.htm (for adolescence)
http://www.pricetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/for kids.htm (for adolescence)
No comments:
Post a Comment