Blog Entry #1: Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development divides childhood into four distinct stages that span certain ages where specific milestones in learning capability occur. First the sensoritmotor stage, which goes from birth to about 2 years old and is where object permanence is developed. Second is the preoperational stage, which spans from ages 2 to 7, where children learn to think symbolically, learning that words or objects can stand for different things. Third is the concrete operational stage from ages 7 to 11, considered by Piaget to be the critical point in cognitive development because this is when children begin to think logically and don't necessarily have to physically act things out before they can solve things in their minds. Finally comes the formal operational stage, which will last the rest of the child's life, where abstract thinking and problem solving fully develops. Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory can be applied to technology integration in a classroom by directing specialized activities and lessons toward each specific period of development. Technology can provide lessons in the form of interactive games to help build the core skills that should be acquired from each stage. For example, using age appropriate computer games designed to combine simple hands on procedures and critical thinking skills that progressively get slightly more abstract as they go would help students move through whichever stage they were currently in and prepare them for the next one.