Piaget's stages as an ordinal hierarchy of schemes for coping with the environment¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Humm's overview paper presents Piaget's framework for physical educators: two functional invariants, adaptation and structure, operate from birth, with adaptation accomplished by assimilation and accommodation. Development proceeds through the sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational periods. The paper stresses that 'Piaget's stages are ordinal, being a description of a progressive hierarchy of schemes for coping with the environment,' so skills built on prerequisites must appear in order.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Instruction must be matched to where the child is in development of the particular skill in question, since age or intelligence cannot be equated with physical skill

Constraints¶

• The overview is explicitly a condensation and extrapolation of Piaget's work, and the author warns against oversimplification of the stages

Target Learners¶

• young children in physical education and special physical education programs

Target Learning Objectives¶

• motor skill development grounded in cognitive-developmental level

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Stages of Cognitive Development
• Piaget's three memory types: recognition, reconstruction, and evocation
• Piaget's account of ludic symbolism: make-believe play as symbolic assimilation bridging concrete experience and abstract thought
• Play and Cognitive Development
• Piaget's stage theory of cognitive development: four fixed, hierarchical stages from sensori-motor to formal operations

Examples¶

• Piagetian teacher behavioral congruency checklist for analyzing teaching styles
• Allow practice play in relaxed conditions so skills can become modularized

Key Sources¶

• Winnick, Joseph P., and Ronald W. French, eds. (1975). Piaget for Regular and Special Physical Educators and Recreators. State University College, Brockport. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED117874