Section 2.4 Cognitive development theories

2. Basic components of Piaget’s cognitive theory

Piaget theory of cognitive development describes how humans gather and organise information and how these process changes developmentally. He believed that children are born with a very basic mental structure on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based. For Piaget, the focus was on how mental structures and processes evolved to help individuals make meaning out of their experience and adapt to their changing environments. To understand this process of adaptation, he employed the concepts of schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.