Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) had an enormous influence on ideas about children’s cognitive development. He was concerned with uncovering the ontogenetic changes in cognitive functioning from birth through to adolescence (Wadsworth, 1996). Piaget (1977) declared that intelligence derives from action and he saw children as actively constructing their own knowledge through their interactions with the environment. Piaget’s theory focused on the internal aspects of the individual learner as they develop their own understanding of the world around them. He believed thinking develops in a series of increasingly complex stages, each incorporating the achievements of the previous stage.

Piaget (1952) termed the first two years of life the sensorimotor period, in which the infant is born with sensorimotor reflexes such as sucking, grasping and crying. During this stage, infants construct an understanding of their world by co-ordinating sensory experiences with physical actions. Early in this stage, infants begin to internally represent objects and events in a process called symbolisation (LeFrancois, 2000). Piaget (1967, p. 11) described the relationship between language and thought by stating that “intelligence actually appears well before language”. He

21 identified imitation (internal representation) as one of the most important means by which infants develop understanding and acquire language. Young children learn social behaviours such as sharing by imitating their peers and fostering opportunities for co-operative social interactions between young children is an important implication of Piaget’s theory (LeFrancois, 2000).

Piaget uses the term schema to describe the cognitive structures by which individuals adapt to and organise the environment (Piaget, 1977). Schema are described as the mental counterparts of biological means of adapting and they constantly change, becoming more refined as children develop (Nutbrown, 1987; Wadsworth, 1996). Piaget (1977) proposes that the processes responsible for the changes in these internal structures are assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation occurs when the individual integrates new objects or perceptual matter into existing schema or patterns of behaviour (Wadsworth, 1996). According to Piaget (1977), peer interactions become important when children are able to assimilate the viewpoints of their peers when they are different from their own.

However, sometimes a new stimulus cannot be assimilated because there are no associated schema. Therefore, the child must accommodate their existing thinking by either creating a new schema or modifying an existing schema so that the stimulus will fit into it (Piaget, 1977; Wadsworth, 1996). Assimilation and accommodation are vital for cognitive growth, but there needs to be a balance between these two processes. Piaget termed the process of maintaining this balance equilibration (Piaget, 1977). An imbalance between assimilation and accommodation can occur when the expectations or predictions that the child has are not confirmed by the experience (Wadsworth, 1996). The resulting disequilibrium, or cognitive conflict, occurs when an individual’s current understandings are challenged by contradictory views (Flavell, 1977). Peer collaboration provides a context for disequilibrium and Meadows (2006) identified conflict with peers as one of the few social aspects of cognition that Piaget focused on. The role of peer interactions from a Piagetian perspective can offer an opportunity for the disequilibration of thought, leading to a transformation of ideas that result in new understanding or development (Tudge, 2000).

22 Peers bring different perspectives to their play and these provide opportunities for children to learn from each other. Children challenge each other by offering alternative viewpoints which lead to the trying out of new ideas; a resolution of the conflict caused by contradictory views results in re-equilibration and new understanding. This is an important process and Flavell states that “according to Piaget, states of cognitive conflict and disequilibrium impel the child to make cognitive progress” because this conflict creates further opportunities for assimilation and accommodation (Flavell, 1977, p. 242). However, the role of social interactions in this process is only effective if the child is in a state of ‘readiness’ (Wood, 1998, p. 16), which has been found to be a problematic concept in his theory (Bjorkland, 2012; Matusov & Hayes, 2000; Tudge, 2000).

The equality of status that exists amongst children is an important factor that promotes peer learning. Peer interactions are more likely to bring about cognitive development than teacher- child interactions as children have equal status and shared perspectives (Palinscar, 1998; Tudge, 2000). Peers of equal status provide each other with unique opportunities to develop and practice cognitive concepts and skills (Piaget, 1977). Peers of equal ability problem solve together and this requires them to understand each other’s perspective in order to reach a solution. From a Piagetian perspective peer interactions are important as these types of interactions offer opportunities for assimilating and accommodating alternative viewpoints resulting in the construction of new knowledge (Wadsworth, 1996).

Peers openly exchange thoughts, words and feelings through direct reciprocity and this process is termed ‘mutual engagement’ (Piaget, 1965, p. 88). Piaget proposed that peers agree on the system by which they should interact and that this system, unlike the one that children believe adults already know, has no definite endpoint. Children quickly discover that they are free to contribute to interactions in similar ways to those of their peers and that they can use direct reciprocity to achieve order; discussion, debate, negotiation and compromise are all strategies peers adopt during the process of ‘mutual engagement’ (Youniss, 1980). Discussion between peers is more valuable than discussion between adults and children because peer interactions are not limited by the power imbalances present in adult-child relationships (Piaget, 1965).

23 Experiences with peers provide opportunities for children to direct their learning, however Issacs (1930) argued that Piaget had underestimated the nature of children’s thinking and their ability to have agency in their play after reflecting on her observations of children at the nursery school she had established. Issacs reviewed Piaget’s early work and offered critique which Piaget extended on in his later work (Willan, 2009). Other researchers have questioned the social meaning of the test situations that Piaget used (Meadows & Cashdan, 1988). Donaldson was one such critic who used the term ‘human sense’ to describe the importance of introducing tasks to children in such a way that children are able to grasp the nature of the problem. She suggested that if teachers or researchers want to assess children’s competence then it is necessary to look at how children attempt tasks that they have set themselves in an environment that is meaningful to them, rather than making assessments based on their responses to tasks which psychologists have set them (Donaldson, 1978). Donaldson’s critique focused attention on the importance of assessing children’s thinking as they engage in play that they have agency over. Peer play can offer opportunities for children to direct their own learning and to problem solve various situations themselves. This critique highlights the importance of observing peer play in meaningful environments that offer opportunities for children to collaborate together.

Piaget’s ideas still have important implications for teachers’ practice in relation to peer learning, despite critique of his theory (Bjorkland, 2012; Hoffnung et al., 2010; Le Francois, 2000; Thornton, 2002). Children experience opportunities to collaborate through play and Piaget (1967) believed children could learn from collaborations, particularly where one child has a different strategy for dealing with a problem. Piaget (1961) contended that social interaction was an important factor in making thought more objective. He argued that the egocentric view of the young child is essentially one that does not recognise other viewpoints and therefore it is through interactions with others such as peers that children become aware of other perspectives which they then accommodate and ultimately construct new knowledge. Piaget (1961) maintained that development depends on maturation, equilibration, active experience and social interaction as previously discussed. Opportunities for active experiences and social interaction are of particular relevance to this study.