Jean Piaget

Definition

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his pioneering work in the study of child development and for his theory of cognitive development, which explains how children construct a mental model of the world. He believed that children go through four stages of cognitive development as they actively seek to understand their environment.

Related terms

Cognitive Development: The process of growth and change in intellectual/mental abilities such as thinking, reasoning, and understanding.

Schemas: Mental models or frameworks that organize and interpret information in the world according to Piaget's theory.

Assimilation and Accommodation: Key processes in cognitive development where assimilation involves incorporating new experiences into existing schemas and accommodation refers to altering existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information