NuneEducarxv~ Tcday(1991) 11,65-69
0 Longman Group C‘K Ltd 1991
WORK
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development may
be useful in deciding what to teach and how to
teach it
John Orr
‘I‘he author outlines the relevant aspects of Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development and argues that, far from being restricted to childhood development.
the theory has relevance for adult learners.
An attempt is made to demonstrate the importance of practice within the
educational framework of the student who is learning to become a nurse. It is
argued that emphasis should be placed upon the provision of environments which
allow the student to practise the schemas which he already possesses in order to
provide opportunities for the elaboration of these schemas.
Piaget’s view that the existence of ‘schema is motivation in itself and the
environment is important insofar as it should be geared to ‘match’ the classroom
experiences of the student with the student’s ability to respond to them, is outlined;
with the contention that the most important means of growth is through action and
through operations that the student himself performs on the environment.
The author concludes with a note of caution for curriculum planners in a Project
2000 scenario who may promote theory at the expense of practice.
assimuauon wnen ne uses prevlouslv learneci
INTRODUCTION - PIAGET’S responses to new stimuli.
THEORY OUTLINED When describing adaptation. Piaget contends
Piaget considers adaptation a basic process in that in every interaction, schemas are not
development and defines two aspects of adapt- applied without a recognition 01 the varying
ation: assimilation and accommodation. For the properties of objects and a subsequent adapt-
c-hild to survive in the world, he must learn to ation. A schema modifies itself acc,oI-ding to the
<Idapt. This involves an interplay between assimi- particular characteristics of the object; the
lation and accommodation. According to Piaget, schema of reaching for and grasping something
ii is only through adaptation that people interact must accommodate to the distance of the object
with their environment. An individual displays and to its size and weight. As a result, no two
.
apphcatlons of a schema. however simple, are
John Orr MEd BA DASE RMN RGN DipN RCNT RNT exactly alike. Nevertheless, there is a basic simi-
Assistant Director of Nurse Education, Eastern Area larity which gives the schema its organisation.
College of Nursing, Southside, Purdysburn Hospital, permitting its repetition and consequent growth.
Saintfield Road,
(Requests for offprints to JO) If accommodation were to occur- without
Manuscript accepted 25 May 1990 assimilation, or vice versa, either chaotic and
fi?
66 NURSE EDUCATIOh’ TODAY
disorganised, or rigid and unchanging behav- tasks. In this way it is possible to use Piaget’s ideas
iour would result. The principle of equilibration to help understand poor motivation.
involves recognition of the necessary balancing A learner might be poorly motivated in a
of the two which must occur. Equilibration particular situation for one of two reasons:
ensures that new additions to schemas are conso-
4 The features of the situation might be so
lidated by the process of assimilation, so that an
different from other situations from which
equilibrium is reached.
the learner has well-developed schemas
Primary school teachers should recognise the
that these are unable to accommodate. In
necessity, for example, of allowing a child to
such a scenario the classroom situation may
practice addition on different sets of single
be far removed from ‘where the learner is’.
numbers (assimilation) before going on to two-
b) Conversely, the learner may have schemas
digit numbers (accommodation). As this ex-
that are so adapted to the situation that
ample further suggests, and as Piaget empha-
only assimilation is possible, and no accom-
sises, the equilibrium resulting from the balance
modation is necessary.
of these two processes is a dynamic one, in that it
prepares the subject for further dis-equilibrium Teachers who would subscribe to Piaget’s theo-
-new learning, This element of Piaget’s theory is ries would accept the belief that an individual has
important insofar as it forms the basis for the characteristic ways of functioning which change
child’s motivation. Piaget’s view is that the exist- in crucial ways as development progresses.
ence of a schemata is motivation in itself. The Malcolm Knowles (1986) appears to at least
presence of a schema, according to Piaget, partly support a Piagetian view when he specu-
generates the need to exercise it, so there is no lates that ‘as individuals mature, their need and
need to talk about needs, drives, or incentives capacity to be self-directing, to utilise their
since he sees acquisition of skills as necessarily experience in learning, to identify their own
having a motivational component. As con- readiness to learn, and to organise their learning
sidered by Piaget, motivation comes about as a around life problems, increases steadily from
result of assimilation: while a schema is growing infancy to pre-adolescence, and then increases
to include a greater variety of possibilities, it is rapidly during adolescence’. As evidence for his
also motivating the individual to accommodate. claims Knowles cites the work of a number of
authors such as Bruner 1961, Erikson 1964,
Getzels and Jackson 1962, Bower and Hollister
PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE 1967, Iscoe and Stevenson 1960 and White 1959.
An examination of how many nurse learners
While recognising that Piaget was referring to are taught may lead one to think that these
young children it could be argued that this young adults are often treated like children
theory of Piaget’s goes to the roots of pedagogi- because tutors use teaching methods based on
cal practice. His theory states basically that inappropriate child learning theories. Knowles
motivation comes: argues that a pedagogical model is inappropriate
for adults as it is based on assumptions that:
a) from the learner
b) the environment only when this presents a) learners only need to know what the
experiences closely enough matched to the teachers teach
child’s ability to respond to them. b) the teacher’s concept of the learner is that
Piaget’s theory of motivation may not account so of a dependant personality.
well for differences in motivational level.
In arguing for an androgogical model for use in
However, although the term ‘poorly motivated’
adult learning Knowles asserts that:
is often used as if it were describing a general
characteristic of an individual, it is almost always 1) Adults both desire and enact a tendency
chosen on the basis of particular context and toward self-directedness as they mature,
NURSE EDt’(::\-I’I( )N -I‘OI).~Y 67
though they may be dependent in certain timetables are not demanding. Long, dull
situations. sessions are broken by impromptu coffee
Adults’ experiences are a rich resource for breaks. extended lunches and finishing earl)
learning. Adults learn more effectively when disappointed tutors admit that most of
through experiential techniques of edu- us are somnolent. Thev seem to underestimatr
cation such as discussion or problem- the capacity of learners to adapt to newer.
solving. more imaginative teaching mrthods. The\.
.4dults are aware of specific learning needs lack the knowledge or confidence to tackle role
generated by real life tasks or problems. play, semi-structured discussion and other
Adult education programmes, therefore, experiential learning techniques Thy 0 rt’
should be organised around ‘life applica- not merting our nreds’. ((k~och. 1984).
tion’ categories and sequenced according
Most nurse educational programmes toda!
IO learners’ readiness to learn.
stress the need to develop self-directed learning
.4dults are competency based learners in
programmes, without proper c-onsideration
that they wish to apply newly acquired skills
being given to the fact that man\ factors ma\
or knowledge to their immediate circum-
militate against the learner nuI-se becoming
stances. Adults are, therefore, ‘perform-
self-directed. I have argued elsewhere that the
;mce-centred’ in their orientation to
‘Ghosts of 1860’ still stalk our wal-ds with slavish
learning.
devotion to tradition as the chief guide to prac-
Knowles declares that
tic-e, J Orr (1990). It could also IX, argued that
‘the psychological definition of adulthood is many educational staff are equally rooted in
the point at which individuals perceive them- traditional, almost exclusively didactic practicea.
sel\Tes to be essentially self directing.’ One wonders if it is realistic to expect yvoung
(Knowles, 1980 ~~43-44) adults to move towards autonomv when theit
Stephen Brookfield agrees with Knowles that profession remains rooted in hereronom)~. If we
this tendency to self-directedness is not generally are to move forward perhaps. mc’e again, Piaget
transferred to educational settings by adults. He may be of value.
claims that the task of the facilitator of learning
is. therefore. to create an educational pro-
gramme and setting in which adult students can
IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE
develop their latent self-directed learning skills.
IHowever, he warns that there are
Piaget’s theory sees little value in trying to force
‘good grounds for maintaining that self the pace of development. Instead he places
directedness . is an empirical rarity. . . and a emphasis on the provision of environments
review of cultures throughout the world which allow the learner to practice the schemas
reveals that most social structures are rigid and which he already possesses, and which provide
heirarchical and that they place a primacy on opportunities for the elaboration and linking of’
the subjugation of individual options’. these. If such an environment is created. Piaget.
(Brookfield, 1986) claims, the impetus for learning will come from
the learner. Implied within this statement is the
Thus, it may be argued that latent self
notion that the teacher must create the optimum
tiirectedness is less likely to be allowed to prosper
learning ‘set’ which is appropriate to the learn-
in a rigid traditional cultural setting. The nur-
er’s present level of cognitive development; no
sing profession is often viewed in such a light.
easy task. While Piaget asserts that the presenct
Gooch (1984) describing her nurse training,
of a ‘schema is motivation in itself’ and the
claims that
environment is only important insofar as ir
‘All my sessions are compulsory. Tutors are should be geared to ‘match’ the experiences with
afraid no one will turn up my block the learner’s abilitv to respond to them. it
68 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY
appears almost too obvious to state that the argue that the appropriate way would be to
learner should be provided with an appropriate adopt a progressivist ideology which decreases
learning environment. Similarly in providing the learner’s dependency on the educator.
practice, as stated in Piaget, one can identify the Therefore it seems imperative that new edu-
need for reinforcement, for the use of satisfiers, cational programmes should be progressively
and for generous practice in order to ‘stamp’ in learner centred, must be relatively unstructured
new connections. Piaget defines the term ‘opera- and aligned to the needs of the student and the
tion’ as an internalised schema which is systema- patient. Any androgogical approach must be
tically linked with a broader set of operations; a discussive, open plan and assessment of progress
structure. Piaget explains that it is the systematic must not be exclusively by written or practical
linkage of operations which makes them a per- examinations.
manently learned mental framework. He In order to facilitate such a progressivist
(Piaget) repeatedly stresses the importance of ideology, nursing education would require to be
the existence of a ‘firm’ permanent set of cogni- reconstructionist in outlook. If outmoded tradi-
tive structures for preventing an individual from tions are to be removed, educational programme
being overwhelmed by the here-and-now per- should aim for change; to prepare learners for a
ceptions of a situation, and for allowing past ‘free’ society; be anti-elitist and express everday
experience to be brought to bear on a situation. life. If Gooch and other students’ needs are to be
Piaget clearly believes that the most important met then education must be made joyful. The
means of growth is through action and through learner must be facilitated to experience the fun
operations that the learner performs on the of education through a variety of experiential
environment. techniques.
Peel (1976) suggests that for continuing edu- Place in an over-formal, exclusively teacher-
cation learning should not ‘considerably out- orientated environment, the learner will be
pace thinking, material and all subjects should be starved of the practical experience which serves
graded accordingly, keeping in mind particu- as the raw material for his thinking. If we restrict
larly the period of maximum growth from his experience, we restrict his conceptualisation.
descriptive-repetition to imaginative - expla- However, constructing such an environment
nation’. Peel also argues that in the education of may be extremely difficult for even the most
adolescents the ultimate aim must be imaginative experienced teacher. Implied within this
thought and experience must be made articulate reasoning is the need for ‘individual learning
through language and abstraction: the applica- programmes for each learner. In large classes
tion of established ideas to new situations should such an ‘ideal’ may not be achieved.
be linked with this process. Peel contends that Piaget’s developmental model of thinking
learning a subject requires competence in grasp- emphasises that a learner must master the sche-
ing a ‘multiplicity of affairs’ and to ensure mata at the earlier levels if he is to go on to more
understanding requires teacher sensitivity, not advanced work. This is not just a question of the
instructional rigidity. The lesson for teachers learner missing the groundwork in a particular
may be that the changing ‘quality’ of intelligence subject, but the much more fundamental issue of
would support the notion of a ‘spiral curriculum’ failing to master the patterns of thinking neces-
where it would be possible to return to topic sary for success in a wide range of educational
areas with a greater conceptual repertoire and endeavours. Curriculum Planners in a Project
more mature form of intellectual enquiry. 2000 scenario be warned; generous practice will
David Fontana suggests that Piaget’s work still be necessary in what is generally viewed as a
would indicate that the ‘scope enjoyed by college based course.
teachers for accelerating learners progress may Part of the argumentiveness shown by adoles-
be greater than was at first thought, provided cents is often occasioned by the fact that abstract
that material is presented to them in the appro- concepts such as ‘freedom’, ‘justice’, ‘truth,
priate way’. Mezirow (1981) would probably ‘altruism’ and so on now begin to take on a newer
NURSE EDUCATION TODAY 69
and deeper meaning for them, and may lead to Hill W R 1973 Leanring. University Paperback, USA
theirjudging and rejecting the standards of their Iscoe I, Stevenson W W 1960 Personality Development
in Children’ University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas
elders. New curricula which are seen to foster Knowles M 1984 The Adult Learner - A Neglected
these concepts may thus bring conflict with older Species 3rd ed. Houston, Texas: London, Gulf
members of the profession. There is a need for Mezirow J 198 1 A critical theory of adult learning and
education. In: Tight M ed 1983 Education for Adults.
new educational structures which seek to dimi- Adult Learning and Education Vol 1. Croom Helm.
nish role conflict in a Project 2000 training London
arena. Orr J 1990 Project 2000 V tradition. Nurse Education
Today 10. 1: 58-62
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is Peel E A (quoted in) Piaget, psychology and education.
useful in deciding what to teach and how to teach Ved P, Williams V, Williams P. Eds. Hodder and
it. While recognising that there are counter- Stoughton, London
Phillips J L 1975 The Origins of Intellect, Piaget’s
arguments and criticisms of his work, his Theory. Freeman, Oxford
findings will continue to be relevant and helpful White R H 1959 Motivation reconsidered. The concept
to teachers and, while Piaget has been criticised of competence. Psychological Review 66: 297-333.
for his clinical interview method, the teacher
may see this approach as being helpful insofar as
it provides flexibility and is one method by which
useful assessment can occur, diagnosis made and APPENDIX 1
remedv effected.
Summary of factors worthy of consideration in the
implication for teaching
References 1. Set, expectancy readiness.
2. Learning by activity.
Bower E M, Hollister W G eds. 1967 Behavioural 3. Using experience.
Science Frontiers in Education. Wiley, New York 4. Limit amount to be memorised.
Brookfield S D 1986 Understanding and Facilitating 5. Generous practice.
Adult Learning. Open University Press, Milton 6. Measuring progress - against own previous per-
Keynes formance.
Bruner J S 1961 The acr of discovery. Harvard 7. Use of realistic and relevant material.
Educational Review 3 1 pp2 l-32 8. Pace of learning.
E.rikson E H 1964 Insight and Responsibility. Norton, 9. Role of motivation in learning.
New York 10. Preventing and recognising mistakes.
Montana D 1981 Psychology for Teachers. Macmillan, 11. Necessity for systematic teaching.
London 12. Learn to attain something.
(Getzels ,J W, Jackson P W 1962 Creativity and 13. Recoanition of different tvpes of learning.
Intelhgence. Wiley, New York 14. Time-pressure - effects oi:
(hooch S 1984 No apples for teacher. Senior Nurse 1, 15. Use of written instructions.
11: 8 16. Use of satisfiers. Praise. need reduction.
