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Characterise The Growth Of Understanding: There are three broad stages of equilibrium, the sensori motor, the stage of concrete operations and the sta0e of formal operations. Overlaying this relatively simply model, Piaget offered two further concepts that characterise the growth of understanding as it proceeds through these stages. The first is that of decentrarion, the progressively developing ability of the child to realise that her perception of reality is not the only one, and that to achieve a more objective understanding of reality she must leam to align her own perceptions of reality with those reported by others.
Human consciousness is a complex and organically developing phenomenon in which we all share and of which we all struggle to make sense. An analogy might be made with medical understanding of the organism. A study of the developing physiological system gives us insights into the nature and control of various conditions. A study of how the body reacts to certain events in its early stages of growth is important to our understanding of how it functions later in life. Similarly it might be argued with the development of understanding.
Thus human understanding is seen as individually constructed within the context of basic biological or cognitive pre-conditions and reactive to the fully formed adult perceptions and understandings towards which it is moving This is not to say that the child does not actively impose explanations on events within the context of the conditions described. Amusement is often generated by stories of young children generating basic misconceptions as a result of their partial understanding of experience and reality. Among 'child centred' proponents of early education there may even be an element of celebration with respect to the generative capacity of the infant to construct these misconceptions. In the longer term, however, they are seen as errors that characterise the semi-formed stage of individual development. |
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