The Importance of Piaget’s Theory in the Science Classroom

As teachers, we always hear that hands-on activities are important for student learning. However, do you ever wonder why hands-on learning is so important, besides the fact that it is more “fun”? “Jean Piaget proposed that through interacting with and reflecting on their physical and social worlds, children self-construct increasingly complex understandings and reasoning abilities with age”(Ormrod, pg. 289). Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory showed the importance of individual constructivism in children’s development and learning. Ormrod states, “Piaget depicted learning as a very constructive process: Children create (rather than simply absorb) their knowledge about the world”(Ormrod, pg. 291). In addition, Piaget suggested that children need to be active learners, they need to organize what they learn from their experiences or existing schemes, and they learn by interacting with their physical environment (Ormrod, pg. 291-292).

His theory is very important for teachers to use to their advantage. Ormrod lists a number of ways that Piaget’s theory can be beneficial for teachers, but there are a couple that relate directly to the science classroom. The first one is, “Puzzling phenomena can create disequilibrium and spur children to acquire new understandings”(Ormrod, pg. 309). The whole idea behind the Next Generation Science Standards is to present the students with a phenomenon at the beginning of the unit to get them thinking about the topic. An example of a phenomenon that I have used in the classroom is a picture of a rock formation that has been eroded by the wind. At the beginning of the erosion unit the students have to guess what could have caused this rock to have this hole in it. They work in groups to draw a model to explain what they think is happening, conduct multiple hands-on activities, and research different types of erosion to try to figure out this phenomenon. This is a great way for students to revise existing schemes like Piaget suggests.

Ormrod also writes about how Piaget’s view relates to inquiry learning, “Children and adolescents can learn a great deal through hands-on experiences”(Ormrod, pg. 307). Discovery learning or inquiry learning are both very hands-on and are used often in the science classroom.  Throughout the entire process I described above, students use inquiry learning to construct their knowledge about erosion. This self-construction of knowledge is what Piaget proposed as being extremely important in a child’s learning process.

Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Human Learning. New York, NY: Pearson.

How Do We Get Students to Store Information in Their Long-term Memory?

Human memory has three parts: sensory registry, working memory, and long-term memory. “Information that undergoes additional processing moves on to the third component- long-term memory. Long-term memory appears to have the capacity to hold a great deal of information for a relatively long time”(Omrod, pg. 183). As teachers, we need to strive to have our students store as much information as possible into their long-term memory. In order for long-term memory to occur, students go through a number of cognitive processes including selection, rehearsal, meaningful learning, internal organization, elaboration, and visual imagery. There are numerous factors that affect long-term memory storage which teachers need to keep in mind and use to their advantage. Some of these include prior-knowledge, verbalization, enactment, and repetition and review.

Prior Knowledge-

The first way that teachers can use these factors to their advantage is by activating the students’ prior knowledge or even adding on to the students’ background knowledge.  A way in which I have done this in my classroom is completing a KWL chart with the students. The students who already have a lot of background knowledge in the subject area are going to easily make connections and engage in meaningful learning. Therefor, I need to make sure that I give the class some important background information for those students who may not have the same amount of background knowledge.

Verbalization-

Some ways in which I do this in my classroom is having the students turn and talk when presented with a question, having class discussions about a topic, and writing scientific explanations on a classroom blog.

Enactment-

I incorporate enactment in my classroom in the form of stations, hands-on labs, having the students act out how molecules behave in different states of matter, or having the students demonstrate why see different phases of the moon from earth using a styrofoam ball (as the moon), a model of the Earth, and flashlights (as the sun).

Repetition and Review-

“Reviewing and practicing information and procedures at periodic intervals over the course of a few weeks, months, or years clearly enhances retention and performance”(Omrod, pg. 208). This is one thing that I think I could improve on in my science classroom. We do a lot of short-lived rehearsal on relevant vocabulary words for vocab quizzes, but this is not an effective way to facilitate long-term memory storage. It is difficult to review and practice information at periodic intervals when we are continually switching to new scientific concepts. I think that this would be easier to do in districts which use a spiralling curriculum, but I need to find ways to do this by connecting major concepts into future units. For example, the students are learning about erosion and deposition right now. Perhaps when we do our water unit, I will need to have the students connect how water can cause erosion and deposition. I think that these sort of connections will help facilitate long-term memory storage.

Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Human learning. New York, NY: Pearson.