... in their ideas. Jean Piaget (1886-1980) is one of the most influential theorists on cognitive development. Originally he based his observations on his own children and came to the conclusion that children develop through a series of stages. These stages, he felt, are invariant, that is, all children pass through them in the same sequence without skipping any, and, except in the case of brain damage, regressing to earlier stages. Piaget stated that these stages are the same for everybody, irrespective of their culture. According to Piaget development proceeds through maturation, which are the changes related to biological development, which the environment has little influence over, and, adaptation which is the term used to describe the ways the child is influenced by its environment. He also stated that these structures consist of schemas, which are ways in which our knowledge is stored, rather like mental files, in which store the ...

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