Cognitive Evolution of the “Human” Concept and Its Comparison with Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development in Elementary School Boys

Cognitive development is the process of acquiring mental functions that enable people to understand and interact with their environment from birth. The present research was conducted in order to investigate the cognitive development of the concept of human in elementary school boys and its comparison with Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

The current research method is qualitative, deductive-inductive. The research participants were 90 students from the first to sixth grades of Rasht city schools in the academic year of 2018, who were selected through available sampling. In order to collect information, a semi-structured interview was used, which continued until theoretical saturation. In the first stage of the research, That is, the inductive part, interviews were conducted with students and then coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis method recommended by Saldana (2014).  In the second stage, i.e. the analogical part, the findings were compared with Piaget's stages of cognitive development.  

Sub-categories were created around the 5 main themes of human nature, differentiation from animals, purpose of life, beginning and termination, and in the next step, these findings were compared with Piaget's view. Regarding the theme of human nature, the first to third grade students were in the objective thinking stage and the fourth to sixth grade students were in the abstract objective thinking stage. In relation to the theme of differentiation with animals, all the students from the first to the sixth grade were in the objective thinking stage. Regarding the theme of life purpose, first to third grade students were in objective thinking stage and fourth to sixth grade students were in abstract objective thinking stage. Regarding the theme of the beginning of life, except for the second grade students who were in the abstract thinking stage, the other students were in the abstract objective thinking stage. In relation to the theme of the end of life, the students of all grades were in the stage of objective and abstract thinking. 

The findings of the research, in line with some researches, showed that students can reach abstract thinking at younger ages than what Piaget stated, and this result can be subject to cultural, religious and social factors.