Cognitive Development

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Cognitive Development

By Jamie OBrien
S00057700
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What is cognitive development?

• Expressed by (Berk. 2004) as children actively
  construct knowledge as they manipulate and
  explore their world.
• Cognitive Development has been categorized into
  four main stages when dealing with children,
  these were founded by the main theorist for this
  topic, Jean Piaget.

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Stage one of cognitive development

• 1 Sensori-motor period (0-2 years)
• Actions are performed on the world in terms of
  their five senses. Initially the childs
  behaviour is governed by simple reflexes. This
  stage is sub-staged into six parts.

The child cannot understand that the toy is
still there even though it has been covered by a
sheet of paper
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The sub-stages

• Substage 1 (0-1 months) modification of reflexes
• Substage 2 (1-4 months) primary circular
  reactions
• Substage 3 (4-8 months) secondary circular
  functions
• Substage 4 (8-12 months) coordination of
  secondary reactions attainment of object
  performance
• Substage 5 (12-18 months) tertiary circular
  reactions
• Substage 6 (18-24 months) representational
  thought

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Stage two of cognitive development

• 2 Pre-operational stage ( 2-7 years)
• The emergence of language, modelling and memory
  are key features. It is in this when, that
  according to (McGurk. 1975, p.36-37) the childs
  internal, cognitive representation of the
  external world is gradually developing and
  differentiating but many serious limitations are
  also in evidence.

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Stage three of cognitive development

• 3 Concrete operations period (7-11 years)
• According to Piaget, this stage is when children
  begin to understand the relationship between
  things in the world but still cannot think in
  abstract terms. Although their thinking has
  greater flexibility, they are capable of
  operational groupings only with concrete objects.

if you have two five inch sticks laid parallel to
each other, then move one of them a little, the
child may believe that the moved stick is now
longer than the other.
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Stage four of cognitive development

• 4 Formal operations period (11 years)
• The individual moves from a less to a more mature
  level of functioning. McGurk(1975, p. 39) notes
  that the hallmark of this stage is the childs
  ability to reason abstractly without relying upon
  concrete situations or events.

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Cognitive development in infancy

• In the first 18 months of life, infants are
  maturing not only physically but cognitively as
  well. Piaget describes the first two years of
  life as a time of rapid growth in the childs
  ability to think, reason and understand the
  world. (Slee,P. 2002, p.142-143). Infants belong
  within the Sensori-motor period in which they are
  using their sensory systems and motor activity to
  help them to acquire knowledge about the world.

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Cognitive development in early childhood

• Belong in the Pre operational stage of
  development.
• most obvious change is an extraordinary increase
  in representational, or symbolic activity.
  (Berk. P.216, 2004)
• Eg. The child pushes the block along the floor
  saying broom broom, they know that the block is
  not a car but the block signifies something to
  the child.

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Cognitive development in middle childhood

• During Primary school years, children make
  significant strides in terms of their cognitive
  development.
• Piaget places them within the concrete operations
  period.
• Children begin to understand the relationship
  between things in the world but still cannot
  think in abstract terms (Slee,P. p.331, 2002)
• Thought is more logical, organised and flexible
  than in early childhood.

A child in middle childhood will know that If you
pour the mild from the short, fat glass into the
tall, skinny glass, that there is the same amount
of milk as before, despite the dramatic increase
in mild-level!
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Cognitive development in later childhood

• Piaget places these individuals in the Formal
  operational stage where these children develop
  the capacity for scientific abstract thinking.
• In this stage children progress dramatically in
  the way of understanding and having the ability
  to think in a mature and sophisticated manner.

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Other cognitive processes

• Piaget also included accommodation, assimilation
  and organization in his theory of cognitive
  development.
• Accommodation adapting to the environment
• Assimilation incorporating experiences into
  cognitive structures
• Organization the way cognitive acts are grouped
  and arranged to form sequences, mental folders
  or schemata.

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Jean Piaget

• Piagets proposal of the four stages of cognitive
  development created a revolution in the study of
  cognitive development.
• During the 1970s and the 1980s his study
  dominated the study of any other theorist and put
  new meaning to the childs acquisition of early
  literacy and numeracy skills.

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Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland,
on August 9, 1896 . (C.George Bueree para.1,
2006)
Piaget proved to quite accurate in his study of
cognitive development as this graph shows. The
only problem with his study is that it was
biased. Most of his experiments were performed on
his own children and not on a variety of
different children from all walks of life.
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Lev Vygotskys Cognitive theory

• His research stretched from 1896 till 1934
• Stressed the significance of the environment and
  culture in the learning process.
• Disagreed with Piagets view on the structures of
  cognitive development.
• Argued that childrens cognitive abilities were
  formed and progressed by interacting with the
  environment.
• Scaffolding, or teacher-guided learning of
  repeated or relevant behaviour, is one of his key
  concepts.
• He was born in the same year as Piaget in Russia

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For him, the individuals development is a
result of his or her culture. Development, in
Vygotskys theory, applies mainly to mental
development, such as thought, language and
reasoning process. These abilities were
understood to develop through social interactions
with others (especially parents) and therefore
represented the shared knowledge of the culture.
He states Every function in the childs
cultural development appears twice first,
between people (interpsychological) and then
inside the child (intrapsychological). This
applies equally to voluntary attention, to
logical memory, and to the formation of ideas.
All the higher functions originate as actual
relationships between individuals (Vygotsky,
1978, p.57). (Sólrún B. Kristinsdóttir, para.1,
2001)

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Theories and todays understanding

• In the 21st century when trying to define the
  theory of cognitive development Piaget is the one
  whose detailed and extensive theory stands out
  amongst the others.
• Although his experiments were biased and he faced
  many constraints when trying to conduct his
  study, his final analysis in the topic proves to
  be the most accurate and still taught as THE
  theory of cognitive development in schools today.

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Bibliography

• Bueree, C (1999). Personality theories.
  http//www.ship.edu/cgboeree/piaget.html.
• Kristinsdóttir,B (2001). http//starfsfolk.khi.is/
  solrunb/vygotsky.htm.
• Berk, L (2004).Development through the lifespans-
  3rd ed. United States of America Pearson
  Education.inc
• Slee. P (2002). Children adolescent and family
  development. Australia Cambridge University
  Press
• McGurt, H (1978) Issues in childhood social
  development. London Methuen